Once Again

87

Jin stepped out of the lift and walked down the corridor towards his destination. In his arms, he carried a beautifully wrapped woven basket filled with carefully picked gifts.

Beside him, Minjoon carried two teddy bears with different colour bows. The bears were almost as big as he was, and the sight of the young boy carrying them brought smiles to everyone they passed.

Jin and his son were on their way to visit Hoseok. The bubbly chef had given birth to twins that morning, just before dawn.

It had shocked them all when the babies had been born because no one expected Hoseok to carry two instead of one inside him. His belly had only been slightly bigger than a normal pregnancy but they had dismissed it as just Hoseok's increased appetite.

"Do you think the babies will like the bears, Dada?" Minjoon asked worriedly.

Jin looked at his son and smiled when he saw how he chewed on his bottom lip nervously. Minjoon was looking more and more like Taehyung every day. Gone were the features that had made Minjoon look like a mini Jin when he was a toddler.

Sometimes the change caused Jin's heart to feel heavy. Seeing a younger version of Taehyung in the son that they had created together made Jin miss his husband terribly. But most times, Jin was grateful that Minjoon resembled his appa more because he knew that whenever he longed to see his dead husband in the flesh again, he only needed to look at their son.

Even Jungkook agreed. Despite how things ended between him and Taehyung, Jungkook always thought fondly of his friend. And because they had been estranged for so long before reconciling briefly, only to drift apart again, Jungkook did not have many pictures of Taehyung. But now he had a living picture in Minjoon, and he was thankful.

"Dada?" Minjoon's voice broke into Jin's thoughts. "Will the twins like my bears?"

"Yes, baby. They will love your bears," Jin smiled as he blinked away tears.

"Dada, why are you crying?"

"I'm happy, baby. You finally got the cousins that you've been wanting for so long," Jin explained.

"But I think it's more than that, Dada. Ojisan is the same way when he looks at me sometimes."

Jin swallowed the lump in his throat. His son was so observant and aware of everything around him. It made Jin wonder if there was indeed truth in the saying about people having an old soul.

"It's because you look like Appa, baby. You look so much like Appa that it makes Dada and ojisan happy," Jin explained.

They had both arrived outside the door to Hoseok's room, and Jin knew he had to pull himself together before he went in. He watched as Minjoon pondered his words before nodding to show that he understood. It made Jin smile. He placed his hand on the doorknob and was about to turn it when his son asked an unexpected question.

"Dada, who do you think the babies will look like? I hope they don't look like Uncle Yoongi."

"What?" Jin was startled by his son's comment. "Why?"

"He always looks grumpy or fed up. Even when he's having fun," Minjoon explained. "That's going to make it hard for me to tell if the babies are enjoying themselves with me."

Jin laughed at his son's musings and realised that not only did Minjoon inherit Taehyung's good looks, he'd also inherited his quirky way of looking at the world.

"I'm sure they will look like a combination of both Hobi and Yoongi," Jin replied. "It won't be so hard to tell what they're feeling then, right? After all, Hobi is very expressive."

"Well, I hope they look more like Uncle Hobi," Minjoon whispered as he followed his father into the room.

"Jinnie! Min-Min!" Hoseok cried with joy as he pushed himself up to greet his guests. "Interesting visitors at last!"

"Excuse me!" Yoongi grumbled in protest as he got up from the chair by the window, a sleeping baby in his arms.

Jin immediately put his gift basket on the overbed table and hurried over to coo at the baby in Yoongi's hold, while his son carefully placed the teddy bears on the settee by the wall. The young boy then went over to the bed to peer into the bassinet set beside it. His heart sang when he saw that the baby inside looked a lot like Hoseok.

One out of two is not bad, Minjoon thought to himself.

Jin came back to Hoseok's side after taking the other baby from Yoongi. He was entranced by how perfect the ten little fingers were. To him, they looked like pianist hands.

"Do they have names yet, Hobi?"

"Yes. This one is Holly," Hoseok indicated the baby in the bassinet before nodding to the baby being held by Jin. "And that's Michael, but we prefer Mickey."

"English names?" Jin was surprised.

"They have Korean names, of course, but Yoongi wanted them to have English names too so we chose Mickey and Holly," Hoseok explained.

"I think the names are perfect for such lovely babies," said Minjoon quietly.

"So, Minjoon... I presume the bear with the green bow is Mickey's, and the bear with yellow is Holly's?" Yoongi asked as he looked towards the settee.

"Yes, Uncle Yoongi."

Minjoon was about to walk around the bed so he could look at Mickey when there was a gasp, followed by a squeal, as Hoseok grabbed Jin's left hand, almost dislodging the baby in his arms in the process. Yoongi quickly rescued his son.

"Jinnie! Are you engaged?!" Hoseok shrieked.