CHAPTER 30: YES, HE'S BACK HERE...IN KOREA

Youngjae averted his gaze from the iPad in his hand to the sight before him. He was immersing himself into sketching new design when he heard his only son chortled happily while playing with his Uncle Daehyun and his favorite Auntie Jonguppie. He smiled warmly when he saw Junhong was having a great time playing with them both and that he was glad they could look after his baby when he was too absorbed in his work.

They were currently just spending time in the living room at the Kim's house on that particular Saturday. Myungsoo invited all the Jungs and Kims to have breakfast at his mansion while they were all invited to have dinner later at the Jung's. Everyone except Daehyun and Jongup stayed after the breakfast for all of them have other plans to do that day. As Junhong recently grew more attached to Jongup, the latter had a hard time to leave the baby when he gave the expectant mother his very cute puppy look whenever he had to go back to Daehyun's apartment.

As the morning was activity-free for the DaeJong couple, Daehyun was kind enough to spend a couple of hours at the Kim's and happily watched Jongup playing with Junhong. He sometimes would join them, mostly teasing the baby until he was annoyed. But there would always be his favorite Auntie Jonguppie who was able to distract his annoyance at his uncle and get him to focus back on the blocks in front of them.

"Jae jagi..." Youngjae jolted slightly as he was startled by his own husband's whisper. He could never get use to Himchan's raspy voice which he always found it y. What more when the older liked to whisper oh-so-romantically into his ears whenever he got the chance to do so. Call him lucky, because heck, he really was lucky to have Kim Himchan, the famous photographer as his husband. He was lucky he could claim the older his.

"Channie, God. You scared me." Youngjae whispered back as he turned his head slightly to the back only to be greeted by a grinning Himchan. The latter always liked to greet Youngjae from the back and when was asked the reason why, Himchan simply replied that it was romantic to sneak from the back and startle his beloved one. Youngjae could only roll his eyes at the answer while silently calming his fast beating heart down.

"I'm sorry that I love you that much." Himchan retorted before kissing Youngjae's lips. The younger smiled into the kiss and they parted right after. Himchan took the spot next to his wife on the sofa while trying to figure out what was shown on the television.

"Who's watching the program?"

"No one." Youngjae replied shortly. His eyes were back on the iPad. He ran the pencil to add more on his sketch. A click sound together with a blinding flash surprised the fashion designer. He looked up only to find Himchan was looking at the DSLR screen with a satisfied look on his face.

"What are you doing, yeobo?"

"Admiring what's mine." Himchan's bold reply managed to make Younjae's blood rushed to his cheeks in record time. Cheesy...

"You're disturbing me."

"I'm not sorry." Himchan nonchalantly rested his head on his wife's shoulder. He knew the younger did not mean what he said, he just wanted to brush off the shyness that was kicking in.  He smirked in triumph. He loved to see blushing Kim Youngjae, his favorite view every morning since a few years ago.

"So, you're working on a new design now?" Himchan initiated a conversation. His eyes landed on the masterpiece Youngjae was currently designing. He was proud of his wife actually. Youngjae would always have new idea and if he was not occupied with anything, he would start pouring out the ideas into storyboard. Himchan thought he just left the room for 10 minutes to get his camera and his wife already had something on his mind.

"New design. New concept."

"I could see that. I wonder what inspires you to come up with this idea. It looks different."

"That." Replied Youngjae while pointing towards the couple on the floor with his mouth. Himchan looked over and furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

"Family concept. Expecting new addition to family kind of concept. I'm working on design for expectant mothers." The husband was quick to catch what Youngjae was visualizing. Without wasting more time, he straightened his back and positioned his right eye before the viewfinder. His finger was fast to click on the shutter once he got the scene he wanted. The shutter click sound garnered the people on the floor's attention, which Himchan brushed it off casually, saying he was testing new lens.

"Are you implying that Jongup inspires you?"

"Well, yes..."

