ten years later

"seungmin, stop bullying seunghee," the chois' oldest son said in a bored tone as he watched his younger brother running around with the chwe daughter's barbie doll.

"but dolls are babyish! seunghee is ten years old," seungmin said, sticking his tongue out.

"oppa!" seunghee shrieked, stamping her foot in a manner not unlike her mommy.

"seungmin, give it back right now or i'm telling mom," the fifteen-year-old said, mimicking his own mom's stern tone.

"okay, okay!" seungmin uttered, holding the doll out.

"meanie," seunghee whined, snatching the doll away from him. "tina-unnie, play with me!"

seungwon glanced at the eldest hong daughter where she sat reading a book. he couldn't understand how she could sit there so peacefully when all of the kids were running around so loudly in the park.

she's really pretty...

"okay, jasmine," tina said in english, setting down her book. she gave a laugh, springing up and running after seunghee who had taken off, still clutching her barbie doll.

"you like her," xinchun stated, the seven year old son of the wen couple dangling off the climbing frame behind seungwon.

the fifteen year old flinched. "you might fall," he tutted, turning round on the bench to frown at the younger boy. "and my mom, and your parents will blame me."

"why?" the small chinese boy asked in a sing-song voice, swinging a little.

seungwon was stressed as xinchun let one hand go from the bar, swinging more energetically.

"because you'll hurt yourself and because i'm the oldest, it'll be my fault for not making sure you don't die," seungwon groaned.

"if he dies can i have his fire truck and his rollerskates?" xukun, xinchun's five year old brother, rambled as he toddled over to seungwon. the small chinese boy held up his arms and seungwon sighed, picking him up.

"no, because he's not going to die," the teenager huffed. "you're literally five, why would you even say that?"

xukun shrugged, seungwon holding him under the arms, feet dangling. he climbed seungwon like a climbing frame and sat up on his shoulders.

"ow," he said in a monotone.

"hyung is big! hyung is strong!" xukun crowed, grabbing onto seungwon's ears.

the eldest choi son gave a shriek, startling the small boy atop his shoulders. xinchun was also startled, nearly losing his grip on the bar, which stressed seungwon even more.

"hyung," xukun whined, "i want to go on the swings."

"then get off me," he suggested, but xukun kicked his feet against him. "okay, fine. i'll take you."

he looked over to where ten-year-old kyungsoo was sitting at the base of a tree nearby, reading a book quietly, round glasses atop his nose. he has grown to be somewhat like his older sister, tina, but ended up mirroring his father joshua more than his mom seokmin.

"kyungsoo-ah," said seungwon, "can you watch xinchun and make sure he doesn't die?"

the bespectacled boy glanced up and rolled his eyes. "sure," he said, but went back to his book immediately.

seungwon gave a heavy sigh, getting to his feet with xukun staying stuck to his shoulders like a limpet, tiny hands in his hair.

"swings!" xukun yelled.

"yeah, we're going, okay," seungwon grumbled.

"hyung is the best hyung!"

"thanks, buddy."

xukun wriggled down when they got to the swings, running for the empty one and jumping on. tina was pushing seunghee and jeonghwa was there swinging by herself, her short dark hair ruffled by the wind.

seungwon massaged his neck; xukun had gotten heavier lately. he glanced up from the grass to see tina smiling at him.

"you've become a mode of transport," she laughed.

"hyung, push me!" xukun whined.

"and a babysitter," she added.

"yeah, thanks, tina," he said sarcastically, heading over to the swings and standing beside her, pushing xukun half-heartedly.

the two continued pushing the kids, who were soon shrieking at how high they were flying.

"i just came here to play some football with dad but mom made me mind all these kids," he muttered, making tina laugh melodically again.

"you're like a dad," she remarked.

"i'm never having this many kids," he said hotly.

"so you'd have kids?" tina asked.

seungwon shrugged.

"all the boys in my class say they're never having kids," she said, "most of them don't have siblings, though. so i guess they don't really get it."

