JONGDAE

“someone looks really happy today. I wonder why”  I remarked as walked in the kitchen. Noona looked at me, momentarily tearing her attention away from the breakfast she was preparing for me and Yzak.

“good morning, my dear little brother” she greeted with great glee evident in her voice.

“good morning too, noona” I greeted back as I poured myself a cup of coffee. “I didn’t notice you coming home last night. Did you just get in?” noona asked as she set the plates for breakfast. “I got in about three hours ago, you were just so sound asleep to notice me getting in” I answered back. She nods her head, “I see. Well, can you go and check on Cedric? It’s about time for him to wake up so he could go to school on time” noona ordered and I gave her an okay before heading up the stairs to Yzak’s room.

I jogged up the stairs, excited to see our little man.

“Wake up, Yz---“ my greeting was cut short when I noticed that our little prince was no longer in bed, instead he was already doing the buttons of his uniform in front of the mirror. He saw my reflection and immediately beamed at me as he turned to me.

“Good morning uncle Chen!”

I beamed back at him as I walked towards him. “good morning too, Yzak. You’re up early, that’s new” I remarked and he just smiled at me as he started fixing his hair. “aigoo, my nephew is so handsome. What happened champ? Why are you up so early, uh?” I inquired as I lowered myself to his level and helped him fix his self.

“nothing really uncle. I am just a little bit excited because uncle Chanyeol will teach me how to play the violin. Maybe that is the reason why I am up early” Yzak brightly answered.

I was stunned, not because of the fact that he will learn how to play the violin but because of the sudden mention of a certain name.

“Chanyeol?” I inquired and he nodded his head eagerly.

Uncle? He’s calling him uncle? So, he still doesn’t know?

“yes, he is a friend of uncle Kris and uncle Sehun. He plays the piano really well and he also knows how to play the violin. And thankfully he agreed to teach me how to play it. Isn’t he amazing uncle?” Yzak said with a big smile, that same smile that his father has.

“oh, do you know him too, uncle?” Yzak suddenly asked bringing me out of my thinking bubble. I was silent for awhile to think of what to answer him before I smiled and nodded my head. “yup, I know him” I answered him. But, his next question stunned me the most.

“Ha Young said I looked like him, uncle. Do I really look like him?”

I blinked a few times and thought of what to answer for a few more moments, before I came up with a more or less appropriate answer for now.

“hmmm… really? Maybe? I’m not quite sure. I couldn’t tell. I haven’t seen you together”

Yzak frowned and mumbled something I couldn’t quite decipher, so I asked “what did you say, Yzak?”. He answered me with a shrug and a “nothing”. I stared at him for a few seconds wanting him to reveal what he said but he didn’t bat an eyelash so I had no choice but to give up.

“okay, if you say so. well, are you done preparing? It’s about time we head out of your room and join your eomma for breakfast before I send you to school”

Yzak nodded his head and did some finishing touches before he bolted out of his room.

The three of us ate breakfast like the usual, Yzak being our bright little sunshine, blabbering some random stuff while noona and I bicker on some little things and to whoever Yzak sides with wins the argument.

“by the way, eomma” Yzak called out to my sister as he removed himself from my grasp as we walked out of the house. He immediately gained her attention and so Yzak continued, “Ha Young said I looked like uncle Chanyeol. Do I look like him?”

Noona blinked a couple of times and gulped hard upon hearing her son’s question.

“w-w-w-what?” she asked and nervously looked at me. I raised my eyebrow and gave her a questioning look making noona gulp harder.

“Ha Youngie said I look like uncle Chanyeol while uncle Chen said he couldn’t really tell because he hasn’t seen us together. You’ve seen us together eomma, so what do you think? Do I look like uncle Chanyeol, eomma?” Yzak asked once more.

Noona nervously laughed and then she quickly looked at her wrist watch and exclaimed, “omo! Look at the time baby. You’re going to be late. Uncle and you must go now. I’ll see you later, okay? Bye, baby! Eomma loves you, okay?”

I had to hold on my laughter as I maintained a straight face as I watched noona acting nervously in front of me, trying to get away from the topic at the mention of Chanyeol hyung’s name. Yzak pouted but had no choice but to leave for school because he, indeed was running late.

