Fate and Destiny

TWENTY FIVE

Yoona's party ended just before 7:00PM.  Hyolyn's brother thanked them all for coming.  "Guys, thanks again," Hyolyn said as they all walked to the parking lot. "Don't mention it, noona. We had a great time," Ilhoon said.  "So? You're good?" she teased him as she looked pointedly at his hand that was holding Irene's.  "Everything's good!" Ilhoon grinned then kissed Irene's hand.  All their friends jeered palyfully.  "Ewww! So cheesy," Yeri said, curling her fingers in jest.  "Yah!" Irene laughingly yelled at her.  None of them know what happened when they disappeared earlier but it's obvious that they already cleared up the issue between them.  "I'm glad you two made up. It has gone on long enough. Whatever it was," Chorong said, rubbing her rounded belly.  "I'm just happy that Iruna will finally stop whining about the state of his lovelife," Changsub joked, earning a laugh from everyone.  "Shut up, hyung!" Ilhoon said, his ears turning red.  "Maybe now, unnie won't be so cranky anymore," Wendy added.  "Yah! Nobody can be crankier than that guy!" Irene said, pointing to Sungjae.  "Who? Me? Excuse me, noona, but I happen to be the most fun in this family," Sungjae protested.  "Uh, now, maybe. But definitely not in the past years," Peniel contradicted.  "What? I've always been funny," Sungjae insisted.  "Hah!" Joy guffawed.  "What's with that reaction?" he asked, turning to her.  Joy cleared her throat.  "MS. PARK, I'M YOOK SUNGJAE. IT DOESN'T MATTER, IT'S JUST A CAR," Joy said, imitating Sungjae.  From his haughty stance, to the way his eyes flashed, to his deep voice and arrogant tone, she copied him perfectly.  "Yah! Park Sooyoung!" Sungjae scolded her.  "Well, it's true. You're like that when we first met," Joy sassed.  "Just wait until we get home. I'm going to make you pay for that, so you better reserve your energy," he warned her.  Everyone was laughing at Joy's action, but suddenly stopped when they heard Sungjae's words.  All eyes turned to the two of them, waiting for God knows what.  "What? What are you going to do?" Joy challenged.  "I'm not sure yet, but I think three full jars of cookies and two pans of brownies would be good, for starters," he told her.  "There's not enough ingredients at home," Joy berated him.  "Then we'll buy some on the way," Sungjae replied.  Completely engrossed in their playful bickering, Sungjae and Joy were unaware that, for a while, their friends' minds went to the gutter.  "I thought it was some other kind of punishment that requires a lot of energy," Hyunsik sniggered, whispering to Seulgi.  "Me, too. My mind went blank for a while," Seulgi giggled.  "Jaejae! Let's go!" Sungjae called out to Youngjae who was still talking to Yoona.  "Bye, unnie. Thanks again for inviting us," Joy said to Hyolyn.  "Anytime. I guess we'll meet again at the Christmas party," Hyolyn said.  "Drive carefully, maknae," Eunkwang reminded him.  "I will, hyung. We'll go ahead, guys," Sungjae said when Youngjae came up to them.  "Bye, Yoona!" Youngjae said, waving to her.  "Woah! For a minute there, my heart stopped," Minhyuk said when Sungjae's car drove away.  "I actually forgot to breathe," he added laughing, grabbing his chest.  "I guess even if they are Youngjae's eomma and appa, they're still kids at heart," Changsub said.  "Or maybe, they just don't see each other that way," Peniel suggested.  "Nah! They do see each other that way, they just don't want to admit it," Ilhoon said.  "Because they're not sure yet. Or at least, Joy isn't. But Sungjae is just waiting," Hyunsik said.  "Let's just be there for them, no matter what," Eunkwang said, as the brothers all looked happily in the direction where their maknae, Joy and Youngjae disappeared, before turning to their respective ladies to head home.

