“How is everything?” Hoon asked gently over the phone.

“As good as can be expected,” Serin answered, reserved. “Grandma is all moved in with my aunt and uncle already. Not having Grandpa around is going to be hard on her.”

“How are you?” he asked, just as gently as before. It was a tough time for her, and he wished he could have gone to the US with her for her grandfather’s funeral. He, however, could not get out of his scheduled activities, so the kids had spent a few days with his parents, and Serin had gone to the States without him. He was at least glad that she had gone with her dad, brothers, and Amanda. That way she at least had support during the entire trip.

“I’m fine,” she said. “Tired. Upset.”

“I wish I could be with you,” he responded soothingly.

“I know. How are Eunsook and Taekhyun?”

“I picked them up this afternoon. They’re both sleeping right now. They miss you.”

“Appa…” Eunsook called, wandering into the living room, rubbing her eyes.

“Oh,” he told Serin, “Eunsook is up.” He turned his focus to his daughter. “What’s wrong, Hime?”

“I wanna talk to Mama,” she said, holding out her hands for his phone. He handed the six-year-old the phone after informing Serin that Eunsook wanted to talk to her.

“Hi, Eunsookie,” Serin said, lightly.

“Mama!” Eunsook exclaimed, excited. “When will you be home?”

“Soon, honey. I miss you so much. Have you been taking care of your brother?”

“Mmhmm,” she acknowledged before giggling.

“Has Appa been taking good care of you?”

“Yep,” she answered. “Appa made us dinner and then played piano for me. He even taught me a song. It was a lot of fun.”

“What did he make for dinner?”

“Bulgogi.”

“What else did you have with it?” Serin questioned then.

As the phone was on speakerphone, Hoon had heard the question, and he started to feel nervous. She wasn’t going to be happy with Eunsook’s answer. “Just bulgogi. Appa said eating lots of protein is important.”

“Mmm…” Serin answered. “Protein is important, but you need vegetables too. And rice.”

“Yes, Mama,” Eunsook agreed.

“Now, you should be sleeping, shouldn’t you? It’s way past your bedtime.”

“Yes, Mama.”

“Give the phone back to Appa and go to bed. I’ll see you in a few days, Eunsookie. Love you.”

“Love you too, Mama,” she said before dutifully doing as requested.

Hoon took a deep, steadying breath before speaking. “Serin, listen—“

“Hoonmin,” she cut him off, “I honestly don’t care if you only ever eat protein for the rest of you life. But you cannot be feeding such an unbalanced diet to our children.”

He didn’t want to argue with her, especially since he knew she was right. “We ran out of kimchi, and I forgot to start the rice,” he explained. “I know it’s important that they eat more than just meat. But just one night of an all-protein meal won’t hurt them.”

“Well yes,” she said calmly. “However, it seems that every time you are left to feed them a meal on your own, you skip out on the vegetables.”

“I do usually give them rice,” he defended. “I was rushed this evening. I’m sorry. I don’t want to make you more upset, especially over something this trivial.”

She was silent for a long moment. He was starting to feel uncomfortable, wondering what to say when she heaved a sign on the other end of the line. “I should have made side dishes before I left. Then you’d have vegetables for them.”

“You had to leave really last minute. I’ll make sure I get them vegetables tomorrow. I’ll ask my mom to help me out.”

“Thank you,” Serin said, relieved. “And I’m sorry for jumping your case over this. The last few days have been really hard.”

“I know,” Hoon assured her gently. “He meant a lot to you. I’ll miss him, too.”

He heard her stifling her tears on the other end of the phone. His heart ached for her, and more than anything, he wished he could wrap her in his arms and tell her that everything would be okay. He couldn’t, and it was almost more than he could bear to listen to her fighting her tears back from the other side of the world and not be able to do anything for her. “I love you,” he told her gently. “I wish I could hug you right now.” He said it seriously, expressing his deep desire to comfort her.

She was silent for a moment, composing herself. “Thank you. I love you, too.”

Hoon heard someone in the background begin to speak rather loudly to Serin then. He assumed it was Amanda, as she was fairly loud, and they were sharing a room for the trip. Serin responded to the person in English; it was muffled so he didn’t really understand. “Hey, Hoonie, I have to go. I’ll see you in two days, okay?”

“Yep,” he answered. “I can’t wait to see you again.”

“Make sure you get Eunsook and Taekhyun their vegetables.”

“Yes, love,” Hoon agreed.

With that, she said goodbye, and Hoon readied himself for bed, looking forward to her arrival home in nearly 44 hours.