Few months later …

“Good morning, HyunWoo!” ChanByul greeted as HyunWoo opened the door one morning. HyunWoo returned her smile and slightly bowed before opening the door wider for the woman to enter. ChanByul happily entered the house and tpok of her shoes as she exclaimed with arms widely spread, “GOOD MORNING EVERYONE!!”

“Urgh keep it down…!” ChanByul froze for a moment and put her hands down. She frowned as she heard a groan coming from the living room, which was on her right side. She turned towards the room and saw a sleeping SungHyun, all  curled up in a blanket which made him look like a giant sushi, as he rolled down from the couch right onto the floor.

“Owwww!” SungHyun whined as he groggily sat up, while ChanByul and HyunWoo only laughed at his silliness. “Good morning, SungHyun, and sorry if I woke you up.” ChanByul apologized and caught a glimpse of HyunWoo shaking his head as he watched his brother trying to break free from his blanket.

SungHyun rubbed his eyes and blinked as he looked at ChanByul and HyunWoo, before resuming his sleep on the floor, curled up in a fetus position as if he’d never woken up before.

HyunWoo sighed and shook his head, before went towards his brother and started pulling his leg. “Rise and shine, brother. It’s time to wake up now. We have a lot of work to do today. Come on.” He persuaded while pulling and shaking SungHyun’s leg at the same time.

However, no matter how hard he tried, the younger just won’t stir up from his slumber, which caused ChanByul to wonder what he did the previous night to be so sleepy right now.

“I’m so sorry, ChanByul-ssi,” said HyunWoo, giving up on waking up his brother. “He watched the television till late last night so I guess that’s why he’s so sleepy at the moment.”

“Allow me.” HyunSik said all of a sudden, appearing from behind ChanByul. After giving the older lady a smile, he went towards both his brothers, started tickling SungHyun’s foot, which, in just a matter of seconds, caused him to burst into laughter, and woke up immediately. Indeed HyunSik knew SungHyun’s weak spot.

“HYUNSIK YOU RASCAL STOP IT NOW!!” SungHyun screamed in midst of laughter as he tried to free his legs from HyunWoo’s strong grip while HyunSik continued tickling him. The scene lasted for quite some time and ChanByul only watched at the side with a smile, thinking how these three grown-up boys could be childish when they wanted to be.

But what touched her heart the most was how close they were with one another, no matter how old they were already. She felt happy to see them like that, and hoped that it would continue that way.

“Oh my God you two are torturing SungHyun oppa!” ChanByul’s attention immediately turned to the owner of the voice, who was running down the steps and to her brother’s rescue, not to forget saying ‘Hi’ to her as she passed by.

“SungMi! Help me! They’re killing me!” SungHyun pleaded as his arms were flailing around. He was obviously trying to free himself by kicking about but indeed, it was two against one, until SungMi came.

“HyunSik oppa, have pity on him. His face is crimson red already and he’s sweating like crazy! And HyunWoo oppa, you seem to be enjoying this way too much. Let go of him already. ” SungMi scolded with arms akimbo, causing both her older brothers to stop and raised their hands in placating gesture.

“I can’t believe you three are doing this in front of our guest. I’m so sorry, ChanByul-ssi, we’re such terrible hosts. We haven’t even served you a drink or offered you a sit!” SungMi said as she turned and apologized at ChanByul, who only nodded her head with a loving smile. To be honest, she didn’t mind if they continued playing around with each other. It was a lovely sight to see. But then, they wouldn’t have time to do what they’d planned.

“It’s okay, pumpkin. I don’t mind at all.” ChanByul said as she put her bag on one of the couch, “So kids, let’s revise what we’re going to do today so that we can finish everything in time. SungMi, I understand you have another ‘mission’ to do today, right?” She asked and SungMi nodded her head in a huge beam.

“Yeah, it’s today and I’m so sorry I can’t help you guys with the preparations. It’s just that the other boys think it’s a really huge thing and they want me to be there as well.” She answered with a slight guilt while scratching her ear.

“It’s okay, besides it is a huge thing, isn’t it? Just make sure you people won’t get busted, all right? He isn’t stupid; you know and just by a single noise could already alert him of you guys’ whereabouts.” HyunWoo chimed in, and the others nodded in agreement.

“Keep us updated, if possible.” SungHyun added. “Take pictures if you can and send them to us. Don’t worry about us though; we’ve got more than enough hands to handle the preparations.”

“And uh, just a little reminder, SungMi,” HyunSik said, “judging from where you guys are going, I have a feeling that you might lose yourself a little. Not just you, trust me, but in order not to get busted, you people have to control yourself no matter what. You know whom am I referring to. Okay?”

SungMi sighed before nodding her head for the umpteenth time. All of them were giving her reminders that she doubted she would even remember.

They all sent her to the front door, and as she put on her shoes, again she had to face a number of questions from her brothers.

“Do you have your pepper spray?”

“Have you brought your wallet with you?”

“Tissues. Do you have them? Do you have enough?”

