Their trip to Korea was almost over, and still the Parks had yet to say if they were intending to give their blessing to Mark and Jinyoung's engagement. Mark had been slowly relaxing over the past few days, but was now growing anxious all over again. If he hadn't managed to convince them by now, would anything convince them? What exactly were they waiting for, and if he didn't deliver what it was they wanted before their flight back home, what would happen then?

Jinyoung was also starting to get anxious again. “I wish I could tell you what they're thinking, but I don't know,” he said tiredly. “I thought we'd have this all sorted out by now.”

That day, they were going to try out Yangpyeong's famous rail bikes, which Lou had been itching to go to for days ever since they'd passed them on one of their car trips. Mark was wondering if this was going to be their last opportunity to prove themselves to the Parks, but if so, he still had no idea what he could do to impress them. Jinyoung claimed they liked him a lot, but he was beginning to think that maybe they didn't after all. Their love for Lou and Jinyoung wasn't really in question, in his book, so it must have been him they had a problem with.

Before they set out to leave, Lou pulled Mark aside. “Daddy,” he said. “My tummy is upset.”

“Oh no! Do you feel like you'll be sick?”

Lou shuffled his feet a little, looking like he didn't want to admit to it. “Kind of.”

“Then maybe we should stay inside for the day. It won't be any fun if you get sick on the rail bikes.”

“But I don't wanna!” Lou bit his lips. “I'll just have the tummy medicine, okay?”

“Are you sure?”

He nodded. “Last time I felt sick, Mommy gave me the tummy medicine and I felt all better all day.”

“All right. But let's take it easy today a little bit so it doesn't get worse, okay?” Mark fetched Lou some Pepto Bismol and made sure he took the right amount.

Lou did seem to perk up quite a bit in the car. Mrs. Park was playing a CD by a female duo called Davichi, and Jinyoung was singing along, his voice pure and beautiful. Both Mark and Lou knew he was a good singer from hearing him sing along with the radio back home, but it sounded even better in his native language. The words and emotions flowed from him readily, and it created a beautiful sound, one Mark felt like he could listen to forever.

“Jinny should be a singer,” Lou said earnestly. “Like the guys with pink hair on your TV.”

Jinyoung smiled. “I think my kindergarten class would miss me.”

“You can be a teacher and a singer,” Lou insisted. “Like School of Rock!”

Mark chuckled. He was glad Lou was feeling better. He didn't want him to be suffering on one of their last days of vacation.

The rail bikes wound up being incredibly fun, even for the grown ups. Lou naturally wanted to race, but Jinyoung's parents, who he was sharing his car with, urged him to take in slowly and enjoy the sight of the countryside surrounding them. The place where Jinyoung lived was beautiful. It looked pretty, it smelled pretty, and it just seemed to suit him to a T—quiet, serene, and earthy. A part of him wondered idly how Jinyoung would have turned out if he'd spent his full adolescence here instead. Mark wondered how he himself would have turned out if he hadn't had the opportunity to meet Jinyoung. It was unsettling to think about. Love had opened so many doors for him as a person, and had also changed Lou's life in several ways as well. If none of that had happened, Mark would probably still be the closed off person he was before. And it would have only gotten worse if he'd had to deal with Allison's remarriage and pregnancy without the hope of ever finding or falling in love with someone else himself. It would have been incredibly lonely. He would have felt lost and adrift, if not for Jinyoung. By loving him, Jinyoung had set him free from something terrible.

Mark reached over in their rail car and ruffled Jinyoung's hair. “Thank you,” he said softly.

Jinyoung blinked. “Did I do something?”

“You've done a lot of things. And I'm grateful. For all of them.”

“Well. I don't mind a little praise. Thank you, too.”

“Hey, Jinyoungie.”

“Yeah?”

“Let's not wait around to get married when we get back, okay? I don't need it to be a huge thing. I just need you.”

Jinyoung lifted an eyebrow. “What brought this on? I mean, I don't mind. I don't really want a courthouse thing like Allison, but maybe we could have it at Lake Park Pavilion in a few months? But I don't really want to wait either. I'm ready to be Jinyoung Tuan, your husband and Lou's daddy.”

Mark hadn't thought about the name change. “You'll be taking my last name?”

