As Serin went into labor for her second child, she mused about how Hoon had been absent for this part the last time too. Only this time there was no hope of him showing up at the last minute. It was okay though. Jungsook was with her this time. Driving her to the hospital in the cold, as snow flurries fell, Serin thanked her mother-in-law.

The two had talked a lot in the past about what they were going to do now that she was essentially going to be a single mother with two children. Having not travelled anywhere for work unless it was an emergency since Eunsook’s birth, she had gotten quite bored at her job. Her father was trying, but she just didn’t have any interest any more. She didn’t feel like she was contributing. With the birth of her second child, she thought it might be best to take a leave altogether and focus on raising her children. She could stay with her in-laws and be at home. Maybe start composing seriously like she’d always dreamed of.

“I’m sorry you can’t have Hoonmin with you this time,” Jungsook said apologetically.

“I am not bothered by that,” Serin replied. “It just feels weird that no one’s here. Soohyun, Hoon, Kiseop, and Jaeseop are all gone, and I’m not nearly as close to the other members. Not having any of them here feels odd to me.”

“I understand,” Jungsook agreed. “I miss seeing all of the boys.”

Serin felt a contraction come and go, breathing harder after it passed. “Just a contraction,” she clarified when Hoon’s mother looked at her curiously.

The two eventually arrived at the hospital, and Serin’s father quickly arrived after that. “Looks like he’s showing up right on time,” Hyunsu remarked.

If labor before felt like it lasted forever, this one seemed to fly by. She gave birth within hours to her second child. A son. “We decided to call him Taekhyun,” Serin said as she proudly held her newborn child. Hoonbi brought Eunsook with him to visit, and she seemed quite taken with her brother. It was altogether an uneventful birth, and Serin was more than a little glad that everything had gone smoothly the whole way through. Before she left the hospital her family had come to visit her, and she was happy to see Kevin and Eli when they came to say congratulations.

--

For the last month, Serin had stayed home, taking care of Taekhyun and Eunsook. It was exhausting. She had forgotten how it felt to take care of an infant, but she was now set that she was never doing it again. She was changing Taekhyun’s diaper when she heard the doorbell buzz. As she had been living with Jungsook and Woontaek, she didn’t bother answering the door when she heard someone else skittering to answer it.

She finished, picked the boy up, and went to see who it was. It was at that moment that she realized she’d forgotten something very important because of the stress her children put on her. Soohyun was done. He was home. With a sigh of relief, she rushed to him, so glad to see one of her closest friends. She hugged him with Taekhyun in her arms, being careful not to jostle him around too much.

“Soohyun-ssi, I’m so glad to see you.”

He smiled at her kindly. “It’s good to see you too, Serin.” He glanced down at the baby cradled in her arm. “I see you and Hoon have a new addition.”

Serin nodded. “He was just born about a month ago. His birthday is exactly a month before yours. Two months before mine.”

“February 11?”

“Yep. “

“Well, congratulations on your new child. I’m sure Hoon is happy.”

“He seems to be. He’s sad he can’t be around, but he says he should get a break soon and is looking forward to meeting his son.”

“That’s good. Listen Serin, can we go sit down somewhere privately and discuss something?”

Serin eyed him doubtfully, feeling a bit anxious because of the serious look in his eyes and the tone he’s asked the question in. “Sure. Let me get mother-in-law the kids to watch for a bit.” She called Eunsook over, who had been shyly hiding around the corner watching them, made her say hello to Soohyun, and then took them to Jungsook. The two then stepped outside of the house. “So what’s up Soohyun?”

“I’m sure you are aware that everyone’s contracts are up. And I’m considering not signing back on with NHM.”

“What? Why?”

Soohyun sighed and ran his hand through his shaved hair. “I’m not sure how much you might have paid attention to what I said I wanted to do in the past.”

“Well… you wanted to create your own company. I remember that much.”

“Exactly. And not just any company. One that focuses on creating international idol groups. What I’m considering is creating it now and having U-KISS as the group on the label initially as we all come back. Eli, Kevin, and I can join now. Hoon can when he gets back in just over a year. Any of us who still want to do this can sign with my company.”

“I suppose it’s a reasonable idea,” she agreed. “But why are you telling me this.”

“Because I need help. I am not a businessperson. And as I want to reach internationally, you are the first person that comes to mind. You studied international business. That’s what you did for years. I want your help and expertise.”

“That’s… asking for a lot.”

