"You and Dean really have some issues," said CJamm passing her some tissue to wipe the table.
"Yeah. And I think I have more issues than him," said Chahye as she wiped the table. She spilled some of her cola when she opened it.
"You have more issues than the president of this country, Jin Chahye," said CJamm.
"You know that's a lie. I may have issues but at least I don't have to think about North Korea every single day. And her corruption rumors," smiled Chahye.
"I really like it when you talk politically. I find it y," smirked CJamm.
"Shut up, CJamm," said Chahye rolling her eyes at him.
"She just rolled her eyes at you," said BeWhy smiling, taking his own soda can and drinking up.
"I treat that as a compliment," laughed CJamm along with his bestfriend.

Chahye's phone suddenly rang and the number came back as her aunt's. Since it was on the table, BeWhy saw it flashing the number on the screen. "Aren't you going to pick that up?" he asked.
"Uhm... I am. I'm just wondering why she would call," said Chahye as she picked her phone up and swiped the screen to answer. "Auntie... Waeyo?"

"Chahye, you need to come here quick. We need to talk," she heard her aunt say in a worried tone.
"Why? What happened?" Chahye asked, looking at both her friends as they watched.
"Just get here. This is serious and we need to talk."

Her aunt ended the call abruptly and Chahye was left there staring at her phone.

"What was that?" asked CJamm.
"Auntie says I need to get there quick," said Chahye.
"Where? At their place?" asked BeWhy.
"Yes," she answered.
"Sounds urgent," said CJamm.
"Yeah. And I haven't heard her like that in a long while," she said putting her phone inside her bag.
"You're going?" asked BeWhy.
"Yeah. I have to," she said as she stood up. "I'll catch up with you guys some other day. Right before the finals, I guess," she said.
"You gotta be there when I finally kick BeWhy's and win Show Me The Money," smiled CJamm.
"In your dreams," sneered BeWhy.
"Don't be too full of yourself, Jammie," smiled Chahye. "I'll see you!"

She arrived at her Aunt's in no more than 30 minutes. She would still have enough time to run back to Joombas for rehearsals. She got up to their floor and got in. "I'm here," she said walking in. She knew their pass code by heart and didn't need to knock. As she was removing her shoes, she noticed seven pairs of men's shoes at the door. "Uncle, Jiho, Jisuk, Daejung... Who else would be in here?" she asked herself. She got up and called out again.

She walked to the living area with a little hesitation. She heard people talking and she looked inside. The first person she saw was Mr. Lee and she instantly didn't feel good about it. Especially since both her cousins, her uncle and Daejung were all there.

"Uhm... Mr. Lee. Good afternoon," she greeted.
"Sit down, Chahye," invited her aunt, as she stood up from the sofa beside Jisuk, a brown folder in her hand.
"Is... Is something wrong?" asked Chahye as she sat right next to her cousin. Her uncle was sitting on a single couch, Jiho and Mr. Lee on the other sofa while Daejung stood leaning on a nearby desk, his head hanging low. "It's nice to see all of us together again," smiled Chahye.
"We have a problem, Chahye," said her uncle. She didn't answer. She knew it was a problem when her lawyer appears. "Junyoung-ssi..." he said pointing at him.

Mr. Lee didn't really look oh so serious unlike everyone else so Chahye was smiling when she faced him. Suddenly, hek started giggling. "Oh my... Haha.. I'm sorry," he said in between laughs. Chahye snickered then started looking at everyone. "What is this?!" she asked.

"EH! YOU RUINED IT!" said Jisuk.
"I hate you!!!" Daejung told Junyoung. 
"I'm really sorry. I couldn't help it," smiled Junyoung.
"What is going on?!" asked Chahye. 

Suddenly, someone from the kitchen emerged and everyone looked at him. Chahye's jaws opened wide and hesitantly looked around at her family. Everyone seemed normal. "What the is happening?!" she said.

