“Uncle Key?” Hyukjae asked timidly as he stood at the side of the pool and looked down at the man and the two toddlers who were pushing the rubber duck back and forth between them, laughing and squealing when the duck turned upside-down if they pushed too hard.

“Yes, sweetie?” Key asked and looked up at the young boy with a smile.

“Can I play with you?” Hyukjae pouted, sitting down t the edge of the pool and dipping his toes in the water.

“Yes, of course, if your appa knows that you are over here, so he doesn’t think you’ve drowned suddenly,” Key smiled and lifted the young boy into the toddler pool when he nodded.

“Hyukkie pway!” Sungmin squealed and threw the rubber duck in the general direction of Hyukjae. The older twin grinned, grabbed the duck and pushed it gently towards Ryeowook, who giggled and made grabby hands at the rubber duck.

“You’re it!” Yesung shouted when the ball he had just thrown hit Donghae on his arm. The younger twin picked up the ball and smirked as he threw it towards his appa.

“Why, you little rascal!” Kangin roared and charged through the water towards Donghae, splashing water everywhere. Donghae squealed in excitement when he was hoisted onto his appa’s shoulder. Soon the boys were busy trying to wrestle against both Kangin and Jonghyun, laughing and enjoying themselves.

“I wanna try the slide! Can we?” Siwon suddenly yelled once he had managed to free himself from the fight.

“Yay, waterslide!” Donghae cheered from Kangin’s shoulder

“Yeah, sure,” Kangin chuckled and let Donghae down carefully. The twin immediately swam ungracefully through the water and clung on to Jonghyun’s arm.

“Can you ride with me?” he asked with big innocent eyes. Jonghyun chuckled and began walking towards the slide, Siwon swimming beside him.

“What about you, don’t you want to try the water slide?” Kangin asked when he noticed Yesung, who hadn’t followed the others. The boy looked down shyly.

“No, not right now,” Yesung answered, running his hands through the surface of the water, creating little swirls in the water. Kangin frowned and walked closer to the boy.

“Is something wrong, Yesung?” he asked carefully, studying the boy’s body language. Yesung was quiet for a while before he looked up at Kangin with big, scared eyes.

“Uncle Kangin, is umma and appa going to get a di-forse?” Yesung asked in a wavering voice, clearly showing how he seemed to be more informed about the whole situation than Kangin was at the moment.

“Why would you think that, sweetie?” Kangin asked, pulling a floating board closer so he could lift Yesung up to sit on it. The boy slumped forward slightly, looking lost, yet hopeful that Kangin would have the answers and the power to bring balance to his world again.

“Umma called appa like he always does. And then he got really quiet at first and then he got angry and yelled and asked who it was, so I don’t think it was appa. Minnie was taking his nap and I was playing in the playroom, but I heard him. I sneaked into the hallway and looked at umma. He was just sitting in the sofa and staring at nothing. I wanted to go to him, but then Minnie woke up and umma went to get him, and then he began packing our things and said we were going here to have fun. I didn’t want to upset umma or Minnie, so I didn’t say anything, but I’m scared,” Yesung mumbled the last two words, seemingly curling into himself and growing even smaller as he sat on the floating board with the world on his shoulders.

“Come here,” Kangin sighed and pulled Yesung into a tight hug, while trying to digest the information he had just gotten. The boy buried his head in Kangin’s shoulder and held onto his uncle as tightly as his fragile, thin arms could.

“You know, adults can sometimes be really stupid. Even your umma and appa. Sometimes they forget to make the rules before they play a game, and then they start fighting about the rules when they are in the middle of the game. That doesn’t mean that your umma and appa don’t love each other and you and Minnie very much. But even people who are married fight sometimes. It doesn’t mean that everyone who fights will get a divorce, but even if they do, it doesn’t mean they can’t still be friends. Just look at you and Siwon; you fight sometimes, but you are still best friends, right?” Kangin asked, trying to assure the boy that everything was okay without directly promising him that it was. After all, he didn’t know what had happened, so he couldn’t promise his nephew anything, despite how badly he wanted to. Yesung nodded and looked a little more assured by now.

“Can you talk to umma and make him happy again, uncle Kangin?” he asked, hope blooming in his voice. He knew that his umma and uncle Kangin was best friends, so perhaps uncle Kangin could draw a drawing and give it to his umma to make him happy again, just like Siwon would do to him is he was sad?

“I will do my best when we get home and there is time for it, okay buddy?” Kangin asked with a reassuring smile. Yesung nodded and returned the smile, seeming more relieved now that he had talked to an adult.

“Do you want me to teach you how to swim?” Kangin asked, figuring that it would be good for Yesung to get his mind on something else now, after so many hours with sad and scared thoughts.

“Yes!” Yesung nodded enthusiastically and plopped down into the water from the floating board, only to resurface again quickly after because of his armbands.

“Okay, I’ll hold you up, and then you should do like this with your arms,” Kangin indicated the crawl moves with his arms, “and kick your legs back and forth. Okay?”

Yesung nodded and let Kangin hold his sides while he leaned forward and began trying to copy the arm moves Kangin had just shown him and kicking furiously with his legs. He splashed water everywhere and managed to hit Kangin sever