Jaejoong went berserk because when the three of them were just about to set off for dinner, it was revealed that they had to take the public transport.

“What the is a bus?” Jaejoong sulked, “I’ve never been on one…”

“Think of it as a much larger version of a car,” Young Mi didn’t think twice before replying so Yunho had to step in between the oblivious journalist and now-raging-mad-Editor-in-Chief to prevent her from getting thoroughly slapped.

“Why don’t we walk instead? I’m sure it’s more glamorous than taking a bus.” Yunho compromised and Jaejoong gave him a curt nod but still looked pissed at not being able to travel around in style (preferably in a cool sports car) and because of Young Mi’s stupidity.

“There’s no ing way I’m going on a bus wearing designer from head to toe, it makes no ing sense. It’s like as if I got car-robbed or something...” Jaejoong grumbled while falling behind the other two, blindly following them while taking shamelessly cheesy selcas.

Yunho knew better than to retort, so he kept his mouth shut and sneakily held hands with Young Mi while they looked around for a suitable place for dinner, or rather, somewhere that screamed enough ‘fabulousness’ in Jaejoong’s eyes. 

“We can either go vegetarian or Chinese.” Yunho stopped in front of a junction.

Jaejoong immediately screeched ‘VEGETARIAN’ while Young Mi wanted to go ‘Chinese’. The two looked at each other for a moment and then turned to look at Yunho.

The eldest of the trio thought hard and replied coolly, “Can I choose since I’m the birthday boy and all?” And he wanted to smack himself for such an underhanded move, but it was the only way he could get away with choosing one side over the other.

Jaejoong sulked, “Fine.”

“Let’s go Chinese. Sorry, Jaejoong.” Yunho apologised but the beauty wasn’t having any of it because he already had his back turned towards the elder.

“I’m not your favourite person anymore,” Jaejoong pouted angrily as he stomped past the two and entered the Chinese restaurant.

Young Mi gave Yunho an apologetic look before they walked into the eatery as well.

When the trio got home, Jaejoong locked himself in Yunho’s room and announced loudly about the elder being kicked out of his own room and stated he wanted a ‘timeout’ in their relationship. Young Mi had to run off and hide while laughing her head off at Jaejoong’s childishness although it was an extremely depressing situation for poor Yunho. 

Yunho certainly looked crestfallen because he was now sitting at a corner and talking to Young Mi’s pet betta, Plastic (she couldn’t think of anything else related to the word transparent).

“Sorry to add on to your current list of worries, but I still have a birthday present to give you.” Young Mi said in a small voice.

“And why is the present worrisome?” Yunho turned to look at her.

She fidgeted out of nervousness, “Erm…well…err…I’m not sure if you want it and...ARGHHHHHHH- it was an impulsive buy, so please don’t hate on me!” She ran off into her bedroom and emerged a few minutes later with a black kitten in her arms.

“Oh…” Yunho half groaned but reached out to retrieve the tiny furball from his girlfriend, “It looks malnourished.”

“It was from an animal shelter, and err…I thought it would be more meaningful as a gift…so yeah.” She muttered.

Yunho nodded in understanding and lifted the kitten to his eye level, “What shall I name you?” He placed his new pet on his lap and patted its head, earning him a shy purr from the little thing and the duo smiled at its cuteness.

“You’re…err…f-fine with it right?” Young Mi stuttered, crossing her fingers behind her back.

“It’s shocking but I’m more than fine with it. It’s wonderful in fact, thank you.” Yunho placed a hand behind her head to bring her closer so he could kiss her forehead, “I’ll have to ask for you to help me take care of it while I’m at school though.”

“Sure, sure,” she blushed and hid her hot cheeks behind her hands.

“I’ll just call it ‘Kitten’ for now, and when it grows up, it’ll be called ‘Cat’.” Yunho stated nonchalantly and Young Mi started laughing her head off on the sidelines.

“I want to ask you why this kitten keeps nibbling on my arm but I already know why,” And when Young Mi opened to answer him, he beat her to it, “You didn’t buy any cat food right?”

She widened her eyes at her fail and started spluttering apologies. He held a hand up to silence her, “It’s alright, I’ll just ask the cat expert, hopefully he’s cooled off by now…” And with that, Yunho rocked the kitten slowly in his arms and proceeded towards his bedroom to knock on the door, “Jaejoong?” 

Yunho chuckled when he heard a grunt from behind the door.

“Young Mi got me a kitten and she forgot to buy-” Before Yunho could finish his sentence, Jaejoong quickly opened the door and looked at the little furball in his elder brother’s arms. The younger smirked and snatched the kitten from Yunho’s arms and sashayed into the kitchen.

Yunho followed behind Jaejoong dutifully and watched the beauty gently place the kitten on top of the marble kitchen top. He softly patted the kitten’s head and stuck 2 fingers into its mouth to pry it open. Yunho winced. “It’s probably 3 or 4 months old,” Jaejoong concluded as he moved towards the sink to wash his hands with soap and opened the fridge to see what he could salvage, “It’s teething now, so that explains the bite marks on your right arm.”

