Hwayoung squeals as she goes for another round of the slide with Byul holding on to her, before they splash into the water where Yunho is waiting, not having enough time to even catch his daughter. Hwayoung pulls Byul with her again, wanting to go onto the slide for another round.
"Hwayoung, you're making Byul tired-"
"I'm not tired, let her be," Byul says, already out of the water as Hwayoung pulls her out urgently, with them hiking up the steps to go to the beginning of the slide again.
There is no one else at the slide because apparently the child finds joy even in the simplest water attraction, while others are more interested in other areas of the water park, and not the slide which looked like it was abandoned before Hwayoung decided to use it.
Yunho looks up to the top, spotting the pair as Hwayoung eagerly sits on the slide, waiting for Byul to hold her from behind. He chuckles as he sees them sliding down, Hwayoung putting out her arms, squealing like it's her first time on the slide when it must have been at least 20 times. He catches them as they splash into the water, taking Hwayoung out of the water and places her on his shoulders.
"Come on, let's go try something else. How many times did you go on the slide?"
Hwayoung places a hand on top of her dad's head, her tiny fingers counting down as her face scrunches up in concentration. "Was it 20?"
"Smart girl," he praises her as they wade through the water.
Byul follows by his side as they go through a tunnel, plunging them into semi-darkness. Hwayoung is amused by the fact that their voices echo in the short tunnel that she starts singing, rocking her body back and forth as she belts out the lyrics to the song her dad liked to sing to her.
"The sun is blue, the star is purple, flowers are dancing with music on the side," she chants and tugs at Yunho's hair softly. "Sing it with me, dad! Byul-ie too!"
Despite feeling melancholic at the sudden rush of memories of where the lyrics had brought him and Eunbi to, he sings along, not realizing that he has stopped walking through the water and that drops of his tears have made his cheeks wet. He hopes that none of the two notice it, as the surrounding is dark and the water might've mixed with his tears.
He's too focused on controlling the sob from coming out of his mouth that it's only when Byul's fingers dig into the skin at the crook of his elbow that he realizes she's holding on to him, looking confused.
"Sorry," she enunciates. "It's dark in here that I don't know where I'm going. I just needed a guide."
"You could've told me if you wanted to feel my muscles."
"Excuse me?"
"I'm kidding." He makes sure that he holds on firmly to Hwayoung with his left hand, and gives a crooked arm to her. "Here, you can hold on to my arm."
If this is his attempt at flirting with her, he's surely doing a great job because the heat rises up to her cheeks, but she's thankful that it's hidden underneath the shadows. They emerge into the open, and it feels that they can finally get a breath of fresh air as the walk through the tunnel while going through the water wasn't an easy task.
When he sees that they're finally out in the open, he puts Hwayoung down, letting her swim as he watches on, making sure that her arm floaties are enough to keep her head above the surface.
They spend the rest of the time as three by mostly going to the children's area, letting Hwayoung explore the place on her own as they keep an eye on her. Byul and Yunho sit at the side of the pool, getting their feet soaked in water as they watch Hwayoung enjoying herself, occasionally waving at them as she's about to go down a slide or enter into a tunnel.
Their smiles never let up as they lovingly watch Hwayoung, until she tries to get into another round of the slide and she is pushed over by a boy much bigger and older than her, cutting the line. She falls onto the platform as she braces the fall with her hands, crying immediately as she scrapes her knee.
"Oh hell no, he did not just do that to my daughter," Byul stands up, the water sloshing around her ankles as she wades furiously towards the structure, Yunho following not long after. She climbs up the structure and wipes away Hwayoung's tears as she calms her down. She picks her up, goes down to the level of the pool before her eyes scan the whole area, Hwayoung in her arms still having her breath hitched from the nonstop tears. "Now where is that boy? I need to have a talk with his mother."
With a crying Hwayoung in her arms and Yunho by her side feeling equally angry, they approach the family of four gathered by the side, the boy's mother sipping on some juice as she wears a wide-brimmed hat and sunglasses, looking unbothered at what her child did.
"Excuse me," Byul tries to use a calmer tone, not wanting to provoke anything at first, even though she feels like she'd burst as Hwayoung still hasn't stopped crying. She hands over Hwayoung to Yunho, who takes her gently before using his thumb to wipe away her tears. He pats her head to calm her down, then rubbing his palm over her scraped knee.
"Excuse me," she tries again when it seems that the family is still ignoring them. "Excuse me, I need to talk to you about how your kid treated mine. It's unacceptable."
