daehwan's heavy day

"Okay, guys! Since the staff has a meeting now, you guys are free for a few hours. But don't get into trouble, okay?" The preparations for debut have been really heavy, not only for the members, but also for the staff helping them out. The group had just had their assigned rap and vocal lessons from Nara and Jia, and both were also obviously tired of working so much. Both of the ladies said goodbye to Necalli, and once they left the room, the group simply collapsed.

"God this is so tiring!" Kojin whined as he got comfy on the ground.

"I think I'm going to just stay here and take a nap..." Jinhee sighed, already claiming the couch in the corner of the room to nap on.

"You can't sleep for too long, though!" mommy Mihyeon warned, "You won't be able to sleep tonight if you do so..."

"That's true..." Daehwan nodded in agreement. "Anyway, I think I'm going to do a bit of shopping... Anyone who's coming with me?"

Most of the members didn't seem to be in the mood to move a single inch, but two hands immediately perked up in the air. "Alright, Siri, Megumi! Quickly get what you need and let's go explore! There's a shopping street nearby, I never even had the chance to go there."

"I know that street by heart, seriously!" Megu smiles proudly while she's busy packing her bag. "Oh, so that's where you sneak off to?" Kazu chuckled before letting out a loud groan as he stretched his legs.

"Hey, lamppost! I never sneak off! What are you even talking about? Anyway, come on, papa, we're leaving," Megumi completely avoided kazu's comment and walked out of the door triumphantly, slapping Daehwan's buttocks on the way (who squeaked adorably when he felt her hand hitting his , hard.). "Wait, Megu! Siri's not ready yet!" Daehwan called out after the smallest, and she immediately returned to her 'father'.

"No worries, little bear," Siri approached the other two and ruffled Megu's hair as she showed her sweet smile, "I'm more than ready! Let's go!"

As the trio were leaving the room, Mihyeon waved at them. "Be careful, guys! And be back on time!" Megu looked back, smiling brightly, "No worries, mama! I'll take care of papa for you!" Mihyeon was left behind flustered, wondering why the little one said that. Yes, they were the parents of necalli, but Megumi seemed to be... setting them up? Hyeon blushed heavily at the thought. Daehwan on the other side didn't get affected at all, and thought that it was just because they were the parents.

A while later

"Oh oh oh!" Megu and Siri started to act oddly excited at a particular shop they saw a few houses further. "A pet shop! Papa slug, can we go look there please?" The youngest looked up at her new father, who sighed, shaking his head. "I would love to, but once we get in there, we probably won't be back on time... You two will probably be sticking to the glass like glue." Siri, who was on the other side, hugged Daehwan's arm, using her charms to make it work. "Please, Daehwan? I promise we'll get back on time!" the thai girl pouted, making the leader look at her. He overthought it for a bit before giving in to the girls.

"Okay, let's go..." the man smiled gently, and he was answered with happy cheers from both of the girls. They started to drag him along to the pet shop. Once they were at the entrance, the girls left Daehwan behind and ran inside to look at the pets.

"Look! Look! Look, Daehwan! Come quick! Here's an adorable kitten! Lots of them actually!" both of the girls cooed through the whole shop, catching Daehwan's attention. They all looked through the glass together to see six adorable kittens. "Oh! This one looks like Jinhee!" Megu pointed at a pure white one. "Oh, and this one looks like Kojin! It's the smallest one!" Siri grinned as well. "Then this is the biggest one, so this must be Jiae!" Megu added, pointing at a bigger kitten. While the two girls were rambling about how cute the kittens are, but Daehwan only had eye for one. A little ginger. Does anyone believe in pets choosing their owners instead of the other way around? Well, Daehwan absolutely does.

"Hey, Daehwan..." Siri pulled onto the leader's shirt while Megu was poking him, "It's really time to leave now..." Also the younger started to fire her complaints now, "You said we were going to stick to the screen, but you are doing it now!" Daehwan gestured both of them to be silent for a moment. "Shhh... I'm thinking-" his eyes still locked on the ginger kitten, who stared back at him for a moment, yawned and turned around. "What is he thinking about...?" Siri looked up at Megu, who shrugged.

