Baekhyun leads the pups on the way back this time while Chanyeol stands at the back of the long line with D.O clinging to his mane on his back since the little one’s energy had depleted just with the washing up. Besides, Chanyeol wanted to take the opportunity to pamper his pups lavishly before he left without seeing them for a week.

 

“Baek, this isn’t the way home,” Chanyeol calls out to the purple wolf who pretends to not have heard him. Instead, he carries on deeper into the outside world, away from their home.

 

“Baekhyun, sweetheart, we’re travelling further west. Home is up northeast."

 

“I know,” Baekhyun hums a reply, “We’re taking a detour.”

 

“Why are we taking a detour?”

 

“Because… there was a huge beehive in our way,” Baekhyun lies effortlessly and though Chanyeol knew for sure that it was a lie, he kept his mouth shut. Somehow, he knew the reason why Baekhyun was taking the longer route home. He wanted to drag out the time in which Chanyeol would leave for his hunt. Chanyeol smiles to himself at the thought of his love not willing to let him go.

 

Along the way, they pass through the daffodils field. The pups went crazy at the sight of the vast and pretty sea of yellow. Their little muzzles let out high pitch howls of glee as they ran their paws through the rows and rows of daffodils.

 

But nobody was as excited about passing through the flower field as the twins. Luhan had always been the more feminine one out of the two of them, and Sehun was the manlier one who complemented the other. In fact, Luhan could arguably be the most feminine one out of the bunch.

 

Sehun knows just how much his twin loves picking flowers in his free time and then making headbands out of them. Though none of them were girls, he’d make them for his mother because he thinks that his mother is the most beautiful creature he’s ever seen (to which Chanyeol teases Baekhyun by saying that the only people Luhan knows are his family members). Whenever he makes extra headbands, he’d gift them to Sehun who would willingly wear them with a smile and a thank you, despite the fact that he thought he didn’t look masculine in them. But being the kind twin he was, he hated to disappoint Luhan, so he’d put them on anyway.

 

The sherbet pink pup quickly reaches out to swipe a few stalks of daffodils. As they hiked past the halfway mark of the field, Sehun begins to thread the flowers with a clumsy paw and his front teeth, struggling to keep up with Luhan who was in front of him. They were already out the fields and back in the forest when Sehun finally manages to piece together the daffodils to form a sloppily made headpiece.

 

“Luhannie!” Sehun calls out to his cotton candy pink furred twin who immediately snaps his head around at the pup’s call.

 

“What is it, Sehunnie?” Luhan flashes a wide smile, the same one that always makes Sehun happy. Even on Sehun’s worst days, just a smile from his Luhan brightens his mood.

 

“Here,” Sehun hands the daffodil headband to Luhan who takes it, eyeing the weirdly shaped thing. It was supposed to be round to be placed on the head but Sehun’s had come out more oval than circle.

 

“You made this for me?” Luhan gapes at his twin. Chanyeol keeps bumping into Sehun since the latter keeps stopping – first when he was trying to complete his masterpiece, and then when he was trying to hold a conversation with his twin.

 

“Yeah, I did. I know how you like daffodils. It’s always you making them for me so I thought I’d make one for you this time,” Sehun beams.

 

“Thank you Sehunnie. You’re getting better at this. I love it!” Luhan pecks Sehun’s muzzle, causing the latter to blush from the kind words of compliment.

 

Luhan struggles to put it on since it wasn’t of the usual shape of the head, so Sehun helps his twin adjust it till it sits just right at the crown of his head.

 

“It looks so pretty on you, Luhannie. It looks like a heart,” Sehun comments as Luhan laughs, playfully twirling around to show off his twin’s work. Chanyeol, who had witnessed the whole conversation, melts at the cute scene before him. A sad smile forms when it dawns upon him that he would be missing his pups’ cute antics for a whole week.

 

They finally arrive home, at their open clearing, just under half an hour later.

 

Baekhyun makes sure that everyone has transformed back to their human form and lined up as usual. Chanyeol doesn’t fail to notice that his mate does it sullenly, not once glancing in his direction. He could practically feel Baekhyun’s sad aura emitting from his petite (with a swollen belly) body.

 

“Is it time to say goodbye to daddy?” Tao asks with a pout as the ruckus the pups had been making till now dies down to a hushed whisper. Chanyeol appears behind Baekhyun as the latter nods in reply, a forced smile plastered across his face.

 

“Daddy, will you be gone for long?” Chen asks in a whine.

 

“Of course not, darling. I’ll be home even before you could say… ,” Chanyeol pauses as he thought of a word, “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.”

 

An involuntary snort escapes Baekhyun’s lips at Chanyeol’s wittiness.

