03

For the most part, the 22^nd of December passed by relatively quietly. Virtually all of the boys of R-Star took the opportunity to actually get a good night’s sleep and pretty much all of them slept in till the early part of the afternoon. The only ones who were up before twelve were Kyung and Bradley though for completely different reasons. Kyung was just naturally an early bird whenever he wasn’t on a switch off day – which he couldn’t quite manage apparently because it would be too much fun not to and plus he wanted to be more calm on Christmas Day – so he was up and about at ten to harass his parents and chase around the kiddies.

Bradley however was rather rudely awoken by his three younger sisters and the appearance of Daniel and their family from Japan. He was still a little grouchy over the whole thing but perked up after being given several boxes of cookies and a large stash of pocky for his own personal consumption.

When the others eventually ordained to show up, the group gathered together to hang out, have a few drinks – for those that were legal – and enjoy the buffet lunch which Annie had prepared for them.

Jin happily munched on a sandwich, “Wow, your mum really knows how to cook Mama Bear. I would say that she’s almost better than you.”

“Nah, nothings better than Bradley’s cooking,” Kyung said, shaking his head happily even though he was on his fifth plate of food, “But I’ll admit this ranks a close second.”

Bradley gave them both funny looks, “I’m sure the catering company will be happy to know that,” and when he got joint blinks of surprise from them he sighed, “Mum doesn’t cook anymore. She used to cause that’s how I learned but these days she doesn’t have the time when she’s running this place. When I was growing up I did most of the cooking for the family, except on odd occasions, but Mum’s still not one hundred per cent well though she hides it the little so and so.”

Jongki nodded, eating a macaroon which fizzled against his tongue, “Yeah, I think she’s got Christmas Dinner to herself though, I vaguely heard her yelling at you this morning about that.”

A snort came his way in response, “She was yelling at me for helping to dry the dishes actually. Crazy woman is my mum, but once she’s got an idea into her head there’s no shifting it. Plus Christmas Dinner is completely her thing, that’s one argument I’ve never ever gotten involved in with her.”

“Why?” Kiyeol asked, trying to get the cream off the end of his nose with his tongue purely because he could do so.

Bradley grinned, “Cause Mum makes simply the best Christmas Dinner on the planet...”

“And Bear managed to burn a turkey so bad one year that it fell through the baking tray,” Daniel grinned as he moved to sit next to the group, placing one of his youngest down on the grass they were occupying, “Mum blew her flipping lid at him that year and he’s never been allowed near the kitchen for Christmas since.”

Kyo couldn’t help but chuckle, “Really now?”

“Unfortunately yes,” Bradley said, leaning back, “And now there is never going to be a hope in hell that I’m going to live it down.”

Daniel chuckled, “Bear, you were never going to live it down regardless.”

“What else did Brad do as a kid, Davy?” Jinseok asked, determined to get some dirt on the elder to completely torment him.

“I’m Daniel,” Daniel replied with a grin, “Though call me Danni please, only mum can use my full name and get away with it.”

Jin blinked, “Oopse sorry.”

“No worries, everyone gets muddled up with us. Curse of being an identical twin,” Danni smiled, letting baby Rose start crawling towards her uncle.

Bradley smiled and picked up the little girl who squeaked happily, “There is a real easy way to tell them apart though.”

Kyo blinked, “There is?”

Instead of responding, Bradley tapped just to the side of his right blue eye and grinned. The whole group looked back at Daniel who just smiled back, in the exact same way as his younger brother did though they knew not to say that the siblings looked like one another, and for a few moments everything was quiet. It was Jae who finally spotted it, “Oh, you got a scar there. How did you get it?”

For a second Daniel was going to answer but then Rose made a squeak towards him to indicate that she wanted her Daddy back so Bradley said, “I belted him with a toy when I was four or five and scared him.”

“Why you do that?” Jongki asked, having no idea that his second in command could be so rough and ready like that.

Bradley shrugged, “I don’t know. We were probably playing or fighting at the time.”

