"You'll not gonna end up in an orphanage!" Sunggyu instantly said, not only because he thought that was absurd - considering that Woohyun had a father (or two) - but he was scolding Woohyun for thinking like he needed to go to that place.

Sungyeol held his breath, he didn't have the exact answers for all those questions and he didn't know the exact words that could explain and calm Woohyun for those he had. But one thing was sure, Woohyun was deeply lost and he had to do something about it.

"Woohyun," Sungyeol called softly. "I wish I had but I don't have the answers to all of your questions, but before you think about all of that, let’s try to answer one thing: who are you?"

"I don't know." Woohyun whined.

“Hm I see, you’re confused after the amount of information you just received right?” Sungyeol scratched his chin and Woohyun didn’t lose time to nod. “Let’s try this again.” He said and Woohyun made a confused expression but Sungyeol looked at Sunggyu this time. "Do you think you can answer the question?” 

"Me?" Sunggyu stopped for a second to think but Woohyun seemed to look at him expectantly so Sunggyu ended up hesitantly nodding. 

“Who is Woohyun?” Sungyeol asked one more time.

“My best friend.” Sungyeol smiled a bit embarrassed and Sungyeol held his breath, he knew that but it wasn’t the kind of answer he was aiming for.

“Sunggyu, maybe you should think about this question in another way, what makes you remember Woohyun? Or maybe... what can't you imagine him without?”

“He has the prettiest heart.” Sunggyu continued shyly and Sungyeol didn’t know what the hell he was talking about but he could see that melted Woohyun a little bit so that was already an achievement. 

“Hugs.” Sunggyu tried a second time shortly after.

“Woohyun does like to hug huh?” Sungyeol smiled.

“And aegyo.”

“You’re right.”

“One tooth missing...” Sunggyu said and Woohyun placed his hand in front of his mouth, he was self-conscious about that, his snaggletooth insisted on not growing back even though the hyungs assured it would.

“We have to check out why his tooth did not appear yet.” Sungyeol said pensively.

“But he looks like a baby wolf now.” Sunggyu said with a big smile while making a fond expression to Woohyun that scrunched his nose just a bit, he wasn’t a baby wolf.

“Can you think about anything else?” Sungyeol urged.

“Cupcakes.” Sunggyu raised a finger in the air as he remembered that.

“Yeah, I guess Woohyun likes sweet things a lot.” The elder nodded.

“Piano, flute and singing.” Sunggyu chirped, he wasn’t sure if this was a game but he was liking to list things that made him remember his best friend.

“Doesn’t he likes singing more than the other two?” Sungyeol asked with a chuckle.

Sunggyu nodded and smiled. “We are gonna be rock stars one day.”

Sungyeol chuckled at that again but decided to make his contributions. “What about dramas and romance?"

“Totally.” Sunggyu giggled to himself because Woohyunw was so into dramas that sometimes Sunggyu could leave his side, play an entire chess match with Sungyeol and come back and the boy would be still marathoning without noticing his absence.

Sungyeol felt like Sunggyu had replied a lot already so he turned to Woohyun. “All of those things we said, plus things that you still haven’t shown/said to us, plus your feelings are what make you the Woohyunnie we love so it is not like you don’t completely know yourself. You don’t need a surname to be yourself.” Sungyeol said softly and Sunggyu’s eyes grew big as he finally understood why his elder brother had been making those kinds of questions. 

Woohyun blinked a bit to make sense of what Sungyeol was talking, he could agree he was still the same person that he was from a few days before even though he was angry, but that didn’t explain his other questions or clear his confusions away. “But… but… where do I belong to? With whom?” Woohyun asked brokenly. “I’m… I’m confused.”

Sunggyu butted in to say the obvious. “You belong with your family, Woohyunnie.”

“Which family!? My mom didn’t even want me!” The boy said with frustration.

“Woohyun how can you say that?” Sungyeol looked scandalized at him and also quite surprised Myungsoo would tell the boy that.

“Myungsoo shi told me that she…” Woohyun finally released another piece of the previous night conversation but Sungyeol didn’t let him continue.

“Woohyun, I don’t know your story completely but let me try to explain something for you with things that I know.” Sungyeol said and both boys paid attention to him. “Your mother was fifteen when she had you, right?” The boy nodded and Sungyeol tried to think about a way to explain what he knew about common teenagers. “A person around that age - although it can happen as it happened with your mother - is not fully ready to take care of a baby as an adult with a job would be, your mother probably said that because she was really scared, especially because she knew your grandmother was scary.” Sungyeol explained and the boy was already pouting. “But people can change Woohyun, haven’t I changed a lot?”

“A loooooooooooooooot.” Sunggyu made sure to drag the word to put emphasis. 

“But what…”

“What I’ve been trying to say is that your mother changed too.” Sungyeol explained. “Didn’t you read in her diary how anxiously she was waiting for you and your sister to come and how much she wanted to hold you in her arms? Wasn’t her recorded voice so full of love too?” Woohyun curled up in a ball and hid his face in guilt, Sungyeol was right, his mother loved him, the only reason she wasn’t by his side it was because she had to go to heaven.

Looking at his state, Sunggyu tried to pat his friend. “Don’t be down Woohyunnie, your mommy is looking after you from heaven, she wouldn’t like you to be like this.” He tried to soothe the younger boy.

“If-if that’s tru-true then she’s dis-disappointed in me.” Woohyun stuttered.

