Chung Ae and Hee Young could barely lay down and close their eyes after seeing his discovery, thinking of ways on what to do with this piece of information. 

"Do you think he's related to our appa, though?" Hee Young asked, sitting by the edge of Chung Ae's bed as they looked closely at the picture. 

"He might be," Chung Ae whispered as he leaned his back on the wall. "There has to be a reason why Eomma kept this picture. And strangely enough, she hid it in the folder that contained our medical records."

"Really?" 

He nodded. "And Eomma is someone that arranges everything too well, so there must be a big reason why this picture was in it."

"But..." Hee Young suddenly brought her knees to her chest. "How are we going to find him though? And is he really related to our appa?"

Chung Ae bit his tongue, before looking back at Hee Young. "We can ask Eomma."

"Eomma wouldn't even tell us anything about him even if we ask. And she'll kill you if she found out you got that photo."

"We can search the internet?"

"We don't even know his name."

Chung Ae checked the photograph for any signs that would lead to him. "You're right."

It was silent for a while, their brains busy racking up ways to get their head around it, but they both knew that they would only lead back to one solution. 

"We have to ask for help."

Hee Young widened her eyes. "Don't you think we'll get into bigger trouble if we ask someone for help? What if Eomma finds out?"

Chung Ae pressed his lips together, looking back at the man in the picture, before something pops inside his head, as if a lightbulb was switched on.

"I think I know someone that will help us no matter what."

___

Saturday mornings were mostly spent by the kids sleeping away inside their beds, or playing some toys and strolling around the park with their grandmother. Ji Hyun believed that exposing her children too early to tablets and smartphones can change their behavior and their work ethics once they grow up, so she decided not to give them that part just yet. After all, working in the medical field exposed her to different people of all ages, and even her patients are victims of how technology can make these children act different. 

Which is why on this Saturday morning, the twins are sitting around by the television, watching a few shows and eating their snacks, but Halmeoni noticed how drowsy the children were as they lounged around. She was sure that they slept early, since she checked the room as well after Ji Hyun went in to tuck them into bed. It was strange as well that despite the drowsiness, Chung Ae, in particular, was being jittery, constantly fidgeting with his fingers as he watched the cartoons on the television. 

Halmeoni beckons her grandchildren to lace up their shoes and follow her to the nearby park in the neighborhood, the spring wind nipping through their shirts as they walked out of their gate, the sun beating down on their skin. The children were trudging their way with her, compared to their energy yesterday, and it was weirder that she walked faster than them this time. This was when she knew that something was up with them. One thing she didn't know though, that the trudging steps and the puffy undereyes were from their brainstorming session last night of ways on figuring out if the picture they had was their own father or someone who knew their father, and how to get close to him. Even when they finally reached the park, they could only sit quietly by the swing, dozing off slightly on the chains of the seat. 

“My darlings,” Halmeoni’s eyebrows furrowed at them as she observed them from the bench that sat beside the swing set. “Did you sleep last night?” 

“Yes, Halmeoni.” The monotone reply left the children, their eyes too heavy to be opened. 

“Are you lying to me?” 

The two children suddenly got up in alert as they stood up and faced her, knowing very well Halmeoni is pretty much one of the scariest people when they get angry, aside from their own mother. 

“No, Halmeoni!” The children flashed their pearly whites as they tried their best not to doze off on her, but the grandmother knew her grandchildren too well. 

“Is there something that I should know?” Halmeoni raised her eyebrows, and the children looked at each other, the internal war on breaking the news to their grandmother still going strong. 

“Halmeoni it’s—“ Chung Ae clamped his hand over Hee Young’s mouth. 

“It’s–OW!” Chung Ae took his hand back, seeing a reddening bite mark over his palm. 

“What’s going on?” Halmeoni was getting a bit frustrated now, and the twins knew it. The two gave up their little game, before Hee Young finally spoke up.

"Halmeoni... Please don't get mad at us... But..."

She waits for what's next. "What did you do?"

"WefoundsomethinginEomma'sstudy."

She raised her eyebrows up at her grandchildren. "What?" 

"Chung Ae found something in Eomma's study."

Something about Hee Young's words didn't sit right with her. "What did you find?" 

The twins looked at each other, before Chung Ae fished something out of his pocket. It was a now or never situation when it came to them, so when he showed the torn photograph, they watched as her eyes drifted along the details in the image, like she was reading the book about jades and lost princesses that she always seems to scan every time she sits by the patio of their home. It was silent as the twins looked at each other in regret, thinking about how maybe their plan backfired too soon and how hard it will be to find the answers they were looking for. 

“How… How did you find this?”

