“Say hello to your grandparents kids” Jinyoung said when carrying his parents luggage to the guest room with the help of Shinwoo “be nice”

“Hi” Junghwan said, Gongchan bowed and Sunwoo didn’t even move.

“Hello” they replied, uncomfortable.

It kept like this all evening. Lunch was silent, nobody talked much or even smiled, and Shinwoo left early to do the dishes. Kids went to play with David as soon as they were allowed to leave the table, and Jinyoung was all silent, sitting with his parents in the living couch.

“You look tired” his mom said, trying to do small talk

“I am” he said dryly.

“Are you having marital problems?”

Both Jinyoung and his dad tensed up when they heard this, not wanting to talk about it, but she insisted “you didn’t seem happy at lunch”

“We’re not having problems.”

“It doesn’t look like it”

“Well that doesn’t seem to be my problem, mom”

In that moment, Shinwoo crossed the room in direction to the bedrooms, not even caring to look at them. Jinyoung felt a knot in his chest. He stared at the floor for what he felt were years until he heard footsteps coming, not only adult footsteps, but also child’s.

“I’m taking the kids to the park” Shinwoo said. It wasn’t a question, he didn’t invite him to go either, he wasn’t even looking at him. He was just making sure he knew.

“Fine” Jinyoung said, without knowing why it felt so bitter in his mouth.

“We’ll be back in an hour or so”

“It’s okay”

But it wasn’t.

“Eomma” Channie said as soon as they closed the door behind them “why isn’t appa coming with us?”

“Because he has to stay with his parents” said Shinwoo, avoiding eye contact.

“But who’s going to push me in the swings?” Junghwan asked, worried

“I’ll do” Eomma assured

“But then who’s going to push me? And Channie?” Sunwoo protested

“Me, too. You’ll take turns”

“But it’s not funny that way” Sunwoo kept complaining

“Don’t push too far, Jung Sunwoo”

The kids looked at each other, uncertain of what to do next; their eomma almost never lost his patience, maybe once or twice in their lives, but never more. Jinyoung appa seemed weird, too, because he hadn’t kissed their eomma when they left, and they always kissed, no matter what. All of a sudden, the park didn’t seem so fun anymore.

They went to the park anyway, and they played in the sand box and in the slides and even sat in the swings, but it just wasn’t the same; no one was laughing and his eomma didn’t offered them ice cream from the truck and also no one asked, because all they wanted to do was to go home. Lucky it started to rain. Shinwoo opened the backpack he always carried when they went out and took out the coats for the kids, he gave one to Sunwoo and other to Junghwan while he helped Gongchannie to put on his own, the rain drops falling fast.

A chubby hand poked his side “Eomma, this won’t fit”

“What? Why? It fitted alright yesterday” Shinwoo said, his eyes still fixed on Gongchan

“I think it’s not my coat” Junghwan insisted “I can’t put it on”

Shinwoo turned back and immediately saw the problem, he had brought one of Gongchan’s coats and even if he and Junghwan were almost the same height, Junghwan was still bigger than his brother and couldn’t made it into the coat.

“” Shinwoo muttered, careful that his kids didn’t listen, there was no way his kid could fit in there “ everything”

“Eomma I’m cold” Junghwan said, his sweater wet with the rain drops

“I know, I’m sorry” he said, desperate “Let’s just run home”

Shinwoo took his youngest son princess style and the kids ran behind him, fighting against the water that fell stronger than ever. Junghwan was trembling on his side, and the other two kids weren’t much better than himself. They barely knock off the door when they got home.

Junghwan and Sunwoo entered the house as fast as lighting, wetting the wooden floor under their feet. Shinwoo left little Chan on the floor, while he dried his hair himself with his hands. Jinyoung looked at them all with a frown on his face, and if you looked at living room, you could see Mr. and Mrs. Jung, with a look of supremacy on their faces, like saying “this happens when you do not know how to raise your child”. Shinwoo walked to his bedroom without a word and closed the door behind him without a noise. Jinyoung looked at their kids, wet, and sighed at the sight.

“To the bathtub”

“But I want warm milk, I’m cold appa” Junghwan asked

“I know, you’ll have it, but first a bath” he said, no questions allowed

In a twisted way, Jinyoung was happy they had break into the house in that precise moment. Things were getting really awkward with his parents; had he ever liked a girl? Had he ever kissed one? Did he think he liked boys because his dad was never home when he was young? They could pay therapy to fix him. All things he didn’t want to talk about it; all useless. But he was also mad, because Shinwoo was acting weird, and he wasn’t helping.

