A toddler, about the age of 5 is staring at the tombstone especially the picture that was on the tombstone. Her right hand overlaps the other hand that was holding her hand almost tightly, as if the older female was asking for support. But for Sooyeon if there is anything she can do to help the woman that she calls her mother, she would do it all. That is how much she loved the older woman, who was trying hard to hide her tears from her daughter’s eyes but she still failing miserably.

“Mummy, are you crying?”

“No…” the older  woman’s face scrunched up  as if to prove her point to her little one even if it can be deemed hopeless. The little girl is 5 and despite her lack of knowledge due to her age, growing up in her world she knows more things that she should have as a 5 year old.

“Do you miss her Mummy?” the question only made the tears stream faster than anything. Unable to let out any word, she nodded.

“She’s pretty.”

“Yes, yes she is indeed pretty. And so are you. See, you have the shade of her eyes.” she said as she curled the pure black locks of the little girl and tucked them behind her ears. True enough, Sooyeon does have her mother’s eyes. The striking colour of brown yet has a tinge of honey is enough to say things that even words can fail to describe. As she grows older within time, Lee Sooyeon has grown up to look more and more like her birth mother, Lee Jooyi.

“What the hell are you people standing there for? Help her! Lu!” her nags and demands were the things that snapped those who stood frozen watching everything happening in front of their eyes clueless of what they should do.

“Jooyi. Jooyi. Lee Jooyi! Look at me! God please, look at me!” the woman was bleeding and she was bleeding badly. Blood was oozing out from her chest from where the bullet pierced through her skin.

“So… Sooyeon…” it was obvious that it took everything in her energy and will just to say that name out loud even though it came out barely as a whisper that only those who stood super close to her could hear her.

Immediately, Chorong snapped her head back, in all of the chaos that had happened, she had completely forgotten about the little one that too, had dropped down to the ground along with her mother. A second of panic ensued when not a sight of the girl on the ground.

“It’s okay, I got her.” it was Tao and Chorong had no time to have some sense of relief as she held out her hand for Sooyeon and the young lad gave the little on to her. Tears streamed down her cheeks as if they are water that never seem to dry out by the looks of anyone who has their eyes on Park Chorong right now.

“She’s here. She’s fine. You’re fine. All of us will be fine. The ambulance will be here soon enough-” Jooyi’s right hand softly covered Chorong’s shaking ones. Though she seemed and definitely looked out of energy, her grip was firm and clearly she demands for her voice to be heard by them all especially the woman that she had commit so many horrible and unspeakable crimes upon.

“Lu Han…” her voice was soft and weak as she called upon the name of the man that she had once gave her heart to and also the one whose life she had wrecked due to her selfish demands and her greed. Lu Han came closer as he heard his name being called upon.

Through all the things that happened ridiculously fast that even his head could not able to comprehend, the sight of the woman that he had trusted and love before his wife came into the picture is just heart-breaking and almost impossible for him to churn through.

Even with all the face around her looking miserable than ever and Chorong is still trying her best to stop the bleeding by using one of her hands to refrain the blood from oozing. Lee Jooyi knew her time is finally up. And she should be able to go in peace if only the couple in front of her will fall to her last request.

It took every inch of energy that was still in her body for her to take Chorong’s and Lu Han’s hand to meet one another. “Stay together. And please…” her eyes went to the little one that Chorong had placed right next to Jooyi. Even if the baby was disturbed by the fact that she was laid on the forest floor, she did not show it. Sooyeon had already stopped crying long after she was dropped to the floor. And now, she only seems contented to have her peaceful and much needed nap.

“…take care of her.”

“Of course. Of course we will.” without a second of hesitation Lu Han replied and a weak smile was carved onto her face. Grateful that Lu Han is saying yes to her final request. But it was Park Chorong’s answer that she awaits for.

“No. She has you. She doesn’t need any of us if she has you. You’ll make it. You will surely do.”

“Please Chorong. You know this…more than I do. Please agree.”

It wasn’t easy for her to admit but Jooyi was right. Chorong knew better about the outcome of the situation yet she just refused to believe it even if the signs are insanely obvious in front of her face. It was hard but slowly she nodded.

“Thanks.” that was the last words that she have said before the sound of the ambulance siren drowned any other sound in that area.

But it was too late. Lee Jooyi was gone. Lee Sooyeon has already lost her mother.

Yet, in that moment, Lee Sooyeon has already gained new parents.

“So… she’s my Mama?” that question was answered with a nod.

“And Mummy, you are my Mummy?” again, a nod.

“So… I have two mothers?” Chorong was caught off-guarded by that final question. In all of honestly, she was expecting that the little girl would lash out her anger onto her. Or at least pushed Chorong away. Or call Chorong a liar. Or basically all of the above. Yet the question that was asked truly was unexpected.

