The Story of Us (ATEEZ OT8 FAMILY)

Chapter 2: First Day of School (2)

"Daddy! Daddy! Don't leave us here with Dad." "He'll kill us."

"Seonghwa, help! I really cannot do this alone!"

The desperate cries for help echoed through the house.

Did it make Seonghwa feel worried? Yes.

Did it make him reconsider his decision? No.

Hongjoong was the father of his demonic sons as well. He could take care of them. Sure there had been some accidents in the past, but one thing Seonghwa learned as a parent was that children were sturdier than you expected. A couple of accidents would not hurt them.

So yes, Seonghwa was confident that by the time he came back his sons would still be alive. Maybe having lost some teeth or having had some life-traumatising scare. But they would still be alive and that was the important thing.

With that in mind, Seonghwa walked up the stairs to look for his other son, the son he had left alone in his room to go find his other sons. One arm holding the baby, the other hand holding Yunho's hand, Seonghwa came up to Mingi's and San's shared room.

"Mingi baby, are you alright in there?" Knocking on the door politely, Seonghwa checked in on his five-years-old. Both Seonghwa and Hongjoong agreed that the children should have their own privacy, so they never barged in on them ever, always making sure to knock on the door first before coming in. Soobin and Yeonjun, the best friends of Hongjoong and Seonghwa, when heard the story, both agreed that the parents were just trying to teach their children knocking so they would not barge in on them having wild animal sex in the future. A notion that earned them some heavy knockings on the head.

Muffled noise coming through the door made Seonghwa anxious and nervous. A loud thud was the last straw on the camel's back. Turning the doorknob, Seonghwa banged the door open.

In the middle of the room was his son on the floor, tangled in a bunch of clothes, wrestling to get them off. Mingi was badly stuck in the mess of sleeves and legs. The more he tried to kick it out, the tighter the fabric wrapped around him. A piece of fabric even wrapped around the boy's throat, restricting his breath more with every kick and struggle.

Seeing his father, the small boy could no longer hold in his fear. Tears broke off as the boy let out ugly cries, tiny hands extending to his daddy, pleading for help. "Da-daddy! H-help! WAHHHH! I-I'm scared! Help me please!"

Frightened, Seonghwa handed the baby to Yunho before diving toward Mingi, two hands quickly buried into the mess, disentangling the disaster that his son had created.

"Oh my god! What have you done, my baby? Wait, don't struggle, you'll only make it worse. No need to cry, Mingi-ah. I'm here. Okay, put your arm through here. Yes, yes. Well done! That's it! Okay, head going through here. Yes you're doing so well, baby. Here, last one! That's it! Oh my god! Come here!"

After a few minutes of struggle, Seonghwa finally freed his little boy. Holding the boy tightly in his chest, Seonghwa patted the crying boy's back slowly, both to calm down his son and himself.

"Are you okay, baby? How are you feeling?" Seonghwa asked, hands holding Mingi's tear-stained chubby face, flipping left and right to look for any other damage.

"I'm-hic- I'm alright." Mingi answered after he finally calmed down.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Seonghwa brushed Mingi's bang off his forehead and placed a soft kiss there. Over Mingi's shoulder, a frightened boy entered Seonghwa's vision.

Yunho was the eldest son. He was the first to be adopted too. He always felt responsible for his younger siblings. But he left his brother out of his sight for one second and he almost lost his brother to a bunch of evil clothes.

Out of all the siblings, it was Mingi too. Yunho always had a special bond with Mingi. Mingi was his very first younger brother. The day that Seonghwa and Hongjoong brought the scared one-year-old back from the orphanage to their then small apartment, Mingi had always been docile and attached to Yunho.

Seeing Mingi struggle to breathe scared the bejesus out of Yunho. He was scared to frozen, not knowing what to do. Helpless. And Yunho hated that feeling.

The frightened and panic look on Yunho had Seonghwa's heart clenched. He was so focus on Mingi that he completely forgot about how this could be a traumatic experience for his eldest who had to witness it all.

"Oh, Yunho. Don't be scared. You did so well. Come here, baby bear!" Seonghwa waved at Yunho at the door. The young boy wasted no time, jumping into Seonghwa's arms, squeezing Mingi in the middle, tears streaming down his face. "Oh, baby, you did so well. Thank you for taking care of Jongho for me."

Seonghwa patted Yunho's back, hoping to calm the boy down. But it didn't work. And soon, Mingi joined Yunho with the crying too.

"Minmin, wahhhh, ar-are you hu-hurt? Wahhhh." Yunho pulled away and held Mingi's hands, checking if his younger brother was alright.

"Mi-minmin alright. WAHHHHH! Mi-minmin not hurt anymore. Yunyun hurt?"

"Yunyun not hurt. Yunyun scared. For Minmin."

"Minmin sorry. Minmin ju-just want to be big boy and wear clothes. Like Yunyun. Minmin no want to s-scare Yunyun and Daddy." The boy finished the sentence with difficulty, then broke into tears again.

"You are so good, Mingi. I'll teach you how to wear clothes later, alright? No need to cry, baby boy." Seonghwa tried to console his crying son, but no one seemed to listen to him.

The loud crying of the two boys woke up the baby in Seonghwa's arm. Irritated to have his sleep disturbed, Jongho let out loud wailings to voice his displease.

With two crying boys in front of him, a wailing baby in his arms and nothing he could do to get them to stop crying, it did not take long before Seonghwa joined in the tearful battle. Whether the crying was triggered by the fright he just experienced or the long overdue fatigue from sleepless nights, Seonghwa did not know.

~~~

Author's notes:

CONGRATULATION ON GUERRILLA FIRST WIN!!!!!!!

Seeing Yeosang handing ATEEZ the trophy was soooo beautiful!

We actually have more chance for 2nd week win! So continue streaming the MV at least once a day everyone <3

Thank you everyone soooo much for reading this! Let me know what you think!