“Of course she isn’t.” Sunggyu tried to keep soothing his friend then threw a look at his brother to help him because he felt like Woohyun was about to get worse. 

Sungyeol sighed internally as he remembered when he thought Myungsoo was making Woohyun weird in the head with these kinds of beliefs. He later understood that it was something Myungsoo came up to make Woohyun feel like there was a way for him to make a connection with his mother, and he had to agree that, in a way, this was pretty sweet of him and, despite not believing, he felt that this was the way to go. 

“Hey, don’t be like that.” Sungyeol patted the boy's hair and then tried to move the boy head so they could look at each other’s eyes. “You know what the best things about mothers in heaven?” Woohyun snuffed and shook his head. “That they can forgive easier if you’re being sincere.”

“They do?” The boy looked surprised at him and Sunggyu made an expression of disbelief at Sungyeol.

“Yeah.” Sungyeol smiled at him. “After I met you and discovered that talking to my mom was possible, I’ve asked her to forgive me and she did.”

“Really?” Sunggyu seemed skeptic but Woohyun couldn't care less, he was interested.

“How do you know?”

“Because she sent me a sign.” Woohyun eyes grew big and he gasped a bit so Sungyeol continued. “She sent her letters to me through Sonmi shi and after I read it, I was able to understand her.” 

While Sunggyu scolded his hyung with his squinted eyes, Woohyun thought about everything and then he looked doubtful at Sungyeol too. “I’ve never seen you talk to your mom.” 

“I do before I go to bed or when I’m cooking.” The elder quickly blurted and Woohyun didn’t seem to believe that, so Sungyeol had another idea, he put his hands together in a similar way Woohyun often did. “This is not a requirement for your mom to hear anything, you just need to have a sincere heart when you try to communicate. This is why you don't see me exactly praying.” So Woohyun could send messages to his mom without doing that? Why did no one tell him before? “Do you want to try?” Sungyeol asked once he saw Woohyun accepted the he was throwing.

The boy shifted his weight on the bed for a bit and then he couldn’t decide if he put his hands together in a praying manner or not then end up saying loudly. “I’m sorry, mommy.” He mumbled.

“What did you say? How are you being sincere if you don’t say why are you sorry for?” Sungyeol asked. “Come on, let’s all do, I’ll go first.” He urged not only Woohyun but he threw a look for Sunggyu to go along before he looked at the ceiling. “Dear Mom, I’m sorry for not sending a message earlier, things are complicated at the moment. I also want to apologize again for being such a difficult child, for not showing my love enough, and for not believing in you or on your love. I hope you can forgive me again. I miss you.” Sungyeol said with his most sincere voice then turned to Sunggyu, it was his turn to set the example.

“I have nothing to apologize for…” Sunggyu mumbled as he scratched his head but when Sungyeol glared at him, he put his hands together like Woohyun often did and tried to show his sincerity. “Mommy, I’m sorry I don’t eat the vegetables, it is not hyung’s fault, he cooks delicious foods, but I just don’t like it. I miss you every day but I feel better since I befriended Woohyunnie and got close to Sungyeol hyung, I’m working hard at a school too so please pay attention when I perform with Woohyunnie.”

Sunggyu tried to smile for Woohyun and it seemed like the boy wanted to comment on what Sunggyu just said but Sungyeol didn’t let him lose his focus. “Do you want to try again now?” He asked Woohyun softly and the boy promptly forgot what he wanted to say to Sunggyu.

“Mommy, I’m sorry for thinking badly about you since yesterday, I’m really, really sorry about that.” The boy started hesitantly the bit his lips before being sincere on what he was thinking. “Mom, I was just so so disappointed, why did you accept to lie? Why did you accept to marry that guy when you knew he would never love you as you deserve?”

Sungyeol immediately placed a hand on Woohyun shoulder. “Woohyun, don’t be harsh, it must have been a harsh decision for her to take.”

“I’m sorry again. I’m just so so confused.” Woohyun placed his hands and over his eyes to try to impede some tears from falling and took a big breath before continuing. “Mom, this time Myungsoo-shi gave me your pictures so I promise I can recognize you if you appear in my dreams, so, please, please, come and explain to me what is a lie and what is not.” He ended up pleading. “I’m so confused, I don’t know who to trust and there are grandpa Heo and Dad… what should I do?”

“Woohyun.” Sungyeol called again and hesitated on how he should organize his words. “You said you didn’t have a choice but to meet them but I think Myungsoo told you their names exactly so you had one.” Woohyun tilted his head to the side a bit and Sungyeol could tell he was confused. “Myungsoo said your grandpa is in jail so you can’t meet him, but, if you absolutely need to see him and if he is the one I’m thinking of, we can try to search for his picture on the internet.” Woohyun seemed surprised by that possibility.  “As for the guy, you said Myungsoo told you he will take you there, but it actually will be your choice. He probably only offered to take you to meet your biological dad because that might be important for you, but don’t be mistaken, Myungsoo would never try to ‘get rid of you’.”

“Whatever, I can’t be with him if I have a family with my blood. My real dad has to…” Woohyun was complaining when he was interrupted.

“Stop.” Sungyeol scolded. “I don’t know what you are searching for that you don’t already have, but  meeting your dad can disappointing just like your meeting with your grandma was.” He said and Woohyun wanted to say that no, it would be different because the guy was his dad and Myungsoo was probably lying, but Sungyeol didn’t let him open his mouth and tried to advise as softly as he could. “Think deeply of what you want, and all the consequences it can have or else…”

Sungyeol was about to say Woohyun would probably hurt Myungsoo and break his heart but they were interrupted by knocks on the door that alarmed them and, a second later, Sonmi opened the door just a bit.

