Back in Korea, Taecyeon was ready to maul his manager. "How dare he!" He exclaimed angrily, banging his fist against one the lockers. A player came into the locker room at the wrong time and was yelled at instead by him.  "Don't  you have to be somewhere else right now?!"

The player carefully retreated back out in slow, wary steps. Taecyeon was burning inside. This was not what he planned.

"I signed the team up for a friendly match in Thailand. And they want us there before the weekend arrives. So start packing your things. We're leaving tomorrow."

"What?! This is too sudden. Why didn't you tell me earlier?" Taecyeon fought back, curling his fists into  a ball.

"I just got the call two hours ago. And how could I say no to such a good deal? Listen, they are willing to pay a hefty sum of money just to have us in their stadium. We're getting famous and that means having to travel to some far off countries and raking in fame to our country. You would want to make Korea proud too, right? Taec, you're one of the best coaches the country has so far, and I'm not letting you spoil this once-in-a-blue-moon chance."

Taec knew then he was at a loss. He stared, dumbfoundedly, at the man standing before him. This arrogant-looking, square-faced man whom he called 'Manager. To be truthful, he was happy to hear his team going international. But there was also the matter of Lauren. What if she was his true daughter? Then going on this trip would mean abandoning the one duty he promised to keep for Lauren.

He made up his mind then. "FIne." And Manager Jin Young rejoiced.

Now, standing in front of the lockers, with anger boiling inside and his hands still balled into fists, he could only throw punches after punches of frusration against those metal storages. "Ah! Lauren, I hope you can forgive your appa for having to leave you behind for a few days."

_________________________

Back home, Junho was lying on his bed, exhaustion evident on his expression. He made Lauren some food and ate lunch himself. And then he bathed her and changed her diapers. He also played with her for a while but a child was simply too hard to cope all alone. He needed someone to help him and Goddamnit, where was Taec? He said he would only be out for an hour.

It had been three hours so far and still no sign of the big guy.

By evening, Chansung finally returned home from class. He brought notes for Junho, much to the older boy's relief and while Chansung took over to care for Lauren, Junho made them some dinner before retreating for a shower.

Things were at least, a little more bearable after that, but Taec was still not home. Junho began to worry about the big guy. He talked to Chansung about this and the giant suggested waiting for their other two hyungs. Wooyoung and Minjun came home late that night. They had too much work, they said and both boys were exhausted. Right after dinner, which wasn't much of a dinner anyway because Junho only prepared rice with omelette, they quickly took their shower and retired in the living room, watching television while playing with Lauren.

Just as the boys cozied down in the living room, Taec finally returned home. "I'm sorry." He muttered softly.

Junho had an angry look on his face, but the others were unpertubed. They were used to him. Lauren was the only one who looked happy to see her father again.

"Where were you? You said you'd take only an hour." Junho said, narrowing his eyebrows.

Taecyeon scratched his head and smiled apologetically. "I had a lot to do. Oh yeah...I might not be around for a while."

This caught everyone's attention. "What do you mean?" Minjun asked.

"I have a friendly match in Thailand this weekend. And the flight is leaving tomorrow." Shocked faces could be seen in an instant. No one was pleased to hear this news. Taec was basically the only guy they could depend on to care for Lauren while two of them have work and the other two have classes.

"What about Lauren? You said you would take care of her this month." Wooyoung reminded.

"Yeah. I know." Taecyeon replied, his face contorting a frown. He didn't like this as much as the others but he didn't have a choice either. "If I don't go, I will lose this job. And you know how hard I worked to get up to this point. This is the breakthrough I need to bring my team into international fields. I have to go." He was somewhat angry at them for not understanding the ordeal he was in, but at the same time, he was also sorry. He did promise to care for Lauren.

Junho was ready to throw the thickest textbook he has on Taecyeon and Chansung simply looked disappointed. But Minjun was being sensible. He thought about this for a moment and decided there was no way he could deny Taec this chance. The big guy had worked so hard for this; since high school in fact.

"Go then, " said Minjun and the others turned to stare at him with a horrified look on their faces. "What? It's only for a few days. And Nichkhun is coming back in a week. I can call my workplace to tell them I might need a two-day off from work."

"What are you going to tell them, hyung?" Wooyoung asked, amazed at Minjun's determination.

"I'll just say I got some contagious measles from Taecyeon." Minjun answered, causing Taec to roll his eyes. "But you better come back once you're done. The problem now is who would want to volunteer for Thursday and Friday? I'm already doing tomorrow and Wednesday." Minjun looked over at Wooyoung and the two younger guys sitting in front of him.

"Hyung...we have finals coming soon. Missing today's class already took a large toll on me. I mean, the amount of notes was tremendous. It was a good thing Chansung managed to take some for me." Junho said, gazing down at his feet in a forlorn manner.

Chansung felt just the same. Only Wooyoung was left.

"Could you ask for an emergency day off?" Minjun asked him.

Wooyoung shook his head. "It's difficult. Unlike you, I have no say in my workplace. And I used up all my holidays on January, when Lauren was born. Remember we had to visit the hospital a lot and no one was around to send Nichkhun there? Now I'm all dried up of holidays."

"This is bad. I can't take the child to work, not when I'm meeting clients." Minjun said. "What about you guys?" He asked Chansung and Junho instead.

"We can't. You know what people would say if they see me and Chansung carrying a child. Someone would think we kidnapped her or something."

"I won't be surprised." Minjun chuckled. Lauren was just too beautiful.

From the couch, Lauren listened patiently to her fathers' conversation. She couldn't understand most of the words but none of her fathers looked happy. She wondered what was wrong. That was when Minjun suggested sending her to a babysitter and the others got into a frenzy of 'NO!' and 'HELL NO!'

"Since no one offers to watch her, that's our only option."

"Fine! I'll take her to work." Wooyoung finally said. He was angry but nothing sparked more anger in him than putting his child in the hands of a stranger. Minjun was crazy to even suggested it. "Nichkhun would kill us personally if he found we had send Lauren to a babysitter."

"It's settled then. I'll take care of Lauren tomorrow and the day after. I hope Channie and Junnie could be back from class early. Wooyoung takes over babysitting duty on Thursday and Friday and thankfully Fridays meant shorter working hours. Your workplace won't mind?"

"I just have to keep her quiet."

"Do that then. What time is your flight leaving tomorrow, Taec?"

Taecyeon said, "2PM."

"Then we'll be busy tonight." Minjun said, smirking most ertedly.

This didn't sit well with the younger boys. They were too disgusted to even be around Minjun and Taecyeon at the moment. Junho and Chansung excused themselves. For studies, they said. Wooyoung grabbed Lauren and ran into his bedroom, covering her ears. When they finally disappeared, Taec and Minjun were left in the living room alone. The plan worked. It was time to watch television, cuddling close to each other.