“Ah choo!”

“I think you’ve caught a cold, Hwannie” Jinyoung was filling the bathtub with hot water, and the kids were waiting, , in the corner of the bathroom

“I’m okay appa” he said, about to sneeze again

“We’ll see”

They were quiet this time, they were too cold inside for any kind of playing and when they got into the tub all they could do was spaz out. Jinyoung shampooed them, being ultra careful of not getting soap in their eyes; they were playing with the bubbles. That’s when Shinwoo entered the bathroom, with his hair wet and new clothes, ready to help.

“Do you need an extra hand?” he asked

“No, we’re fine” again, Jinyoung find himself being bitter without not wanting to

“You’re just one and they’re three” he observed

“I said I’m fine”

“Fine” he said, and started to leave

“Yes, just do that, leave as you did before” Jinyoung muttered

“What did you say?”

“Nothing”

“I heard it”

“So why are you asking?”

“I wanted to be sure” Shinwoo replied, a severe tone in his voice

“You heard what you heard” Jinyoung said “now, go”

“Why are you acting like this?”

Jinyoung stood up, forgetting that the kids were behind him, hearing everything and he just let it go “Because you were the one who were acting like an , you were the one who took the kids out in the rain and now Junghwan has a cold!

Shinwoo lost it “HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW IT WAS GOING TO RAIN?”

“YOU COULD’VE LOOK AT THE SKY!”

“YOU COULD TOO!”

“YOU WERE THE ONE WHO LEFT WITHOUT SAYING ANYTHING”

“IT’S BECAUSE I DON’T WANT OUR KIDS BEING WITH THOSE MONSTERS”

“THOSE MONSTERS ARE MY PARENTS!” Jinyoung screamed and something inside him broke “…And I thought I had you by my side no matter what”

“Jinyoung…”

“Leave me alone, Shinwoo. Don’t ing touch me” he said when his spouse tried to stop him when he was leaving the room. Junghwan, Sunwoo and Gongchan remained silent, their hearts almost completely quiet and their hands held together under the water, that was already getting cold. Shinwoo stared at the wall for what it seemed minutes and finally noticed the kids in the tub, he didn’t say anything, he just put towels around his bodies and sent them to their room. That night they could put their pajamas on their own.

Shinwoo took the car out that night and drove around the city with the radio on “I thought I had you by my side no matter what”, the words Jinyoung spoke won’t get out of his head but he wasn’t sure what to think about them. Is not that he had left Jinyoung alone, he was just protecting their children, that was his priority and he was hurt Jinyoung couldn’t see it.

Jinyoung was making dinner, he wasn’t used to cook and he didn’t want to, but the kids had to eat so he had no choice. Luckily his parents had go out to have dinner, they wanted to be alone before the surgery and he thought he understood, after all, if Shinwoo would be going to get a surgery, he’d like to spend time with him. Shinwoo… he hated to be mad at him, they almost never fought but he just couldn’t stand it, how could he leave him alone with his dad after all the things that happened? How could he ignore his feelings like that? He acted like he didn’t even care at all. And then he didn’t even help to bath the kids. And even worse, he disappeared after the fight, leaving him all alone again. It just wasn’t fair.

Dinner was as quiet as lunch, or even worse, because eomma wasn’t there and appa wasn’t eating. So they ate fast, wanting to leave the table as soon as possible. Jinyoung appa was massaging the sides of his head and that’s what he always did when he was mad at them, but he wasn’t even looking at them, he was staring blankly at the table.

“Appa” Junghwan dared to speak “aren’t you hungry?”

“What? Oh, no, Junghwan, I’m not”

“You can share with me if you want” said little Chan, lending him the chopsticks

“I’m fine baby, now, go to your room okay?”

“But I’m not finished ye-“ Junghwan was interrupted by his brother elbowing him hard “okay”

They left almost running, worried and when they got to their room they hid in their secret place; under Gongchan’s bed.

“Don’t you think eomma is ever coming back?” Junghwan asked his brothers when a few silent minutes had passed, only interrupted by his sneezes

“Of course, dummie. He won’t leave us” Sunwoo said, but he didn’t seem so sure

“They had a really big fight” Channie commented

“Do you think they’ll get divorced??”

“Deullie stop!”

“But you heard them screaming! It was scary”

Sunwoo remained silent. Gongchan was poking his brother’s arm fat, which he did when he was thinking or nervous. Junghwan didn’t seem to mind.

“We have to do something” the youngest finally said

“What do you mean?” Junghwan asked, he was falling asleep because of the poking and the food on his belly “What can we do?”