“Mummy? Why didn’t you answer me?”

“S-sorry sweetheart. Can you repeat that question again for me please?”

“Mummy! You weren’t paying attention to me again!” probably annoyed that the woman was not paying attention to her question. Though she wanted to feel a tinge of guilt, Chorong had to stop herself from laughing to the face that Sooyeon was making. Her nose was scrunched up, her cheeks puffed and her honey-coloured eyes was narrowed at Chorong as if to prove her point that she indeed was angry with her mother.

“Sorry sweetheart. Repeat that question again will you? I promise that I will listen to it very carefully. Promise.” with her right hand on her heart, she looked at the little girl with a serious face, others would probably though that she was about to pledge an oath or something.

As usual, the girl could not possibly stay mad at her mother for long as she tried to conceal the smile that was beginning to take form on her face. Chorong grinned at the futile yet cute effort that is being made by her 5 year old daughter who chose to cover to avoid her mother from seeing her smile. Enough said, Chorong knows that she is already forgiven by then.

“Okay. I’ll ask again.” the young one cleared before she resumed her stance. “So…” Chorong tried hard not to laugh due to the fact that Sooyeon was using the same tone she did when she asked the question the first time. “I have two mothers?”

Chorong lowered herself down till she was Sooyeon’s height and her eyes are as levelled as the little girl and she took the hands of the girl into her own as she drew circles using her thumb.

“Yes, sweetie. You do. You have two mothers. One that will see for you to have the best life and the other will be the one that will watch for you every single second either when you are awake or when you are asleep. But you have to remember sweetheart…”

“And what’s that Mummy?”

“That we both love you with all of our heart.” that itself was enough to put a huge smile on Sooyeon’s face.

“Come on, Papa and your siblings are not the most patient of people.” Sooyeon nodded as she clasped her right hand with her mother’s. Before they walked off towards the entrance of the cemetery, Sooyeon looked back to the tombstone and she said a sentence which just made Chorong smiled. “Bye. Bye now. I’ll come back and see you again next time Mama.”

Once she was done, she turned back to Chorong. “Come on Mummy.”

When they got to the entrance, it was obvious that the three that was inside of the car was snoring.

“I guess we certainly took our time, don’t you?” Sooyeon chuckled as she climbed onto the back seat and her mother climbed onto the seat next to the snoring driver. The second they both climbed in, Sooyeon decided to tickle her little brother and that instantly woke the young one up and so does his twin. As for Chorong, she went for pinching the right cheek if her husband and true enough, he woke up with a jolted and he relaxed as he saw the giggling women next to him.

“Sleepy much sweet cheeks?”

“Nope. Not at all.” the mother of three rolled her eyes at the obvious lie that her husband had spoken.

“Don’t even try to deny it Lu. Sooyeon and Hana told me everything.”

“What??? You two snitched on us! We had a deal!” Lu Han said as he turned to his two daughters who looked to one another and giggled while his one and only son, Lu Haru also gave dissatisfied looks to both of his sisters. Chorong groaned. Even with three kids and having her a wife, Lu Han has yet to lose his childish side.

“I told both of you to go to bed early. I precisely told both of you that after the movie ends, you two ought to go straight to bed. Hana and Sooyeon heard me saying that clearly. Right girls?”

“Right Mummy!” chorused the two sisters and the two males of the family could only groan. There was never a fight that they could win when there are 3 females in the family. The girls have Chorong on their team and that is saying enough. No one could ever win against Chorong.

“Now tell me. Have you to been binge-watching the whole Harry Potter series after we left?” slowly he nodded.

“Then there was a game between Manchester United and Chelsea. We can never miss that game!” again Chorong groaned. Apparently the genes have truly been passed down to their son.

Lu Hana and Lu Haru, true their namesake which means ‘flower’ and ‘spring’ respectively were born in the early month of spring, right a month after the court finalized the adoption of the 1 year old baby Sooyeon to the couple.

Apparently everyone were indeed right when they say that Chorong was about to have twins and true enough, the first 2 years of the children with the couple was truly a time of horrendous and hectic for the couple. Having 3 young children who needs the two’s complete attention completely wears the couple down. Chorong might have her labour leave but Lu Han still had to come to work and things were still manageable even when Chorong had to handle the kids all alone since she does not have go to work. But when her labour leave was over, things were certainly out of hands.

Luckily enough they have support from both side of the grandparents. All of them just adored their grandchildren, including Sooyeon. Never once they ever treated Sooyeon any different to their blood-related grandchildren. Especially after they heard it all from Chorong and though they did resent Jooyi but the little baby captured their hearts immediately from the first time they laid their eyes on her.

