“Guess who are thinking you cheated on me with Hyukjae-sshi eighteen years ago.” Wonbin whispered to his wife the moment he reached her after taking photos of Jungsoo and Heechul.

Yubin smirked at that. “So they know that Hyukjae-sshi has nine kids but are not aware on how they were conceived.” she then looked at the area where her son and his brothers were fooling around while on standby.

“The boys might know more, but I think I just branded Hyukjae-sshi as a womanizer seducing married women in his youth…” her husband said worriedly.

Yubin burst out laughing at that. “Well, we'll just have to go with it. I'm sure Hyukjae-sshi has a reason on not telling them the specifics, what with him trying to protect our privacy and all.” she told him. “If I were you, I suggest we should just play along.”

“Or, we could just ask the boys.” Wonbin suggested. “I don't know if you noticed, but they all have that gleam in their eyes saying they are up to something when they look at him and Donghae-sshi.”

“Donghae-sshi?” Yubin's head snapped up in attention to her husband, her mind calculating what information she heard from him. Wonbin knew it was her ELF mind kicking up. His spine shivered when Yubin let out a slightly mischievous look in her eyes that spelled trouble not for him, thankfully, but probably for Hyukjae.

“Jagiya?” Wonbin tried to call his wife back to earth.

“Oh I see now. No wonder…” she said to no one in particular. “Well, I stand by what I said. It's better if we play along. Trust me.”

Wonbin could only sigh and nod in agreement.

…

Everything was going according to plan. At least, that was what Shihyun had concluded the moment they got out of the dressing room only to see Junseo’s parents speaking with the group. Seunghwan had agreed with them that the appearance of one of their parents would not deter them from doing the first phase of the plan: Planting Misleading Statements.

The moment Seunghwan had gotten close to Donghae during standby, he didn't waste any time and proceeded to go to Phase 1 to get everything set for the upcoming days.

It was in the middle of individual shots when Seunghwan skidded beside him while their father was the one being taken care of by Yubin.

Within the past few days, Seunghwan had been engaging small talks with him due to the fact that he was his fan in most of his dramas. They found it advantageous to at least get close to the ‘prey’ in the plan.

“Uwah~ Yubin-sshi's shots are always spot-on.” Seunghwan said beside him, startling Donghae, but calming down upon seeing Seunghwan’s eyes light up while they were taking photos of Hyukjae.

“You boys know her well?” Donghae wondered.

Seunghwan nodded. “She's a former model until she got married to Wonbin-samchon. She’s our aunt, but she doesn’t like being called Ahjumma.” He stated. “The first time they met, Yubin-sshi said that he dropped a pole on her head the first time they worked together on set.”

“What was her relationship with your dad like?” Donghae dared ask, not really expecting Seunghwan to be open to answers.

Seunghwan, on the other hand, knew that he got him hook, line, and sinker. Changmin was right when he said that Donghae tends to be gullible. “Well…from all of our moms, Appa gets along most with her, my parents and one of Byeonghee’s moms because they’re all in the Entertainment industry here in South Korea. Junseo said that she is an ELF, so she knew everything about Appa even before they met and when Junseo was conceived. At least, that was how far they wanted us to know about our births.”

“How come?” Donghae wondered.

The young man scratched the back of his neck, “Well, the reveal of our biological dad was not a walk in the park for most of us, if you could imagine. Some of us were even disowned and parents divorced, so it’s really hard for us to talk about our births without getting hurt. Take me, for example, my parents were childless for seven years before they found Appa, but raising me knowing that I was not entirely theirs really did put a lot of stress.” He shared. “People were saying that I’m not a part of Abeoji’s family since I was not his biologically, but my parents didn’t really give any care about it. What mattered was that I was raised well and outperformed all of our relatives to make them green with envy.”

The way Seunghwan said the last part so sinisterly, he couldn’t help but chuckle, shocking the boy. “The way you talk about it really reminds me of Hyukjae in you.”

“Is that a compliment or…?” he asked.

“Of course it is.” Donghae said, but Seunghwan could tell that the man was hiding his jealousy and hurt upon hearing the vague information that Seunghwan had told him. They expected that they might feel a bit bad, but they know that this was a necessary step to kill two birds with one stone. But there was a certain fondness in his voice when he spoke again, “Believe me, your dad is a family man through and through, so don’t worry if he will be protective of you from those kinds of people.”

Seunghwan laughed lightly, “I think my relatives got it the moment they were threatened to be served court papers for ‘psychological abuse’ the first time Appa had heard the treatment.” He told him. “Of course, Appa was bluffing, but he was scary enough for them to believe him.”