"Hello, Chahye," greeted Jeffrey. Behind him appeared his father, with a big smile on her face.
"What are you doing here?" she asked.
Her aunt Sunhye walked towards her and held her shoulders. "He called and asked if he could visit. Me and your uncle agreed it would be fine," she said.
"But... What about Jiho?" asked Chahye.
"Mom told us about him. It's fine," said Jiho raising his thumbs up at him with Jisuk. "It was just surprising that your brother happens to be Jeffrey hyung. Wait until Dean learns about this," he added.
"About that..." Jeffrey wanted to say.
"But... Daejung?" said Chahye cutting him, not wanting to talk about Dean just yet.
"I've been here for almost an hour, Chahye. I had the great pleasure to meet this handsome brother of yours already," smiled Bada as he looked at Daejung who only answered with a faint smile.

Chahye was still surprised her father was at her cousins' house. Also, that there was no sign of conflict between all of them, not even from her uncle, despite her belief that everyone hated her father.

"What's wrong, Chahye?" asked Jisuk when he saw how unsettled she was.
"I... I was just wondering..." started Chahye. She looked up and then stared at her aunt.
Sunhye walked over and hugged her neice. "It's a long story, Chahye. But your father has always tried to reach out to you, meet you," she said letting her go and cupping both of Chahye's cheeks in her hands. "He talked to me before. He's always known what was happening to you. And now he's back," said Sunhye with a smile.
"But... I don't want to go with him," said Chahye.
"You don't have to," smiled Sunhye. 
"Chahye," said Jeffrey. "Don't worry. We talked about this already," he said.
"Then why are you here?" she asked.
"We came from the farm in Daegu and brought back some vegetables for your aunt," said Bada walking over to the sofa, Jiho standing up to let him sit down. "Oh, thank you, boy," he said slowly sitting on the space Jiho left. "I believe your aunt has been thinking of making kimchi as well," he continued smiling.
"Oh yes. I have. I'll bring you some once I make sa batch," said Sunhye.
"Thank you, Sunhye-ssi," smiled Bada.

The elder ones all sat on the sofa and talked while Chahye, Jiho and Jisuk all went to the kitchen and talked. Daejung on the other hand, went into Jiho's room and locked the door.

"Why didn't you guys tell me he was here?" asked Chahye.
"Well, first, because we were utterly shocked," said Jiho.
"And he was with Mr. Lee so we thought it was something serious," said Jisuk.
"Is the food the real reason he's here?" asked Chahye.
"We don't know but he definitely came with a sack of vegetables," said Jiho pointing to the corner of the room where a brown sack full of cabbages were placed, a basket of carrots and a white sack of other vegetables. 
"That's gonna be a lot of kimchi," said Chahye.
"Oh yeah. Wanna be here when we make it?" asked Jisuk.
"I don't know," she answered. 
"Why are you so restless, Chahye?" asked Jiho.
"Have you ever known about my father before?" asked Chahye, looking at both her cousins. 

Jiho hopped and sat himself on the counter, grabbing an apple on the nearby play. Jisuk looked outside to see if the adults were busy. Luckily, they were. He went back to the conversation and told Jiho to start.

"We've always known about him, Chahye," said Jiho. "He visited you once in the hospital, when you... When you were there years ago," he said hesitantly.
"He...did?" said Chahye in surprise, almost in a whisper.
"He did," said Jisuk. 
"We never saw him again after that," said Jiho.
"Not until that accident with CJamm and that highschool teacher," said Jisuk.
"Wait... What?!" said Chahye grabbing her cousin's arm. "He... He knew about that?" she asked.
"Hey. We don't know how he knew. He just one day appeared here at home, demanding to see you. Mom said he can't," said Jisuk.
"He did that...And none of you told me?" said Chahye.
"We...we didn't want to tell you," said Jisuk. "And besides, we didn't know if he was sincere."
"Oppa..." sighed Chahye.
"Chahye," said Jiho jumping down the counter and putting a hand over his cousin's shoulder. "All we knew back then was that he never cared for you. And we were scared that he'll take you away from Daejung. You've always said that you didn't want that to happen," he said.
"Daejung," said Chahye looking up at her cousins. "What did he say when he met my father?" she asked.
"Uhm... Actually... Now that you've mentioned it," said Jisuk recalling their earlier meeting. "They just looked at each and Bada-ssi just smiled. You may need to talk to Daejung about all of this," he continued.

