2010

“Du appa.” Little Shura’s voice echoed throughout the house; the little girl having just woken up in her bed after having a nightmare. Hearing his adopted niece crying due to being such a light sleeper, Kyujong jumped awake and scrambled out of bed, running to check on her.

“Shura; jalmosdoen?” he asked her what was wrong, walking calmly towards her bed. He sat down next to her, draping his arm around her as she leaned into him, crying softly.

“Du appa, du appa.” she continued to repeat the words, her little body shaking slightly as she continued crying. Her cries seemed to echo throughout the house, leading Hyungjoon to come rushing in as he overheard her.

“Hyung what’s happened? Why is Shura crying?” he questioned Kyujong, his voice laced with concern.

“She keeps calling for Jungmin and Hyunjoong hyung.” Kyujong replied as he looked up to the youngest member of the band, continuing, “Joonie mind going to get one of them or both? Which ever wakes up first.”

Hyungjoon nodded, giving him a salute before making his way out of the room to go get his friends. Shura’s cries seemed to filter into the ears of her older brother, Geun, whom opened his eyes and looked towards her, only to see one of his fathers trying to calm her down. It was a mere few moments later when Youngsaeng came into the room, letting out a yawn as he noticed his boyfriend trying to calm Shura down.

“Appa, why is Shura crying?” Geun asked, his voice capturing the attention of Youngsaeng.

“I don’t know,” he turned to his partner; “Kyu what happened?” Kyujong simply shrugged his shoulders.

“Nightmare I guess; she keeps calling for Jungmin and Hyung.” he replied, turning back to the little girl whom was still crying quietly against his chest.

*****

Meanwhile across the hall, Hyungjoon had wandered into the bedroom of his friends to wake up one of the lads, as Shura was clearly wanting their comfort more than anyone else.

“Hyung wake up.” he whispered, shaking him ever so slightly. Hyunjoong simply groaned slightly, mumbling something inaudible before falling back asleep. Hyungjoon rolled his eyes before wandering around to the other side of the bed, this time shaking Jungmin ever so slightly.

“Hey, Jungmin - wake up, Shura is crying.” He whispered. Jungmin stirred slightly, groaning as he pushed his panda eye mask off his eyes and taking out his earplugs. He looked up, frowning slightly as he saw Hyungjoon standing there.

“Joonie, what is it? I swear someone better be dying.” He sighed, an unimpressed look on his face as he looked at him.

“Shura’s crying - she was asking for you guys.” Hyungjoon replied, giving him a shrug. Jungmin sighed slightly, punching his boyfriend in the arm.

“Hyun, wake up!” Jungmin spoke to him slightly louder; the booming of his voice causing his boyfriend to jump awake and look over at him.

“Min, why are you shouting?” he then jumped again as he noticed Hyungjoon standing in their bedroom; “Joonie, why are you in our bedroom?”

“Well for one you are a heavy sleeper, and you wouldn’t wake up any other way.” Jungmin pouted, shrugging his shoulders.

“You could’ve just given me a kiss; that would’ve woken me up.” Hyunjoong chuckled slightly, leaning over to kiss his boyfriend’s cheek gently before asking, “But why is Joonie in here?”

“Shura woke up crying,” Hyungjoon replied looking at them both, “She keeps calling for you two. Kyu is in there now trying to calm her down to no avail.” Hyunjoong and Jungmin simply sighed slightly, chuckling to themselves as they got up and made their way towards their daughter’s room.

“Shura; it’s okay neo appaneun yeogiiss-eo .” Hyunjoong replied, softly speaking to his daughter and letting her know that her fathers were there with her now. He took his daughter into his own arms, cuddling her into him and softly rubbing her back.

“Du appa.” She sniffled slightly after hearing Hyunjoong’s voice, lifting her little head to look at both her fathers, only to see them smiling slightly back at her.

“Shura did you have a nightmare?” Jungmin asked, soothingly his daughter’s hair. She nodded, reading towards him. Jungmin smiled, scooping her up into his arms before sitting on the edge of her bed along with Hyunjoong. The others had already made their way back to bed, leaving the two parents with their daughter.

