It was the day of his release from his mandatory military service. 21 months in the army went slow day by day, but the months over all went fast. He picked active service as the time was the shortest. The nerves were getting to him; he was being released to the public after over a year of quiet anonymity. It wasn’t that quite, but less than him as an idol.

He stepped out to screams, his eyes swept the mass of fans and reporters, but of course EunJi wasn’t there. He didn’t know why he would think she would be there. His fans presented him with a cake, the reporters asked him if he had any projects lined up, and the masses took photos of him with their phones.

“What are you going to do next?”

“Go home and see my friends.” He bowed and escaped to the car waiting for him. All he wanted to do was jump into the shower.

The car pulled up to the familiar building and he nodded to his manager who had picked him up. He opened the door, and a little blur hit him,

“APPA!”

[Flash back]

The whole night he thought about what his father had said, EunJi would definitely reject him if he made his proposal loud and big in the public eye. The ring of his grandmother was larger than he remembered; he had second thoughts about giving it to her, what if she didn’t like it.

“Hello?” The voice on the other end sounded confused,

“Andy?”

“Yes? Who is this?”

“Kim Hyun Joong,” There was a loud silence before Andy spoke again.

“Why are you calling me?” He hesitated for a second, he was going to do this or he wasn’t going to.

“I was wondering if you could take Minhwan for a night.”

“When?”

“Tonight…” The silence was so loud it hurt his ears.

“I’ll call her. I swear if you…”

“I won’t.”

The second hardest thing had to happen now, the first being actually asking her. He walked down the stairs to the living room when he heard the bell ring. He was met with the most terrifying scene, Shinhwa-sans Andy- and DBSK standing around. He walking into the room and dropped to his knees, in a deep bow.

“I want to ask you for your approval in me asking EunJi to marry me.”

“Well that escalated fast, you aren’t even datin- OUCH”

“Shut up Yoochun,” Junsu’s voice floated somewhere above him. He could barely hear Yoochun mutter,

“You didn’t need to hit me that hard…”

“Stand up,” Yunho’s strong voice made him look up. Even though he was asking everyone’s approval, Yunho was really the one he was asking. He was her big brother, her protector, her home here in Korea. Though Jaejoong would be more dramatic, Yunho would be the one to win over. He stood with his head bowed.

“Why are you asking us?” Eric’s voice caught his ear,

“You are her family, she loves you all. She would never marry anyone without your approvals.”

“Do you love her?” Junjin’s sharp tone took him aback.

“Yes.” He didn’t feel panicked saying it, he did love her.

“Why did you cheat on her?” Junjin glared at him.

“I didn’t,” He had never thought about that before. “I didn’t plan on it. I was confused and didn’t know what I really wanted. I thought I wanted something, which I didn’t want. I shouldn’t have cheated, but I didn’t want to let her go…I don’t think I ever expected to truly lose her…” he felt himself getting choked up, “but when I did I realized what I loss and wanted to try and see if she would take me back…” His voice broke at the end.

“You broke her heart.” It wasn’t an accusation or forgiveness. He looked up at Yunho.

“I did. I can’t change that.” He didn’t break the eye contact. It must have been 5 minutes of them staring at each other.

“If you hurt her I will kill you. I don’t care if I go to jail. I will do it.” Yunho emphasized each word.

“NO, YUNHO YOU CAN’T BE SERIOUS. THIS GUY BROKE OUR BABY’S HEART.” Jaejoong glared at him, his calm friend was gone and replaced was the diva mother.

“Jae,” Yunho walked over and wrapped his arms around the frantic man, “this doesn’t mean she will say yes, but at least let’s give her the option.”

“If Yunho believes in you so will I,” Eric said slowly, he looked around the room and was met with nods. The only one left was Jaejoong who was still trying to escape Yunho’s hold.

“Why does he need to marry our baby? Yunho tell him to wait until after his military release!” Jaejoong bargaining made him smile, that was as good as an inevitable okay from his over protective friend.

To say he was frantic would be an understatement. He received multiple threats from Jaejoong, first about the safety of EunJi and then secondly for the safety of his precious kitchen. He refused all help; this had to be made by him.

[She is coming.]

The text was sent to him by Andy 5 minutes ago, meaning she was almost here. He walked back and forth from the kitchen to the dining room in a daze, checking and re-checking if he had put plates out or to see if he had done everything according to the recipe.

The click of the door opening made him freeze. The clink of the keys made his pulse jump. “What is this?”

“Sit?” The look in his eyes must have conveyed the desire he had for her not to fight with him. She nodded and sat down at the table. There were no candles or flowers, just the plates. He now thought that flowers would have been nice.

He scrambled to go to the kitchen to grab the dishes of food. He brought bowls out and set them down one by one.

“Do you need help?” He could feel her eyes on him every time he came out of the kitchen and went back in. He shook his head and went back in to get the bread. He took a deep breath before walking back out to the table and sitting down. He gestured to the food, and EunJi nodded, grabbing the tongs to grab some of the pasta.

He didn’t know how to start the conversation, he knew as the time dragged on it would just be harder to start, but that didn’t help him.

“It’s good.” She smiled slightly as she took another fork full of pasta. He nodded, his stomach was in too many knots to actually digest anything. “So, what is it?” His head shot up, “Come on, there has to be something…” she socked her head to the side, “you normally wouldn’t do this.”

“I am enlisting in less than a week.” The clank of fork hitting plate made him flinch. When he looked up he saw her jaw was clenched and she was staring at him.

“So this is a ‘have-a-good-life last dinner?”

“Yes,” her eyes widened, “I mean no.”

“Which one is it?”

“Will you marry me?” It slipped out. He had planned a speech, the romantic language, the down on one knee.