“Me and my twin used to torment him something rotten back in England when he was a baby,” Daniel said, “So he was probably just responding to that.”

“Danni, you and Davey still torment me to this day,” Bradley said exasperatedly before raising his head upwards almost automatically, “And before you start, hyung, he started it.”

Davey just chuckled, the exact resemblance between the two showing perfectly now that they were almost side by side, “I wasn’t going to say anything about that cause I know it to be true. I was just coming to let you know that Mum says you may want to start the Christmas Eve Cakes off sometime tonight cause she’s got the confirmation that Eggy’s coming home with a couple of his boys too.”

“She invited Yellow Crew as well?” Bradley sighed, shaking her head, “Have you just had a really good year and not told me anything?”

The elder of the twins smiled happily, “Let’s just say, next time you guys want to do promo pictures here I’m not going to quibble in the slightest. We had a bumper year thanks to that little extra bit off advertisement and we’re virtually booked until next summer too.”

“Can we go in the pool now?” Kyung asked, clearly the puppy was getting bored which was never easy territory to begin with and the group rolled their eyes skywards together.

“It’s not a pool, Kyung,” Jin said standing up and stretching, “It’s an Onsen.”

“I know that,” the puppy said, “But I want to go in.”

“It should be ready by now so I don’t see why not;” Kyo smiled happily, “Mum says that it’s lovely here.”

Jongki frowned towards the strawberry blond singer, “I thought you didn’t like water.”

“Are you kidding?” Jin replied, “Twinny loves any form of swimming pool or Onsen or water park, it’s just natural bodies of water he doesn’t like. Come on, I want to check out this place again, it really has been an age and a half since we were here and I personal want to enjoy myself.”

Kiyeol didn’t quite manage to hide his giggles as he watched Bradley silent explaining towards his elder twin brothers that Kyo and Jin were not twins but he smiled all the same and set off with the others. Kibum wouldn’t be too far away and it would be nice to get into the warm waters for a while and chase away any of the winter blues which had been hovering over them the last few weeks. Or at the very least, in his opinion it would be nice to do that.

~~~~

The waters were warm and pleasant on the skin, seeping through the madness and chaos to bring a soothing peace to the mind. The snow around the edges was a mixture of real and fake and somehow it just made everything all the more pleasant. Whilst the youngsters were happy to go charging about in the proper pool – with the addition of Bradley and Saki, who was too young to go into the hot springs unsupervised and Kyung seeing the puppy could not hold his attention span in the place long enough to relax – the elders were taking the opportunity to relax in the warm waters.

Their parents had been roped into getting something sorted out or where quite content to do their own thing and not be too much of a distraction. “Hmm, Mama Bear’s so lucky to have grown up with this virtually on his doorstep,” Kyo murmured as he shifted a little to get comfortable, “I’m seriously jealous.”

“Apparently he couldn’t use it most of the time,” Jin said, gently pushing the floating tray which contained a nice bottle of sake and four cups on it back towards Jae, “He was always far too busy.”

Jae smirked, “Plus he hates baths which doesn’t help in the slightest.”

“Wonder why?” Kyo mused, nicking the cup that Jae had just paused and sticking his tongue out at Jae.

Jongki shrugged, “He’s just always hated them, even Annie said he hated them when he was a baby.”

Jae couldn’t help but smirk at that thought, “Figures that he would. You know we should really try to get some more embarrassing stories regarding him since we’re at his house.”

There was a general murmuring of agreement, “Shame that the camera wasn’t packed. This would have been really fun.”

“You and your obsession with that show,” Kyo said, flicking some water towards his twin, “Honestly I’m more than glad that thing got left at home. I think that I would go nuts otherwise.”

Whilst the twins playfully had a grown up argument, Jae took the time to notice that Jongki was being exceptionally quiet and had as of yet to touch any of the Sake. There was a look in his eyes that easily gave him away and the youngster slipped across silently to place an arm around the elders shoulder to give him a hug.

Jongki couldn’t help but feel completely idiotic but accepted the comfort from the other because he needed it right at that second. It was completely silly of him, he knew that but sometimes things stirred up in his mind and all he could think about was the fact that Jial was not here by his side and enjoying this moment with him. The other two quickly latched onto their leader, giving him hope and strength for a brief time which was all that he could ask for right now.