“Do you think you need an umbrella or a raincoat? In case it rains in the middle of the day and the last thing we want is to have you sick.”

“Is your phone fully charged?”

“My dear brothers, I’m fine, really! I’ve got my pepper spray, my wallet, tissues and even the umbrella but no, not the raincoat. Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.” SungMi said as she sighed and her shoulders fell at the same time. Her brothers often fussing around her at times and she appreciated it as it showed that they cared. But sometimes it could get a little annoying.

“I’ll be off now. I promise I’ll make it back before appa gets home.” SungMi said and waved everyone goodbye as she walked away from the door.

“Be safe and stay together with the others, okay?” ChanByul said as she waved back.

“DON’T TALK TO ANYONE YOU DON’T KNOW. IGNORE THOSE WHO WANT TO TRY TO TALK TO YOU AND DON’T BE TOO FRIENDLY TO TALK TO THEM.” Her three brothers said at the same time, causing ChanByul to shake her head with a smile.

SungMi rolled her eyes but nodded her head nonetheless and began skateboarding away; to the place she’d promised to meet her friends.

Once SungMi was out of sight, ChanByul turned to the three boys and said excitedly, “Okay boys. We have a party to get ready for. Let’s start now!”

“Aye aye captain!” The three of them replied, and so their work began.

“Okay, calm down, DaeHyun. Calm down. There is nothing to be afraid about. Just act natural and don’t show you’re nervous. Don’t be a klutz like last time.” DaeHyun muttered to himself, as he paced back and forth at the entrance of a zoo.

He repeatedly tried to wipe off the sweat from his face as he took deep breaths, feeling his heart pounding inside his ribcage. In his mind, he kept telling himself not to make the same mistake he did like last time. It was so embarrassing that he couldn’t face her for days.

You people are wondering what he did?

Well, initially, about a week ago, he was planning to call someone in particular to ask that person out on a date. Unfortunately, due to his nervousness, right after the line was answered, he quickly butted in asking whether that person wanted to go out on a date with him, before even allowing that person to say hello.

Then he began talking nonsense, which also included the things that sounded sweet at the same time, and spent the whole five minutes talking non-stop. It was until that person said, “I’m not DanBi, DaeHyun. This is her mother,” that DaeHyun realized he’d dialed the wrong number.

Words could never express how awkward and embarrassed he felt that time, and if he could, he would’ve knocked his head repeatedly on the wall. He cursed to himself as he saw for real that he had indeed dialed DanBi’s mom’s number, and not hers. It took him 15 minutes just to apologize while DanBi’s mom continued laughing, saying ‘It’s okay’ at the same time to make DaeHyun feel better.

Well, he couldn’t afford to be as clumsy as he was that time. And he had to try to control his nervousness.

“Hi, DaeHyun!” DanBi greeted from behind him and the boy practically stopped breathing once he laid his eyes on her. She did look cute with her ponytail and casual outfit, like always. She never had to try too hard to make herself look good and DaeHyun acknowledged that from the moment they met.

“Hi!!” He greeted back, and tried to look as natural as DanBi. It could be his eyes were cheated by some spell or anything but DanBi seemed to be a whole lot calmer than he was. And he was glad that she was, as it would be extremely awkward if she wasn’t. Someone had to be cool and natural and so far, DaeHyun wasn’t that someone.

“So uh … let’s go inside? I hope you don’t mind coming to the zoo though. It’s the only place I could think off at the moment.” DaeHyun asked, and DanBi lightly scoffed as they walked inside the entrance. “Of course I don’t mind. What do you take me for? For me, a date doesn’t necessarily mean we have to go to romantic or expensive places. Besides, the weather is nice today, don’t you think? It’s just perfect for outdoor activities.”

Hearing her words, which sounded ultimately sincere, DaeHyun actually smiled to himself. To be honest he didn’t know why he chose to bring her to the zoo in the first place. It just popped into his mind and though he kept telling himself to go with just the usual, like taking her to the mall, amusement park and whatnot, he still made up his mind to go to the zoo instead.

Along with other visitors and a number of tourists, the pair began their tour at the zoo after getting their tickets. Since it was packed that day, they stayed close to each other so that one of them won’t be lost, or, Heaven forbid fell into one of the animal cages.

“DaeHyun ah look at that! Don’t you think the lion looks like you?” DanBi said excitedly, while pointing towards a lion as they stopped by at its cage. DaeHyun squinted and tried to look closely at the said animal’s face, trying to see the similarity between him and the lion.

“What makes you think so? I look nothing like it and this is the first time someone said I look like a lion.” DaeHyun said with a frown as they continued walking while DanBi only shrugged as an answer and kept putting on a poker face.

“I don’t know. It’s just cute.” DanBi nonchalantly said.

“Cute? What’s cute? The lion or me? Me, right?” DaeHyun asked, wiggling his eyebrows at her playfully.

DanBi snorted lightly and confidently answered, “The lion, of course.”

DaeHyun tried his best not to smile like a