Halmeoni started with a soft voice, the sternness melting away as shock was slowly laced in her voice.

“I… I found it when Eomma asked me to clean her study a few days ago.” Chung Ae muttered. “Eomma said that I should arrange her business cards and some of the papers on her desk, and then… the picture fell from one of the folders.”

Halmeoni was silent as Chung Ae waddled towards her. “Halmeoni… I… I took this photo since I got curious… I read the words behind it and I thought…”

With the mention of this, Halmeoni turns the photo around as sees the characters written in an unknown handwriting, but something about them made their grandmother freeze, and she released a shallow, slow breath afterwards. 

“Halmeoni…” Hee Young stepped in. “Do you… Do you know the man in the picture? And do you think he knows where our appa is?”

They watched as she held her breath, the only thing that rung in their ears was the rustle of trees from the spring wind. And right on cue, just when the lights turned red by the walkways of the park, a green bus stops just by their viewpoint, and it took less than a second for Hee Young to recognise the person plastered by the side of the bus.

“Halmeoni,” she pointed. “Isn’t that the man in the picture?”

And lo and behold, it was the same eyes their Halmeoni knew as well too. They watched carefully as she studied the unknown man’s face on the bus,  his shining eyes and earnest smile looking at them... while holding a bottle of water. They looked at each other as they wondered to themselves what was she thinking, and after some time, the bus disappears out of their sight, but it was clear that their grandmother was already out of words to say to them. 

They watched as Halmeoni’s gaze was kept on the bus as the lights turned green, as if she was in a trance. The twins had to tap her knees to bring her back to them. 

“Halmeoni...” Chung Ae called. 

The grandmother twists her neck so she can see her grandchildren, and the twins watched as her eyes slowly welled up with tears as she gazed at them. 

“Halmeoni… Halmeoni… We’re so sorry.” 

They watched as their grandmother heaved a sigh, before staring at the both of them, her lips pressed together in an attempt to hold it together. 

"I wish she told you about him first." Her voice cracked, and the twins immediately rushed to their grandmother, short arms trying their best to fully wrap around their emotional grandmother. 

"We're sorry we made you cry, Halmeoni." 

"No, no." She let out a breathy laugh. "I'm sorry… I really am… I really wished your mother would have described him to you first." 

This settles a cloud of doubt and worry over the twins, thinking whether it was still a good idea to talk about the identity of their father towards her. 

"We promise we won't try to meddle with Eomma's business ever again, Halmeoni." Chung Ae tried to close the topic, but in a surpise, Halmeoni shook her head. 

"No, no. I think it's time that you should know something. If your mother won't tell you, then I will." She looked back at her grandchildren, and with a sigh, she lets them settle down beside her. The twins watched their grandmother as she gazed somewhere far, trying to put her thoughts together. She held the photograph up at the two.

"The man you pointed out to me?" She looked back at her grandchildren after a while, her index finger pointing at the road where the bus stopped. The twins nodded slowly, and somehow, the way she sounded is reminiscent of whenever she read them the legends and stories regarding mythical creatures and resilient heroes, but this time, she was dealing with someone more real than anything else. "He's... That's... He..."

She couldn't say the words. She couldn't tell them, and Ji Hyun didn't deserve being kept out of the light like this. She wanted her own daughter to break the news to her children, but everything seems to be catching up to them that she was scared that it might be too late if they knew. It was also difficult after countless times of convincing her that she should at least tell them about him, but it would be a crime to lie to her grandchildren, knowing that things would only get worse if she let out a white lie, and they would never hear the end of it. 

"He's your father."

The grandchildren raised their eyebrows in wonder and amazement. "Really, Halmeoni?!" 

Halmeoni, in turn, placed her index finger by her lips, knowing very well that it would draw them a bit of attention, despite the nearly empty space they're in right now. The twins mimicked her, and after some time, Halmeoni nodded slowly. 

"This is why I wished your mother at least told you about him, but I do understand why she would keep this from you." She sighed. “He is quite... recognizable to everyone. It would be really dangerous if she mentioned his real identity to you."

"Is he famous?" Hee Young's eyes sparkled in wonder, and for a second, she resembled her own mother, and the way her doe eyes widened whenever they find something unexpected. 

Halmeoni let go of the last precipice of her doubt as she nodded slowly. “...He is, my darling."

The twins looked at each other in shock, and their grandmother watched as their mouths formed an "O" and traces of a smile started to form on their faces.

"So, our Appa is a cool appa?" Chung Ae giggled. "Why is he famous, Halmeoni?" 

"I'll tell it to you some other time."