“Sungyeol, the food you ordered arrived. Do you want me to bring it here?” She offered.

“YAY!” Sunggyu instantly cheered and tried to get up from the bed.

“No need, we are eating at the table like we all do every day.” Sungyeol said in a definitive tone and she nodded before closing the door again.

“Let’s go Woohyunnie, hyung ordered your favorite.” Sunggyu said excitedly, all his worry and all of this conversation had left him hungry.

Woohyun furrowed his brows and made a face at his friend. “I can’t eat.” He said but his stomach betrayed him and growled like a hungry monster so Sungyeol smiled.

“You say that but your tummy says otherwise.” He also got up and tried to coax Woohyun to go out of the bed with him. “Come on, I’ll help you with that.”

“Noo hyung~~~” The boy complained but Sungyeol couldn’t take him seriously when the boy grabbed his hand and moved to follow him.

“Come on, let’s make this belly full and take a nice bath to take the stress away, then we can talk more and maybe play a bit.”

“Can I show you my mommy’s pictures then?” 

“Do you really have them?” Sunggyu gasped but opened a smile, he was happy for his friend to finally be able to see how his mother looked like and he betted Woohyun would keep boasting about it as he did when he first heard her voice but he figured just had to endure for a while.

Woohyun promptly nodded and Sungyeol thanked the gods, that was a nice move and if the boy was willing to share this with them he appreciated the gesture. “Myungsoo-shi gave me when he came. She’s really pretty, like an angel.”

“Of course, we would love to meet your mom, but maybe we should do that after eating.” Sungyeol assured then looked at Sunggyu. “Come on, Gyu, lead the way.” 

Sunggyu didn’t need to be told twice and ran past his brother and friend to open the door again and come out in search of the kitchen. He easily found because the apartment wasn’t that big and moved directly to the first chair he saw in order to inspect the food, hmm it seemed tasty. Sungyeol was already patting himself on his back for managing to control Woohyun a bit and Sonmi was already working on a thankful smile once she saw Sungyeol bringing the boy out when the boy stopped at the door and pulled Sungyeol back.

“What happened?” Sungyeol asked as he mirrored Sunggyu expression of confusion.

Woohyun looked ahead and everyone followed his line of vision to find Bumsoo sitting at the table and Sonmi rubbed her hands over her face, now this. Meanwhile, Bumsoo sighed deeply.

“I’m not gonna hurt you Namu, I’m sorry about earlier today.” He tried to apologize but Woohyun hid behind Sungyeol tall frame. 

“Hyung, I’m scared, he hurt Myungsoo shi.” Woohyun said, not bothering to hide what he was feeling at the moment. Sunegyeol eyes grew bigger. He knew that Woohyun fear was not unfounded if Bumsoo indeed had been too rough with his ex-lover but if Woohyun made a point to say Myungsoo was hurt, maybe he was a little worried about him right? And that could mean their relationship was not a lost cause. Unfortunately, he couldn’t think more about that because Woohyun tried to pull him back into the room. “Can we go back to my room?”

“I’m sorry you had to see me being a little rough with Myungsoo but he is not hurt.” Bumsoo tried to defend himself

“Woohyun, nothing is gonna happen to you, I swear, we will never hurt you. Let’s eat together.” Sonmi swore and begged right after and Woohyun looked at one the other, he believed Sonmi but he had doubts about her husband.

“Come here Woohyunnie, it’s your favorite food.” Sunggyu tried as well while patting the chair beside his.

Woohyun looked at Bumsoo if he was afraid the old man would do something then tried to pull Sungyeol to the room again. “No~~.”

The kid wasn’t a prisoner so it was better if Woohyun came out of the room at least for a moment to eat and bathe, but the moment the boy landed his eyes on Bumsoo, all of Sungyeol efforts to help the child eat were thrown out of the window before he reached the table. At the moment Subgyeol didn’t know what to do, so he sent a desperately look at the old couple.

Sonmi immediately looked at her husband with a reproving look. “See what you did, you made him scared, now he definitely won’t eat.”

Bumsoo looked down in guilty but got up. “Then let’s go to our room so he can try to eat something.”

“Yeah.” Sonmi agreed sadly and both of them started walking towards their room.

Sunggyu pouted with some pity for the couple and Sungyeol slightly shook Woohyun hand while the boy watched the elders with a hawk eye. 

“Now you won’t have any more excuses Woohyun, let’s eat a bit hm?” Sungyeol tried to convince the boy but when Woohyun opened his mouth it was not to reply to him.

“Auntie?” He called timidly and Sonmi stopped in place as Sunggyu frowned. 

Meanwhile Sungyeol was surprised he heard the boy calling her like this, he had been saying he didn’t want to see anyone and being as formal as he could whenever he was referring to anyone from his family to purpose put some emotional distance (knowing or not what that was) in between them as he could but, if he called her auntie instead of grandma, maybe she was in some sorts of gray-zone with him no? If she played her cards right…

“Can you tell us more about my mommy?” The boy hesitantly asked a second later.

