Kim Sung Gyu was scared of many, many things. If he were to list them down one by one, dogs will be on the top, then critters, then penguins, followed by wedding ceremonies, parent-teacher meetings coming afterwards. Then comes the boss’s call to his office, following that would be shopping with his parents, and then going out for drinks with his father. Although he always thought visits by his mother were possibly the most horrifying thing in the world, a few years ago he came to clarify that one thing which was over the top of all the most blood-chilling, horrifying, moments of all. His sister and her two children’s unexpected visits. They would never fail to get both Sung Gyu and Sung Jae running for their lives.

Sung Gyu’s sister Jieun was two years of his junior with cropped dark hair and half-moon spectacles, donning a dark blue tracksuit the entire day except when she’s in bath and bed. She carried a yellow plastic whistle with her, and possibly a ruler or a stick (Sung Gyu wasn’t sure which) and Sung Gyu was certain her feet reeked like rotten fish after being in those shoes and socks for hours. If she weren’t the most soughed after, leading lady of the whole of Korea (Which she wasn’t, fortunately) she was indeed the most soughed after, leading female figure of the school she worked at. She was a teacher in physical education, holding three gold medals in four-hundred meters running event at some sports thing or the other, five silver medals and about a dozen of bronze medals. She also had better abs than Sung gyu himself did, had frequent visits to the gym and never missed going to their hometown to help their grandmother to plow the ground every summer. She, of course, didn’t take after his mother or his father (who were both lazy like himself) but after their grandmother who was a pro sports star of her time (a farmer-star, at least, back in their home town). Her husband was an army general, and every one of his family came from either one of the three armed forces. All in all, Kim Sung gyu, who was lazy, ignorant and hated sports of all sorts (including climbing stairs and setting up light bulbs and cleaning tall shelves) was no match for his sister, the sports whizz Jieun, and consequently he would always feel deeply intimidated by her mere appearance (or the appearance of her kids, for that matter)

Her kids were trained, like dogs. She never even have to waste a word to discipline them, unlike him with Sung Jae (‘Sung Jae, Don’t!’ ‘Sung Jae stop it!’ are the only ways of discipline for him, which go unheard almost all the time). She’d blow her yellow plastic whistle (which is around her neck at all times, like said, except when she’s having a bath or in bed. But Sung Gyu had always assumed that she whistled it while having a shower or in bed when necessary) and with one single blow, the two tiny four year olds will be on tow like little puppies. Sung Gyu had hardly seen them misbehave, at least when their mother was in sight. They woke up at about five in the morning, goes to clean up on one blow, goes out for a jog every morning and eats healthy food like broccoli and carrots and beans which neither Sung Jae nor Sung gyu would ever even look at. Then they’d do their own thing, being the good little puppies they were, come to lunch and dinner consecutively after the sound of the blow, and on weekends, they’d be having gymnastic and swimming lessons, which, Sung Gyu was sure Sung Jae hadn’t even heard of. Therefore, just as how much Sung Gyu was intimidated by his sister, Sung Jae was equally intimidated by his cousin brothers.

Poor Eunji knew of none of this of course. Nor would she have bothered to know anyway. One morning, when she came to the Kim residence for work just as usual, the only one thing which she was concerned about was how Sung Gyu could have made it out from college, or out from high-school for that matter. His stupidity, in her opinion, was out of this world. She and her boss were having quite a heated argument that morning, and if anything, it was about what they can use the waffle iron for.

“But if you spread chocolate first and waffled it, then it would taste like burnt wood!” Sung Gyu was arguing, his hands resting on his waist and eyes widened in annoyance. “Just put the damned bread in the toaster!”

“No! It makes it easier if you put the whole chocolate sandwich in the waffle iron” Eunji reprimanded gravely. “And it saves a whole lot of trouble”

Sung Gyu sighed, rolled his eyes and said. “Look, the bloody waffle iron cost me a fortune. If you and your stupid chocolate sandwich ruin it, you would have to pay me”

Eunji felt like her head was going to explode. “Well, no thank you! It wasn’t me who dropped the last damned egg!”

“You said you weren’t going to make the bloody batter anyways!”

“Of course I wasn’t going to!”

“Then why would you talk about the egg?” Sung Gyu echoed, irate.

“Why can’t I talk about the egg?” Eunji returned, feeling quite victorious. “For your information, this is a democratic country and I have all the freedom and rights to talk about eggs whenever I want to and whenever I please, Thank you very much”

Sung Gyu merely stared at her, blinking, trying to put together the shattered pieces of her unremitting stupidity and let out a sigh. He then fell into one of the chairs nearby, his face buried in his hands and said, “Ah, this is ing ridiculous!”

“Money to the swear jar, Appa” Sung Jae said as he waltzed into the kitchen, his schoolbag on tow. And then he looked around the rather messy kitchen confines. “What’s for breakfast?”

“Waffles” Eunji answered, unperturbed, at which point, Sung Gyu stood up, looking enraged. “No, just stupid waffled sandwiches”

“No!” Eunji yelled even louder. “I would have made waffles if your father didn’t drop the last egg!”

Sung Gyu pointed an accusing finger on her direction. “But you said you weren’t making waffles!”

“I was going to!”

Sung Gyu gave an expression of utmost shock. “What? Y-you lying little-!”

Sung Jae, who noticed the tense thickness of the atmosphere merely shrugged and looked back and forth at the two adults. “Okay” He said, sat down, took a slice of bread and began to spread a lump of chocolate onto it without a word. Sung Gyu stopped midsentence then, and heaved a heavy sigh. “Jae….”

“Hm?” Sung Jae went, continuing to spread the chocolate on bread.

“What are you doing?”

“Making a sandwich”

“Oh…” was all he could say, and then threw a dirty look at Eunji’s direction. It was as if all that he and Eunji could do together was fighting, mostly over stupid nonsensical things because Eunji, in Sung Gyu’s opinion, was an idiot. He couldn’t help but notice every single one of her stupid flaws, which made the affair all the more irritating. He wished if he had kept their acquaintanceship more on the side of mere employ and employer. Nonetheless, her being the sister-in-law of his best friend, the connection, without question converted to a friendship, although the only emotion they happened to share was hate.

He simply sat down. Too tired to open his mouth even, and Eunji rolled her eyes before walking off to clean up the kitchen. Not because she wanted to clean the kitchen nonetheless. Because she was decent enough to do something for the pay she received. She was noble like that. She couldn’t believe just how much of an idiot her boss was. He had graduated in criminology and criminal justice or something from college, but he could hardly even put together a bloody sandwich decently. At any rate, Sung Gyu did not qualify as a father.