“okay, bye eomma! I love you too” Yzak answers back and kisses noona’s cheeks before we started to strut out of the house. But before we could do so, I looked back at noona and mouthed, “we need to talk”

"it’s been awhile”

“yeah, it’s been five years” I answered subtly. I didn’t want to sound friendly nor did I want to sound so intimidating. I just wanted to give him some fear. He smiled sheepishly like he always did.

“how’ve you been?” he asked. I gave him an indifferent nod and answered shortly, “been doing good”

There was silence between us and I think I have succeeded in intimidating him, because if I wasn’t he would’ve blabbered non-stop right now like how he usually does. I took a sip of my coffee before I voiced out my thoughts. “I am quite surprise that you called me first hyung. I never thought you would have the courage to face me after what you’ve done to my noona, Chanyeol hyung” I remarked causing him to shift his position on his seat.

Apparently, Kris hyung gave him my contact details and he called me awhile ago after I sent Yzak to school telling me that he wanted to talk to me. I would’ve declined his invitation but he begged me not to do so before I could even do it. So now, here I am, sitting right across him at a coffee shop.

“I have to man up if I want to win her back” he mumbled.

“win her back? What are you trying to say?”

He bit his lower lip before looking me straight in the eye.

“I still love Taeyeon, Jongdae ah. And I want her back”

I wanted to smirk and applaud upon hearing his answer, and tell him ‘I knew it’ but I chose not to do so, I had to maintain a straight face to get him to fess up.

“Even if five years have passed, my love for Taeyeon hasn’t decreased by one bit and now knowing about Cedric makes me love her more and more. My urge to be with her has just grown higher, I want our family to be complete. I want to be there for my son and wife, through the good and bad”

“why are saying this to me?” I asked

He looked down for a moment and breathed deeply.

“because I did you and your sister wrong. I know how much you love your sister, I know how much you want to protect. I knew those things yet I still hurt her, I betrayed yours and your father’s trust on me. And for that I deeply apologize to you.”

I remained silent even when he paused to think of better words to say.

“I know my apology is not enough to compensate for your loss but this is all I can do for now. And I know I am really shameless for being here talking to you, begging you to allow me to have your sister back. But, I don’t care. I love her and my son” he added.

“dad told me to keep her away from you” I informed him as I looked out of the window, at the corner of my eye I can see him nodding his head. “Kris told me about it and I perfectly understand why he said that. But, Jongdae ah you’ve seen and known how much I love your sister. Even if we started everything as her being just my contractual wife, I’ve come to love her with all of me” he answered

“yeah, I know you love her yet you chose to hurt her five years ago” I said. He remained shut for a few seconds and I took it as a chance to rant at him.

“what makes you think that I’d entrust her to you again? what kind of a brother am I to entrust her back to the same guy who hurt her? You’ve hurt her so much to the point of making her almost loose Yzak. I’ve seen her cry because of you, I’ve seen her pained because of you and I tell you, it is the most horrible thing that I’ve ever seen. I don’t want to see her that way again. Never”

I breathed in and out hard, after containing myself so that I won’t raise my voice on him. I didn’t want us to get the attention of people.

“I can exp---“ I held up my hand and cut him off. “you don’t need to explain why you did it because Kris hyung told me about it. I know you weren’t having an affair, noona and I know that you were just being a good friend to her. We know, we get it. But, the thing that hurt noona the most is the fact that you hid it from her. Why did you hide it from her?” I asked.

He took in a deep breath and answered, “I was afraid to lose her”

I arched up my eyebrows as I heard his answer. He took my silence and the movement of my eyebrow as me wanting him to continue, which is correct I wanted him to elaborate further.

“you see, Taeyeon at several instances was jealous because of Minah. I don’t want her to feel jealous. So, I hid it. I thought she would take it the bad way if I told her about it, I thought I could keep it for awhile and eventually tell her when Minah gets stable, when Minah can tell her herself. But, I thought wrong. Apparently, I couldn’t hide my secrets that well and apparently I didn’t trust your sister’s kind heart enough."

“It was really stupid of me to not trust her. I should’ve realized that those times that she was jealous was when I haven’t told her what I feel towards her yet. And I practically gave her a reason to not trust me that much when it when it comes to Minah because I hid the fact that we were together for business trips. So, basically I am saying it was all my fault and I reap what I sow” he said with regret in his voice and etched in face

“good that you know that” I sighed and sipped my coffee. His head hung low as he took in what I just said, “so, what makes you think I can still entrust her with you?” I asked immediately snapping his head back up to face me.

