a/n: Before you proceed, first let me thank you for reading!! I really appreciate it! It's been a pleasure writing this story and sharing it with you, I hope you had enjoyed it too. I lurv you, darlings!

GO GO GO!!!

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May, 2075

 

 

    Lay watched as Krystal walked over to her mother, helping her sit on one of the metal chairs much like to what he was occupying at the moment.

    Luna, even if she had her fair number of years on her, still looked as beautiful as the first time he had met her, and that was very well be at least three decades ago. She, for   everything that Lay knows about her, is a very storng woman. And kind.

    Krystal's older brothers, the fraternal twins, Hyukjae and Donghae, and their youngest brother, Jino, came back from the cafeteria where they had excused themselves for a little dinner. Once they saw Lay watching from the distance, they smiled at him and walked over, well, at least the twins did. Jino still have some issues with him even until now, it had never quite dissappear through the years; Lay thinks that it's because he was the youngest, therefore more prone to holding on to old feelings just because he can.

    "Hey, man. What's up?" Hyukjae smiles, gums and all. "You look older than me. Are you sure you're not 70?"

    "Are you sure you're 60?" Lay teased back.

    It is quite easy to get along with Hyukjae and Donghae. Krystal was a little difficult and Jino, even if him and Lay had never been anywhere near being hostile with each other, had been a little hard too. But with the twins, it's easy to feel like Lay was not not part of the family.

    It's easy to feel that he really is a brother.

    Lay was eight years old when his daddy Minseok had asked his mother's hand in marriage. Minseok had been a constant father figure as he was growing up so it was really just a formality for Lay to finally call him dad.

    He was ten years old when he began to get insecure about who his real father was because even if he was young, he could understand what the elder people around town was whispering about when he and his mom would go grocery shopping or just stroll around. Lay was an intelligent kid, and he could understand so much... but it was not enough.

    He could still remember that day when her mom and dad asked him to sit down because they had something important to say. He was on his first year of high school when he learned about Kim Joonmyun, his real father.

    He never thought about it, about Kim Joonmyun. Kim Minseok was his father, nothing was about to change that. Besides, he doesn't even know who this Kim Joonmyun was, not even a picture.

    He met Kim Joonmyun on the day of his high school graduation.

    It had shocked him a little how much they had looked alike. They were both fair-skinned, has that similar soft look on their faces, the same brown eyes, straight nose. There was no doubt that they were related.

    The first meeting was awkward, and Lay didn't know what to do. He hadn't even thought of the fact that Joonmyun might not know that Lay was his son. But the moment that Joonmyun had enveloped Lay into a tight embrace as if it would make up for their lost years, Lay felt that strange sensation inside of him. It was as if everything fell into place and he has found the missing piece for him to finally be a whole person.

    Later, Lay discovered that it was Minseok who told Joonmyun about him, that Joonmyun has a son with Aleni. Lay could have never been more thankful. He could have never loved Minseok more as a father. It takes courage to face the man who had been the love of his wife's life. Lay could only imagine how kind of a man Minseok was to approcah Joonmyun and tell him about Lay.

    Meeting Joonmyun meant meeting his kids too. Hyukjae and Donghae actually knew about Lay. Like him, they were not immune to the looks that the town elders were giving them, the whispers and gossips. They kept it a secret for the sake of Luna because they loved thier mother as much as Lay loves his own mom. 

    Krystal; meeting Krystal was interesting, to say the least.

    Krystal is a few months older than Lay, and maybe it was because she was the only girl in the family, her strong personality and sharp tongue that had made it hard for her and Lay to get along. Krystal had outright refused to aknowledge Lay's existence at one point. But they made it through. As well as they could anyways; Krystal retained that sharp tounge and only had it sharpened even more over the years. It didn't help that Lay would give an equally sharp and smart comeback once in a while. But thankfully they got over that.

    Jino... Jino was almost the same case with Krystal. The only difference was that Jino was Luna's baby. And he would do anything to stop anyone from hurting Luna. Lay was classified as one so he and Jino never really had talked much.

    "Have you talked to dad?" Donghae asked, peering through the door of their father's room where Aleni was still talking to him in almost hushed tones.
    
    Lay shrugs, "He wanted to see mom. I don't want to barge in."

    "He wanted to see the both of you." Hyukjae says. "He wanted to see the both of you in a really long time."

    Lay could understand Joonmyun asking to see Aleni after 57 years of separation. But he was not that sure about him. They had seen each other a few times each year. Joonmyun took him to a meal after he finally received his diploma in Computer Science, graduating from a famous university in the country. Aleni had known about each time Lay had met with Joonmyun but she had said nothing. She was perfectly happy with Minseok.

    Lay doesn't really see the reason for Joonmyun wanting to see him now. He should just spend as much time as he could with Aleni. They all should be honest with this, Joonmyun hasn't that much time.
    
    "He's sorry, you know." Hyukjae continued. "He's sorry because he couldn't be there for you when you were growing up. He's sorry because, as much as he respected and thanked  Kim Minseok for raising you in the best way a father could have, he wasn't able to do just that himself. You are also his son but he couldn't be there for you."

    "I am not... angry." Lay exhaled, remembering all those times, before Minseok and his mom had married, that he dreaded showing people his drawing of a family because the picture would just consist of two people. "I never did."

    "Have you told him that?" Donghae asked pointedly.