A few minutes of utter silence passed on. Sung Gyu was on his phone while struggling with his tie by one hand and Sung Jae was silently making more sandwiches when the buzzer of the front door rang. Sung Jae abandoned his sandwich before Sung Gyu could even throw his orders at his direction for the good little boy he was, opened the door, took one step back with his face contorted with surprise and closed the door the very instance.

“What did you do that for?” Sung gyu echoed from the hallway and gave him a curious look before walking to the door himself. He followed the same routine as well, though. Much to Eunji’s surprise. He too opened the door without checking, took a step back with the face of someone who had seen a ghost, and shut the door with the same intensity and the amount of seconds between the events of stepping back and closing it. It was as if they were suddenly visited by terrorists. Perplexed, Eunji left the bowl she was soaping in the sink, wiped her gloved hands off on her apron and walked towards the door. The sight she was greeted by was the father and the son, huddled in a corner and urgently discussing something in soft whispers. Assuming that it was another one of their no-goodness schemes, Eunji merely rolled her eyes.

“Yah, what the hell are you doing?”

They took one look at her direction and simply returned to their quiet conversations. Eunji hardly could take it anymore.

“There are people outside the door! Why would you close it on their bloody faces? I’m going to open it!”

With that, Eunji simply moved towards the front door and proceeded to wrench it open with nothing so much as a single damn to whatever was waiting outside. It was wrong, what both her boss and his son (Who were both undeniably, unconditionally stupid, as she’d say) were doing, and Eunji wanted to be a better example to the little boy. After all, Sung Gyu was a grown man and there was no possible way to make him learn to be congenial whatsoever, but she could, if she cared enough to, to teach his young child. It was with this determination that she went to open the door, but in no world could she have imagined for her boss to step in and grasp her arm before she could even fathom what was happening.

In a matter of seconds, Eunji had somehow managed to open the door; nonetheless, her boss had stepped in and pulled her backwards by her arm, at which point she toppled over, missed her steps and had miraculously ended up in her boss’s arms. She raised her head upon realizing the rather awkward position they were in. Eunji, still in her plastic apron and rubber washing gloves had toppled into Sung Gyu’s embrace, somehow pulling onto his tie which had become a crooked knot, pushed to a side and undoing the top buttons of his shirt, revealing a delicious line of creamy white skin. He was holding her securely in both his arms, seeming surprised, his brown eyes widened, lips parted, cheeks tinted red. Eunji’s still soapy hands were resting on his chest which she found to be rather stiff and toned despite his usual indolent persona. All in all, in a matter of minutes, Eunji realized that she might not even mind it that he was sometimes very, very stupid, because her boss was, incontestably very, very y indeed.

So much so that she completely forgot she had somehow opened the bloody door to the terrorist or whomever, and it was when a thick, stroppy voice of a woman echoed in the hallway that they both pulled apart from the awkward posture they were in.

Sung Gyu’s head was pounding. What the hell just happened? He couldn’t remember clearly either. All he could remember was that he kind of found the peach tint on Eunji lips very, very attractive.

And then when he faced the door, with a pang, he remembered the rest.

“Ah, ha! So you closed the bloody door on my face because you were making out with the house-maid!”

Eunji, immediately taking offence in the smug remark reprimanded, not really giving a damn on who might the stranger be.

“House- maid? I ain’t no housemaid of anyone! Who are you to call me that?”

“Eunji-,” Sung Gyu muttered, unable to really form an answer, still consumed by surprise, and the stranger simply beat it to him.

“Very well then, brother dear” The woman said, raising her eye brows in a rather triumphant manner, her lips curling into a smirk. “Why don’t you introduce me to your house-maid?”

*

Of all the years of her working as a professional baby-sitter, Sung Gyu’s sister was possibly the most pompous woman Eunji had ever met. She knew it that she hated her the moment she first met her (in a rather awkward manner) and she knew that she absolutely despised her to the bone and core, to the last fiber of her existence the moment she stepped into the house with two snide little monsters following behind her. Although it was far too difficult to pinpoint a feature which formed a connection whatsoever between the two siblings, their children, however seemed to speak for themselves. The two boys of the sister were the exact resemblance of Sung Jae himself, a younger, crueler version of them cloned into twice the evil and twice the horror. It was strange that the two boys held more of resemblance to their uncle more than they did of their mother. Personality vise, however, the kids were exactly the same as their mother. Arrogant, cruel and despicable. Never had Eunji desired so much to quit her job and move into the woods and be on exile.

Sung gyu, on the other hand was having a complete mental break down. For one, Jieun never really mentioned anything about making a sudden visit, let alone on a weekday morning at that. He couldn’t possibly leave her behind after she had come all the way from Jeonju, neither could he stay home from work. He and Woohyun were tangled up in this pathetic workshop for the new investigators where they basically sat and watched the idiots while they marched and yelled and shared canned salami and bread, which wasn’t even important but obligatory in courtesy of his job. Neither could Sung Jae stay home. He had school, and for the modal, high scoring student he was, despite his mischief, he couldn’t afford to miss out on a single lesson. His exams were just around the corner and he had extra tuition and the like. All in all, little Sung Jae was quite a busy body with not much of time to spare on four year old nuisances of cousins to do exercises and have energy drinks together. They both had their lives.

But Sung Gyu couldn’t possibly tell any of these things to his sister, all for the fact that she was his only sister and he was an older brother with novelty and a great sense of responsibility. He took value in her taking her own time to visit her dear old single-parent brother out in the city, and for the noble older brother he was, (And no, it had absolutely nothing to do with the possibility of his mother calling him up and giving him a two hour lecture on sibling ties) Sung Gyu decided to sit her down in a kitchen stool and explain everything with patience and concern. At the end of his explanation however, Jieun merely shrugged and wiped her specs off on her shirt with not much concern.

“I’m not here to see you anyways” she said then and put her specs back on while Sung Gyu internally beat himself for taking pride in his sister for sparing her time for him. Of course he knew Jieun wasn’t the kind to. She never really gave two hoots about him unless it involved her. It was rather foolish of him to think so even. He should have just packed up and gone off to work with Sung Jae, leaving the idiot of a baby sitter to take care of everything. It’s what she was paid for, anyway.

“Whatever is the reason then?” Sung Gyu asked, rubbing his brows in frustration.

“I’ve got an interview” she replied, examining her finger nails. “For a female coach”

“Did you leave your school?”

“Nah” she shook her hand in the air as though it wasn’t anything much to speak of. “I realized I am just overqualified to be merely a school coach”

Sung Gyu just blinked and tried to fathom just how qualified she was. Yet, Jieun was simply talking off. “You see, I hold gold medals, I have experience; I have enough qualifications to run for the Olympics. I have broken records twice! What am I doing with my life? Teaching saggy school kids to hop around at a manky school!”

