Gary drove his destination with the two kids sitting behind on their baby seats. Apparently, Ji-ohn has gotten over the fact that Jihyo’s not coming with them and started singing nursery rhymes cheerfully. Jiyoung however, was still gloomy.

Gary glanced at his rear-view mirror and noticed it. “Jiyoung-ah, we’ll be going back to see eomma after we buy some mam ma (baby lingo for food)? Stop sulking,” he laughed.  

His son ignored him, but Ji-ohn asked, “Appa, what are we buying?”

“A lot of nice mam ma to eat with everyone. You need to listen to me later ok?”

“Ne!” Ji-ohn answered energetically.

“Jiyoung?”

“Ne…” he mumbled softly.

Soon, the three of them arrived at the shopping mall. Gary pondered if he should use the pram. The kids hated it, but without Jihyo around, it would be safer and more efficient. So, despite their resistance, he carried them into the pram, which got them whining again.

“Arrasso, arrasso. Mianhae mianhae… I’ll quickly get this done,” he apologized.

There were quite a few thing he needed to buy. Eggs, potatoes, carrots, etc etc… He sighed. It’s not like he hasn’t been to the supermarket before, it’s just that every time he went, Jihyo was around and he was just in-charge of carrying the stuffs and keeping an eye on the children.

“Ya…. when will I finish finding all these…” he mumbled to himself as he walked along the shelves aimlessly. After 10 minutes, he finally managed to find the milk, but not the rest. Desperate, he decided to ask around for help.

He saw a housewife nearby and asked her, “Jeogiyo, can you tell me where these things are?”

“Omo, Kang Gary! You are the running man’s Kang Gary! I enjoyed watching the show. Omo, are these your children… are they twins? Omo, jjinja kyeota..? ” she bombarded him with comments. It was then people started to notice him. They started to crowd around him, asking for photos and signatures, which he politely agreed. But because of the crowd, Jiyoung started to cry.

He got flustered and so did the crowd. He carried the boy up and hushed him. “Mianhae mianhae,” he said, patting his back to calm him down. Usually, they only shopped around their estate, where the people where already familiar with them. With such a crowd, Jiyoung got a shock.

Eventually, the crowd dispersed because of Jiyoung’s crying, which Gary was secretly grateful about (otherwise he would be stuck in there) and he left with the housewife to find the groceries. Before long, he successfully got all of it and was about to pay, but something caught Jiyoung’s eye. “Appa, appa!” he said excitedly, pointing to the yogurt section.

“Wae?”

“Yogurt,” he pointed out.

Feeling guilty that he made him cry, he decided to buy it for him. He carried him down to let him choose himself.

After walking to and fro the shelves, he finally picked the original one. Then he took another strawberry and grapes flavour. After pondering for a while more, he put back the strawberry and took two orange ones instead.

“Whoa, that’s a lot. You can’t drink all today, you know,” Gary said.

He just shrugged and placed the bottles in the baskets.

“Oppa, did you take the grapes one for me?” Ji-ohn asked, after he got back into the pram.

“Eung.”

“Gomawo.”

Meanwhile, back at the opening location, the moms were setting up the equipment to cook their lunch.

“I think the guys are going to cook,” Jihyo pointed out. “Otherwise, we don’t have to do this now,” she explained.

“Eung, I think so too,” Eun Hye added. “Buying groceries is too easy a mission,” she laughed.

“Eotteokhae… Gary oppa can’t cook…” Jihyo wondered worriedly.

After they were done, the PDs announced.

“Ja, the second mission for the day is for the husbands to cook without the help of their wives. It would be a group mission, so they can help each other out. Hopefully. For now, please proceed to the van behind us. You will be able to watch them from there.”

“This sounds exciting,” Suk Jin’s wife, Su Jeong said, as they made their way to the van. The others could only laugh and nod. It would be a funny sight watching the men cook, since they rarely cooked at home. They could only rely on those running man episodes where they had to cook, which was eons ago.

 I should warn oppa, Jihyo thought.

Back in the car, Jiyoung was getting more cheerful, because he got his yogurt drink, and more importantly, he knew he was going back to find his mother. He sang along with Ji-ohn at times, making Gary smile to himself. He found it adorable how his son was so attached to his mom.

Oppa, you’re in trouble, Jihyo thought to him cheekily.

Wae wae wae?

Your next mission is cooking without the moms. Kekeke.

Ya! Mwoya?! Jiyoung’s going throw a fit!

I know… Eotteokhae?

You’ll help me right? Give instructions to me through telepathy, please.