    Lay shook his head. He couldn't find the chance, or see the reason to tell Joonmyun. He doesn't see how it would make a difference.

    "Then maybe..." another person said. Jino. "Maybe it's time you tell him just that."
    
    Krystal smiles encouragingly as she stood beside Jino. Lay took a chance at looking at Luna. She smiles at him kindly.

    And with those encouraging smiles, Yixing made his way into the room.

    Aleni was still holding onto Joonmyun's hand, caressing it gently. She looked up when Lay came in, smiling at him softly as he walked closer to the bed until he was beside her, looking at Joonmyun.

    "Yixing..." Joonmyun rasped out. He let go of Aleni's hand and reached out towards Lay, hands trembling.

    Lay was frozen for a moment before he let himself reach down and met his father's hand halfway.

    "I am very happy... to have you... as a son." Joonmyun says. "I'm very proud of you."

    There's a lump on Lay's throat that was preventing him to speak so he nodded his head.

    "If I meet Minseok up there..." a small grin appeared on Joonmyun's dry lips, "I'll thank him for raising you into a very good man. No father could ever be more proud of you... son."

    Lay kneeled down on the floor until he was eye-level with Joonmyun. He could see a small glint of the wet patch running through the sides of Joonmyun's cheek but he ignored it because his own cheeks were wet as well.

    "I'm... I never had been angry with you... and I'm happy... to have met you... dad."

    If Lay's memory is not failing him, it is the first time that he had called Joonmyun dad. And he's happy that he did. Even if it's the first and might be the last time he does, he's glad that he's had his chance to call him his father.

    Joonmyun's family came back into the room, making it a little bit crowded again. Luna took the place on the other side of the bed, opposite to where Aleni was sitting.

    Lay let go of his father's hand and stood to discretely wipe his tears. He's too old to cry but if anyone had noticed, they didn't say a thing about it.

    Joonmyun turned to Luna, reaching for her hand and carressing it, a bright smile on his face. "Oh, my Luna, don't cry."

    Luna smiled through her tears. "Something just got into my eyes, love. It's nothing."

    "I am sorry." Joonmyun rasped out. "I had made mistakes, and hurt you when all you did was make me happy, love me and give me a family."

    "You did just the same for me, Joonmyun." Luna insisted, reaching to touch his face lovingly. "You made me happy. You loved me. You gave me a family."

    Joonmyun closed his eyes for a bit, loving the feel of his wife's warm hand upon his cheeks. "My Luna... I may have made a mistake that had almost ruined us, but you still accepted me."

    "That's because I love you."

    "And I love you too." Joonmyun says, eyes honest and true. "You may not be my first love, but you are the last. You were the one to catch me and put back the pieces when I thought I could never be whole again. Aleni had Minseok to fix her heart, I had you to help me stand back up again and to give me forever. And for that I don't think I could thank you enough. Or even possibly love you more."

     Luna couldn't even talk past her stiffled sobs, opting to bend down until she was laying her face on Joonmyun's chest and mumbling I love you's.

    Joonmyun then looked at Aleni who's eyes were misty with tears. She was smiling at him though and this time, he refused to go back to everything they had and think of it in a painful way. He held out his hand to her and smiles when she accepts it.

    "If we ever meet in our next life, l hope... I hope that we would be given the chance that we never had in this lifetime." Joonmyun whispers. "My Aleni."

    "Yes, yes." Aleni mumbles softly. She kissed his knuckles, tears dripping onto them. "In the next lifetime..."

    Lay closed his eyes tightly, hot wet tears running down his cheeks as the beeping of the machine hooked to monitor his father's vital signs started whining frantically until it went on a dead flat tone, the doctors rushing in after a few moments.

    He refused to open his eyes, refused to see the pain and loss, refused to see the tears. 

    When he was brave enough to pry his eyes open, the smile on his father's serene face engraved it's way into his mind. 

    This was not the picture of a man who died with regrets in life where he had done too many mistakes and had hurt too many people. This was the picture of a man who had loved, and got hurt, but still ended up happy, holding hands with the persons who he had shared his heart and life with.

    Lay prayed that his parents would be allowed to meet again in the next life if there was really such a thing. And he hopes, that when they do, they'd finally have that happy ending.

 

 

 

 

FIN

 

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a/n: just a little note on the characters;

Aleni is actually a classmate of mine who had requested to be portrayed as one of the characters in a story so I indulged her because I just love my dongsaengs. Based in the real life event, Aleni's character would have been a teacher of mine in high school.

 

Suho's character in real life is.... my uncle.

 

Haha, yeah, this is loosely based on my Uncle's story. And yes, I walk around campus knowing that he used to have a thing with one of my teachers.

 

And guess what!!!

 

Lay's character, (yep, that would be my cousin), he's my high school senior! He was a year ahead of me and we even went to the same university before I transferred schools! 

yeah... though it was not awkward between us becasue other than being really intelligent, this cousin of mine is really kind and easy to get along with...and handsome... he's pretty good in dancing too so... LAY!

 

Xiumin's character.... he actually knows my parents.. haha... and they have a pretty close business relationship... blame it on living on the same town small enough for everyone to know everyone!!! He's really kind too.

 

a note on the timespan, the characters are not that old, my uncle is just in his mid-forties actually, and my cousin is in his early twenties... Aleni is just 20 in real life! hehe

 

anyways! thanks for reaing and I await your comments!

i lurv you darlings!