“I know. But there’s no one who I would trust more. Your father’s company is as global as they are today because of you. You know what you’re doing. Please. Help me.”

“I just had a baby, Soohyun. Doing this isn’t just going to affect the two of us. Everyone will be impacted. Do we even know if the other members are going to want to continue when they’re out of the military? Hoonmin’s mother is going to get strapped with my children. That’s not fair to them.”

Soohyun was insistent, though. He walked inside quickly and brought Jungsook out. He explained his idea to her. “Soohyunnie, I think it’s a lovely idea. And Serin would be a reasonable choice,” she explained, “but I think Serin wants some time with her children.”

“Please, Serin,” Soohyun begged. “I don’t want to work with anyone else. I trust you. I spent the last half of this year thinking about what I wanted to do when I got out, and this is my dream. I decided a while ago that I wanted you there, as well. I want you to be a part of my company. You can see Hoon. You can come with us overseas. Once everything is in order, you can even bring Eunsook and the new one…”

Serin supplied him with Taekhyun’s name.

“Yeah. Eunsook and Taekhyun can come with you. It’s my company. I make the rules. If you help me build it, it’ll be your company, too. And you can do what you want. Come with us overseas. Bring your children. Spend every day with your husband.”

Now this sounded more promising to her. “You’re not going to change your mind on me and take those privileges away, are you?”

“Why would I?”

“You’re right. You wouldn’t.”

“So do we have a deal then?” Soohyun asked, hopeful.

Serin nodded. “I will help you. We’ll need investors and a business plan. Start drafting it out. I’ll finalize it when you’re done, but the idea is yours. I will support you and help you, but at the moment, I’m going to focus on my children for as long as I can.”

“That sounds fair. I’ll call you if I get stuck. Thank you so much, Serin. For helping me like this.”

Serin shook her head. “Thank me when we’ve got things in order. It’s not going to be a simple task.”

Soohyun stayed for dinner that evening, avoiding talk of the company and his plans and enjoying the companionship of people he hadn’t seen in quite some time. Serin spent the rest of the day and evening thinking things through.

--

Her phone started ringing, and she was just about ready to throw it across the room because if Soohyun called her one more time, she was going to murder him. But she saw the display picture before it left her hands, and she answered it quickly. “Hoonmin-ah,” she said as she answered, breathing out with happiness.

“Hello, Serin-ah,” he told her happily from the other end. “I’m coming to see you today.”

Serin swelled with excitement. “Oh Hoonie! I’ve missed you so much. I can’t wait to see you. When will you be here?”

“Soon,” he told her. “I needed to stop at home before I headed over. It’s really dusty here.”

“I know. We’ll move back in when you come back for good. I just can’t handle living in that place alone with two kids. It’s so empty and lonely, and your mom helps me so much.”

“I know, Serin. How’s my little princess?” he asked.

“As spoiled as ever,” Serin said. “Your mother never misses an opportunity to give that girl what she wants.”

“She’s going to be a handful when she gets older,” Hoon said, groaning. “How’s our son?”

“Just great, Hoonie. He’s already getting so big. I’m glad you’ll finally get to meet him.”

“Me too. I’m looking forward to seeing our Taekhyunnie first hand. And I’m getting back in my car now. I’ll be over shortly so I’m going to go.”

Serin smiled, excited. And then her phone beeped at her. She glanced down at it. An incoming call from Shin Soohyun. Imagine that. He’d have to wait.

“Are you still there?” Hoon asked.

“Ah yeah. Sorry. Soohyun was just calling me. I agreed to help him out, and all he does is pester me all the time.”

“What are you helping him with?” Hoon asked curiously.

“I’ll explain it when you get here. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s here, too. Just come over, and I’ll tell you all about my new project.”

“Alright,” he agreed, saying his goodbyes before heading on his way.

--

Serin was right, of course. She had ignored Soohyun’s call and gotten distracted from calling him back, and so he showed up. “Serin, I wanted to ask you about this one thing, and you didn’t answer so I came over.”

“Soohyun,” she said, obviously irritated with him, “if you’re going to bother me every day for every single thing, you might as well stop and just let me do it on my own. However, I don’t really have time for this today. Hoonmin got a break today, and will be here shortly.”

“Really? Why didn’t he tell me?”

“I don’t know. Maybe he wanted to see his family first and then you guys later if he had time.”

“Hoonbi never said anything though.”

