The rainy weather made it perfect to sleep in, and Jihyo was thankful that her schedule started in the late afternoon. When she wasn’t working, she would usually be up by 8, however, she was tired out from yesterday and she was still asleep at 9.

The children too, woke up slightly after their normal waking time because of the cool weather. Jiyoung played in their room for a while until Ji-ohn woke up.

“Oppa?” she called, rubbing her sleepy eyes. Her hair was messy from the sleep so she carelessly brushed it away from her face.

Jiyoung put down his toys and went over to her. She reached out to hold him and he let her.

“Good morning,” she smiled.

They played inside for a while, thinking that Gary or Jihyo would come in, like they usually did. However, after 10 minutes or so, no one came in. Finding it strange, they went out to find them instead.

First they checked the kitchen, but they were not there. So they went to their parents’ bedroom instead. Their door weren’t closed, as usual, so that Jiyoung and Ji-ohn could come in and find them if they wanted to.

“Is appa here?” Ji-ohn asked, since she couldn’t see herself.

Jiyoung nodded. Gary was still sleeping and Jihyo was hugging his arm like a pillow. “Eung. Eomma do,” he said delightedly, scampering over to her side of the bed. Ji-ohn followed behind excitedly.

“Eomma,” she squealed, climbing up the bed. Jihyo stirred awake and turned her body to face her daughter.

Ji-ohn climbed up her stomach and laid her head on Jihyo’s chest. Jihyo put her hand around the little girl.

“Good morning baby,” she said, eyes still closed. Ji-ohn shifted to kiss her lips and let herself fall back down on her mother again. Her mother laughed and patted her head.

Jiyoung laid on Jihyo’s side, between her and Gary. She let go of Gary’s arm she had been holding and put it over Jiyoung instead.

“Good morning, sweetie,” she greeted him too. Jiyoung too, gave her a morning kiss on her lips. 

“Are you hungry?” she asked them. They nodded.

“Why is appa still sleeping?” Ji-ohn asked.

Jihyo chuckled, blushing slightly. “He’s tired,” she simply stated.

“From?”

Jihyo’s cheeks got redder. Just then, Gary woke up to save her from the questioning. He pulled Ji-ohn over to him as she giggled. Jihyo put the hands over Jiyoung so his sister wouldn’t step on him.

Have you been awake all this while? She asked, laughing at him.

“I’ll go and make breakfast,” she said, laughing at her husband and her children playing together.

“No, I’ll make them. You should rest,” he insisted, carrying Ji-ohn off his stomach as he got out of bed.

Shortly after breakfast, the storm reduced to a small drizzle.

“Should we go for a walk?” Gary asked Jihyo.

“Huh?”

“It was been long since we took a stroll in the park together,” he said, emphasizing the word ‘together’. Jihyo felt slightly guilty. But it was still drizzling, so Jihyo didn’t really want her kids to go out.

“They’d look cute in raincoats,” he suggested, as he left for a moment to take to raincoats out from their drawer.

She laughed as she held the raincoats out. One was a yellow, with a duckling head for the hood, while the other one was green, with an alligator head for the hood. Both were very oversized.

“When did you buy these?”

He shrugged. “Not long ago,” he said. “When we went to the supermarket.”

They dressed the kids into their rainwear. They looked adorably tiny in their animal raincoats, which went all the way down to their ankle. Jiyoung was in the alligator one and Ji-ohn was in the duckling one.

The children were uncomfortable with the strange material and started whining and resisting. Plus, it was hot wearing raincoats indoors. And the boots also made it hard to walk.

But Jihyo soon got them so be hyped up.

“Whoaaa, Jiyoung ah, you’ve became an alligator!” she said in an excited tone, asking him to look into the mirror.

He stopped his whining and looked into the mirror. “Ageo iya!” he said, pointing to his hoodie.

“Do you remember the alligator song?”

