Princess Namjoo ^_^

Chapter 24

"My papa says that he and appa got us from our mothers. Who are our mothers?"

As Namjoo had asked her question, the parents hesitated what to answer her. Zitao, Sehun, Yi Fan, Yixing, Taeyeon and Joonmyun - the parents the children had been in conversation with - considered what to say. Taemin, Jongin, Minseok and Lu Han, who were sitting by their side, didn't have their own conversation anymore, and were instead observing them, not really knowing whether to say anything or not.

"What did you tell them?!" Zitao exclaimed, glaring towards Kyungsoo, Jongdae, Baekhyun and Chanyeol. Everyone else stopped their separate conversations and stared at Zitao. The parents who were aware of the story behind, couldn't help but laugh slightly at the sudden outburst and the confused expressions of everyone else.

"What?" Kyungsoo asked, and Baekhyun, Jongdae and Chanyeol also stared at Zitao puzzled. As Zitao didn't answer, but just looked at them like they already knew, they turned their confusion to Sehun.

Sehun sighed. "Ask your daughter, hyung." At this they looked even more confused, but turned their attention to Kyungsoo and Jongdae's daughter.

"Can you tell us what's going on, sweetie?" Jongdae asked Namjoo with a supporting smile.

"I just said that papa told us that you and him got us from our mothers. And then I asked who our mothers are." Namjoo shrugged. Kyungsoo and Jongdae looked at each other.

"But, Namjoo, why do you suddenly want to know that?" Jongdae asked her.

"And what does that have to do with us?" Baekhyun asked Zitao with furrowed eyebrows, clearly confused. Zitao shrugged.

"Apparently your niece told our kid that we're not a real family," he said.

"Don't talk about my niece like that," Chanyeol said, at the same time as Luna said, "What? I didn't say that!" as she also heard what was being said, and didn't like being dragged into the discussion.

"Yeah, you did," Hayoung said quietly. They looked at her. "You said that none of us are real siblings or cousins."

"But I didn't mean it like that. I just said that we're not blood related. I agreed with Sandara unnie afterwards," Luna explained. They turned to Sandara.

"I just said that biology doesn't define family," Sandara told.

"I agreed with that too," Byunghun said, making sure none of them were going to point fingers at him.

"But who are our mothers?" Changjo asked and looked at his parents. Taemin looked like he hesitated, and Jongin made sure not to meet his son's gaze.

"Well?" Byunghun joined in. "Are you going to tell us?" He'd asked before when he was younger, but he'd never really gotten an answer he felt was acceptable.

"The truth is," Taemin began hesitantly, as Jongin just kept looking another direction. "We don't know who your mothers are..."

"Why not?" their five-year-old asked.

"You're both adopted," Taemin answered. "We've never met the women giving birth to you."

"Why?" Now it was Namjoo who felt the need to ask, due to her curiosity.

Suddenly Baekhyun sat up straight. "Uh maybe this isn't the right time to talk about this..." He motioned towards the walking street with a small nod. The parents all looked towards it: more people had stopped to take pictures and maybe partly listening to their conversation, getting small words out of the context.

"Oh come on!" Jongin stood up with his hands tightly clenched into fists. Taemin grabbed his shirt's hem, to prevent him from walking towards them.

"Don't worry, I won't," Jongin mumbled, but kept staring at the strangers who didn't seem to budge.

Joonmyun looked around at the kids, checking if they had all eaten. "Okay, if everyone's done eating, I think we should get going."

"I agree," Yixing said. "I don't like the way people keep staring at us. And I don't want them to take pictures of my son..." Aron suddenly made a sound resembling the mix of a yell and a scream, as the eight-year-old stood, backing away from the place he'd been sitting by and hiding behind his dad.

"What is it?" Yi Fan asked him, as the boy peeked from behind his shoulder.

"A seagull..." his son whispered, staring at the white-greyish bird.

Yi Fan sighed. "Oh," he said, knowing all about his son's fear of seagulls.

"Let's go, are you ready?" Yixing asked around, standing up. Aron went over to him, as his baba seemed like he was about to leave. The bird was still standing where he'd been a small moment ago, looking as if it was staring after him.

"Yes, I'm just going to pack up the things. You guys can just go ahead; I'll catch up," Minseok said, collecting the kids' trash into his bag pack so it wasn't laying on the ground. Yixing nodded, and he and Aron started walking away from the green area.

"Are you afraid of birds?" Amber laughed as she ran after them.

"Just seagulls," Aron mumbled a bit embarrassed. Amber just laughed.

"But eomma?" Changjo took Taemin's hand, as they also started walking.

"Mmh?" Taemin replied.

"Are you going to tell us more tonight?"

"About your mothers?" Changjo nodded. "Sure, sweetie, but we don't know very much about them."

Changjo looked at his feet, as he continued walking. Taemin, seeing this, said, "Me and your appa wanted kids, but as you know, two guys can't have kids together, right?" Changjo nodded, glad that his eomma told him the story. "So we decided to adopt. First we adopted your brother, and then we adopted you some years later. Both adoptions were kept anonymous."

"But why?" Changjo asked.