“Soohyun, can you just… give me a little peace? If you want me to help you, you’re going to have to turn down the overbearing just a little bit.”

“How am I being overbearing?”

Eunsook ran up and tugged on Soohyun’s pants, temporarily distracting him. “Up up Soohun oppa!” she said to him, cutely mispronouncing his name.

Serin used this to illustrate her point. “You are here all of the time, interrupting my time with my family, wanting me to look this or that up for you. Eunsook went from being very shy around you to demanding that you pick her up whenever she sees you. You are here way too much.”

“But I just want things to be right. I don’t know exactly what I’m doing. I’m trying my best, but I’m worried.”

“You always are worried,” Serin stressed. “If it makes you feel better, I think my father might be willing to invest. I have to talk to him first, of course.  And we still have to write up some official documents for him, but he’ll be an easier sell than most.”

Soohyun relaxed visibly then. He hadn’t truly considered the possibility that her father would fund them, but now that it was a viable option, the pressure he was feeling waned. “Why didn’t you mention your father before?” he asked.

“Because he’s dealing with some health issues right now, and I don’t want to bother him with this request yet. Work on putting the document together. I’ll fix what needs fixed when you’re done, and go present it to my father with you. Just please, give me a little peace. I was taking a couple months off of work anyway to just take care of Taekhyun. I don’t need you stressing me out until I’m ready for it.”

“I’m sorry, Serin,” he apologized. “I just feel so pressured about the whole thing.”

Serin heard the door open and close and knew instantly that it was Hoonmin. She interrupted Soohyun. “You just stay here for a second with Eunsook,” she told him. “I’ll be right back.”

She dashed through the house, and threw her arms around him as he stood waiting for her. She hugged him as hard as she could, breathing his scent in deeply, and letting the tears of happiness stream down her face. He caught with his and kissed her passionately. Breathless and lightheaded, Serin pulled away finally and pressed her face into his shirt. “I’ve missed you so much.” She sniffled as she tried to stop her tears.

He lifted her face and stared deeply into her light brown eyes. Wiping the tears off her face, he smiled. “I missed you more than I know how to describe. I thought I was used to spending time apart from you, but I wasn’t really, I guess.”

She smiled at him and stepped back, so he could greet his mom who had also walked into the hallway upon hearing the door open, and Soohyun, who had wandered in carrying Eunsook. After hugging his mom tightly, he went to Soohyun and hugged him as well, carefully avoiding pressing against Eunsook too hard. He took his daughter from Soohyun and kissed the top of her head over and over. She recognized his voice more than anything else, and she buried herself into his chest, murmuring “appa” over and over again.

“Hime,” Hoon whispered to her, her head gently. “I missed you too, baby girl.”

He had been so absorbed in his daughter that he hadn’t really notice that Serin had wandered away. At least, not until she came back down the hallway carrying their sleeping son. “This is Taekhyun,” Serin said quietly, trying not to wake him up.

Hoon eyed the boy, before smiling happily. “Can I hold him, too?”

So Serin switched and took Eunsook from him while carefully handing him the baby.

Hoon cooed at his son, and looked thoroughly pleased with himself. “We made quite a handsome son,” he stated.

“So I’ve heard,” Serin said happily. “Why don’t you two go sit down? Then we’ll get you something to eat, as well.”

“I’ve missed both of your cooking,” Hoon said wistfully, referring to both his mother and Serin.

Serin left Eunsook with them and headed to the kitchen to help Jungsook prepare a meal. That left Hoon and Soohyun alone with the two children. “Serin mentioned she’s helping you with something,” Hoon started.

“Ah yes. I’m quite glad for her help.”

“What’s she helping you with?” Hoon asked, curious.

“As my time was drawing to a close, I started wondering what I was going to do. I could re-sign with another company, or I could work on achieving my own dream and starting my own company. I decided what I really wanted to do was start my own company and have all of us on it. I want U-KISS to be a part of my company. But I need help with starting a company. I’m no businessman. So Serin is going to help me.”

“Hyung,” Hoon said dubiously, “Serin has a lot to take care of with two kids and me not being around. She doesn’t need anything extra.”

“I know. I know. But she agreed to help. Kevin and Eli are in on the idea. I haven’t asked Kiseop yet, but I hopefully will get a chance before long. I want to know where you stand. I’ll ask Jaeseop, but I’m pretty sure he won’t. He’s going to move on to other things.”

“You never know. You might get a couple years out of him. It doesn’t hurt to ask.”