"Your kid?" she scoffs. "A legitimate one? Must be a child born out of wedlock seeing how the two of you are. Tattoos all over; what do you do, sell drugs?"
"Honey, stop it," the woman's husband taps on her shoulder as he looks a bit timid, different from his wife. Their children look on innocently, including the boy who never thought he did anything wrong.
This time, Byul lets out a sharp breath as she looks at her in bewilderment. She gives a look to Yunho and he understands; he clamps his hand over Hwayoung's ear and angles his shoulder to close the other one, blocking her from listening on.
"What did you say about my child, my husband and I? We're married and why does it matter whether the child is born before or after the marriage? It doesn't change the fact that she's ours. And these tattoos," she points a finger to her, "do not define who we are. Why, look at you, old woman. You don't have any tattoos but your mouth stinks like a drain. It wouldn't be a wonder, would it? Since I know where your child got his attitude from. Your son needs to apologize to my daughter right now."
"You bitch, you think I'm scared of you? I'll call the police if you don't stop right now. Why are you so uptight about some minor accident? Relax, they're kids. Let them be kids."
"Well yeah, they're kids and that's exactly why you have to teach them manners. It doesn't give the excuse for them to do whatever they like. Call the police but I'll make sure I'll punch you in the face first before I get taken away."
Yunho is quietly cheering Byul on, momentarily forgetting that they're not a real couple. The way Byul is defending Hwayoung sounds exactly like what a mother would do, and he's actually pretty grateful she is here.
"Honey, that's enough-" the husband keeps on pleading, but she ignores him, already feeling challenged.
"Try me bitch, I'll make sure your ass get sued for messing with me."
"Yunho, Byul, is there something wrong?" a familiar voice approaches them and they turn to see Akira and Seonghwa, finished with their rounds at the water park. They're about to go back to the designated meeting place, but noticed Byul confronting a family.
"The boy pushed her when she was trying to get onto the slide, and she scraped her knee, but they don't want to apologize. Byul is trying to get things straight with them."
"Byul," Seonghwa says shortly before turning to the woman, "Mrs., what your child did was wrong and you have to teach him that he has to apologize after doing something wrong. You can't let him be, or he'll grow up with no manners."
"What are you, a bunch of gangsters who are trying to teach me on how I can raise up my kids? How disappointing."
"Excuse me, woman. You're the disappointing one here," Akira butts in as she sidesteps Yunho.
Now the three of them: Byul, Seonghwa and Akira are towering over them, over the family who is still refusing to admit their mistakes.
"Oh shut up, you look like a prostitute yourself. Is this what the world has come to?"
"What did you say about my girlfriend?" Seonghwa advances towards the family, but Yunho pulls him back, calming him down.
"Not here, Seonghwa. It's a public place."
The family are starting to get intimidated by their presence, a group of youngsters who have tattoos all over their bodies, giving them an image of a high-profile criminal gang who will slice them up if they don't get what they want. The mother gulps, only realizing what mess she has gotten herself into, her mouth always costing her a lot.
"Honey," the husband tries again before gripping her shoulder. "Just ask Hajoon to say sorry to their kid. We don't want to lose anything."
"We're not going to lose anything to them!" she shouts, grasping the attention of others near the area, deciding that there's no turning back.
Even the kids are peering over the railings, intrigued by the face-off. Several adults are taken in by the verbal fight, but they're much better in hiding their curiousity as they try to go back to whatever they're doing, but maintain their perked-up ears, wanting to see where it's going. The activities at the surrounding area has slowed down, the family of four going against the bunch of youngsters being much more interesting than the water.
"Ask your son to apologize to my kid now, or I'll make him-" Byul presses on, but the woman huffs before immediately standing up, shoving the former until she loses balance and falls backwards into the shallow pool, almost knocking her head against the pool floor with the low level of water doing little to cushion the impact.
"Byul-ie!" Hwayoung shouts before crying louder, and Yunho is in a dilemma between trying to help Byul out of the water and calming Hwayoung down.
Yunho puts Hwayoung down and tells her to stay put, but even with her injured knee she runs over to the water, helping Byul out while she's still sobbing. Yunho follows not long after and helps her to stand upright, asking whether she's fine. Byul assures him that she's fine, with Hwayoung hugging her legs and shooting daggers at the family with red eyes.
"What kind of kid calls her mother by the name?" the woman taunts as Akira grabs the former's wrist.
"You're really testing our patience, you old hag-" she curls her fingers tighter around the older woman's wrist, intending to shove her in return, but Seonghwa pulls Akira back gently.