The twins sighed in dismay. "Why do we always have to hear that all the time?" 

The grandmother looked at Chung Ae with amusement, pressing his nose with her index finger after his comment. "Because everything happens and comes out at the right time at the right moment."

It was silent afterwards as the three walked back from the park back to their humble abode, but in the middle of the walk, Chung Ae's curiosity still got the best of him.

"Halmeoni..." The little kid spoke. "Have you ever seen Appa in person?"

The grandmother is silent for a moment, looking at the photograph in her hand, before she shook her head him. "There was this one time that he walked around the market, but I couldn't really see him because of the hundreds of people wanting to see him."

"Is he handsome in person?" 

Halmeoni smiled, placing a hand on his cheek and swiping a thumb on his temple. "Well, your good looks only mean that you got it from your parents."

"That's what Eomma told us, too."

"Well, she's not wrong." She chuckled, ruffling his hair. "I have seen your father in photos and sometimes on the television. And not a day goes by that I see his features in the both of you."

They watch as their grandmother heaved a sigh. "Although, it does upset me that your mother won't talk about him to you, but I know she has her reasons." 

"Halmeoni," Hee Young gazed up at her. "Did... Does Eomma love Appa?"

The grandmother freezed at the question, and for a second, she was afraid to give her answer. Instead, she smoothens the top of her head. "I think you should ask your mother about that instead, but I know that she does. She cares about him more than she'll admit it."

And she meant it. The more Ji Hyun would try to deny it herself, she knew that she still had a special place in her heart for their father. She tried to be quiet about the longing gazes she'd see on her whenever his commercials came out on the television during their late nights of watching over the kids, or whenever he's smiling or doing something out of his comfort zone in a reality show. She sees the slight twitch in the corners of whenever she sees his eyes, and to her, that was more than enough to tell that she still felt something deep for him. It was the mother's intuition speaking, after all.

This statement, however, picks up the pace of the twins' heartbeats, and Chung Ae couldn't help himself anymore. 

"Halmeoni..." Chung Ae jumped. "Can... Can you help Eomma meet our Appa again?" 

This shook Halmeoni to the core, the twins feeling it as the three stopped their pace, their feet stuck on the sidewalk in the middle of the neighborhood, with only two blocks separating them from their home. It was as if her heart stopped as well. This worried Chung Ae, thinking that it was already a bad idea asking their own grandmother on helping them contact a person, who is a famous individual. 

Halmeoni crouched down in front of the twins, a cloud of doubt hidden behind a weary smile as she faced them. "Darlings, as much as I would love to help you, I do not know where to start to make sure that we'll meet him, and how in the world we can get this through your mother as well."

The twins frowned, but it wasn't the kind of frown that they had whenever they would skip buying a toy or going to a fastfood chain. It's as if they were hurt, like it was more than being scolded for a thing they didn't do, more than being insulted for their appearances or their personalities. But, their grandmother can't blame them. This is their father they're talking about. She knows about the days of them being frustrated over their own classmates having two parents to introduce to their classroom during show and tell, and having to explain to everyone why they only use their mother's surname instead of their father's. It feels like a mission impossible trying to get to him in the first place, but this family is known for one thing: resilience in the times of trouble. Their ancestry consists of strong men and women that braved through wars and storms, and this may be tackling unchartered territory, but if their family managed to raise two beautiful children and managed to get their own daughter finish her degree and become a noble doctor in a span of eight years, then this is just another one for the books. 

"But, I will do my best to make sure we'll get you to meet him, and probably let your mother see him again. It's been too long, and I think it's time that there should be a few changes around here in this family, don't you think?"

And there it was, the small firecrackers behind their little doe eyes staring at her with excitement, eyebrows raised as the corners of their mouth stretched past their ears, the giggles and squeals leaving their lips as they jumped on their grandmother for a hug. 

"You're the best, Halmeoni."

"Thank you, Halmeoni."

She smiled at her twins, before giving the photograph in her hand back to Chung Ae. "Keep this with you at all times, alright? We don't want to get your mother angry if we lost it." 

Chung Ae nodded meekly as he placed it back in the comforts of his pocket, and she chuckled at her two little babies, enclosing them both in their arms with a sigh, and a little tear rolling down her left cheek. It will be tough weathering through this, knowing how she won't only deal with one man, but his workplace, his team, and his millions of fans. But if it means to make her grandchildren happy, she swears, in a street in the heart of Namsan-dong, as the gust of wind nipped her cheeks and bit the back of her hands, that she will do whatever it takes to fulfill her grandchildren's wish, even if it can cost her everything. 

The thing though, is that she hopes her own daughter would forgive her for what she's done.