“Sure, why not? You wanted to take mine? Because I'm going to be honest with you, Mark Park sounds pretty stupid.”

Mark laughed. “It really does.”

“Then in that case, I don't mind changing mine. I'm serious about the family thing. I want to do all the things that family do. I want us to be the next generation of the Tuan family—you, me, and Lou.”

“Great. I'll embroider all your towels with 'JT'.”

“Because you definitely know how to embroider.” Jinyoung turned his head to look outside the rail car at the scenery passing by. “You know, it was really nice to come back home. But I'm ready to go back. I'm ready for what's coming next.”

“Yeah,” Mark said, swallowing. “Me too.”

After they finished their circuit on the rail cars, they went walking in the fields for awhile. Lou, who had been a bundle of energy during the rail ride, was starting to flag a little. “Maybe we should sit down to eat our lunches,” Mark suggested.

The Parks had packed them Korean food in little lunch boxes. It was delicious as always, but Lou was just picking at his.

“Lou, is your stomach still hurting?” Mark asked.

He shook his head. “I'm dizzy.”

“Are you too hot?” Mark put his hand on Lou's forehead, but it felt normal.

Lou shook his head again.

“Drink help,” Mr. Park said, passing Lou a little bottle of banana milk. “Important to drink in sun.”

Lou loved the banana milk in Korea, so was at least willing to have that. Mark studied him. Lou didn't look bad, but maybe they should go home to the air conditioned house just in case.

“I think we should head back,” he said, elbowing Jinyoung gently.

“I think so, too. If Lou isn't feeling well, he should go back and take a nap.” He relayed the message to his parents, who began packing up the lunch boxes.

“Hey, Lou, we're going to go back to the car,” Mark said gently. “Are you ready to go back?”

Lou normally would have resisted, but this time he nodded. “Okay.”

He stood up, helped to his feet by Mark. But as soon as Mark dropped his hand, he swayed on his feet and pitched forward, his eyes rolling back a little.

“Lou!” Mark yelled, lunging forward to catch him. He was unconscious. “Lou! Lou, what's wrong? Lou!”

“What happened?” Jinyoung asked, his voice panicked. “Did he black out? , what are we supposed to do?”

Mrs. Park said something to them in rapid Korean. Jinyoung quickly translated. “Keep him level. My father will go get the car. If he's not awake by time he gets the car around, we call the hospital.”

Mark gently lowered Lou into his arms, keeping his head against his knees. He was breathing steadily at least—that was promising. Not long after Mr. Park left to get the car, his eyes slowly fluttered open.

“Daddy, my head feels fuzzy,” he said weakly. “Why do you look sad?”

“You fainted, Lou. You don't remember?”

“Oh,” was all Lou said at first. Then, “I want to go home.”

“Sorry, Lou, but we have to take you to the doctors. You might be very sick. I don't know what's wrong.”

“I don't wanna be sick,” Lou grumbled, but he still seemed dazed. What was wrong with him? Mark knew a little bit about common ailments for kids to suffer, and Lou had even had a handful—earaches, chicken pox, and stomach bugs. But he didn't know what this was. Fainting was usually serious, wasn't it? What if it was serious? Every horrible outcome floated through Mark's head in succession. Diabetes? Brain tumor? Seizure?

Mr. Park got the car quickly, and they all filed in, Mark holding on carefully Lou so he didn't faint again. Mrs. Park called the nearest hospital with a pediatrics and family medicine department to make sure they could take care of Lou with no problem.

It wasn't too far, but it felt like an eternity to Mark. What if something was seriously wrong and the time wasted was costing them? Lou seemed a little disoriented, but not in apparent pain. Mark wasn't sure if he should urge him to eat or not. He wasn't sure of anything, and that terrified him.

Jinyoung was also freaking out as calmly as he could, going through his phone and trying to find out possible causes. Dehydration was possible, or low blood sugar. Was that something Lou had trouble with before? Mark didn't think so, but he wasn't really thinking straight at the moment.

They finally made it to the hospital and got Lou inside as quickly as they could. The Parks handled the reception desk and all the questions in Korean Mark wouldn't be able to answer, but had to pause every once in awhile to ask Jinyoung to ask Mark about Lou's medical history.

