Seventeen Family

|| Sixteen ||

Seungcheol's POV

   Jeonghan squeezed my arm as we watched the casket be lowered into the ground. All of our relatives were in Korea so it was just our family. Just the 12 of us.

   When we went back to Korea we had a tombstone made for Soonyoung and visited often. After seeing the tombstone in Korea, Jeonghan snapped.

   "No, that's not my son..I refuse to believe that's my son." He argued. "There could be other explanations. Soonyoung could be anywhere."

   "Angel, I want to believe that too. But you kno-"

   "No..no. It's not. Kids come, we're going home." Jeonghan stated before stomping off with the kids following him to the van, only Jisoo stayed.

   He refused to come to the tombstone again after that because it reminded him of too much pain. But he still set up a whole wall of pictures of Soonyoung in the hallway upstairs in our house.

   "Dad?" Jisoo tugged at my shirt.

   "You know that I wish this wasn't real just as much as you guys do, right?"

   "Yeah.."

   All the kids were sad about it. But Jihoon was never really the same after. He always visited his brother's tombstone everyday. Even if it was snowing or raining. Jihoon wouldn't miss a day without visiting Soonyoung. Especially on his birthday, he brought a birthday card and flowers every time. We all visited, including Jeonghan, but Jihoon would always stay the longest and I would stay with him while Jeonghan brought the other kids home. We wouldn't leave any of our kids on they're own after that.

   Every time we went to the mall or any public place, Jeonghan would pull any random kid thinking that it was Soonyoung. He became determined to find Soonyoung because he was so convinced that he wasn't dead.

   All twelve of us went to the park and the kids played in the playground. Meanwhile, Jeonghan and I sat together on on a nearby bench.

   He sat up straight quickly and stared somewhere.

   "You okay, Jeonghan?" I questioned looking at my wife.

   "T-That kid over there." He said pointing to a kid playing on the slide. "That's Soonyoung."

   He ran toward the kid and hugged him.

   "Hoshi!"

   "Jeonghan, that's not Hoshi." I said pulling him away.

   He stood up straight and looked at the kid.

   "B-But.."

   A couple walked up to us.

   "Excuse me," A guy in a pink dress shirt sassed and pulled the child back."That is my son."

   "Sorry." I said. "My wife didn't mean any harm."

   "Then what exactly was happening?" The guy beside him added in.

   The one in the pink shirt was probably the wife, like Jeonghan, and the other guy was probably the husband, like me.

   "We just had a recent traumatic experience. This happens all the time with my wife."

   "Oh, I'm sorry," the guy in the pink shirt said.

   "No, it's okay." Jeonghan cut in. "I'm sorry. But don't worry one of these days I will find my son."

   "Your son?" The other guy asked. "I-If you don't mind me asking..what happened?"

   "It's fine. Talking about it might help."

   We sat down at a picnic table sitting across from eachother.

   "I'm Namjoon. This is my wife, Jin." One guy said.

   "Nice to meet you." I smiled and we shook hands."My name is Seungcheol and this is Jeonghan, my wife."

   "You're really pretty." Jin smiled."Probably just as pretty as me."

   "Oh, thank you. Even after 11 kids I still look this good." Jeonghan countered.

   "Woah, 11 kids? Seriously?" Namjoon said in shock.

   "You've really been at it, haven't you." Jin smirked. "How old are they?"

   "Our three eldest are 10, next three kids are 9, then  the next four are 8,  and our youngest is 7." I explained pointing to our kids in the playground.

   "That must be a lot of work." Namjoon claimed.

   "Yeah, but we got it." Jeonghan chimed in.

   "How many kids do you have?" I asked.

   "Compared to you guys, we don't have that many. We only have five. The one that you mistook for your son is our third youngest, Jimin." Namjoon answered.

   "Once again, if you don't mind us asking, what happened.." Jin wondered.

   "To our son?" I added, Jeonghan's expression changed.

   "It's okay." Jeonghan lamented. "We'll talk about it."

   We explained the situation as Jeonghan fought back tears.

   "You don't have to say anymore if you don't want to." Jin said.

   "We're so sorry for your loss." Namjoon sympathized.

   I just smiled and wrapped my arms around Jeonghan.

   "Daddy! Daddy!" Seungkwan yelled running up to the picnic table. "Dad!"

   Mingyu and Wonwoo followed behind him hand in hand.

   "Dad, Vernon fell off the swings." Seungkwan tapped my shoulder. "I think he needs a bandaid."

   "Oh..are you talking about Soonyoung hyung again?" Mingyu asked so innocently.

   "Shh..don't say that." Wonwoo nudged Mingyu.

   "Sorry," Whispered Mingyu. "Mom only cries about that."

   "I know but just shh." Wonwoo pulled Mingyu away.

   "Okay, we're going to head home now." I said standing up. "It was nice meeting you."

   "We'll see you around." Jeonghan attempted a smile and wiped his eyes with his sleeve.

   We gathered the kids and went back home.

•••
Was it bad or...?
I tried.

Have a nice day! Enjoy reading.
:))