Sonmi seemed to rub one of her eyes (maybe wiping a tear?) then turned around with a smile. “Of course, dear, anything for you.” She walked back towards the table as Sungyeol Sunggyu and woohyun watched Bumsoo sigh deeply and close the door. “What do you want to know?” She asked once she started to prepare a bowl for him and Sungyeol didn’t lose time to easily take Woohyun towards a chair.

Woohyun tentatively made a question and Sungyeol rushed to serve Sunggyu then, as Sonmi started talking, making sure to even imitate Jihyun mannerisms because Woohyun liked that, Sungyeol grabbed his bowl and started putting food into the boy’s mouth. Woohyun was entranced by the story and he was probably eating on automatic so he would try his best to make him eat as much as he could.

The conversation with Sungyeol, a story about his mom and Sunggyu presence, calmed Woohyun mood and he didn’t give much trouble to take off his uniform and take a bath, he only started acting up a bit again when Sungyeol announced that he and Sunggyu needed to go.

At that point woohyun started to cry all over again and despite the Sung brothers trying to assure him that they would come back, the boy clung to the elder legs and did not want to let go as he begged to not be ‘left alone’. He didn’t know what to do, the old couple also didn’t know exactly how to placate Woohyun, but Sunggyu helped with negotiations and Woohyun finally accepted to let Sungyeol go if the elder let Sunggyu stay overnight. At this point Sungyeol let Sunggyu stay but he had to also distract Woohyun with homework.

Sungyeol arrived home exhausted half an hour later and all he wanted to do was sleep a bit because he was physically and emotionally tired, he just needed to have a shower first. The way to his room wasn’t that long, but in his way there he couldn’t help but notice how dark and empty his apartment felt. He didn’t need to worry about Sunggyu or Woohyun that night, the light Sungjong used to study overnight last year wasn’t on and Hoya wasn’t around to annoy him, it was almost as if he was back to the time when he used to live alone before his mother was dead.

 He took his shower and laid on his bed feeling as uncomfortable as he could; before the emptiness of his apartment used to comfort him, it was his safe bubble but now… now it felt a little suffocating without the noise of the kids playing or Sungjong and Hoya trying to bicker with him and Myungsoo chuckles whenever he did something amusing. He sighed deeply and wondered when things would return to the new normality he just got used and that now he loved and missed deeply.

He connected his phone to the charger because he had to be able to receive calls from Sonmi if anything happened but it was only then that he was able to see Chanyeol and Dara (even Hoya) messages asking - amongst other things in Hoya’s case - about the results of his first round of tests and he realized that he had completely forgotten about that. 

The man he was two years ago would be refreshing his college website non-stop until the results appeared because that was the thing he wanted the most back then but now… when it came to his job it was, of course, a better place to work than his current one and it wasn’t like he didn’t want to anymore but something was very different for him, suddenly the people in his life made him completely forget about it. Albeit sad with Woohyun predicament, he was truly happy, he changed and he embraced that change more than he thought he would. The man he was today, if it was in other circumstances, would be able to wait till tomorrow to check his results, but since he knew he wouldn’t sleep that easily so he decided to distract himself with it. 

Sungyeol didn’t smile when he checked the results. It wasn’t like he was sad that he didn’t pass, on the contrary, his name was on the top of the list and that was expected, all he needed to do was to wait for the topics to be sorted on Wednesday so he could prepare himself to give his lecture on the assigned day. He sighed deeply - he hoped Myungsoo could hang on and appear on Wednesday, because from that day on he would probably have to pay attention to his own life for a bit - then stretched his lips in an ironic smile, his relationship with Myungsoo and the time spent with the kids probably helped him exercise the patience he had now and probably that was the only thing he probably couldn’t achieve alone before.

On Tuesday Sungyeol didn’t need to go to college, yet he still had a meeting at work so he had to leave his apartment, but not before preparing some clothes for Sunggyu to come out of his uniform and checking on Woohyun.

Sonmi seemed glad about the assistance on the previous day so she opened the door for him with a smile on her face although Sungyeol couldn’t say the same about Bumsoo, the man passed by the door briefly with a sad face only to lock himself in the master room, he was clearly upset by something. 

“He refused to come out again?” Sungyeol asked tiredly as he tried to guess the reason behind Bumsoo sad face.

Sonmi shrugged because there wasn’t much she could do. “Oppa is upset with himself because of what happened yesterday, so he said he would stay in the room so I could try to bring the boys to eat in the kitchen. Come on in.” Sungyeol entered the apartment and she motioned for him to walk behind her. “ The boys are still sleeping but we already figured some food so if you want to wake them up… I just need to set the table for them.”

Sungyeol could only sigh before he dragged his foot to the room the boys were in. Sungyeol heart had been as hard as a rock but the kids had melted him, so he could only think it was cute to see both of them squeezing in the bed together with Woohyun drooling over Sunggyu chest. He snapped a picture to send to Sungjong, dropped the bag with a few clothes for Sunggyu in the corner and then approached them softly.

“Boys! Boys!” He called then shook both of them softly until Sunggyu opened his small eyes in confusion. 

“Wake up, breakfast is almost ready.” Sungyeol whispered.

Sunggyu looked around to situate himself until he saw Woohyun drooling on his skin so he promptly gasped in disgust, he was totally awake right now. His gasp woke Woohyun that seemed confused to not to be in his room or Sunggyu room, but at this point, Sunggyu already looked tortured so Sungyeol pulled Woohyun in a sitting position so Sunggyu could get free.