Finally, a nurse came to take him back to an examining room. She asked the Parks a question, and Jinyoung's parents put a hand on Mark's back and gently urged him forward. “They ask who family,” Mr. Park explained. “You go back with her.”

“I can't go back, too?” Jinyoung asked in a small voice. He said something in Korean, presumably repeating the question, but the nurse shook her head. Only family.

Mark felt a tiny kick of frustration in his heart, but he needed to focus on Lou at the moment. He gave Jinyoung's hand a squeeze, then went back with the nurse.

He didn't understand most of what was being said up until the doctor came in. The doctor, Dr. Choi, a cheerful young guy who couldn't have been older than Mark, more likely closer to Jinyoung's age, could speak English (loudly and exuberantly), and explained that he wanted to check Lou's blood pressure and blood sugar.

"Sugar is only good thing, yes, Lou?" Mr. Choi said brightly. "Cookie have sugar! Cake have sugar. CUPCAKE have sugar. I check your sugar, and everything happy, happy, right?"

Lou was cracking up enough at this overly-happy adult speaking English like a cartoon character that Dr. Choi could administer the pin prick on his finger to test his blood without alarming him too much. Lou, who was a veteran of getting into all sorts of scrapes when playing with Kit, barely winced.

The blood sugar test turned out normal. Dr. Choi tested blood pressure next, which Lou was less a fan of. He didn't like the arm cuff constricting him. “Daddy, it hurts,” he whimpered a little.

“You can do it!” Mark urged him gently. “Just a little longer, and it will go away. Maybe you can pretend the arm cuff is your Superman muscles.”

"SUPER LOU have biggest muscle in the world!" Dr. Choi also encouraged him.

That worked long enough for Dr. Choi to record Lou's numbers and deflate the cuff. “Low blood pressure,” he reported, his voice turning to a more serious tone as he addressed Lou's condition. “Could be anemia. I have to do a CBC- complete blood count test. It's drawing blood from a vein.” Mark was surprised this kind of English was coming from someone who'd been acting like a jester moments earlier.

“Daddy?” Lou asked warily. He didn't like the sound of 'drawing blood'.

Mark glanced at Dr. Choi. “I have his favorite movie outside on a tablet, if that will help with distraction. Can I get it?”

“I have to prepare test, so you can go a few minutes. Yes.” He turned to Lou. "Fave movie is... mmmm...Frozen?"

"No," Lou said, smiling a little. "Cars!"

Mark hurried back out to the waiting room. The Parks were sitting with Jinyoung, patting him on the back. Jinyoung looked like he'd been crying. Mark's heart immediately sunk in his chest. He'd had the benefit of being there with the doctor, so he knew it probably wasn't something serious. But Jinyoung didn't, and he could only imagine how awful that felt.

Jinyoung leapt up as soon as he saw Mark. “How is he? Is everything okay?”

“The doctor thinks it's anemia,” Mark said. “He had low blood pressure, and that's probably why he fainted. He'll probably be okay.”

Jinyoung's face collapsed in relief. “Oh, thank god.”

Mark wrapped his arms around him. “I'm sorry you couldn't be back there with us. You are family. He would have wanted you there, too.”

“I know,” Jinyoung said softly. “It just...it just felt so wrong that I couldn't be there.”

“It won't be for much longer, okay?” Mark said, giving his arm a squeeze. “Next time this happens...which I seriously hope it won't...you can be there for every second.”

Jinyoung nodded. “Let him know that we're sending our thoughts, okay?”

Mark nodded. He was sure Lou knew he loved whether Jinyoung was there or not, but it was always nice to hear it, to know that even the people who couldn't be by your side for whatever reason still held you in their hearts.

It took Lou's favorite scene in Cars (“I create feelings in others even they don't understand”- such a well delivered line that it always sent Lou in a gale of laughter) to survive getting his blood sample. Dr. Choi did a routine check up on him after to make sure everything else was okay, and everything seemed fine. He gave Mark a pamphlet full of recommended foods to get Lou's iron back up and advised him to take Lou to pediatrics back in the states to assure the situation was being managed. After giving Lou a lollipop and a sheet of dinosaur stickers, Dr. Choi said they were free to go.

