█ chapter O5 – day at the park

█ chapter track – ikemen boogie (hana kimi Japan OST)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SLAja2Jv6g

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=== DONGHAE'S P.O.V ===

There was an awkward silence that lingered between Soomi-sshi and I while the nine of us (Yesung, Ryeowook, Sungmin, Kyuhyun, Eunhyuk, Donghae, Henry, Soomi and Minkyung) walked to the nearby playground. Yesung and Wookie were both holding onto one of Minkyung's tiny hands, swinging him off the ground carefully and playfully. Kyu was quietly listening to music with his iPod as he followed at the back of our little parade and Sungmin, Hyukkie, and Henry were ahead of everyone else, enthusiastically thinking of games we were going to play once we got there.

Then... there was Soomi-sshi and I. She was smiling at the lively scene playing in front of us meanwhile I was at a loss of words. I was never really shy around girls, but man, what's up with me today? I can't even think of a conversation starter! Maybe it's the heat. I mean, it IS summer. Aha! There's a topic we could talk about. “Great weather today, huh?”

Her eyebrow twitched after I asked and she looked at me as if she was about to laugh. I heard Kyu chuckle under his breath. I know that's a pretty lame question but still... the silence was killing me! She answered back to me with a closed smile. “... Yeah, sure is.”

Psh, so much for trying to start up a conversation. Yay for more awkward silence! I looked at Kyu for some help but received a bitter, yet silly response. Kyu's mouth was open in wide smile and his eyes kept moving between Soomi-sshi and I; he was mocking me with silent laughter. Gee, thanks so much for helping me out, almighty Kyu!

“P-PARK! APPA! LOOK! THE PARK!!” Minkyung immediately let go of Wookie hyung and Yesung hyung's hands the moment the playground came into his sight. He sprinted towards the large, colourful pirate-themed playground with a wide smile. His bright grin was starting to bring out the inner-child in all of us and as a result, nearly all of us (except Kyu, who I personally think was trying to act cool in front of Soomi-sshi) ran to where Minkyung was. I beamed happily at my son and swooped him into my arms, spinning a few times before I tumbled on the grass with him still in my grasp. I looked at Minkyung who was laying on my chest and we shared a genuine laugh – a true father-son moment.

A few seconds later, the others arrived with looks that seemed as if they were dying. Even though it was a short run from where we last were to the playground, it was definitely tiring because of the heat. Besides that, the playground was really, really cool. It was really large, was shaped like a giant pirate ship, had entries that could be used to go underneath the ship and little ropes you could use to climb on top of it. It had everything you could possibly want at a playground – slides, sandboxes, swings, monkey bars, hiding places, grassy hills, everything! I took advantage of the others catching their breathes and practically hogged Minkyung as we explored the area.

“Hyung! Minkyung-ah! Come here quickly!” Ryeowook called to the both of us from a shady spot on the grass where everyone else was resting. Minkyung fit his little hand into mine and I smiled proudly to myself as we walked. I slowed down my long strides to short steps to match the Minkyung's little baby steps. See? This is why I came to the park and why I've always wanted to be a dad. My day is officially complete!

“Okay, so we're all going to play hide and seek. Since Minkyung's a little small, we're going to have to take turns bringing him with one of us while we hide, okay?” Sungmin explained calmly, yet excitedly with a happy smile. Soomi-sshi's face brightened upon hearing hide and seek. Perhaps that was her favourite game? Haha, how cute. On the other hand, Kyu gave Minnie a 'are-you-serious' look to which Sungmin replied with a 'you're-playing-no-matter-what' look. Kyu sighed heavily and put his arms on the sides of his waist, admitting defeat. I laughed mentally 'cause y'know, I just LOVE how Kyuhyun always ends up doing things he never wants to do. Like that y dance he was forced to do when we were doing Super Girl promotions. Ah, good times.

“Can I be 'it' first?” Yesung hyung asked, also in high spirits.

“Yeah, of course!” Henry snickered and seemed glad that he didn't have to be the one searching. “And whoever gets found first is the 'it' person for the next round. That good with everyone? Oh and I'd like to be the one hiding with Minkyung for this round.” We all nodded in approval and Yesung started counting at the tree that provided us with shade. Looks like someone here is excited!

We all went our own ways once the human timer began counting. Wookie hid behind a pirate statue with a hole in the face where you could put you head in, Minnie hid under a table located in the pirate ship's kitchen at the ground floor, Kyu and Hyukkie hid behind fat trees on the other side of the park and Henry and Minkyung, who's original hiding place was where Minnie was, jolted to the big bushes. Where Soomi-sshi went, I have NO clue! She kind of just disappeared. I glared at the oblivious Henry for going to the spot I was hiding in.