Both Chorong and Lu Han decided to keep Sooyeon’s surname as a Lee rather than changing it as a Lu. It was not a decision made because Sooyeon were not really theirs but simply because they refuse to let the mother of the girl out of their memories. At least it is a piece of something for Sooyeon so that she’ll have something of her mother’s with her.

As for the one that was responsible for the death of Lee Jooyi, the young entrepreneur is now behind bars for quite some time. For intended murder and murder in the second degree, the male got himself in the metal cage for the rest of his life. After all, the prosecutor for the case is none other than Oh Hayoung and when she heard the tale from Lu Han and Chorong, she swore that she will not let the guy to ever get away with his crimes. And with such determination and concrete evidence plus, Hayoung’s credibility as a great and prestigious ex-lawyer and also the fact that she is damn good at doing her job, made the case went by as smooth as silk. Enough said, it did not take much to win the case.

Though there was nothing that would make Lu Han feel better than beating the life out of that murderer, but the sentence that was given by the judge; behind bars for the rest of his life is apparently what they have to settle on and there is nothing more comforting for the fact that Jooyi’s death is finally redeemed.

“Here we are kids. Come on.” Lu Han said as he parked the car which carries the family of five at the parking lot. The parking lot itself was indeed packed with cars everywhere and as Lu Han exited the car, he helped his wife down before he rushed to the back door and helped his princesses and prince down.

“That was one car ride.”

“If we were late Lu, I blame it all on you.”

“What? Why me?”

“Didn’t listen to me, woke up late and finally for making all of us late for our schedule for the day.” even after all these years, there are no way possible that Lu Han could ever win against his wife.

“Mummy, Papa. Come on! Aunt Hayoung and Uncle Sehun are going to be mad if we don’t get there soon!”

“Oh! Right! The flower girls and the ring bearer! I almost forgot! Come on! We need to get all of you there before your Aunt Hayoung freaks out more than she needs to.” finally remembering the fact that her little girls and boy are important figures to the wedding of her youngest sister, Chorong was frantic to get them all to the bride’s side. Lu Han stopped her before she could even usher their daughters in. Without even needing words to be exchanged, Lu Han gave a little peck onto Chorong’s lips. Even after all these years, the fire between them never seem to disperse. The kiss was about to go intense before the kids sneered at their parents in disgust. “Ewww… Mummy! Papa!”

“Oh you kids can’t even let me and your Mummy has a romantic getaway.”

“Not in front of us Papa!” the twins chorused and Lu Han sighed while Chorong just laugh.

“You kids love your mother more than me.”

“Yup.” all three chorused which sent Lu Han into a sighing spree once again.

“Alright there kids. That’s enough messing around with your Papa for one day or he’ll end up getting depressed throughout the whole day and I really don’t think your Uncle Sehun and Aunt Hayoung would ever want a moping old man in their wedding party. Come on.” and before Lu Han could say anything as a comeback, Chorong is already on her way towards the bride’s side along with the two girls.

The wedding itself was ran smoothly. And beautifully at that. All of their closest friends and families all attended the wedding, celebrating the couple joyous celebration. Though it is quite a wonder for the fact that they decided to hold the wedding only after 5 years of dating. Their reason was,

“We are after all the youngest so it is probably best for the rest of you to get married first before we do.”

True enough to their words, once the last of the girls, which was Kim Namjoo got married to Kim Jongdae and Kim Jongin, the last of the boys got married to his high school sweetheart, Jung Soojung. Only when all of them gotten themselves married, did the two finally taken the decision to finally take the oath. And that only means that their wedding is the biggest one so far due to fact that their family kept growing by the day.

Kim Jumnyeon finally got himself together and asked Bae Joohyun or else known as Irine out and after a few dates, the two finally fell in love to the frustration of many since the two take too long to realise their feelings for each other. Next was Yoon Bomi. Apparently thanks to her spunky attitude she was able to melt the ever cold Wu Xifang. Nobody even knew that it happened. The next thing they know, an invitation to the wedding came to their front doors, surprising almost everybody and yet when they were asked how it happened, the two looked to each other and Bomi giggled as Kris choose to grin mysteriously.

Kim Minseok on the other hand, got married to a nice lady from work and immediately the woman, Lee Jieun was accepted into the huge family without any hesitations from any side. The broadway starlet, Jung Eunji however had gone through a terrible breakup with her boyfriend but apparently her knight in shining armour comes to rescue just as her heart was about to give up and that knight is none other than Park Chanyeol. Byun Baekhyun on the other hand, once his relationship with Eunji met with a dead end, Kim Taeyeon stepped into the picture giving hope for Baekhyun once more. Needless to say, Byun Baekhyun and Jung Eunji stay on good terms even after their nasty breakup.

