"Byul-ie! We- are- going- to- the- theme- park- today-" With every word Hwayoung does a dance to the left, then to the right, before jumping up and down on the balls of her feet.

The moment Byul and Yunho appeared at the door to Akira and Emira's unit, she ran towards the entrance, tangling the woman in a hug and completely disregarding her father. She is dressed up for the trip to the theme park, with Emira helping to bring her luggage that also contains her swimsuit and her arm floaties.

The two sisters have gotten ready too, Emira looking extra as she already has her shades on, shorts and a spaghetti strap top, proudly displaying the tattoos she has all over her body. Meanwhile, Akira follows from behind with her opting for a plain crop top white t-shirt and cargo pants, the piercing near her belly button glinting in the light as she closes the door behind her.

"Here you go, it's my spare swimsuit. Since you said that you didn't have any, you can keep it." Akira hands it over, and Byul takes it with a blush on her cheeks as Yunho glances at the onepiece swimsuit. He says nothing before taking Hwayoung's hand in his, walking ahead of them.

"Is Jeong Yunho okay? Why does he seem so cold today?" Akira comments as the three women walk side by side to go to the minibus driven by Hongjoong waiting for them at the parking lot.

"Maybe he's just shy knowing that you're going to wear that swimsuit," Emira nudges Byul. "It might be just me but I think Yunho's got a thing for you, Byul. He might be a single father but if he does like you, it's like you won the lottery. That guy's heart is as hard as stone when it comes to women. Wouldn't let us near his daughter at first, but thank the skies for Seonghwa."

"Emira, I really think you need to find something else to talk about other than someone else's love life. It's getting pretty annoying."

"Well, my lovely sister, how can I not when all I see are fairytales around me? Seonghwa and you, Yunho and Byul... let's see, even though Wooyoung is annoying he looks like he has a girlfriend who can actually stand him. Maybe even Yeosang and San, who knows? I'll just stay here and be the spectator because no one," she sniffs, "would like me."

"What about Mingi?" Akira offers with a naughty smile on her face as they join Yunho and Hwayoung in front of the lift. "Mingi's a nice guy and he's very tall... so you don't have to worry about your boyfriend being shorter than you."

"You like Mingi?" Yunho asks Emira as they wait for the lift. Hwayoung lets go of his hand and goes towards Byul instead, unable to contain her excitement at the prospect of spending time at the theme park with all of her uncles, aunts and dad. "If you really like him I can set both of you up. You need to be a bit gentle with him though; he's a giant but he's very fragile."

"Well yeah, su..re..." Emira shoots daggers at Akira. "My sister's only messing with me. I like all of you as friends, nothing more. If there's anyone I'd like it's Seonghwa. He's the man of my dreams."

"No you can't-" Akira quickly refutes, to which Emira laughs.

"See? I told you that you like Seonghwa a lot, and you get defensive when I said I like him. I'm just joking, I don't see him as that because all I see is a child stuck in a man's body, desperately wanting love from you. You like him too, so why deny it all the way? Right, Byul? If you like someone, just tell them straight to their faces, or else you'll regret it for the rest of your life when the chance is gone."

"Yeah, they should..." she says subconsciously as she looks at Yunho's back, still thinking about the kiss they shared yesterday.

After the mission was declared over, they returned to their vehicles with not much of a conversation. There was something awkward or tense in the air as they sit at the back of the car, Seonghwa taking his place as the driver.

There was a wall and a distance between them and even though they said they would talk it over, it didn't seem like it would happen anytime soon. Even during their brief postmortem meeting about the mission, Yunho did a great job in avoiding from making eye contact with her.

As he asked whether she would like to come with him to the sisters' unit as they picked Hwayoung up, she agreed without much thinking. The time when they sent the child to Akira's house wasn't as awkward as this one, and she instantly regretted her agreement. Yunho was quiet throughout, completely different than from when they were on their way back to Light district, just after dropping Hwayoung off.

She can't make out what he's feeling, and it's hard trying to strike a conversation with him when she doesn't know how she's supposed to act around him.

She feels relieved that there are 10 other people in the minibus with the two of them, even though Seonghwa gave a cheeky smile to both Yunho and Byul before shoving them to the last row of seats. Hwayoung hops on next to Seonghwa and Akira, who look more like her parents as they listen intently to her telling stories about the videos she watched while she's at Akira and Emira's house.

Meanwhile, Yunho and Byul are stuck at the last row, squished together as the bags that they brought together took up most of the space on the seat. Yunho curses the oldest in his mind, grumbling as he feels Byul's legs pressed up against his, forced to because they had no space left.

Seonghwa occasionally steals glances at Akira to see if she's laughing along whenever he makes jokes and funny faces to Hwayoung, slightly pouting when he notices that Akira is distracted by the others in the vehicle.

