Fate and Destiny

TEN

"Sooyoung," Sungjae called out to Joy as he walked up to her.  Joy turned to look at Sungjae, arching an eyebrow at him calling her Sooyoung, but otherwise didn't say anything.  The others, however, started whispering among themselves when they heard him call Joy by her real name.  They all turned to look at him, but Sungjae was either totally oblivious to their stares or he just chose to ignore them.  "Are you going straight home from here?" he asked her.  "No. Jaejae and I will have lunch with my unnie-deul and Yeri first. Why?" Joy replied.  "Eomma just called and she's asking if you and Youngjae would have lunch with us?" Sungjae explained.  "Oh!" Joy exclaimed, looking uncertainly at her friends.  "So you won't be joining us for lunch, too, maknae?" Eunkwang asked Sungjae.  Thinking about it for a minute, Sungjae made a decision.  "Why don't we just all go out to lunch together? My treat," he suggested.  "That would be nice. I'll ask Sunmi to make reservations," Minhyuk quickly said, seeing that both Irene and Seulgi are hesitant.  "Is that okay, unnie?" Joy asked them.  Irene doesn't want to put Joy in an awkward position by making her choose between them and the Yooks, but she doesn't want to be around Ilhoon longer than what was necessary.  Seulgi was thinking the same thing, wanting to avoid any chance of being alone with Hyunsik.  "Yes, we're okay with that. Right, unnie?" Yeri butted in, nudging Wendy to back her up.  "Yeah. That's fine," Wendy agreed, wanting to diffuse the tension.  "It's settled then. Now we just need to figure out who's riding with whom," Eunkwang said, while Minhyuk instructed his secretary to make lunch reservations at their favorite restaurant.  "I'm going with Minhyuk oppa," Irene blurted.  "Okay. Wendy can also ride with us," Minhyuk offered.  "I'm going with Minhyuk hyung, too," Ilhoon said.  "Why?" Irene asked him.  "I didn't bring my car," Ilhoon replied.  "Then how did you get here?" Irene asked him again.  "By taxi. Duh?" Ilhoon simply said.  "So hitch a ride with the others. We're already full in oppa's car," Irene told him.  "There's only the three of you so there's room for one more," Ilhoon argued.  "No. There's four, including Yeri," Irene said smugly.  "I can give Yeri a lift," Peniel cut in, earning him a glare from Irene and a smile from Ilhoon.  "Uhm, okay," Yeri agreed warily, glancing at Irene whose scowl at her basically screamed TRAITOR.  "Seulgi's coming with me," Hyunsik declared.  "Oh, no. I don't want to bother you. I can get a ride with..." Seulgi trailed off having no idea who to hitch a ride with.  "You're no bother. We're classmates, remember?" Hyunsik said, subtly taking a swipe at her.  "Of course. Thanks," Seulgi yielded, feeling cornered.  "Sooyoung's with me," Sungjae said, his look forbidding any argument.  Joy just shrugged her shoulders, thinking, I'll have to get along with him anyway if we're going to be co-parents to Jaejae.  "Okay. Since Eunkwang hyung and I are on our own, we'll just see all of you at the resto," Changsub said before walking out of the room, followed by Eunkwang.  "These kids are giving me first-hand experience on being a dad. When Hyolyn and I get married and have kids, I know what to expect now and hopefully, I'll know what to do," Eunkwang said as he and Changsub headed for the parking lot.  "I know, right? It makes me wonder, too, what kind of kids would Chorong and I have in the future. This bunch is a handful," Changsub said self-righteously.  "Oh, you're also one of them. Just not today," Eunkwang contradicted, before getting into his own car.  "I am?" Changsub asked himself, as he, too, got in to his car.  After determining who's riding with whom, they all piled out of Minhyuk's office.

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Sungjae called his parents to let them know where to meet up, and that the others are coming with them.  "Are you going to tell Youngjae tonight?" he asked Joy as they drove to the restaurant.  "About us moving in with you?" Joy clarified.  Sungjae nodded in confirmation.  "Yeah. Actually, we've already discussed it last night. Sort of," Joy said.  "What do you mean, sort of?" Sungjae asked.  "Cliff note? I told him last night that he might have to divide his time between us because the judge told us to share custody of him. He's okay with staying at your place for a few days. I didn't expect that we'll have to actually live with you," Joy explained.  "You think he'll be okay with it? Moving, I mean?" Sungjae asked a little worriedly.  "I guess so. He said as long as I'm with him, then it's fine. Besides, his main concern was transferring school. He really doesn't want that," Joy told him.  Suddenly, Joy chuckled softly.  "What's funny?" Sungjae asked her curiously.  "I just remembered Jaejae's chat with your eomma the other day," Joy said, still smiling.  "And...?" Sungjae prompted her.  "He asked her if she'll keep me from seeing him if the court grants you full custody. So your eomma promised him that if he's going to live with you, she'll ask me to come, too. And if you oppose her, she'll smack you on the head. She said she can still do that even if you're bigger than her now," Joy told him, sniggering.  "Oh, so that's their secret. Well, she's not lying. I may be taller and bigger, and sometimes even thought of as a ruthless businessman, but I'm still scared of her. I am actually scared of her more than I'm scared of appa, since he's scared of her, too," Sungjae said dryly, not even cracking a smile.  Wow! So serious. Does this guy even know how to smile? Joy thought.  Okay. For Youngjae's sake, I will bear with your moods, Joy vowed to herself as she settled quietly back on the car seat.