“Well…” Sung gyu began, but he still couldn’t think of a better response than saying that he’d rather hear all about it tomorrow because he was late for work. “That’s all…great…” He managed in the end.

“I know right!” She went on, her loud voice echoing portentously through the small confines of the kitchen while Eunji snickered in the background, simultaneously trying blend into it, washing the dishes as she did. “I am just too good for the bloody school. All the kids are fatty little s, not listening to a word I say. So yes. I found this decent position as a female trainer for the secret service at the blue house-,”

Sung Gyu chocked, his eyes going heavenwards, and Jieun beat him on his back so hard that his heart almost jumped out of his ribcage. “B-blue house?” He croaked out in the end.

“Yeah. It’s not a big deal but better than the stupid school”

Sung Gyu could hardly believe his ears. There he was, an investigator for a private firm, training a batch of bloody hopeless newbies on a fine cold Monday while his sister who wasn’t even a degree holder as himself was interviewing for a position for the secret service. Secret service had always been one of his greatest dreams. He could still remember how he and Woohyun decided to take up criminal justice in hopes that they could somehow secure a spot in the firm, but none of them passed the physical criteria. Woohyun was lacking in height and Sung Gyu just wasn’t fit enough. Now he wished he had taken an interest in sports after all. It wasn’t that he was feeling jealous or anything. Jieun was his own baby sister and he was happy for her. He just felt a little intimidated, like he had always felt in her presence.

“When is it? The interview” He managed to ask in the end, bringing himself to a better composure.

“At one, exactly. I just didn’t have a place to drop the boys off” Jieun said with a shrug.

Jieun had dropped the boys off with him a several times before, and each time had been complete nightmares to him. He felt his skin prickle at the very memories of them. The two boys were like a pair of wolf cubs. They’d be all calm and composed all the while in their mother’s presence, getting on with their own idle things, but once she was off the radar, they’d transform like werewolves under the full moon, completely, right in his eyes and possibly turn the house down. At any rate Jieun’s two kids were far worse than Sung Jae had ever been, no matter whether they were trained like pups or not.

Thus, with a slight tremble in his voice Sung Gyu asked; “How about Omma and Appa?”

“They’ve gone to the sauna” She said nonchalantly.

“Then you can drop the boys off at the sauna” said Sung Gyu before he could stop himself, earning a sharp glare from his sister.

“Are you bloody serious? You have a house-maid! Why can’t she take care of the boys for a few hours?”

Suddenly it felt like the last straw for him. He was already late for work, Sung Jae couldn’t go to school after all, now, since its way past eight and Jieun didn’t really seem to care one bit. And also, for some strange reason, possibly owing to their strange encounter earlier that day, he seemed to have taken offence in her calling Eunji a house-maid. Eunji was something more than a house-maid, although he couldn’t say exactly what; and calling her such was definitely an insult in his eyes.

After drawing in one long, patient breath, Sung gyu clasped his hands together and said; “First off, Eunji is Sung Jae’s baby sitter. Second off, I didn’t say she couldn’t, but will the boys even behave? The last time they came over, the practically burned the house down.”

Jieun sighed and put down the kitchen towel that she’d been picking on. She was oblivious of the baby sitter smiling triumphantly behind her, and also of the said baby-sitter’s plans if the boys did happen to burn the house down, which weren’t very pretty, to say  the least.

“I’ll be only away for two hours” Said Jieun in the end. “Besides, the boys won’t cause trouble. She would only have to blow the whistle. I’ll tell her what to do”

Sung Gyu rubbed his brows, and took a deep breath. “Alright…” He said and gave her a nod. “And Sung Jae have to stay home too, apparently. Because he’s too late for school now. The bloody home room teacher isn’t exactly fond of him….” Then he let out a frustrated sigh. “I’ll call her up”

“Does Sung Jae cause trouble?” Asked Jieun, her voice etched with concern. Sung gyu looked out the kitchen across the hallway at Sung Jae who was idly pacing around, and shook his head. “He’s only a little curious. But he’s grown up now…he understands…”

“But the boy needs a mother, Oppa” Jieun said, followed by a moment of silence. “Aren’t you ever going to consider marriage?”

Sung gyu merely watched little Sung Jae for a while, and then, before he could even realize it himself, he looked over at Eunji, who, in return was watching him. For one fleeting moment, their eyes met, hers bearing into his as though she was trying to pass a secretive message to her. Something snapped inside him then, and he realized that he’s been watching her for too long. With his cheeks gushing red, he quickly averted his gaze and shook his head. “No…” He replied to Jieun, his voice thick with sincerity. “I’ll be both a mother and a father to him, whatever it takes…”

*

The moment Jieun pulled out her plastic yellow whistle and blew out at the four year olds, Eunji knew that she was made in heaven (or hell, for that matter) to be a coach in boot camp. She wasn’t exactly sure if boot camps and training for secret service had any similarities, or whether they were exactly the same or whether even such a thing as a boot camp really did exist. All she knew was that she’d be stuck in this virtual boot camp with the boot-camp trainer demon woman and her boot-camp-trained demon kids for the rest of the bloody day.

All of that aside, it was quite extraordinary when you come to think of it, how two four year olds would actually behave in the way they did just at the sound of a whistle. With one blow they’d be running towards their mother, on the second blow they would follow after her to the kitchen. Then she’d pull out a few containers of beans and baked vegetables, set them in two separate plates, dump in salt and pepper and place them on the table with a glass of warm water. They’d eat soundlessly, not a single whine or complain, and once they’re done, they would both excuse themselves, gather their plates and place them in the sink. All in perfect synchronization, as though they were police dogs. Eunji was deeply enthralled by it that she wondered if she could learn her secret of well-behaved kids so that she could follow her foot steps in her future endeavors as a baby sitter. But she didn’t, after she took one look at poor Sung Jae, horror stricken and helpless, sitting alone with a plate of vegetables he was forced to eat, looking as if he could actually do better with a nap rather than a meal. Eunji couldn’t help but feel incredibly sorry for him, to be motherless and stuck with an aunt who had no motherly instincts. It almost made her feel like she want to be a mother for him, a feeling which disappeared as soon as it appeared.

Nonetheless, while watching the two kids marching away after their ruthless mother out of the kitchen, Eunji leaned over the dining table towards Sung Jae. “Hey,” She said, her voice only a mere whisper. “Your aunt, is she always like this?”

“Hm?” Sung Jae turned, only to give her an acknowledging glance and shrugged in response. “Yeah…”

“Are the kids always like this?” Eunji pressed on while Sung Jae pocked on his vegetables somberly.