Jiyoung nodded and started singing, “Jeong geul supeul jinaseo kaga, eonggeum eonggeum ginaseo kaja…”  (Eng translation: Let’s walk through the jungle, lets walk by creeping along)

Ji-ohn shook her head left and right along with the rhythm and sang along. “Neup jidaereul jinaseo kamyeon, ageoddeka na olla.” (if you reach a swamp, the alligators come out.)

“Ageodde!” they squealed, as it was their favourite part, clasping their hands together to imitate the mouth of the alligator.

Jihyo too, clasped her hands around Jiyoung’s waist, and he laughed. Ji-ohn laughed hearing her brother laugh. Soon, they were not upset anymore.

They went down, bringing Daeyang along too. This time, instead of letting the kids walk in front by themselves, Gary and Jihyo held their hands because they were afraid that it would be too slippery for them. Gary held Ji-ohn, and she held onto Daeyang’s leash with her free hand. Jihyo was beside Gary, sharing an umbrella with him since they weren’t wearing raincoats. She held Jiyoung’s hand with her other hand.

“Eomma, why are you not wearing this? Appa do?” Jiyoung asked.

Jihyo pondered for a while. “Because we have the umbrella.”

Hearing their conversation, Ji-ohn joined in. “But why can’t we use the umbrella and not wear this?”

“Because umbrellas are for adults only,” Gary said.

“Wae?”

“Because it’s like this.”

Jihyo rolled her eyes at her husband's failed attempts at explaining.

“Uh… because some things are only for adults,” she said. “For example, only adults can cook and work and drive and become eomma and appa, right?”

The kids nodded. She smiled, glad that there were satisfied with her answers.

How can you make nonsense so believable? Gary thought to her, laughing.

She hit him lightly on the arm, ignoring his question.

They let the children jump in and out of the puddles, splashing water all over. They giggled when the water splashed onto their legs and jumped even harder. The parents just smiled watching their kids enjoy themselves so heartily.

“Jiyoung-ah, Ji-ohn ah, next Tuesday, when eomma has no work, shall we go to the pool? There will be a lot a lot of water where you can play in!”

“Ne!” they answered enthusiastically. Gary and Jihyo brought them to the pool once, when they were much younger, probably around 1 year ago. Back then, they were too afraid and too young to enjoy properly.

Gary looked at Jihyo. “You have no work next Tuesday?” he asked.

“Eung, the producers and writers are having some meeting, so we don’t have filming scheduled on that day.”

“Then you should take a rest, yeobo.”

“Ani kwenchana,” she said, brushing his concerns off. She knew he knew she was tired from filming, but she missed playing with her children as well.

They walked for a while more, before turning to walk back home. Along their way home, they saw a rainbow, after the rain has stopped and the sky has cleared.

“Omo, oppa look, a rainbow!” Jihyo exclaimed, pointing in the sky. It formed a pretty arc in the sky, even though not all colours could be clearly seen. The more obvious ones red, yellow, blue. But it was still a beautiful sight to behold.

“Jiyoung-ah, look, rainbow!” Jihyo told him. It was his first time seeing the rainbow, so he was quite in awe.

Ji-ohn listened to them admiring the rainbow, curious because she can’t see.

“What does it look like?” Ji-ohn asked.

Jihyo carried her up and caressed Ji-ohn’s hair as she explained.  “There are many colours in the rainbow. Red, like the colours of strawberries and apples; orange, like the colour of orange and carrots; yellow, like the colour of the sun and mangoes; green, like the colour of the trees and grass; blue, like the colour of Pororo and the sky; and purple like the colour of grapes.”

“It must be beautiful,” she said softly.

Jihyo nodded. Her heart ached a little at the reminder that Ji-ohn could never see a rainbow, or the sunset, or any other pretty things in nature. “Eo, it is. How did you know?” she asked.

She thought for a while. “Because things that make my eomma happy must be beautiful.”

Jihyo felt her chest tightened and her eyes get warm with tears. At a loss of what to say, she could only tighten her hug around Ji-ohn.

After lunch, it was time for Jihyo to leave for work.

The kids started to whine again.  They thought that she wasn’t going out today because she spent the entire morning playing with them. It was hard letting Jihyo go again.

