Chapter 13

It was dark.

That was what Donghae had seen right after he was called out by one of the boys during his song writing time at one of the meeting rooms, something about wanting to confirm something for their next group rehearsal in a few hours’ time. He should have known from the get-go that it wasn’t the case.

As soon as he was forced to sit down on a chair, the cover over his head was lifted, and his eyes adjusted to the measly light of the room. He immediately looked left and right to face his kidnappers, only to freeze at the sight.

Donghae wanted to run for his life for the very reason that there were nine pairs of eyes looking at him in the dimly lit room, as if wanting to maim him or feed him to the wolves. Maybe both.

He needed help, but it was kind of hard to shout for it when he was being stared down, daring him to try. All of them were confident that no one will be able to hear him.

How did he end up here being tricked by nine teenagers?

…

Twenty Minutes Earlier

Donghae's day started out relatively nice.

He started out by sending a cheesy message to Hyukjae's phone, like old times, before heading for the shower.

It had been five days since Hyukjae had given him a courting chance, and he didn't waste it despite not seeing each other due to Donghae's filming schedules. He has one drama and a movie going on, so he was going back and forth from Hyerin's set to another. He always made sure that he greets Hyukjae every morning after he wakes up. If the time is ungodly, he would just send a quick message, but when he wakes up on time with his own schedule, he doesn’t hesitate to call.

“Hyung, I know we’re writing a song here so looking deep in thought while writing is good, but your face right now is giving me the creeps.”

Donghae was taken out of his reverie when he was tapped to the shoulder by Kim Jonghyun who was looking a bit curious, a brow raised up, interested on what his hyung was thinking about.

“Did you need anything, Jonghyun?” he asked him.

Jonghyun had to give him an ‘are you kidding me right now?’ look. He has been blabbing about the lyrics they currently have written for one of their SM Station songs for one of their hoobaes, and here was one of their sunbaenims having his head in the clouds with a creepy look. “Hyung, have you been listening to me for the past five minutes? Or were you just looking into space creepily? Yesterday on your break, you were texting someone with an ear-splitting grin on your face. You’re only like that when you were…” his eyes widened in realization at what Donghae was doing. He has seen it multiple times since he was a trainee and Donghae had already debuted. “NO WAY!”

Startled, Donghae went offensive, “What do you mean?”

Jonghyun grabbed his shoulders and looked him in the eye, “You’ve gotten back together with Eunhyuk-hyung, didn’t you?”

“What? No!” he denied, “…well, at least not yet…”

“What do you mean ‘not yet’? You always look like that when the two of you were dating.” He pushed.

Donghae wanted to get out of the conversation before someone who shouldn’t hear this hears them, “Why are you all this persistent all of a sudden?”

Jonghyun straightened up from his seat and rolled his eyes, reminding Donghae that he had gotten that habit from Key. “Well duh, your history with each other is what kept Key blabbering at me the entire first few months after your breakup, and everyone here is rooting for you two to get back together long before your divorce. Sorry, but we're not her biggest fans." he added.

Donghae shrugged at the mention of his divorce.

"Don't be." he mumbled. "As for what you're assuming…getting him back is harder than you think."

Jonghyun tilted his head to the side, "Is he seeing someone? Some of the boys and I can help you out if you want."

"No, nothing like that." Donghae shook his head. "It's hard because I need to gain his trust back, and I'm willing to go through that. It's just that he has guard dogs on him that I need to break it to and to get through to him that makes it all the more harder." he explained.

"Huh? What do you mean guard dogs?" Jonghyun wondered, still not getting why his hyung was getting all troubled. “Is it his nine students that are somehow overly attached to him?”

"Long story. Maybe if you ask Hyukjae, he'd tell you. It's not my story to tell." it wasn't his place to tell people that Hyukjae has nine sons standing guard after all. They knew that the boys’ actual relation to him was top secret, and can end up in an even bigger scandal than what they had experienced. The fans are really sensitive about family and marriage regarding idols. Sungmin’s exposed secret marriage years back was a primary example of it. What more once they find out that Hyukjae had slept around for four years and produced nine teenagers along the way?