“Yeah…” He replied without much care, pushed away the vegetables and climbed up on his feet, catching Eunji’s earnest attention. He walked out of the kitchen then, his tiny steps too heavy on the ground, head lowered and shoulders dropped; a gesture which evidently showed that he wasn’t in his best disposition. Concerned, Eunji followed after him, only to find him walking into the living room where the twins and his aunt were, exercising with plastic bottles filled with sand used as makeshift weight lifts. Eunji couldn’t fathom what was crazier; exercising in the middle of the day or using sand filled bottles as weight-lifts. Things seemed as though they grew more ridiculous every passing second, even more so than the first. Yet, for Eunji’s astonishment, Sung Jae simply walked over to the back of the living room, picked out a pair of sand filled bottles and joined the twins in their exercising scheme. Eunji merely stared at them, mouth agape, only until Jieun’s whistle screeched loudly in the silent apartment, and when Eunji looked up, aghast, she found Jieun pointing an accusing finger on her direction.

“Yah, house maid!” She called in a voice so thick and manly. Eunji was so surprised that she didn’t even notice it that she was just called a house-maid. Incredulously, she pointed a finger at herself and said; “M-me?”

“Of course you!” Jieun said, rolling her eyes in frustration. “Do you see anyone else there? Come on now! Get a weight lift and join the group!”

Eunji merely stared, flabbergasted and slowly looked down at the skirt she was wearing, a pleated pale pink one with a cropped T-shirt and socks. Not exactly the outfit for a morning (or in the middle of the day) workout. Jieun followed her gaze, as expected and groaned loudly, like a man.

“Eh, why you girls wear such short skirts and walk around like bloody cupcakes?”

Immediately feeling offended by the remark, Eunji pouted and looked down at her skirt. Did she really look like a cupcake? She didn’t even like cupcakes, and she was pretty sure she didn’t intend to look like one when she dressed up for work that morning. Feeling a little hurt, she wished she could go and have a look at her over in the mirror, but the bloody woman was talking still.

“Okay fine, clothes don’t matter, just get a bloody lift and come now”

In a substantial daze, Eunji walked over to the bag Jieun had brought her exercising equipment in, and peeked into it, holding its edge with just the tips of her fingers. Inside were a number of sand bottles, each marked with different weights with a felt pen, skipping ropes and gym clothes and bright colored energy drinks. She frowned at them, unable to fathom what could possibly be running in her mind and how she could possibly be related to the lazy, unfit Kim Sung Gyu. She picked out a sand bottle, which was so heavy that she almost keeled over and almost dropped it on her feet. Then she took one glance at Jieun who was holding two sand bottles over her head and frowned. Why on earth should she be doing her ridiculous work out anyway? It wasn’t like she was a part of this ludicrous family after all. It was as though every member of the Kim family were people who had stepped out of an insane asylum. Now that she thought of it, Sung Jae was the only sane person of them all.  Irritated, Eunji dropped the sand bottle back into the bag and stood up straight. Then she merely proceeded to walk out of the room when suddenly the whistle blew so hard that she was certain her ear drums failed. She whipped around, ready to serve the woman with her honest thoughts; but only, she couldn’t, when Jieun began to yell out her own thoughts, failing Eunji’s ears even more.

“You listen to me now, missy!” She exclaimed, jabbing a pointed finger at her direction. “If you’re going to be in this house, right now, you follow what I say. If not, you stay outside, got it?”

Eunji, being Eunji, of course, wasn’t going to take her crap. Instead she pointed a finger herself and said. “Well, now you listen, missy! I ain’t going to take your , I quit!”

“Quit?!” Exclaimed Jieun, and let out a sleazy laughter. “Quit? No, I will fire you, right now, if you are going to keep on being bad influence on the children”

“Bad influence?” Eunji gasped, pressing a hand to as though she just made the most outrageous claim in the world. “Then you explain what you are doing with this-,” She grabbed a sand filled bottle from the bag and almost fell on her knees. “-this thing? Why can’t you teach them to use proper weight lifts for Christ sake?”

“These, missy-,” Jieun started patiently, pointing at the plastic bottle she held. “-are carrying a lesson of being economical themselves”. She waved a noncommittal hand in the air then, and added. “You’re a house-maid anyway, you won’t understand”

This time, the term ‘House-maid’ really came to her as insult. “Yah!” Eunji stomped a little as though to show her irritation, which only ended up looking funny and pathetic. “I am not a house-maid! Why do you keep calling me that! I am not a house maid!”

Jieun merely rolled her eyes and decided to pretend that Eunji didn’t exist. Jieun didn’t have time for her petty arguments. Jieun had a lot to complete in her schedule before the interview, and carrying out arguments with this pathetic excuse of a human specimen was beyond her. The only concern as of now, was for her to make kids not only economical, as she was (what with her DIY weight lifts to career bags and homemade jam bottles) but fit and healthy with a rich, complete mind. Her goal (as a newly converted Buddhist) was to attain nibbana as a healthy being, both bodily and mind, thus she deliberately evaded all the foolish persons, and being a relation or not hardly ever mattered.

Eunji, of course, didn’t harbor the same thought as Jieun. For her, being ignorant was a rude gesture, and being ignored wasn’t something she would take without fight. Therefore, with new found determination, she picked out two sand bottles, without even checking the weight, went and stood next to Sung Jae who just stared at her, mortified, and began to follow the moves that Jieun made. Jieun stole a quick glance, wondering why the shouting had died, and she could hardly hide her laughter at the rather comical view of the baby sitter. Eunji was taking none of this though, because she was the best baby sitter in the world. Eunji wasn’t going to back down. She was going to fight, and never let her kid to suffer alone. She followed every move that Jieun made, regardless of her heavily paining hand. She was thinking ‘I will show you’ as she moved along, her thoughts willful and undeterred. “I will show you” Eunji whispered to herself. “I will show you, Kim Jieun. Sung Jae doesn’t need a mother, because I will show you how great his baby sitter was”

*

Her determination, however drained considerably when she had to not only do weight lifting and push-ups and a run up and down the fire exit but also have freshly home brewed coffee (which tasted like stomach bile) and bananas as dessert (which had its skin all browned). At the end of the day, both Sung Jae and Eunji were exhausted, they could hardly move a limb, and the two lied in the living room, passed out, breathing heavily as the twins were in the hallway, bidding their mother good bye. (They did some sort of a march, a clap and made this fire display gesture which went like ‘Ssh! Boom!’) Eunji made a mental note to complain to her boss and ask for a raise of payment, and while she imagined how she was going to approach this matter, Sung Jae quietly climbed up to his feet and hobbled over to his room. Eunji sat up, only after she realized Sung Jae was gone and quickly hurried after him, only to find him huddled inside his quilt like a silent little cub. Eunji could only let out an exasperated sigh. Poor little Sung Jae. Not only didn’t he have a mother, he also had to deal with a partially nut-job of an aunt. Eunji could hardly imagine what life was like for him.