“Woohyunnie! Ew!” He complained while Woohyun rubbed his eyes, he only understood what was happening when Sunggyu, with disgust, tried to clean his shoulder with his hand then clean his hand on Woohyun pajama shorts. The younger boy scrambled as fast as he could out of bed and Sunggyu suddenly didn’t know what else to do other than to try to chase his friend. “Come back here.”

“No!” They both ran around the room and around Sungyeol which made the elder dizzy but at least more happy because Woohyun was already moving.

“Guys, can’t we just eat breakfast calmly?” The elder asked and Woohyun promptly used his body as a shield before he spoke.

“I don’t want to eat if that scary guy is out there.” Woohyun said as he tried to dodge Sunggyu but promptly agreeing to come out to eat, last night he didn’t eat like he normally did but Sungyeol managed to put half a bowl down Woohyun throat during storytime.

“Hyung, he drooled on me.” Sunggyu complained scandalized to his brother as Woohyun dodged him one more time and this time came to Sungyeol’s front.

“I didn’t mean to.” The boy tried to apologize though Sunggyu expression made him kinda want to laugh.

“See Sunggyu? He didn’t mean to.” He then looked at Woohyun. “And you don’t need to worry, your grandpa is in his room.” Sungyeol said as he looked from Sunggyu and Woohyun and before the younger boy complained that Bumsoo was not his grandfather, Sungyeol continued. “How about we clean ourselves quickly so we can eat? I saw that Sonmi-shi made pancakes and there is bacon too...”

Woohyun thought about it as he dodged his friend, the scary man he once thought was his grandpa was out there, but at the same time, Sunggyu and Sungyeol would accompany him, right? Maybe he had nothing to fear if the hyungs were with him, maybe Bumsoo wouldn't try anything if they were there. Also if yesterday was any indication, he doubted Sonmi would let anything happen without giving the older man at least a scolding, maybe they lied to him about his blood ties but he doubted that every scolding she ever gave to the men in his (supposedly) family was a lie too. No, she could scare them and protect him. Once he made his decision confidently, he decided to say it out loud.

“Last there is a monkey's uncle.” Suddenly Woohyun said and took off to the bathroom and Sunggyu couldn’t help but try to race him there not only to be first but somehow take a bit of revenge for the drooling  Woohyun did previously on the way.

“Sunggyu, your clothes!” Sungyeol yelled, grabbed the bag he brought and ran after them to supervise before the two boys ended up in a fight for something silly like a little bit of drooling.

Once the boys were clean and dressed, they moved to the kitchen where Sonmi was waiting with the said pancakes and some slices of bacon. She greeted everyone with a warm smile which Woohyun replied with an awkward ‘Good morning auntie’ and then they sat to eat. Woohyun hadn’t his full appetite yet but he tried eating with the help of either Sunggyu or Sungyeol while Sonmi watched them eating until she excused herself to go to the bathroom. Once she left, Sungyeol saw an opportunity to figure the awkward atmosphere between Woohyun and Sonmi out and try to build some bridges for communication.

“Woohyun, can I ask you a question?” Sungyeol asked as he made an airplane for Woohyun, the first one Sunggyu tried ended up falling in his shorts so he was currently trying to clean himself with a napkin.

“Hm?” Woohyun managed to ask as soon as he engulfed the food with his mouth, it was not like he couldn’t eat alone but he unknowingly needed gestures that showed him some love.

“Why are you treating your grandpa and grandma differently?” He asked and Sunggyu looked from one to another, he was interested in the conversation.

“They’re not my family, hyung.” The boy said sadly once he managed to chew and gulp the food down his throat.

Sungyeol sighed internally, he knew this particular idea he wasn’t able to shake yet so he had to have to use this opportunity to train patience. “I know.” Sungyeol said, choosing not to insist on that. “You’re treating them both differently from before you discovered everything but I meant to ask why you’re treating them differently from each other.” He rephrased.

The boy looked down at the table and seemed to think about really hard but it wasn’t like he knew how to explain. He shrugged then made a helpless face. “She’s my mom auntie?” 

“Then Bumsoo shi is your mother’s uncle, no?” Sungyeol asked and Woohyun promptly shook his head.

“It’s different!” He insisted.

“How?” Sunggyu asked before his brother could.

“Because… Because…” Woohyun seemed to stutter a bit before he blurted out his real thoughts. “Because mommy is like a daughter to her, she told me countless times before, and she is the only one that didn’t change with me.”

Ok, that made some sense for Sungyeol although it didn’t explain everything. “Did the others changed with you? How? Are you sure weren’t you the one that changed towards them because now you know the truth?”

"Of course not!" At first, he strongly denied and the set of brothers squint their eyes at him so Woohyun made a face as he looked at his pancakes and started poking them. “I- I feel like a burden to everyone and if Bumsoo shi hurt Myungsoo shi, what he can do to me when I’m not related to him?” Woohyun hesitated but asked sadly and then his voice became really small. “Mom trusted Sonmi shi, right? Then maybe… maybe I should too, she protected me yesterday.”

Well, at least there was one family member Woohyun didn’t completely hate yet. He was about to say that above everyone, Jihyun trusted Myungsoo the most but Sonmi came back from the bathroom and then Woohyun busied himself with his food to not talk about that anymore and Sungyeol thought he lost an opportunity.

