EDITED: 13/05/2013 AT 20:09:49

"Yeonhee lived with her father in Haeundae actually. But five years ago she moved out and came here. This house was owned by a friend of mine who had also just moved and I told Hyukhee and he bought this house for Yeonhee to live in. She was already pregnant at the time too I bet. I live only two houses down from here and I know all of my neighbors and none of us ever saw Yeonhee with any male company at all during those times, and not even eight months since she came here, she gave birth. I knew Yeonhee needed all the help she can get, seeing as her job could barely keep her up with all her kids, and since I am a widow with no children of my own, I volunteered to help in any way that I can. Everyone else around the neighborhood helped in every way they can too, like giving her advice or sending over some things for the babies. It wasn't easy for Yeonhee believe me, I mean, being a single mother taking care of three kids by herself? She broke down more than a dozen times early on but of course she's doing a lot better now. I really admire the girl, not a single complaint out of her from day one of motherhood. She's a real fighter."

Just talking about Yeonhee, Baekhyun noticed, brightened Taeyeon's features. It was apparent at this point, although she wasn't at the age of being a grandmother, that that was how she felt for the kids and that she sees Yeonhee as somewhat like a daughter to her.

"What is Yeonhee's job anyway?" he asked, trying not to imagine Yeonhee weeping from all the stress of taking care of the kids. He couldn't- wouldn't be guilty. She brought it upon herself after all. She wouldn't have had such a rough time if she hadn't left in the first place.

The older woman's features brightened even more.

"She's a coach, she does voice lessons. She's one of the more popular music teachers around both Busan and Seoul actually."

Somehow, Baekhyun wasn't surprised at this. But he was slightly surprised however that Yeonhee settled with giving singing lessons rather than pursuing a career of being an actual singer which he knew she wanted for as long as he knew her, or rather when he thought he knew her.

"But it isn't enough though," Taeyeon continued, getting Baekhyun's attention yet again. "You can only earn so much at being a voice coach and it's never enough for her to support her kids, not to mention she's got three of them. So on weekends she sings at Two Moons's, a western themed restaurant for additional income."

"She can't support her own kids?" Baekhyun asked, trying to stop a frown from showing on his features. This thought alone was disturbing to him. He never knew Yeonhee had any sort of financial issues. When he knew her then she wasn't the richest of people but she and her father got by well enough for an average family.

Taeyeon shook her head. "That's why she, or rather, we are all grateful for Luhan's help."

Baekhyun clenched his jaw at the mention of the man. "What about Yeonhee's father?" he asked, trying not to think about Luhan or Yuna. He's had a hell of a time trying to control his temper on his way here. He drove like a maniac and it had taken him every ounce of control in him to not purposely hit someone with his car along the streets.

The smile on her face faltered, replaced by a sad one.

"Hyukhee died only just a year ago because of an illness. He had been helping Yeonhee in every way he could by visiting often, spending time with the kids, offering financial aid, so when he passed away, Yeonhee was left to fend for herself and take care of the children. I bet she would've broken down to no return if Luhan wasn't around for her. Without Luhan, Yuna would probably have- are you alright?"

Baekhyun snapped out of it and turned to her. Taeyeon was looking down pointedly at his hands which were on the arms of the chair he was sitting on. They were both pale, as white as a sheet from his death grip on the wood.

"I-"

"Baekhyun?"

The two adults turned to the doorway where the boys were standing, watching them with questioning faces.

"What're you doing here?" Raehyun asked him before glancing at their nanny.

Taeyeon smiled at them and set down Yuna's dress. "We were just having an adult conversation boys. Now, you two get changed into your pajamas. It's about time you two get into bed. Yeonhee would have a fit if she found out you were still awake at this hour."

"We'll be back, don't leave yet okay?" Taehyun told Baekhyun before the two left and ran down the hallway to their room.

Sighing with a loving smile on her face, Taeyeon shook her head and turned to Baekhyun.

"The boys really are taken with you. It's like they're treating you as if you were their father."

A smile tugged the corner of Baekhyun's lips as she said this. 'You have no idea,' Baekhyun thought exasperatedly, before a thought entered his mind. "Do you have Yeonhee's cell number?"

Taeyeon nodded and cocked her head to the side in question.

"I need to ask her something," he replied simply.

With a puzzled look, Taeyeon searched Yeonhee's name in her cell phone's phonebook and handed it to him.

"Thank you," he said before leaving towards the living room for some privacy.

- - -

Luhan looked at Yeonhee worriedly as she started to cry yet again.

