Mother

“I’m home!” He announces as he had returned back from a day’s work, removing his shoes at the front door and taking off his overcoat. “What’s for dinner?”

He approached the dining table in his slippers and furrowed his eyebrows inwards as he looked at the DVD that was on his plate.

“What is this …?” He questions, readjusting his glasses as he lifted it from the plate.

“That’s your dinner.” I simply stated.

“What nonsense are you talking about woman?”

“Watch it first, and then you’ll get your real dinner.”

He then spoke no more and sighed heavily as he took the DVD to the lounge, with myself following him. He couldn’t argue back to me anyway—it’s called the power of the wife.

Turning on the television, his pupils dilated when he had seen his son on the screen but immediately turned it off after a split second. Frustrated, he threw the remote onto the couch.

“Who gave you this?”

“Does it matter?” I retorted. “You should continue watching it. It’s your son after—“

“—No, he’s not.” He spoke back. “I told you not to speak of this manner—“

“—It’s because you don’t speak of it is why I’m angry!” I yelled. “It’s been two years since he left. I can’t hug him, I can’t feed him, and I can’t do anything for him!”

“Did he ever do anything for us?!”

“He loved us! That itself is enough!” I complained with tears rolling down again.

“If he loved us, then he should’ve listened to us and not run away like the coward he became!”

I wiped the water stains from my cheeks and sighed heavily, before finding the right time to speak again.

“We’re the ones at fault WooHyuk-ah,” I said. “The one thing that you can’t deny is that he’s our son, forever and always, he will always be our son. The son that we love—“

“—I don’t love him.”

These two boys are so alike—father and son indeed. They’re both too stubborn to talk to each other and too stubborn to admit their wrong.

“Well I’m tired now,” I spoke as I rubbed my temples. “You can make your own dinner and sleep on the sofa tonight.”

Father

The woman was still mad at me all throughout the week. She gave me the silent treatment and never was I able to eat her cooking and sleep in the bedroom. I was getting tired of the instant ramen and my back was hurting from the couch.

It’s such a hard life, being a husband.

Even through many attempts of talking to her, she shot a glare at me and continued to whatever she was doing.

However, today was a first time in a while did she dress up quite nicely and seemed to be preparing a batch of food in containers.

It couldn’t be that because of the fight, she wants to cheat on me right? Oh dear, this is not good.

“W-What are you doing now?” I asked nervously as I saw her packing the boxes into a large bag.

She looked up at me with a not amused expression and was about to leave but I grabbed her wrist quickly, in response.

“Where are you going?”

She wriggled herself off from my grip. “I’m going to see our son, and support him. He’s going to perform at the Seoul Youth Competition today. You may not have known that since you didn’t watch the video.”

Aigoo, she’s doing it again, always putting the blame on me so that I feel guilty.

“Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to attend this important occasion while you laze around the house eating your ramen.”

And with that last comment, she left the house and purposely slammed the door.

“He loved us!” She yelled at me. “That itself is enough!”

I walked back to the lounge and sank tiredly onto the couch.

I then replay my memories back in my head. Whenever I arrived home, Eunhyuk will always be waiting at the door with his arms open to hug me. Even when I had late shifts, I’d find him sleeping sweetly by the door.

“Dad!” He speaks from the table. “I got an A plus for my chemistry test today!”

“How come you didn’t tell me?” My wife pouted.

“Because dad has to be the first to hear it!” He revealed his gummy smile towards me with eyes sparkling of hope.

“Yes yes Hyuk-ah,” I chuckled. “You did a good job~”

“Aigoo, my son loves his dad more than his mom.” She sighs.

My eyes stared back at the black screen television now and back at the DVD located near it.

“Even if I do watch it, what will I benefit?” I mumbled to myself and distracted my eyes elsewhere.

However, seconds later, I found myself placing the DVD into the player to watch.

“Well I might as well waste my time …” I muttered.

Her

“Yah!” Hyorin called as she ran towards me with Donghae at her side. “Is she here yet?”

“Not yet …” I replied, nervously looking at all directions for Monkey-boy’s mother.

About fifty-so people had already gathered for today’s arts competition as people were already beginning to fill the seats. While Monkey-boy was in the middle of rehearsing, Hyorin, Donghae and I came along to support him with a hidden intention to actually reunite the family.

“Are you sure she’s going to actually come?” Hyorin asked anxiously.

“She has to!” I spoke back and looked at them. “I’ll take care of the entrance area, while you guys go search the crowd in case she’s already arrived.”

They both stared at each other and nodded towards my plan.

Coincidentally at the same time, I saw a familiar looking woman with her back hunched struggling to hop out of the taxi and attempting to carry what seemed to be two large, heavy bags. Instinctively, I approached to help and in the midst of her thanks, she widened her eyes as did I when our identities were clear to one another.

“Mrs. Lee/Oh!” We both shouted in unison.

