“Eomma. . . Kyungsoo?”

Lowering his head, Kyungsoo placed a hand on his mother’s back to gesture her to go first. Silence. There were no enough words to explain what all three were feeling at the moment. Without saying anything, Mrs. Do and Do Seungsoo pulled each other for a tight hug. The man started crying instantly, just as hard as the mother was. Kyungsoo on the other hand fought the urge to do the same as he stood there in silence, letting his mother have her time with his brother. He lifted his head to look into the house. From the outside, it looked pretty decent but small.

It was similar inside, the kitchen and living room were both open next to each other with only a dining table being the separation. There were some toys scattered at one corner, a small desk at another then two visible doors at another end.

It looked a bit old, the floors and the walls looked outdated and had washed out colors but the appliances and furniture were quite decent looking and placed in a pretty way – easy to tell that it’s owned by a big family of five.

“Bro.” His deep thoughts were interrupted when Seungsoo then moved on to pull him into a tight hug. Anxiety and worry built up in his mind as he hugged his brother, he felt quite slimmer than the last time he had seen him like five years ago and he surely had aged a lot, he’s only thirty-three. “Wow, you look great.” Seungsoo let out a hearty chuckle as he cupped his little brother’s face, tapping his cheeks affectionately. Kyungsoo lowered his eyes as he chuckled shyly while pushing his hands off out of embarrassment.

They were led into the house.

“I-I’m sorry, we haven’t cleaned yet. Oh my god, I didn’t expect this at all. Wait—” Seungsoo started clearing up the corner where toys were all scattered out. “I’ll call Anna, I think she’s taking a nap with the kids.” He turned away to rush to one door. “No, son. Let them sleep, I’m sure we will have a lot more time later. I’m. . . I’m not going anywhere anytime soon.” Mrs. Do stopped her as she took a sit on the loveseat beside Kyungsoo.

The older brother stood there weakly, clasping his hands together to his front with his head lowered again. “E-eomma. . . uhm, I didn’t expect this at all but I’m very happy, I—” He broke into a quick ugly sob which he tried overlapping with a laugh as he covered his mouth. Mrs. Do breathed in and out heavily as she looked up, holding her tears this time. “A lot of things recently happened within our. . . company and family and I just want you to know that I have decided to end my relationship with your father.” She went straight to the point earning a stunned look from the man. He rushed to them, sitting on the armchair beside where they were seated and reached for his mother’s hand on her lap. “Eomma, what do you mean? What happened?” He asked, glancing at Kyungsoo as well.

“Hyung, it’s a long story and I think it’s better if you just talk to me about it. Eomma is still a little bit emotional about it so ask me.” Kyungsoo stepped up to take the conversation over knowing well how his mother still gets bad anxiety and breaks down easily when she thinks about it. It has only been a week after all. Mrs. Do closed her eyes and sighed heavily before nodding in agreement. “Your brother’s right but. . . it doesn’t matter right now. Seungsoo, I have missed you so much and I really want to apologize for not being there for you for such a long time.” She looked at him again and cupped his face.

A smile curved on Seungsoo’s lips. “You didn’t do anything bad to me, Eomma. No need to say sorry.” He then looked at Kyungsoo. “If anything, I should be the one saying sorry to the both of you. I left without thinking about anything else but myself.”

Mrs. Do shook her head, now holding both her two sons’ hands on either side of her. “All that really matters to me right now is that I have you my boys, right here with me. . . I don’t care about anything that happened in the past, I just want to move forward with you two now.” She started crying again, getting more emotional as she looked at her sons – being both present by her side physically for the first time in such a long time. Kyungsoo looked down to fight the urge to cry, he’s been doing pretty well since they arrived. Ever since that big incident happened at Avantgarde office, he felt the strength building up in him even more after finding out what his mother has been going through all this time, he wants to protect her and be the stronger one from now on.

He’s been working on it, not only for her but especially for Inyoung and Yerin.

It’s about time he steps up his game in that area.