"I'm taking him!" Daehwan suddenly exclaimed, alerting a nearby staff member. "Miss, I would like to get that ginger kitten!" The staff member nodded before calmly opening the little glass home of the kittens, taking out the ginger one, who meowed loudly. Siri could easily notice at his expression that Daehwan was in love, that he was melting because of the cuteness. "So that's what he was thinking about... YAY! We're getting a new family member!" Megu went from 0 to 100 really quickly as she jumped happily.

"What are you going to call him, Daehwan?" The little kitten was in a transporting cage, and all eyes were on the little boy as the trio was heading back to the company. "I think... Hmmmm..." Daehwan muttered, still having to think of the name.

"I'm calling him Toby."

"Toby?" Siri smiled brightly, "That's such an adorable name! It fits this little prince!"

"The little boy fits you too, Daehwan!" Megumi squealed happily as she started to hop instead of walking.

"Oh no, but how will our allmighty queen react?" Siri suddenly gasped, glancing at the other two.

"The queen? Who are you talking about?" Daehwan seemed to be clueless, looking back at Siri with a frown.

"Oh, Valentina! I don't know if she'll like this little troublemaker..." Daehwan chuckled at Siri's explanation. "Valentina is a decent cat, she might dislike my baby but she won't do anything bad to him. It's below her level," the leader grinned happily, making the two girls snicker as well.

Back at the company building

"Hey! Everyone!" Megu burst into the training room, excited to bring the big news, to only shut up immediately, because what they found were 7 sleeping members. Hyeon was cuddled up with the youngest, Francesca, while Jiae was resting on Arthit's stomach, having wrapped her arms around Kojin protectively. Jinhee was still sleeping on the couch in the corner, while Kaz was napping on the chair next to it. Daehwan put the transporter cage down gently, taking Toby out of it and holding the shy kitty protectively as a smile was plastered on his face. "Look at them... It's too cute..."

The only one who was awoken by Megumi's loudness and Toby's loud meows was Mihyeon, who looked up with sleepy eyes, her hair put up in a messy ponytail. She carefully freed herself from Francesca's grip and made her way towards the trio, shuffling calmly on her socks. "Daehwan- You got a kitten?" the girl scratched her head gently before rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. It was simply adorable. Daehwan smiled gently as he petted little Toby, but his eyes were locked on her.

"Yes, I saw this little one and I just knew I had to get him..." the leader chuckled gently. "What's his name, Dae?" Mihyeon for once only had eye for the small kitten in Daehwan's hands, and reached out to pet him gently. "His name is Toby! Do you like it?" Mihyeon chuckled gently before murmuring, "Yes... Toby is a very cute and fitting name for this baby... He seems to be a bit overwhelmed... Can I take him for a moment?" When Daehwan replied with a nod, Mihyeon carefully took Toby out of his hands and took him in her own, nuzzling the kitten gently.

"You're so handsome, little prince... Are you feeling a bit shy?" the girl whispered gently, as the other three looked at her. Toby calmed down immediately and made himself cozy in Mihyeon's arms, looking around curiously. "Damn, mama!" Megu grinned, "You're really the cat whisperer!" Siri shook her head, grinning as well, "No, she's just everyone and everything's mom here. Mihyeon, just how can you do that? Do you use some sort of magic on them?" The female leader shook her head gently, grinning, "No, I guess it's just motherly instincts that are burning inside of me..."

"Everyone, we have an announcement!" Cheonsu was standing in the doorway, his strong voice waking up the rest and startling everyone that was awake. Daehwan didn't think his little kitty would amuse the CEO, so he subtly stood in front of Hyeon, who rested her chin on his shoulder to not appear that suspicious.

"As you might have noticed, our vocal instructor, Jia, has been having a hard time keeping up with all the work, so we decided to hire a second vocal instructor!" It was very unexpected, and as the managers entered the room behind Cheonsu, the Necalli members grew completely silent out of curiosity.

"Gook Minjae, come say hi to them, will you?" Cheonsu called out. The name rang a bell in Daehwan's head as his eyes lit up. "Gook... Minjae? Could it be... No..." he started to murmur to himself as he looked down, shaking his head gently.

"Hey, everyone! I'll be your new vocal instructor!" the new staff member had entered the room. Daehwan perked up completely again, and as he listened to the familiar voice, watching the very familiar guy with wide eyes, his emotions went on a roller coaster.

