The Story of Us (ATEEZ OT8 FAMILY)

Chapter 6: A Surprise Visit (2)

"Oh my god! You would not believe it! Your dear sister here could not read the map and got us completely lost in the fields. We had to jump through fences and trespass into someone's farm to get to the main road. The sheep and horses were like staring at us, dead-close. I was so terrified that one of those would attack us!" Namhyun exclaimed as he talked about Kyungeun's and his honeymoon trip to Cotswold.

Namhyun was Kyungeun's husband and Hongjoong's younger brother-in-law. The couple was strongly opposed by Hongjoong's parents; there were even plans and tactics carried out to separate the couple. Eventually, unable to further withstand the heavy pressure, the couple fled the country and eloped to the UK.

It had been 7, 8 years since Hongjoong last saw his little sister. She seemed more graceful and mature coming with the older age, but she was his same old baby sister – beautiful and spontaneous; otherwise, the first thing she did when reunited with her brother would not be dumping her six-year-old son on him.

"You're just exaggerating." Kyungeun rolled her eyes. "I'm nothing like that."

"Well, I've known you for 24 years, and it does sound like you. Or have you forgotten about the time you called me to pick you up because you were 'lost' but was in fact only a couple of streets away from our house?"

"You're still on about that? It was...well... a mistake, okay? I have changed! And so have you! You're definitely different now." Kyungeun looked pointedly at Seonghwa and Hongjoong. The pair exchanged stolen glances, blushing.

"Haha... I guess I've changed a lot since you last saw me."

"DUH! I have never expected to meet so many cute, adorable nephews. How did this even happen?" Kyungeun's eyes were beaming with excitement.

She was quite shocked earlier this evening to be welcomed by many little humans – though Seonghwa might argue they were little demons. While she still thought her son was the cutest, her nephews were adorable too. She could just eat them up. Since then, she had been dying from holding back her questions. Now that the children had gone to bed, it was the perfect time for Kyungeun to satisfy her curiosity.

Being a married with these many children, Hongjoong and Seonghwa always got asked these questions, and they had perfected their answers over the years. The couple smiled at each other, holding the other's hand before Seonghwa started.

"It was 9 years ago, before I even met Hongjoong. I was financially stable, but never felt satisfied with life. Something was missing in my life. That was when I decided to adopt a baby. I put my name through the adoption agency, and soon I was chosen by a pregnant teen mom, then a little angel entered my life. That was the best moment in my life."

Seonghwa had the brightest smile, recalling his very first memory of Yunho. That moment when a tiny baby was put into his arms was surreal. It did not even hit him that he had become a father, until that little boy grabbed his finger and smiled at him. His heart just bloomed with happiness, and love.

"Well, you mean until you meet me?" Hongjoong teased.

"Oh, you can dream about it! Sometimes, I still wonder what life would have been if I had not agreed to be your lawyer."

"First off, you won't be having these adorable babies to call yours. Like this one right here." Hongjoong winked flirtatiously at Seonghwa, only to receive a loving eye roll.

"Urgh, I don't want to see my big brother flirting!" Kyungeun scoffed. "What about the others?"

"Well, one year into our blissful marriage, Seonghwa decided that having one kid is not enough to ruin our sex life- Ouch! Why did you hit me!"

"Don't talk about our...intimate life in front of your sister!" Seonghwa blushed.

"Ignore my brother. Please continue, Hwa-oppa!"

"Well, I met this little one here..." Seonghwa pointedly looked at Hongjoong. "He wore me down with his relentless annoyingness then we got married. I've always wanted a big family so after a while, I was looking into other adoption choices. That was how we found this orphanage in Incheon. They take care of children from terrible homes, whose custody is taken away from the parents. Mingi was 1 when we found him. He was actually more scrawny and smaller than now. His mother was a prostitute who spent all day out and never fed or took care of him. Mingi had a few health issues, and the orphanage did not have the funding to properly care for him. So, we decided to adopt him in a heartbeat after seeing his health conditions.

"San and Wooyoung came to our life at pretty much the same time. But I think San was a bit earlier. I was handling a divorce case for this rich and influential couple. It was very lengthy and had a lot of bad blood. By the end, after dividing and settling all their shared fortunes, San, their only shared child, was left unwanted by both parents. I just could not see him go to an orphanage or back to one of his parents' houses to be ignored by them. I talked to Hongjoong, and we took custody of San when he was around 4.

"Wooyoung was the son of a close childhood friend of mine... I'm sorry I always get upset remembering her. She died so young..." Hongjoong patted his sobbing husband's back, whispering sweet comforting words, until the latter calmed down. "She had a weak body since her birth. The doctors recommended her not to have a child, but it was her dream to become a mother. So, she did. She had Wooyoung. She gave her life to give Wooyoung life. Her husband could not deal with the death of her, so he left in the middle of the night and no one saw him ever again. Her parents tried to take care of the boy, but they were too old. They contacted me, when he reached 1, and asked if I could give him the cares that he needed. Of course I had to agree. There was no other answer..."

"Anyway, Jongho is our youngest one. He is actually Mingi's half-brother. A few months back, the orphanage in Incheon contacted me. Apparently, Mingi's mother gave birth to another baby but was still unable to care for him. So, the custody of the baby was taken away by the government again. To be honest, Hongjoong and I did not plan on having another child. We actually had wanted to stop at San—"

"More like at Yunho!" Hongjoong chimed in, trying to bring up the mood, but he got slapped in the arm instead. But let's be honest. The corner of Seonghwa's mouth was lifted slightly.

"Anyway, we did not want to separate the two brothers, so we took Jongho into our care. And now as you can see, we have 5 wonderful, if slightly devilish, baby boys."

The lawyer had the warmest glowing smile on his lips. It was almost blinding to Kyungeun. But she completely understood it. She remembered the moment she first held Yeosang. It was the best moment in her life.

It saddened her that she had to leave the boy here. But it was for his own goods...

AN:

We finally got the backstory of the 5 boys in the Kim family! Next chapter will include the backstory on Yeosang too!

I hope you've enjoyed it! Thank you for reading!