"Your mothers apparently didn't want you to know who they were. Neither did they want us to know." Taemin looked down at his son. Then he stopped in his tracks and kneeled down, looking him straight in the eyes. "But you know what?" he said and Changjo shook his head. "I'm actually glad we don't know them and they don't know us. I don't want to share you - nor your brother. I love you both very much, and I feel very lucky to have you. I'm thankful for the opportunities your mothers gave me and your appa; if it weren't for them, we wouldn't have gotten two such wonderful sons." Taemin kissed Changjo's forehead and lifted him up, just as Jongin caught up to them.

"What's going on?" he asked and smiled.

"I'm just telling our son how lucky we are to have him and Byunghun," Taemin answered and kept kissing Changjo's face, as the boy giggled.

"Oh, well that's obviously very important!" Jongin joined in on kissing Changjo's cheek and tickling him, so the boy laughed even harder.

"Maybe this isn't the right time or place to be doing that..." Baekhyun came up from behind them, walking past them, as he motioned to the picture-taking people some meters away. Jongin clenched his fists for the second time.

"Seriously?!" he growled.

"Sweetie." With that Taemin put his son in Jongin's arms; his way to prevent his husband to be angry at the tourists in the park. Jongin looked startled at first, but then took a better grab on his son, kissing his cheek and smiling. Taemin smiled too.

"Oh come on!" Yi Fan and Joonmyun had went over to them, but noticed the people who kept taking their pictures.

"I'm going to say something now." Yi Fan marched over to the strangers with Joonmyun following, and as he could only see the back of his hyungs, Jongin concluded - from their bodies' movements - that they must have tried telling them nicely to stop following them and taking pictures.

"What's going on?" Lu Han came over to them, holding Minseok's hand. Jongdae and Kyungsoo and Zitao and Sehun, too, both couples also holding hands. Their kids - including Taehyung, Luna and Byunghun - walked ahead of the pausing couples, following Yixing, Amber, Aron and Baekhyun.

"Yi Fan and Joonmyun are trying to convince the strangers to stop looking at us like we were some sort of famous pop band." Jongin shrugged casually. Changjo giggled and Taemin laughed. "Which apparently I was not allowed to." He looked at his husband Taemin, who stopped laughing.

"I just didn't want you to get hurt," Taemin exclaimed with a small cute pout, moving his hand up Jongin's arm. Jongin tried to look at him angrily, but couldn't help but find the little pout on Taemin's lips adorable and irresistible: he moved in and pecked him on the lips, whereas he earned a light slap on his shoulder by Changjo.

"Appa!" the boy exclaimed, as he saw his parents share a kiss - though it was only a short peck.

Jongin grinned apologetically at the whining boy. "Sorry."

"So how'd it go?" Kyungsoo asked Yi Fan and Joonmyun as they came back from their quest. Yi Fan had a somewhat sorrowful and shocked expression on his face.

"We told them kindly to stop following us, that we were just trying to have a normal and private family trip, and that it would be nice if they would stop taking pictures of both us and our kids," Joonmyun explained and they started walking, when Chanyeol, Taeyeon, Minki and Sandara came to them, finally leaving the area they'd been sitting on - apparently Minki had wanted to show them a butterfly which he intended on catching, although he then realized it was an impossible task to do.

"Did they agree?" Minseok asked, looking back over his shoulder at the people. Joonmyun looked too.

"It seems like it. They seemed quite understandable and apologized if they'd caused any frustration," Joonmyun said.

"Then what are you so sad about, hyung?" Sehun asked, looking at Yi Fan.

"They didn't recognize me..." Yi Fan mumbled. "They asked me if I was a manager..."

Zitao, Sehun and Jongin tried covering up their laughs, but couldn't help themselves. Yi Fan ended up glaring madly and sorrowful at all three.

"Hey, it's okay, hyung. After all, it's been a really long time since we last performed," Jongdae said, trying to comfort the older.

"Besides, you were absent at our last activities: you were only present the first two years," Joonmyun added.

Yi Fan nodded. "That's true..."

"It doesn't mean anything, hyung," Jongdae said and Kyungsoo nodded.

"But they recognized you!" Yi Fan exclaimed, glaring at Joonmyun.

"Yes, because I was present all years," he answered back. Taeyeon took his hand, remembering him not to get all ripped up.

"And people are still being reminded of him, due to him being the company's CEO and all," Kyungsoo added.

"I'm active too!" Yi Fan said.

"Yes, but in China," Sehun joined in. Yi Fan pouted, but acknowledged the facts.

"I want to try a rollercoaster!" Minki said, pointing at a ride by their side. Changjo nodded and demanded to be put on the ground, as the two kids ran over to the kiddy ride. The adults and kids walking in front, had turned around and walked over to the slightly slower group, gathering up so nobody would get lost.

"Auntie," Luna sighed as she patted Baekhyun's back.

"Yeah?" he smiled at her.

"I was walking with Taehyung, Byunghun, Hayoung and the others... and I was talking with Byunghun, so I wasn't paying much attention to him, and..." Luna looked at the ground as she said it, and Baekhyun's face changed as he looked around seeming to search for something or someone. "Taehyung's missing..."

A/N: Annyeong!

So Taehyung's missing again... that boy... don't know what to do about him... XD

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