“You’re the girl who came to my house last time with Donghae yes?”

I smiled, and sighed in relief. “Yes, yes, I’m so glad you came.”

“No,” She shook her head and my back, with a small grin curving on her face. “I‘m glad for what you did for Eunhyuk, and for his stubborn parents …”

 “The fact that you’re here now shows just how much of a true parent you are.”

She gazed back up at me with a silent pause. Her dark brown eyes reminding me of that certain Monkey-boy.

“But, where is Eunhyuk’s father?” I queried as I only saw her, alone.

“That old man is just at home now.” She scoffed in anger, yet she seemed to be more disappointed.

“Mrs. Lee, do you mind if I borrow your phone?”

Father

After having watched the entire video that seemed to be all about Eunhyuk’s life, I stared absentmindedly at the black screen, with no movement from the couch.

“This brat has grown quite well.” I say to myself as I remember the dance scenes in the film.

I never seen him so hard working before. The never ending sweat that ran down his entire body, and the determined look in his eyes when he pours out an expenditure of strength into his movements.

“Not all dancers are failures dad!” The twenty year old him retorted back to me. “I can show you that it’s professional—“

“—What’s so professional about playing with your feet to music?!” I yelled.

“It’s not playing! It’s a talent!”

“You need a brain to have talent!” Anger was boiling inside of me now. “You’re just a stupid little kid who still doesn’t know what’s good in life—“

“—YOU’RE MAKING MY LIFE BAD NOW DAD!”

His mother slapped him after that comment. Even though my hand was positioned in that action, she did it instead and both Eunhyuk and I were shocked.

“And because he doesn’t give up, I hope you won’t give up on him either.”

The line repeated in my mind several times, after having heard that girl say it in the video. I wasn’t able to recognize who that blonde female was but I did see Hyorin and Donghae present—making Eunhyuk sigh various times over the childish behaviors but in the end, he can still laugh and smile brightly with them.

The ringing from my phone suddenly interrupted my deep trace of thoughts and it came from my wife surprisingly. I accepted the video call to only be shown a large stage with an excessive amount of people crowding around it yelling, “Woo hoo!” every now and then.

“What is this?” I question aloud.

“What a great performance right everyone?!” The MC spoke in his microphone as he stood on stage. “Now let’s get ready for the next performance with …” He read the cue cards again and looked back up at the audience. “Lee Eunhyuk, from Gae In Arts University!”

Instinctively, my slouched body on the couch rose up and I placed the phone closer up to my eyes for a somewhat zoomed in view.

“Even though they disagree about my future, it doesn’t stop me from loving them … but whether they love me too, I don’t really know about that.”

Him

When I had walked onto the stage, I looked at the entire view of people that were present to watch great performances today—that made me nervous from the pressure but I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath. As soon as the music had cued, all of my anxiousness seemed to have washed away and I began my dance by gliding across the stage with my feet, according to the slow pace of the music. When the strong beat finally occurred, my actions grew vigorously as I pulled out my arms from both sides and started popping them with the increased speed of the music. My legs were synchronized with the thumping sounds of the song and matched up with the pounding of my heart. I exerted all the power within myself through my movements and ended with satisfaction as I dropped to the ground matching with the last beat.

I was panting heavily as the MC had helped pulled me up from the ground, and I wiped off the sweat that was dripping from my forehead onwards.

“LET US GIVE A ROUND OF APPLAUSE FOR EUNHYUK-SSI’S AMAZING PERFORMANCE!” He yelled as his arm up, holding mine up as well.

The crowd cheered noisily and I bowed to them in response, unable to resist the smile that was stuck on my face.

I skipped off stage in a gleeful manner and went backstage to see Donghae and Hyorin jumping onto me for a hug.

“HYUKKIE DID WELL TODAY!” Donghae screams in joy and sticks onto me like Velcro. “MY BOY IS SO COOL!”

“YES!” Hyorin shouts too now. “OPPA WAS THE BEST TODAY! DEFINETELY!”

I pulled them off and laughed at them.

“Yah, the performances have only just started, how could I be the best so quickly?”

“Because you are.”

My smile dropped quickly and despite the two years being separated from her, a voice so beautiful and gentle cannot be unrecognized. My widened eyes were slowly following the location of the voice and I struck frozen immediately with my mouth slightly open from the shock and yet, no words seemed to escape.

As soon as we had that momentary eye contact, she dashed off to somewhere else and when I was about to chase her immediately, I slowed down my pace and stopped.

“What’re you doing there idiot?!” I turned to my side and felt the grip of Hyoyeon’s hand on my arm. “GO AFTER HER!”

I don’t know why. Her voice was like a trigger for my body to move and my mother was quite a fast runner after all. She was running to the bus stop and the bus was at a close distance—at this rate, she’s going to disappear.

