Vernon woke up with a start when he heard a scream. Seungkwan's scream.

He got up and ran as fast as he could towards where the sounds were coming from.

"Seungkwan???? Are you okay??" He called out before coming to a stop looking at the reason of Seungkwan's screaming.

"HANSOL!!!!!!!!!!!" The tall man jumped on Vernon now making him lose his balance a little.

Vernon heard a thump of a bag falling to ground.

"Here Kwannie, hold my daughter, I need to stop her other father from choking an unsuspecting youngster."

Before Vernon knew it, he could breathe again.

"Thanks Joshua....." Vernon said trying to calm his heartbeat down.

"What??? I was just hugging him??" Seokmin whined.

"You weren't hugging him, you were killing him. Whatever happened to 'How are you Vernon?? Are you settling in okay??'" Jisoo said.

"I was going to ask that. After hugging him though. It's been almost a year."

"I know I missed him too... Come here Vernon." Jisoo said going towards Vernon.

Vernon stood up straight and hugged Jisoo while he gave him back pats.

"Ohhh wow then why did you give me the fright of my life?? What did I ever do for you to steal ten years of my life Seokmin hyung??" Seungkwan complained.

"I was just excited to come here." Seokmin shrugged.

"Yaaah Seokmi-........ Ahhh Minji-yaahhh I'm not shouting on you. You know samchon loves you....I was just shouting on your father....." Seungkwan said cooing to the two year old when she grabbed Seungkwan's chin to make him face her mid-sentence.

Vernon saw her and was just filled with wonder.

"Is that Minji?? Ohh god she's grown so much!!! In only a year??" Vernon exclaimed.

"She's a kid Hansol. Ofcourse she'll grow in a year." Seungkwan said jerking her in his arms.

"Give her to me....." Vernon said trying to take her from Seungkwan but the child had other plans.

She wrapped her arms tightly around Seungkwan's neck and refused to part from him. She settled her head in crook of Seungkwan's neck.

"Minji baby do you remember Hansol samchon??" Seokmin said caressing her head.

"Don't mind her Vernon, she's just fussy right now. She just woke up. She'll be fine once we feed her. Right Jiaya??" Jisoo said taking her from Seungkwan.

"Are you guys hungry?? We brought food." Seokmin said picking up the bag Jisoo had let go of and took it to the kitchen.

"What are you guys even doing here?? You know hyungs are in Paris, right?"

"Yeah that's where the idea came from. We were video calling them and Jeonghan suggested that we should go check on you guys and just make you eat home-cooked food for once. He knows you're busy Seungkwan and Vernon here lives on bread and its spreads. Just American things. I understand." Jisoo chuckled.

Seungkwan and Vernon made eye contact when Jisoo said that Jeonghan suggested for them to visit. It was like Seungkwan saying I told you so.

"Well you're in for a surprise. We cooked the lunch today." Seungkwan shrugged.

"You cooked the lunch?? Didn't you go to office??" Jisoo asked and walking towards the dining table and setting the baby on the table with the fruit basket.

He put an arm around her so that she doesn't run away anywhere and turned towards Vernon and Seungkwan.

"Yeah I finally decided-"

"Those are washed right??" Jisoo said pointing towards the fruits which were soon going to have the kid's teeth marks on them.

"Yes. They are washed. So I finally decided to take a leave. Or two. It's weekend tomorrow. So I think I'll have a decent rest." Seungkwan nodded.

"So you do know weekends exist and you're not supposed to work on those days." Jisoo chuckled.

"Cmon Jisoo hyung, don't do this to me."

"This guy over here, I can't count how many times we had to leave him out of our plans. He's always busy at his office." Jisoo told Vernon.

"I just feel like a fifthwheel with you guys and hyungs." Seungkwan whined.

"But you weren't even available to babysit this precious thing." Jisoo said pointing towards Minji.

"You weren't even paying me for that."

"Yaah you're not in high school that you need pocket money by babysitting. Just do it next time just so you could spend some time with her and we could spend some time away from her." Seokmin said coming out of kitchen with a tray filled with food.

"There will be no next time. I'll babysit her. You've lost your chance Seungkwan." Vernon said.

He took Jisoo's place making sure the kid doesn't go anywhere while Jisoo helped with food.

"What were you guys even doing?? It took, like, five times ringing the doorbell to make you open the door. We were going to call Jeonghan for passcode." Seokmin asked.

"They were sleeping. Look at their faces." Jisoo pointed out. "Go wash your faces and come back quick. The food is ready."

"Aaahhhh smells so nice."

"Wash. Your. Face. Seungkwan." Jisoo emphasized.

"Going......" Seungkwan said going towards his room while Vernon was already at the kitchen sink.

Vernon came back to the table and saw Minji looking adorable with a bib around her neck and a plastic spoon in her hand.

"She can eat on her own???"

"Yeah well, she likes to think that."

"That's my independant little girly." Vernon said playing with her locks.

"She doesn't eat. She just spills. After she's done with her shenanigans, we feed her ourselves."

"Show me your teeth, Minji-yaa." Vernon said tilting her chin upwards.

The baby laughed showing her almost full mouth with teeth.

