Seungcheol took out his keys and unlocked the door. The door clicked and creaked as he pushed it open. As soon as he put one foot through the doorway, he caught a pair of eyes staring right back. A child? 

"Oops." The kid said. 

Seungcheol stepped in and closed the door behind him. He decided to take the first step so he was going to take another step. 

Lowering his voice to a whisper to not scare the kid, he greeted. "Hi, what's your name?" The kid bolted around the corner as soon as the words left his lips. On second thought, maybe lowering the voice was not the right decision.

"Hey!" Following the kid, he turned the corner and froze at the sight. 7 pairs of eyes blinking and staring back at him. Seungcheol unconsciously gulped. It's just kids, why you freeze all of a sudden? You love children! Get a move on it Choi Seungcheol! Raising his left hand slowly, he waved. 

"Hi...?" 

Silence.

Looking at the kids, there was a teenager, a kid half his height, 2 toddlers, 2 crawlers, and a baby the size of a pillow. Since the news says a 17 year old, 5 year old, a pair of 3 year olds, a pair of 2 year olds and a 1 year old baby, this must be it. That's a lot to take in. 

"What's...your names?" He paused out of awkwardness. The kid from before answered him. With a little wave of his small cute hand, he gave him his biggest smile.

"Kim Mingyu, sir. What's yours?" 

The teenager tugged on the kid's sleeve before shaking his head. 

"Sorry..." Mingyu said. What kind of secret message they be sending when I'm standing before them? 

"My name is Choi Seungcheol. The Choi family's sec-......only son." 

"Well hello there!" 

Mingyu replied with an even larger smile. This time, the teenager yanked Mingyu behind him. Standing in front of Mingyu, the teenager fidgeted, his eyes darting around. 

"Is .... everything okay?" 

Why was the teenager acting this way. Why did he pull the child away from him, why was he keeping the children behind him! He's not a stranger in the house. Well, maybe a little....

"Why...aren't you answering me?" he asked, trying to communicate.

He tried to understand but what his father said about leaving them alone resurfaced. Even though he wants to get near, break his father's rules, fate still doesn't let them become close? The boy still didn't respond, only turning and checking the children were still behind him before fidgeting with his hands and looking everywhere except at Seungcheol. When the children turn back to playing with their toys, Seungcheol's patience snapped. 

"ANSWER ME!!" He shouted. He was enraged at the thought that invisible forces were working against him, again. The boy flinched, eyes moving faster, hands ripping at the skin on his fingers. The children also cower in fear. Mingyu moves to hold the teen's arm. 

"Don't yell at my hyung..." he said in a whisper. 

At that moment, the small baby began to cry. It must of been scared by Seungcheol's shouting. The teen quickly scooped up the baby and cradled him, cooing at the baby, trying to calm him down. He regrets yelling and startling the baby but Seungcheol could care less at this point. He's been ignored one too many times now. First his parents, now this. Rubbing his forehead with one hand, the other resting on his hip, he asked once more. 

"You're clearly the oldest one here." Pointing a finger at said kid, "Please answer me. What's your name and why are you hiding from me?" 

He continued to press on, demanding, missing the point of his visit entirely. Mingyu stood in front of the teen, arms spread as if protecting the person behind. 

"Don't yell at Jihoonie hyung! He didn't do anything wrong!" Mingyu yelled.

Seungcheol was going to argue back when he saw fat tears rolling down Mingyu's face. The guilt finally caught up to him. 

"Don't bully my hyung!!" 

Mingyu ran up to him and pounded his tiny fists on Seungcheol's stomach with a small roar. Feeling the kid trying really hard to defending his hyung, Seungcheol remembered what he was here for, the purpose. He was suppose to right the wrong his dad did, suppose to befriend them. Not scare the children off, not make the children hate him, not demanding from them. 

"Ah.. that's not what...I'm not..." he stuttered, trying to form words.

He hesitantly took a step back. Not knowing how to salvage the situation, Seungcheol's brain shut down. Turning quickly on his heels, he took quick strides back to the front door. Opening the door quickly, he left. He messed up, this wasn't what he wanted. He just lost control of his temper for a moment.

Mingyu continued to cry. The baby had calmed down and was playing with Jihoon's fingers. 

"I'm sorry hyung... I didn't know he was Seungcheol hyung.... I shouldn't have talked to strangers anyway!!!" he wailed, streams of tears rolling down his cheeks.

Jihoon pulled away from the baby, dropped to his knees and waddled to Mingyu. Pulling Mingyu into his embrace, he combed his hair with his jittery fingers and patted his back rhythmically. 

"M-mingyu d-didn't know... I d-didn't know e-either... it's okay..." 

Jihoon had read(stuttered) the letter aloud for Mingyu who wanted to know it's content. Jihoon blamed his stutter and his inability to think fast for getting the children scared. Thinking about it now, he should have answered at least and ask about the letter. Feeling more down, he hugged Mingyu tightly. He wished he could understand what was going on earlier. The children wouldn't have been startled if he could. 

"Hyung is sorry..." Mingyu rubbed his head into the crook of Jihoon's neck, smearing his tears and snot onto his collar and skin. His small fists grasping tightly at his brother's shirt.

"Hyungie didn't do anything wrong..." the other children seeing their older brothers hugging, crawled/toddled over and joined in a group hug. 

"Me too Jihoon hyung!!" -Seokmin

"Hya!!" -Seungkwan

"Me too..." -Myungho

"Hyu?"-Hansol

-------------

The storm came earlier than the forecast and Seungcheol was stuck. He was calming down in his car- responsibly, not driving when angry- when the storm arrived. 

BOOM! CRACK!! 

The thunder and lightning was unyielding. Sighing for the nth time, he smacked himself in the forehead. Seungcheol you idiot, you just had to get angry, you just had to throw your temper at the kids, you just had to take a few hours to calm down,  and you just had to be caught in the storm now. Picking up his courage again, he got out of his car and ran for cover from the rain along the tiny cover by the garage. Arriving once again at the front door, this time he decides to ring the door bell. 

Ding dong! Knock knock. 

He waited a couple seconds, and in those couple seconds he decided to give up believing that the kids won't open the door for him. As he was turning around, the door creaked open, the boy called 'Jihoonie hyung' by 'Mingyu' from earlier peeked out. The door was opened just enough to see one of Jihoon's eyes. 

"N-neh?" 

A quiet whisper drifted through Seungcheol's ears. 

"Aa...I...." mentally face-palming, Seungcheol tried to reorganize his words. Problems are better resolved early than late. "About earlier, I'm sorry I raised my voice. Some things were going on in life and I took it out on you. You probably have some things too that's why you reacted as such, and I feel really bad. I scared the children and I'm such an idio-" 

Seungcheol cut himself off. He was rambling. Jihoon's expression didn't change, still eerily staring back at him. Clearing his throat, he tried again. 

"I'm sorry, I wasn't very understanding. Let's start over. My name is Seungcheol. What's yours?" 

He stuck out a hand for handshake. Slowly but surely, a hand reached out and grasped his, a tiny soft one at that. 

"J-jihoon... n-nice to-o m-meet you..." Seungcheol smiled.