Maybe… kekeke

YA!!

Bye, oppa. Fighting!

Ya Song Ji Hyo!

Gary sighed, as he drove back to the filming location. As expected, he was the last to arrive. First was of course, Suk Jin and his son, Hyun Woo. Then, it was Jae Suk and his children, Ji Oh and Min Yee. Followed by HaHa and Dream. And even Jong Kook the rookie dad came back earlier than him.

“Ya Gary-ah, you are so slow!” Jae Suk teased. “Even Jong Kook is faster than you.”

“Ah…” was all he managed to utter, before Jiyoung noticed that Jihyo wasn’t around as promised.

“Where’s eomma,” he asked as he glanced around.

“The next mission is cooking without eomma,” HaHa explained to him. “So your eomma disappeared.”

Tears welled in the little boy’s eyes. “Shireo, shireo, I want eomma….”

Gary picked his son up to comfort him, but he wriggled out of his grasp. “Eomma… eomma….” He wailed.

Jihyo could hear him from the van and her heart broke a little. She wanted to go and hug her baby and tell him that she’s here.

Finally grasping the situation, Ji-ohn also broke down in tears, leaving a flustered Gary trying to calm down two hysterical kids. “Ya, ya, don’t do this to your appa,” he said anxiously, carrying a child in each hands.

Jae Suk came over to help him calm the kids down. He reached out for Jiyoung, but the boy pushed him away. “Samchon shireo, I want eomma. Eomma…..” he cried.

“Aigoo…. Your son’s so attached to you,” Su Jeong said. “I sometimes wish Hyun Woo was as attached to me too.”

Jihyo could only smile back awkwardly.

In the end, Jae Suk managed to carry Ji-ohn and calm her down. “Eomma… eomma…” she sobbed into his shoulders. “Uljjima, uljima… she’ll be back once we’re done cooking…”

She continued to sob for a while.

“Please cook quickly, then,” she said, rubbing her eyes to dry her tears.

Jae Suk smiled as he put her down. “Okay, but you must be a good girl and stop crying, ok?”

“Ne…” she said, standing beside Gary now, tugging his shirt. Gary was still carrying Jiyoung. He got tired from all the crying and was dozing off already. Carrying Jiyoung in his left hand and holding Ji-ohn in his right, he brought them to a corner, away from the cooking area.

Carefully, he laid Jiyoung down on the ground and sat Ji-ohn beside him. He then gathered the kids to go to the area to play. Dream and Min Yee played with HaHa’s ipad, while Hyun Woo and Ji-oh kept the maknae, Jun Suk entertained by playing with him. Ji-ohn crawled around her sleeping brother cautiously, trying to explore the surroundings. When she finally realised that she was in an unfamiliar place, tears started to well in her eyes.

“Oppa… oppa…” she called softly, but because he was asleep, he didn’t reply.

Suddenly, she started to cry. “Appa… Eomma… Appa…” she wailed.

 Jihyo saw it through the monitor in the van and was about to inform Gary, but he heard her cries too.

Gary quickly washed and dried his hands before rushing over to Ji-ohn.

“Wae, wae, Ji-ohn, wae?” he carried her, patting her back to soothe her down.

“Appa,” she sobbed into his shoulders, grabbing him tightly. “Appa, kajimayo… kajimayo… don’t leave me alone…”

“Arrasseo, arrasseo, I’m here now, I’m here now. Uljima…”

Jiyoung was awakened from her cries and went over to comfort his sister too. He patted her head silently. She freed one of her hands and slipped it into his and he held it tightly. “Uljimayo,” he said.

Meanwhile, back in the van, it struck Jihyo why her daughter suddenly broke down.

“We’ve never left her alone at any unfamiliar surroundings before. There was always someone around when we were outside. Oppa or me or Daeyang, or even Jiyoung. We would be with her. It wasn’t planned but somehow it was just like this. She won’t be alone.

I think… I think we provide her with a sense of security. We’ve always thought that she was comfortable outside and comfortable with having many people around, unlike Jiyoung who is more introverted. But, no, she isn’t. Of course she wouldn’t be… she can’t see what’s going on around her, how would she feel safe…” Jihyo’s voice cracked and tears started to fall. Her heart clenched as she felt guilty about not knowing how her own child felt all along.

The others looked at her in silence, not knowing how to comfort her.

“It’s okay… we all learn along the way,” one of them said. “We’re all still learning how to be a better parent, from the day our kids are born right up till when we die, we never stop learning.”

(whoops i made almost the entire family cry HAHAHAH)