Yunho forgets about his own dissatisfaction towards the oldest as he chuckles. He notices how hard Seonghwa is trying to grab Akira's attention, crossing his arms and leaning against the seat in defeat when Emira and Wooyoung keep on chatting with her.

"Uncle Seonghwa," Hwayoung says, poking a finger on his shoulder.

"Yes, Hwayoung?"

"Do you love Aunt Akira?" she asks, glancing over at the said woman who's busy chatting with the rest, oblivious to the conversation between her not-boyfriend and child.

"Of course I do, Hwayoung."

"But why does it look like she doesn't love you?" she utters as Seonghwa feels a sharp stab at his heart from her words. "She looks like she's only interested in the rest and not you. I don't always see her with you, and when she's here she doesn't give you her attention."

The oldest takes a moment to process the little kid's understanding before he smiles, taken in by her innocence towards the world. "Hwayoung," he asks instead, "do you think that your dad loves you?"

"Of course," she mumbles, "dad always takes care of me, makes sure that I'm healthy and cooks me food even when he's not the best. He always tries his best for me."

"Is your dad always around?"

She shakes her head. "Sometimes he goes on missions with uncles, so sometimes I don't see him."

"But do you think that he doesn't love you?"

She shakes her head again. "Even though he's not always around, I know that he loves me, because he does his best to make me happy."

He takes her hand and traces a small heart on her finger. "That's exactly what love is, Hwayoung. Just because I'm not with Aunt Akira all the time, doesn't mean it's not love. Maybe you don't see it now, but she has always been there for me. When you love someone, you don't restrict what they do, and that's why I don't mind her not giving attention to me sometimes." He lets out a breathy laugh when he sees that the child's head is spinning with his words.

"Okay, Uncle Seonghwa." She sticks out her lower lip, showing that she still doesn't understand his concept, but doesn't want to press on it further. "Does that mean you and Aunt Akira will get married and have kids?" She crosses her arms. "I've always wanted another sibling to play around with but dad says I can't because my mom is not here. Since Byul-ie is here, can I have a sibling?" she asks excitedly.

He pinches her cheek before looking over his shoulder, spotting the couple who are still looking awkward with each other. Both of them are trying hard to look in the opposite direction, with Yunho resulting in having his vision blocked by their towering bags on his right side.

"Maybe," Seonghwa says, a bit mysteriously. "Love doesn't go anywhere when it's meant to be."

The rest of the journey towards the theme park located in Treasure district is accompanied by undecipherable sounds from the boys, screeching and screaming as they try to play games in the minibus, but it's difficult because they're not facing each other. The minibus slightly rocks from side to side as they can't keep their butts on their seats, with Emira struck with panic as she keeps on reminding them to behave.

"I feel like a mother to all of you," she complains as she pulls Wooyoung to sit back down as he is stretching over the seat to deliver a finger-flick to Yeosang.

"Welcome to my world," Seonghwa utters as he feeds another snack to Hwayoung.

"I can see that," Akira offers. "You're good to Hwayoung too; who knew that you'd be good with kids?"

She doesn't realize that her words had made him a tad bit shy that he starts to bite the inside of his cheek and smiles.

"You think so?" he mulls over his next sentence, "Do you think that I'd be good to our kids-"

"No."

"Oh come on," Emira, Yeosang and Wooyoung simultaneously groan.

"Akira Hwang, you're letting someone as good as him go," Yeosang complains.

"If Yeosang says Seonghwa is good, that means he is. This dude doesn't give out much praises," Wooyoung adds as Emira sighs yet again.

"I'm tired of trying to sail this ship," Emira utters. "You better sail it fast before I push the ship myself."

San doesn't participate in their squabbling, being uncharacteristically quiet and merely watching and counting the cars passing by as he takes the passenger seat. He looks the least cheerful out of them, not even that excited about going to the theme park. Hongjoong had asked him multiple times whether he's quiet because they're going towards something that involves water, but he only shrugged, not giving away anything.

It's not his trauma towards water that's making him go awfully quiet.

Usually, even though they would occasionally go to any theme parks with water attractions, San would still be excited because he gets to enjoy himself at the dry park without going near the water. However this time around, he can't even fake his excitement as they get nearer to their destination.

"You've been too quiet ever since the mission ended yesterday, and you wanted some time on your own. Is... everything okay?" Hongjoong asks, although he somewhat knows the answer to his dilemma as he takes a look at the couple at the furthest back of the minibus through the mirror. "You can always talk to me if there's anything bothering you."

"I'll find you if I decide to talk about it," he decides. "Just need a little bit more time to sort my feelings out."

"Sure," the leader relents. "But don't keep it to yourself for too long. I'm here for you, Seonghwa is here for you..." he trails off as he spots the oldest snuggling up close to Akira with a wide smile on his face, "...when he's not too hung up on Akira. Anyway, what I'm saying is, we're all here for you. You can take your time."

