"Jaemin come downstairs! It's about to start." Mark heard Haechan yell up the stairs at his younger brother.
"Chanie you're being too loud." Jeno whined at his twin.
"Well how else am I meant to get him to come down?"
"You could just go upstairs to his room?"
"Well if you're so knowledgeable, then why didn't you do it."
"Boys stop fighting." Mark said, intervening before World War Three broke out between the twins. On any other day he could deal with the 16 year olds arguing, but today his nerves were far too high to be able to cope with the two's petty arguing.
The sighed, relieved when his sons came and sat down on the couch with him. He knew they were aware of how stressed he was and was grateful that they could know when to stop. At least for today. Mark shifted, moving his arms slightly so that Jisung, his youngest son could be more comfortable in her arms. Jisung was only 8 months old, having been adopted 3 months after Mark's husband was told he would be leaving his family.
Mark was still angry with Lucas for agreeing to leave them, and Mark was certainly unhappy that Lucas had agreed to being fired into space in a metal can. They had a family together, yet Lucas was so eager to complete the 1 month training course that would finish preparing him for his departure into space. His take off and the majority of his mission had been successful and Lucas had called the whole family every week to catch up on what he was missing, but to Mark, phone calls from space were not enough. Lucas had been in space for almost a year, the twins were still 15 when he left.
Lucas had missed so much; Jaemin's twelfth birthday, Chenle's sixth birthday, the twins sixteenth birthday, Jisung's adoption, Haechan's first lead role in a musical, Jaemin's first trophy from a football match and more. Mark was proud that his husband had achieved his lifelong dream of being an astronaut, but at what cost?
"Mark are you alright?" Renjun, Mark's best friend, asked, sensing his worry. Mark gave the other a small reassuring smile, not wanting to concern Renjun. He didn't want to concern the younger, who only came for moral support.
"Dad, are you alright?" Mark looked to her feet to see Chenle looking up at him with big, shining eyes.
"Yes I'm fine." Mark said. "Do you want to sit next to me?"
Chenle nodded and clambered onto the couch next to Mark. To entertain himself, the six year old played with Jisung, tickling the baby's feet and pulling funny faces. Mark looked around the room. His brother Johnny was tucked into the corner of the room talking to their friend Yuta, both of whom were expecting their significant others, Taeyong and Sicheng, home. Johnny's son Jungwoo was sitting on the other sofa opposite Mark playing on his phone. Being the oldest kid in the room probably wasn't very exciting for Jungwoo, and Jeno and Haechan were obviously not making an effort to talk to the older boy. Mark made a mental note to talk to them about that later. Yuta's children Hendery and Xiaojun were watching something on his phone on the floor, ignoring everyone around them.
"Everybody shush, it's starting." Not that anyone had been talking that loudly, the room fell into a deep silence. All attention was on the screen, no dared to breathe. Even Jisung seemed to know that he had to be quiet, having stopped squirming and whining in Mark's arms. They waited in anticipation as the reporter narrated what was happening.
"We are just hearing Shuttle Columbia has just entered the atmosphere, and we should be seeing the shuttle in roughly 1 minute."
Silence, every person in the room giving their full attention to the screen. It was as if time itself had frozen as the group waited for the shuttle to appear. Suddenly the camera zoomed in on a small fleck of orange beaming across the sky.
"And there we have it, Shuttle Columbia breaking through the atmosphere, predicted to land into the Pacific Ocean before us in approximately 3 minutes. The wait is over folks, the longest space mission in history has come home."
The room broke into cheers, everyone rejoicing at the news that their friends, their parents, their partners were coming home. Mark hugged Jisung close, no longer holding back the tears that had threatened to spill from the moment they turned the TV on. He could finally breathe. The love of his life, his husband was coming home. Mark watched as Chenle danced around the living room screaming loudly; as Jeno and Haechan pulled each other into a tight hug, which surprised Mark as he hadn't seen them hug since they were little; as Jaemin pulled Jungwoo up and twirled the older around. Their dad was finally coming home.
"Hold on what's that. It seems something is not right here."
The celebrations ceased almost immediately as the same reporter began speaking again. Silence flooded the room yet again, like a tsunami, drowning any of the happiness they had previously felt. In its place confusion settled in.
"Dad why are there two shuttles?" Jaemin asked. Another speck of orange fire had appeared on the horizon.
"There shouldn't be two shuttles Jaemin, what are you talking about?"
Mark couldn't breathe, his eyes widening in fear not understanding what was going on.
"Dad what's going on, why are there two shuttles?"
"Why would there be two shuttles, that's not possible there's only one, right."
"Of course there's only one, you heard Papa talking about it before he left."
"Everyone be quiet." Yuta hissed at the children, but Mark didn't notice. He felt like his head had been shoved under water, every sound around him was muffled and insignificant, all he could think about was what was on the screen in front of him.
"Although I can't be sure, we have just been told that the shuttle has been split in half. Please remain calm, the ground team is working to find out what is going on, but this seems to be the most plausible answer."
The reporter sounded nervous, unsure of what to say, as if he knew the families of the three men on that shuttle were watching him. And he probably did. Everyone who was watching knew that the partners and children of Wong Lucas, Suh-Lee Taeyong and Dong Sicheng were watching with bated breath, terrified of what they would be told next.
Silence. Pure and terrified silence. It surrounded them all, suffocating them, taking every last glimpse of hope they had left. The reporter began again, but this time as he spoke, his voice was far more somber.
"We are sorry to say that Space Shuttle Columbia has crashed. Upon re-entry the shuttle split in half and is predicted to have crashed on the coast of Oregon here in the United States. Through radio messages it has been confirmed that there were no survivors. Our thoughts and prayers are now with the families of Wong Lucas, Suh-Lee Taeyong and Dong Sicheng."
The first to break was Yuta, sobs wracked his body as he fell to the floor, Johnny soon joining him. The two men held each other as they cried together. Mark sat, eyes unmoving from the screen before him. His whole world had stopped. He didn't notice that Renjun had pulled a screaming Jisng out of his arms, that Jeno and Jaemin were sitting on the floor, tears running down their faces. He didn't notice that Jungwoo had moved to hold his father and that Yuta was now sat on the sofa with Hendery and Xiaojun, all mourning the loss of their parents.
"Dad." Mark felt a hand shake his shoulder but he didn't react, blinking slowly as tears came faster than waterfalls. "Dad, please stop scaring me." Still no reaction. "Dad please.Dad! Dad!"
Pulling himself together, Mark grabbed Haechan who had now broken down into heart wrenching cries. He held his son close, stroking his hair and whispering words of encouragement; telling him that it would be fine, that they would be okay, that the sadness wouldn't last long, that they would move on. But in truth, Mark felt nothing but emptiness.
