“So you lost to Umma?”

“HEOL.”

“Appa, you’re bad at games!”

Sooyoung rolled his eyes at the embarrassment his kids were bringing in front of other kids; it was bring-your-kids-to-work day and he should have known better than to bring the both of them. He might have been a freelance food critic but that didn't mean he didn't work for a company either; this company was set up for all critics and people who were interested in becoming one.

The other critics clamped down on their lower lips to hide their laughter, not wanting to embarrass their colleague even further. They were parents too and they knew when their children could go overboard with all the teasing.

“Yah, keep quiet! You rascals are always on your Umma’s side,” Sooyoung knuckled the back of his sons’ heads and pulled them closer to him; they were so attached to his wife, not that he was complaining though. “How did you even know about our game? Did Umma purposely tell you?”

“Seungcheol-hyung asked!”

“Hansol asked!”

Okay, nevermind.

Every single time either Hyoyeon or Sooyoung wanted some answers from their sons, both of them would just push the blame to their brother when all else failed. Sooyoung did tell Hyoyeon that they were going to have to work on this but she had been so busy with the fresh cohort that had been brought in whereas he was busy with the training the new recruits.

It was a bad habit to be pushing the blame.

“Choi Seungcheol. You’re older than Hansol, aren’t you?” Sooyoung asked and held the taller boy firmly in his arms. He waited for a response and smiled when he felt him nod, “so you should try your best to give in, right?”

Hansol lowered his head after hearing what his father was telling his brother; he was the one who asked their mother to continue the story when he saw the photo frame on their bedside table. Seungcheol just came in after half an hour and demanded for the story to be repeated… technically, Hansol was the one who asked for it first yet his brother was the one being asked to give in.

Waddling onto his father’s lap, Hansol pouted and held Sooyoung’s hand, “I asked Umma for the story, Appa.”

Sooyoung beamed a smile, mirroring the smile on Seungcheol's face; it was as if they had been waiting for this moment all along. It was possible that Sooyoung had intentionally said that to Seungcheol in front of Hansol so that the younger one would feel guilty. He had his methods of fishing out the actual explanation but Hyoyeon didn't support this method.

He rested his chin on Hansol’s head and grinned, “so you’re the culprit, Choi Hansol.”

Seungcheol just sat beside his father and rested his chin on his palm, unable to stop smiling at his adorably baby brother. He wasn't the least bit upset at how Hansol threw the blame on him; he was finding him even cuter than before. He was the closest to Hansol and he knew his baby brother best; Hansol was merely terrified of getting a scolding after seeing one of his friends get scolded too.

Choi Hansol was everyone's baby.

Hyoyeon stood alone in the dance studio, checking on the stereos as well as speakers. She wondered if there was such a thing called over-using the items for dancing since they were on non-stop since dawn in the morning. She wasn't feeling so good and she wanted to rest more than anything but it would mean cancelling her classes out of the blue - it wouldn't be too fair to her students or her students' parents either.

“Hyoyeon-unnie! Aren’t you leaving yet?” Nicole poked her head in to see her senior, “do you need me to take you home?”

Hyoyeon usually wouldn’t ask for favours but she was now; she really felt sick to her stomach. She wasn’t getting any younger for sure but there was something wrong with her body clearly; there was no way she’d only be able to withstand so little exercise. Hyoyeon turned off the lights and locked the door before quietly following Nicole from behind. Nicole furrowed her eyebrows in worry and wrapped an arm around Hyoyeon’s shoulder to support her.

“Be careful, Unnie,” Nicole frowned even more, “Oppa will kill me if something happens to you here.”

Rolling her eyes at the mention of her husband, Hyoyeon couldn’t help but wish he was here with her. She had a bad habit of being extremely clingy and childish when she was feeling under the weather. She knew it was a part of her that wouldn't change no matter what and Sooyoung, apparently loved it because it was a new side of his wife that would rarely come out.

Hyoyeon sat comfortably in the passenger as she strapped the seat belt on accordingly, closing her eyes as the cold air from the aircon comforted her. 

“YAH! STOP RUNNING AROUND AND CLEAN UP!”

“HANSOL!”

“CHOI SEUNGCHEOL!”

Sooyoung wiped off the glistening sweat that had gathered on his forehead and along his cheeks, wondering how in the world his wife could keep their boys under control. Hyoyeon never seemed to have difficulty when she was disciplining their sons but they were always clowning around when he was the one in charge. To cut a really long story short, he was always losing to his wife no matter what the circumstances were. 

Hansol just stuck his tongue at his father before running into the study room; he loved making his father catch him since it’d never happen. “Catch us if you can, Appa! I bet you can’t do it like Umma can!” Seungcheol shouted in glee and took off running before his father could get his hands on him.  

Growling at his sons’ outrageous teasing and mocking, Sooyoung got off the sofa and was about to run after his sons but he could hear sounds of a whirring engine. Instead of running after his boys, Sooyoung charged towards the opposite direction instead; he had received a message from his wife earlier, notifying him that she'd be coming home slightly earlier than usual. 

“Hyoyeon!”

“Hey, babe…” Hyoyeon waved tiredly, stretching her palms out to greet her husband. She gave Sooyou