“Oh, hyung! You're here!” Henry, who finally caught notice of me, flashed a grin at me as he held on to Minkyung's hand. I chuckled at him and let go of the anger I held earlier.

“Y-you know I pla-played this game be-before and t-there was a HUFLUNGUS elelephant person that l-let me hide with him and he g-give me lollipops when we got found!” We giggled at Minkyung's little speech about his past hide and go seek experience and his funny, but cute grammar. It took me a couple of seconds to realize that 'huflungus elelephant' was Minkyung's way of saying 'humungous elephant'.

“Ah, is that so? But Minkyung-ah, we have to be quiet so that Yesung appa won't find us!” Henry patted Minkyung's head and his eyes formed a line because he was smiling too much. I don't blame him at all! Minkyung's absolutely ADORABLE!

“Ready or not, here I come!” Yesung called out in a loud voice and I secured myself in my spot. One by one, members started getting found. First it was Sungmin, then Ryeowook, then Kyu and Eunhyuk. The only ones left hiding were Henry, Minkyung, Soomi-sshi and I. But just when I thought we'd actually win, something buzzed passed Henry's ears. The maknae alarmingly squealed and jumped up in response, earning himself a laugh from Minkyung and I that didn't last all too long. It finally came to me that thanks to him, I would be found any second now.

“Found you Henry! Don't you dare move!” Yesung yelled and proudly walked over to where we were with Sungmin. Wondering where the other guys were, I popped my head up since I already knew I was going to be found. Kyuhyun was walking around the playground in search for a great hiding place and Wookie and Anchovy were cooling themselves in the shade under the pirate ship. “Okay, so now that I've found all of you, Minnie's going to be the next 'it'.”

Sungmin, who also noticed that something was missing, thought carefully about something. I crossed my arms and the two of us exchanged similar looks, but in the end, we shrugged it off and continued on with our play.

“Okay, I'm starting to count now!” Sungmin yelled to the rest of the park. Like what we did before, we all frayed out all over the place. Now that I mention it, there's no one else at the park besides our group. Not that I wanted to be bombarded with fans, I just thought it felt sort of nice that we spend time outside like this without having to worry.

“Hey, hyung, how come it's only us here?” I asked Wookie, who was taking care of Minkyung this round, curiously as we ran.

“It's a private park, hyung. This whole neighbourhood is where dramas and such are filmed. Anyways, gotta go! You should hurry, too. He's almost done counting!” Ryeowook explained before he climbed up the middle of a swirly slide. In the mean time, I hid in an area of tall grass just a few metres away from the monkey bars. Lying down on my stomach like a soldier, something in a distance caught my eye. Was that... Soomi-sshi? Under the platform where you first step to go on the monkey bars? Oh my gosh... it was! And she has been hiding under there for such a long time! Now that's what I forgot!

I threw a small pebble that I picked up beside me and threw it towards where she was with care so that I wouldn't hit her. She jumped a little when she heard a clacking sound and scanned the area to find out who threw it. The girl, who had an orange handkerchief held in her sweaty palms, caught notice of me. I did a small wave and mouthed, “Are you okay?” She gave an 'okay' sign with her free hand and mouthed, “Thank you,” with a reassuring smile. Thank goodness she didn't pass out or anything. I was glad that she was okay and that things didn't turn out really ugly.

Again, members started getting found one by one. Kyuhyun, despite his attempt to find 'the best hiding spot in the playground', was the first person discovered. I laughed quietly in my spot as I watched him look towards the ground bitterly. Oh, Donghae. You are so pro at this game! I mentally praised and smiled to myself for always being one the last people to be found until someone called out my name.

“I give up Donghae! Come out, come out, wherever you are!” Sungmin hollered in a sing-song voice as the other guys, all gathered under a large tree that provided shade, fanned each other with their hands. I jumped up from the ground and adjusted my clothing before yelling back.

“Aigo, so that's where you've been hiding! Why didn't I think of that...” Kyuhyun frowned and huffed, disappointed with himself as he walked beside me.

I smiled proudly in his face, making it clear that I remembered his 'helpful' act that happened earlier. “Sungmin-ah! I think I know what we almost forgot!” I moved my hands, calling him to come over. The other guys walked over to the monkey bars with a curious expression. “Soomi-sshi, you can come out now!”

Just then, a hand followed by a body, squiggled from underneath the platform. Sungmin, Yesung and Eunhyuk's jaw dropped. Ryeowook and Minkyung, who arrived at the scene a little late, had confused looks painted on them and Henry and Kyuhyun were speechless for a few seconds before they broke out into a surprised grin. “Omo, Soomi-sshi... are you... okay?” Asked Eunhyuk as he crouched down.