"Don't do it, we're better than her." Seonghwa tries to reason it out, even though he's starting to get irritated by how the woman is treating them. The rest of her family looks scared, but she's the only one who's being stubborn. "Mrs.," he tries again as he purposely locks his gaze on the husband, who looks like he's ready to run away, "we're going to deal with this nicely, because," a small smile creeps up on his face, "we're in a public place. We don't usually like to bring attention to us in a public place because there's a lot to... clean up."
The woman gulps as she says nothing.
"Akira," Seonghwa turns to her as the latter hooks her tattooed arm around his arm. "How do we usually deal with stubborn people like them?"
"We give them a chance first to beg for forgiveness," Akira looks down to the woman, "but if they're stubborn-" She sucks in a deep breath and looks at Yunho, "Hey, do you remember what happened to the guy that stole our parking spot when we went out to eat? Told him nicely at first but never wanted to admit he's wrong."
"Ah, that short dude who thinks he's all that because he drove a car worth a million chromas or something?" Yunho joins in, knowing how Seonghwa and Akira are planning to deal with the woman. "Didn't he turn up dead in the news the next day? Don't know what actually happened though; heard it was an instigated car crash. Brakes didn't work well apparently."
"Ah right, gosh I always tend to forget about that. Too many annoying people in this world, eh?"
"No worries," Seonghwa shrugs. "There's always a way to deal with them sooner or later. So..." he turns back to the woman, "you still think your son did nothing wrong?"
"Of course," she replies, but there's a noticeable tremor in her voice after. "My son did nothing wrong."
"Sure," Akira replies, her eyes disappearing as she gives a wide smile. "We did everything we could, didn't we? Let's go somewhere else- oh did you manage to get the new automatic rifle you were planning to get last weekend?" she asks as they turn around, showing their backs to the family.
"I did!" Seonghwa replies excitedly, subtly glancing over his shoulder to the family who are starting to get restless. "Got the best deal like I always do. Can't wait to test it out."
"Wait!" a man's voice rises before tumbling over his own words. "We'll, we'll apologize. Hajoon, go and apologize to her."
"Honey!" the woman huffs, disbelief accompanying her because her husband is the one to break the stone she was in. However she does nothing to stop him as he grabs his son's arm and forces him to go forward.
Seonghwa and Akira fist bump secretly as their act worked, watching with eagle eyes as the kid passes by them to go to Hwayoung. She has stopped crying but is sniffling loudly, holding on to Byul's legs from behind and looking scared at the approaching kid.
The older boy must have been about 8 years old, scratching his head as he mutters, "I'm sorry."
"For?" Yunho puts a hand on the boy's shoulder.
"For pushing you when I wanted to get on the slide. I should have waited for my turn."
"Good boy," Seonghwa comes over, and pats the boy's head, whose eyes seem to sparkle as if it's the first time he's being praised. "Hwayoung," he crouches, "do you accept his apology?"
Hwayoung looks hesitant at first as she looks back and forth from the adults surrounding her, taking much longer as she looks at Yunho and Byul. Byul gives her an encouraging smile as the little kid nods slowly before saying in a small voice, "Yes."
She hides behind Byul's legs as the boy extends a hand as a sign of truce. As she gets a nod from Yunho she quietly comes out and accepts the hand.
"Wasn't it simple?" Seonghwa asks. "Kid, when you do something wrong, you apologize." He eyes his parents sharply. "You're going to grow up into a good kid if you own up to what you do, alright?"
The boy looks at Seonghwa before nodding and asking, "Can I get that on my back too once I grow up?"
He lifts up his perfectly-shaped eyebrows as he shows his back. "Oh this? Sure you can, kid. My girlfriend over there drew it for me, it's really pretty isn't it?"
The boy nods again.
"That's enough Hajoon, come back here," his mother orders sharply before pulling him away from the group. "Stop teaching my son useless stuff and trying to give him a bad influence; he's going to be a successful doctor one day, not some lowly lives like all of you."
"A doctor doesn't equal a great person," Byul states, a strained smile on her face.
"And how do you know that when you don't even have a proper education?"
"Listen here, you old woman," she takes a deep breath, looking like she's about to shoot her. "I had a proper education, but that's not the point. I've mingled with enough doctors during my degree life to know that sometimes being 'highly educated' doesn't mean that you're a great person. So please, before teaching your son and daughter to be doctors, teach them to be humans first. That's the most important thing that parents seem to forget nowadays. And no thank you, my husband and I are happy the way we are, with our lovely kid right here. Just because of these tattoos that you deem evil, it doesn't mean that we don't know how to raise up our child."
