At the age of 18, Dongho should have been out there having fun, chasing his dreams and maybe even find a girlfriend. But instead, he was stuck taking care of two four-year-old kids, when he was just barely legal himself.

To say the idea was mortifying was an understatement.

But really, it was either take care of them himself or leave them in an orphanage. Dongho didn’t quite have the heart to just leave them all alone in the cold and cruel world, so he went against his better judgment (the judgment that says he barely knows how to take care of himself, let alone two kids) and adopted them. And besides, he was sure his older sister would have haunted him from beyond her grave if he left her sons to fend for themselves at such a young age.

That’s right, her sons, Dongho’s recently orphaned nephews.

It had been a terrible tragedy to Dongho. The sister that he loved so much, gone from this world, never to come back. Dongho couldn’t remember how many days he locked himself up in his apartment grieving and crying his eyes out. But Dongho knew, no matter how much pain and loss he felt, his poor nephews must have felt a hundred times worse.

A slippery road and harsh torrential rain claimed the lives of his sister and her husband while they were on the way home from work. Dongho would have laughed at how cliché that sounded, but the situation really was not to make light of.

Before the funeral, the question of the children’s custody was brought up. It didn’t take too long to sort out, as his parents had stubbornly refused to raise his sister’s sons, and they had no other relatives besides his already very old and bed-ridden grandfather. Thus their custody fell into Dongho’s hands, as he refused to leave them in an orphanage.

Dongho couldn’t exactly say he couldn’t believe they could be that heartless, because he knew they could. To them, Dongho’s nephews were a disgrace to the family name. Being conceived out of wedlock and all. Dongho was at least relieved that the father was willing to take responsibility and marry her. But that didn’t mean all was fine and peachy with his parents, who disowned her. Dongho tried to rebel against their decision, but his sister told him not to since he was still in school.

Dongho and his sister didn’t really contact each other very often, but his sister gave him pages and pages of updates on her life when she does. Like how she and her husband fought and made up the day after, his nephews’ first words, their first steps, practically everything about her and her family. And in turn, Dongho wrote about everything that happened to him.

To Dongho, they sounded like such a happy family, and that was what made the whole thing even more tragic.

The funeral went quickly to Dongho, and was attended by quite a number of people, most of them being close friends to his sister or her husband. Her husband was an orphan, thus he had no family to attend his funeral. As well as no family to take care of his orphaned children. Dongho didn’t recognize anyone from the crowd. He felt slightly left out, standing between sobbing ladies and teary-eyed men.

As soon as they said their final goodbyes and prayers to the departed couple, the funeral came to a close. Almost immediately, an elderly woman, who introduced herself as the landlady of the apartment where his sister and her family lived, approached Dongho. She gave Dongho her condolences and asked if he was the one who would pick up his nephews. Dongho swallowed down his nervousness and gave the woman a curt nod. The woman said nothing as she motioned for Dongho to follow her out of the cemetery and into a bustling street.

“I didn’t want them to attend the funeral,” she explained, “It’s not something someone so young should see. I hope you don’t mind.”

Dongho shook his head and gave her a small smile. He was thankful for the elderly woman to be so thoughtful of the children. She led Dongho into a small antique shop squeezed between two larger shops. It was a little cramped inside due to the numerous items lining the shelves and scattered across the floor, but it was neat and free of dust.

The old woman led Dongho to the back of the store, where an elderly couple was sitting around a small table, looking up at the two.

“He came for the kids,” the woman said.

The elderly couple nodded and went inside a small room. A moment later they came back with two boys in tow, holding their hands. Dongho’s breath caught in his throat, he knew they were young, but to be reminded in person was really quite painful. They looked at him warily, eyes filled with curiosity and fear.

“Minhyun, Minki,” the elderly woman besides Dongho said, “This is your uncle, come and greet him.”

They shifted in their spots, eyes flitting from Dongho to each other, after a couple of moments, one of the boys slid his hand from the man’s grip and stepped towards Dongho, the other following soon after. They bowed slightly to Dongho in sync, and Dongho returned the gestured.

“Dongho, these are her children,” she pointed to the first boy, “Minhyun,” then to the second, “Minki. Kids, this is uncle Dongho, you remember uncle Dongho, right?”

They looked at each other before nodding stiffly, looking at anywhere but Dongho.

“He will be the one to take care of you now. Be good boys for him, okay?”

