Leeteuk and Kangin walked hand and hand in to the coffee shop, quickly spotting Seong Mi in the back, almost where she was the first time they had seen her.

She gently smiled when she saw them approach her, but she was still slightly embarrassed to be seeing them now.

“Seong Mi-ah, how are you?” asked Leeteuk as he and Kangin sat down across from her.

“Good,” she said softly, finding the confidence to look them both in the eye.

“How is your health? Any more stomach cramps?” asked Kangin.

She shook her head. “After I left the hospital the doctors said that everything looked good, so that I shouldn’t worry.”

“That’s reassuring. You only have a few more weeks, so really you could be giving birth sooner than you think,” said Kangin.

Seong Mi nodded and then looked at Leeteuk.

“I just want to say that I’m sorry again, Leeteuk-ssi. I didn’t mean to cause any problems between you and…Kangin-ssi.”

“It’s already forgotten,” said Leeteuk with a soft smile, but his expression quickly sobered. “Seong Mi-ah, we really need you to be sure about your decision to do this. It can’t be because you feel guilty. You have to truly be serious about this.”

“I understand. I told you from the very beginning that I can’t be his mother if I want to stay in school and not be ostracized by my family,” she said. “Not to mention, I don’t have a job, an apartment, or any other support. I would love to keep him, and watch him grow up, but I know it would be impossible. My biggest wish is just that he doesn’t grow up to resent me or Jinhyuk for making this decision.”

“Well, what if he wouldn’t have to?” said Leeteuk.

Both Kangin and Seong Mi looked at him with confused looks.

“What I mean is, that from the very beginning, I always figured this could be an open adoption.”

“What would that mean?” asked Seong Mi.

“We could keep you up to date with him and somehow involved in his life. I don’t see how it would be possible for you to just completely forget he existed, nor would it be fair to you or him.”

“You would really do that?” asked Seong Mi with a soft smile.

“Of course—

“Wait!” said Kangin leaning forward with a frown.

“What’s the matter Kanginnie?” asked Leeteuk turning to look at him.

“I don’t feel comfortable with that option Teuk.”

“Why?” asked Leeteuk shaking his head.

Kangin sighed, glancing at Seong Mi and then back at Leeteuk.

“Right now, it’s easy for her to say that she will hand her son over to us and not feel any attachments to him. But what happens the day he’s born? And the day after? His first day of school? At his soccer games? A line has to be drawn or he’ll never feel like ours. We’ll be like foster parents, which is not what we signed up for.”

Seong Mi shifted uncomfortably in her seat.

“I promise it wont be like that Kangin-ssi,” she said. “Once he’s born he’ll be yours.”

“You say that now, but you're still very young Seong Mi-ah,” sighed Kangin. “These are just words, nothing’s been made official yet. I mean, look at how quickly you changed your mind about even letting us become his adoptive parents. There’s no guarantee you wont do that again.”

“But given the circumstances she’s in now. I don’t think that down the line she’d be able to explain to her family where a five year old suddenly came from Kangin-ah. I’m just trying to make this a little easier for her,” reasoned Leeteuk.

“I still just think there’s a risk there,” mumbled Kangin sitting back.

“Well you're right, there is, but I don’t think that it’s something that should stop us from doing this,” said Leeteuk softly.

Kangin sighed and then reached over, rubbing Leeteuk’s shoulders, “No, I’m just a paranoid fool, you’re right. I guess it would be good for him to understand where he came from, from the very beginning, to avoid confusion later.”

After their meeting, Leeteuk and Kangin offered Seong Mi a ride back to campus.

“Where would you like us to drop you off?” asked Kangin as he pulled into the university.

“My dormitory is fine,” she said softly as she gazed out of the window.

As they drove along the road, Seong Mi watched the faces passing by. The few friends she had when she first started school where virtually strangers now. Those who didn’t agree with her situation, frequently gave her a hard time when they saw her, and the few who were sympathetic, we’re too embarrassed to be seen speaking to her.

But as they drove closer and closer to her residence, she saw someone, a face she recognized, rolling a large suitcase, and toting a huge duffle bag across his back.

Seong Mi gasped loudly and shrunk down into her seat, even though the windows were heavily tinted.