 

“Supercali-phlastishesideeshou,” Jongin tries with an excited smile albeit failing miserably. The remaining triplets erupts into a raucous laughter at their brother.

 

“Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.” Kris nails it perfectly and gives a smug shrug as Baekhyun applauds his oldest.

 

“Gugu-mama-dada,” Chen jokes, repeating after his father using incoherent baby words. Everyone bursts out into laughter at the orange haired boy.

 

“Alright, alright, that’s enough kids,” Chanyeol calls for their attention as he holds his hands up to bring the kid’s noise to a minimum.

 

“Daddy needs to go now,” Baekhyun declares. There was a chorus of whines from the line of pups.

 

Chanyeol walks over to Kris first.

 

“I know you’re only eight, but you’re very mature for your age and I know you’re always keeping a lookout for your brothers. I’ll need you to take my place when I’m gone. Help your mother out as best as you can, alright? Don’t be afraid to give your dongsaengs a good dressing down if any of them misbehaves.”

 

The blonde pup nods earnestly, feeling proud of himself. He allows his father to pull him into a short embrace, muttering an “I love you”. When they pull away, Chanyeol kisses his head and pats his shoulder twice. He continues to the next in line, which happened to be the ThreeMusketeers.

 

“Yah, you little rascals. Better stay out of trouble, you hear me? Don’t give your mother unnecessary stress. Your baby brother is due any time soon and I don’t want you guys triggering an early labour. I want to be there when it happens,” Chanyeol crosses his arms as he peers down at his three rowdiest sons, donning his most serious face. It worked to an extent; all three were listening intently with their hands clasped together in front of them.

 

“Come here,” Chanyeol beckons. Chen, Tao and Jongin jumped right into their father’s awaiting arms, giggling away as they placed wet kisses all over Chanyeol’s face.

 

When they finally let go, Chanyeol wipes his face with a hand.

 

“I love you guys,” Chanyeol smiles fondly at the three who replies him with a loud “We love you too!”

 

“Sehun, please don’t do a three-kick combo on any of your brothers. I don’t want to come home to Jongin having a broken nose again.”

 

“Not even Jongin?” Sehun pleads.

 

“Especially not Jongin. I know you two don’t get along but you could always talk to him nicely before you decide he needs to have his limbs broken.”

 

“Okay,” Sehun grumbles as Luhan comfortingly pats his twin’s back.

 

“Luhan, make sure your brother doesn’t do anything impulsive, okay?”

 

“Yes, daddy.” The twins grin at their father before Chanyeol bends down to carry them on either side of his body, letting them wrap their legs around his torso. He pecks each their noses and puts them back down on their feet.

 

“Come here, little D.O,” Chanyeol calls in a soft voice at his youngest who ambles over to him. D.O trips over his own two feet, almost falling face first into the ground when Chanyeol quickly holds his arms out to catch him. Jongin accidentally lets out a snort of laughter that doesn’t go unheard by everyone, including D.O. Chen nudges him in the ribs and Jongin shoots an apologetic look at his father who was glaring at him. Chanyeol immediately pulls D.O up, propping him on his right hip.

 

Turning to face the small boy, who has buried his face in his shoulder out of sheer embarrassment, Chanyeol says in a gentle voice, “Baby, it’s okay. Everybody makes mistakes.”

 

When he feels D.O relaxing at his touch against his cheek, he kisses his hair. Chanyeol is reminded of Baekhyun’s worry back at the river and whispers lowly so only his youngest could hear, “Don’t ever think that you’re not a Park. You’re my son and I love you. I’ll go to the ends of the earth for you, baby. You hear me?”

 

Chanyeol feels D.O nodding against his neck and a smile tugs at his lips. Slowly, he places D.O back on the ground and ruffles his hair before he trudges back to his position at the back of the line.

 

Chanyeol turns to his left to see Baekhyun back facing him. He lets out a silent sigh before taking a step forward, leaving an arm’s length space between them.

 

“Sorry C-Channie,” Baekhyun stutters as soon as he whirls around, hastily rubbing a hand at his eye. Though his tears had not flowed, Chanyeol could tell he was close to breaking down. The only thing stopping him from doing so was the fact that their children were all watching them with sharp eyes.

 

“Mummy, don’t cry,” Luhan breaks the odd silence, making Chanyeol tear his gaze away from Baekhyun who had shifted his eyes down at his feet.

 

The purple haired boy turns to look at one of the twins with a small chuckle, “I’m not crying, Luhannie. There’s just a twig in my eye.”

 

Baekhyun was hoping that his children wouldn’t call him out for having made a dry joke, but Tao cried out in laughter as he clutched his stomach.

 

“Mummy, how can a twig be stuck in your eye? It’s too big!”