“But,” the smaller boy, Minki, spoke up, “Grandma’s not going to take care of us?”

“I’m sorry, Minki,” the woman said, patting Minki’s head, “Grandma’s already too old. And you’ll be happier living with your uncle.”

“But we want to stay here with you…” the other boy, Minhyun, murmured quietly.

The old woman hugged both boys, “I want you to stay here too. But I can’t take care of you properly. And your uncle Dongho needs company, he must have been as sad as you are that your mother’s gone.”

Minki looked up at Dongho, “Are you sad mama’s gone too, uncle?”

Dongho paused, unsure of what to say, and nodded. Minhyun looked up at Dongho as well, as if judging whether or not he was telling the truth, before squirming out of the old woman’s hug and hugged Dongho’s leg. Minki followed his brother’s actions and hugged Dongho’s leg as well.

Dongho was again at a loss for words. These four-year-old boys were trying to comfort him as if they hadn’t suffered a greater loss compared to him. Dongho went down to their eye-level and hugged them both. As he pulled away, he flashed his famous eye-smile to the both of them.

“It’s nice to finally meet you Minhyun and Minki,” he said, “I’ve heard so much about you two from your mama.”

“Here’s their luggage,” the elderly couple brought out two suitcases and two small bags. Dongho let go of the two boys and took their luggage in his hands, “Are you going to take the train back?”

“Oh no, a friend of a friend of mine is going to drive me back to Seoul.”

“We’re going to Seoul?” Minki asked Dongho.

“Yep,” Dongho said, patting Minki’s head slightly, “Have you two been to Seoul before?”

They both shook their heads, and Dongho couldn’t blame them. His sister must have wanted to stay as far away from their family as possible.

Minhyun and Minki said their goodbyes and hugged the elderly couple and the old woman. Dongho herded the two out of the shop and the old woman yelled, “Take good care of them!” before disappearing back inside the store.

The boys followed Dongho wordlessly through the crowd, holding on to his pants leg like a lifeline. Dongho would try to talk to them once in a while, but it was responded with short answers or a nod or shake of the head. Dongho led them to a small parking lot where his friend’s friend was waiting for him. Dongho saw his car and the familiar brown hair of his acquaintance.

“Took you long enough,” his acquaintance muttered grumpily, “The funeral ended ages ago.”

“Sorry Daehyun-hyung,” Dongho smiled sheepishly, “It was a bit hard to maneuver through the crowd with two kids and a lot of luggage.”

Daehyun turned his attention away from Dongho and to the twins still clutching onto the younger’s pants legs, “I can see that. So these are your nephews?”

“Yep, the kid on my right leg is Minhyun, and the one on my left is Minki. Say hi to uncle Daehyun, kids. He’ll be the one driving us all the way to Seoul.”

The two boys looked up at Daehyun shyly and mumbled their hello. Daehyun smiled at them, “Nice to meet you two,” Daehyun turned to Dongho once again, “Give me the luggage, you settle the kids inside the car. And be sure to ask them if they need to go to the toilet now. I don’t want one of them accidentally wetting their pants on the way back. And if they do, I’m charging you for the cleanup.”

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The ride back was uneventful, the kids were asleep the entire time and Dongho’s back and neck are stiff when they finally got home. Dongho carried the still sleeping twins up to his apartment room, with Daehyun in tow carrying their luggage. It took some effort and a lot of help from Deahyun to unlock the door and he rushed towards his unused guest room and tucked the twins in the bed. Daehyun was putting the luggage next to his couch when he came out of the room.

“Thanks a lot for helping me, Daehyun-hyung,” Dongho flashed him a grateful smile.

“No problem, a friend of a friend in need is a friend of a friend in deed. Besides, you’re not the one who owes me now.”

Dongho laughed and escorted Daehyun out of his apartment room, giving the older man a final thank you. As soon as he locked the door, he let out a long sigh. He ran a hand through his dyed blond hair, walking towards the guest room, which he figured would be the twins’ room by then. He opened the door quietly and padded towards the sleeping twins.

The twins looked peaceful, as if nothing had happened to change their lives. Dongho’s heart clenched, he would be lying if he said he wasn’t utterly scared of taking care of the two kids, but they needed him. Especially when even their own grandparents wouldn’t take them in. He just hoped he wouldn’t mess up too badly.