“What about you then?”

“Well, I suppose I will. Especially if you and Serin are going to pour in a bunch of effort to set this up for us.”

“It will be an ideal situation for you. Serin has agreed to take the vice president spot, so she can be with us all the time. Work won’t be separating you.”

“Just don’t overwork her, hyung,” Hoon told him seriously. “She can get very… dedicated to her work, so don’t let her throw everything else away to help you. She sometimes needs reminded to take a break.”

“I will, Hoonmin. Don’t worry. She’s like my own sister. I’m going to watch out for her and protect her while you can’t.”

“Thank you.” Hoon watched the boy sleeping in his arms. “He’s a lot less fussy than Eunsook was,” he mused.

“Yeah,” Soohyun agreed. “Serin mentioned a few times that she was getting a lot more sleep than with Eunsook.”

“Ah. That’s good. I worry about her a lot. It was torture when I knew she’d be having the baby at any time, but I didn’t know when, I wouldn’t find out until after the fact. I understand completely why you shouldn’t get married before getting military duty over with.”

“Yeah. Oh, and Hoon, if you feel the need to say your goodbyes tonight, use this,” Soohyun said, fishing through his wallet and tossing a at Hoon. “She doesn’t need to have another baby while you’re away.”

Hoon’s ears turned red, but he nodded his understanding, and tucked the package into back pocket. “Thanks, hyung,” he said, embarrassed. Hoonbi casually strolled into the living room then, and Eunsook rushed to him.

“Hunbi oppa!” she said excitedly.  “Appa!” she told him, pointing excitedly at Hoon.

Hoonbi smiled at her and picked her up. “Your appa is here, Eunsookie. With your brother.”

She touched his face happily and babbled about nothing in particular. “Yo Hoonmin, Soohyun,” he said. “Soohyun told me you were back, and I decided to come on over. I’m sure Mom is hard at work on dinner for you, and I’m not missing out on that.”

“So you only came for dinner?”

“Of course, I came to see you, too,” he said, playfully tousling his younger brother’s hair as he stood behind him. Hoon spent as much of the day as possible with his children. Playing with Eunsook, telling her that he had to leave again, but he would come home to her whenever he could and that before she knew it, he’d be back with her. He made sure to hold his son as much as possible. He wouldn’t have many more chances, and he didn’t want to waste the opportunity. He didn’t know how to interact with his 8-week-old son, but he figured it didn’t matter much. The infant wouldn’t remember. It was more to have a personal memory of his son as a baby. So he relaxed with his family and ate and had a good time.

When everyone had gone to bed, and time was short, he was grateful for Soohyun’s foresight. Passionately, desperately he made love to his wife, apologizing for all of the wrongs he’d brought upon her, all the times he couldn’t be by her side, and left her disappointed and swearing his eternal love. When she was asleep, he got up, got dressed, checked on his sleeping children, and left.

--

Serin and Soohyun stood side by side in her father’s office. After weeks of research, Serin had the figures she wanted, and a plan for future growth. And now was the moment of truth. Her father was likely to do this simply because she was asking, but he was also a businessman. If it didn’t make monetary sense to him, he wasn’t going to bite.

“So you want to start your own company, Soohyun-ssi?”

Soohyun nervously nodded beside her, saying, “Yes, sir.”

“So why are you here then?” he asked Serin.

Serin straightened up and cleared . “I want to suggest a new business endeavor. To expand your company into more markets. To start with, the company is just going to have U-KISS. Legally, we may have to change their name, but 5 of the 6 have verbally stated that they want to join this company. That’s puts you at a major advantage. You don’t have to grow a company with a group that’s unheard of.”

“That might be true, Serin, but their contracts are going to cost more, as well. What sort of money are we looking at?”

Serin handed him the folder in her hands. He skimmed through it quickly. “I’ll have to give this more thought. It’s not a small investment you’re asking me to make. It could very well be a good investment, but I can’t just invest funds without talking to the board first. You’ll have to wait awhile until I can give you an answer.”

“Yes, Hyunsu-ssi,” Soohyun said, bowing.

Serin stood her ground proudly.  “I have faith you’ll push this through for me, Daddy. You know as well as I do that ever since you moved my position in the company, I haven’t contributed much. I want this. I want a chance to push a fledgling company to success again.”

Hyunsu nodded. “If I get this through for you, I want you to take your younger brother with you. He’s not doing much with that fashion degree he’s got, and this might be a good opportunity for him to expand his skills.”

