After Sunggyu found out, Myungsoo didn’t tell his other friends about his family right away, but within the week, everyone knew Myungsoo’s story and who his parents were. He just felt so free when Sunggyu found out that he couldn’t take withholding the secret from his other friends. And once they all knew, he felt like he could breathe easier than he had ever since he started school. It was a great feeling. And he was sure his friends thought it was cool, and well, they also liked the idea of being connected to celebrities. Woohyun and Sungyeol began demanding Big Bang autographs and concert tickets right when Myungsoo finished his story. But Myungsoo liked that because it made it seem like not a big deal, like it didn’t change their view of him.

However, not all was great. Now his father was becoming more and more stressed, trying to figure out the best way to ask Jinyoung if he wanted to meet his mother. Myungsoo wanted to just tell his father to tell Jessica that Jinyoung said no, but the rapper knew it was only fair to ask, after all everyone in their family avoided the mother topic so much that he was sure the baby of the family thought he dropped out of the sky as opposed to actually being born.

Until finally, a week and a half after Jessica reentered their lives, Jiyong managed to ask the child if he wanted to meet her.

“My mom?” Jinyoung tilted his head adorably. “I don’t have a mommy.”

Myungsoo sighed, “Yes you do. There was a woman who gave birth to you-“

“Like that woman who comes over for Christmas?” Jinyoung asked.

Jiyong nodded. “Yeah, but the lady who comes over for Christmas is Myungsoo’s mom. Do you want to meet yours?”

Jinyoung nodded back with a smile, “If Hyung meets his mom, I meet mine, too.”

And now, that was why Myungsoo was becoming more and more stressed. He couldn’t concentrate through anything without images of Jessica taking away his brother. In classes he would just stare at the board as scenarios of that woman whisking Jinyoung away to Italy flew through his mind. And during rehearsals, he was fumbling over lines and forgetting where he was supposed to stand. One practice it got so bad that Sungyeol pulled him off stage, telling the director to use someone else for the day before pulling him outside.

“What’s wrong Myung?” Sungyeol asked once he got the shorter boy to a bench to sit down.

“I don’t want that woman anywhere near my brother.” Myungsoo didn’t even care enough to hide his problem, he just needed it all to go away. “I hate her.”

Sungyeol sat down next to his friend in silence. And the two sat that way for a while until they heard footsteps running towards them.

“What’s going on?” Sunggyu stopped in front of them, doubled over as he tried to catch his breath.

“He’s all yours,” Sungyeol said as he stood up and then walked into the theater.

 Both Sunggyu and Myungsoo watched him go in silence before the older sat down on the bench, “What’s going on? Sungyeol said it was an emergency.”

That made Myungsoo crack a smile, Sungyeol was always good at achieving the results that he wanted. “Honestly? I don’t know if this counts as an emergency, but I’m freaking out. Jinyoung is supposed to meet Jessica tomorrow and I don’t know if I can take it. What if he really likes her? What if she weasels her evil way into his innocent heart and she takes him away to Italy?”

Unexpectedly, Sunggyu began to laugh. It wasn’t like he was laughing at a joke, it was the same chuckle he used when Jinyoung did something cute only a child would do. “You’re joking, right?”

“Why would you think I’m joking?” Myungsoo glared at him.

“Because have you met your brother?” Sunggyu asked with a smile on his face. “Within the last few months he’s met a lot of people who he liked instantly. There’s all the girls in theater, there’s the random girls he met on the way through campus, and there’s all of us. Yet no matter who he’s talking to, you just call his name and he’ll drop off in middle of his sentence to run to you. That kid loves you more than anything in this world. He’s not going to run off with Jessica just because she gave birth to him.”

“You don’t know that!” Myungsoo shook his head as he stared at the ground, lost. “She’s his mother, Gyu, when he was younger he came home wondering why he couldn’t be normal like the other kids and have a mother. Here’s his chance to be normal, he could take it.”

Sunggyu rolled his eyes when Myungsoo was looking the other way, he didn’t want the younger to know he thought he was stupid. “Trust your brother Myungsoo. He puts all his trust in you, just do the same for him.”

The older then stood up, planning to leave so he could give Myungsoo some time to think, but the younger grabbed his arm and looked at him with hope in his eyes, “Hyung, can you come to my house tonight?”

“What?”

“Stay the night, be there tomorrow, please?” Myungsoo sounded like a child begging his father to stay home from work for the day. “I don’t think I can handle it on my own.”

Sunggyu nodded, he couldn’t bring himself to say anything when Myungsoo was staring up at him so vulnerably. Instead, he offered his hand and when Myungsoo took it, he pulled him up and started walking him home.

That night, Myungsoo pretty much refused to let his brother out of his sight except if the younger had to use the bathroom. He was just so afraid of the little boy slipping through his fingers that he ignored everything else in favor of his brother. He even ended up sleeping in the younger boy’s bed.

In the morning, he was no better. His father and Sunggyu had let him sleep in until noon, so when he woke up, Jinyoung wasn’t in the bed with him. Myungsoo couldn’t help but immediately freak out since he just woke up from a horrible nightmare where Jessica took his brother to Italy.

Luckily, she hadn’t, Jinyoung was just in the kitchen with Sunggyu.

Hours later when the doorbell finally rang, the tension in the room shot up. Myungsoo could feel his stomach drop, his heart race, and his palms became sweaty. When he looked around the room, he knew his dad was feeling the same way, which is why it was up to Sunggyu to open the door.

Jessica came into the living room with a big smile on her face as she spotted her son in his father’s arms. The two were on the couch and while Jiyong was stuck staring like a deer in the headlights, Jinyoung smiled back at her. So, she knelt down in front of him, “Hi, I’m your mom.”