Quietly, not daring to disturb him, Eunji approached the bed and sat right next to him. Then, without a sound she gently caressed the boy’s soft curls, her fingers kneading his scalp in a tender touch. It was then that she felt a sob coming from the child, loud and clear, which caught her immediate attention.

“Sung Jae?” She called softly, and placed a hand on his convulsing shoulder. “Sung Jae, hey kid, what’s wrong?”

Sung Jae’s quiet sobs halted momentarily, and he slowly sat up, as though a single movement he made would hurt the bed, and looked up to meet her eyes. “I hate her” he said.

“Hate who?”

“Aunt Jieun”

Eunji stayed silent for a moment, unable to form a proper reply. In fact, she hated Jieun too. She hated Jieun and her two trained kids and her fancy but ridiculous ways of child rearing. She couldn’t fathom what kind of a absurd mindset one needed to possess to do the kind of things that she did. Children were children, and there was a way that an adult, as more knowledgeable and understanding beings than they were, should approach the young ones. The adults were responsible of their children’s livelihood. But that didn’t necessarily mean that they had some sort of authority over every single thing in regards to the child. A child needs their own space. To observe, experiment, to learn and understand. As it seemed to Eunji, Jieun hadn’t exactly gotten hold of what child rearing really meant. If the eight year old boy couldn’t stand her nonsensical ways, she was certain that the four year olds were sick of it.

“Oh…” Eunji managed in the end and scooted closer to Sung Jae. She enveloped him in a bear hug, and for her amazement, he gave in, burying his head in her chest and holding her close as though he was scared she’d let go of him. Eunji wrapped her arms around him, bringing him closer, and realized that she was doing the right thing. Sung Gyu was a great father, but he couldn’t be a mother for Sung Jae all the time. She realized that it was her job, as the baby sitter of Sung Jae. It was her job to be a mother for him at the times when his father couldn’t. “Hush now, Sung Jae…don’t worry…I won’t let her near you…” Eunji mumbled, almost in determination. Looking back, it seemed that Sung Jae had really warmed up to her. A lot more than she imagined. And though she refused to admit herself, she had too…not only to little Sung Jae, but to his father too.

It was by the sound of something clatter in the hallway that the two pulled apart. Eunji had a questioning look on her face, momentarily forgetting the existence of the other two children, and Sung Jae, realizing what could have happened widened his eyes, wiped his tears away and jumped off the bed.

“Quick! It’s the twins!” He hissed, grasping onto Eunji’s hand.

“Why do you look so horrified?” Eunji said, exasperated.

“They’re turning the house down!” Sung Jae whispered.

“Why are you whispering?”

But Sung Jae merely ignored her and stomped out of the room. Eunji followed after him, and saw Sung Jae slowly creeping into the living room. Eunji followed after him, and soon was struck by the horror of all the seven seas.

The twins had emptied all the sand bottles onto the carpets, and were stomping all over it, playing catch and run.

“Uh-oh” said Eunji seeing the consequences of wrongful child rearing. The kids were relentless, and it was all because they were oppressed, barred from experimenting and exploring that the moment they were freed, they go ballistic. Therefore, she decided, it was time for her to take the matters to her own hands.

“Come on, Sung Jae”, Eunji said, taking the child’s hand in hers.

“You and I, we’re going to play war”

*

Meanwhile, somewhere in Gangnam, Sung Gyu and Woohyun were having a warm cup of coffee while they watched the newly recruited investigators practicing Tae-kwon-do.

“Ah…this is life” Woohyun mused after a sip of the warm beverage. “You and I, sitting together, having deep discussions over a warm cup of coffee…” He turned to his best friend with a grin. “Isn’t this just fabulous?”

Sung Gyu, however, was harboring completely different thoughts on the entire debacle. Ever since he left for work that morning, after leaving his nut job of a sister with the equally nut job of a baby sitter to take care of his son, also in the presence of the two devils, Sung Gyu has been having blues. He was worried sick of what might be happening right at that moment in his Seoul condominium. The twins must be hanging down the window sills (if they had any) for all he cared. But his boy, his innocent little boy who wouldn’t hurt a fly-,

“Hyung!”

“Huh!?!” Sung Gyu jumped and nearly spilled his coffee, which earned a scoff from his best friend.

“Eeh…you weren’t even listening to me!”

“Did you say something?” Sung Gyu asked.

“Yes”

“Was it important?”

Woohyun shrugged. “I guess not”

“Okay then” Sung Gyu nodded and took a sip of coffee before turning back to watch the newly recruited investigators. Although he was sitting there with Woohyun, his mind was all over the place. Most of it was latched onto Sung Jae like a clingy parasite, a part of it was hovering around his sister and her new revelation about working for the secret service, another bit was hanging around the twins. Another bit, much for his astonishment, was clouding over the baby sitter. Perhaps he was taken by the incident from that morning, what with him dropping the last egg (If it wasn’t for certain someone who walked in to his house, sporting an implausibly short skirt) and accidentally getting hold of her in his arms, or it was probably because he was nervous about leaving his son behind with a pair of ruthless animalistic kids. He was so much into his inner conflicts that he didn’t even notice Woohyun staring down at him. Woohyun, after a few minutes of quiet observation, said; “Hyung!” and placed a hand on Sung Gyu’s arm, making him jump for the second time. Woohyun frowned, retrieving his hand and shook his head.

“Hyung, you are particularly too jumpy today. You are usually very jumpy, but today you’re extra jumpy, jumpier than usual-,”

“Woohyun” Sung Gyu sighed. “Were you trying to say something?”

Woohyun shook his head. “No…but Hyung, is anything worrying you?”

Sung Gyu almost shook his head, as he did naturally. But he didn’t. Instead he looked far ahead, far across the hall and let out a heavy sigh. “It’s only that…Jieun came over this morning”

Woohyun sat back, realizing what was coming. It was always like this whenever Sung Gyu’s sister comes over to visit him. It was as though someone had summoned Satan, or even worse. Woohyun always had a difficulty trying to fathom exactly the reason why Sung Gyu’s sister always decides to grace him with her visits only on weekdays and always leave with a scar, like a demon. It might be quite exaggerating, Woohyun’s explanation. But seeing how upset Sung Gyu gets whenever his sister was concerned, it was the only explanation that he could come up with.

