He had absolutely no idea what to pick.

There were so many bottles around him, bottles of luxury items that he never had or bothered with while growing up.

He wasn't the type to be overwhelmed, but the great magnitude of the number of products around him was starting to overwhelm him. Even more so when salesmen and women would go up to him and ask him if he needed help. To which he would politely decline and anxiously move around the other customers in the store.

Giving up, he stood by the doorway, completely and utterly ready to leave.

Dayeon came up bounding to him, a bright smile on her face as she held onto a bottle of perfume," Did you already get something?"

He shook his head," No. There's…" He looked back at the male's section of cologne, where there was an entire wall full of cologne, along with display tables that held even more bottles," There's so much…I don't know what to pick." Upon finding out that he didn't have any bottles of cologne, both Dayeon and grandfather insisted that he go and buy one. Something about part of presenting yourself also meant having a pleasant smell so, here they were.

"Ah," Dayeon looked slightly put down, but quickly bounced back as she grabbed his hand and started to drag him over to a table full of cologne," Well, help me pick out something for grandfather. Maybe you'll find something you like when we do."

With nothing else better to do, he let her drag him along. But as they had come to discover, Ijin did not have the same taste as their grandfather, nowhere near close to his taste. Something that went against Dayeon's logic as according to her, most of the time, family members had the same or very similar tastes to each other. Which made sense, since the one time he met the Major and his parents, he had noticed that the Major and his father had the same type of cologne.

Since Dayeon was the only one who knew what their grandfather liked, he went off on his own. Staying in the same general area and feeling slightly comforted by Dayeon's proximity, Ijin started to try and find a cologne that he might like.

He must have gone through about 10 bottles when he finally found one that he liked. He even smelled the coffee beans one more time to make sure that he liked it.

It was strong and had a smell that he couldn't quite explain, his lack of vocabulary biting him in the ass in that instance. But he liked it, and he knew that once Dayeon noticed, she was going to pester him until he bought it. (Something about him never buying something for himself). There was something familiar, and comforting about the smell. Something that he couldn't explain deeper than he liked it.

He took a glance at the price, and he had no idea if it was expensive or not. Being in a shithole for ten years messes up one's sense of price when it comes to the product market of a developed country.

He swore she appeared out of nowhere," Oh!" He jumped," You found something?" Her eyes were expectant, eagerly waiting for him to show her the cologne he had finally picked.

"Yeah," He held out his wrist for her to smell as he had sprayed the cologne right there," What do you think."

She smelled it, her eyebrows crinkling just the slightest bit. Just as he thought she didn't like it, she threw him for a loop by laughing," Its different. But I think it fits you."

He frowned at her," Why did you laugh?"

It must have been some type of inside joke, as she just waved off his question," No reason. Ready to pay?"

"Yeah."

He had to admit that he was slightly annoyed that she didn't explain why she was laughing at him...

Hm…

Weirdo.

For some reason. As soon as Ijin and the Major left to clean up after Yeongchan spilled some water mere minutes after their arrival, Dayeon started laughing.

Obviously, that garnered some weird looks from Jaehyung, Jaehyung, Seokju, Yeongchan, and Yeona. They rose their eyebrows at her ( Jaehyung raising both as he didn't have that ability) and upon seeing the looks she was getting. She started to explain.

"Do you guys know how most family members usually have similar taste in cologne?"

"They do?"

"Yeah."

"…Now that you mention it, I guess my cologne's are similar to my dads."

"Yeah."

"Yes."

Seokju gave odd looks to the others," Am I the only one that didn't notice?"

Yeona gave him an odd look in return," Haven't you noticed that your cologne's are really similar to your dad's?" the look on Seokju's informed them that their friend had apparently, not noticed that.

Letting Yeona poke fun at Seokju, Dayeon continued," Anyways. There's an ongoing joke with the Majors men that Major Kang is Ijin's father. I was just thinking about their reactions once they find out that they wear similar cologne's."

Now they were chuckling or smiling with her," Do they really?"