The reaction wasn’t as bad as he thought it was, was a little agape and she was staring at him.  He took out the ring box and opened it in front of her.

“Did you…” EunJi made wild gestures with her hands to the ring and then to him and her.

“I asked permission from DBSK and Shinhwa this afternoon and they gave me their blessings. Lee EunJi, Will you Marry Me?” He slowly descended down to one knee.  Her eyes widened in surprise. She slowly sunk down on her knees next to him, his gut wrenched.

“Hyun,” He closed his eyes, keening into her touch as she put her hand on his face cupping it, “it’s too soon,” she whispered. A tear slide his face, he could feel the wet trail down his cheek. He looked up into her face and saw tears were glistening on her face as well.

He took the ring and placed it in her palm and wrapped her fingers around it. “Give it back to me or keep it, give me your answer after I get released from the military.” She stared at him and nodded.

He left for the basic training a few days later. What hurt was that everyone expected the rejection but him; he seriously thought she would agree. She didn’t show up to his enlistment ceremony as he left. Those first weeks he watched her on the tv, maybe with the vague hope that he would see her wearing the ring. The first visitor day he had been at his station for a few weeks. He was called by his superior to go to the mess hall, he had visitors.  

When he walked into the hall, all the heads turned to look at him. His fellow soldiers had gotten used to him by now, but the other family members gawked at him. He scanned the room to find his mother or brother.

“Over there,” his superior pointed to the dark corner of the room, the tables surrounding it were empty. He bowed and slowly walked over. When he reached 10 feet he could smell the home cooking. He stopped dead in his tracks. EunJi sat at the table with a dozing Minhwan in her lap. Slowly he took a seat across from her. She pushed the box of food towards him and nodded.

“How is it?” those simple words broke the dam that separated them. He talked about training and some of his fellow soldiers. She nodded and smiled. By the end of the visit Minhwan was up and giggling in his arms. He took the goodbye as the last time he would see them until he was released. There was no talk about the ring during the whole visit.

To his surprised they kept coming back to the visiting days. Sometimes his mother would accompany them. No one said anything in the barracks about his visitors and the news didn’t leak out to the media yet, which he was extremely thankful of.

He save his vacation so he could leave during Minhwan’s first birthday. He was dressed smartly in his hanbok. There were presents piled high, which EunJi fussed about. She kept saying he didn’t need so many things, and everyone just brushed it off. The highlight for him was when Minhwan raised his arms towards him and promptly said appa, while blinking his big brown eyes.

A month or two after the birthday party his superiors call him to the office and told him he had a phone call. Panic filled his mind; soldiers usually didn’t get pulled for a call unless it was dire.

“Hello?”

“Hyun?” A new rush of anxiety filled his body when he heard EunJi’s voice.

“Is Minhwan okay? What is wrong?” He gripped the desk hard.

“He is fine, breathe, we are all fine.” His fear hazed brain registered the words ‘all fine,’ but confusion started to replace the fear. What was so important that he would get a call to come to the office for the phone call? “Lim MinHyo*, remember him?”

He did remember him, he was a rookie actor who was a little older than him, starting late in the field. She was filming with him in a drama right now with him. Crazy ideas started rushing through his head, was she going out with him? Was she calling to dump him? Could he be dumped if they weren’t together? “Yes,” he replied hesitantly.

“Well, a woman dropped a newborn baby off at his house saying it was his and papers for MinHyo to have full custody. He called me because he had no clue what to do and he knew I had Minhwan. We went to the doctor’s office and got him checked out and did a DNA test. The baby is his.” She paused for a second, almost to make sure he understood the progression of the story.

“Okay,”

“He doesn’t want him.”

“EunJi, what does this have to do with me?” It was a quiet for a minute.

“I was seeing if it was okay if I took custody of the baby.” It hit him and a smile broke out over his face. He might have been slow, but he understood now. It was an unofficial answer. She was checking him about a major life decision.

“I think Minhwan would like a brother.” He could almost hear the smile on the other side of the line.

“Okay. We’ll see you in a week or so.”

“Bye EunJi.”

“Bye Hyun.”

The next visit day EunJi arrived with a small baby in her arms.

“What is the name?” He asked as he held the little baby. The child gripped his finger hard.

“I was thinking Kyungsam” She answered watching him.

“Kyungsam” He nodded and then smiled at the little baby, brushing some strands of hair away from his eyes.

“I was also thinking, I want to give them American names too.” He frowned he never thought about that.

“Michael?” She looked at him,

“For Minhwan?” He nodded, as the small toddler was scribbling with crayons on paper, his eyes focused completely on the task.

“Johnathan for Kyungsam?” Johnathan was a strong name and seemed to fit the stubborn little baby.

 They spent the rest of the time talking about work and friends. At the end of the visit he felt a tug on his shirt, when he looked down Minhwan was holding his picture out to him. When he took the picture he tottled back to hide behind EunJi. He hung the picture up by his bed that night.

[Present]

He dropped his bags and lifted Minhwan up in the air. His screaming giggles could be heard all through the dorm.

“wa, wa, wa! (come)” Minhwan grabbed his hand and dragged him to the room where Kyungsam was. “Agi!(baby)”

“Yes that is Kyungsam your little brother.” He smiled as the little boy.

“Minhwan, where are you?” EunJi walked into the room in mock surprise. “Why are you here when uncle Jaejoong is frosting a cake?” the little boy shrieked and waddled towards the kitchen. “You’re back.” He just nodded. He watched as she took a chain off that had been hanging around her neck. His throat constricted as he was the ring hanging from it. She unhooked the chain and slid the ring off and held it in her palm. She stared at him before holding it out towards him. His heart sank.

*Completely made up.