“Do you want to talk about it, sweetheart?.” Hyunjoong asked, looking over at her as she continued resting in Jungmin’s arms.

“I had a dream that something bad happened to Jungmin appa’s heart, and he died.” She managed to dictate through her sobs, burying her face into Jungmin’s neck. Silence fell over the pair, though the others could still hear them from their rooms.

“Appa.” Geun asked with a confused look on his face as Youngsaeng’s was tucking him into bed again, “What’s wrong with uncle Jungmin’s heart?”

Youngsaeng looked down at him slightly, trying to figure out the best way to explain this to him without scaring him.

“Well, you know how you always see him taking medicine?” he asked. Geun nodded, so he continued.

“He takes them to help his heart,” Youngsaeng explained, “You know how sometimes when you run or you are sick and feel weak and you need to take medicine to help you feel better? Well, Jungmin ah needs those to help him feel strong and such.”

A look of concern was etched across Geun’s face, leading Youngsaeng to quickly ruffle his son’s hair.

“Don’t worry - he’ll be fine.” he assured him, giving him a comforting smile as he tapped his nose.

Meanwhile in the other room, Jungmin and Hyunjoong were still doing their best to comfort their daughter, as she was still clearly upset by the dream she had, had.

“I’m not going anywhere baby,” Jungmin whispered, kissing her forehead as he rubbed her back, “Shh… it's okay, please don’t cry.”

“I was scared.” Shura sniffled a bit, wiping her eyes with her hand.

“I know you were but look, I’m okay and I’m not going anywhere,” Jungmin kissed her forehead again, “It was just a dream, sweetheart.”

“But what if you do?” She questioned, looking up at him.

“I won’t,” he kissed her head again, “Everything will be fine.” He assured her, giving her a warm cuddle. The little girl relaxed slightly, Jungmin using the pad of his thumb to wipe her tears away.

“Appa can you sing to me?” She asked. Jungmin chuckled, nodding his head.

“Sure, I don’t see why not.” He replied, smiling as she cuddled up to his chest, laying her head down on his shoulder as he softly began to sing to her

 

jaljala uliaga [Sleep well, my child]

aptteulgwa dwisdongsan-e [In the garden and behind the hills]

saedeuldo agayangdo dadeul janeunde [The birds and the lambs are all sleeping]

dalnim-eun yeongchang-eulo eunguseul geumguseul-eul [The moon guards, and sends]

bonaeneun i hanbam [Silver and golden bells tonight]

jal jala uliaga jal jageola [Sleep well, my child, sleep well]

on nulineun goyohi jamdeulttae [When the whole world silently falls to sleep]

seonban-e saeangjwido dadeul janeunde [Even the mice on the shelf fall asleep]

dwisbangseo deullyeooneun jaeminan iyagiman [The fun stories from the back room]

jeogmag-eul kkaechine [Break the silence]

jal jala uliaga jaljageola [Sleep well, my child, sleep well]

 

Jungmin and Hyunjoong smiled at each other as the song reached its end.  A quiet snoring sound could be heard as Shura had fallen back asleep, leading the two men to chuckle whilst Jungmin eased Shura back down onto her bed.  With a soft flourish of fabric they tucked her in, both laying a gentle kiss onto her forehead. She slept without a care in the world, snuggled under the blankets whilst her fathers watched.

“She's so cute when she's sleeping.” Hyunjoong remarked, whispered so he wouldn’t wake her up, his voice barely a whisper.  

“Yes that's why i'm such a happy appa.” Jungmin chuckled, leading Hyunjoong to laugh as they made their way out of the room. They noticed that Youngsaeng and Kyujong were making sure their son was asleep as well, leading the two of them to smile as they made their way into their own bedroom. As they sat down on the bed together, silence consumed them as they looked at each other whilst laying on their sides. Hyunjoong reached up and Jungmin’s hair, leading Jungmin to hold his hand ever so slightly. He could see that something was bothering Hyunjoong, leading him to give his partner a concerned look straight away.

“What's wrong, hyun?” he quietly asked.

“I'm just worried about you,” Hyunjoong sighed out, “What if it's more than a nightmare?”