He stayed until a situation that he previously thought it would never happen ended up happening for the second time in a row: Sunggyu finished all of his food while Woohyun stopped halfway. Well he wouldn’t force the kid, he barely forced Sunggyu (he actually begged until both reached an impasse and they were both angry at each other for spending time in something they didn’t want to), but if Woohyun ate something, that was already a bit of help that Sonmi was happy to receive not to mention the young boy wouldn't weaken too much.

After the dishes were properly on the sink, Sungyeol announced that he would leave but he would let Sunggyu skip school for one day to keep Woohyun company, as long as Woohyun agreed to sit down with Sunggyu somewhere to do the homework from the previous day. Well, Woohyun didn’t want him to go, and needed to be convinced to do homework too but Sungyeol managed to convince him by saying that: 1- their moms would probably be disappointed if they slacked off 2 - Woohyun would be able to take his mind off problems for a while and 3 - he would return at night (with more homework) for dinner.

Once he left the apartment, Sungyeol thought about sending a tip to Moonsoo through Sungjong to pay a visit and talk to Woohyun to try to solve their relationship because he didn’t have any idea at the moment on what exactly could help Myungsoo and Bumsoo. In the end, he didn’t need to send anything because he ended up bumping with both teenagers at the elevator.

“What are you doing here?” The three of them asked at the same time and while Sungyeol seemed surprised to see Sungjong, Moonsoo was surprised to see him while Sungjong was kinda angry that he was seeing his brother there.

"Sunggyu was dead worried so I brought him here to distract Woohyun a bit, he brought yesterday homework too." Sungyeol explained/half-assed an explanation and of course, Sungjong didn't believe fully, but Moonsoo seemed to have relaxed a bit although he still kept looking at Sungyeol a bit skeptically.

"Right." Moonsoo looked from Sungyeol to Sungjong with a constrained expression, but if his younger lover mad face was any indication, he thought it was better to let those two solve any issues alone. "I better go check on Woohyun." He said as he passed Sungyeol to go to his parents' apartment and the elder thought that if Moonsoo was already willing to come here to talk to his nephew he would soon discover how the boy was doing and come up with something to mend their relationship as well. In the end, he didn't even need to try to push him for that.

Sungyeol tried to pass Sungjong because he still had that meeting to go to but the younger held his arm.

"What are you plotting? Didn't you say you wouldn't in?" Well, now that Sungjong mentioned Sungyeol didn't remember shaking his hand to seal the deal, but he could recognize that at this point there was not much he could help with when Woohyun didn’t seem to want to listen to everything he had to say.

“I’m not plotting anything, I can feel that Woohyun trusts me a bit but he is not exactly hearing everything I say so I brought Sunggyu to at least distract him a bit today.” Sungyeol briefly shrugged.

Sungjong felt conflicted with what he just heard. On one side, he was happy Sungyeol did seem to be truthful to his promise of not butting in but on the other side if Sungyeol, that seemed to have his trust, wasn’t able to talk some sense into the boy he wondered when and how everything would get better. For the lack of a better way to express himself the younger sighed and continued their conversation tiredly.

“This is so messed up, gosh.” He said as he rubbed hands on his face. “Moonsoo hyung doesn’t know what to do.”

“I don’t think anyone really does.” Sungyeol said. “Woohyun is putting distance because he is not considering himself part of the family, but other things happened as well and… the plot just thickened.”

“What do you mean?” Sungjong frowned as he looked at his brother.

“Among other things, Woohyun told me Bumsoo hurt Myungsoo and he was scared, but despite being awkward he is trusting Sonmi-shi a little more? I couldn’t exactly understand his logic.”

“Now this.” Sungjong sighed tiredly again and Sungyeol looked at his phone to check the time.

“Just keep Sunggyu company if they want to talk alone and tell your boyfriend to have patience and keep trying with Woohyun, ok? I have to go to Woollim now, I have a meeting to discuss my situation there and I’ll get Woohyun homework with Dongwoo hyung later to drop here and pick Sunggyu up. If you need anything just call me that’ll make an excuse.”

“Let’s hope it isn’t necessary.” Sungjong said as he moved past Sungyeol and after a brief nod from the elder, Sungjong entered the apartment while the elder pressed the elevator button again.

__________________________________________________________

Sungyeol wanted to tell his boss he wanted to get out of that publishing company, after all he had money in a bank account that Sunggyu father left (and Sungyeol barely touched because it was for emergencies or Sunggyu college fee) that he could use to hang on until he got his dream job (that seemed so close and he was so confident on getting), but at the end what was happening with Woohyun made him forget about saying anything about wanting to leave. He ended up taking some projects he could finish by December, and he hoped by then all the situations calmed down for everyone so he was able to finally drop that ty job.

He returned home and, after setting an alarm for lunchtime and the time to go to school to pick the boy’s homework, he sat down in his room to concentrate on his proofreading/editing project. It was not like today he was the most focused person on the universe because Woohyun situation bothered him but he was able to somehow work and not notice time pass until his door opened and closed and he heard angry stomping feet on his apartment. He quickly saved his file and left his room to check who was coming and was surprised to see Sungjong, Moonsoo entering his apartment kind of sad while Sunggyu stomped his feet to the couch and sat with crossed arms and a pout on his lips.

“Guys, what are you doing here? I thought I told everyone I would go back for Sunggyu later.”

“That’s what mom told me but something happened so…” Moonsoo tried to explain vaguely.

Sungyeol made a concerned face. “Something bad happened?”

“Not really, I mean, we don’t know yet.” Sungjong said, and Sungyeol stopped to look at both of them, they didn’t seem completely hurt or sad, more like worried, which said to Sungyeol that whatever happened had different implications to Sunggyu.