“Wake up pabo, this is important” Sunwoo said, even if he had no ideas

“We have to make them like each other again”

“How do we do that?”

Channie sighed “You’ll see…”

It was past midnight when Shinwoo got home from the highways, he knew Jinyoung wasn’t asleep but the kids for sure were and Mr and Mrs Jung probably were in the guest room so it was the safest time to get home.

He found a bouquet of garden flowers in the keys table next to the door, with a note that simply said “Mianheyo” (sorry). He smiled to himself, confused, it wasn’t very Jinyoung-like to do something like this after a fight but he could get used to it. Maybe he had to say he was sorry, too. Show that he cared.

He entered the room quietly and saw Jinyoung half asleep in bed, he leaned over him and muttered “I’m sorry too” Jinyoung woke up a little and looked at him strangely, not knowing if he had heard him well. Shinwoo spoke again

“I never should’ve leave you alone, I was just trying to protect our babies and I didn’t think of how you would feel. And maybe I was a little upset about them being in our house but I understand is something you have to do, and I’m really sorry I acted like an , so I’m sorry too”

“Why do you say too?” Jinyoung asked, confused

“Because you left this on the key table” Shinwoo said, showing him the flowers

Jinyoung looked at them with a serious expression on his face, and then smiled a little at his own expense “That’s Junghwan’s handwriting”

Shinwoo looked at the note twice and wondered how on earth was he so dumb not to see it; maybe he didn’t want to. Maybe he wanted to believe.

“So you’re not sorry” he finally said

Jinyoung was silent. Shinwoo stopped looking at him at one point, and headed to the bathroom to have a shower

“Wait” Jinyoung called him, standing up “I am. I didn’t do the flower thing but I am sorry I yelled and I’m sorry I didn’t understand what you wanted to do”

“I’m sorry I yelled too” Shinwoo said, shyly, and Jinyoung could see some of the boy he had fallen in love twelve years ago. The shy, quiet teenager that now was the man he loved. “I’m sorry I don’t like your parents”

“I’m sorry my parents treat us all like . Now, come here, you have something in your eye” Jinyoung said

“What?”

“My lips” Jinyoung said before kissing him hard. Shinwoo kissed him back, but not for long because they heard something coming from the closet, a voice, two voices. Maybe three. Then a sneeze.

“It’s so gross!” that was Sunwoo, who was looking through the closet doors “They’re kissing”

“Eww”

“Hyungs, please”

“Who’s in there?” Someone asked from outside, it was Jinyoung appa

“Shhhhhhh” Jungwhan said

“Shut up, Deullie”

“I’m goint to shot the door” Jinyoung talked again “I don’t want anyone inside my closet”

“Do we have a gun???” Sandeul asked

“We’re going to die”

“This was your idea” Sunwoo accused Gongchan

Outside, Jinyoung and Shinwoo heard everything, and were holding a laugh. Jinyoung hit the door with a pillow and that was when the three of them started to scream.

“You’re so cruel” Shinwoo said “meanie” he opened the closet and found the boys with his eyes shut, holding onto the other, hiding their heads. He smiled at the cuteness. “We know it’s you. Get out”

Sandeul, Baro and Gongchan left the closet in a hurry, careful of not to look at their parents. Have they messed up again? They were just trying to help.

“What were you doing in there guys? You know you should be sleeping” Shinwoo asked with the most serious face he could handle

Nobody said a thing.

“Also, why did you lie to us and put the flowers there? You know lying is bad.”

Lucky the kids were looking down, ‘cause up there, Jinyoung was smiling widely.

“You were getting a divorce” Sunwoo said

“We just wanted to help” added his twin “It was Gongchan’s idea”

“Traitor” he muttered

“You’re the oldest, why do you obey your brother?” Jinyoung asked. Sandeul just gulped.

“We thought you’d be happy” Sunwoo tried to explain “We’re sorry”

It was too much, Shinwoo and Jinyoung started to laugh. The kids gave each other confused looks.

“You’re all so cute” Jinyoung said, pinching Junghwan cheeks “You seriously believed you were in trouble”

“You were messing up with us!” Sunwoo accused them

“A little”

“Come here Channie, my baby boy” Shinwoo held him tight, kissing him all over

Junghwan tried to speak while his appa was pinching his cheeks “So you’re not getting a divorce?”

Shinwoo and Jinyoung looked at each other, deeply and loving, and they knew they could get past this, get over a lot of things.

“We’re not” Jinyoung said and he left his son’s cheeks alone to focus on his husband’s lips.