Chapter VII: Dinner & Afterthoughts

The atmosphere became somewhat tense. At least, that was the case between Jiyong and Hanbin. Jiyong could tell, just by Hanbin's stance, that the boy was very protective of his mother. It was clear that he didn't want Jiyong anywhere near her.

Hanbin felt like he had to keep up a staring contest with Hayi's appa. Granted his neck was starting to hurt from looking up at Jiyong.

‘He's quiet tall,’ thought Hanbin. Then again when you're looking up at someone almost twice times your height, your neck will be uncomfortable.

Hayi, being the blissfully unaware child that she is, didn't notice the mini glare fest opted to focus her attention on Hanbin's pretty omma. Dara on the other hand, took notice of Hanbin's tone of voice immediately.

‘That cannot be good.’ She thought.

The student's in Bom's studio had all left by now. The only people left in there were her, the twins, Jiyong, Dara, Hanbin, and Hayi.

"So… Jiyong, Hayi really does look like you. She's beautiful," said Dara, one because it was the truth and two, she needed to get everyone's attention on something else. Dara smiled at the little girl who clung on to her father's pant leg while standing behind him somewhat. She was absolutely precious.

Hayi giggled at the compliment. Jiyong tore his gaze away from Hanbin and smiled down at his daughter.

"Yeah…she gets that all the time, don't you baby?" He said as he made her stand in front of him. She was still wearing her little white ballet uniform which resulted in some glitter smearing off onto Jiyong's pants.

"Uh huh, but my eyes aren't like my daddy, there like yours." She replied. Dara chuckled at her cute antics. Hanbin on the other hand was just standing there, still giving Jiyong a hard stare.

Bom and the twins came over to join in the conversation.

"So what's going on over here? Everyone getting acquainted…and…whoa…" She whispered as she stopped to take a good look at the four of them. Jiyong was standing on one side with Hayi in front of him while Dara was standing on the other side with Hanbin right in front of her. The comparison was inevitable. The similarities between the parents and children stood out and if anyone else saw them, they would think that they were a family.

"What is it Bommie? You okay?" Dara asked worriedly. Bom looked a little shocked.

"Oh…nothing I was just…remembering something." She said while still eyeing all of them with interest.

Taehyun and Seohyun were looking at them too. Actually Seohyun was looking at them; Taehyun was kind of staring out into space.

"So...Dara, we should really go out tonight and catch up, with the kids of course." Bom suggested. "I know a place that serves kid friendly food. And Jiyong and Hayi, you guys are welcome to come too."

"I don't know Bommie I'm still in my scrubs after all. And Hanbin's in his karate uniform."

"No problem, I'm going in my ballet attire and the kids will be in their uniforms. The restaurant is really nice but the environment really doesn't call for any kind of formal wear. It's pretty down to earth yet elegant. Seunghyun's good friend Soohyuk runs the place."

"Okay then. That sounds great. What do you think about it sweetheart?" Dara asked as she looked down at Hanbin…who was still absorbed into a staring with Jiyong.

"…Okay" he said. He finally tore his gaze away from Jiyong and turned to his omma.

"Great, what about you guys?" She asked Jiyong. He seemed a little hesitant, not because of Hanbin's obvious dislike of him, but the fact that it was dinner with two women, one of which was an absolute chatter box and the other was his employee whom he knew not much about. He would feel really out of place.

"I don't think..." he started. Hayi cut him off before he could continue.

"Please appa, please please please please pretty please with ketchup on top?" She asked as she bounced up and down and grabbed onto his hand. She was giving him the look with her eyes; those undeniable big eyes that even Jaejoong fell prey to.

‘Must… resist.’ He thought, though it was a slowly losing battle.

"Don't worry about it Jiyong," Bom said knowingly. "Seunghyun will be there. As a matter of fact, I'm going to call him right now and tell him to get his lazy down there and save a table." She said as she whipped out her cellphone.

Jiyong consented after that. At least he wouldn't be the only man there. He could also talk to Seunghyun about those reports he wanted the day before. Hayi was ecstatic. She loved going out with her appa and today she could go out with her friends too.

Bom came back and flipped her phone shut. "Well, he's on his way there now. We should get going soon. If we leave now, we can beat the rush hour," she said before turning to Seohyun and Hayi. "You girls should get changed. You don't want to ruin your ballerina suits do you?"

Hayi and Seohyun both giggled and ran into the changing room in the back. Dara and Bom started up a conversation about simple things that Jiyong didn't really care for. Besides that, he noticed that Hanbin was yet again, giving him a hard stare. He was standing close to his mother, who was absentmindedly running her fingers through his hair as she talked to Bom.

‘What is with this kid? What the hell did I do?’ He asked himself. After a while, he opted to just ignore Hanbin's glares and look the other way. His attention only perked up when he heard his name being mentioned.

"…Yeah, basically it was just an evaluation and he had to tag along with me for most of the morning. But I think I made a good impression if I do say so myself." Dara said as she looked over at her boss and smirked.

"Did she really make an impression on the ever un-impressionable Kwon Jiyong?" asked Bom with mock surprise.