“Do you think you can explain that or...?” The elder left his question unfinished as he reached for Sunggyu and directed words at him as well. “What happened to you?”

“Woohyunnie doesn’t want to sing with me anymore.” Sunggyu explained his big problem with teary eyes and Sungyeol looked at teenagers only for Myungsoo to shrug, there was not much he could do about that. “Hyung, how can we convince him?”  Sunggyu grabbed his hyung shirt and shook it to get his attention.

"Why don't you go take a bath and then we talk about that? Meanwhile, I'll fix us some snacks ok?"

Sunggyu still pouted but ended up getting up to drag his feet and his bag back to his room before he went to the bathroom.

"Have you tried to talk to him about that?" Sungyeol turned to ask Sungjong as he got up to go to the kitchen and do what he promised Sunggyu. Besides, if the younger already tried he had to use other arguments so Sunggyu would understand, he didn't think Woohyun would perform with his brother at this point.

Sungjong snorted, although not with malicious intent, as he turned to follow his brother. "Do you think he wants to? I'm nothing to him nowadays."

Sungyeol opened his pantry and took some popcorn and other ingredients, yes he would make some snacks but not one that could leave Sunggyu full and not wanting to eat dinner later. "Hey nonsense, Sunggyu loves you and trusts you as much.” He melted some butter and threw some different powders inside. “Don’t worry, I think I got this one.” He threw the popcorn inside and closed the pan before he glanced at his brother. “But what happened for you to bring Sunggyu so early, did they fight?”

“No, they didn’t.” Sungjong quickly waved his hand in dismissal. “Though it’s obvious Sunggyu wasn’t happy to hear Woohyun didn’t want to sing anymore.”

“Woohyun fought with you and wasn’t in the mood for anything else then?” Sungyeol turned to Moonsoo and Sungjong looked at his boyfriend, wondering if he was going to spill anything.

Moonsoo shifted his weight a bit before he decided to talk. “Not exactly.” He said and Sungyeol furrowed his brows in conclusion, by then Moonsoo already gave up, he knew from his mother updates what was going on and at this point, he didn’t mind Sungjong saying it was better if Sungyeol didn't involve himself, he believed that union built strength.

“He pushed me away for a while because he thinks we are not family - and that hurts so much for me, I can’t even imagine what hyung is feeling - but at some point I asked him that if he didn’t want to look at me as his uncle he could look at me as his friend and he seemed interested in that idea.”

Sungyeol smiled in relief. “That’s a step forward, don’t give up, he is confused but give him some time.”

“Yes, we’re still awkward but he let me stay around until now.” Moonsoo forced a nervous smile. “We talked and he made a few questions and I tried to convince him to forgive and ‘befriend’ my father but he kept telling us that he was afraid to be hit like Myungsoo hyung was...”

“I don’t know what he is talking about but please have patience with that?” Sungyeol tried to suggest.

Moonsoo sighed deeply. “Myungsoo hyung decided to go there to prove he wasn’t hurt and try to fix things between Woohyun and dad but Woohyun got upset and suddenly Myungsoo hyung asked us to go because he would take some time to talk to him.”

Well, Sungyeol had some doubts about that meeting because Myungsoo had been hitting and missing at the same time, but he ended up trying to be positive since at least he was trying to solve things. “If he went there to fix this it is a good thing, right?” 

“Well, it didn’t seem so when we left.” Sungjong finally spoke again as he frowned deeply. 

“Yeah, but, let’s say hyung manages to somehow make Woohyun forgive dad for the fight they had and make him open up to dad just a bit as he did with the rest of us... there is no guarantee that Woohyun and hyung relationship won’t be worse, you know?”

Sungyeol roamed his hands over his face and they stayed silent for a bit, only hearing the sound of popcorn popping in the background.

“I know I promised Sungjong I wouldn’t in unless you guys wanted but this time, aside coaxing him to eat, I don’t think there is nothing I can do to convince him into forgiving Myungsoo. Can you guys think about anything? Myungsoo has to do something.”

“There is something but hyung doesn’t want to use unless it is necessary.” Moonsoo explained.

Sungjong didn’t expect that so he perked up. “What? You guys have something that can help but are holding back?”

“Remember that DVD? There was a lot of other things inside of it.” Moonsoo blurted and the set of brothers looked at each other flabbergasted, well, Sungyeol kinda thought that back then Myungsoo would still lie about that some how to Woohyun, but since the boy was super satisfied the issue died down.

“Why don’t you show him? If I knew Myungsoo hyung would be the thing hyung needed to become a normal person, I would’ve knocked on your door the day after my mother died. If that DVD can help can  make things better you have to show him.” He scolded Moonsoo by moving one finger at Sungyeol then in the air and resting his other hand on his waist. Sungyeol glared at the younger but then decided not to argue, his brother had a point and maybe if Woohyun saw his own mother explaining things to him he might accept things better and forgive everyone.

“It’s not that simple!” Moonsoo argued back. “Yes, Myungsoo hyung told him the truth but it was filtered, we don’t want Woohyun to be even more hurt if he sees and hears everything that it’s in that DVD. It’s… it has some explicit wording and Woohyun thinks badly about everyone that remotely wronged his mother. Of course, if he showed it would take a lot from hyung’s back but at what price? We don’t want to guilt-trip him into loving us.”  