“Jinny, I got stabbed with a needle,” Lou said dramatically when they returned to the waiting room. “And I didn't even cry at all.”

Mark didn't bother correcting him that there were definitely tears in his eyes during the ordeal because frankly Lou had put up with enough for one day. Mark was relieved they could get him home and give him some much needed rest.

“Your phone is decent with international calls, right?” Mark asked Jinyoung. “Would you mind if I called Allison? She needs to know what happened.”

“Will she be up?”

“I don't know. But if it's Lou, she'd want me to wake her up, I'm sure.”

Jinyoung nodded and passed Mark the phone. As they drove home, Mark explained to Allison about the fainting and blood pressure issue as calmly as he could. Naturally, she freaked a little, but calmed down as Mark went over the details from the check up with her and reminded her that they'd be home in a few days. She asked him to put Lou on the line, so Mark passed the phone to him and let him tell her all about how brave he was during his blood test.

As soon as they got home, Mark put Lou to bed. “We'll make you some good food that will make you feel better for dinner, okay?” Mark said. “But for now, you've earned a nap.”

Lou didn't even whine about it. He just gave a quiet “Sorry for making you scared today, Daddy,” then snuggled into his covers and went to sleep.

When Mark went back out to the kitchen, all three Parks were assembled at the table. Jinyoung gestured for Mark to sit down beside him.

“We something to say,” Mrs. Park began. “Jinyoung explain.” She switched over to Korean and talked for a bit. Her words were for Jinyoung to understand, but she was looking at Mark.

“She says she's sorry for not talking for so long about why we came here in the first place,” Jinyoung said. “She really loves Lou a lot. She likes you, too. They both do. They think you're a great father and that you really love me. It surprised them at first since you had a wife before, but they believe you. And they believe I also love you. They just still had questions for a long time about what would happen if Lou's peers wouldn't accept it and it became a problem later.”

When Jinyoung finished translating, she resumed speaking. Mark felt a little uneasy. Had those questions been answered at all? He didn't see how.

As she spoke this time, Mark could sense Jinyoung's reaction immediately. His eyes were watering, but it didn't seem to be because he was upset. He was familiar with the full range of Jinyoung's emotions, and knew these kind of tears usually came when something moved him.

When Mrs. Park stopped speaking, Jinyoung needed a moment to compose himself. “She said,” he translated, his voice a little choked, “that two things influenced her heart. One was when Lou said he had three fathers in a way that she says was as if he possessed the greatest treasure in the world. That's how they knew he was my son, she said. And then...and then the second thing that convinced her was today. She says from the moment Lou fainted and after, my expression was a mirror to yours. My fear and anxiety was the same as yours, Lou's father by blood. My heartbreak at not being able to go back with you was as genuine as yours would have been in the same situation. And she says that's how they knew. That's how they knew...I was his father.”

“Oh, Jinyoung,” Mark said gently, touching his leg under the table. “You are. You really are.”

This time, Mr. Park spoke. “Regardless of what others may think, a child should be with his father,” Jinyoung translated. “It would be cruel for Lou to be hurt by others, but even crueler to be denied his family. You and I don't need anyone's blessing to become a family, because we already have become one. But we do have their blessing to make it official.”

Mark felt his heart flip in his chest. He'd been waiting for this so intensely that it physically shook him. Jinyoung's family accepted them. And in doing so, they would also be a part of the family they were forming.

“Thank you,” Mark said to Jinyoung's parents. “So much. Kamsahamnida. Thank you.”

Mrs. Park reached across the table to squeeze Mark's hand. “Now you our son. And...and...” She switched to Korean.

“Um, she says before we get married, they have to come to America and formally meet your parents,” Jinyoung said. “She says they'll buy the tickets right away. So if your parents don't mind...”

“They won't,” Mark said quickly. “I'll e-mail them about it.”

“This should be interesting,” Jinyoung murmured to himself. “My parents and your parents...I can only see that going spectacularly. They're going to adore each other.”

“That means an even bigger family than ever,” Mark said, shrugging. “I'm all about it.”

“Oh, me too. I should invite Sangyoon as well. Make it a family reunion.” Jinyoung smiled. “Your family and mine. One and the same.”

“The way it should be,” Mark said, smiling back at him. “And always will, from now on.”