 

There were a few murmurs of “yeah!” and “Tao is right!” which causes Baekhyun to groan internally.

 

“You’re right, Tao-ya, I was kidding. I’m just really horrified with your daddy’s hair. It’s so messy it makes me cry,” Baekhyun laughs through his blunder. Even if he had admitted to his children that he had teared, he wouldn’t tell them the truth that it was because he was going to miss his giant yoda or he was certain the kids will all start bawling at the realization.

 

Baekhyun narrows the gap between himself and his mate, reaching a hand up to smooth out the tufts of dark hair that was sticking out at weird places. Chanyeol closes his eyes at Baekhyun’s soft touch, enjoying the feel of his slender fingers running through his locks of thick hair.

 

When he could no longer feel them, he opens his eyes and drops his hands down to the huge belly in between them, slowly rubbing the top.

 

Baekhyun feels his baby’s sudden frantic flipping when he realizes it’s his father. Baekhyun pouts, knowing that one week without Chanyeol would mean no one to hold him while he sleeps, no one to rub the pain away when his baby was giving him a hard time, no one to play with the kids, no one to whisper sweet nothings to him in the middle of the night.

 

Chanyeol bends down to kiss Baekhyun’s belly as he says, “Wait for me okay, baby? I’ll be back soon. And don’t hurt Baekkie.”

 

He straightens himself once more and his arms circle around Baekhyun’s waist as Baekhyun’s own arms lock themselves around Chanyeol’s neck.

 

Chanyeol leans in and captures Baekhyun’s lips with his own in a small kiss that slowly turns desperate. Baekhyun wasn’t even bothered anymore by the fact that his kids were watching them make out. He just wants to feel Chanyeol as much as he could before he lets him go.

 

Baekhyun moves his lips smoothly against Chanyeol's, completely melting into the kiss. When they pull away, Baekhyun was left completely breathless and panting to catch his breath while Chanyeol struggled to regulate his heavy breathing.

 

Their eyes lock as they engaged in an unsaid conversation, conveyed just through the look of adoration they were giving each other.

 

I love you.

 

I love you more.

 

Baekhyun hugs Chanyeol one last time, clinging tightly onto him as he buries his face in Chanyeol’s hard chest.

 

“Stay safe,” Baekhyun whispers for the last time just as he pulls away.

 

“I will.”

 

Chanyeol finally found it in him to peel himself away from his purple haired mate and makes his way to the west entrance of the clearing. Once he was at the boundary, he transforms into his feared wolf form and turns around to see his beloved family huddled together, looking back at him.

 

He gives a loud howl and sprints off into the distance, disappearing amongst the trees.

 

Everyone wasn’t in the mood for anything after Chanyeol left. Even the Three Musketeers were awfully quiet, just muttering amongst themselves occasionally.

 

Somewhere in the distant sky, Baekhyun looks up to see a bright flash of lightning. Not long after, the roar of thunder sounded, causing all the pups to jump in surprise. There were a few flashes that followed, complete with resounding thunder.

 

A storm was coming. With his pups’ safety his number one priority, Baekhyun is quick to usher them inside where they would have to wait it out.

 

Once everyone was inside, Kris helps him start a small fire to light the dark surroundings inside.

 

It was awhile later when everyone was finally settled down. An uneasy feeling settles itself in the pit of his stomach as he stands up from his seat on one of the rocks that was a makeshift chair. His eyes dart around the room, mentally counting the number of heads.

 

One, two, three.

 

Four, five.

 

Six, seven.

 

Panic wells in him as he tries to count them once more: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven.

 

It didn’t take long for Baekhyun to realise that D.O was the missing pup.

 

Feeling sick, he calmly orders Kris to stay in the cave with his brothers while he went outside to check on something.

 

On his way out, he couldn't stop thinking about how he was a horrible mother. It's barely been an hour or so since his mate's absence, and yet he has managed to lose one of their pups.

 

By now, heavy raindrops were pelting heavily from the sky to the compacted soil. In mere seconds, Baekhyun becomes completely drenched as the chill pierces through his bones.

 

He frantically keeps his eyes peeled for a carmine coloured pup but there was not one living thing in sight, everything taking shelter from the brutal downpour. He hurries over to D.O’s stump as quickly as he could without slipping. When he draws closer, he feels his heart drop at the nearly faded message written in the ground:

 

 

Daddy says he’ll go to the ends of the earth for me.

If he really loves me, he’ll come find me.

 

 

---

 

Note: This chapter was getting too long to include D.O's past so I decided to have it in the next. I was so determined to update my other stories as well today, but I guess I was being too ambitious ><

 

forgive me for any mistakes. i typed this out in an hour and a half at one in the morning  T.T