It’s never too late to make it up to another while you’re still alive, I think as long as both parties are willing, then why not take the chance and make it up to them? Even though we can’t change the past, we can create new and happy memories with them in the present, so it can be remembered in the future. It’s better than not creating any better ones to make up for the bad ones.

“Should we go out together for a family outing? We can go to somewhere quiet and peaceful where no one will know who our family is and we can leave behind our labels and just be us? To not be afraid to make mistakes, to be our imperfect selves and to be happy without burdensome thoughts. What do you think?” I suggested.

They all seemed apprehensive and doubtful about it and I continued, “Just for one day? We can take a break from going to work and worrying about the Kim Corporations, leaving the problems to the staff. It’s a holiday today, isn’t it?” After all, it was the Mid-autumn festival today and it was a national holiday, so it was the norm for most families to celebrate the Mid-autumn together in Korea. My father suggested, “Then, how about a quiet and peaceful celebration in the countryside? I think we have all seen enough of the city attractions, isn’t it?” I thought it was a good idea, to get away from the city and its fast paced living but I wasn’t too sure about Daejoon hyung and mother. However, I was relieved to hear their agreement to this idea and we were soon off to Seonyudo, a small island off the coast of Gunsan.

We didn’t really pack much since it was just a day trip there, but we were equipped with our sunglasses, hats, sun block and insect repellent and we wore simple and plain clothing, something that was a rare sight since my parents and Daejoon hyung were usually dressed to the nines. We headed there on the late morning ferry and arrived on the island just in time for lunch by the sea. On the way to the island, I had previously gotten Ting Yi’s advice on some family bonding activities and tried them out, starting with a simple ice breaker. It was awkward at first since it was hard to find a topic that we had in common but we persevered to find a common basis and understanding of our dreams and wishes that had been long ruined, along with the ridiculous things that we shared when we were all once a child, naïve to our cruel world. There were times when one of us would bring up something painful from the past and it would evoke strong emotions in all of us, it would cause tension especially when Daejoon hyung mentioned something bad that he went through, but I encouraged them all to try to forgive one another since there was really no point in lamenting on these horrible memories. I had promised them all that we should make happier memories to make up for the bad ones we have all experienced together as a family. It was hard to start the ball rolling but when one finally broke out into a soft and smile, the others followed naturally and things started to flowing smoothly again. There were also times at the slip of the tongue, would there be mentions of the business and it was frustrating for us all to let loose and relax, especially since Father and Daejoon hyung were quite the workaholics. I was glad to have made the right choice to ask them not to bring their electronic devices along, otherwise the situation would have been much more challenging to handle.

Once we were on Seonyudo Island, we were starving so we went to have our lunch at a beachside seafood restaurant called “Hae Jjang!” and we had a wide variety of seafood delicacies. We enjoyed our food quietly with some small talk and chuckles in between as I began to notice small acts of care between my fellow family members. Daejoon hyung was awkwardly making small and subtle movements to give more of my father’s favorite abalone to him and in turn, my father smiled at him and took the abalones kindly, giving him some of his crab meat. While my mother was helping everyone take out the meat from the lobsters and prawns skillfully with just her chopsticks. We exchanged smiles and mummers of thanks, with our warm hearts that were filled with gratitude. At least that was what I was sensing at that moment in time. Even though they didn’t say much, I knew their actions spoke silently yet much louder than words would have ever been.

After our lunch, we walked around the beach and I told them, “Just let loose and play or do whatever you would like to do here, and we can do them together!” Daejoon hyung and I started to race down the beach while our parents walked behind us, taking their time. There were actually a lot of activities we could do on the beach itself, but after some discussion, we finally decided to try the Frisbee challenge held by the locals on the beach, wind surfing, snorkeling and hot air parachuting from the top of the mountain at the end of the afternoon.