“Is something wrong?” asked Leeteuk as he and Kangin glanced at her.

Seong Mi quickly shook her head.

“You look really pale all of a sudden Seong Mi-ah, are you sure you're fine?” asked Leeteuk with a soft frown.

Again she nodded, sitting up in her seat as they passed by the building he had walked into. Kangin glanced at Leeteuk who just shrugged.

Once they had reached her building Seong Mi was almost out the door when Leeteuk called her back.

Resettling in her seat, she looked at them anxiously.

“Yes?” she asked, her eyes wide.

“We’ll be going to speak with a social worker and drawing up some papers, so maybe in a few days, I’ll be giving you a call and we’ll need to go in together to sign. Is there a day when your class schedule is light?”

“Uh, uh, Friday,” she said trying to focus on his question.

“Okay, great. Is there anything you need help with until we see you again?”

She quickly shook her head.

“Okay, well, we’ll see you then—

“Good bye!” she said and she got out of their car as fast as her body would allow, avoiding the glances from others as she went straight into her building.

‘That was a little bizarre,” said Leeteuk once he saw her disappear.

“She’s always been a little bizarre Teuk, from the first night we met her,” reasoned Kangin.

Leeteuk frowned a little, “No, something else is going on. I just hope it’s nothing too big.”

“I’m sure we’ll find out soon enough,” shrugged Kangin and he drove away, headed towards their apartment.

                                                            ~~~

With a heavy sigh, he placed his bags on the floor by his bed, rubbing his aching shoulders to feel some sort of relief.

“Ah! You're finally back!” someone yelled, throwing their arms around him from behind and lifting him slightly into the air.

“Juwon hyung!” He laughed as he sat him down and then he turned to give him a proper hug.

“So, tell me Jinhyuk-ah ! How was America?! Better yet, how were the American girls?!” asked Juwon

“Aish! Hyung, I went there to study, not date,” said Jinhyuk bending down to his suitcase.

“I didn’t say anything about dating,” Juwon said poking Jinhyuk with his shoe.

“Well, it’s a little hard to do either when you're in classes or a hospital all day Hyung,” said Jinhyuk as he began to unpack his belongings.

“I should have known. You send the studious kid all the way to America, land of the free and friendly females, and he comes back probably without even looking at a girl!”

Jinhyuk shook his head with a smile as he continued to take his clothes and books out of his suitcase.

“I mean, just look at you now! Why are you wasting time with this—here!” Juwon said taking an armful of Jinhyuk’s clothes and dumping them on the bed.

“Hyung!” sighed Jinhyuk as he looked at the mess on his bed.

“What?! Now you're basically all unpacked. So let’s go have a drink!” he said grabbing Jinhyuk’s arm and pulling him out of his room.

On their way to the bar, their duo had grown to eight guys who were now all eager to hear Jinhyuk’s stories about America.

“I’m telling you, I didn’t party while I was there. I would have flunked out of every class—

“Aish!” they all collectively scoffed as the waitress brought over the other round of beers they had ordered.

“So you’re telling me that last girl you were with was Seong—

The guy speaking was elbowed hard by Juwon.

“Oh right! You haven’t heard!” said another guy.

“Heard what?” asked Jinhyuk looking around at their faces.

“That Seong Mi—

“Jinhyuk-ah, come outside with me for a minute, will you?” asked Juwon standing up.

“Why Hyung?”

“I need a smoke, just come on,” said Juwon yanking on Jinhyuk’s arm.

“Hyung!” yelled Jinhyuk as he was basically pulled out of the bar by Juwon.

When they reached outside, Jinhyuk yanked his arm back.

“Hyung what are you doing?!” he asked rubbing his arm.

“I need to talk to you about something,” said Juwon awkwardly.

“Well what is it?” asked Jinhyuk still a little annoyed, but he quickly took notice to Juwon’s serious expression.

“It’s about Seong Mi,” said Juwon with a sigh.

a/n: I apologize for this chapter being so short and taking so long to appear! I've experienced a few changes at work that have made me really tired at the end of the day, so I've haven't been able to write as much as usual. But I'll try to make updates more regular soon!