"Come sit, she won't go anywhere as long as she has food in front of her. Just keep a hand on her leg" Seokmin said putting a tiny bowl filled with boiled vegetables.

"Oooohhhh can she eat chocolates??? I brought a lot from New York. Also I bought her new shoes too."

"No she doesn't eat chocolate. Or any sweet for that matter." Seokmin informed.

"You spend too much money on someone who won't even let you hold her Vernon." Jisoo said.

"It's fine. I have no else to spend on. Right Minmin?? Did you like the toys I sent for you?? Did you like the Pikachu plushie?? The cinnamon roll plushie??" Vernon cooed at the kid.

That caught her attention.

"Piashuu??!!!"

"Yes. Pikachu. Did you like it??"

"Piashuu is my best friend." She said and went back to her food.

"Yeah. Before you ask. She hasn't had much breakthrough with the kids at daycare. They say she's antisocial." Jisoo said.

"Antisocial my ass. All the kids there are little urchins. Minji is better than all of them tiny creatures combined. " Seokmin spat.

"So I guess daycare is a sensitive topic." Vernon said feeding Minji some vegetables from her bowl.

"Very. Don't ask. Seokmin here just can't let them live. I actually feel bad for poor teachers there." Jisoo said.

"Don't be sorry for them. If it weren't for you, I would've unenrolled her long back."

"I honestly can't imagine you doing that Seokmin hyung." Vernon said shaking his head.

"Ohh trust me he can. Meet Lee Seokmin, father of Hong-Lee Minji. He's a changed man now. You talk shit about his daughter and he'll rip you a new one." Seungkwan said joining them at the dining table.

Suddenly Jisoo stood up and slapped Seungkwan on his mouth from across the table.

"Shit sorr- ohh crap"

Jisoo slapped him twice more on the lips.

"Don't swear in front of her. How difficult is that to understand Boo Seungkwan??" Seokmin said.

"I honestly don't think I can handle another phone call from her teachers that she said another curse word to some poor unsuspecting kid. I don't know where she is learning all that from."

"Who could it be except those little rascals?? We don't swear ever in front of her. Where would she even learn that?? I'm telling you Shua they're just trying to kick her out at this point."

"Seokmin just let everyone eat peacefully. We'll talk about it later." Joshua said pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Fine I'll let everyone eat peacefully." Seokmin said and scrapped his chair backwards to get up and walk away from the table.

Jisoo didn't even react and kept eating his food.

Vernon looked at Seungkwan for help but he seemed equally clueless.

Suddenly Jisoo dropped his spoon on the plate.

"Stop staring at me both of you. Just eat your food." He picked up his spoon again and started to eat.

"Dada, Appa where??" Minji spoke up.

Jisoo's grip on the spoon tightened so much that his knuckles turned white and he looked downwards holding in his breath.

"Damn it." He finally sighed out, put down his spoon again and went after Seokmin.

"What just happened??" Vernon said a few seconds after Jisoo disappeared.

"I don't know. They were okay a few minutes ago....." Seungkwan said.

"Should I go after them??"

"No just.... Give them space..." Seungkwan said and Vernon nodded.

They continued eating in silence, broken only by Minji's different sounds and gibberish.

"Boo samchon..... Water...."

"Right here honey.... Where's your sippy cup??? Here... Have some...." Seungkwan said pulling the cup out of the bag.

"She calls you Boo samchon??"

"Yeah... Seungkwan isn't really an easy name for a kid to pronounce. Right Jiaya??" Seungkwan said rubbing her earlobe.

"Yaah Minji.... Who am I??" Vernon said pointing towards himself.

Minji looked at him, tilted her a little, and then went back to food.

"Minji I'm Hansol samchon. Say it. Hansol samchon."

"Han samchon?? Hannie samchon?" She said looking towards Seungkwan.

"She calls Jeonghan hyung that.... Minji he's Nonie samchon.... Sollie samchon...." Seungkwan trailed off.

"Nonie samchon. Come on say it precious. Nonie samchon."

"Nonie samchon....."

"Yes that's right.... Here open your mouth." Vernon said feeding her her food.

When she stopped eating anymore food, they got up and Seungkwan started to clear the table.

"What are you doing?? They've barely eaten. Wait for them." Vernon commented.

"It's cold anyway..... I'll heat it up again when they're back."

"No wait.... Let me go talk to them. I've got expertise in this area. I'm going to be a therapist after all."

"Are you sure Hansol?" Seungkwan asked carefully.

"Yeah.... Keep an eye on the little troll. I'll be back in a sec." Vernon said and went towards the back porch.

He tried to listen for sound to figure out where they were but there was none.

He was going back inside when he heard a sound.

Later, he wished he'd never gone in the direction of the sound and never seen the sight which is burned into his mind no matter how much he'd like to forget it.

--------------------------------------------------

Just think of Torong as Minji.

Some of you might remember, I had named Seokmin and Jisoo's daughter Hyein in the beginning cz she's the youngest. But then I realised that the name Minji is a combination of Seokmin and Jisoo's name. So I replaced it.

Also I'm aware that the title of the chapter is a misleading clickbait. Don't hate me.