She didn't reply to his question. Minkyung's umma simply moved the rest of her body out so that she was no longer underneath. “Soomi-sshi... we're so... sorry... we just...” Yesung trailed off, unable to finish his sentence, and then offered her a hand to which she accepted. Soomi-sshi dusted the dirt off her clothes, her face still not visible because of the fallen strands of her long hair. Minkyung ran over to her and helped clean off some of the dirt stuck on her legs. Using her slender fingers, she pushed aside the hair on her face to reveal her silently laughing incredibly hard. During the few seconds that we just stood and watched her do her silent laugh, Minkyung and I broke the silence and giggled at her. This was surely one of those, “WHAT THE HECK JUST HAPPENED” moments. Yes, that's what it was.

“I guess that means... I won?” Soomi-sshi, who finally calmed herself, chuckled quietly to herself. We all nodded in response, still trying to process what just happened. I have no idea why, but every time she says something, the whole atmosphere turns awkward! But it wasn't one of those, 'I need to stay away from her in the future' awkward feelings; it was more like a really cute and dorky kind of awkward feeling. I didn't necessarily dislike it.

Sungmin flashed a grin at her and asked, “Would you like to take a break from this game? You could rest on that bench over there under the shade if you'd like. I think I need one, too.” He pointed to a polished wooden bench that had a clear view of the playground.

“I'd like that, thank you.” She replied politely and walked over to the bench, beaming a closed smile at Minkyung. Sungmin followed her and they started to chat with one another at the bench.

“LAST ONE TO THE SWINGS IS GOING TO BE BALD FIRST!” Eunhyuk announced as he jolted over to the swings. Oh man, I am SO not going to be bald first! Being the second one that arrived at the swings, I was feeling pretty accomplished. It was kind of funny how Minkyung ended up being the last one to the swings but as usual, he looked cute while he tried his best to keep up with the other guys and I thought it was adorable when he immediately got back up and kept running even though he fell a couple of times.

Time just seemed to pass like that and we all spent some solo time with Minkyung. Ryeowook sang the Three Bears song to Minkyung as he pushed him on the swings, Eunhyuk and Yesung hyung chased Minkyung around the pirate ship while pretending they were scary monsters (which REALLY made Minkyung laugh and scream extremely loud!), Henry went down every slide with our baby twice, and lastly Kyu bonded with Minkyung as they worked as a team on a sand pyramid.

While we played amongst ourselves, pushing each other on swings and slides, playing tag, rolling down the hills and giving Minkyung piggy backs, I saw Soomi-sshi and Sungmin clenching onto their stomachs. They seemed to be having a great time, seeing how they were laughing so hard that their faces were red. I sat down and joined them at the bench to see what the cause of this was. I don't think they noticed me, though.

“And when you see a surprised Siwon, his face would look like a tarsier monkey because his eyes would go like this!” Minnie exclaimed, opening his eyes as wide as he could using his fingers.

(A/N: A tarsier monkey. Can you imagine Siwon's eyes popping this big when he's surprised? Haha, I sure can! xD)

They shared yet another loud laugh when Soomi-sshi wiped a tear coming out from her eyes. Right then, we made eye contact and she greeted me. “Oh, hey Donghae-sshi!”

I smiled back with confusion, “So what's up?” Whatever they're talking about must be incredibly hilarious. I didn't know Minnie was a great jokester! Same thing goes for Soomi-sshi because somehow, she made Minnie have a hard time gasping for air due to her jokes.

“Oh, Soomi and I were just talking about some of the member's facial similarities to animals.” Minnie replied, stabilizing his uneven breath. Soomi? They've gotten this close already?

“Hey guys, Yesung, Eunhyuk hyung and I are going to get some refreshments and ice cream at the ice cream truck. I know what Hae and Minnie want, but what would you like, Soomi-sshi?” Ryeowook asked as he wiped his sweat with his handkerchief.

“Strawberry ice cream, please. Thanks for the offer!” Soomi-sshi smiled faintly, her jaw still tired from all the laughing. I looked around to see where Minkyung was. Sandcastle builder Kyu and Minkyung were still working on their sand pyramid with focused expressions and Henry was also working with the duo. Wookie smiled and nodded then left with Anchovy and Yesung to get the treats.

Truthfully, I didn't think Soomi-sshi was such a... fun-loving person. My first impressions of her were COMPLETELY different than what I thought of her now. I'm ashamed that I was so judgemental earlier, thinking that she was some girl that had treated her parents bad by having a child earlier than expected. But really, it's so easy to misunderstand her if you haven't actually talked with her. Soomi-sshi's a good girl. Not to mention an extremely silly girl as well! I know that now that I've really talked with her and I hope the other guys figure that out, too.