“I can see him doing that.” The man thought fondly. “How did it go with your dad about your birth though? I assume it wasn’t really that pleasant…”

“Oh no. Abeoji loved me the moment I was born. Of course, he was stressed out when Umma was carrying me, but the specifics was something they didn’t want me to know. They said I’d know when I’m older, but I think that was just Abeoji escaping from relieving what he had to go through taking care of a hormonal pregnant woman.” Seunghwan said.

That was not a response that Donghae was looking for, but if he implies that their mothers had slept with Hyukjae while they were married, he might step on a landmine without thinking, so he chose his words carefully.

“And he didn’t feel like…he was being betrayed?”

Seunghwan knew where he was going about this, but he needed to be careful not to let the truth slip. “Not really. They couldn’t have a kid together, so asking for help from others was the next best thing, even if I was not entirely theirs. I’ve known it since I was young. All I wanted to do was to meet him and my brothers though, and Abeoji had no ill will about it, believing I deserved to know everything about Appa. End of story is, all is well.”

All is well.

That was the description Donghae wanted to have towards Hyukjae, but apparently, he was not making it easy, and he respected that. It made him jealous, the fact that he was in good terms with the legal fathers of his nine biological children. He didn’t want to know how the men had gotten around to forgiving their wives of adultery. If they could forgive them for this, then why is it hard for him to let pass the fact that Hyukjae had cheated on him nine times?

“Donghae-sshi? Is something wrong?” Seunghwan wondered.

Donghae snapped out of his mind and looked back at Seunghwan apologetically, “Sorry, my thoughts were elsewhere.”

Seungwhan feigned confusion, “Donghae-sshi, is there something I said that made you recall something uncomfortable?” he wondered.

“Ah, no, don’t mind me. Something just went to my mind…” Donghae said.

“If it’s not too invasive, by any chance, Donghae-sshi, you and Appa, were you…” Donghae’s heart almost skipped a beat, guessing what the boy will say next, but the two of them were interrupted.

Yubin, done with Hyukjae’s individual shot, called out to them, “Donghae-sshi, you’re up next.” She called.

Donghae nodded, and turned back to Seunghwan, “You better get there Donghae-sshi. Yubin-sshi doesn’t like saying an order twice.” He warned as he went back to his brothers, silently nodding at them signaling that the planting was successful.

…

“The nine of you are planning something, aren’t you?” Yubin whispered to them as she was pretending to instruct them on what to do as it was their turn. “Or, to be precise, you're already executing something. That could earn you a grounding, depending on who catches you first.”

The boys stiffened at her suspicion, knowing that they cannot hide this from a woman who can read body language from a mile away, and what was more, she is a veteran ELF.

“Yubin-sshi…we…” Wumuti started, but he was stopped when Yubin smiled and placed her forefinger between her lips.

“No worries. As long as no one gets hurt or worse, caught, we’d be happy to play along with this.” Yubin said. “But boys, do keep in mind that your Appa might still be a bit too sensitive towards Donghae-sshi. I’m an ELF, I know what I’m talking about.”

“Yes Yubin-sshi…” Shihyun said for all of them.

Yubin smiled at them, “I’m not mad. I’m surprised though, how did you find out? Hyukjae-sshi tried all he could so that you boys won’t.”

Wumuti snickered, “Wasn’t that hard to see their body language during practices. It was pretty obvious.” He replied.

The woman sighed but smiled in turn. He had spoken to most of their mothers when they have get-togethers, and they had been asking Hyukjae if he had someone in his life other than the nine boys, but the man would always make excuses, saying that he was not ready yet or that he hasn’t found someone to want to spend his life with.

Of course, they knew it was a lie, and Yubin, as the ELF in their fold, knows it had something to do with Donghae. After all, she was one of those who find the two of them cute together, and their skin ship when they were still active idols was not helping things at all.  “Just keep it in the low down, alright boys? I don’t want to feign being mad at you when he tells us what you have been up to.”

“But Umma, you’re a good actress.” Junseo defended.

“Thank you Junnie, but your Appa is much too perceptive, so be careful, okay?”

“Yes~” the nine replied.

It didn’t take long before the photoshoot was done, and everyone was packing up for tomorrow, because they will be filming the videos next.

…

…

After their morning photoshoot, four cars found their way back to the parking lot of the SM Global Artist Training Center to continue on with their rehearsals that will last until after dinner, as Hyukjae briefed them.

Upon arriving at the building, the boys had decided to do a dessert run at the SM Café while the others go on ahead to their assigned training room.

“Okay, who’s in charge for today’s dessert run?” Hyukjae asked his boys.

Both Wumuti and Doyum raised their hands and their phones. “Already have the orders Appa,” Wumuti replied.