We started out with the Frisbee challenge and they had different markings throughout the beach, so we basically had to throw the Frisbee as many times as we could to each other in a four-sided formation. At first, we were pretty fixated on the aim of the challenge, throwing the Frisbee accurately to the other. However, Father and I weren’t able to catch it most times since we couldn’t catch the Frisbee as high we thought we could. Daejoon hyung kept shouting, “Yah! Catch properly, shorties!” and since Mother and Daejoon hyung were the ones who were tall, a two-against-two formation was soon formed, with Father and I on one side and Mother and Daejoon hyung on the other. We purposely threw higher than their height so they couldn’t catch it. While we were basking in our glory of victory and doubling over in child-like laughter, Daejoon hyung came over and grabbed me by my arm, telling me, “Mom said we should switch people, so she’s going over to Father’s team and you’re coming with me!” In the midst of a somewhat intense game, we had long forgotten the original aim of the challenge and played our own way; not that the locals didn’t mind. It got to the point where Daejoon hyung suddenly got an idea and I ended up being carried on his shoulders in order to catch the Frisbee. I was at least 3 meters from the ground, but I was too caught up into the game to mind the intimidating height. I trusted him enough to not let me fall off his shoulders and he didn’t let me fall throughout the game even though there were occasional stumbles, but we worked together to maintain balance and our parents were impressed by our sibling teamwork.

Once we were all tired from playing so intensely, we cooled off on the sea by some snorkeling and wind surfing as the late afternoon crept upon the tides of the sea as the sun reflected the sea beautifully, creating sparkles that were glistening the clear sky blue sea. We did some snorkeling first underneath the water to cool ourselves down as we admired the magnificent underwater nature. Not only did the cool temperature of the sea calm us down significantly, the aquatic life right in front of our eyes was so peaceful and undisturbed that I, myself, became calm. We swam around the sea for a while with our keen eyes but a silent mouth since we were using our mouths to breathe in and out. But we would stick together and never wander around by ourselves, occasionally nudging each other to get the attention of the others to look at something that they had noticed. We stayed under water for about an hour or so and our parents headed to the drinks bar to grab a cool drink and dry off while Daejoon hyung and I went to windsurf since the winds were pretty strong. We (or rather he) were screaming our lungs out with the adrenaline pumping through our veins as the cool winds blew across our faces wildly. But I ended up colliding with his surfing boat and we both fell into the water as our surf boats slipped. I was expecting him to get really angry with me since I knew he was having such a good time wind surfing, but I received playful splashes of water instead and we swam back to shore and ran all the way to the drinks bar where our parents were waiting for us. We grabbed a towel each and sat down next to each other, realizing that there were drinks in front of us. My mother said, “I remember you two liked drinking milkshakes, we had ordered a strawberry one for Joon Myun and a chocolate one for Daejoon before.” She smiled fondly at us and we smiled back, thanking her as we bowed our heads and then turned to look at each other. And then, as if with telepathic words were exchanged, I took his chocolate milkshake and he took my strawberry milkshake.

// Daejoon’s POV; flashback // My family and I had my tenth birthday pre-celebration at a Western restaurant behind my father’s office. Father and Mother were unsure of what to get for me and I only had one request – a chocolate milkshake. So, they ordered me one chocolate milkshake and Joon Myun randomly picked the strawberry one with his tiny pale finger pointing at the strawberry milkshake picture on the menu. However, when he had gotten his milkshake, he made a face of disgust and didn’t seem to take to the strawberry milkshake very well, yet he couldn’t say anything about it to our parents since he was afraid of being scolded and bore with the sour taste of it. I had just drank one small sip of my deliciously sweet chocolate milkshake but seeing Joon Myun suffering in silence, I said, “Joon Myun, give me your strawberry milkshake. I changed my mind and I want yours instead.” My parents didn’t seem to have even cared as they were wrapped up in their own worlds. Joon Myun hid a small smile of glee, only to have been given away by the twinkle in his eyes that showed delight, exchanging his milkshake very willingly for mine. So, I took a sip of his strawberry milkshake and just seeing his bright smile with the slight tilt of my head made the strawberry milkshake so much sweeter. Ever since then, I had always exchanged with Joon Myun milkshake flavors