“Still, you guys have to do something.” Sungjong whined and paced a bit as he thought. “Have you guys thought about bringing them to therapy? It helped Sunggyu to accept his parents' death, maybe...”

It was not like Sungyeol completely disagreed with Sungjong, maybe that could help father and son to reconnect and work things out, but he couldn’t agree with that so he had to interrupt. “Myungsoo doesn’t have that luxury right now, and I’m not even talking about money, I’m talking about time.”

Sungjong sighed deeply. “You’re right he has graduation and basketball and the job offer and all that jazz.”

“Yeah, a lot is going on for him at the moment, and I bet his focus is all over the place after this, I don’t know how is he going to gather strength to solve all of his problems at once.” Moonsoo added as he scratched his head worriedly.

“Ok, Myungsoo hyung can’t but if you guys are gonna let Woohyun skip school, why not take him to talk to someone? He could do some work alone before Myungsoo hyung join him.” Sungjong argued and Sungyeol frowned looking at his brother, who was butting in now, huh? 

“Have you seen him? Mom told that he cried rivers only thinking about what a classmate could say about his situation, he will probably despise us even more if we make him talk with someone he doesn’t know.”

The elder chose not to comment on his brother's behavior and instead stopped to take the pan from the stove while thinking deeply. After the chocolate popcorn was safely on the counter, he turned to Moonsoo while biting his lips. “I don’t think I can directly help them more than I’m already doing but I have an idea…”

Moonsoo promptly put his hands together in a pleading manner. “Please, whatever it is, we need to try.” Sungjong pinched the bridge of his nose, there goes Sungyeol promise.

“Hyung…” He was about to make Sungyeol remember his promise but the elder interrupted him as he could foresee the younger concerns.

“No, I won’t be helping with this. There is no way I can help with this.” Sungyeol guaranteed his brother then moved his eyes at his brother in law. “There is still something that can be done but I can’t guarantee that Woohyun will want to listen or that anything will work perfectly either.”

“Ok, but what do you suggest?” Moonsoo urged.

“Someone that can emphasize better.”

______________________________________________

Sungjong and Moonsoo excused themselves as soon as Sunggyu returned from the bathroom and the boy perked up a bit with the prospect of chocolate popcorn but it took a lot for Sungyeol to make him understand that Woohyun wasn’t in the mood and that he probably he would have to sing on his own. He cried a bit because he and Woohyun had awesome plans for their performance but Sungyeol managed to at least convince Sunggyu not to push Woohyun and practice alone while the boy was going through these problems. Besides, if Woohyun changed his mind later, they could still try to sing together.

Once Sunggyu was convinced, he decided to find another song he could sing alone and disappeared in his room. Meanwhile, Sungyeol sent a message to Hoya and asked his cousin to get the boys homework with Dongwoo later and drop them by, he knew Hoya wouldn’t pass a chance to see his lover. He offered dinner for both of them as a way to repay them for their trouble but Hoya said he and Dongwoo needed alone time so he would just send a message when he was near so Sungyeol could receive the homework.

Sungyeol received the said message once he and Sunggyu just finished dinner so he inconspicuously locked Sunggyu at home for five minutes so he could go downstairs.

“Sungyeol!” Hoya screamed from his car and honked while he waved his hand out of the window to grab the other attention and Sungyeol promptly found him and lightly jogged until he was close to the car.

“Have you brought the boys homework?” Sungyeol asked as he approached and Hoya showed a smirk with fangs before pointing his head to the side.

“I brought even the teacher.” He said confidently and Dongwoo had to slap his stomach.

“Hi, Dongwoo hyung.” Sungyeol greeted while trying to look at Dongwoo behind Hoya. “I’m sorry I didn’t bring  Sunggyu today, I let him stay with Woohyun yesterday but tomorrow he won’t miss his classes.”

“Hi, Sungyeol, it’s ok.” Dongwoo said as he passed the papers to Hoya and Hoya passed to his cousin. “Don’t rush Woohyun, things are probably rough for him right now.”

“They definitely aren’t.” Sungyeol said with a down-stretch of his lips. “Thank you, but I’ll give it to him in case he wants to think about something else.”

“Is it that bad? How’s Myungsoo?” Hoya asked briefly.

“I don’t know, what I hear is that he is trying to make things better, but I’m not sure how that will go for both of them.” Sungyeol explained.

“The poor thing must be so confused.” Hoya said with a heavy sigh as he looked from Sungyeol to Dongwoo and received a pat on his leg from his boyfriend.

“Hyung, I think it’s time.” Sungyeol suddenly said which made Dongwoo confused, what were they talking about?

“Time for what?” Dongwoo looked from one to the other but Hoya seemed to be a little lost too because he was squinting his eyes to try to figure things out in his head.

“For Woohyun answers.” Sungyeol said and now Hoya gasped as he seems to remember and understand everything Sungyeol meant, not only now but a few months back.

“I’ll make time tomorrow.” He assured.

_______________________________________________________

AN: Hi guys, I've been busy and uninspired for a while (we are having an infinite drought at the moment) but the chapter (good or bad) is here and just like Myungsoo, I'm not leaving. Anyway, there are some important scenes left and then we are going to skip a bit of time to the final chapters (and an epilogue that would be a surprise but not anymore). I'll reply to all of your comments right now and I hope you can still give me some feedback as we continue (and finish) this journey.

Infinite will always be OT7 for me and I'll continue writing about them until further notice. See you all again, hopefully sooner.