As they were talking, the brothers' dad knocked on the kitchen door. "Hey guys. They're leaving," he said. The three went out the kitchen and saw the visitors all standing up.

"We won't stay any longer. It was nice chatting with all of you," smiled Bada.
"We'll drop by some other time. Thank you so much," said Jeffrey.
"See you around, hyung," said Jiho shaking his hand.
"We'll see you around, too, Chahye," said Bada, but his daughter only smiled as an answer.

All the while, Daejung was watching the grown ups from inside Jiho's room. When he saw the visitors leave, he dashed to the living room and headed for the front door. But Jisuk saw him and stopped him. "I just want to buy some waffles. I'll be back soon!" he shouted as he ran past his aunt and out of the apartment.

"Are there waffles at the nearby store?" asked Jiho as he sat down.
"I didn't notice," answered his mom. "But they should have because I bought some chapsal yakgwa last month."

~ ~ ~

"When do you want to come back here, dad?" asked Jeffrey as he took the keys out of his pocket.
"I don't know. But we could always say hello to Chahye at the office," smiled Bada.
"Dean's shows in America will start soon, dad. Will you come along?" asked Jeffrey just as he opened the door.
"Hmmm... I don't know," he said.

"Wait!"

The two men turned around and saw Daejung waving his hands at them. They stayed until he was nearer, bowing to them. They met before, one afternoon when Chahye hasn't arrived home yet. They thought she was home but they saw Daejung instead.

"So you really weren't joking when you said you're noona's father?" the boy asked.
"I wasn't. And I'm sorry if she hasn't told you yet," said Bada.
"Are you going to take her away from me?" asked Daejung. "Will you... Will you take noona away?"
Jeffrey looked at his father and saw him smile. "No, Daejung-ah. We won't take her away," he answered.
"Could you... Could you take her if I can't stay with her, please?" Daejung asked.
"I'm sorry?" said Bada.
"If at any point, we have to live apart, could you just take her with you, please?" said Daejung shakily. "I... I don't know if she'll do that but... she doesn't have anyone else in life but us. I just want her to know she can still be genuinely happy. I know she can be happy with you. She'll never have to be lonely and scared."

Bada stepped forward and put a hand above his head, smiling.

"I wish she can live with us, Daejung. I want to spend everyday with her, too," the old man said. He then let his cane go and held Daejung's arms with both of his. "But I'm sure she wants to spend time with you more. And I understand. She loves you. So be strong for her. We all have to be strong for her. One day... We can all be together. Don't worry," he said.
"But... You're not my father," said Daejung.
"No... But I know you, too. You may not remember but I once had a chance to hold you in my arms when you were a baby," said Bada. "Family isn't always about who you're related to. Sometimes, it's about who feels like home to you," he added with a smile.

Daejung didn't answer but smiled instead. Bada let him go and Jeffrey helped him with his cane. He bid goodbye to Daejung and got in the car. Jeffrey looked at him and ruffled his hair before getting into the car himself.

"Family..." Daejung said in a whisper.

Then his phone started vibrating. His sister.

"Daejung-ah. Where are you? Did you buy waffles? Can you get me some yogurt, too? Please! :*"

= _ = _ = _ =

HI GUYS!!!

Yes. I AM FINALLY BACK. OMG We are finally gonna be ending this story!

I am so sorry if I haven't updated. I've been through A LOT during the past months. Saying all of it may scare you. LOL But I'm back and I'm really happy. Thank you so much to all of you who stayed with this story and supported me and asked me how I was everh now and then. Much love guys!

A lot has already happened in Dean's real life, but how about his story with Chahye?! We'll know soon! Just gotta pick up where I ended. And I swear, you all won't handle what's up next!!!