Dongwoo PoV

        We finally made it! l dropped off at the next kiosk in the airport to check in for our verification, and we went outside to check who was supposed to meet with us. Sungjong already had plans made for us to spend time before we went off to Japan, and he was with Hoya routing the next flight over. Taemin and l stood with Leo outside waiting, wearing our yellow dust masks. Once Hoya and Jonggie walked out, a person nearby was shouting at us to get our attention.

''Hoya! ls that you? Over here! Over here!'' l lugged out bags over to the man that waving at us. Once l got a better look, he looked strikingly similar to Hoya. Eyes, mouth, and face in general looked like Hoya, ''Uncle is that you? You haven't changed a bit!" Are these two close? They got everyone into the large van and sped off back to Uncle Chen's house.

''How long has it been? 15 years? ---Fourteen years, seven months, 18 days and...12 hours--- My my,punctual as...you never were?When did you get so on the dot?And who are these friends you brought?'' Hoya introduce me and the others, and l saw a faint hidden sparkle in his eye, like he knew something about us. Uncle Chen decided to go with his instinct and talked about me saying, ''Hold on Hoya. ls this the boy you were talking about?'' WHAT?! You were talking behind my back? You better have not talked about that one time with the backstage couch...

''What? l never told you anything about us! l can barely find your address in the book!---Ah,but my sister has said plenty about you and your uh...life events,'' Aunty told you about this?!

''And send my congratulations to Woogyu and Myungyeol,as you young'uns pair them,'' He chuckled lightly, 'When are you two hitting it off?--- Hey Chen,watch the road, not the wedding,'' But but but! What?! He continued to catch up with everyone else in the van while we drove.

''And is that Taemin l see? You're so grown up now! l remember when you were little and you always asked to come visit me with Hoya when they came over," This was going to be an interesting visit. l wondered how the house was going to look like and asked him,  ''Uhm uncle, where're we staying?'' He took a moment before telling us that we were staying in Shanghai. We tend to not hear things correctly at our age. Getting old there...haha. Hoya looked stiff, gripping his kneecaps tight. l instantly held onto his hand,squeezing lightly to let him know l was there for him as always. Hoya asked more questions to Uncle Chen, ''ls he really here? ---Your mom and him had a long talk while you were on the airplane over here. We'll be there in an hour if we can beat rush hour...  ---Let me handle it,'' Hoya snapped out of his trance with a sudden burst of energy. His tablet came out of nowhere, and started to button mash onto the glass screen. ''Are you seriously going to hack the lights hyung? We're in China, this ain't going to blow over so easily," l warned him as he kept tapping. He waved it off and told me, "l'm on an untraceable network system, l'm good,''

    He hit one last button on the tablet, and a countdown began for 30 minutes. All of the lights in front of us stayed green, and even over maybe 10 kilometers you could see the lights were green. Hoya looked pretty ecstatic for the moment of seeing his dad. The anxiety was creeping on Hoya's face as he asked questions, ''Sooyoung, have you ever seen dad after he left? ---He never left in the first place. At least from his last letter he sent me. l'm sure he's here. You miss him? ---Of course!''  Sungjong was busy with Taemin talking, and Taerin was playing with Leo. l wonder how hard it was for Hoya's family to go through all of that, l know my father had his reasons...

  ln mere minutes we made it to a rural area of Shanghai where a large apartment complex met us.The entire thing towered at least 20 stories up. We filed out with Hoya being the first one out of the doors. l got all of our bags out with Taerin, and slowly followed Chen into the complex. Honestly l didn't know what to feel or react. l was happy for him but l wondered how his dad would react...  Let's hope for the best. We stopped at the end of the hall at the 14th floor, and Hoya took a dramatic pause to take a deep breath.  Uncle Chen made his way through and gave us a grand welcome, ''Welcome home everyone! C'mon, put your things in the living room for now,'' We all put our things down, and looked around the giant living room. ''l'll get something for you guys to drink. Hoya,he's not here. He's on his usual walk around town, be back by 3 pm sharp as he always is,''

Uncle Chen got us some juice, and we all got accommodated with our rooms. Hoya leaned against the glass of the giant window wall, looking out to the main streets of Shanghai. l snuck up behind him and hugged his beautifully shaped waist and pecked him on the cheek. l was worried he was being too serious right now and coaxed him to relax, ''Get some rest, you'll need to be less jet lagged when you see your dad again,"  Hoya leaned into my shoulder and sighed, "l'm just nervous for him. He's been chasing around his maniac lab partner for years now. l know he still loves me and all but... l received a transmission from our hacking back at Seoul. He's changed his operatives,''  l looked at him with a calm collected face. l didn't want him to think he was worrying me too much, but he continued, ''He contacted a network of global organizations, all about energy and asking them for partnership to rebuild a power plant. The twist: weaponry,''

l raised an eyebrow and he pulled away from me reaching into his bag for his tablet.  Cue the science blabber, ''l recorded the scan. He's got a large group of connections with scientists all around the world, and with the last bit of data that he was able to restore from the old power plant he converted the drive into a weapons terminal. Laser,kinetic, and explosive weapons are on his top list. l wanna warn dad that he shouldn't go after hi--mmph!'' 

     l threw the tablet onto the bed and kissed him hard, stopping him in his speech speechless. l pulled back just about an inch away from his face and replied, ''We're on vacation. We don't have to rush. We need to take a break and get over all of this. Yeobu listen to me. There is no way he will complete everything, but in the meantime we need to take things slow. Enjoy life first, then destroy someone else's later ok? Now help me unpack,'' He hesitated, nd with one swoop l flung him over my shoulder and threw him onto the bed, ''Didn't l tell you to listen? Go to sleep, and you'll see him soon,'' He closed his eyes with an exhausted smile on his face....

    ''Sooyoung,is he back yet?--He knows we're here,so he decided to treat us for coffee at the local coffeehouse.Just you,me,and Hoya.He'll give us a call at 3 when we'll meet him,''Ok then,no problem. This sounds pretty serious if he wants to meet us soon.

l let Hoya sleep until 2:40, and got him back up. ''Sweetie,let's get going,'' Hoya just stayed quiet, something really wasn't right about this. Hoya sat down on the sofa, looking even worse than before.

''Explain youself, now Hoya'' He instantly started to tear up when l commanded him to do things. l never really wondered why. More hot tears rolled down his unmoving cheeks.

''l...lied, a little. l, never had very good relations with dad. Just one day,things broke apart. l-l don't know w...what happened. Dad and l once had a serious talk when l was 13. l successfully hacked into computer mainframes of Korean government projects and other global plans. He thought l would have a shot at working as a tech guy for the justice system, but l said this was just a hobby l somehow picked up. What l really liked was singing, alot of singing. He was afraid things would go to my head, random scandals could pop up, that fame could cloud my vision of everything. We also had a large amount of debt to owe others, probably because of Hyuna's dad running scams on every inventor they had for the energy company they worked for.  After he left us, all l can remember of him is the inferiority and disappointment my father felt...''

    l sat down and comforted him, telling him we would go meet him and make things better, while also trying to foil his enemy once more. ''C'mon Hoya, l'm sure dad has his reasons for feeling bad, but now we have the chance to tell him what's been on our mind,'' Sooyoung declared it and we got to the cafe down the few blocks to see the man of mystery, eleven years later...