“I don’t know” he answered and I cocked my eyebrow.

“I can’t assure you of anything. I can’t promise you anything. Heck, I can’t even say that I can make her the happiest woman in the world or that she wouldn’t cry because of me. I don’t want to give any promises or assurances. Except for one thing, except that I assure you that I love her so much and I promise to love only her and our family”

“so, why are you talking to me?” I asked with a tilt of my head. He seemed puzzled with my question. “I do appreciate that you are not talking bull to me, saying noona will have the best life and that she will no longer cry. I appreciate that you spared me from hearing all those crap. But, seriously hyung why are you telling me all these? Shouldn’t you tell these to nooa and not me?” I asked further.

“I… I… I don’t want it to be like before. I want to court her like how I should have. Take things a step at time. And asking for your permission is the first step. So, here I am asking you to please give me this chance to be with your sister again” he answered.

“but the final decision will still be my sister’s, you know? So rather than sit here with me, why not send her flowers, chocolates and what not’s to woe her, right?” I questioned and it left his jaw hanging. “what? Did I say something wrong?” I asked after a few seconds of no response from him and my question brought him out of his reverie. He bat his eyelashes for a few times.

“are… are… are you… are you saying yes to me right now?” he asked and I felt a bit awkward with his question. “if you’re referring to allowing you to win my sister back, then yes, I am allowing you to win her back. But, if you’re not referring to that then I don’t know” I answered

“seriously?” he asked in disbelief.

“why? You don’t like that?” I asked back to which he vigorously shook his head. “so, why are you still asking me that?” I asked.

“I… I… I’m just shocked” he muttered making my eyebrow to shoot up. “not that I didn’t want to achieve your permission. I just thought that you’d give a harder time earning your permission”

“huh? You want to suffer?” I questioned.

“what? No! if I could be spared from it then I would want to get spared from it. But, I just didn’t expect it. Didn’t you hate me?”

“I hated you” I answered solemnly as I locked eyes with him. I heaved a sigh as I continued, “but you wouldn’t be here just to have my sister back if you weren’t so in love with her, won’t you? I don’t think you’d go through all the pains of showing your sorry to me if you don’t love my sister enough to bow down to someone younger than you, won’t you? the courage to face me and beg me is enough”

“I hated you so much, but as noona said, it’s not good to hold grudges, forgive if I can. So, I guess the bruise I gave you five years ago would suffice. But, I swear if the same thing happens again, I am so going to kill you hyung” I threatened.

Chanyeol hyung remained silent, still stunned with my answer and threat.

“what? Aren’t you supposed to say thanks now or something?”

“why?” he mumbled.

“Simple, I love Taeyeon noona and I want her to be happy. She’s happy right now, with Cedric but I think she’ll be happier if Cedric gets to be with his father and well of course if she’s with the man that she loves, which turns out to still be you after years of separation. What right do I hold to deprive my sister of her happiness and to deprive Cedric of his father?” I explained. “so, sad as it may sound, I’ll have to accept you back in our live once more” I joked.

My little speech was followed by a sort of endless thank you from Chanyeol hyung. I’ve long forgiven him, I knew he deserves a chance, because the thing that happened before was mainly because of a misunderstanding. I know if dad was here, he’d do the same, despite saying that he wants Chanyeol hyung to be out of my sister’s life. Because like me, dad only wants the happiness of my sister and her happiness is being a family with Chanyeol hyung and Cedric.

“Jongdae ah, I have one last favor to ask”just have my sister back

“oh, you’re home!”

“yes, I am. We’re you expecting someone else?” I asked Taeyeon noona who looks slightly disappointed. She shook her head and answered, “I wasn’t expecting someone in particular, just you and Cedy. Wait. Where is Cedy?”

I had to suppress my laughter as I noticed the obvious lie my sister said.

“Suzy fetched him. She wants to give him tips since his recital will be tomorrow. And since she’s already here, why not take this chance? She’s experienced when it comes to those kind of things” I explained. I received no replied so I looked up to see a wide-eyed Taeyeon.

“what?”

“Suzy?” she asked and I rolled my eyes before nodding my head. Noona squealed like a fan-girl. “Oh my gosh! You’re together again?! Oh my gosh! I’m so happy for you! Oh my gosh! Since when did you get back together?”

She was jumping happily but I had to pop her bubble and . “yeah, yeah, we’re back together. We met two months ago and decided to get back together a mo