(35 months)

It was time for another filming for Happy Family. It has been 5 months since the first filming and the children are slightly closer to each other now. The PDs have decided to come up with a new concept for this filming. Instead of children going around with their parents, they decided to pair the children up as they do the missions. The parents were asked to leave the set to enter a room where they could watch the children from a screen.

Jihyo was originally afraid that Jiyoung would whine for her, but he remained calm as he watched her leave silently. While she felt thankful, suddenly, she realised that day by day, her children were growing up and learning to be independent, and it made her a little sad. A week ago, he was still whining for her, but now…. one day, her children wouldn’t need her anymore.

Sensing her thoughts, Gary reached out for her hand.

Even if one day they wouldn’t need you anymore, I’ll still need you.

She smiled, interlocking her fingers with his.

Hyun Woo will be paired with Minyee; Jiho is paired with Jiyoung and Dream was with Ji-ohn. The maknae, Jun Suk, will be exempted from the mission as he is too young.

When the pairings were announced, Ji-ohn teared up and went to find her brother.

“Oppa…” she said, holding his hand tightly, firmly shaking her head to show that she doesn’t want to be paired up with anyone other than her brother. The parents, who were watching behind the screens, were unable to intervene and could not do anything but wait for the children to find ways to settle it themselves.

Jiyoung walked up to the PDs and shyly asked, “PD- ajusshi, can I go with Ji-ohn and let Dream hyung go with Jiho hyung?”

He looked so nervous that the PD felt bad to reject him. But, rules are rules. And the point of this is to let them get closer to each other.

“Mianhae, Jiyoung-ah, we can’t change the pairings. Dream will look after Ji-ohn well, ok?”

Hearing it, Ji-ohn immediately plopped down on the floor and started crying. “Andwae, andwae… Dream-ie oppa shireo, I want my own oppa,” she cried.

“Eotteokhae? Ji-ohnie hates it when she’s separated from her brother,” Jihyo said in the van. Turning to Jae Suk, she asked, “Will Minyee be ok being apart from Jiho?”

“Eo, I don’t think she’ll cry. Look, she’s still fine.”

Jihyo sighed. Although Ji-ohn was older by Minyee, she was blind. She relies heavily on other’s to guide her and she was afraid that Dream wouldn’t be able to do it well.

Dream watched Ji-ohn cry and he stood there helplessly, not knowing what to do. Although they played together often, but every time Jiyoung was there with her, so she was fine.

Seeing that his juniors were at a lost, Hyun Woo, the eldest of them all, went up to her. “Kwenchana, it’s only for a while, later you can see your oppa again,” he said.

“Eonnie, uljima,” Minyee said, gently petting Ji-ohn’s shoulder.

The other children took turns to comfort her.

After a while, Ji-ohn cries finally ceased, and the PDs continued with the instructions.

“Okay, so for this mission, you will need to walk through this maze. There will be a part where it will be dark, so be careful, okay? Along the way, there will be things for you all to collect, ok? The things that you collect will be for your lunch later, okay?”

It was a relatively simple maze, to cater for the children’s maturity. The hardest part would be the dark part, because the children would be unable to navigate easily.

“Ne,” the children answered.

Hyun Woo and Minyee went first. Hyun Woo not only looked after Min Yee well, he also got out of the maze very quickly. In the room, the adults were praising Hyun Woo.

“Hyung, you are lucky that your son didn’t inherit your impala genes,” Jae Suk teased, earning a smack from Suk Jin.

The next group was Jiyoung and Jiho. They did okay for most part, until they reached the dark portion.

“Hyung… I’m scared,” Jiyoung said, holding onto Jiho and not willing to enter.

“I’m scared too,” Jiho admits.

They loitered outside the curtains for a long time, before finally decided to go in.

“It’s so dark,” Jiyoung whispered, clutching onto the elder boy’s arm.

The two boys moved slowly through the portion, getting lost a few times since they couldn’t see. After a few times of getting stuck, Jiho broke down and cried. “I want to go out,” he said, in tears. “I want to go out…”

Jiyoung looked at him, not knowing what to do. Eventually he sat down beside him and said, “I want to go out too.”