Serin nodded at him. “We can do that for you.”

Hyunsu set the folder down on his desk then and switched from business mode to father mode. “How are my grandkids?”

“They’re doing just fine. I’ll bring them around sometime for you to play with. Taekhyun is getting so big now.”

--

Kevin read the false article, aghast that anyone would say that Serin was seeing Soohyun on the side. Rumors always circulated, and haters would always have negative things to say, but this was entirely too far. Deanna had called him earlier to tell him about it, worried. He was sitting in the practice room with Eli and Soohyun.  The three were planning to do a subunit in Japan in the near future and so were preparing. All of them had worked on the song together, Serin included. Because it was a ballad, they didn’t have a dance, but they practiced poses while singing in the practice room. They’d taken a bit of a break when Kevin had gotten the call from Deanna. He had, immediately started reading the article.

Soohyun walked over to him, curious about the look of dismay on Kevin’s face. “What’s up?” he asked.

Kevin panicked on the inside. It wasn’t like he could hide it, so he just showed his leader his phone. Soohyun read the article with a stern look on his face, before shoving the phone at Eli. Eli skimmed it quickly, looking up at the both of them in shock. “What is this?” he asked, voice rimmed with righteous anger.

“People misreading a situation,” Soohyun said evenly, though it was obvious he was hurt at the accusation that he or Serin would do such a thing.

“Serin-noona is going to be upset when she sees,” Kevin said.

Soohyun nodded. “We need to address this rumor immediately. And I guess I won’t be having any dinner meetings with her over company matters any more.”

Eli was still angry though. Kevin could see it in his posture. “You don’t have to explain anything,” he said adamantly. “She’s the vice president of this company. You are the president. The two of you have matters to discuss. They shouldn’t be prying, much less jumping to conclusions when you spend time together.”

“Calm down, Eli,” Soohyun instructed.

“I won’t. Dongho left because of netizen comments. We’ve all been hurt by rumors. I will not sit by and watch all of us get hurt again because people are stupid.”

“Eli,” Kevin said carefully, “calm down.”

He didn’t though, tromping out of the room with phone in hand. Kevin was going to follow him, but Soohyun put a hand on his shoulder. “Leave him.”

“What are we going to do, hyung?”

“Explain it as best as we can.”

--

Serin was, understandably, quite upset. If her workload wasn’t as important, she’d have not gone to work for a few days. She did, however, make sure she brought her children with her for the next few days, They offered her some protection from people intruding on her privacy. They had immediately denied the claims the magazine had made, stating that they would not be afraid to sue them for libel should such defamations of character continue to be published.

Serin was aware that Eli was upset about it. After the article had been published online, Netizens had taken it upon themselves to find “proof” that the story was true. If one thing angered Eli more than anything, it was Netizens making false claims and judgmental comments, especially when they involved someone he cared about. “Don’t pay them any mind, Serin,” he told her as she worked in her office.

“I try not to. They are wrong. All of you have defended me. Even your KissMes have defended both Soohyun and me. I appreciate it. Honestly, I feel more accepted now that I did before. It’s just kind of hard to go out in public right now.”

Kevin walked in then, as well, looking for Eli and catching the tail end of the conversation. “They’ll all stop caring before long. And it won’t be an issue in 8 months when Hoon gets back. You two will be together a lot. I don’t think anyone will jump to false conclusions then.”

“Yeah. I’ll play it safer until then. Soohyun and I decided to have meetings here. So we can argue more about finances and employees and what the future plans are.”

“Well,” Kevin said, “we should all be in on the future plan talks.”

“For sure, we’ll include you. We’re just trying to get by right now. There’s barely any income. I don’t want to push you so hard you get sick or burned out.”

“Serin,” Eli said seriously, “we can handle it.”

She nodded, taking his words into consideration. “We’re still working on your practice room and contracts. For now we have to select your activities carefully because we can’t afford to dress you and style you and send you out too awful much.”

They nodded, seeming glum. Soohyun stepped into the doorway then. “What are you all discussing?”

“Business,” Serin said. “You all should get back to work. I have a conference call here shortly.”

Despite whatever financial issues their fledgling business was facing, Eli was at least a little glad that Serin was so focused on pushing them forward and not dwelling on the rumors. They had done all they could to dismiss them. The only thing that remained was moving on while hoping that the general public figured out that the rumors were blatant lies or simply forgot about them entirely.