~~~

“No, that one goes there and that one goes there,” Annie said, in a complete and total flap as she tried to get the girl’s to wrap up the start of the Christmas pyjamas, “Honestly girls, how can you not follow a simple set of instructions?” she turned, blew a few fly away strands of hair out of her eyes and glared at Bradley, “You go anywhere near that kitchen Bear and I will tan your hide mister.”

Bradley rolled his eyes, “Mum, I’m not going to cook. I’m going to start on the cakes so ergo I need to be in the kitchen without everyone else jumping around like idiots.”

“Can Saki help Daddy?” the little girl asked from inside the depths of a towel as Kyung dried her hair.

Mama Bear shook his head, “Not this year sweetie. You’ve got to help your cousins with decorating the tree. Maybe next year.”

Saki pouted but then spotted two of her cousins and went running off to join them with a playful yell which had the two girls running off happily. Sang shook his head, “I’m going to go and harass my sisters for a bit. Oh Brad, can I borrow your laptop to upload what I’ve got?”

“Use Dad’s,” Bradley called back from somewhere in the kitchen, “Mine’s back at Home.”

“Where is it?” Sang called back as he nimbly dodged the running kids.

Annie smiled, “I’ll show you cause it’s easier that way.”

Sang grinned, “Don’t need it just yet. I’ll come by and use it later if that’s okay Auntie.”

Annie nodded, “That’ll be fine.”

“Auntie,” Kiyeol piped up from where he had been drawing with Kibum on the table, “Can we borrow the laptop for a bit? Just want to check some stuff on the net.”

Smiling Annie nodded and led the two boys along to a separate study area that held all sorts of wonderful photographs and curious knickknacks which would keep anyone entertained. Kiyeol went on the computer first, mainly to check his e-mails to see if there were any updates about a few of his own projects and if there was any additional information about the acting job he had been provisionally signed up for before giving the computer over to Kibum so the youngster could check on what he wanted and get a little of his homework done before the main Christmas rush.

Whilst his brother clicked through the documents that he had to work on, Kiyeol amused himself by looking through the photos on display and trying to work out who was who. It was strangely easier for him this time but he put it down to possibly being in a better position to know most of Bradley’s family. He had to chuckle at some of the photos as they looked really cute and funny and would so become the subject of instant mockery for the eldest. Maybe he would get Sang to download a couple just for a little bit of fun.

Kibum sighed, “Hyung, how do I do this? It’s not working.”

Moving across to the screen, Kiyeol hunkered down next to the screen to stare at the maths equation and smiled, “It’s long division. Think of it as doing your times tables backwards.”

“Oh right,” Kibum sighed and started working through the questions once again which gave the elder a chance to continue looking at other bits and pieces.

His bright eyes eventually found a set of photographs next to a few medals and he was fascinated by them. Clearly it was the males of the family who had done their military service and whilst there were a few uncles whom he didn’t recognise, he picked out the twins easily enough and had to agree with the statement that the military look on them was stupid. Though he feared to think what he would look like when he would inevitably had to go through his own military training, though the maknae wasn’t planning to do that until his late twenties when things were going to be on the quieter side with the group.

He smiled and was about to turn back to Kibum when he spotted another photo that was in a proper display case with a certificate next to it. It took him two blinks to recognise the figure behind the glass and unconsciously he picked it up, “No way.”

“What?” Kibum asked, looking up from his homework to see what his brother’s exclamation was all about.

Kiyeol showed him the picture and the boy frowned for a second or two before his eyes widened in surprise, “Is that who I think it is?”

“Yes it is,” Annie said appearing around the door with a plate of sandwiches and a couple of glasses of milk balanced on a tray, “He’ll hate me for having that photo on display but I think it’s one of his best.”