Yet, instead of saying anything which could come off as a rude gesture, Woohyun said; “Ah, is she?”

Sung Gyu nodded, and sighed for the umpteenth time before he looked down at the Styrofoam cup of coffee, then he began to stir it, his mind flying off to where his child was. “I hope she wouldn’t over work him…” he said after a while.

“Over work whom? Sung Jae?”

“Hm” Sung Gyu nodded and sipped from his cup. Some skinny new investigator whose arms reminded him of bean pods successfully twisted a stubby man’s arm, making him yell. Sung Gyu stilled for a moment and thought of what the twins could do to poor little Sung Jae. This thought somehow led his thoughts, involuntarily to a certain pastel pink skirt. It was Woohyun who noticed Sung Gyu’s ears turn red.

“Hyung” he said, placing his cup on the desk between them. “Are you sure it’s Jieun you are worried about?”

“Huh?” Sung Gyu went, placed his cup of coffee on the table himself and turned to Woohyun. “Oh…yeah…”

“Are you sure?” Woohyun pushed on. “Because you just turned red. Like a cherry…”

Sung Gyu rolled his eyes and turned away, hoping he wasn’t outdoing it in trying to hide his embarrassment, getting caught red handed while unnecessarily thinking of a pink short skirt in particular. He cleared his throat then and said; “Your sister in law…she’s a good baby sitter. Sung Jae likes her…”

Woohyun frowned and stared at Sung Gyu for a long time, gaining the latter’s attention. “What?”

“Nothing” he shook his head, but continued staring at the other. After a while then, he said. “I thought we were talking about Jieun….”

“Huh?”

“Besides, you told me that before…a long time ago”

Sung Gyu frowned and realized that he was indeed overdoing it, so he cleared his throat and said; “I didn’t”

“Yes you did”

“I didn’t” Sung Gyu argued. “If I did, I’d remember”

Woohyun continued to stare at him, drew a long breath, put one foot over the other and cupped his knee with his palms and said; “Well, while we are suddenly speaking of Eunji, her sister and I were talking about arranging a marriage for her”

Sung gyu stiffened for a moment, for a reason which he couldn’t really fathom, but replied nonetheless. “Is that so?”

“Yeah…” Woohyun said with a nod. “She’s turning twenty eight this year, and she had suddenly stopped following after that useless bastard Yeosob…” Sung Gyu stiffened again at the familiar name, earning a frown from the other. “…god knows why…” Woohyun continued. “Eunmi Noona is worried. Like, she’s taking care of other people’s children. Whenever is she going to take care of her own?”

Sung Gyu gulped hard, which didn’t go unnoticed, and said. “Well, she’d find someone suitable, surely”

Woohyun gave Sung Gyu a knowing look, tilted his head and shrugged. “I hope so. But she’s a wreck when it comes down to relationships. You know, she totally screws up whenever she get into one, with all of these outlandish, immature things she does…”

“She’s not outlandish!” Sung Gyu said, before he could stop himself, following which came a long moment of silence, Woohyun staring at him with widened eyes. Sung Gyu quickly reacted by taking a quick sip from his coffee, burning his mouth in the process and cupped his mouth in pain; Woohyun gaping at him like he was an outrageous sculpture all the while. “What the hell?” Sung Gyu managed to say in the end”

“Nothing…just…” Woohyun began and scratched a side of his nose. “Hyung…haven’t you…like, thought of marriage or anything?”

Sung Gyu put his cup down and took a deep breath. The truth was, Sung Gyu had considered marriage myriad times. It wasn’t like it was particularly difficult, being a single parent. Sung Jae was a wonderful child, now that he was gradually growing up. But there were times when life got significantly difficult, at most part when he feels lonely on cold nights, having to lie alone in bed, his mind filled with worries and things he need relief from. There were problems that he very much liked to discuss with someone, but only he didn’t have anyone of the likelihood of doing so with him. He could do with a partner. He had wondered many times if he would be able to find one. On the other hand, there was Sung Jae, and he getting married completely depended on him and his preference of a mother. Therefore all the many times he had thought of it, he had discarded the idea the next moment. So he told Woohyun that.

“But Hyung” Woohyun said after Sung Gyu was done explaining to him. “There are plenty of women who would understand what they have to take up, the responsibility. Besides, Sung Jae is no longer a baby. The only thing is, is that you are sometimes too possessive over him that you don’t see the necessity of marriage. You are not going to be available all the time you know. Besides, you’re doing a job where your life is always at risk. God forbid, but what if something happens to you? Who is going to take care of him?”

Sung Gyu mulled over it for a moment, and decided that he was indeed making a point. Woohyun was right. What if something did happen? Was he going to leave his child in the dark? His parents were getting old too, and Jieun was never an option for him. The only persons whom he could leave his trust on were Woohyun and Eunji. But only, if they were to be married off too, there wasn’t anyone else. There was indeed the necessity of marriage.

“I do realize that” Sung Gyu answered in the end. “But for the moment I cannot think of what to do. Should I look up in the papers? Try out the blind dates my parents set me? The thing is, like I said, it depends mostly on Sung Jae…”

“And you too, Hyung” Woohyun said with a look of concern. “Your happiness, it matters too”

Sung Gyu didn’t say anything afterwards, because he was right. Sung Gyu needed happiness in his life too. He wanted to be happy, and it was the kind of happiness only a life-long partner could give.

*

“Attack!” Eunji screamed as loudly as would allow her to and held out the make-shift sword she made out of a rolled newspaper, leading her army, which consisted only of Sung Jae to the battlefield, which was the Kim’s living room. They’ve been threatened by the great army of, as they liked to call themselves (Or rather, Eunji liked to call them), the Vikings which consisted of the twins who were armed of empty plastic bottles which they used as makeshift clubs and paper hats. They were a powerful army, because they worked out a lot more than both Sung Jae and Eunji combined, but Eunji wasn’t backing down. Not without a fight. Because their imperial power was threatening to invade the land that Eunji and Sung Jae owned (which was, basically, their side of the sand covered carpets) but they wouldn’t give up so easily. They would fight for it.

Sung Jae, as ordered, ran towards the field (the carpet) with his sword (A rolled up newspaper) held up along with a shield (a lid of a saucepan) all ready to battle for his land. One of the twins ran towards him and soon they were engaged in a life-and death battle of swords. While they fought, Eunji prepared for a guerilla attack. She hid behind a sofa cushion, which their bunkers were made of, taking sneak peeks at their opponent’s bunkers. (Made of bed sheets and sofa cushions) The rest of the army of the opponent was busy unwrapping a chocolate bar which Eunji bribed them with, so taking this absence as an opportunity, Eunji attacked the opponent and tackled him onto the ground.