★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★

Joy was surprised to see Youngjae walk into the kitchen early the next morning, followed by Sungjae.  "Good morning!" the two chorused.  "Good morning! And why are you up early?" Joy asked Youngjae who came up to her for a morning hug.  "We're going to decorate today. Right, eomma?" Youngjae asked, waiting for her confirmation.  "Ahh! So that's why," Joy teased Youngjae, pinching his cheeks lightly.  Turning to the big version, she cocked an eyebrow at Sungjae, silently asking the same question.  He just gave her a silly grin.  "Never mind," Joy chuckled, realizing his reason was the same as his mini-me.  "Breakfast first. What do you want?" she asked.  "Pancake!" they both replied, grinning at each other.  As Joy cooked the pancake, Sungjae made coffee for Joy and himself, and poured a glass of milk for Youngjae, while Youngjae took out the chocolate and maple syrups from the refrigerator.  By the time Joy was done, the table has already been set by the two.  They all sat to eat after arranging the food on the table: Joy on one side, Sungjae and Youngjae on the other.  Joy watched as the two placed three pancakes on their plates, topped it with loads of chocolate syrup and took a sip of their drink before cutting into the pancake.  She marveled again at how similar they are.  Not just with their appearance, but with their mannerisms as well.  It was as if Youngjae was actually Sungjae's child, and not Sungjin's.  Smiling to herself, she placed a toast, one egg and a couple of bacon on her plate, before focusing her attention on the magazine in front of her.  Few minutes into their meal, Joy sensed that she's being watched.  Lifting her head, she saw two identical pair of eyes looking at her intently.  "What?" she asked them, puzzled.  "Aren't you going to eat pancake?" Youngjae asked with a hopeful look.  Joy glanced at Sungjae who has the same hopeful expression on his face, making Joy smile.  "No. I made them just for the two of you," she chuckled.  Eyes gleaming, the two grabbed the remaining pancakes, dividing it equally between them.  After eating, they tidied up the kitchen then started on the Christmas decorations.  They spent the whole morning putting up the tree and other ornaments.  Midway through their decorating, Sungjae called to order lunch for them, knowing that Joy would be too tired to cook.  While waiting for their food, they finished decorating the tree.  Continuing with their tradition, Joy gave the angel tree topper to Youngjae.  Sungjae lifted him to place it on top.  Joy then turned on the Christmas lights to see the finished look of their tree.  They all clapped, satisfied with how beautiful it turned out.  Sungjae couldn't describe what or how he was feeling at the moment.  It was the first time he decorated his own house for Christmas.  But more than that, they did it as a family.  Picking up his cellphone, he took a few pictures of the three of them in front of the lighted Christmas tree.  He excitedly sent the pictures to his mom and, on impulse, he also sent it to his secretary, Narae, with the instructions to have it printed out and framed.  He was debating with himself whether to upload the picture in his social media account or not.  It has been quite a while since his last post.  In the end, he decided to upload it with the hashtags: #OurFirstTree #FirstChristmasTogether.  A minute after posting it, his phone pinged with notifications.  Since his account is private, he knew it was from his hyung-deul and noona-deul, and a few other selected people.  Checking it, he saw that they '♥' the pictures.  Sniggering, he showed it to Joy.  "You have a social media account?" she asked, more surprised of that fact rather than him posting their picture.  "Of course. I'm not an ogre," he said indignantly.  "Hmmmm!" Joy just said.  "Ohhh! So you're sassing me again, huh?" he scolded her.  "That reminds me. You still owe me cookies and brownies for your cheekiness yesterday," he noted.  Joy was about to reply when they heard Youngjae sigh, diverting their attention to him.  "Something wrong, buddy?" Sungjae asked him worriedly.  "There are no gifts under our tree, appa. Wouldn't it look better if there are presents under it?" Youngjae said, still staring at the tree.  "You're right," Sungjae said, rubbing his chin and pretended to consider his suggestion.  "We should go shopping for gifts," he added, winking at Joy.  "Okay. We should buy gifts for halmeoni, harabeoji, ahjumma, samchon-deul and imo-deul," Youngjae readily agreed.  Then as if an afterthought, he added casually, "maybe we should also buy a gift for Yoona."  Sungjae and Joy exchanged knowing looks at this.  "Yes. I guess, we should," Sungjae said teasingly.  "So? What do you think of Yoona?" Joy asked him.  "She's nice," Youngjae simply said.  "Don't you think she's pretty?" she prompted.  "I guess so," he replied nonchalantly.  "Soooo? Do you like her?" Sungjae goaded him, putting emphasis on the word like.  "Of course not! She's my yeodongsaeng, appa," Youngjae denied, his ears turning red.  "That's what I'm asking. If you like her as your dongsaeng. What do you think I meant?" Sungjae teased him.  "Oh! Okay. Then, yeah. I like her," he said sheepishly.  Just then, the doorbell rang.  "I think that's our food," Youngjae said, quickly running to check the CCTV, effectively escaping the teasing of his eomma and appa.  Joy and Sungjae burst out laughing.  "Cute," Sungjae grinned, picking up his wallet before following Youngjae to the door.