“Good. You can head there now and we’ll proceed to the training room.” He told the two before they went ahead to the elevator first.

When the two disappeared, the rest went back to the van to gather their bags to be carried to the training room.

From the corner of Jongwoon’s eyes, he saw something familiar. “Hey, isn’t that car…?”

Hyukjae swiftly turned his head to where his son was looking and indeed, he saw a familiar car with a very particular plate number. He didn't think that car would appear at the building, but looking back, the owner's mentor was…

“Great. You boys go on ahead. I'll make sure they don't cause a scene.” he instructed them as he ran off to follow the two boys.

Wondering what was going on, Heechul and Jungsoo turned to the eldest, “What's gotten him in a hurry?”

Shihyun pointed at a specific car. “The owner of that car is supposed to stay away from Muti.”

“What does a Volvo have to do with it?” Jungsoo asked, recognizing the brand.

Shihyun sighed. “The car was a hint, but the plate was a dead giveaway. That's the car owned by a Chinese Idol that Muti does not want to see.”

“Long story short, he's Muti's ex, and someone who could potentially ruin our hard work.” Siyoung growled.

“He’s going to pay with his face if Muti comes back looking like he's been through heartbreak again.” Byeonghee threatened.

…

“How long will it take you to just choose a cake already, Doyum?” Wumuti asked his brother as he wws looking at the cafe's variety of cakes. If Doyum was in charge of the budget for dessert, he wouls have bought one of everything already.

“Choosing the best takes time, Muti.” Doyum said as he finally chose the matcha cheesecake from the fold.

Wumuti rolled his eyes playfully with a hint of amusement. He handed him the basket where the rest of the desserts were. “Now that you're done, you pay.”

Doyum let out a small whine. “But why?”

“Because you took too long and it's your turn to pay anyway.” he returned and threw their shared wallet at him. Doyum simply scowled cutely and made his way to the long queue.

“Just because I bolted on you last time because I was running late for a date doesn't mean I deserve such bossy treatment from my favorite hyung!” he playfully whined.

“We don't call each other hyung anyways and you always say that to the others when you want to get away with something.” Wumuti returned as he went out of the cafe to just wait for Doyum outside and spent his minutes looking at the artist gallery that was right across the cafe.

Wumuti took his time in looking around the gallery, amused at the old pictures of his father in his younger days. No matter how hard Hyukjae had tried to hide his ‘dark past’ from his kids, social media and his ex-members existed to foil every single one of his plans on keeping them ignorant for just a little while longer.

Just as he was nearing at the 2010’s section, the ‘Golden Age,’ as they called it, Wumuti was so into looking that he never noticed until it was too late that he bumped into someone.

“I’m sorry!” the other person said in Mandarin.

Wumuti, trying to collect himself, replied, “No, no, it’s okay, I’m...” he stopped himself at the realization that he was replying in Mandarin in South Korea, which was not supposed to happen at all.

What was more, the person he bumped into was someone he never wanted to see personally ever again. 

Right in front of him was Cai Xukun.

As it seemed, the other teen was shocked to see him at the building as well, reminding Wumuti that he was yet to disclose his parentage to him when they were dating, as he was supposed to tell him before Xukun ended things with him.

And so, the teenager in front of him was as clueless as he is wondering what the hell they were doing in the same building in the same day despite being in different companies.

“Muti…” Xukun managed to let out after five seconds of staring at each other.

“W-what are y-you d-doing here?” Wumuti dared ask him, mentally hitting himself for stuttering in his words.

Xukun looked relieved to see him, for why, Wumuti cannot understand. Why should he when he was the one who ended things between them? “I met up with Yixing-laoshi this morning…” he explained briefly.

Wumuti had to curse at the information. Of course he can meet up with his mentor here at SM. He’s Zhang Yixing!

“I see…” Wumuti managed to let out. “Well, it’s nice bumping into you and all, I’ll just…” he started to move away from him when Xukun grabbed his wrist hastily, startling the two of them.

“Wait, Muti I…” Xukun started to speak, but Wumuti was having none of it. Just looking at Xukun right now sends a wave of sadness and hurt that is yet to heal, even though his brothers had tried their hardest to get him to smile and get back up again after the trying times he had months back. Hell, even Zhou Mi knew half of the incident, and he guessed Hangeng knew as well but didn’t voice it out, thinking that it might be a rude conversation opening. “Can we talk?”

His answer was swift and sharp. “No.” Wumuti declared as he tore his wrist from him. “Xukun, I don’t know what kind of rock you are living in, or if you really cared to hear anything about me at all, but this is really not the time for you to simply bump into me and ask for a serious one-on-one talk about us.” He said coldly that even he was surprised how much he was emitting.