Their minibus arrives at the parking lot, having to be parked at quite a distance from the entrance because it is a full house at the theme park; families are looking to spend their time there during the weekend with their children. They alight the car, gathering at the parking lot under the perfect weather, with Yunho coming out last as he feels his body sweating from the cramped up space and the close proximity to her along the journey.

After they're all out of the car, Seonghwa and Akira go over to the counter to buy their tickets as he tries to remember the number of people they actually have.

"Do you think we can buy the child's ticket for Hongjoong? He's tiny so I don't think people would notice," Seonghwa asks Akira as they line up.

The rest are idling by the side, checking their belongings to make sure nothing is left behind. Yunho is piggybacking Hwayoung, swinging her around as he sings softly to her. She likes it as she keeps on giggling, calling over Byul to join them as Yunho tightens his grip on his child.

Akira laughs before hitting his shoulder. "Stop it, you idiot. You're going to make Hongjoong cry if he ever did hear you."

"I'm just wondering," he smiles when he sees her laughing, feeling a little bit proud that he was the one who made her laugh. "We could save some money."

"You guys have a lot of money, don't you?" she tries to say it casually, but it comes out somewhat strained. He notices that her face turned sour slightly at the mention, because he knows what she's thinking.

"You hate me because I'm still involved with this... business," he utters as they move further up the line. There are five more people until they can get to the counter. "I know that we promised with each other, after that... day when the gang was finally taken down, that we would stop all this dirty stuff. That we would try to live a lawful life." He tries to keep his voice down to avoid any eavesdroppers, but his voice is drowned out by the noise anyway. "But I broke that promise because after I came to find you again; I'm still the same Park Seonghwa as I was when both of us were young and immature. My hands are still dirty with all the jobs I had to take."

"Exactly," she replies as she slips her hand into his, surprising him from the sudden contact. "You had to take the jobs, so why would I hate you? You're still the same Park Seonghwa, and that's why my feelings to you never changed." Her eyes drop low as they finally get their turn to buy the tickets. "I love you, and that never changed."

"Wait-" he widens his eyes as he stutters, "D-did I- hear that- that right? You said it to me first?"

She releases her grip around his hand as they are called over to buy the tickets, mumbling a "maybe" as she approaches the counter. "11 adult tickets and 1 child ticket please," she says nonchalantly before she gets startled from a sudden hug from behind.

The woman at the counter lifts up her eyebrows at the public display of affection before reminding them, "Please refrain from doing anything inappropriate here, we have a lot of kids visiting this place. If you're looking to tell the world that you're a couple, there are a lot of other places to do that, but not here."

"Uh, yes, I'm sorry. I think he's getting a bit-" she elbows him forcefully so that he finally releases her from his embrace, "-touchy." As she gets the tickets, she turns to face a Seonghwa with a silly smile on his face, and looking at her doe-eyed. "What are you looking at, you freak? I'm going to start screaming if you don't stop doing that."

He doesn't say anything but holds her hand, and they walk hand-in-hand towards the crowd waiting. Emira eyes them first before her eyes travel to their linked hands, giving a heavy sigh yet again. Maybe it was due to relief.

"This place must be really magical; look at my sister and Seonghwa holding hands, after they look like they will be torn apart in the minibus. This, this is it. The ship that's about to sail."

"Shut up, Emira."

"Akira, I told you that I won't. You won't hear the end of this, your kids won't hear the end of it, your grandkids... wait where are you guys going? HEY, DON'T LEAVE ME!"

As soon as they enter the vicinity, they go their separate ways to the bathrooms to change into their swimsuits, with San volunteering to look over their bags once they're done because he's not looking to go near the water. He could use the time to simply lie down and rethink all the choices he had to make until this point in his life. He tries to avoid going near Yunho and Byul, who seem to always be together because Hwayoung keeps on pulling them close to each other.

Aside from San, they all changed into their swimming attire, and it's the first time that one party gets to see the other, because as soon as the seven men get out of the changing room, it's hard for the women not to give any reaction. It includes Akira who has seen Seonghwa shirtless before, but maybe it's the fact that the last time she had ever seen him shirtless was when she tattooed the dragon onto his back, which was a long, long time ago.

"Emira, you're getting a freaking nosebleed over Mingi's body." Akira tries to distract her own attention from ogling at Seonghwa as she punches a fist against Emira's stomach.

Emira's hand flies to her nose and sure enough, blood smears her fingers. "How the frick am I not supposed to? Who knew that a nerdy and awkward guy like him has that kind of body under all of that?"

"You're supposed to like someone much more than their bodies. He has a great personality-"

"Yes he does, and a great body too. Maybe I can try to open up my heart for him."