"i have like ten more siblings than i'm actually related to," seungwon commented, as a girl and a boy ran across the grass chasing each other.

the boy was twelve but tiny, with upturned eyes and a cute grin, and the girl was fourteen with glasses and lanky limbs.

"yah, wonha, go make sure xinchun doesn't fall off the climbing frame!" seungwon yelled.

the lanky girl stuck her tongue out. "that's your job." she tapped her tiny friend on the shoulder. "soonji, you're it!"

"hey!" the short boy protested, before chasing after her again.

"they're adorable," tina said fondly. "they'll probably date when they're older."

seungwon wrinkled his nose. "if they can stand each other in ten years."

tina laughed, and seungwon found himself blushing.

"are you laughing at me?" he questioned.

"no, i guess it's just funny how things work out," she said. "none of our parents would have even met if seungkwan-uncle hadn't gone to the hospital that day and met your mom. we might not have even been friends."

"don't say that," he said stiffly, "we'd always have been friends."

"sure, oppa," tina said with a smile.

"oppa is cringy," he retorted, but even he barely believed that any more. especially if it was tina calling him that.

she raised an eyebrow. "well, either way- oh gee, i think your brother is stuck in the sand pit."

"oh my god," seungwon groaned when he saw seungmin trying to get his foot out of the sand, with so much difficulty that the smaller boy fell on his butt. "minnie, i'm coming! wait there!"

tina laughed as she watched seungwon tug his brother out of the sand. jeonghwa was shrieking with laugher as she ran off to join her two brothers, mostly to laugh at them.

"you're like eleven, i want to stop doing this," seungwon pleaded.

seungmin blinked at him. "i don't know why it happens," he stated, before running off to play with xinchun and jeonghwa in the playground.

"just don't get stuck in the slide again!" seungwon warned him before returning to push xukun on the swing again.

"you've got your work cut out for you," tina observed.

"big brother duties," he replied, giving a salute. "it's pretty tiring, actually."

xukun jumped down from the swing and ran off to latch himself to his father junhui's leg, who had come to check on how the kids were doing (he had probably drawn the short straw out of all the adults - it usually happened that way).

seunghee asked to stop swinging, and she went down onto the grass to pick some daisies.

"what do you want to do?" tina asked suddenly, "when you're older, i mean."

"i actually have no idea," seungwon answered. "i've been talking to dad about accounting-"

"oppa!" seunghee half-yelled, holding up a daisy.

"is this for me?" he said, taking it from her.

"no, it's for tina-unnie!" she said, pointing at her favourite unnie.

"then why did you give it to me...?"

"duh, so you can give it to unnie. put it in her hair," seunghee instructed.

seungwon started blushing again as he looked at tina. she shrugged, unable to hide her grin.

"okay, fine," he grumbled. "you're pretty bossy for a ten year old."

"everyone says i get it from my mommy," she replied.

seungwon frowned with concentration and carefully placed in behind tina's ear, securely in her dark hair.

and he totally didn't envision her in a wedding dress and a flower crown right then. no, definitely not.

"thanks," tina chuckled, reaching up to touch the flower in her hair.

"you're welcome," seungwon said gruffly.

and tina totally didn't imagine him in a sharp suit and holding out a ring. no, definitely not.

seunghee looked smug as she walked back towards her parents; the adults had returned from their get-together (which had mostly consisted of coffee and a lot of chatting).

"i'm calling it," said jeonghan, one hand wrapped around seungcheol's arm as he caught sight of the two teenagers standing alone by the swings.

"that's my daughter," joshua said protectively.

"let them be, they're adorable," said seokmin.

"young love, eh?" seungcheol chuckled.

"give them ten years and we'll be attending their wedding," seungkwan agreed.

_________________________

this took a long time but i've been getting over some things these past couple of weeks :')

there will be a couple more bonus chapters to look forward to, hopefully they'll be up soon :)

thank you for reading this book, ily

taellipses out x