His statement and his tone took Xukun aback. He once knew Wumuti to be the cheerful yet mischievous youngest member of SWIN, but it seems that he was not the only one who had gone through a drastic change since the lawsuit and the breakup that came before. “Please, at least give me a chance to ex—”

“There you are Muti! I thought you were waiting at the end of the counter! Don’t you know those girls in the line takes too long to order that I had to pretend to be in a hurry? I…oh…” Doyum appeared in front of them as he exited the café with the desserts by the boxes. He frowned when he saw Xukun trying to get close to Wumuti and had decided to wrap his free arm around his own and pressed himself close. He didn't let Wumuti know that he glared at Xukun for a few seconds, but it was enough for the other teen to notice.

According to the Muti Recovery Project, Cai Xukun must never, under any circumstances, never be allowed near Wumuti. And Doyum and the rest are hell-bent on following the Guidelines for it. “Muti? Can we go now?” he said as he clung to Wumuti’s arm like he does to Jinsung when he wants something.

“Yeah.” Wumuti replied as he looked at Xukun one last time. “Sorry, we need go.” he said simply and left with Doyum still clinging on him.

Xukun turnes to follow him with his eyes longingly as they turned to the corridor to the elevators. He curled his hands into a fist and frowns, not liking the fact that another person was that close to him. “Why do I always mess things up for him?” he wondered out loud as he combed his hair with his hand in frustration.

Sighing in defeat and to calm himself down, he decided to make his way to the parking floor where a separate elevator would take him to, not noticing that someone had been watching them the entire time.

Hyukjae watched the entire scene from a hidden corner of the area, attempting to step in should things turn sour, but all he could see were two hurt teenagers who are still longing for each other. His other sons might see Xukun as an heartbreaker, but to Hyukjae, Xukun was a boy that was thinking of Wumuti’s career in the midst of their company screwing them over. He could tell that Xukun was trying to protect his second eldest from a career-ending scandal.

And probably someone who deserves a chance to make amends.

‘Deserves to make amends? Don't be a hypocrite Hyukjae.’

Hyukjae grunted at his inner voice, knowing that he was really being one. He never gave Donghae a chance to make it up to him when he attempted to make amends all those years ago, and here he is, looking at his son's ex who had done the same thing and easily concluded that he deserved to make it up to Wumuti.

He was a hypocrite indeed.

…

When the two teens got inside the elevator, they were relieved that they were alone.

Doyum dared to look at Wumuti’s facial expression after his encounter with Xukun. “Muti. Are you okay?”

Wumuti sighed. “Do I look okay to you?” he asked him.

“Sorry, standard question.” Doyum apologized. “Did he say anything to you before I walked in on you two?” he wondered, worried that he had missed a lot in their encounter.

“He wanted to speak to me, but I refused.” his brother replied as he scratched his nape in confusion. “Why does he want to talk to me after all this? He was the one who ended things with me. He should have just disregarded my existence.”

“Muti, the mind of someone like Xukun is hard to understand. If I were you, you should listen to your instincts.” Doyum advised.

Wumuti looked at Doyum, “Even if my instincts tell me that he wants to get back with me?”

“Is that what you want though?” Doyum shot back.

“Not if he doesn't give me a proper reason.” Wumuti said and looked fondly at Doyum, “Of course, that also depends on your ‘Wumuti Recovery Project’ guidelines.”

Doyum flinched in shock. That was supposed to be a secret project between the eight of them!

“I made the Spencer Lee Secrecy Pact with Shihyun, Doyum. Give me some more credit here.” Wumuti told him with a small smirk as they got off the elevator.

Doyum sighed as he followed him. “Besides that, what are you going to do if he tries to contact you again?”

“We'll get there when we get there.” Wumuti dismissed, but Doyum can tell that he was still bothered by their encounter. After all, Wumuti was left with a large scar in him when things ended just like that. He could still vividly remember Wumuti’s teae stricken face and the way he sounded so broken after his entire world came crashing down on him, and most of them were helpless to get to his side from across the pond, all of them wanting one thing: for their Muti to smile genuinely again. But it seems that Cai Xukun was steps away from ruining all the hard work.

Of course, in the event that he does, they're afraid that he won't make it out of South Korea unscathed and not traumatized.

TBC

And so it begins. Sorry for the long wait guys, but I’m getting back on track in the storyline for this fic finally~

Now we have the second part of the nine boys’ own story branch, and I am living for it!!!

Eunhyuk and Donghae’s story is progressing slowly but surely, and I have a lot of things planned for the commencement of their schemes!

Look forward to it! See you guys next chapter!