Jiyoung clung onto Jihyo’s slender legs tightly, not wanting her to go out again. It had been a week without his mother already, and he missed her.

“Eomma, no, no,” he said, tearing up.

Jihyo bent down to his height. “Young-ah, stay at home with appa okay? Eomma needs to go to work, okay?”

He threw his tiny arms around her neck. “But I will miss you.”

Gary bent down too, to pry Jiyoung’s hands away from Jihyo’s neck.

“Eomma will be back later, let her go first, okay?”

Jiyoung let Gary carry him away. He knew he couldn’t resist him. He sobbed into his father’s chest.

Don’t worry. I’ll take care him, he thought to Jihyo.

Jihyo cast a final worried glance at them before leaving. Ji-ohn went over to Jiyoung, patting his legs. “Oppa uljima,” she said.

Gary scooped her arm with his other arm. Now that she was at the same height at Jiyoung, she put her face close to his.

“Uljima,” she repeated. “We’ll see eomma soon,” she said.

Gary sat the children down in their playroom to get them ready for their naptime. Jiyoung fell asleep quickly, because of all the crying. Ji-ohn fell asleep shortly after Jiyoung slept.

Instead of sleeping, Gary had other plans. He was going to make some kimbap for dinner. It was a lot of work. But he smiled as he thought of his plan. It would be worth it.

He first cooked some rice. While waiting for the rice to be ready, he beat and fried the eggs, and cut the fried eggs into strips. Then he also sliced the carrots into thin strips before frying it. Next, he sliced the cucumber. Shortly after, the rice was ready, so he took out the rice for it to cool a bit, he fried some meat and also boiled some crab sticks and sausages. He took out the roasted seaweed and placed it on the bamboo mat, before spreading the rice over the seaweed.  He then seasoned the rice blanket by brushing some sesame oil over it and sprinkled a pinch of salt on it. Finally, he placed the ingredients on the rice, ready to roll his first kimbap. By then, it was close to 5pm and the kids woke up.

He was rolling his third kimbap when they came out of their room.

“Appa,” Jiyoung said, with Ji-ohn tailing behind.

Gary hasn’t looked up from the rolling yet. “Oh, you are awake so early?” he asked. When he was done, he looked up and say that Ji-ohn was awake too. He glanced over at the clock and realised that it was almost 5pm.

“Whoa, it’s so late already?!” he exclaimed. I must have overestimated my speed.

“What are you doing?” Jiyoung asked.

“Making kimbap. Do you want to help appa?”

The kids nodded. Gary smiled. He brought them to wash their hands and then carried them up their chairs. He guided them how to roll the kimbap, Jiyoung first, then Ji-ohn.

There were many different kinds, since they could combine any ingredients together. He allocated three rolls of kimbaps for the kids to eat. One was with sausages and egg, the other with the crabstick and cucumber, and the last was filled with cheese. The other kimbaps had other fillings, like spinach, meat, kimchi etc.

Jiyoung looked up after a while.

“Why are we making so many?”

Gary smiled. “Can you count for appa how many are there?”

Jiyoung nodded. “Hana,” he said, pointing to the one he was rolling. “Dul, set,” he continued, pointing to the ones Ji-ohn and Gary were rolling. “Net, daseot, yeoseot, ilgop, yeodol, ahop… yeol…” he paused, looking at Gary.

“Yeolhana,” he prompted.

“Yeolhana, yeoldul….yeolset. Yeolset gae.”

“Whoa, uri Jiyoung is so clever,” Gary praised him. “We are bringing this out later,” he said.

“Eodi?”

“Secret,” he said, smiling to himself.

He sliced up the kimbaps and packed them into containers. By then, it was almost seven, so he gave the children some of their kimbap first, otherwise they would be very hungry. Then, he also packed the rest into their lunch boxes.

He changed them out of their pyjamas into a white shirt and blue overalls. He kept them entertained for a while by playing the nursery rhymes CD, while he went for a quick shower. He then made a few calls to confirm something, before finally setting off with the children at half-past seven.

