Jong Kook slowly reversed into the driveway of his parents' garage, taking care not to scratch against his brother's family van. He parked his car and slowly strolled up to the door, taking his time to smell the roses.

He was thirty years of age when his mother asked him to move out. She'd reasoned that he was too old to still be living with his parents, and that it might even be the reason why he was single. And so at her command, he left.

The joke was on her, however. It had been almost a decade since that fateful day and Jong Kook was still as single as when he had left home. 

Taking out his keys from his pocket, Jong Kook shook his head in disbelief at himself for even thinking the joke was on his mother when he was the one single and alone. It was a matter of concern, but Jong Kook decided not to bother with it at the moment. He was about to have dinner with his family.

Wafts of his mother's nourishing cooking entered Jong Kook's nose. He took in a deep breath of the familiar smells, wishing he could greet such smells when he returned home from work every day. 

"Umma! What's cooking?" He greeted happily and enthusiastically. His mother cast him a loving gaze.

"Can't you tell? They're your favorites." Jong Kook's mother set down her soup ladle to give her younger son a hug. She hadn't seen him for a few weeks, as he had been busy with work, as usual. The woman sighed inwardly when she thought about how her younger son threw himself in his work. She wished he'd focus on dating instead. The man was almost forty for goodness' sake.

"Where are the kids?" Jong Kook asked when the hug broke and his mother went back to the task at hand, stirring and spicing up the soup. "Are they in their room?"

"Yes they are. Go say hi to them then. I'll be done here in roughly an hour more or so." Jong Kook's mother dismissed him with a wave of her hand, and Jong Kook went to pay his niece and nephew a visit.

His brother's family had migrated to America a few years back, and whenever they were home for a visit they stayed with Jong Kook's parents. Jong Kook's old room was thus refurnished to suit the needs of his brother's children.

"Seung Ho! Hoya! Guess who's here?" Jong Kook pushed wide the ajar door and greeted his niece and nephew in a friendly tone of voice. He had never been stern with them. The two children in question seemed to be busy, Seung Ho sitting at a small desk pondering over what appeared to be homework, and Hoya poring over a book.

They looked up from whatever it was that they were doing to greet their favorite uncle when they heard him enter, however. It had been a few months or so since he'd last seen them. 

"Jong Kook Samchon!" Hoya and Seung Ho chorused, rushing forth to give their uncle a hug. He subsequently picked them up and gave them a spin, exciting the young and lively duo. They loved how their uncle was strong and could carry and spin them both at once. 

"Good kids. What are the two of you up to?" Jong Kook asked as he put the two down. He gave his arms a good stretch, as the growing children had both gotten heavier again. Jong Kook made a mental note to himself to lift even more weights at the gym in his spare time.

"I'm doing my homework!" Seung Ho reported proudly. He dragged Jong Kook excitedly to his desk to show him. "I'm supposed to fill in my family tree." 

"Really? That's really interesting Seung Ho. How about you Hoya? What are you reading there?" Jong Kook smiled at Hoya, who went to fetch her book from her bed to show him. "Medicine? Wow..."

"Yeah. I want to be a doctor, so I have to know about medicine so I can give the right cures to my patients." Hoya gave Jong Kook a broad smile. 

"You understand what's in the book?" Jong Kook's words were uttered out of shock, which was understandable as Hoya was nine years old. To be able to understand a book Jong Kook could barely even begin to comprehend was an astonishing feat in itself. 

"Of course. Why would I read a book I didn't understand?" Hoya seemed very nonchalant about her remarkable abilities, but Jong Kook heard Seung Ho calling his name and could only let Hoya get back to reading her book.

"Jong Kook Samchon! Jong Kook Samchon!" Jong Kook took quick strides away from Hoya to address the younger Seung Ho.

"What is it Seung Ho? Do you need help with your homework?" Jong Kook had to admit he was slightly relieved to have gotten called away by Seung Ho. If Hoya were to ask him to explain something in her medical book to her he would've been about as useful to her as a puddle of goo, but family trees he could handle and understand. Explaining to Seung Ho the different members of his family should be an easy feat.

"Yeah. I need help with filling in my family tree. I'm supposed to write down the names of my family members- like I know Noona is Kim Hoya, and Appa is Kim Jong Myung, and you are Kim Jong Kook- but there's some family member names that I'm not sure of." Seung Ho admitted with a scratch of his head.

Jong Kook began to patiently list down the names of Seung Ho's family members that he did not know of one by one, until they got to the one family member