"They do. Hang on, they're coming back." Her words prompted everyone to look towards the bathrooms. And just outside of the bathroom was Major Kang and Ijin, who was standing still as the Major smoothed over a strand of Ijin's hair that had been sticking up.

All in all, they could see why they called the Major Ijin's father.

"Think he'll get mad if we start making fun of him too?" Jaehyung asked with a grin.

"Probably. Shh, they're coming." They quieted down, and to his credit, Hyeokjin and Jaehyung started another conversation as if nothing had happened, the others quickly joining in.

Yeona, since she was sitting where the Major and Ijin would have to go past her to get to their seat, caught a whiff of their cologne as they passed by. She did have to admit that they both smelled very good, but that their cologne of choice was very similar, she could pick up smells of sandalwood and other notes from them. Who had who, she didn't know, but the point was that it was clear that the Major had influenced Ijin's taste in cologne.

She giggled, and when Seokju gave her an odd look, she gave him a knowing nod that made him smile.

The rest of the dinner went well, with Major Kang exchanging some stories with the others. Despite the age difference, the Major was a pleasant man to talk to, and he knew how to talk to kids their age, which was a plus. When Ijin had to go back to the bathroom after spilling some chili oil onto his shirt (He flicked the Major when he was called messy), the Major took the chance to talk to everyone seriously.

"Listen, guys," They all looked at the Major, curious about the way he changed the tone of his voice," Seokju already knows this. But I wanted to thank you guys, for helping Ijin." They exchanged looks. All of them but Seokju trying to figure out how they had helped Ijin as all (most) of them hadn't done more than be his friend.

Yeongchan frowned," Uh. You're welcome…?"

The Major smiled, a smile that gave off more sad tones instead of a happy, cheerful one, "As you guys know, Ijin didn't grow up in the best place." They nodded along with that, Hyeokjin getting a weird look from Jaehyung after he sighed," And while I and my men helped him become more sociable. There was no way we could have helped him act like a teenager. So on behalf of myself and my men, thank you, truly. For helping Ijin in ways we couldn't." Major Kang bowed his head, further showing his thanks in a way that flustered all of them. Even Seokju got embarrassed again at the heartfelt thank you.

"We…we were being friends with him," Yeongchan said slowly, a slight blush on his face," We didn't do anything special…"

The Major chuckled," If you met Ijin when I did, you would understand how much you have helped him."

"Was he really that bad?" Jaehyung asked hesitantly. Because to be quite honest, he couldn't imagine Ijin being any worse than when they first met.

"Oh, he was bad, huh kid?" since all of them had been facing away from the bathroom to focus on the Major, none of them noticed Ijin walking out of the bathroom and approaching the table.

"Huh?" Ijin sat down next to the Major, curious on what they were talking about.

The Major motioned towards the others, a grin on his face as he said," I'm telling them about how personable you were when we first met."

Ijin rose his eyebrow," If you say so."

Major Kang snorted, looking back at the teenagers as he said," The first time I tried getting a fist bump, he punched me in the face."

The person in question was pink within seconds," I told you I was sorry…"

"Was that before or after you called me a #$) (#*," They blinked in surprise when Major rattled something off in Ijin's second language," when you were half asleep?"

And just like that.

Ijin was tomato red.

Obviously, they were interested in the translation, especially since Ijin had reacted like that.

"What does that mean?"

Ijin covered his face," Nothing."

Hyeokjin nudged Ijin," Come on, tell us!"

His hands did nothing to cover his red neck, or ears," No."

Jaehyung reached around Hyeokjin to nudge at him too," Nah, now you gotta tell us."

Major Kang laughed again.

Surprisingly, Ijin punched him on the arm, using enough force that should have hurt, but just had the Major cracking up," Shut it old man."

And just like that, the pair started bickering. Granted, the Major was the only one who was getting riled up, if at all. But between the two of them and their going back and forth, their close relationship was made all the more obvious.

" I'll tell them about that one time when I walked into your office."

"Did you forget about the time we nearly shut down the base looking for you?"

"I was sitting in your office waiting for you, that was not my fault."

They were most definitely family.