High winds and driving rain hit Busan not long after the typhoon hit Jeju, but not to nearly such a bad extent.  The weather made Semi reluctant to leave the house unless it was absolutely necessary, since she was getting to the stage of pregnancy where her ankles were a little swollen and it would be easy for her to misstep and slip, and while she could still drive, Minseok was beginning to make worried noises about her doing so too often.

“It’s not going to hurt the baby,” she assured him over the phone for the fifth time as she prepared to take Jaehwan to a taekwondo lesson.  “Honestly.”

“I worry, okay?” he huffed, running out of excuses.

“Needlessly,” Semi said with a wry grin as she put her key in the ignition.  “I got my licence before you.”

But still, she was careful backing the car out of the garage and into the pouring rain, the windscreen wipers on full speed.  Jaehwan twisted around in the passenger seat as they headed out into the street and the garage door came back down.

“Mum,” he said, jabbing a thumb over his shoulder.  “You know that black Merc back there?”

“Which one, honey?”

He grimaced at the pet name.  “The one almost opposite home.”

“No.  What about it?”

“It’s been parked there since Dad left for work this morning and there’s been a guy sitting in it for the past ten hours just watching the house.”

Minseok had told Semi that people were watching the house and even pointed the watchers out to her on occasion, but she hadn’t expected her children to notice them, especially not when the weather was making visibility so bad.

“Can I slash the tyres?” Jaehwan continued, pensive.  “It might get him to go away.  Even if it’s only to fix the car.”

“No,” said Semi firmly.  “That would be unlawful and deliberate defacement of private property and Daddy would have to arrest you.”

“I bet he wouldn’t actually,” said Jaehwan with the kind of expression that made it plain he was trying to figure out a way to do it anyway.  “And in any case, isn’t the watcher a criminal?  He’s not a good guy.”

“A criminal act against a criminal isn’t okay, Jaehwan.  It just makes you a criminal too.”

Jaehwan had to think for a moment or two before raising a counter-argument.  “But James Bond kills people and that’s illegal.”

Semi didn’t know whether to laugh or sigh.  She schooled her face into a neutral expression.  “Okay,” she said.  “I know that James Bond is cool, but don’t even contemplate having him as a role model.  Don’t treat your alcohol like he does; definitely don’t treat your cars like he does; and above all, don’t treat your women like he does, because otherwise you’ll die a nasty death at a young age for alcohol abuse, reckless driving and misogyny.”

Jaehwan looked utterly confused.  “But how does misogyny kill you?”  When Semi didn’t reply, his brow furrowed further.  “What is misogyny?”

It was still tipping it down when they arrived back home after the taekwondo class, and the black Mercedes was still sitting opposite the house.  Jaehwan, however, wasn’t so much interested in this as the fact that Minseok had promised Italian for dinner that night, and he barrelled inside almost before Semi had stopped the car because he wanted to know exactly what they were eating.  Semi followed at a much more sedate pace, shutting the curtains after her.

“Hi, sweetheart,” he greeted her with a swift peck on the lips.  “Peppers?  The lasagne’s almost cooked.”

“Pastaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!” hollered Jaehwan in ecstasy, spinning around in the middle of the room with his arms spread wide.

“Is he high?” asked Luhan’s voice dubiously from the doorway, followed by a shriek of delight from Jaera.

“Pasta!” she trilled, copying her big brother as she scrambled down from Luhan’s shoulders.  Taken completely by surprise, Luhan let out a yelp of pain when she landed on his feet.

“Ow!” she echoed glibly before trotting over to Jaehwan and mirroring him, turning around on her little feet with her arms out.  “Pasta!”

Minseok snorted with amusement and passed a slice of green pepper to Semi.  She crunched it absently between her teeth as Jaehwan and Jaera’s giddy spinning devolved into chasing each other around the kitchen pretending to be dogs and barking, Jaera shrieking with glee.

Luhan joined them by the sink.  “Why in God’s name are you having a third one?” he demanded.

Minseok tucked his arm around Semi’s waist.  “Keeps us on our toes.”

Semi nodded and reached past him for more pepper.

“I was about to barf,” said Luhan frankly, “but then you didn’t say it was because you loved each other, which would have been the ultimate sickening excuse.”

“Jaehwan would disown us if we ever answered any question with that.”

“It’s sappy!” Jaehwan yelled as he raced past, before growling and diving at Jaera.  Both children landed on the floor with Jaera in absolute fits of giggles.

“Good Jaejae,” she hiccupped, patting his head.

Minseok turned slightly towards Semi.  “I think we should tone down on the sugar, darling.”

“You mean the caffeine,” said Luhan.  “And by caffeine, I mean something much stronger than caffeine, because your kids have to be on something.  No normal child is this insane.”

“It’s just horseplay,” Semi said with amusement.

“Your son is barking.”  Luhan flailed dramatically as Jaehwan emphasise