"Why haven't you thought about it when you were having Junnie?" Youngjae glared at his husband and the latter laughed, feeling happy from teasing his wife.

"Hey, Chan hyung! I think we have to make our move now." Daehyun suddenly announced, surprising the HimJae couple as well as Jongup. The pregnant boy averted his attention from Junhong to Daehyun beside him.

"Really? Like...right now?" Himchan took a glance at the clock on the wall.

"It's almost noon."

"Have your lunch here before you go." Youngjae piped in before making his way to Junhong. His design was forgotten when Junhong was all he could think of. The baby did not have anyone to play with other than his parents now. Myungsoo were busy in the kitchen while Sunggyu was writing his research done for new regenerative therapies in the study room. 

"Well, I was planning to bring Jongup out for lunch." And said person blinked his eyes couple of times because as far as he remembered, the young master had never mentioned about having lunch outside, in which led him to come up with two conclusions - whether having lunch at the Kim's or that he had to cook for them later at Daehyun's apartment. Taking a brief glance at the clock on the wall, Jongup knew it was not possible for him to start cooking at that hour. Perhaps that was the reason why Daehyun wanted to have lunch outside. But why did not they just eat at the Kim's?

"Oh, a lunch date?" Himchan casually replied which earned a brief glare from the young Jung. The Kim smirked in return.

"No...! No go...play." Junhong practically gripped Jongup's cardigan when the latter was about to get up.

"Junnie sweetheart, Auntie Uppie has to go now. Let's play together okay?" Youngjae persuaded as he tried to loosen the tight grip of Junhong on Jongup. The baby shook his head and whined as he tried to get his favorite person to stay. Jongup immediately felt sorry for Junhong. He looked up only to meet Daehyun's intense eyes. He internally sighed as he reached to get the baby to be on his laps.

"Junnie, I'll come again and we'll play together, okay? Auntie Uppie promise." Jongup tried to negotiate which was all in vain. Junhong suddenly cried out loud, which surprising the expectant mother and the others.

"Junhong-ah, why are you crying? Come here, baby." Youngjae pulled the crying baby and the latter just followed the force with tears streaming down his cheeks. Junhong buried his crying face in the crook of his mother's neck and cried more. Jongup felt even guiltier yet confused. What did he do? He did not intend to make the boy to cry, but he did anyway. Did he really have to stay? He wanted to, but seeing Daehyun was that serious, he was afraid to ask permission from his young master. A faint frown appeared on his face.

"Junnie-ah..." Jongup tried to call said baby. Junhong looked up and pointed his tiny finger at Jongup while forming incoherent sentence.

"Play...Guk-kie...stay!" It was hard to understand what Junhong was trying to say when the baby was still crying. Youngjae and Himchan as the parents too, could not comprehend his words and tried to persuade him which led to baby tantrum. Junhong thrashed around and flailed his arms, which Himchan found a bit weird. Junhong was never this cranky. It was always Youngjae who managed to calm their baby down, but not today.

"Okay, boy. Stop this. You're going to hurt yourself and mommy. Daddy will ask Uncle Daehyun and Auntie Uppie to stay, okay?" Said Himchan as he picked Junhong up from Youngjae's lap. Miraculously, the baby's crying toned down slightly while Daehyun's eyes widened upon hearing those words. Nooo, this is not supposed to happen!

"No, we can't. We're running out of time. We're going somewhere after lunch." Daehyun instantly retorted without having a second thought. Junhong continued to wail and throw tantrum in his father's hold. Himchan had to tighten his hold around the baby while the soft lock to calm his son down.

"Way to go, Dae."

"Where are you guys going?" Youngjae turned to look at the clueless Jongup to get an answer. The latter raised his eyebrows and shrugged his shoulders. He honestly knew nothing about Daehyun's plan. All eyes were now trained on the young Jung and the latter deliberately played dumb.

"What?" Daehyun curtly asked.