"H-Hyung..." the leader stuttered, choking on his tears as they started to flow down his cheeks. Minjae smiled brightly, opening his arms wide.

"Munchkin!!" Minjae exclaimed happily, and the moment he called out to Daehwan, that guy ran into his arms, hugging the new staff member tightly while sobbing his heart out. Everyone else was left astonished by the sight as Minjae rubbed Daehwan's back gently.

"Maknae, it's been so long!" the man smiled brightly as he gave Daehwan a fatherly pinch on the cheeks. "Maknae...?" Jiae raised a brow. "Look, it's like Dae has turned into a complete baby..." Arthit grinned mischieviously.

"I'm so sorry I couldn't meet you after I got discharged, hyung..." Daehwan spoke through his tears to the taller man who was busy drying them. "It's okay, munchkin, we were both busy... You don't know how happy I am to see you again!" And Minjae pulled the smaller into a tight hug again.

"Excuse me, you guys?" Kazuki broke the moving scene, and both men glanced over at him while still holding onto each other. "Why does a random dude come in here and claim our father for himself? What even is he?" Kazu suspected the new staff shamelessly, making him chuckle. "Young man... I guess we were too unknown for you to know, right, munchkin?" Minjae grinned, looking over from Kazu to Daehwan, giving his munchkin a sneaky squish again.

"Nobody knew us here, actually... We really got forgotten," Daehwan replied, showing his same, loving grin to the man who squished him. It really looked like Daehwan had just lost 10 years of his age, and had turned into a youngster once he saw the new staff member.

"What are you guys talking about? Are you guys lovers or something?" Francesca remarked, and both of the boys bursted into a happy laughter.

"No, not at all!" Minjae denied as he waved his hand wildly, "Some of you might know that Daehwan used to be in another group that disbanded, right? Well, he was the little baby maknae, and I was the leader, so he's my cute, little munchkin~" At this, Minjae started to squish Daehwan's cheeks yet again, while his maknae started to squeak adorably.

"Wow... Necalli's Daehwan and EGM's Daehwan... It's a world of difference!" Dongha grinned, being amused at the sight of Daehwan being babied. "This is really ing with my mind!" Arthit whined, still not being completely convinced of Daehwan actually being a maknae.

"Okay, I'm sorry to break this beautiful and moving scene, but Hyeon..." Cheonsu walked past the two reunited groupmates as he looked at the suspicious ginger ball of fur in Hyeon's hands. "What do you have there? a... kitten?" Mihyeon backed away as she got nervous, but Daehwan immediately stood between her and the CEO. "It's mine, sir, I got the little baby today. I had to get him once I saw him... I'm sorry, sir," Daehwan explained quickly while bowing a few times.

"You're too busy preparing for debut? Who's going to take care of him?" Cheonsu complained, slightly raising his voice. A few hands immediately went up in the air as volunteers, as a small figure came to stand in front of Daehwan protectively.

"Dad! I'll take care of him when I'm not at school!" the little girl said proudly as she smiled. "Sohee? Since when did you get back from school?" Gaeul blinked, no one had even noticed the little girl coming into the room. "Sohee... Baby... Okay, fine, you can raise Toby after school, but you can't always take care of him. Byungho? You here?"

"Yes, sir?" Byungho hurriedly came running, noticeably out of breath as he rested his hands on his knees. The young boy was worn out from all the jobs he had. "You're not afraid or allergic to kittens, right?" the CEO asked. Byungho shook his head, but wasn't able to bring out an answer. "Okay, you'll take care of that kitten when Sohee and Daehwan are busy," Cheonsu ordered calmly as Hyeon walked over to them, handing Toby to Byungho. "Yes, sir... I'll take care of him..." the boy panted heavily, but he started to beam as he held the little ginger kitten, petting it gently.

"What's his name, Daehwan?" the CEO turned back to face Necalli's leader, who got flustered before answering. "His name is Toby..." The CEO chuckled.

"Nice name... Munchkin," he gave Daehwan a little teasing squish as well before turning back. "Get back to work, everybody! We lost too much time already!"

"Munchkin-" Megu grinned behind Daehwan's back, who turned around with bright red cheeks. "Don't call me that, kid!" the leader whined while stomping his foot once, making the group burst into laughter.