"…You're mocking me…aren't you?" Jiyong said as monotonously as he could. Trying to show you don't care when you're the center of a joke is hard work.

"Oh no, I wouldn't be so foolish as to mock the man that needs a stress test and who just so happens to be my boss." Dara replied as she chuckled in between words.

He sighed before he heard the door in the back open and saw Hayi and Seohyun walk back in their school uniforms.

"Alright then, let's get going." Bom said when the kids came back. She gave Dara directions to the restaurant so she could follow in her own car. Jiyong and Hayi would do the same.

Yeolbong Restaurant:

Dara and the rest of the group all walked up to the Yeolbong restaurant. From the outside, it was hard to locate the restaurant just by looking for it in your car. The only indication there was even a restaurant at all was the sign above it of a chicken.

They walked inside and went up to the hostess who asked what name they were reserved under.

"Choi" said Bom. The hostess nodded and led them to their table. From the inside Dara was amazed at the build of the place. You would never be able to find a restaurant this warm and cozy anywhere else. It was dimly lit with high ceilings.

As the group was lead further into the restaurant, they passed by an area made entirely of glass that displayed a beautiful Japanese garden with an enormous koi pond. It was odd how a restaurant could be historical, artist, romantic, and kid friendly at the same time. The kids seemed to get a kick out of it.

They approached a table where a tall guy in a lab coat was already seated. He looked like the grown up version of Taehyun. He also had the same bored and lazy aura as his son. He was currently staring out at the Koi pond. He turned his head when he heard the sound of his daughter calling out his name.

"Appa!" shouted Seohyun as she ran ahead of her brother and right into her father's arms. Taehyun just looked annoyed at her actions. Bom went over and sat next to her husband, who turned around and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. Seohyun giggled at her parents.

"Seunghyun, this is my friend Dara and her son Hanbin." Bom introduced. Seunghyun looked over at Dara and nodded while saying a small hello.

"Seunghyun." Jiyong said with a nod.

"Jiyong." Seunghyun returned with the same head motion.

All the tables were round with the seating arrangement like so: Seunghyun, Bom, Dara, Jiyong, Hayi, Hanbin, Taehyun and then Seohyun who was sitting right next to her appa. Hanbin pouted a bit because his mom was sitting next to Jiyong. Somehow it just ended up as the adults on one side and the kids on the other.

A waiter came by and asked for their orders. Bom and Dara thought it would be easier if the kids all shared a giant pizza.

"I want extra extra extra pizza sauce!" said Hayi. Dara chuckled.

"She's adorable Jiyong." Dara said as she turned to him. Jiyong returned the look and smirked.

"She's big tomato lover. Anything with tomatoes is her favorite." He explained while looking at his daughter. The dim lighting highlighted Hayi's eyes. He glanced at Dara who was smiling at the kids. From the side, he could see that her eyes were highlighted as well from the candles at the center of the table. The only difference was that her eyes weren't big and curious like Hayi's. They were softer and more mature; like they had seen everything there was to see and held all the wisdom and knowledge it could. Jiyong just now realized that he could easily read her emotions just by looking at her eyes. Seunghyun talking to him snapped him out of his little daydream.

At the other side of the table, Hanbin was not having a very good time. He watched as his omma talked to Jiyong. She was saying something about Hayi. After she turned away, he saw that Jiyong kept looking at her.

Hanbin grew increasingly anxious with Jiyong being around his mom. He didn't know why either. From the minute he saw him, Hanbin felt strange. It was like Jiyong was familiar but different. It confused him and he couldn't understand why he felt like Jiyong shouldn't be around his mother.

Jiyong was Hayi's appa. He liked Hayi very much and he didn't want to hurt her. But he just didn't want her appa to be close to his omma. As a matter of fact, he came to realize that didn't want any man near his mommy. He was snapped out of his thoughts when Dara called out to him.<

"…Hanbin? Are you okay sweetie?" She asked with worry in her eyes. He was deathly still and staring at the center of the table.

"I'm fine," he answered. Hanbin noticed that everyone had their eyes on him and tried to suppress the blush that was forcing its way to his face.

The food came a little after that. The kids looked excited as the waiter cut one huge slice of pizza for each kid. As requested per Hayi, it was dripping with sauce. The rest of the orders came soon after. Small conversations came and went throughout the night. Bom and Dara did most of the talking; they had almost seven years of catching up to do. Seunghyun and Jiyong talked a bit about business and things like that. The kids were all chowing down on their pizza, which resulted in messy fingers, faces and sauce stains on Hanbin's brand new, very white, karate uniform.

Well, one single pizza stain on a white anything is considered messy. Dara would just have to bleach that out later. At least Hanbin didn't hurt himsel- *insert silverware cluttering sound followed by a crash*

She thought to soon. Dara immediately faced Hanbin's direction but was surprised to see that he was perfectly fine. In all actuality, it was Hayi that was hurt. She was holding her left index finger in her hand and her eyes were really watery.

"What's wrong?" asked Jiyong as he took a hold of her finger. It was bleeding. She had obviously cut herself with