“Oh.” Yunho nodded.

“Give it stuffed toys to bite on or else it’ll go after your limbs. Don’t use Bambi though,” Jaejoong eyed Yunho for a moment before violently chopping the raw whole chicken up like as if it were a Blitz employee who had just handed in crappy work.

Yunho nodded again, “Of course not, Bambi is my daughter.”

At that, all of Jaejoong’s petty rage disappeared and he was finally back to ‘normal’ as he now had a smug looking smile on his flawless face.

“What are you cooking?” Young Mi appeared when she heard rather loud chopping sounds from the kitchen.

“I’m just going to boil the chicken with some light seasonings for the poor hungry kitty cat, you moron,” Jaejoong glared at her, “And after I’m done, I’ll come after you and force feed you with chicken skin.”

“Nooooooo-” and poor Young Mi fled.

Yunho raised a brow, “ Did you really have to do that?”

“The thing I love most right after , fashion, Kimchi and you is terrorising people,” and the beauty started laughing evilly to himself as he stirred the contents in the boiling hot pot. 

HEY YUNHO! HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I’M NOT ACTUALLY SHOUTING AT YOU, IT’S JUST THAT JOONIE DAMAGED THE CAPS LOCK BUTTON ON MY PHONE…*SIGH. ARE YOU FREE TO VIDEO CONFERENCE RIGHT NOW?

Yunho chuckled at Kimchi’s text. He nodded to himself as he switched on his desktop.

“YUNHO! It’s been too long,” Kimchi flailed about with Jaejoon in her arms.

“Yes, it has. How are you both?” Yunho asked with a small smile on his face.

“Good, but it’ll be even better if Jaejoong were a responsible father,” Kimchi rolled her eyes and the infant stuck his tongue out when he heard his daddy’s name coming out from his mother’s lips.

“True,” Yunho sighed, “Are you aware that he is currently here in Massachusetts?”   

Kimchi sulked, “He didn’t tell me but I was sure he would be going anywhere except on the supposed buying trip.”

Yunho studied his (ex)employee for a while before dropping his voice a little, “Is there something you’re hiding?”

“W-What!?” She spluttered, “N-No, of course not.”

“Don’t bother lying,” Yunho leaned back in his seat with a smirk, “I know something’s up.”

He watched Kimchi sigh in defeat before replying, “The all-knowing-Jung-Yunho strikes back. Well…err…don’t tell Jaejoong okay?”

“I told you this before; we keep nothing from each other, and even if I try to hide something, he’ll know and will do anything to get the information out from me.”

Kimchi sighed again, “I know that…Okay…err…well…I…”

Yunho went 'ohhhh' and she tilted her head in question.

“Something tells me you have a clue.” She laughed weakly.

“I already have the answer. And I was the first to know the other time as well. I am truly honoured, 4.” Yunho clapped his hands to congratulate her.

“Oh, shoosh!” She frowned, “It’s not something to celebrate about! I don’t want another one! Jaejoong can’t even handle Jaejoon, I don’t even want to think about what will happen when there are 2 little things running around the house.”

“Don’t tell me you’re going to abor-”

“That is also a big no-no! I guess Jaejoong will just have to accept the consequences of being a fiend.”

Yunho laughed, “It’s partly your fault too.”

“Yeah, who can resist something so fabulously hot like him,” she sighed dreamily, “Damn, I’m drooling like a Jaejoon- Oh, before I forget, I’ll get Sumire to talk to you.”

“Thanks.”

“DADDYYYYYYYY!” Sumire kissed the screen and Kimchi told her about wiping it before she continued her conversation with Yunho, “I missed you, do you miss me?”

Yunho shrugged.

“MEANIE!” Sumire pouted and tossed the cloth she had used to wipe the screen haphazardly on the floor, “Anyways, I would like to announce that I’m the class chairman after I complained to our homeroom teacher about the previous one accepting bribes from fellow classmates to skip cleaning duties.”

“I don’t know whether to compliment you or not,” Yunho stated flatly.

“You should.” She smiled proudly at her ‘accomplishment’.

“You have done well.” Yunho gagged inwardly.

“You don’t mean that,” Sumire frowned, “Moving on- I’m going to help out Uncle Junsu in tomorrow’s photoshoot! I’m so fu- freaking excited!”

“How did that happen?”

“Jaejoong hap-”

“I was referring to your slip up on the forbidden word.” Yunho drawled.

“Same reason. Jaejoong happened.” Sumire snickered.

“I should get you to be taken care of by Yoochun instead, I’m sure you’ll come out from there more disciplined than ever.”

“Really?” Sumire shivered, “Is his Daddy like an army general or something?”

“Worse.” Yunho replied curtly.

“Yikes! Daddy, don’t bully me…” she whined with teary eyes.

“You’re just as dramatic as Jaejoong now,” Yunho gave her a dark look, “I really have to send you to Yoochun’s.”