Do Kyungsoo the sweetheart and loving one of the pack chose to not get married at all. He said that he would have enough kids from his friends that will be able to care for him in his old age and itself is enough for him. Tao chose to prioritise his profession more than his love life and soon found himself being married to none other than his own work. And he does not even complain about it. Apparently he professed that marriage and kids are not his thing though that does not stop him from pampering each and every one of his friends’ children. Lay decide he does want to get married and found himself married to someone he never thought he would ever end up with. Not to mention his wife is Japanese and also the famous model, Shiraishi Mai. And trust me it took more than language boundaries to make the relationship and thankfully it did.

Son Naeun met up with Kim Taemin on one of her many exhibitions and the shy and constricted Naeun finally found herself in the eyes of her counterpart. Meanwhile Hong Yookyung found her read string being intertwined with a man that she had her eyes on since college yet never seem to be able to speak her feelings out loud finally and things went well for the sweet heiress and a month after Naeun’s wedding, it was a huge celebration for Hong Yookyung and Kim Seokjin.

And as for Naa-chan, fret not. She was wedded to Yamada Ryusuke soon enough a year after the incident and as for the rest of the Japanese girls… some of them found their happily ever after while others choose to be alone.

After sending her daughters off to the flower girls party, Chorong took a seat next to her husband who was waiting for her. Once she was seated next to him, Lu Han did not waste a second as he took his wife’s hand into his and kissed it affectionately and even after that, he refused to let that hand go.

“Well, today was a tiring day to tell you the truth.”

“Because somebody refuse to drink the glass of milk that she needs to take per day. You know Rong, this happens because you were so stubborn.”

“Nag. Nag. Nag. That’s all you do. You know how much I hate milk.”

“Our baby needs it and don’t give me that look. Besides, this will be your first pregnancy with me and believe me I’m going to do everything that I missed out on the last one.”

“You need to stop blaming yourself Lu. Things happen for a reason and believe me, thanks to that particular incident we got Sooyeon with us now.”

“I know. But I promise this time would be different than the last.”

“By the way you were treating me as if I need protection 24/7. Well yes, I can see this one is entirely different from the last. You are way-” Chorong stressed on the word way just in order to prove her point “-way much more of a nuisance that you had been then.”

“All of this because I nag you to take you daily intake of calcium. Seriously Rong?”

“Well, you forced me with that milk and that is something I’ll hold a grudge for quite something Mister Lu Han sir.”

“Honestly Rong. Then why did you decide to keep me then?” she stared long into Lu Han’s eyes with her brown glowing orbs and that was enough to say everything about it all. Even her smile was enough to tell the story. But the only answer Lu Han seek is the one that should come from those lips of Park Chorong.

“Because… we are after all…” then Chorong choose to pause. And her pause was indeed long enough as it almost drove Lu Han to insanity for waiting too long.

“Rong…” groaned Lu Han due to Chorong’s theatricality.

“You finish it then.”

“You are not going to give up are you?”

“Nope.” she said, popping the ‘P’ as always to prove her point.

“Fine.”

“So… we are after all…”

“Meant to Be.”

“I win.”

“You always do Rong. You always do.”

“Now let us shut up and enjoy the wedding shall we?”

Their last words were exchanged at the perfect time as the sound of the piano resonates throughout the whole hall and the eyes were soon focused on the flower girls that was cute strutting into the hallway with their aquamarine A-line dresses, scattering the white rose petals as they walk down the aisle. They were soon followed by the most important figure in the whole wedding party.

The bride.

Her long brown mane was braided and tied up into a bun and even with the long white veil was unable to hide the breath-taking beauty under that piece of sheer fabric. The drees is after the all designed by none other than Yoon Bomi. The dress was strapless, a sweat heart neckline, figure hugging silhouette and mermaid skirt. Embellished with swarovski crystals in the bodice area.

Sehun on the other hand, was looking smart in his fancy suit with Haru next to him as the ring bearer. The young man indeed looks jittery but by the sight of his future bride is enough to calm him down. It was finally going to happen. After all this time it was going to happen.

And the best thing is having all these beloved people around them for their big day is probably more than they could ever ask for. And they are grateful for every second of it.

The future might not be completely perfect but there is no such thing as having a life with no mishaps and trouble along the road. And in all of honesty, these people knew that very well. But the only thing that they all need to remember is the fact that in life, there will always be something wrong happening in the future but one need to always to remember that to give up in love is such a dreadful thing. And true love will always find its way. Especially if it is for the one that you are meant to be with.

Fin