“Listen, we don’t know what will happen each day so there’s no point in worrying,” Jungmin sighed as he looked at him, “I can't​ promise you that nothing bad's going to happen; all I know is we're going to try to keep it from happening.”

“I just pray we can.” Hyunjoong softly replied, wrapping his arms around his boyfriend, kissing his forehead as he did so. Meanwhile down the hall a bit, Youngsaeng and Kyujong had just gone to bed themselves, snuggling up together as they often did on a nighttime when they’d just chat and laugh until falling asleep together.

“It's great to see the kids getting along.” Youngsaeng told him, giving him a warm smile. Kyujong nodded his head, smiling back.

“I know, it's surprising yet lovely to see two different families Under one roof getting along so well.” Kyujong said.  

“Yeah,” Youngsaeng sighed a bit, “Truthfully though, I am still kind of worried about Jungmin.”

“Me too, but at least Shura got his spirits up,” Kyujong shrugged, “Everything will be okay, I hope so.”

Meanwhile down the hall, the youngest of the group, Hyungjoon, sat alone in the his bedroom as the house went silent for the evening. He smiled to himself as he was so happy that his friends were enjoying one of the greatest gifts of all - fatherhood.  Before falling asleep, as he did every night, he took a moment to say a small prayer for Jungmin and the children. He wondered what grand blessings the Lord had in store for them next.

‘Thank God for the happiness which he has given us.’ He thought to himself before falling into a gentle sleep.

*****

The next day was pretty rushed as was every weekday as the children had to be off to school quite early. Hyunjoong tended to Shura, which allowed Jungmin to sleep in, whilst Youngsaeng and Kyujong tended to Geun. Breakfast was cooked and eaten in a timely fashion, and the kids were ushered off to the bus stop on time - just barely as they had a couple minutes or so the spare. While at the bus stop, Shura seemed a little more reserved, leading Hyunjoong to hug her into him whilst they waited..

“Appa, is everything going to be okay?” she asked yet again. Hyunjoong nodded, kissing her forehead.

“Of course it is sweetie like Jungmin said last night was just a nightmare; it's nothing to worry about.” he explained. Satisfied with that answer, Shura smiled at him before waving as she gathered onto the school bus with the other students. After a wave, Hyunjoong returned to the house as they all had quite the busy day of meetings and other tidbits to get done. Throughout the mid-morning and into the afternoon, Jungmin complained of chest pains which worried the others a bit, though he would try to brush it off. With his heart condition being a more recent problem, they took their time throughout the day, trying their best to not have Jungmin too stressed out. Hyunjoong was extremely worried about him, but Jungmin kept trying to assure him that he would be fine as he wanted to power on through the day. The day seemed to pass quickly, and soon enough, it was time to gather the children from school. Jungmin decided to go for a walk to do so, thinking that maybe it would ease his chest pain a bit as he was starting to feel very uncomfortable.

“Shura, how was school?” he asked a short while later as he and Shura continued home; the little girl sweetly holding his hand whilst walking along.

“It's okay Appa; I made an A in math class.”  Shura remarked, smiling proudly​.

“That's great.” Jungmin gave her a smile before breathing out, starting to feel more and more uncomfortable as time went on. Soon enough, they arrived back home. Jungmin gave Shura her afternoon snack, before sitting down onto the sofa whilst she ate. A short while later, Youngsaeng and Geun arrived home, leading the siblings to head to the back study room to do their homework as it was always something they did together as Geun would sometimes help Shura with something. Whilst the others were pottering around the house, Jungmin was left alone in the lounge. The discomfort was consuming him, he suddenly felt like it was hard to breathe, and his vision was starting to blur. And without warning, suddenly tipped into the floor, clutching his chest in pain as he groaned slightly. The loud thud was enough to capture the attention of Shura, whom had been in her room grabbing something when the incident occurred. She rushed into the lounge to make sure everything was okay, only for fear to consume her as she saw Jungmin laying on the floor, having gone unconscious now. She burst into tears, screaming and pulling his arm.

“Appa, appa; get up!” her sobs and screams captured the attention of the others, leading everyone to come rushing into the room. Gasps echoed throughout as they caught sight of what was happening.

“Oh god,” Hyunjoong began panicking, “Jungmin!”