A few days later, Junmyeon was at the grocery store with Jongin, Kyungsoo, Sehun and Luhan. Luhan was running around the store, always bringing back items Junmyeon had to put back.

(“No, Luhan, those chips are unhealthy and unnecessarily expensive.” “But Appa!” “No buts!”).
Sehun was lying in his baby carrier, strapped to the shopping cart, and Jongin and Kyungsoo were sitting in it.

(“Jongin, sweetie, don´t tear open the packages. Jonginnie, please. Jongin, put that down or you won´t get any dessert tonight.”)

All in all, Junmyeon was very occupied. Therefore, he didn´t notice the woman standing in front of him until it was too late. He was just about to grab some canned fruits off the shelf when he heard her incredulous gasp and turned around.

“Junmyeon?”
Junmyeon blinked. “Mum?”

For a moment, the two adults were quiet. Junmyeon´s mother let her eyes trail down his messy hair to the three children in his shopping cart. Jongin was chewing on the plastic wrapper of a bag of apples, looking up at the unknown woman with big eyes.

“Mommy?”, Kyungsoo questioned.

Luhan came around the corner. “Appa, can I at least have some Tic-Tacs? I promise to share them with the others, too! Please, please, please?”

Junmyeon put the Tic-Tacs in his cart and pulled at Luhan´s sleeve. “Let´s go to checkout, Luhan.”
“Hold on”, Junmyeon´s mother said, in Korean, “he called you Appa.”

Junmyeon stopped in his steps. He would never be ashamed of his children, never – and he would never be ashamed of Kris, either.
“Yes”, he stated, “he did.”

Luhan only looked at Junmyeon, totally confused. All of their children spoke fluent English, but their Mandarin and Korean skills varied a lot. There were some who were nearly fluent – like Minseok, or Jongdae – but Luhan only knew the mere basics.

Junmyeon´s mother mustered the three children in the shopping cart, again.
“Are they yours?”, she questioned, and Junmyeon nodded wordlessly.
“Appa, who is this woman?”, Luhan said, holding onto the back of Junmyeon´s shirt. Junmyeon shushed him, then turned back to his mother.

“They´re all mine”, he said, confused when a smile spread on Junmyeon´s mother´s face.
“So you found a wife?”

Oh.
“They´re adopted”, Junmyeon clarified, “they have two dads, Kris and me. You remember Kris, my boyfriend, don´t you?”
Junmyeon wriggled his ring finger. “He´s been my husband for almost a decade now.”

In the cart, Sehun started whining. He held out his hands to Junmyeon, wanting to be picked up, but it was Luhan who reacted.
He unbuckled the baby and held Sehun, supporting his head carefully. Then, he stared up at Junmyeon´s mother with defiance in his eyes, as if daring her to say something.

“Let´s go, Luhan”, Junmyeon said, “the others are probably hungry.”

“Hungwy”, Jongin echoed. Junmyeon pulled the plastic out of his mouth.
He started walking, Luhan following him with Sehun in his arms, but he didn´t get very far. His mother hurried until she was standing in front of the cart once again.

“Junmyeon”, she said, “don´t you want to talk to your mother?”
“The last time I saw you, you told me I wasn´t your son anymore”, Junmyeon stated, “I won´t have people like you around my children.”

“Junmyeon, please”, his mother said, “I don´t even have your number, nothing.”
“Funny, how such things happen when you throw your son out of your house”, Junmyeon said. He would have loved to say he had forgiven his parents, but he was still as bitter as on the first day.

“If I have grandchildren, I want to meet them”, his mother pleaded, “Junmyeon, please.”
Was it bad that Junmyeon gave in? Not because he had forgiven her, but because he wanted his mother to see the life he had built for himself. A nice house, a nice car, a good husband and a bunch of beautiful children; that was more than his mother had ever achieved.

Having his parents over for dinner was extremely awkward. They had progressed from the table – where Junmyeon´s mother had hesitantly complimented the food – to the living room.

Junmyeon´s father was unusually quiet as he sized up Kris, and then turned his attention to Jongdae, who was quietly playing with Kyungsoo on the living room floor.

“So”, Junmyeon said to break the silence, “how is hyung?”
“Divorced”, his father replied tensely, and wow, Junmyeon hadn´t expected that. His brother, the golden child with a wonderful job and a pretty, female wife, divorced?

“I´m sorry to hear that”, Junmyeon said. At least he had Sehun on his lap. Having a baby so close to you was a great stress reliever, even if Sehun kept trying to open the buttons on his shirt with clumsy infant fingers.

The conversation didn´t progress easily, mostly consisting of Junmyeon trying to break the ice and his father replying in one or two-word statements.

At some point, Chanyeol wandered into the room, climbing onto Kris´s lap without any regard for the two strangers in the room.
“Daddy, I don´t understand my homework”, he whined, “it´s so hard.”

“Did you ask Baekhyun and Jongdae?”, Kris said. They were in the same g