“Hi, what’s your name?” Jinyoung asked, content to remain on his father’s lap.

“My name is Jessica, but you can call me Mom.” She was still smiling brightly. Even though Myungsoo hated her, he could see that she seemed to have barely aged a bit, her hair still dyed that fake looking blonde.

“No thank you,” Jinyoung replied casually, “I call Hoya’s mom that.”

Jessica’s smile faltered slightly, but she didn’t give up. “But I’m your mom.”

“No,” Jinyoung shook his little head and Myungsoo couldn’t help but feel a little proud of him. “Sunwoo says mommies are girls who take care of you when you’re a baby and bakes you cookies. Hoya’s mom likes to make me cookies.”

Myungsoo couldn’t help but smile at that. He never realized that his brother thought of Hoya’s mom as his own mom. Both him and Hoya just figured the child called her mom because he heard them call her that repeatedly. But according to Jinyoung’s best friend’s definition of a mom, Hoya’s mom was the closest thing to it in his life.

“You know, I can make you cookies, too.” Jessica offered.

Jinyoung scrambled out of his father’s arms and into the kitchen. Seconds later, he ran back in with a plate of cookies, “I made cookies with Gyu hyung this morning, we don’t need any more right now. Do you want a cookie?”

“Sure.” Jessica skeptically took a cookie off of the plate. “Oh!” Her face lit up again, she wasn’t going to give up. “I brought you a present.”

Jinyoung’s head tilted in confusion adorably, “But it’s not my birthday. My birthday is next week.”

“I know, but I missed your last birthday, so think of it like that.” Jessica handed him the shiny blue bag.

The child opened the bag and excitedly pulled out a sparkly, brightly colored hat with horns on it. “It’s so cool!”

“I’m glad you like it!” Her smile returned to her original level of excitement. She had finally made some progress, “I made that just for you. It’s the only one in the world.”

“Cool!” Jinyoung put the hat on and ran up to his brother, “Hyung! Look at my new hat!”

“You look very handsome,” Myungsoo complimented, but on the inside he just wanted to tear out Jessica’s hair. So her plan to win his brother over was with gifts? Did she think he was that shallow?

Before Myungsoo acted on his fantasy, Jinyoung returned to his conversation with Jessica. “So you’re my mom like Miss Taeyeon is Hyung’s mom?”

The model nodded, “Yep. I carried you in my belly for a long time.”

“If you’re my mom, why don’t you come to Christmas?” Jinyoung questioned.

“I’m sorry,” She frowned, Myungsoo could tell that it was truthful too by her voice. “I haven’t been in Korea, I live in Italy with my husband.”

“Italy?” Jinyoung’s face scrunched up with confusion. He then ran off to his room, only to return with his atlas.

“What’s that?” Jessica asked, looking at the book as he flipped through the pages.

“My maps.” Jinyoung answered, not looking up. “Hyung gave me it so I can find Appa when he leaves Korea. See.” He held up the page so Jessica could see the map of the world, complete with star stickers on all of the places Jiyong traveled to for work. Jinyoung then began sounding out the names of random countries on his quest to find Italy.

Jiyong pulled his son onto his lap and pointed to the boot shaped country. “She lives there.”

“That’s far away.” Jinyoung’s little eyes widened greatly.

“It is, but it’s really pretty.” Jessica assured him. “You should come visit some time, I’m sure you’d love it in Italy. You could stay at my house, it’s really pretty and I have a dog.”

Suddenly, Jinyoung’s entire demeanor changed. He threw his book at Jessica’s face and clutched onto his father’s jacket, “No! You can’t take me! I don’t want to leave Appa and Hyung!”

“Jinyoung, I didn’t-“

“No!” He jumped off his father’s lap and ran to his brother. Once he was safe in his brother’s arms, he began to cry. “I don’t wanna leave Hyung, please don’t make me go. I don’t want a mom! I hate her! Don’t let her take me!”

Myungsoo comforted his brother, assuring him that no one was going to let Jessica take him. But Jinyoung wouldn’t stop screaming that he wanted Jessica to leave and that he hated her. A few minutes later, the model had no choice but to leave.

“She’s gone,” Myungsoo assured his brother, “You don’t have to worry about her.”

Jinyoung calmed down and carefully lifted his head to look around. Once he was sure she was gone, his let his brother put him down and ran over to his dad. After he was securely in the rapper’s arms, he yawned, “Appa, I don’t want a mom anymore.”

“Jinyoung, she wasn’t going to take you away, she just wanted you to visit her home.” The man explained.

But Jinyoung wouldn’t hear of it. He shook his head decisively, “No. I only want Appa and Hyung.”

When the rapper took his son to his room for a nap, Sunggyu, who had watched everything unfold in complete silence, poked Myungsoo in the stomach. “See, I told you to trust your brother.”

“Yeah, you did,” Myungsoo suddenly felt stupid for thinking his brother would ever choose Jessica over him. So, he let Sunggyu embrace him since the younger felt like all the energy had just left him. “Thanks.”

“You know I’m here for you anytime.” Sunggyu smiled and tightened his hug.

Myungoo rested his head on Sunggyu’s shoulder, the older was just so warm. He felt like he could stay in his arms forever. But, of course, he couldn’t do that. So when Sunggyu pulled back, Mynugsoo loosened his arms and smiled, “I’m glad you were here, Hyung, I would have been up pacing all night.”

Sunggyu reached over and ruffled Myungsoo’s hair, “I told you, I’m here for you anytime.”