"You go girl," Akira pumps out a fist.
"Whatever," the woman rolls her eyes as she answers, her answers already dried up. She puts on her sunglasses again and tucks the hat low, crossing her arms as she leans back against the chair and fans herself.
"Hwayoung, let's go and meet your other uncles and Aunt Emira, and we can patch up your knee, okay? Does it hurt a lot?" Yunho asks as he inspects the wound.
She firmly shakes her head. "No. Hwayoung is a strong girl."
"That's my girl. Come on. I'll put a bandage over your knee then we can have fun on the rides and eat cotton candy. Do you like it?"
"Of course!" Hwayoung shouts, holding on to her dad's hand and completely forgetting about the pain she went through.
Both young women give their last glares to the family, before Akira links her arm with Byul's, walking away and planning to meet the rest, so that they can finally go on the rides at the dry park together for the other half of the day.
The five of them meet San first, who's been unsuccessfully trying to read a book as he sits on a lounge chair, the book on his face as he snores softly. There are three empty cans of soda on the small table beside him, and it looks like he has been spending his time alone strolling along the fake beach as his slippers are full of sand. They gather around him quietly, but it's not before Wooyoung with his loud voice comes that he's startled and woken up, looking at the crowd around him like they are aliens.
"Oh are you guys done with the water park?" He rubs his eyes and says sleepily, "Hwayoung what happened to your knee?"
"An older boy pushed me over when I was trying to get onto the slide," she pouts. "But he apologized."
"Ah, really? I was about to throw some hands," Yeosang mentions. "Nobody messes with our little princess."
"Oh trust us, we did," Akira says mischievously. "Wasn't an easy task."
"Come on, let's go to the dry park now," Hongjoong announces. "Sorry you had to stay behind, buddy." He beckons over to San as they have changed their clothes.
"It's fine, I enjoyed my time anyway," he says cheekily.
He taps his slippers against the ground to get rid of the sand, putting them in and handing them their bags back. He still avoids from looking directly at Yunho and Byul, but it's not a hard feat since Wooyoung is pulling him together as they march forward to the dry park.
Hongjoong purposely walks slower than the rest of them as he observes his group; Akira and Seonghwa look like they could be attached for all their lives; Wooyoung and San are leading the group while happily holding on to each other; Mingi, Yeosang, Jongho and Emira are a bunch of close friends having the best time of their lives; Yunho, Byul and Hwayoung... they look like they're a real family. Yunho and Byul are holding Hwayoung in between, lifting her up from the ground with her screaming in delight.
This image is exactly what he doesn't want to disturb, because they are perfect as they are. He doesn't know when it started; was it the day that he mistakenly announced to the whole cafe about the mission they received, or did it start way before on the day that they were released from KTC?
Byul didn't know who they were, and they didn't know who she was. It was a tragic destiny, when you were brought again to the world that you wished would collapse and burn up in flames, leaving nothing but dust behind. Not even the memories should remain.
But right now, things have changed. Byul knows exactly who they are, but none of the boys know who she really is.
Except for Hongjoong.
A twisted fate, if he may say. He looks up at the sky, the clear and blue expanse amazing for a day like this, and wonders, what are you trying to tell me? What am I supposed to do?
He looks at the boys once again. He's reminded of how they were chosen to be a part of this group; their backgrounds differ, their lethality levels differ. As they were subjected to harsh trainings and assessments, they were assigned different lethality levels by the end. Low, medium and high. Sometimes, rare ones get 'very high'.
Mingi and Yunho both possess a low to medium ranking, thought to not be able to handle deaths very well. Jongho, Wooyoung and Hongjoong are of medium level, where they could be deemed as someone who's willing to kill, but can still somewhat 'hold back', as what they call it. Meanwhile, the rest: Seonghwa, San and Yeosang were trainees with a high lethality level; a danger to the system but still manageable. Trainees who can kill...
And be killed.
One, two, three...
Then his eyes rest upon Byul who's happily carrying Hwayoung, fully knowing that heartbreak is going to accompany them soon.
And four.
---
[A/N: Yeah the rumours are true I can't keep my hands off my keyboard and I keep writing even when I'm busy. I have an impromptu presentation tomorrow and I can't believe I just volunteered myself to be the first speaker even though I'm basically a huge introvert so ateez better be proud of me :D lmao who am I kidding I'm never gonna meet ateez ;-; I see people on my timeline getting vip tickets for the ateez concert and I'm so happy for them!!!!
Anyways, if you're still here, thank you and I love you <3]