FAMILY | on hold

nine✔

Seokjin gives a small, slow nod.

"Did he call you or did he ask to meet you?" Eunho asks, worried about how serious this situation could be.

"[Kor] He called me," Seokjin lies, because he obviously can't reveal the fact that he's working for his sons' principal as a cook/housekeeper.

Eunho sighs in slight relief because a phone call usually means it's not as serious. But why would Mr Kim even tell their dad?

"Was he angry, appa?" Taeyoung asks, nervous.

"No, he wasn't angry. I think he was more... amused?" Seokjin says, quite uncertain. Mr Kim just mentioned it casually so he must have been amused.

The three boys are now fully relieved because they haven't made a bad impression on their principal; however, they can't comprehend why he called their dad to speak about this if it wasn't an issue. What was the reasoning behind Mr Kim's decision? Was he that amused that he wanted to tell their dad?

"But why would he call you if he wasn't mad? That's so weird," Jaemin says, confused. His brothers are thinking the same thing.

Seokjin's ears redden by this question and the boys, who are quick to notice it, immediately jump to the conclusion that there's more to this phone call than what was said. They haven't failed to notice that their dad has been acting quite strange about certain things lately.

"[Kor] I don't know. I have to get ready for work," Seokjin says, and quickly flees the conversation as he heads to the bedroom to get changed.

The boys glance at each other and they wait until the shower starts running before one of them speaks.

"Appa's hiding something," Eunho says first, voice low so that his dad won't overhear.

Jaemin hums. "It's kind of obvious."

Eunho and Taeyoung look at Jaemin as if asking him to elaborate.

"Just think about it," Jaemin says, and sits on the couch. "I'm not saying I don't believe him but why was it really quiet when we were talking to him on the phone while he was at work?"

"He said the kids were watching cartoons," Taeyoung says.

"Yeah, but they're kids, and according to appa they're both in kindergarten. Kids that age have really short attention spans and we were talking on the phone for nearly an hour. Undisturbed."

Now that Jaemin has mentioned that, Eunho realises that there's a lot more to their dad's job than they know. How were they able to talk on the phone for almost an hour without one or both of the kids needing their dad's attention? There's definitely something going on...

"I don't think he lied about finding another job but I think he lied about what it is," Eunho says.

Jaemin nods in agreement. "It involves cooking, so... My best guess is that he's a servant?"

"Something like that," Eunho says. He sits on the couch as well and leans back. "One thing we know for sure is that whoever he's working for treats him with kindness. That's what should matter."

"Yeah," Jaemin says. He's glad his dad is being treated well but why is his dad twisting the truth? "Well... I'm glad he's working for a good family. He must be good friends with the lady if her mum made food for us."

"I want to meet the lady. She must be really pretty," Taeyoung says.

"Everyone's ugly to you so what makes you think the lady might fit your beauty standard?" Jaemin asks out of curiosity.