“And so ... they lived happily ever after.”

Seungri closed the book. He checked on Joonie and saw the boy fast asleep beside him. He kissed Joonie’s forehead, pulled the blanket and covered the boy before he got down and found his husband in the balcony outside their bedroom, watching the night ocean. Seungri agreed that it could calm one’s feeling. He hugged Jiyong from the back.

“Why are you here, Jiyong?” Seungri whispered. He closed his eyes and put his head on Jiyong’s back.

Jiyong sighed. “It’s peaceful here.” Jiyong put his hands on top of Seungri’s. “Are you going to talk?”

Seungri snuggled closer. “It’s just ... I don’t know how to say this, but there’ll be important business meeting in Jeju. They expect me to make appearance.”

“When is it?”

Jiyong could feel Seungri’s hesitation. “Tomorrow.” The older didn’t reply. “I got notice from David that Jeju Shinhwa World proposed to have Aori Ramen installment inside. They think that it’ll be able to invite more people since your cafe and bowling arena will be the main attractions.” Seungri quickly explained before Jiyong got a wrong idea about it.

“And you have a meeting with them tomorrow.” Jiyong stated calmly.

“Yeah.” Seungri inhaled Jiyong’s scent. “I told David to handle it but they insisted to meet me since they knew that I was here with you.” 

Seungri had no idea how these people could know his whereabouts. He had checked social media and found nothing, the girl from grocery store kept her promise. She didn’t spread the news to others. They called David even before Seungri stepped his foot inside Jeju Shinhwa World to meet up with his husband and son.

“It’s alright. You can go.” Jiyong said after awhile.

“But Jiyong ... what about tomorrow’s plan?” Seungri tried to argue. He didn’t want to miss anything. This vacation was supposed to mend their broken relationship. Seungri didn’t have time for business as he truly wanted to dedicate all week only for Jiyong and Joonie. He almost cried when he said that. He didn’t want to let them down again.

Jiyong was facing Seungri when he felt Seungri’s body shaking. “I haven’t made any plan yet for tomorrow. We can make a good one after or before your meeting. What time is it again?”

“They want to see me at dinner time.”

“Then we can have fun before that. Agree?” Jiyong suggested.

“Are you sure about it? What about Joonie? Will he let me?” Seungri couldn’t stop asking. He just wanted to make sure about it.

“He will. He’s growing up now. I know my son will be mature enough to let his mother go at dinner time.” Jiyong tried to assure.

“But I’m not sure about it.” Seungri said.

“Joonie ... He wasn’t mad because you’re doing business, Ri. He was mad because you didn’t keep your promise to come back immediately.” Jiyong explained as he glanced at Joonie’s body inside through the wide glass window. “He felt like he was being cheated again by his mother. I know he understands that you can’t be separated from business, just like how he can’t be separated from you. You just need to tell him.”

Seungri faced the floor when he heard what Jiyong had just said. He felt very sensitive lately when someone reminded him about it. That was the biggest mistake he made in life so far. Not even those scandals in the past could defeat the feeling of remorse he had after abandoning Joonie. He wanted to punish himself more, but he knew he couldn’t do such thing. Jiyong would never approve and Joonie would become sadder than before. However, the positive progress happened since they landed in Jeju. Joonie started warming up to him and Seungri couldn’t be more grateful than that. 

“He would never believe in me again. He would never want to make a promise with me anymore.” Seungri said sadly.

“Prove him that you’ll return as you say.” Jiyong answered. He patted Seungri’s head gently. “We still believe in you, momma. Although it took forever for you to come back, we still here accepted you back. Because you’re the important glue in our family, someone that his presence couldn’t be missing. And we don’t want another, we only want you. So don’t be afraid of it, Ri. We love you too much we can’t stay mad at you for long.”

Seungri was melting by the words Jiyong said. He knew about that already, but still hearing it from the one he loved the most in this world truly moved his heart. His decision of marrying Jiyong was indeed the right one. And Joonie was the greatest bonus he ever received.

“I guess I need to do that, eh?”

“Yeah.”

“Then ... What about you, Jiyong?” Seungri asked shyly. He wanted to know.

“What about me?” Jiyong asked back. He was confused.

“Are you okay with it?” Seungri didn’t even dare to look up. He was afraid he would only disappoint Jiyong again. Jiyong sighed at that.

“I’m not really against it, honestly. I just want you to learn from the past and find balance in your personal and family life. You don’t have to always do everything alone, Ri.”

“I know. I’m sorry.”

“No need for that. We have done talking about this matter, baby. Both of us have learnt our lesson.”

The past needed to go and they had to move forward. It would never be over and the argument would keep going if they decided to live with the past tagging along their life.

“You’re right.” Seungri sat down at the railing, backfacing the ocean. Jiyong stood between his thighs and steadied the younger by holding his waist. Seungri leaned down and kissed Jiyong. “So, it’s really fine then.”

“Go make your business big. I’ll be here watching you proudly.” Jiyong whispered as he kissed Seungri back. They tangled into heated tongue battle for awhile. 

“I’ll do it for both of you.” Seungri smiled brightly. To finally get full support coming from his husband was the thing he sought for the past few months. His way of asking it was wrong in the past though, so all he got was pain in the end. But this time, he tried to listen more to his family before anyone else.

“What else do you want to say?” Jiyong asked. He focused his gaze straight to Seungri’s eyes. It pierced down to the younger’s soul.

So he knew. Who was Seungri kidding? Jiyong always knew when something wasn’t right, especially when it came to Seungri. He could hide nothing from Jiyong.

“Huh?” Seungri pretended he got no idea about what Jiyong was talking about.

“Don’t play with me, Ri. This isn’t the big problem, right?” Jiyong stated carefully. He had a bad feeling coming through his body.

“Actually ... um, can I really say this?” Seungri asked, a bit nervous.

“If this is about our family, you have to spill it.”

Seungri bit his bottom lip hard. “So, one of our business partner is from entertainment company and he has this upcoming reality show project about married idol couple’s life ...”

“No.” Jiyong cut Seungri off. He walked away from the railing.

“Jiyong, I haven’t finished!" Seungri whined loudly.

“I know where this is going.” Jiyong stated, feeling cynical all of sudden.

“But ...”

“No, Seungri. If he wants to use us to bait people into watching this new show, then you’ve gotten my answer.” 

“I knew what you were gonna say when he proposed the idea.” Seungri spoke. “But, I remember your fan I met yesterday and at the second thought, I think this will be a very good opportunity to slowly coming out and facing the public again, Jiyong. You can’t forever hide.”

“I’m not hiding!” Jiyong yelled. He quickly turned his gaze from Seungri's widened eyes.

“Yeah. Sure, you aren’t.” Seungri rolled his eyes. “You’re back, but your soul isn’t.” Seungri hopped off and grabbed Jiyong’s shoulder, making the leader stay still and look at him again. “The company had made a quick survey about family public wanted to see the most, and guess what? Our family comes first at the poll. They want to see us, Joonie, most importantly you.”

“Still no. I don’t want Joonie to be in the spotlight at this early stage of his life. Look what happen to me!”

“Jiyong ... I know it isn’t good to make Joonie appear in the show, but I just want people to know that kid who has gay parents can live a good life the same way as the kid who grows up with normal parents. I don’t want them to downgrade Joonie. We agree that we’ll send him to pre-school soon. What if the environtment isn’t friendly enough for him because he has gay parents?” 

Jiyong was silent all the time. Seungri knew he got him