"But Yeonhee," he said tentatively, "Byun is their father, there's pretty much nothing you can do. As such, he has his rights over them and he might do something about it. And now that he knows he's the father, what if he tries something to take them from you? You have to tell them."

Yeonhee looked up at him, her face frantic. "I know that," she said in barely a whisper. "It's just, I-I'm afraid the kids might hate me if they find out."

"I understand but think about it. Would it really be better finding out from him? Their supposedly-dead father? Or from you? Their mother whom they know and trust and have been by their side since they were born?"

Luhan felt guilty as he saw the new tears starting to form in her eyes. He didn't know just how long they spent sitting by the chairs along the hallway outside Yuna's room, but he has certainly been faced with the most confusing predicament he's ever heard for some time now. He knew Yeonhee didn't tell him the whole story, from everything she's said, there were a few holes in it that got him wondering. But what she's basically told him was that she and Baekhyun dated since they were teenagers, until they broke up when she was around 20 years old. She left him without knowing she was actually pregnant with his kids and that marked their separation and Baekhyun's rise to fame as an actor. And now that Baekhyun's back, he found out that the kids were his but the kids didn't know he was their father.

The question that lingered in his mind and what he was itching to ask her was why did she even leave him in the first place? The way she's been talking about him got him thinking she loved him, so... why?

"What the heck am I gonna do?" Yeonhee asked helplessly before letting her face fall onto her palms yet again with another round of tears.

'Maybe I'll ask later,' Luhan thought before settling his arm around her shoulder and rubbing her arm up and down comfortingly.

- - -

"W-What?"

"You heard me Yeonhee. The boys are going to change in their rooms, I want you to talk to them and tell them they have your permission. Early in the morning, I'll take them with me since your busy doing God knows what with your other kid and that guy from before. I'll bring them back Sunday evening."

Yeonhee could feel new tears springing to her eyes. Just how many times has she cried in the last few hours?

"I..." she trailed off but Baekhyun was still silent in the other line. She didn't have a choice. "Okay, can I talk to Mona? I'll tell her about it so she can prepare a change of clothes for the boys."

There was a short pause before the older woman's voice spoke.

"Yeonhee?"

"Taeyeon, Baekhyun will be there tomorrow morning to pick up the boys. They'll be staying over with him for a night. Can you please pack some overnight clothes for them?"

"Very well, what about you though? What time will you be coming back tomorrow?"

"Hold on," Yeonhee covered the phone and turned to Luhan. "What time will Yuna be able to leave?"

"I discussed it with the other doctors earlier. It'll depend on her test results that'll come tomorrow morning."

Yeonhee nodded at him before turning back to the phone. "I'm not sure yet. It'll depend on tomorrow's results. So I guess it really will be better for the boys to be with him for the weekend."

"Okay. I'll get right to it and- oh, the boys are back, do you want to tell them yourself?"

"Alright, put them on please."

- - -

"Baekhyun!"

Sulli glanced at the door leading to the master bedroom before looking back down at the day's paper and taking a sip of her usual morning coffee.

Frowning, she called out his name yet again.

Still no answer.

Exhaling a long breath, Sulli folded up the paper and got up from her seat.

"Baekhyun?" she called out with a knock on the door. "Baekhyun, are you in h-"

Sulli stopped and took out her ringing phone from the pocket of her bathrobe that she wore over her night gown.

"Hello?" she answered with a hand on the door knob. "Oh, hi... yes... of course, we are... he'll be happy to, he doesn't have anything scheduled for the day, I-"

She was cut off yet again, this time by a banging on the front door.

"Hold on a second," Sulli said into her phone before dashing to the door and opening it, only to be greeted by Baekhyun's grinning face with two identical bags in his arms.

"Sorry, couldn't ring the bell. Hands full," he said before turning to his side. "Make yourselves at home boys."

Sulli's frown was replaced by a bewildered look as two little twin boys dashed pass her and to the sofa, mouths smeared with what looked like ice cream and their hands just as dirty holding on to empty popsicles.

"I-I'll call you back," Sulli muttered before pocketing her cell and closing the door behind Baekhyun.

"You boys get cleaned up first. You two are a mess!" he said with a laugh in his voice before heading into his bedroom. "The bathroom's through here."

"Wow! You have a nice place…"

"... do you live here alone?"

Sulli cleared as the twins said this. "Hey there kids," she greeted with a smile plastered on her face.

Taehyun and Raehyun turned to her with blank faces as if they had only just seen her there.

"Hi," they replied curtly.

