The next Monday, Nari received a phone call at 9:30 am from PD Yu HoJin regarding the upcoming shoot for 2D1N. He explained that in order to introduce her properly to the viewers, the staff thought of doing a visit to her family’s house in SK. At first, Nari was wary of agreeing since her family only recently made the move and she did not want to bother them when they were only finally getting used to life in SK.  

However, she understood that family meant a lot to the people of Korea and, if by showing her family to them allowed her to gain some appreciation from them, then she would give in, no questions asked. 

“But, Nari-ssi, is there anything we need to know about your family that could affect the shoot?” the PD asked, curiously. 

Nari thought about that, and decided to tell him everything right there and then.  

“Well, PD-nim, my dad remarried and my sister and her family just moved into their house.” Nari knew that Korean culture was not too keen on the idea of remarriage just yet. It happened, of course, but it wasn’t holistically accepted.  

The PD said he would contact them and see if they accepted the offer.  

With that, the conversation was over.  

As Nari remained in her room, she let her thoughts drift back to when her family packed up and moved to SK, following her. From YouTube and doing a few concerts, Nari had managed to save up some money, which she used to rent a two-story house for her dad and her sister’s family. After her parents’ divorce, her dad, Sean, moved first and organized the house. Shortly after he moved, he brought a lady with him, called Mary, who was much younger than he was; he was 50 and she was 32. Nari was shocked and disappointed that her father brought this lady to live with him before telling her about it. Shortly after, her sister, brother-in-law and her nephew, namely JiHyo, Andrew and Peter respectively, moved in. Andrew was Korean and spoke the language fluently, so it didn’t take long for him to get employed. JiHyo majored in English Literature and got a job as a teacher in an elementary school, while Peter, who still struggled with Korean, went to a private school. To cover the rent, Andrew and JiHyo took funds from their salaries and Sean and Mary took care of the house duties and groceries. Peter’s schooling was partly paid from Nari’s salary, which she willingly paid.  

Nari still hadn’t warmed up to the idea of Mary being her Step-mother, and dreaded having to talk to her, which caused her to rarely visit their house. However, now she had to, for the sake of 2D1N. She knew she was going to have to make a real effort for that week’s shoot.  

That Thursday~ 

The members gathered and greeted each other. The shoot began and the PD instructed everyone to head to the given address, which Nari recognized as her dad’s house. Together, they piled into the van and began guessing where they were headed. Nari remained quiet, as she was still mentally trying to prepare herself for the meeting with her family. JooHyuk noticed her deep in thought and nudged her shoulder. 

Nari snapped up, automatically smiling reassuringly to him. He didn’t believe her, but dropped the topic as they were being recorded. He told himself to follow up on it during the break. 

As the van pulled up in a neighbourhood with large houses, wide lawns and spacious garages, the members emerged from the van and walked up to the front door or a modern house. With a camera on each of them, Nari forced herself to smile, looking joyful for the viewers.  

After ringing the doorbell, a young, thin woman, with flowing black hair came out to meet them, followed by an older man, with grey hair, flecked with black. Nari immediately recognized Mary and her father and moved forward. The members were still clueless but greeted the pair lovingly, allthesame. 

Once everyone was inside and settled, the PD introduced them as Nari's parents. The members looked skeptical, especially since Mary looked so much younger than her father. Her father had not fully adapted to Korean yet, so he spoke little, while Mary was surprisingly fluent.  

The members looked at Nari for an explanation, but she remained quiet, sitting next to her father. The other members were sitting in a circle on the floor, taking in the situation. Mary explained to everyone that Sean had remarried her and brought her to live with him in Korea and that she was grateful to be with him. Nari fought the urge to roll her eyes, but instead looked around the house, uncomfortably.  

JooHyuk noticed that she felt out-of-place and offered to brighten the situation. 

“What was the biggest change since you moved here?” he asked, hoping that they would say something about Nari and her music success.  

“Well, to be honest, I’m 5 weeks pregnant!” Mary announced, shocking everyone, especially Nari. Nari stared at her and her father, speechless.  

The members congratulated her and wished her a safe pregnancy. When all the praise ended, Nari’s eyes watered. 

“When were you going to tell me?” she asked her father, directly, finally letting her true feelings show in front of the cameras. It became clear to the cast and crew that Nari was in the dark about this news, and the tension grew.  

Sean turned to his daughter and said, “I meant to call when we found out, but I forgot.” 

“You forgot? You forgot to tell your daughter something that important?” Nari was shouting at this point and tears were falling, for the world to see. 

The PD signaled the cameramen to put down the cameras. This was not something that needed to be recorded for national television.  

Overflowing with feelings of betrayal and being estranged from her father, with whom she was once inseparable, Nari stormed out of the house, heading to escape the environment.  

She heard footsteps behind her and when an armed grabbed her shoulder, she turned, expecting to see her father, but instead, there JooHyuk stood, worry clouding his face.  

“Nari-ah, don’t do this,” he pleaded. Nari knew what he meant. He didn’t want her blowing this out of proportion in front of the crew. She looked at him confused, hurt that he disregarded how she was feeling for the sake of getting some happy family footage for the show.  

She pushed aside his hand and glared at him. “Thanks, Oppa. The show really is more important now, right?” 

She left him and headed back into the house. She couldn’t look at her father, so instead, she told the PD that she was ready to start over. The PD agreed and said they would restart the shoot from JooHyuk’s question.  

The rest of the shoot went by smoothly. Nari acted the best she could manage and shared memories from her childhood, while her dad showed pictures of her to the members. They teased at how chubby she was, while Mary brought out their lunch. Mary tried her hand at making common Korean dishes. The members awed at the variety of dishes and couldn’t wait to dig in. Although the aroma was strong and tempting, Nari ate little and complimented Mary when the others chimed in.  

Before the crew left, the members separated into two teams. Nari got to choose her members, and she chose JoonYoung, TaeHyun and Defconn, which left JongMin, JunHo and JooHyuk to form the other team.  

Finally, they could leave the house, and once outside, Nari breathed a sigh of relief. JooHyuk kept glancing at her, feeling guilty about their previous encounter, but Nari avoided him.  

After the shoot, the next morning, Nari received a call while in her van. It was from an unknown number, which she disliked answering, but she took the call. 

“Yoboseyo?” she answered, politely. 

“Nari-ah? it’s YongHwa oppa,” answered the voice. It was CNBLUE’s leader. She wondered what he wanted so late after their meeting last week. “JongHyun told us what he said to you. I wanted to apologize on his behalf. The song is really good. Our producer is working with us to determine a good rock sound for it.” 

“That’s good, YongHwa oppa. And it’s okay, about JongHyun.” 

“Whew, ok Nari-ah. Perhaps you can stop by and hear what we have so far for the song?” he asked, sounding grateful that she accepted his apology.  

She gave it some thought, and deciding that she can't hide from Lee JongHyun forever, said she would visit when she could.  

After the call, she received another call, from JooHyuk. She still ignored him up to that morning and didn’t want to converse with him over the phone, so she let the call ring, ignoring the questioning looks from her Manager.  

She could not forgive JooHyuk that easily. She was hurt by his lack of empathy. Although they had a large age difference, she refused to give in to her elder, just because he was older. It wasn’t fair to her.