Jonghyun sighed and sat back down across from him. “I don’t know why you guys are making this more complicated than it is. The two of you still have feelings for each other, so why go through all this?”

Soon after he said that, someone smacked him behind his head with a rolled-up paper. “It’s because of that mentality that it took you six years before making a move on me and convincing me to go out with you.”

Both men turned to Key who was glaring at Jonghyun. The other man had the gall to look childish. “Why did you have to hit me?” Jonghyun said with a pout.

“You were being an idiot.” Key stated, not really remorseful at what he had done. “Donghae-hyung, one of Eunhyuk-hyung’s students are looking for you. Something about your rehearsals later.”

The two seated men peered behind Key to see Hyukjae’s third with his back to them, rocking his feet, waiting for Donghae to get out of the room. Wondering what Hyukjae wanted with him with the rehearsals later, he decided to humor the man. After all, ever since he started courting him, the two of them has become more than civil, and the rest of his ex-members were grinning from ear to ear every time they get close within three feet from each other. The two had started to feel comfortable towards each other when they begin to rehearse their 'shippy' songs as the sub-unit D&E, which was progress, according to Siwon.

“Oh, it’s Seunghwan.” Donghae said as he stood up. “Better get there to see what they want.” He said as he left the room in a flash, leaving Key and Jonghyun staring at the two as they proceeded to the practice rooms.

Key raised a brow, “Strange that he is wanted in their usual practice room...”

Jonghyun shook his head at the fact that his lover is overanalyzing things. “Key, they just need him at the practice room. What’s wrong with it?”

“Because from what I remember for today’s schedule, that practice room should still be under the hands of Taeyong and Jaehyun, helping the Dreamies with the choreo for their latest album.” Key told him.

Realization dawned upon Jonghyun as he caught on what Key was trying to tell him. He looked back at the door where Donghae left with the kid and back at Key, then back to the door again. He kept doing it until Key gave him an annoyed look, telling him to cut it out before he’s smacked again.

“You don’t think they’re going to do anything to him, do you?” Jonghyun wondered. The boys were the students of Lee Hyukjae, and they had gotten an excuse that wasn’t all that foolproof for perceptive people like Key. That would mean that they were up to something. It was either a prank, or something else entirely.

“The man is thirty-eight. I doubt he’d get overpowered by a teenager.” Key dismissed. “Now, where were you with the lyrics?”

With that, all was forgotten, at least for a few minutes.

Until Taemin barged into the room and mentioned something interesting.

"Hey, I just saw Donghae-hyung being carried away by Eunhyuk-hyung's students with Changmin-hyung with a sack on his head. Pranks these days have changed since I went to the military, huh?"

…

"Sorry for interrupting your songwriting session." Seunghwan apologized as the two made their way to the basement, where the largest practice rooms were on.

“It’s no problem at all,” Donghae said with a small smile. “I was in a rut anyways, and I needed the small escape.”

The boy raised his brow, “From Jonghyun-sunbaenim?” he wondered.

“Yeah.” Donghae said, not wanting to elaborate. He really didn’t want to tell them that the topic of their banter was his father and his courtship—which they are not aware of, if what their actions had told him the day they sang Growing Pains after three years was true. The boys knew nothing about what happened between the two of them, and Hyukjae seemed intent on keeping it that way.

The two walked in silence for a few moments before Seunghwan broke it, “Donghae-sshi, can I ask, do you know the person who broke Appa’s heart three years ago?”

For some reason, Donghae’s blood ran cold, and the thought of being swallowed by the ground crossed his mind. “W-Why’d you ask?”

“Well, when we mention his past, the members seems to be stealing glances at you when they thought we weren’t looking…” Seunghwan said as he stopped walking, his back facing Donghae, who was feeling cold sweat coming out of him.

“Really?”

Seunghwan nodded. “And that got us thinking…you know him better than anyone else, don’t you?” Now Donghae was getting nervous. His brow involuntarily twitched. “Your brow twitched, didn’t it?”

Now he was scared. He forgot that Seunghwan was his fan, and like any fan (or sasaengs), he knew how he tends to act behind the scenes and on screen. “What are you on about here, Seunghwan? By the way, we need to go. We don’t want your dad waiting too long.”