The child yelled and held onto the chocolate bar as though it was what his life depended on, and Eunji began to tickle him, which made the child writhe hysterically. “Wave your white flags oh brave soldiers!” Eunji mused, tickling the child’s mushy stomach. “Surrender now! Or you will regret!”

“Let me go!” Yelled the kid under her. “It tickles!”

Eunji stopped and let out a small laugh which she hoped sounded cruel and said “That’s the whole point!” then she tickled him even more, musing, “Give up, brave soldier! Give up!”

Sung Jae was battling high and low with all his might. He was so much into it that claiming the owner ship of his side of the land felt almost real to him. He had never played like this with his cousins before, for one, the twins were the only cousins he had for his age, all the others were either too old or too young, and secondly, all that the twins have been doing was either behaving like two trained puppies, following after their mother’s whistle or trying to take the house down while he and his father tried to salvage the las fragments of its existence. He was seeing now that the twins could actually act like normal kids too. It only took one awesome baby sitter like his to do the trick.

He shifted around the carpet in a circle, so did the other twin, whose movements were more defined than his was, although he was more skilled in the logical thinking since he was a good computer gamer. They went on fighting thus, moving their make-shift swords in all directions, only until they were interrupted by someone ringing the doorbell.

The game stopped the very instance.

“Retreat! Retreat!” Sung Jae hissed, and Eunji quickly detangled herself before climbing up on her feet. The twins quickly dropped their armor and Sung Jae helped them out from their paper hats. While they quietly stood in the hallway, Eunji opened up the front door, only to be greeted by the coach, sporting the tight face of a very annoyed parent, tapping her foot on the ground, looking at Eunji up and down as though searching for a trace of misconduct.

“What took you so long, house-maid?”

Eunji scratched her head and realized that she had sand in her hair. “I-I…well…”

“Why is there sand on your clothes?”

“S-sand?” Eunji stammered, and quickly smoothed down her skirt. Then she began to give her excuses, which went on naught when Jieun stepped into the house, only to be greeted by the three little culprits standing in a row. At the sight of them, Jieun drew a long breath.

“What the hell have you done to my kids?” She exclaimed.

It was then that she realized that they haven’t exactly gotten rid of the beards she drew on their faces with eye liner. It was also the moment that she realized that she was doomed.

*

Due to the heavy snow storm that afternoon, the training session of the newbies was halted midways and everyone was sent home. Sung Gyu and Woohyun, along with the other investigators in-charge had a brief discussion on the plans for the next session, and after the meeting was adjourned, Sung Gyu hurried out of his office to the coffee machine to catch a warm cup on the go. It was while then that the receptionist called up on his phone.

“Sir” she said in a tiny feeble tone. “There is someone to meet you…”

Sung Gyu frowned, unable to decided whoever who might want to meet him at this time of the day.

“Did they give you a name?” Sung Gyu asked.

“No sir. They refuse to”

It was getting more and more suspicious as much as he tried to form an identity, so he said “Tell them to wait. I’ll come down”

After getting himself a cup of warm coffee, with his briefcase in one hand, along with his winter jacket and the coat, he hurried off to the lift, then to the lobby where the receptionist sat behind the shiny granite surfaced reception cabinet, talking to a lady in a knitted beanie and a red coat. Sung Gyu stopped on his feet then, his eyes going back and forth at the receptionist and the lady in red. The receptionist turned, saw him and called out; “Sung Gyu-ssi…” then to the lady she said, “He’s here madam”

The said lady in red turned, at that very moment, and Sung Gyu’s breath hitched up, in what emotion he couldn’t tell. The shiny dark mane of hair, high cheek bones, soft crimson lips and that smile he was so familiar with, almost too much that he was blinded by it, only for a moment until it hit him hard.

It’s her. It’s her.

“Yoora?”

“Sung Gyu…might you be free for a cup of tea?”

*

Sung gyu refused to have a long discussion over a cup of tea as she suggested. Instead, he led her back into his office room, much to everyone else’s suspicion, closed the door behind him and said “What the hell are you doing here?”

Yoora wordlessly assessed her surrounding, taking in the size of the confines, papers littered around, cabinets opened, files messily stacked on the desk and discarded Styrofoam cups similar to the one held in his hand. It didn’t take her much to realize that it was indeed Sung Gyu’s personal office room. Afterwards she comfortably sat in a chair placed facing the window behind the desk and twirled around.

“I’m here to ask for a favor” She said.

Sung Gyu ran a hand through his dark locks, exasperated, and said; “If it’s about Sung Jae-,”

“It is about Sung Jae” Yoora cut in. There was silence then, them being engaged in a staring contest, and she added; “I want to see him”

Sung Gyu sighed and walked around his desk to sit in his place. He put down the cup of coffee he had in his hands, laid his jacket and scarf aside and said “Look, he doesn’t need to see you…unless it is for something important, it is for the best that he doesn’t see you”

“But I’m his mother-,”

“-Who left him” Sung Gyu finished for her and clasped his hands together on his desk. “He doesn’t want to see you, Yoora. You disappeared, only a letter left behind with him, not a trace. I looked for you everywhere!”

“I was in the states!” Yoora replied. “I was stupid and naïve and didn’t know what to do, and my parents were furious! It ruined my future, my career-,”

“He was only a baby then!” Sung Gyu returned. “Only a month old! Couldn’t you have contacted me at least?! I expected that at least, but no. You disappeared, for seven ing years. What do you expect now? To turn around and trust you with my son?”

“He is my son too…”

“But you abandoned him” Sung Gyu said tightly and stood up to leave. “I cannot let you see him. Not now. Not ever. He doesn’t need to know you exist”

Yoora stood up too. “Does he-does he know that I exist?”

“He knows that you left him, and he doesn’t ask for you”

“Oh…” Yoora mumbled, and her shoulders fell. “But you could have…at least…”

“No Yoora” Sung Gyu returned, almost determined. “And now, if I may…I have to leave…”

“Whatever” Yoora said and reached for her bag. She hurried off to the door then, only to pause by him and said. “I’ll come to see him, again and again until you grow sick of me…”

“Try me” Sung Gyu challenged, but Yoora merely left without a word.

*

That afternoon, Sung Gyu left work and went home, only to be greeted by two women yelling in his living room on the top of their lungs while the three kids sat together on the steps to the bedrooms, wearing somber faces. The house was a mess, and the kids had beards drawn on their faces; bushy ones, like the Vikings. Sung Gyu didn’t have to think much to get a fair idea of what might have conspired during his absence, also of his sister’s. He wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry about it. He could only slam a hand on his forehead and let out a sigh. Seeing Yoora earlier that day was bad enough for him, and now his sister putting up a fight with the baby sitter. He wondered if the day could ever get worse than it already was.