"Byun Baekhyun, may I speak with you?" she asked, looking at the older man with a serious face now.

Baekhyun raised a brow at her at the mention of using his full name before turning to the boys. "You guys go into the bathroom while I speak with Sulli," he said as he set down the twin's bags.

The boys nodded at him and went into the room he opened for them.

"Don't make a mess in there, alright?" Baekhyun called inside before closing the door and turning to Sulli. "What's on your mind?" he asked casually.

"What's on yours?" Sulli retorted, catching him off guard at her tone.

"Are you okay?"

Sulli closed her eyes and breathed in deeply before looking at him yet again but more calmly now. "Why are those twins here?"

Baekhyun shrugged at this. "I just wanted them over that's all. You know, spend time with them."

"Baekhyun," she started, a little more seriously now, "What is your relationship with those kids? You're getting really attached to them. I mean, I understand the Saturday afternoon ice cream breaks, the Sunday outings, but now, you actually brought them here to spend the day with you? I mean, what if they tell other people you're staying here in this particular suite, your fans might try and-"

"I don't doubt that everyone knows I'm staying in this suite Sulli. We've stayed here for a couple of months now, I'm pretty sure everyone knows I stay in this hotel, and I won't be surprised if they know I'm staying in this floor, and in this room. It won't be much news to my fans or to the paparazzi," he pointed out, making Sulli sigh and agree with him on that fact. "As for the boys' visit, we actually planned an overnight thing."

"Overnight?" she repeated, brows now knitted together in obvious disapproval, and Baekhyun saw it.

"Yeah, I planned on them staying over the night here but then we wouldn't want to disturb you, so we're gonna go check into another suite on the floor just for tonight and tomorrow."

"You don't have to do that, you can stay here, I wouldn't mind," she said halfheartedly.

"No, I think it would be better if we get another room. I'm pretty sure you can't take the racket," he said with a laugh just as the boys came out the bedroom.

"We're clean!"

"Alright, you boys ready to go?"

"Where are we going?" Raehyun asked.

"I thought we were staying over here?" Taehyun added.

"We wouldn't want to disturb Sulli with her work. We'll stay in another room just down the hallway," he said, earning him even bigger smiles from the kids. "But first we have to go down to the lobby to ask for another room."

"I want to press the button this time!" they both replied in unison before raising a brow at the other.

Baekhyun laughed. "You two can't even reach the buttons!"

- - -

Yeonhee tapped a foot on the ground restlessly and shifted on her seat once again.

"Mommy?" Yuna looked at her mother worriedly as she jerked from her seat and turned to look at her. "Are you okay?"

"Yes dear, why do you ask?"

"You look worried," she pointed out rather bluntly, taking Yeonhee off guard.

Smiling apologetically at her daughter, Yeonhee shook her head and visibly relaxed.

"I'm fine. Just... slightly impatient that's all," she explained with a small grin. It's almost noon and still no one has come to tell her the results to Yuna's tests, not Luhan, one of the other doctors, not even just a nurse.

Yuna nodded and turned to the doorway as the sound of someone knocking erupted from outside.

"Come in!" Yeonhee called out, trying to keep the impatient tone in her voice from showing.

The two girls listened as conversation of several voices escaped into the room until someone hushed them up and a nurse came inside alone, closing the door behind her gently.

"Ms. Im, Dr. Lu would like to have a word with you outside," she informed with a smile.

Yeonhee nodded at her and planted a gentle kiss on Yuna's head as she stood.

"I'll be back, alright? The nurse is here to keep you company while I'm gone."

Yuna nodded at her then smiled and waved at the familiar nurse.

- - -

Taehyun and Raehyun rolled around on the carpeted floor in a fit of laughter.

"What are you boys laughing at?" Baekhyun asked with feigned wonder at the boys.

The twin boys continued laughing, clutching their sides in pain and watched the older man scratch his head that was totally covered with pasta, nostrils covered with carrot sticks and a leaf of cabbage sticking out from his mouth.

Baekhyun raised a brow at them until he fell into a state of laughter himself.

After a few more minutes of more jokes and howls of laughter, the three finally settled on the carpeted floor in the middle of the living room of their new hotel room, their heads together and faces toward the ceiling, trying to catch their breaths.

"I guess that means we're eating out for lunch," Baekhyun said after exhaling a long breath out. "Making spaghetti and salad aren't as easy as I thought it would be."

"We see that!" they chorused with laughter in their voices.

- - -

Yeonhee smiled at the three other doctors who were talking to Luhan when she closed the door behind her gently.