He pulled her closer to his side until Seungsoo had enough space to squeeze himself in on the other side. Kyungsoo rubbed her back while Seungsoo held her hands while resting his head against hers. “I’m glad to see you two, I’m really glad.” The older one hushed while crying softly. Mrs. Do lifted her head to look at him. “Have you been well? You look quite tired. What have you been up to, my son?” She asked, cupping his face. Kyungsoo shifted his head forward to look at him as well, waiting for an answer.

“I’ve been working a clerical position in a real estate office. I don’t really have a degree on that field so I’m not sure if I can ever upgrade myself higher than where I am right now but. . . it pays okay.” He updated them with a smile and looked around the house. “Anna works as part-time English mentor in a language school. My oldest, Amarah is seven and is in elementary school, first grade, Yumi is turning six soon, she’s gunna be in elementary soon as well. Then there’s Liam, our only son, he just turned four this year and he just started in kindergarten.”  

Kyungsoo smiled at the thought of his brother’s kids. I’m sure Inyoung would love to meet her cousins.

“So my grandchildren are all sleeping right now? I wanted to see them but. . .” Mrs. Do looked over at the closed doors. A quite delighted yet stunned look on Seungsoo’s face as he looked back. “Y-yeah, they are. . . they are sleeping.” He answered. Still quite shocked that she acknowledged them as grandchildren for the first time. “Can I know their backgrounds? Not that they matter, I’m just curious.” Kyungsoo then asked kindly with a smile. “Yeah, of course.” Seungsoo just chuckled while nodding. “Amarah’s background is Ethiopian. Yumi is Japanese and Liam is Chinese-Canadian.” He answered while looking at his mother nervously.

“Oh wow, what language to they speak? I mean, Anna is American and you’re Korean but you guys live in Japan. How—just how do you guys talk here then?” Mrs. Do asked while laughing softly.

Seungsoo and Kyungsoo laughed along. “I get that a lot from people. My answer is, they speak Japanese, Korean and English, all fluently. Well, Liam is almost there.” The older brother answered with a cheeky smiled. “Anna and I talked to them in our own languages first just so it was clear that Korean is for Appa, English is for Eomma. That way they weren’t too confused. And then as they got a bit older, we switched it up. I speak English and Anna speaks Korean. And then before they start schooling, we started helping them with Japanese and then they just naturally learned as they went in.” He explained thoroughly earning fascinated smiles from his mom and brother.

Just then, one of the doors in the house opened and there came out Anna. With three other small children trailing behind.

“Honey, who’s—” The woman stopped in an instant when she spotted Mrs. Do and Kyungsoo. She covered before rushing to them. “H-hello.” She bowed politely. Seungsoo immediately put an arm over her shoulders as she was about to cry. “It’s okay, they’re here to visit us and the three kids.” He assured her right away. Mrs. Do gave her a light smile before pulling her in for a motherly hug.

Kyungsoo watched in satisfaction, Anna is reacting exactly the way Yerin did and that just shows her how much their family was feared by the women they loved. He’s just glad that it’s all over, at least on their mother’s side. After all the hugging session, their attention finally went to the kids hiding behind their parents. “Oh my god, what beauty. . .” Mrs. Do instantly knelt down to level all three kids lined up. “Hi kids. . . I’m your Appa’s mother. Call me Halmeoni, okay?” She introduced, giving each one of them a kiss on the head.

As Anna, Mrs. Do and the children started boding, the brothers decided to go out of the little backyard they have.

“So. . . tell me what happened.” Seungsoo asked as he handed Kyungsoo a can of beer. They both sat on the benches they have beside a small portion of garden. “Well—” Kyungsoo glanced inside before turning back to his brother. “Abeoji found out I am dating an employee in Avantgarde.” He started. Seungsoo frowned sympathetically. He rubbed his younger brother’s back before taking a big gulp of the beer because of the sad news. Kyungsoo then continued. “Then he found out that the employee I am dating is the mother of my seven-year old daughter whom they forced me t