The children didn’t know where they were going, but were still excited, because anywhere was fun with their daddy.

“Jiyoung-ah, Ji-ohn ah, do you know where were are going?” he asked, as he buckled their seatbelts on their baby seat.

They shook their heads.

“We’re going to find your eomma,” he said, finally letting the cat out of the bag.

“Really?” Jiyoung asked, delighted and clapping his hands.

“Yes, keulaeseo, you must be good later ok? Because your eomma’s workplace has a lot a lot of people and things. So don’t run about, ok?”

“Ne!”

“And you must greet the samchons and imos that you see, arrasseo?”

“Ne!”

Gary smiled as he drived towards his destination. Before he reached the filing set, he got off to grab a cup of Americano for Jihyo. He knew they were going to pull an all-nighter that night, since they started late. She would definitely need something to wake her up.

He reached the filming set at around 9 pm. He parked his car about 100 metres from the set. He switched off his engine and winded down the windows for Jiyoung to see more clearly, since their windows were made of tinted glass.

“Jiyoung-ah, can you see eomma?” 

She was quite far away, and he couldn’t see her face clearly. But he recognised her figure and her vibe. “Ne!” he nodded confidently.

“Eomma is still working, we wait for her to take a break, then we go and find her ok?”

“Ne!”

At the filming site, Jihyo just completed her scene. She felt Gary’s presence and she smiled, knowing that he was nearby. She followed her gut feeling and walked towards Gary’s car. In the car, he dozed off since he missed the naptime he usually took.

She knocked on the door excitedly and Gary woke up, winding down the window.

“Oppa!” she squealed!

At the same time, the children squealed for her.

Gary opened the door and went out to hug her.

“Why did you come here?” she asked, releasing herself from him and going over to the kids.

“Because I missed you,” he said.

They carried the kids down and brought them over to the set to greet the people. He also brought the kimbap he made for them. Shortly after, there was a pizza delivery. The casts took a break from filming to eat. The adults swooned over the two toddlers when Gary asked them to offer them the kimbap. Even though there weren’t identical twins they looked very similar because they were dressed in the same outfits. Both had shiny eyes like their mother, and smiles like their father. Ji-ohn did most of the answering of the questions, while Jiyoung led her around. Gary and Jihyo sat on the bench as they talked.

“Did you take long to prepare all these?” Jihyo asked, twirling her fingers around his, as she leaned against him.

“Not really, I just have to call your manager to find out where you were,” he answered.

“No, I mean the kimbap,” she laughed. “You made so many!”

“You always prepared lunchbox for me too. And my colleagues,” he said. “I want to do it for you too.”

“Oppa…”

“Don’t think so much and just eat,” he said, feeding her a piece. She ate it and fed him one too.

They talked for a bit, mostly Jihyo telling Gary about how her filming was, before their children came to join them. The bench only had space for three people, so they carried the kids up and sat them on their legs.

“Eomma, we help to make this too,” Ji-ohn said, feeding her one. “Masisseoyo?” she asked.

“Eung, gomawo,” she said.

“Eomma, are you not coming home today?” Jiyoung asked. Gary told the children in the car that she was working till very late, that’s why they are coming to give her some food.

“Eo… I’ll be home tomorrow morning.”

He looked down sadly. Gary rubbed his face and gently tickled his sides to cheer him up.

“Don’t be sad, you’re seeing eomma now, didn’t you?” he said.

He smiled a little as he struggled to push away Gary’s hands.

The family of four played for a while on the bench.

Seeing that they were busy, the PDs kindly decided to shoot other scenes first.

While talking, the two children gradually fell asleep. Jihyo helped Gary carry Ji-ohn to the car, while he carried Jiyoung.

Before Jihyo went back, Gary gave her the Americano. “Fighting,” he said.

“Gomawo,” she said, putting her hands around his neck, before giving him a goodbye kiss.

Another long chapter! Please keep the comments coming hahah, cuz if instragrams feeds on likes and twitter feeds on retweets, then writers here feeds on comments, I'm serious. hahah tell me what you think about the children!!