"No one will tell you about the limit
They put on how long you can grieve
No one will warn you when you're winning
How heavy a loss love can be"
-MARIA MENA, GROWING PAINS

It was colorful and bright lights adorned the loud environment that was the amusement park quite far away from their home. There was little seven year old Seokhwee jumping up and down and tugging on the hem of Wonwoo’s shirt who was currently cradling a sleeping and drooling Jungmin in his arms.

“Umma! Umma! I want to ride that! Look! Look!” Seokhwee exclaims, pointing at the Vikings ride that was made for kids to ride on since the large one was strictly for adults.

Mingyu looks at Wonwoo who gestures to the sleeping six year old in his arms, sighing softly as he looks down at Seokhwee with an apologetic smile. Mingyu crouches down to Seokhwee’s level and ruffles the boy’s soft hair lovingly. “Baby, Jungminnie is asleep and he’ll cry if he wakes up without Umma. Can Appa ride that with you instead, hm?” Mingyu offers with his canines on display.

Seokhwee stops jumping at his place and looks at Wonwoo with glossy eyes, accompanied with his lower lip that was jutted out into a very visible and protruding pout. Mingyu looks up at Wonwoo as well and he could clearly see his husband looking so torn looking at Seokhwee’s sullen face.

With this, Seokhwee got the message and frowns, looking at Jungmin before he raises his hand and shakes Wonwoo’s arms frantically. Mingyu and Wonwoo looked at their eldest son in shock and Wonwoo had to raise his arms further up where Seokhwee wouldn’t reach, starting to coo at Jungmin who was startled awake.

“Shhhh, don’t cry baby Minnie~ umma is here~” Wonwoo shushes Jungmin’s cries and rocks him gently in his arms, throwing Seokhwee a glare on his way.

The seven year old freezes at the icy cold feeling that crept up his spine when his mother looked at him like that and he started to sniff, hiding his face on Mingyu’s shoulder. Mingyu was quick to rub his hand on his son’s back and keeps him close. “Baby, why did you do that?” he asks softly, not wanting the boy to be scared of him as well.

“I wanted to wake up Jungmin so he could ride it with me instead with Umma.” The reply was muffled in Mingyu’s shirt but he heard it well.

“Baby, Umma and Jungmin need rest, okay?” Mingyu explains again. “Do you not like Appa?” he playfully teases which earns him a whine.

“But it’s my birthday today! It’s just one day a year!” Seokhwee whines louder. “And I don’t not like Appa.” He says in a garbled tone. “I love Appa.”

“How much?”

“Much much!”

Mingyu chuckles faintly and kisses his son’s cheek. “It’s very much, baby.” He corrects his son playfully. “Appa loves you too, much much~” he carries Seokhwee up in his arms and whispers something to his son with a snicker as he walks closer to Wonwoo.

Seokhwee turns to Wonwoo with a glare now and points at his mother. “I love Appa more than you now!” he announces in all his cute seriousness and Mingyu laughs loudly, sticking out his tongue to Wonwoo.

At that time, Wonwoo was about to apologize to his son for unintentionally glaring at him. He isn’t really fond of scolding his sons and he doesn’t want to be that kind of parent whom his kids are afraid of, but he couldn’t control his temper at times and he knows he’s failing at his goal. But seeing as Mingyu and Seokhwee turned his earlier silent scolding into a ‘mere joke’, he fakes being sad and hurt, rolling his eyes at his childish husband who stuck his tongue out at him. “Umma is hurt.” He pouts at Seokhwee who only looks at him with a blank face before hiding his face on Mingyu’s neck. “Yah, Kim Mingyu! I think he hates me for real!”

“Ha! Your fault!” Mingyu sticks his tongue out again and makes baby talk with Seokhwee after setting off for the Vikings ride.

---

Jeonghan bites down on his fingernails as he looks at his laptop screen that was placed on the kitchen counter just beside another laptop that has another window open; it was Joshua’s who was currently reading a recipe for the boys’ dinner. Jeonghan brought home his work since he got off early, wanting to be at home when his youngest son arrives so he could look out for him and be more of a worrywart than he already is.

Joshua shakes his head and sighs softly at this as he knows it really isn’t that much to worry about, but the long-haired male is treating the twelve year old like glass.

He looks at Seungcheol who is currently perched on the couch in the living room, reading the latest magazine issue that was featuring his architecture group, his face clearly on the front page. Seungcheol seems to notice him staring at he looks back at cat eyed man, then at Jeonghan, then back to Joshua with a shrug.

He was already accustomed to his husband’s behavior since this has been on for so long as they were together, granting him more experience on how to deal with the matter at hand.

Well, that means you just have to completely ignore the situation and let him be his worrywart self. Only control him when he gets too much than what they see as alr