They stayed like that for a while, then Jiyoung stood up and said, “Let’s find our way out,” holding out his hand for Jiho.

Jiho took his hand, and they eventually managed to find their way, giving their parents a sigh of relief.

Lastly, it was Dream and Ji-ohn’s turn. Ji-ohn navigated around by touching.

“Dream oppa, you’re too fast,” she said, when she heard that Dream was ahead of her.

“You are too slow,” he replied, but he still waited for her.

Ji-ohn scowled. “Jiyoung oppa will wait for me.”

Dream didn’t reply but waited for her to catch up. When she was beside him, he slipped his hand into hers. “You follow me,” he said.

They walked the rest of the maze in silence, until they reached the dark portion.

Ji-ohn pulled apart the curtains, wanting to go in, but Dream stayed behind.

“Oppa, wae?”

“It’s dark inside,” he said, pulling her back.

“But we need to walk through here,” she said.

“I don’t want to, I’m scared.”

“But we have to,” she insisted, pulling him in.

“No!” he shrieked, starting to cry.

“It’s not scary,” she said.

“How would you know!? You’re lying,” he resisted her pulls and pulled her hands away from his.

“Because everywhere is dark for me,” she said gently.

Dream looked up. He was not even 4 years old, of course he didn’t understand the concept of being blind. Ha Ha mentioned to him before, but he didn’t quite get it.

“Is it because you can’t see?” he asked.

She nodded.

“Why can’t you see things like everyone else?” he asked, unaware that it was a sensitive question.

In the room, HaHa and Byul exchanged worried glances.

“Sorry,” he mouthed to Gary. Gary just shook his head, brushing it off.

Ji-ohn thought for a while. Nobody asked her that question before.

“Maybe it’s so that I can use my heart to see,” she answered.

“What does it mean?”

She shrugged. “Appa said before that people should use their hearts to look at people rather than their eyes,” she said.

“Are you ever afraid when you can’t see?” he asked again.

“Sometimes, when I’m alone,” she replied. “But when I can hold somebody’s hand, then I’m not so afraid anymore.”

With that, she held his hands again. “So when I hold your hand, you wouldn’t be afraid too, right?”

Dream let Ji-ohn hold him and let her lead the way.

The parents watched their interaction through the screens in awe.

Jihyo was tearing up, Gary put his hand over hers.

Although they took the longest time, Dream and Ji-ohn made it out of the maze as well. Once out, she looked for Jiyoung immediately. He quickly went to her side.

“Were you scared?” he asked her.

 “At first, but Dream oppa held my hand like you did, then I wasn’t scared anymore,” she answered. “You?”

“A bit,” he said.

The parents went out of the room to reunite with their children. Then they started to cook their lunch together. With the mothers all present, they were in charge of the cooking, while the fathers played with the children.

Jae Suk asked Dream if he loved HaHa more or Byul more.

Without any hesitation, he answered Byul.

“Ya, since eomma is not here, you should have just said appa!” HaHa said to Dream jokingly, tickling him as a punishment.

HaHa then asked Jiho, “Jiho, do you love appa more or eomma more?”

He thought for a while, then answered, “Same,” inducing laugh from the adults.

“Truly the nation’s MC’s son,” Suk Jin laughed. Since they were on the topic, he asked Ji-ohn and Jiyoung too.

Ji-ohn answered, “Eomma, because she makes nice food for us and takes care of us and answers all our questions well.”

Feeling indignant, Gary pointed out, “I answer your questions too!”

Ji-ohn shrugged. “Appa, you don’t answer our questions properly.”

Then it was Jiyoung’s turn.

“Eomma,” he answered. “But I love appa too,” he quickly added.

“Why do you like eomma more?” Jae Suk asked.

He thought for a while. “Just because,” he finally answered.

The adults laughed at his answer.

“Ya, do you even know what is love?” Gary pretended to be angry.

“Love is when I don’t cry when eomma leaves because she’ll be worried,” he said quietly. “Even though I will miss her very much.”