Seunghwan stayed silent for a second and nodded. “Yes, it has been long…” he trailed off. Donghae thought he had convinced him to drop the subject, but when the boy turned to face him, that was not the case. “We should really hurry things up, right?” he muttered and then he clasped his hands together in an apologetic stance, “Which is why, sorry for what we are about to do, Donghae-sshi!”

“What are you…?!”

As soon as he said it, there was a cover thrown at his head, his arms were seized and his legs were forced to buckle and grabbed by several hands, heaving him up like a log. He knew he weighed a bit heavy due to his lean mass thanks to his workouts, which made him surprised that teenagers were able to lift him up that fast.

“Stay still, Donghae-sshi, we might drop you head-first.” A threatening voice said, but he couldn’t pinpoint which one told him that.

At that point, Donghae was defenseless.

…

He didn’t know that one Shim Changmin was the source of the extra strength on his torso.

“Hey, what are you boys up to?” he tried to let out, but because of the cover on his head, his voice was a bit muffled.

Changmin was trying not to get exposed by Donghae, knowing he will get an earful from Yunho the moment he is known, so he has instructed the boys not to say his name while they were carrying him at another practice room that was reserved under Changmin’s name for the next two hours. But that didn’t mean that he can’t smile in satisfaction as he conspired with teenagers.

As soon as they got him inside, Changmin cued the boys to sit him down on the chair in the middle of the room.

Shihyun, the ringleader, replied to the cue and signaled Changmin that they have it covered and he should leave before Donghae realizes they were assisted by someone else.

…

Present Time

Donghae was a captured prey, and he knew that very well, so he decided to tread on this carefully, knowing that the boys might have a very good motive in getting him like this.

“What are you boys doing?” He asked as he looked around to see that he was surrounded by the nine of them. For some reason, the youngest one’s stare scared him the most.

Instead of answering him, the nine of them replied as one. “So it was you.”

The man felt a cold shiver down his spine at their accusation. They didn’t need to specify what he had done. His blood ran cold at the thought. The boys have found out, and as Heechul had warned him before, they were not going to let this pass. At all.

“We were wondering why Appa was paying more attention at his phone these days…” Wumuti started.

“And he also told us that he decided to give his ex a chance to make up with him…” Siyoung continued.

“We were wondering how the two of them met again despite the busy schedule that all of us had, and the fact that we were with him 24/7 since starting the concert preparations…” Suren said.

Shihyun crossed his arms on his chest, “And that made us realize, his ex was no outsider at all. It’s an SM artist.”

“And we narrowed down the interactions these past few days. He was from Super Junior. His own group.” Byeonghee continued. “But who could it be?” he pretended to wonder.

Seunghwan then spoke, “And then we remembered, Appa was bothered by the song that he had sung with you, and the other members of Super Junior were trying to be secretive in looking your way.”

“And it was a song by your sub-unit, D&E.” Junseo stated. “I remembered how Umma had gushed about the two of you during the photoshoot, which really gave us the biggest hint about the two of you.”

Doyum stepped in, “We wanted to be sure about whether our hunch was correct, and had intended to ask Heechul-sshi about it, but you answered it for us five days ago.”

Donghae was about to speak, but the youngest, Jongwoon has spoken ahead of him. “Did you really think that with the two of you talking will not wake us all up?”

Realization and horror dawned upon Donghae at the knowledge that the boys had heard every single thing that he had talked about with Hyukjae. Initially, one would be embarrassed at the revelation, but to Donghae, dread was in it. After all, they shouldn’t have found out that he was the one who broke their father’s heart. Vengeful children were dangerous. The fact that there were nine of them at once really didn’t help his case.

“We know everything now, Donghae-sshi, and we are not happy.” Shihyun finished.

“Looking at the timelines and your marriage to a woman, we knew right away that the heart you broke four years ago was Appa’s, and we won’t take things lying down.” Seunghwan stated.

Despite not really being restrained and gagged, he couldn’t find a way to refute their statements, because they were on the mark.

“And now you intend to get back with him again.” Wumuti let out.

Jongwoon continued, “But we’re not sure if you really deserve Appa back. We’re not even sure that you are good enough for him, given what you had put him through.”