As the moments passed, the three of us continued talking about people's similarities to animals. Like how Henry kind of looks like a beaver, how Ryeowook's hair during SS2 reminded us of a shark, and how Heechul's eyes somewhat looked like an owl's. I also became a lot closer to Soomi-sshi and now we're both calling each other without formalities. Sungmin even asked her for the name of her Skype account and her phone number, so that we could webcam and call each together for another laughing session. She gladly gave her number and username to us, saying that we should definitely chat again. And before we knew it, the time just flashed by us and the sun was starting to come down. Wookie, Hyukkie, and Yesung hyung came back holding all the treats and we made our way back to the filming site.

“Man, that was one fun day. I'm completely exhausted.” Henry exclaimed, stretching his arms in the air while we walked.

“Agreed. Looks like Kyuhyun's finally grown close to Minkyung-ah!” Eunhyuk chuckled and we all glanced at Kyu, who didn't even notice we said something about him because he was so engrossed in holding Minkyung's hand. Minkyung on the other hand, proudly held his father/partner-in-building's hand with his with tired eyes.

“Oh yeah, Soomi-sshi, would you like a ride home? I figured that you were given a ride to the filming site and... you can think of it as a thanks for such a fun day.” Yesung offered gentlemanly. I didn't know what to add to the conversation, so I just kept quiet. Meanwhile, a few minutes of walking at a moderate speed was all we needed to get back to the house.

“Sure, if you don't mind... but, will we fit?” She asked timidly just as we arrived at the house.

“Yeah, for sure. Manager-hyung left us the big van that can fit 12 people.” Yesung pointed out, grabbing the car keys out of his left pocket and taking the finishing bite off his ice-cream cone.

“Alrighty then, let me just grab Minkyung's car seat.” She left the rest of us outside when she speed-walked inside the house, coming back outside shortly with the car seat in both hands. Henry opened the van's door and we all hopped in. Soomi was the last one seated because she was securing Minkyung's seat belt. She told Yesung hyung, who was driving, the address to her residence and Sungmin hyung, who was sitting in the passenger seat, wrote it down. Not to stalk her for future purposes, of course, but so that Yesung hyung wouldn't forget.

“Umma... c-can I pwease have some ice cream? Pwease?” Minkyung begged, using aegyo.

Soomi shook her head from side to side, making it known that even the CUTEST aegyo done by the CUTEST baby wouldn't change her mind. “No! I let you have some yesterday and even let you not finish up your veggies. Have some water instead.” She replied sternly, grabbing her water bottle from inside her cross-over bag. Minkyung pouted as she twisted the cap open. She carefully gave him some water, putting a hand underneath his chin so that water wouldn't spill on his clothing. Ryeowook, caught note of that motherly action and asked her as question we all wanted to know.

“So Soomi-sshi, how old are you? You look young but you seem very mature.” He tried to keep the atmosphere light and playful, even though that question was sure to make everyone anxious. Soomi bit her lip as if she was afraid when people would think of her after her answer.

“Er... thanks. I'm... 20 years old.” She muttered and her left leg started to bounce up and down rapidly. I started to pity her right then. There's no avoiding it – some of the members are going to judge her. Not everyone is sweet, perfect angels. The guys, including myself, erupted in a wave of “oh's” and “ah's”.

“Please listen. Eunhyuk-sshi and Sungmin already know this, but Minkyung... he has no father he can rely on.” No father? What happened to him? I must find out from one of those two! Not that I really wanted to know, I just can't leave such a question hanging. Soomi continued speaking slowly, but clearly. “So my point is, I hope that you all will treat him well like you did today. You were all so warm and friendly with him, I want to thank you so much for that.” She gazed at the sleeping Minkyung lovingly and his hair delicately.

“Thanks for letting us know, Soomi-sshi. We'll let the other members know about that, particularly Heechul hyung.” Yesung, acting like a leader again, said softly. We smiled at her warmly and encouragingly and she returned a smile with ease.

That night, I've been thinking deeply and remembering all the fun memories I made today. Filming Hello Baby should be a great memory, especially since the first day of filming was so eventful. I'm content that Minkyung was chosen as our baby... and that Soomi is his umma. I'll definitely remember her; in a good way.

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█ author notes.

such a long chapter O___O oh my gosh. but think of it as a present for not updating in like... two weeks ;__; i'm sorry. as you have read, there's lots of romance elements and cute moments in this chapter^^ SuJu Hello Baby, fighting! :D and thanks for all the subscribers even though only 5 chapters have been released! it means a lot to me! :)

comments/questions/criticisms/words of encouragement are strongly welcome!

AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO EUNHYUK <3333

☆ listening to: 0330 by U-Kiss
☆ eating: fish crackers
☆ watching: Super Junior E.H.B, episode 4

█ april 4, 2O11 ★ o r a n g e z z a n g __ !