// flashback end; continue with Daejoon’s POV // I smiled at the sweet memory as I sipped on my strawberry milkshake and promised myself to keep protecting and loving my little brother. Soon, we headed up to the mountain via a ride on a land ranger vehicle, only to find that the hot air parachute was closed due to safety reasons. However, it didn’t dampen our spirits and Joon Myun was insistent on finding something else we could do when we found a massage parlor facing the sun. Since we were all tired and sore from our extra strenuous activities today, we decided that it would be best to get a nice and relaxing massage while appreciating the sun set. We were then escorted to our separate rooms to get our massages and the view of the sun about to set at 6 PM was beautiful and I tried to keep my eyes open to watch the whole process of the sun set take place but unfortunately out halfway through my relaxing massage. I then awoke to someone rubbing my scalp quite unprofessionally and turned around sleepily, still a little groggy from my little nap, only to find Joon Myun behind me, laughing lightly and said, “You’re finally up, hyung. We have to go now, we’re gonna have dinner nearby and guess what? It’s our favorite Korean barbeque!” He grinned and I quickly got up from the massage bed and said, “Really? Yes! Alright, I’ll be out in a minute, let me change into my clothes and I’ll meet you outside, okay?” He smiled and nodded, walking out of the room and I quickly changed into my clothes, running out to meet Joon Myun outside the massage parlor. We turned behind to thank the staff and bowed, before heading to the restaurant, which was actually an open space eating area. It wasn’t as stuffy as those Korean BBQ restaurants back in Seoul and it was cool enough outside but it was bustling with all the locals as they spoke in their own slang and laughter was often the reply, if not more slang that I couldn’t really understand but I felt their jovial happiness radiating throughout the whole area and possibly, beyond. It was also somewhat comforting and happy for me to be surrounded in such a warm environment. Complimentary mooncakes were given to each table and lanterns were lit up to match the season of the mid-autumn. We ate our beef, which was wrapped in freshly grown lettuce and dipped in delicious various sauces along with the appetizers and rice while we occasionally admired the full moon and the surrounding stars in the sky. My mind drifted off to recall today’s events while my mother was sharing the sun set photos with Father and Joon Myun.

Today… everything was just so fun and I’ve never really felt true happiness until now, being able to play like a little kid even though I’m 26. It was like re-living my childhood dreams, everyone was so happy, everyone was finally starting show their love for one another and I never wanted it to end. It felt like all of this was just a dream and I’d wake up one day, finding myself in the cruel reality I once lived in again… I wanted to hold onto this so badly, like I’ve never before. Everything was turning out so brilliantly and I was just-

Then, I cried tears of happiness as my emotions came crashing down like tidal waves of the sea. I didn’t want to ever let go of this miraculous reality, and if it was a dream, I never wanted to wake up from this. All my pain from the past, letting go of them and replacing them with these beautiful ones now, it was just too much for me to handle and at this point, I didn’t really mind exposing my true emotions to my family anymore.

I could feel a pair of arms wrapping around my waist and a head leaning on my shoulder as his hands rubbed small circles on my back, I knew it was Joon Myun since he knew how to take this situation well from past experience. He whispered to me that it would be okay, to not cry; that everything is getting better now and it’s all… real. My parents came over and Mother sat beside me, wiping the tears of my face and Father was patting my back and rubbing the back of my nape. I got so welled up in emotion as my tears continued to trickle down my cheeks. But they never stopped comforting me and I was so… so grateful for them… I soon stopped crying after a while and blew into a few tissues, sniffling a little. Joon Myun chuckled and ruffled my hair and said teasingly, “Don’t need to cry, you baby…” I chuckled back and replied, “I’m no baby, I’m your hyung.”

Soon, the night fell and it was late. We had finished dinner and we were just talking casually at the ferry lounge as we drank tea and the mooncakes we were given at the restaurant. (Mother nagged at us and didn’t allow any of us to drink any soju…) Then, at the strike of 10 PM, the last ferry had arrived to ferry us back to Seoul. We chatted happily up the ferry and we were met by a few policemen.

“Kim Daejoon, you are under conviction for plagiarism, kidnap of civilians and murder, so please come back with us to the Seoul Police Station to receive interrogation.”

Author's Note: To all those who thought this was a filler chapter and/or did not expect that ending, please raise your hand. >:D (totally not evil.../coughs coughs/) So, how did you find this chapter? Please comment below and these are the questions for today!

Q1. What do you think of the relationship between Daejoon and Joon Myun (especially of what you think of the flashback scene!!)

Q2. Was this family outing to Seonyudo a good idea? Did this chapter have an alright development in terms of their relationship together as a family?

Q3. What do you think will happen next?? (please don't shoot me for that sudden ending, everything, or at least most of it, will be explained in the next chapter.) 

Q4. (P.S. I just wanna know this.) Do any of you like Daejoon's character?? :D

So, that is all the questions I have for today, I hope you've liked this chapter and there will be 2 more chapters left until the end of the whole story. By the way, out of the context of this story, EXO's come back "Call Me Baby" is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. And I have fallen in love with the whole album!! My new favorite is "What If"~ <3 But anyways, thank you for reading and staying with me till this far in the story!! ^^ Until the next chapter update, I bid all of you farewell! Bye~