They stopped their conversation and all greeted her simultaneously.

"We'll see you down at the cafeteria, Luhan," one of the other doctors, with dyed red hair and features resembling panda bags under his eyes, said with a manly pat on Luhan's back. He and the other doctors nodded at Luhan and at Yeonhee before starting back down the hallway and disappeared around a corner.

"So, how were the test results? Will she be fine this time?" Yeonhee asked, getting straight to the point.

Luhan nodded with a smile, albeit a sad one.\

"What is it?"

Luhan sighed. "She's fine Yeonhee, but you do know that this can't go on like this?"

"What are you talking about?"

"This," he said, raising his hand that held a sheaf of papers that looked to be Yuna's test results since it had her name at the top. "Before Byun came around and showed himself, Yuna's been better. She was getting better every time my team and I see her. Now, she's been in this hospital already twice as much as she had in the whole year last year."

Tears started welling up in Yeonhee's eyes as he said this, she hadn't even realized their hospital visits have gone up lately, and this piece of news terrified her. She's been so preoccupied with work, with Baekhyun, with getting away from Baekhyun, that she hadn't even realized Yuna's condition worsening.

Now she just feels wretched.

"I'm the worst mother ever," she said in barely a whisper, her head dropping, tears now falling freely.

Now Luhan felt awful. He hadn't meant for her to cry, he just wanted to give her the facts which he too hadn't noticed at all until one of his colleagues pointed it out to him that very morning. His thoughts had been just as clouded as hers since he too was caught up with the whole situation Yeonhee was in because she was one of his closest friends and he loved her kids as well and he had been concerned all this time about what's been going on with their family.

"What am I going to do?" Yeonhee asked, trying to calm herself down.

"Do you know why Yuna's visits had been more frequent lately?" Luhan countered in a calmer voice.

She gulped, already knowing the answer but hoping he would say otherwise. "Baekhyun?"

He nodded, now looking serious. "At least that's what I think the reason is."

"What do you mean?"

"Yeonhee, Yuna's condition has been... unusual, since the very beginning. You already know that none of the doctors here including myself are experts on her case. But from everything we have gathered through these years, there are some things that we can conclude about it."

Yeonhee nodded for him to continue.

"Her emotions for example. At this point, all of us are quite sure that her emotions play a vital role to her existing condition. Maybe it won't affect her as much as she grows older, or maybe it will, we don't know. But for now, however, we are certain it does. The reason why I concluded that Byun's the main reason for her growing number of trips here lately is because Byun's the only thing that's new that came into all your lives lately and Byun's presence in your family has quite a number of effects, to Yuna, to her brothers, and even to you."

"I don't understand," Yeonhee said, mainly confused at what she's got to do with it all. She knew at some point that Yuna might be feeling out of place where her brothers were concerned because of all the things they've gotten from Baekhyun but that was about it.

"Think about it," Luhan said, speaking as if it were all so obvious. "Byun's been seeing the boys for the past months in growing number of times. He's been seeing them more frequently and showering them with a lot of material things and a lot of attention and, though I don't know why, he's been leaving Yuna out of it all. She hasn't seen much of the boys and haven't played with them as much as they did before Byun came into the picture."

Yeonhee nodded in understanding. "But what did you mean about me? How am I affecting her on an emotional level where Baekhyun's concerned? I'm the one who's been with her almost every minute of everyday unless I'm at work like I always do since before, nothing's changed in that department."

"True, but remember Yeonhee, these kids of yours are smart. That doesn't only apply to the boys but also to Yuna and you know it. All of them are a very perceptive lot. I won't be surprised if all three of them know there's something different going on between you and Byun. I mean, you might be civil with him when they're around but it's quite apparent to all of us that you've been avoiding him like the plague ever since the day you met him at the theme park at Haeundae."

"Do you think they know there's something bad going on between me and him?" she asked with sagged shoulders.

"That's too far to assume. They're too young to know that much in my opinion, but they know you more than anyone else, so I'm sure they can tell if something's even slightly different going on where you're concerned."

With a long sigh, Yeonhee shook her head, trying to clear it of all the turmoil that seems to be afflicting her at the same time. "What do you propose I do? With Baekhyun I mean," she asked in a more serious and determined tone.

"What?" Luhan asked, somewhat baffled that she's actually asking him what to do about her and Byun's relationship.

"I know this is my issue with Baekhyun and it's personal, but you're my friend and I trust your opinion and judgment. And since this concerns my kids and what's best for the health of one of them, I also want you, as Yuna's doctor, to tell me what I should do that's best for her."