Seonghwa, Mingi, Wooyoung and Yunho had decided to go shirtless, while Jongho, Yeosang and Hongjoong chose to wear long-sleeved rash guards with trunks.

As they walk over to the women gathered with Hwayoung, Byul tries so hard to not let her eyes wander to Yunho.

So he has been working out, she thinks to herself as they come near.

Emira, Akira and Byul aren't the only ones impressed by their appearance; a group of girls in bikinis and sexy attire also seem to have taken a liking to the group of men, as they stop walking and start pointing at any of the members. Suddenly Byul is conscious of her appearance, her burn marks on her legs and arms exposed to present themselves as ugly scars.

The swimsuit Akira gave her was a short-sleeved one piece swimsuit, that covers her thighs. Akira told her that it would help her to cover the tattoo on her lower back that Seonghwa would recognize, so she accepted it gratefully. Although right now she felt like an overgrown potato stuffed inside the swimsuit.

She notices the dragon tattoo on Seonghwa's back first because of how prominent it is; the picture took up almost the whole canvas on his back, and it's similar to the one coiling around Akira's arm. Mingi and Wooyoung seem to both be free from any tattoos, while Yunho has quite a number on his chest and lower back area. The rest, she can't tell because they're not letting any show.

She hears the girls whispering to each other, but they might as well be screaming because of how loud they are.

"They look like a bunch of gangsters," one of them says.

"No we're not," Jongho says to himself, as if he's answering their question.

"But the one with the dragon tattoo is so damn hot," another one butts in.

"Yes he is, and he's with me," Akira says next, as if she's trying not to shout the answer to them.

They ignore the ramblings between the group of girls as they decide on how they're going to split. San, Wooyoung and Yeosang want to go to the pool area with the fake waves, and they disappear first. Emira, Mingi, Hongjoong and Jongho decide to go to the bridge that's spanning across the large pool, looking to try the flying fox that will bring them down. Seonghwa pulls Akira so that they'll go around the water park together, saying to the others that they'll meet once again at the promised spot.

They should have seen this coming as Hwayoung cheers enthusiastically when only Byul and Yunho are left alone, as if the others were looking to set them up in this situation.

"Yay! I'm going to the park with my mom and dad," Hwayoung cheers.

"Honey, you're making Byul uncomfortable; I talked to you about this."

"But dad! I told you that I wanted her to be my mother," she looks to be in tears. "I never get one, so why are you telling me no when Byul is here?"

Yunho starts to panic as he crouches, levelling his eyes with Hwayoung, "No, no Hwayoung don't cry-"

"Hwayoung," Byul crouches next to him, gripping Hwayoung's arms lightly so that she'll face her. "I can become your mother for today, but you must promise me that you must not make your dad sad again, okay? He gets sad when you cry, and you don't want to see that, do you?"

She sniffs. "No, I don't want to see him sad."

She ruffles the child's hair. "Clever girl. Your dad always takes care of you really well even when he's alone, doesn't he?"

She nods slowly as she wipes away her tears. "I'm sorry for making you sad, dad," she mumbles before stretching out her arms and Yunho picks her up to envelope her in a tight hug.

"You're the most precious thing I don't want to lose," Yunho mutters as he pokes her nose. "Don't cry, or you'll look like a puffer fish." He puffs his cheeks to elicit a laughter from her.

"Dad!" she whines, but she throws her arms around his neck. "I love you, dad," she mumbles.

"I love you too, my sweet cupcake. Are you going to make Byul uncomfortable again?"

She shakes her head fervently. "No. Byul-ie, you don't have to be my mother for today."

"But what if I want to? I want to be your mother for today."

"Really?" Her eyes light up as she fists her hands excitedly and shakes her body in Yunho's grasp.

"Really. Anything to make Hwayoung happy. Anything."

Anything... even though I'm just a stranger who came in at the most unfortunate time.

Because 6 years ago Lee Eunbi died and left them behind.

Because 6 years ago the fire of hatred started igniting in my heart, and it's time that it begins to swallow everything in its pathway.

Just like how my family was taken away from me by the fire, I'll destroy them.

One, by one.

---

[A/N: I know I said that I probably won't update but then I got stressed from the workload and I somehow came up with this chapter, because I wanted something fluffy for my sad heart. And then knowing me... it turned angsty by the end. My apologies.

Also why did I make Seonghwa, Yunho, Wooyoung and Mingi the ones to go shirtless in this chapter? Well, never forget--

(well, aside from San) This picture still haunts me every now and then.

I still haven't forgiven them for dropping this picture so suddenly and giving me a heart attack. Not to mention that they were near yet so far from me when this picture was taken.

Mingi, because, have you seen the MAMA stage and he suddenly doesn't know how to act :-)

A little dedication to shiberrrshine because she's a really cool person and I'm glad I met you because we basically share the same thoughts and feelings about ateez <3

Please take care and I love every single one of you.]