“DON’T LEAVE ME MOM!” I yelled desperately and stopped in my tracks.

Fortunately, she too, had not left and the bus had driven away from her.

“Mom …” I call, in a softer voice now as I felt my eyes stinging from the tears that I was holding back and I clenched my teeth to stop the hiccups. “Please … don’t leave me.” I managed to speak, with sobs in between the words.

Not wanting to show any childish emotions or behaviors, I curled my hands into fists and stared at the ground. Although I was unable to see her, I heard the steps of her heels moving forward to me in a fastened pace and immediately, did I feel her warm arms wrap over my shoulders. I failed to expose my manly side as I enfolded a tight hug under her arms, bending as I did so, only realizing now of how small and fragile my mother is.

“I would never leave you Hyuk-ah,” She whispers as she pulls me out of the hug. She places her hands on the side of my cheeks and wiped the tears from my eyes with both her thumbs. However, it didn’t seem to help because they were falling continuously.

She forced a smile on her face, sniffing a few times to not let the water escape from her wrinkled eyes.

“Why would this mother want to leave her best son in the world?” She speaks as she grabs a hold of my hand, grasping it tightly. “The best dancing son in the world that I … truly love … and am proud of …”

I look back up to her now and the tears have already left her eyes as they ran down her cheeks.

“Mom … is very sorry Eunhyuk-ah …”

I couldn’t talk with my useless crying so I shook my head in response, signaling her that it’s not her fault.

“What’re you two doing there crying so dramatically?!”

I instantly felt the last drop of water from my eyes as I turned to the left to see my dad standing there, walking up to us slowly.

“D-Dad …”

“I thought you were going to show me that you were going to be a man, not a boy anymore?!”

When he stood in front of me, he only looked at me up and down.

“Mhmm, let’s go home now and eat dinner.” He says and removes his eyes away from me as he turns his back on me.

“Dad, I—“

“—Yes, you did well, I know. Now let’s go already! I’m hungry!”

Her

After Eunhyuk had left running after his mother and the competition was over, we all decided to go home because the purpose of the competition was to make a victory for Eunhyuk. Although he couldn’t win the grand prize for the school, the fact that he had contact with his parents is an achievement but now the result was all left to him yet that boy always worries me in these situations.

I was only dawdling my way to home as I played with my fingers and wondered what had happened to him, how he feels, what he is doing now but I was surprised to see a familiar figure standing by the bench of the park.

“Yah you!” I scolded as I ran to him now. “What’re you doing—eep!“

My sentence was intruded with a yelp by his spontaneous embrace around my shoulders. I immediately fell silent as he pulled my head closer towards his chest and his arms that encircled my shoulders were tightening. I gulped in an invisible lump as I felt the rush of heat spreading from his body to mine. My heart rate had increased as there was this constant non-stop beating. Frustrated from this feeling, I bit my lip to distract myself but this warmth was spreading all over my body when he rested his chin on my head.

“W-Wh …” My lips were useless now.

“I’m going to meet them for dinner soon,” He explained coolly—HOW CAN HE REACT SO CALMLY. “It’s okay now.”

“R-Really?” I managed to speak, somewhat relieved from the worries I had for him.

“Mm …” He let out a soft huff of breath onto my head. “Thanks.”

“H-Hyorin and Donghae helped out too! It wasn’t just me …”

“I’m not saying thanks for just that though.”

“Then what else?”

“Thanks for being who you are.”

I didn’t know how to respond to such words since I was already confused with crazed emotions in my mind.

“Ahhh,” He sighed. “It feels good.”

 “What?”

“Being with you, now.”

a/n: PHEW. DOUBLE CHAPTER UPDATE! I’m doing this because I’ll be on hiatus for a while due to making future decisions and school work. It’s great to be able to do what I want to do in the future, yet I have no idea what it is that I want. o-O Anyone in the same boat? In any case, I must focus on my studies! I hope you all enjoyed these two chapters because I MISS HYOHYUK SO MUCH THAT I COULD JUST CRY NOW BUT I WON’T BECAUSE THAT’S WEIRD ... And when I also had watched Star Life Theater with SJ, I loved that scene in episode 5, where Eunhyuk’s mother came and even he looked surprised and that motherly bond was too sweet <3 AND HYOYEON! OMGEE, DWTS2! Even though she couldn’t win the overall show, she’s a winner in life, and the fact that she obtained 2^nd place is an achievement too (: I wish I could see more of her hip hop dancing again though. I KNOW! A BRILLIANT IDEA!

HYOYEON + EUNHYUK + COUPLE HOT GALORE DANCE = 498358125829295 RATINGS

Why don’t you try that Korea? Have a dancing machine couple performance? I’m sure viewership will sky rocket. ^-^

Anyhow, I will be back after a long time! Until then, take care!

Thank you for subscribing, reading and commenting. I appreciate you all! :D