I woke up to the annoying sound of the machine beeping next to me. ‘Great,’ I thought, ‘I’m still alive after all this. Isn’t this all ing wonderful?’ Slowly trying to sit up through the pain, I groaned in frustration. No matter how much I try to think about it, I still don’t see a reason why I’m still in this place, this bed, this hospital, this planet after all of this.

Then I heard the door click from the side. It was no surprise to see it was manager hyung.

“What do you want?” I said spitefully.

“Look. I’m just here to check up on you,” the manager raised his hands in defense. “Also, the others wanted to visit you,” gesturing to the entrance where three familiar beings came through.

The eldest of the group looked over at me and waved. “Hey. How have you been?”

“Fantastic,” I sarcastically told him, rolling my eyes. “I’m hoping to get my award for being the little piece of who sits around in the hospital, waiting for nothing.” Nothing has been the same since the incident. I never wanted to be this way. It just turned out that things would end up like this.

One of the dongsaengs responded in his usual deep voice, “Yah. You don’t need to be like that. Show some respect to your friends at least.”

I muttered an apology and tried to look somewhere else. Just anywhere except in their direction. It’ll just bring me back the memories again. Especially since one piece of the huge puzzle is missing and will never come back.

––––

“Hyung, do you ever miss your family? The life you had before you became an idol?”

“Hm?”

A few months after Jinyoung’s recovery, they were able to promote their very first album with the two music videos, “O.K.” and “Only Learned Bad Things”. But even after that, the rookie group still was unpopular.

But at the moment, that was the least of their worries. Now they were just having their usual routine talks every Saturday night. Not really knowing who to go to, Gongchan would ask his hyungs some advice but mostly from Jinyoung because he felt more comfortable with the leader for some strange reason.

“Of course I would miss them. But you know,” Jinyoung continued, “there are times when I’m just happy where I am right now. I just hope that my parents are proud of me right now.”

“Why wouldn’t they be? Their son is the leader of a soon-to-be famous group, B1A4! And you’ve been making some songs that the fans really love. Without a doubt, they would be proud of you.”

The older of the two laughed at the younger’s comment.

“How about you? Do you miss your family?”

By the mention of family, Gongchan’s face turned from joyful to a very sullen look. “That’s the thing, hyung…” he replied, folding his knees to hide his face from the leader. It started to make Jinyoung worry by the sudden change of emotion by the maknae. For the past few months, that he’s known Gongchan, the boy was always a bundle of sunshine and aegyo except for the time at the hospital.

“I really want to see them. Don’t get me wrong… I love it here with you guys but…” the maknae’s voice started to crack up as he sobbed silently. “I just really miss them… They’re so far away a-and I can’t visit them since w-we’re working.”

Looking at Gongchan crying again always pained Jinyoung. It was just something he rarely saw. So slowly, he gently wrapped his arm around Gongchan’s shoulder.

“A-and they sent me letters… Saying h-how much they want me to b-be there… They keep s-saying how they want to come visit us in Seoul b-but…” he hiccupped. “They r-really can’t afford it…”

Jinyoung rubbed the other’s shoulder, in hope of calming him down. “You really want to see them huh?”

The maknae nodded his head slowly.

“All I can say is that I hope you can see your family soon. And also that the others can see their families since I’m betting you they’re feeling the same way as us right now too.”

All Gongchan could do was agree and eventually fell asleep in Jinyoung’s arms.

The next day…

“Happy Birthday to you, Channie!” the rest of B1A4 sang along with the audience. The surprise plan worked when they had a fan meeting to attend to and the maknae, oblivious to what would happen during the meeting.

“Thank you so much!” he yelled out cheerfully. After doing some fanservice, Gongchan felt Jinyoung drag him to the other end of the stage where the rest of the members were.

“What are we doing next?” Gongchan asked, adrenaline flowing because of all the fun he was having.

Baro chuckled and answered, “You’ll see. Just face this way for a while.” Then Jinyoung signals Sandeul to head to the other part of the stage and takes out a blindfold and tied it over Gongchan’s eyes.

Baro stood in front of the oblivious boy the whole time, making sure he doesn’t try to take a sneak peek at the surprise. Jinyoung finishes tying the knot and CNU, being so motherly, wipes off the confetti off of Gongchan’s pink hoodie.

Unbeknownst to Gongchan, he felt someone wrap around their arms around him. Then some giggling ensued so he guessed that it was probably Sandeul-hyung who hugged him. Baro tells the audience that that’s not the real surprise.

‘Then what is it?’ Gongchan wondered, anxious on what it was.

Then a crowd of ‘aww’s ensued which made the boy more curious on what it was. Baro asked him, “Are you ready?” He replied with a nod. Then Jinyoung whispered as he took off the other’s blindfold, “I hope you like it.”

When Gongchan turned around, to his surprise, it was his mother walking towards him with open arms with his father trailing behind. Tears of joy streamed down his pale cheeks and he rushed to his mother’s embrace as if he hadn’t seen her for years.

“Umma… I-I missed you so much…” he said, burying his head to the crook of her neck.

“Sh…sh, dear. I’m so happy to see you too.”

While the two hugged, his father went to the rest of the members and told them, “Thank you very much for taking care of him.”

All of them responded with a thank you for letting him be in the group in the first place. After Gongchan hugged his mother, his father soon followed and it was the mother’s turn to thank the members.

After saying her thanks and comforting a crying Baro, she turned to Jinyoung and said, “Thank you for calling us and giving us the ticket. I don’t know how we could repay all of you.”

Jinyoung told her, “You don’t need to. We were all happy that we could help Gongchan out and bring a smile on his face again.”

When he looked back at the maknae, who was still trying to wipe his tears away, they made eye contact with each other. Gongchan looked up and whispered, ‘Thank you’. Jinyoung shook his head and said that it was the effort of all the members that made it happen. ‘But still… thank you so much.’

Later on, Gongchan was able to meet and hug his younger brother, Minwoo again and after the event, he introduced his family to B1A4. They were able to chat away until it was time for the Gong family to go back to Suncheon. They said their farewells and Gongchan promised that he’d come visit them when he’s available.

With that, they waved goodbye when they dropped them off at the train station. On the way back home, Gongchan leaned his head on Jinyoung’s shoulder.

“Sorry I wasn’t able to get here any time sooner. Then you could still have more time to spend with your family.”

“It’s okay, hyung. I’m happy with the surprise. Besides, even if they might not be here, I still have you guys as my family.”

A cheesy grin showed across Jinyoung’s face when suddenly, Baro grabs Gongchan in a headlock and starts messing with the maknae’s hair.

“Aww… Isn’t someone being corny right now?”

Gongchan started to laugh as he tried to escape from Baro’s grip. “Ahahaha, hyung let go of me!”

And this was really a moment when B1A4 felt like they were a whole family and nothing could stop them from moving forward.