[Neo Zone] Population: 23 Kids

Memory of a Goldfish

Jaehyun handed a cup of coffee to the customer behind the counter, turning around to see Sungchan seated on the stool behind the counter. Occasionally he would get up if Jaehyun needed something done, but for the most part he was just chilling.

"What are you thinking about?"

Sungchan snapped out of his daze, shaking his head a little to clear the thoughts from the front of his mind.

"Did you ever think it was weird how Mrs. Suh just kept things?"

Jaehyun raised an eyebrow, "Things we made? Like the pictures we colored for her on her fridge?"

Sungchan shook his head a little too aggressively, "No, like how she just had Johnny's old clothes upstairs in the back of her closet instead of getting rid of them."

Jaehyun leaned against the counter, reaching his hands under his apron to put them in his pockets. He did remember a lot of Johnny's old clothes circulating in the basement, but he hadn't really thought too much of it.

"I never thought it was too weird. I think we were just happy we had clothes to give Jisung and Yuta when they moved in with us, even if Jisung was swimming in them."

Sungchan smiled softly, "Yeah, that was cute."

But now Jaehyun was thinking about everything that had been kept from after the Suhs moved to Korea. It wasn't excessive like hoarder tendencies, but it was enough to make him skeptical now.

"Alright, what were you thinking about all of it?"

"Well right now I'm thinking about how cute Jisung was. We were all pretty cute, actually." Sungchan recalled, though it wasn't like they realized it when they were young. Interesting times.

Jaehyun sighed, "I mean before that. When I asked what you were thinking about."

"Oh!" Sungchan paused, shaking his head a bit to see if he could get the thoughts back to the front of his mind. Not that it was actually helping. "I was just thinking about it. Because Johnny was an only child, I thought they might've been trying to have another, but I think we ruined that."

Sungchan shrugged, but now Jaehyun was really thinking about it. It was possible, but Johnny was eight at the time the Suhs moved to Korea and started the cafe, and he was twelve when Jaehyun and Mark came. If they had baby things, that would be pretty obvious, but given that this was the Suhs they were talking about, anything was possible.

"So you think they were trying to have a baby before Mark and I came?"

"Hmm? I don't know. I was just thinking and somehow ended up there."

Jaehyun looked at the pretty much empty cafe and knew he wouldn't be able to hold his curiosity for much longer. He started undoing his apron before realizing he could just keep it on because he was coming back soon.

"Think you can take over for a few minutes?"

"While you go find the answer to my question? No way," Sungchan scoffed.

Instead, they managed to convince Xiaojun to take over for a few minutes as they went up to the kitchen. They didn't find Johnny, but they found Ten, Hendery and Taeil, so they figured that was close enough. If someone was going to know something, I'd probably be Ten.

"Does anyone know if Mrs. Suh was going to have another kid before we came along?" Sungchan asked abruptly, and kind of loudly.

The three of them in the kitchen turned to face Sungchan and Jaehyun very skeptically before Taeil said something.

"Why don't you ask Johnny when he comes back from Moonwalk? He'd know."

"No," Ten interjected, "he has the memory of a goldfish. He'd never remember. I think I do remember hearing them say something around those lines before."

Hendery plopped down on the floor with his legs crossed, "Story time! Spill."

Jaehyun and Sungchan jokingly joined Hendery on the floor, but Ten and Taeil remained standing. Ten had a mischievous glint in his eyes, so they knew this was going to be good.

"One night one of the summers I was here with my Dad, Johnny and I thought it'd be fun to play spies and see if we could listen to his parents without getting caught. I don't remember too much, but I do remember them mentioning something about a baby. The next summer I came, I asked Mrs. Suh if there was a baby around, but she just smiled with a scoff shook her head Probably mentioned something about how Johnny was the only baby here. I think two summers after that is when you guys came."

"And Mark and Jaehyun came for responsibility purposes." Hendery recalled.

"No, I came so I wouldn't be around my parents while they worked themselves out." Jaehyun corrected.

"What if Mark and Jaehyun came because Mrs. Suh's sisters didn't want her to get sad?" Sungchan questioned, the room going silent as they thought about it.

The logic behind it was a little skeptical if you thought of Mark and Jaehyun as kids being loaned out, but it wasn't too far out there of a thought. Jaehyun just wanted to know how many reasons there were behind him coming to Korea as a kid.

Taeil clasped his hands after a bit to gain their attention, "So we possibly killed the Suh's want for more kids that were actually theirs. Awesome. Let's not ask about this or bring it up again so we don't create unnecessary drama or something."

Ten nodded, "Good idea."

Jaehyun nudged Sungchan jokingly with a small smirk, "Yeah, Sungchan, stop thinking. It'll get us into trouble."

"Oh please," Sungchan scoffed, "if anything it's Hendery's lack of thinking that will get us into trouble."

And just like that Sungchan was being chased into the basement by Hendery until he took it back.