The weather was getting colder, the sky was full of grey clouds, not a hint of blue sky at all. All around was dead brown leaves and slightly wet pavement from the morning drizzle. 

Jun stood at to doorstep of the house, hesitating to go in. He frowned when the wind tussled his hair, but he couldn't be bothered to fix every little problem he came across. Hand reached out to knock but not touching, he looked like a man casted out. He sighed once more before picking up the courage and knocked rapidly. 

It didn't take long for the door to open, revealing Wonwoo holding it for him. 

"Hey, hyung."

"Hey buddy."

Entering the house, the warmth seeped into his cold skin, relaxing Jun a little, but the tightness between his eyebrows did not. "Is...everything okay?" He asked cautiously.

"Hm? We're doing just fine." Wonwoo answered. "If you're talking about Jeonghan hyung, he's okay. Joshua hyung is with him at this moment."

He was glad that Wonwoo caught onto his worries quickly. "Come here hyung. Have a cup of tea and warm up."

Following Wonwoo into the kitchen, he spotted Jihoon preparing food. "Hi, hyung." Jihoon greeted.

"Jihoonie~" Jun cooed. "Preparing dinner already?"

"Ungh." Jihoon poured a cup of tea for Jun, the cup warmed his cold fingers.

Taking the cup with him, he walked around the living room checking on the kids and the others. Finding Seungcheol, he walked over and sat down next to him.

"Hey."

"You good? You're pretty pale."

"It's just the cold outside. I'll be fine in a bit." Jun subconsciously patted his own face. "Wanna help me call Jeonghan and Joshua out? I have some apologizing to do."

Seungcheol had read the news and immediately caught on. "You don't have to be too hard on yourself. I'm sure he would understand you too." He thought he was feeling apologetic about the ugly things that Jeonghan had to hear or see. Seeing no response, Seungcheol got up and went to get the two. 

Jun glanced at the occupied children, playing with blocks, sharing a book, watching the TV. His eyes lingered a bit longer on Minghao and Seungkwan, but his expression didn't change.

Having all the 'adults' out, Seungcheol asked Jun if Jihoon and Wonwoo should be here to listen as well or not, since they weren't involved in this 'adult' mess. Jun shrugged, not minding, since he already made up his mind. Hearing that, Seungcheol asked the two himself.

"This is about Jeonghan's situation, do you want to know?"

Jihoon and Wonwoo looked at each other, but quickly looked back up to Seungcheol. "I think we're good. We trust you guys. As long as it's not anything that could change our relationship, you guys don't need us meddling."

"You wouldn't be meddling, we are family."

"Mhm. But even family sometimes needs secrets. It's okay."

"...thanks."

Returning to the others, Seungcheol suggested they move to his room and they did. He scanned everyone's expression. Jun looked beyond tired, Joshua's eyes were stuck on Jeonghan, Jeonghan looked listless, Hoshi's eyes were darting around, just like himself.

"So..." Hoshi started, ending the silence. He wasn't as involved in this plot like Jihoon and Wonwoo, but he's been close friends with Joshua and company, belonging to the same social standing in society. He knew more than he should anyway.

Jun sat up straighter and looked directly at Jeonghan. "Jeonghan, I have things I want to apologize to you about."

Jeonghan lifted his eyes to look at him, knowing where this was going. He kept silent.

Jun didn't get stopped, so he continued. "Those ugly tabloids looking to get you to speak, I'm sorry. I made that happen. This is something you are involved in, but I didn't ask you first, only working to find and put your father back in jail. I stepped over the line."

Jeonghan wanted to say something but Jun started again.

"I... the others told me to do what was right and that as long as what I was doing was for the greater good I could do it but I still managed to hurt you and I'm sorry about that."

This time Jeonghan didn't let Jun speak further. "No, I don't fault you. You're just working hard to solve the situation. I can't do anything at all, even though that person is my father. I should be thanking you."

Jun shook his head. "No, I'm afraid you don't understand. If my plans worked well, none of this should have gotten on the news." 

Everyone's heads turned. What does that mean? 

"I had investigated and compiled everything I needed to put that man back in jail so that he couldn't harm Jeonghan or us any further, but it failed. The person I thought we could trust was just as corrupt."

"Who....what did this person do?" Hoshi asked.

"You'd think a person who sits at the top of all detective work and governs the police system would be upright. I had clearly told him to clean up this mess as quietly and quickly as possible and I'd do him a favor and solve a few long running cases he had. A simple trade of information. But he didn't keep it quiet and all the police and detectives under him caught wind of it and it spread like a disease. I tried my best to limit it. I had misjudged his character." Jun continued to beret himself for failing. He felt stupid and tired. All things could have been prevented.

"Then this is all that stupid fellow's fault, you don't have to apologize for that." Joshua supplied. Glancing at Jeonghan, he knew he also felt the same. 

"I work as the best company for finding information, but I failed to recognize scum. That's my mistake. This ended up hurting Jeonghan so this is my responsibility." Jun really regrets trusting this person. They'd worked together for quite the long time, dealing important information. It's too bad he ended up disappointing Jun and lead to the cut off of their relationship.

Jeonghan's expression loosened up. He thought this was going to be about him, about doubting what actually happened in his household or something. "Here, I accept your apology. But this is a mistake anyone would make so I don't blame you."

"Thank you. I'm make it up to you somehow."

"If you want to make it up to me, how 'bout you help me with a little something?" The sudden change in tone confused the others. Joshua wasn't as shocked as they were talking before this meeting. "I want to know the truth. Is what these tabloids say true?"

Jun pulled out his tablet and handed everything over. "I...don't know how much information you want but this is everything. I'm sorry if I dug too far."

"That's fine. Thank you." It didn't take long for Jeonghan to find what he was looking for with how well Jun organized everything. 

"So I really might not be blood related to that trash."

"Would you like me to look into that further?" Jun offered. 

"I'll just have to do a DNA test when he gets caught. No need to rush." Jeonghan said offhandedly. The sudden change in character weirded out Hoshi.

"Bro, you good? Did you eat something wrong?"

"No, I just had a long talk with Joshua. I know I shouldn't dwell on the past, I should look at the present and future. I learned a lot." He quickly glanced at Joshua. Catching Jeonghan's eyes looking at him so brightly, Joshua couldn't help feeling a little shy and turned to look away.

"I... didn't do much...."

"Anyway, I'm in a better place, I've gotten stronger, and I want to be helpful to you all. I won't be dragging everyone down anymore."

"It's great that you're feeling better but it's okay to take things one step at a time. You've never dragged us down." Seungcheol said. Looking at how Jeonghan didn't shy away from situations anymore, he was happy to conclude that Joshua was a good influence for him. Hopefully things would get even better.

"Then? What's the next plan?" Hoshi brought everyone back to the problem at hand. "This man is as slippery as a fish in water. And that's not the only problem."

They all turned to Jun. "I..." He glanced at Jeonghan. "If you don't mind, I could use a few underhand methods to ensure the man gets cuffed?"

"Sounds dangerous. We stop there." Seungcheol interjected.

"Then all we have is to wait for news. I do information dealing so it's not too hard to find what I need, but sometimes physical power is faster."

"Yea, no buddy. We don't need those Chinese dramas coming to life." Hoshi joked. "I'll check your back everyday for a dragon tattoo so don't you dare try."

They all laugh, grateful for the comic relief. 

"As for Seungkwan's case, I'll look into the woman and his true background." Jun said. "If there's anything we need to clean up, I'll do my best to do it."

"Like I said, stop using such strong words!! Don't turn yakuza I tell you!!!" Hoshi hollered.