"Where are you taking my brother, Jung Daehyun?" Himchan promptly asked. The young master resisted the urge to roll his eyes and ended up rubbing his nape while finding an answer to his cousin's question.

"The mall."

"The mall?" Youngjae incredulously asked.

"Why are you running out of time if you only wanna go to the mall?" Himchan furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

Because I already bought tickets for a movie, damn it! Why are they interrogating me like I'm some kind of kidnapper?! Daehyun wanted to yell in frustration. He gritted his teeth while faking a smile. An awkward laugh escaped from his lips. Sometimes this HimJae couple could get on his nerves and he could do nothing. Nothing!

"Well...today is Saturday. The mall would be crowded with people...and it won't have many available parking space left." Daehyun did not even care if his answer made sense or otherwise. What he could think of at the moment was that he and Jongup needed to get out of that house without any unnecessary delay from Himchan and Youngjae…and probably Junhong too. Why is this happening when I’m about to make my move? Haish, this is so frustrating!

“Junnie-ah, you really wanna stay with Auntie Uppie?” Himchan tried to get Junhong looked at him in the eyes. He pulled the baby away from his chest and wiped those sadful tears on the chubby cheeks. Junhong hiccupped, but he managed to nod his head.

“Do you wanna go accompany Auntie Uppie to the mall?” Himchan unexpectedly asked this question which caught the young master off his guard.

“Wait, what?!” Damnit, what the freaking hell is going on here?! Daehyun was too surprise to form any sentence. He was even speechless when he witness Junhong nodded his head and did some grabby hands toward Jongup, indirectly asking for the maid to hold him instead. Youngjae could barely surpass his laugh from escaping his mouth. Oh dear, Junnie is being possessive, sorry not sorry, Daehyun-ah…

“If you don’t mind, Dae… could you bring Junnie along? He seems to not let Uppie go.” Youngjae sweetly asked as he caressed Junhong’s soft lock. The baby was now in Jongup’s arm and was seen to clutch his cardigan tightly.

Jongup lifted his head up and made eye contact with Daehyun. He was silently pleading through his puppy eyes to let Junhong come with them to the mall. The young Jung took a deep breath in as to stabilize his fast beating heart. Who on Earth could resist Jongup’s cute puppy eyes? Daehyun was easily shaken just by those hopeful eyes and he internally sighed. There goes my plan…

“Sure, let’s go to the mall, Junnie-ah.” Daehyun forced the words out of his mouth as he poked the baby on his arm. Junhong instantly stopped crying which surprised all of them. Himchan was the first to fall into a laughing fit followed by Youngjae who was giggling. Jongup unconcsciously formed his angelic smile and Daehyun could not glare at Junhong when he trained his eyes on Jongup and let his breath be taken away.

“Let me change Junnie in a new diaper and outfits. Come on, baby.” Youngjae pulled Junhong away from Jongup and carried him upstairs.

“I’m gonna ask the maid to prepare Junnie’s stuffs.” Himchan whistled as he retreated from the living room, leaving the smiling Jongup and long-face Daehyun behind.

The ride to the restaurant was filled with Junhong bubbly words while Jongup listening to him. Daehyun’s lips would twitch into a small smile when he heard happy laughter from the back and he would peek through the rear-view mirror to watch the breathtaking scene. Junhong was not hard to look after, he ate well and DaeJong did not have to worry about taking turn during the lunch.

Only when they were heading to the mall did that ride fill with silence. Junhong fell asleep as it was his nap time and Daehyun did not want to disturb him by having conversation with Jongup who was seating at the back. Once arrived, Daehyun let Junhong sleep in the stroller.

“Hold me.” The young Jung suddenly spoke when they were about to walk to the entrance. Jongup lifted his head up and blinked his eyes.

“What?” Jongup asked, not sure if he heard it right.

Daehyun said nothing afterward. Instead, his hand carefully reached for Jongup’s smaller one and linked it with his arm. The younge