The maknae couldn’t help but grin, “I’ve so got to show the others this. I mean...wow, it’s just...”

Annie beamed, “Yes. He looked good. It was no surprise when he came out that he had girls and boys throwing themselves at him from every last corner.”

Kibum grinned at looked at the picture, “How old was he.”

Annie paused for a second, looking at the photo with a fondness which Kiyeol had always longed to see in his own mother’ eyes, “About nineteen in that photo. It was taken a little before his discharge.”

“Nineteen?” both boys echoed back in surprise.

The mother nodded, “Yes. He went straight into doing his service after he finished High School because he didn’t have any other plans. It was his friends who made him audition as a distraction from that stupid cow,” there was real viciousness in her voice and Kiyeol could only presume that she meant the girl who had been Saki’s mother, “He generally keeps it quiet that he’s done his service though. Don’t know why, but that’s my Bear for you.”

Kiyeol smiled, “Can I borrow this for a minute or two?”

Annie nodded, “Sure you can sweetheart. Now, Kibum, do you like ham and cheese or chicken mayonnaise sandwiches?”

Hurrying out of the room, Kiyeol was eventually able to find Jongki and the others who were with him and show them the picture which was just as much of a surprise to them as it had been to him. Jongki was the only one who knew that Brad had done his service but he had never seen the photograph before.

“Oh please can I upload this when we get home?” Sang asked only to jump a mile when a hand s into the middle and grabbed the photograph before taking it away.

“You dare Sang and I will get you back,” Bradley said, passing the photo frame to Annie with a look which said that he was slightly annoyed at her but she just smiled sweetly back, cleaned the glass and let the boys go and continue to hassle their Mama Bear.

~~~

“Seriously what is this?” Jongki asked later that evening when he was sitting in the shack with his parents and curiously prodding the brightly wrapped presents which had turned up with a label attached saying ‘Wear to breakfast and supper on the 23^rd’.

His mother smiled, “Something Annie said that we had to follow. We’ve already got ours so we’re sorted out right now. Though why she’s left you two I don’t know.”

“The other must be for Jial,” he said without thinking, “Brad must have told her about him.”

“Jial?” his mother asked, blinking curiously.

For a second or two Jongki panicked, remembering that he had not told his parents that he was involved with anyone because it just made things all the more complicated. But then a calmness came over him and he smiled sheepishly, “Yeah, Jial...he’s my...my...”

“Boyfriend?” the woman supplied with a soft smile and giggled when the boy nodded in response, “I had a feeling you had someone lurking in the shadows.”

Jongki blushed, forgetting the fact that his mother was way too good at working out what was going on in his life, “Yeah you could say that.”

“Do I get to meet him?” she sounded really hopeful and smiled excitedly towards him.

However Jongki shook his head to save him a few precious seconds to think of an excuse, “No. He’s off visiting his folks for Christmas and plus he’s studying at university so it’s rare that I get to see him. Clearly Annie invited him but he mustn’t have been able to make it.”

“Awww, I always like meeting your boys Jongki, though how did you two meet if he’s in university?” the game of twenty questions was starting but he knew that it was coming regardless.

“Remember that night when Kiyeol did a complete runner on us and ended up on the other side of town? Jial was the man who found him and kept him safe,” Jongki smiled, knowing that it was the full truth of the situation.

“Sounds like he’s a really good man then,” his mother replied gently.

“He’s an Angel,” Jongki said, “A beautiful, fragile Angel who I love to the ends of the Earth and miss so much.”

His mother smiled, hugging him gently and pressing a kiss to the side of his head, “Aww my little boy is a love sick puppy and it’s so cute. I hope you didn’t use any cheesy chat up lines on him though because that will completely spoil my illusions.”

A laugh bubbled out of Jongki before he could stop it and he smiled happily towards his mother, hugging her back and so glad to have her in his life. When he finally got to introduce Jial to her, he knew that the woman would love him to pieces and that was exactly what he wanted.