“Noooooooo!” She was now kneeling on the ground, “Daddy, noooooooo!”

Yunho felt a headache acting up so he bade Sumire goodnight while she sadly wished him happy birthday before ending the video conference session.

He then wondered how he was supposed to break the news of 4’s second pregnancy to Jaejoong. When Yunho walked out of his bedroom and saw Jaejoong snuggling with his new kitten on the sofa in the livingroom, he smiled and walked over to join them.

“What’s his name?” Jaejoong lazily raised himself up, only to lean his entire weight on Yunho’s side as he continued to lightly tickle behind the black fur ball’s ear.

“The kitten.”

Jaejoong snorted in disbelief but didn’t bother to further pursue on the matter.

“Jaejoong…why do you not…” and Yunho stopped, “Forget it.”

The beauty looked up at the elder before sighing softly, “I don't want to fail.”

Yunho stared at Jaejoong in surprise, “Oh? That’s really the reason?”

“I’ve never lied to you…” The Editor-in-Chief pouted before continuing, “I don’t like failing, you know that. What if I’m not Daddy material? Though I already know I’m not...”

“It’s not too late.” Yunho reached over to ruffle Jaejoong’s soft red locks in affection, “I’m sure you’ll make a good father, just like how awesome you are as a red head.”

Jaejoong pouted cutely and wondered for a while, “Hmm…maybe.”

Just a little more pushing will do the trick, Yunho thought.

“It’s not fair on 4 and you know it.” Yunho commented.

Jaejoong puffed his cheeks out while looking terribly guilty but said nothing.

“Start behaving responsibly alright?” Yunho nudged the other lightly.

“Okay…” Jaejoong gave a small nod.

“Good, because it’s going to be double the trouble soon.” Yunho chuckled.

Jaejoong whipped his head towards Yunho and gaped, “W-WHAT!?”

“You’re smart, I’m sure you already know what that meant.”

The beauty groaned and snuggled closer to the elder, “I don’t want to go back and face reality…”

After a rather dramatic episode of Jaejoong pleading endlessly with Yunho to let him stay a day longer, Young Mi and Yunho waved goodbye to the pouty Editor in Chief as he dejectedly walked through the departure gates.

“Now that that drama queen is gone, I can focus on you,” Yunho stated, “You must have been really lonely yesterday.”

Young Mi waved it off while faintly flushing red, “Nah, I’m fine.”

“Don’t lie.”

“Okay, welllll…a little.” She confessed.

Yunho suggested spending the rest of the afternoon baking a cake and when she asked him why, he stated that he saw her failed attempt at baking which he suspected to be his birthday cake 2 nights ago. She wanted to smack herself for being so careless at getting rid of the evidence.

They took a bus from the airport back to the city while talking about cooking in general. When Young Mi praised Yunho’s awesome cooking skills, he insisted that he wasn’t because all he did was memorise recipes from his stepmother so it was a foolproof way of getting edible food.

The duo decided to stop by a supermarket to get the necessary stuff for baking their earlier discussed Opera cake. Yunho stated that that particular cake was time consuming because of the various different layers involved but Young Mi insisted that she had enough patience, so Yunho sighed and agreed half-heartedly.

It was already past 5pm and Yunho was just finishing up making the last component of the cake, which was the chocolate glaze. Despite Young Mi’s earlier promise of not giving up, she disappeared an hour earlier to lie on the sofa and take a nap. Yunho just shook his head and silently continued making the cake on his own.

After assembling the cake, he washed everything up and headed to the livingroom to wake Young Mi up but she wouldn’t budge and simply mumbled something about leaving her alone to sleep. He chuckled to himself and went off alone to get some takeaway for dinner.

By the time he got home, Young Mi ambushed him from behind the door and hugged him tightly.

“What happened?” He asked as he closed the door behind him with a confused look on his face.

She handed him a note silently while looking down towards the floor with an evident look of remorse on her face. He just squeezed her arm lightly to signal that it was alright and read the note in his hand.

73 39 109 32 115 111 114 114 121 32 102 111 114 32 97 98 97 110 100 111 110 105 110 103 32 121 111 117 32 97 110 100 32 98 101 105 110 103 32 97 32 108 97 122 121 32 112 105 103 46

He instantly decoded the message: I'm sorry for abandoning you and being a lazy pig.

He laughed. “How long did you take to do this?” He casually draped his arm around her shoulder and led them both towards the dining room in the kitchen to have the takeout dinner he had just brought home.

“I…*sigh*…gave up halfway again because I was so confused. But I managed to encode the first 4 words though.” She looked so damn disappointed at herself that Yunho just had to kiss her the sulk on her face away so she could replace it with something brighter looking.

“I accept your very original way of apologising.” Yunho smiled.

“Yay!” She chirped.

When they began dinner, Yunho stopped eating all of a sudden and face palmed. Young Mi looked up to ask him what was the matter.

“We still haven’t bought any cat food yet.” Yunho paled.

ARGH.

COMMENTS PLEASE AND THANKS.