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"So, when do you want to go gift shopping?" Sungjae asked Joy and Youngjae when they were eating.  "Well, since we can only do it on a weekend and you're playing with your hyung-deul on Saturday, I guess Sunday is our only option," Joy suggested.  "But we're going to halmeoni and harabeoji on Sunday," Youngjae reminded them.  "How about, we meet at the mall after our game? If we can't buy everything on Saturday, we can come back on Sunday to finish up, after we have lunch at the house?" Sungjae said after some consideration.  "That would work," Joy replied.  "We should also make a list of who we're buying gifts for and what to buy so we could save time," she added.  "Okay," Sungjae agreed.  "Is there anyone else you're buying a gift for aside from Yoona?" he asked Youngjae.  "Just the twins. And Mrs. Cho, the head teacher. She always lets me stay at the teacher's lounge to wait for eomma. And Mr. Nam, our janitor. And Kangbae hyung. He's a food server at the canteen. He always gives me and the twins a little extra serving at lunch," he replied sheepishly.  "Yah! I told you to stop asking him for extras. If Mrs. Ahn finds out, he'll be in big trouble," Joy scolded him.  "Na-ah! Mrs. Ahn knows. She's the one who told Kangbae hyung to give me and the twins extra servings," he argued.  "And why would she give you extra?" Sungjae asked curiously.  "Because whenever we see her with bags of groceries, we always help her carry it to the kitchen," Youngjae explained.  "She just told us not to tell the other kids about it," Youngjae added conspiratorially to Joy.  "I see. So, it's a reward," Sungjae said.  "Yup!" Youngjae confirmed, as Sungjae nodded in understanding.  "Anyway, back to our topic. What about you, Sooyoung?" he turned to Joy.  "I just need to buy for my unnie-deul, Yeri, the principal and vice principal. Since Jaejae is already buying a gift for Mrs. Cho then that could be from the both of us," she said.  "You?" she asked him back.  "Aside from eomma, appa and Miran ahjumma, just my hyung-deul and Hyolyn noona and Chorong noona," Sungjae said.  "What about Narae and Eunwoo?" Joy asked him.  "What about them?" Sungjae replied.  "Aren't you going to buy them a gift? She's your secretary and he's your assistant," Joy said.  "Come to think of it, Narae's been my secretary ever since I took over for appa, and Eunwoo has been with me since he graduated. But I never gave them a gift," Sungjae mulled.  "Then maybe it's time you give them one," Joy advised.  "But I always give them a bonus," Sungjae said.  "That's from the company, not from you. You should personally give them a gift to show you appreciate their help," Joy explained.  "Okay. I'll give them one before the company Christmas party," Sungjae considered.  "And speaking of which. You two are coming with us to the party. Eomma and appa wants to formally introduce both of you to all the employees and our business acquaintances. They think that's the best time to do it, and I agreed. We always hold it on the Saturday before Christmas. It's just a semi-formal event, nothing fancy. You and eomma can go shopping if you want to buy a dress for the party. Eomma would love that," Sungjae told them.  "Do I have to wear a suit, appa?" Youngjae asked him.  "Not really, but it would be nice if you do," Sungjae said.  When they finished their lunch, Youngjae went to his room to play on the computer after asking for their permission.  Sungjae stood up to gather the plates. "Just put everything in the sink. I'll wash it," Joy said, picking up the empty food boxes and throwing them in the trash bin.  "I'll help you," Sungjae offered.  "It's okay. There's only a few anyway," she said.  "You're sure?" he asked her.  Joy nodded.  "Then, I'll go to the study. I need to check an email," he said, then turned to leave.  "Oppa!" Joy called out to him when he was almost out of the kitchen.  "Yes?" Sungjae said, still thrilled about Joy calling him oppa.  "About the party. I get that Jaejae needs to go since you need to introduce him to everyone in the company and to your business associates because he's Sungjin oppa's son. But do I need to go, too?" she asked him.  "Of course. Jaejae would be nervous if you're not there. Besides, you're his eomma, so people should also know who you are. Don't worry. Hyolyn noona, Chorong noona and Irene noona always attend the party. And I'm sure, Seulgi noona, Wendy noona and Yeri will be there, too. My hyung-deul will bring them as their dates," he assured her.  Walking up back to her, Sungjae took her hand in his.  "It'll be fine," he said, patting her hand lightly, before releasing it and heading to his study.