Shihyun sighed, “And I just told Appa to give his ex a chance. Now I wish I hadn’t.”

Donghae’s head snapped to face the eldest in surprise, curious as to why he might have changed his mind.

It was Wumuti who answered his unspoken question. “We expected that the reason for the breakup was to prevent a scandal, but knowing that it was you…things changed, I guess. I didn’t expect your method of breaking his heart would be to marry a woman and declared to the world that you have been seeing each other for years in a press conference, and while we knew your intentions when you exposed the marriage…” Wumuti grumbled before continuing, “This doesn’t change the fact that you hurt Appa monumentally.”

Gathering as much courage as he could, he opened his lips to speak. “What do you intend to do then? I don’t think kidnapping me here just to say that is what you want to do.”

Doyum was the one who stepped in, “We are issuing you a warning, Donghae-sshi.” He stated.

“Whether or not we think that you deserve Appa’s second chance is still up for debate.” Byeonghee stated.

“But know his, gaining back his affections will be hard.” Suren added.

Junseo nodded at his brothers in approval, “All we want to say is we will be watching your every move. You will just not have to prove to Appa that you still deserve him.”

“You will prove to us that you deserve him as well too.” Jongwoon finalized.                                                                                                         

“And if there is any reason at all that we will see Appa get hurt because of you…” Shihyun said as he approached Donghae, making him stare down at him with threatening eyes, “We will make sure you will regret hurting him for the rest of your life.” Shihyun said it in a low voice that no one would be stupid enough not to heed his warning.

For some reason, listening to Shihyun’s words had pulled some kind of switch on him. There was no longer fear written on his face or rumbling on his guts. It was determination to prove them wrong. He has waited for three years for a chance to get Hyukjae back, and he does not intend to waver at the stares and threats of the nine boys. Not anymore.

Shihyun noticed the change of expression in his eyes, which made him off to a good start. “Then I will prove to you that I do deserve a second chance with your father.”

A smile graced on Shihyun’s face and pat his hand that Donghae didn’t notice. He was starting to wonder if the boys were trained in martial arts. They were too swift in their movements for their own good.

“Let us see you put it into action, shall we?” the boy whispered. As fast as he went close to him, he retreated and the lights on the practice room was opened by Seunghwan as they proceeded to exit the room in a row.

Shihyun was the last one at the door when he turned back with a smile at Donghae. “It only gets harder from here. Good luck!" was his final bid as he closed the door, leaving Donghae behind seated in the middle of the room, frozen stiff.

It took him ten more minutes to release the tension in his body to slump at the chair, heaving a sigh of relief as the fear in his veins started to disappear slowly.

He knew confronting the boys would be nerve-wracking, but being kidnapped and threatened by nine teenagers like this in the name of their father? That was more than terrifying Donghae wondered how he survived their hold on him. He shouldn’t underestimate these boys. After all, they were Hyukjae’s sons, and from the looks of it, they ended up knowing that one day, they would be giving their father’s suitor one hell of a shovel talk that would make anyone flee with their tail between their legs.

But Donghae was not just anyone. He was his ex-lover, which really doesn’t help his case.

As he gathered his wits about him for the next five minutes, his mind went back on the boys. He will need to be careful when one of them is in the room when he is with Hyukjae. Their eyes tell that mischief is going to be on the run.

…

TEN THINGS TO DO TO GET HYUKJAE BACK

1. Never, and I mean never, get jealous at every mention of the boys’ moms, or upon meeting them.
2. Do not do anything to anger the boys
3. Romance Hyukjae the way he likes it: flowers, cute notes, and writing lyrics dedicated for him.
4. NEVER EVER bring up the ex-wife.-not like I will, but ok.
5. NEVER EVER bring up his affairs with the nine moms.
6. Give him space when he asks or when he shows signs of wanting space.
7. Take whatever you can get from Hyuk when he wants it.
8. Get on the boys’ good side to make sure no pranks will occur. (You played pranks when you were their age. Don’t expect anything less)
9. Stay away from Heechul-hyung and the three devils.
10. Remember, you love Hyukjae to the moon and back.

TBC