The moment he stepped into the living room, he felt faintish, so much so that he leaned against a pillar and tried to catch his breath. The place was a bloody mess. The carpets were covered in sand, like someone had attempted in making an artificial beach in the room, and on the either sides were some sort of concoctions made out of bed sheets and sofa cushions. There were rolled up newspapers, sauce pan lids and saucepans thrown about. Standing midst of it all were Jieun and Eunji, screaming at each other.

“So you are telling me that my kids are not brought up well?” Jieun was saying, her hands resting on her hips. “Look at yourself! You are not brought up well! Oh I pity your poor parents!”

“I pity your poor parents!” Eunji reprimanded, her loud voice echoing throughout the house. “Because they have brought up an absolutely maniac of a daughter like you!”

“Did you just call me a maniac?” Echoed Jieun challengingly. “Come here, I’ll show you what maniacs are like!”

And then, a second later, the two began to pull each other’s hair, twirling about on the sand covered ground. Sung Gyu watched them for a moment, exhausted and helpless. And then when he couldn’t just stand and watch them any longer, he exclaimed, loud and clear, “Stop it you two!”

The two pulled apart, flabbergasted, and Eunji almost fell off her feet at the sight of her boss. She looked around at her surrounding, horrified, and began to bow. “I didn’t do it I swear!” she mused as she did.

Sung Gyu sighed, his fingers entangled in his hair. His head was paining like it was about to blast and he felt like he was about to catch a cold, and his living room turned into an indoor beach site was the last thing he needed.

“Boss! It was the twins, I swear!” Eunji bellowed again, and Jieun nudged her to shut up, at which point Eunji nudged back, and Jieun was all ready to pull at her hair again, her claws pulled out, but then Sung Gyu said. “I leave y’all for one day, one day, Eunji, Jieun, You do this”

“I wasn’t here even!! Jieun said defensively. “It was all your bloody baby sitter! When I came home, it was like this, and she had even drawn beards on their faces! Do you think they did it themselves?”

Since Sung Gyu had experience with Eunji drawing beards and also her doing outrageous things, Sung Gyu was unsure was what to believe. So he turned to Eunji and said; “Eunji, explain please”

She bit her lip, averting her eyes, and when she spoke, it was only a light murmur. 

“It was the twins who spilled out the sand of the weight lifting bottles…I only played sand castles with them”

Sung Gyu’s eye brows shot up. “Sand castles?”

Eunji nodded remorsefully.

“What the hell is sand castles? Did you all make sand castles in the living room?”

“No!” Eunji said defensively. “It’s a game I invented, where the Vikings and the romans fight for their native land and-,”

“Spilling the sand was bad enough but you played bloody romans and Vikings instead of cleaning it?” Sung Gyu said, exasperatedly.

“Well, I…”

Sung Gyu sighed and dragged his palms down his face, and suddenly he looked so tired, too tired, too worn out, like he couldn’t do with other people’s anymore. “Eunji” he said in the end and met her eyes. “You, as a responsible adult should have associated the kids with cleaning it, not making it worse and play sand castles!”

“B-but I-!”

“But what? You didn’t know?”

Eunji pouted and said. “No…it’s just that… the twins weren’t kid-like enough…they were oppressed! They aren’t enjoying their childhood!”

“Huh?” Went Jieun, widening her eyes. “Who the hell are you to say that? Housemaid?”

“But it’s the truth!” Eunji said, feeling like she were Gandhi reincarnated. “The children were suppressed from enjoying themselves! They were unheard, simply pushed and pulled to follow orders like army soldiers! They are children for god’s sake!I was only listening to them, giving them an opportunity-,”

“By doing sand castles?” Sung Gyu supplied, stopping Eunji mid sentenced.

“Well, yeah…” Eunji finished coyly.

“And once again,” Began Jieun in a harsher tone. “Who are you to say that?”

Eunji placed her hands on her hips and said “I’m a professional baby sitter, second upper class graduate in children’s mental health, thank you very much”

Jieun merely rolled her eyes. “Seriously Oppa, this woman drew beards on their faces and played doll house or whatever. And she calls herself a professional baby sitter!”

“But I am one!” Eunji argued. “And I was second in my class!”

“Like that’s a big deal!” Said Jieun.

“Well, it is! For me!” Said Eunji.

“That doesn’t even count!” said Jieun.

“It doesn’t matter what counts!” Said Eunji.

And finally Sung gyu yelled “Shut up!”

And everything halted, just like that, and everyone just stared at one another, in the numb quietness where everything stood still. Sung Gyu took deep breathes, as though he was about to say something, but he couldn’t, because the three little ones who stayed quiet all this while had finally decided to come out clean onto the battle field.

“Appa…” Sung Jae said, standing midst the abandoned sand castles with the twins on his either sides. “Please don’t yell at Baby sitter”

Sung Gyu just stared, a little confused, while Sung Jae nudged at the twin on the right. Then the twin said. “We spilled the sand…” and the other one said. “We are sorry” and then, the three of them fell on their knees. “Please don’t yell at the baby sitter…we’re sorry!” They said, almost in unison.

“Aww! Look at that!” mused Eunji, heartfelt at the gesture. She didn’t really expect the children to step out like that though they indeed seemed to be enjoying themselves before, when they were playing. Such a grateful gesture was so unexpected that it almost brought tears to her eyes.

“What on earth?” Said Jieun, and Sung Gyu, for once after all this time, was smiling at her.

“They are apologizing, Jieun” He said, giving her his million dollar smile. “They are remorseful. Isn’t that great? I think I must take you out for Ice cream!”

With a victorious smile, Sung Jae sprang up on his feet, following him, so did the other two, looking bashful. Sung Gyu smiled, his heart doing funny things at the rather cute actions of the kids. It might be for the rather cute actions of somebody else too, which Sung gyu seemed to not have noticed. Nonetheless, at the end of the day, he was thankful.

However, Jieun wasn’t exactly happy.

“B-but Oppa!” She said in an authoritative tone. “The housemaid-!”

Sung Gyu gave her a sharp look. “For one, Jieun, Eunji is not a house maid. For the second, you and I need to talk”

“About what?”

“About the kids”

Jieun shrugged. “Alright, whatever”

Sung Gyu turned to Eunji. “Well, as for you, Miss Jung. Apologies for yelling at you like that, and also behalf of the kids, and Jieun”

“Oh it’s okay” Eunji said waving it off. She was smiling, a smile which turned slowly into a triumphant smirk. “And for that, boss, raise my pay!” on an end note, she said.