Chapter Twenty Four

"GO MI NAM!" Tae Kyung shouted, completely losing whatever composure he had. "HAVE YOU COMPLETELY LOST IT?"

"I need her to stay here, Tae Kyung hyung. Just until I can find us a place to stay."

"So let me get this straight. You brought a small child into our dorm, expecting me to grant you sympathy and let her stay here because you claim she's yours?"

"Yes, hyung." Mi Nam had his head bowed, debating whether or not he should also go down on his hands. "I understand it's a lot to ask for, but please. Please try to understand." Normally, doing something like this would have put a dent into Mi Nam's ego, but nothing was important to him as trying to provide for his daughter. He was deeply worried about how well Min Jee would adjust to her living situations. Even though Ye Eun claimed she was a child that could easily adjust and Min Jee took it "well" she would be staying with him when Ye Eun told her, he was positive she was going to feel a certain degree of uneasiness when it hit her that she was not going to have her mother readily accessible. It's a complete reverse of all she's known. How was Ye Eun going to explain to the child that they weren't all going to be together - that she wasn't going to be around for a while? Mi Nam knew that it was going to be hard to explain, maybe a little bit too hard for Ye Eun. How Ye Eun tiptoed around Min Jee's curiosity about Mi Nam's absence so flawlessly he couldn't quite comprehend it. Since Min Jee was so young she would believe anything Ye Eun told her. But this just…it's different.

Tae Kyung suddenly started pacing around the room, breaking Mi Nam from his thoughts. "And you- you two knew about this?" He pointed towards Jeremy and Shin Woo. They collectively sighed before shaking their heads again. Jeremy had no idea what to do, what to say, or even if he should attempt to help Mi Nam. He could see the same type of struggle on Shin Woo's face. Seriously, Mi Nam…what do you expect Tae Kyung hyung to do? How is he supposed to react?

"Tae Kyung." Shin Woo stopped Tae Kyung in his tracks, putting his hands on his shoulders. "Don't get angry. Just think about this."

"Are you going to try to convince me to let this slide, Shin Woo?"

"I'm not telling you to do that. You should just think about the child."

"Oh I should think about the child." Tae Kyung repeated, somewhat mockingly. "I don't think I'm the one you should have told that." Tae Kyung said. "This guy just pranced in here with a kid! He dropped a bomb that could have possibly put not only our group but our livelihood in jeopardy."

Shin Woo sighed again before taking his hands off of his shoulders. Tae Kyung turned back to Mi Nam. Hesitantly, Mi Nam lifted his head up to look at his hyung. The gaze he was giving wasn't half as harsh as he expected.

"Just…is that little girl really yours?" He asked, his tone lowering, his hand resting on his temple. "Yours and that Cho Ye Eun's?"

"Yes, hyung. She is mine."

There was a short silence in which the two males just looked at each other. Both Shin Woo and Jeremy just stood waiting anxiously for their Leader's reaction.

"Mi Nam, she can't. She just can't stay here." It seemed to almost pain Tae Kyung to say it.

"It's only temporarily. Hyung, and she won't be here all the time. She's in daycare and she gets baby sat by Miss Su Bak and others at the Peach Maid Café. When she's of age I'm going to enroll her into kindergarten."

"Care to tell me why has Ye Eun decided to suddenly stop taking care of her daughter?"

"She's moving to Japan." Jeremy answered.

"What? Why?" Tae Kyung was actually shocked.

"Ye Eun is going to culinary school there." Shin Woo replied.

"It's nice to know that you two once again knew this." Tae Kyung said with an irritated undertone. "If she's moving to Japan why isn't she taking Min Jee with her?"

"Ye Eun took care of her for four years without any support. She got disowned and ostracized by her family. I want her to be able to achieve her dreams and make a better life for herself. So it starts with this. I owe this to her, hyung. I know, it's sudden and rash and inconsiderate for me to do this to you and everyone, but I ask you to not think of me but just of the child."

Tae Kyung rubbed his temples. "It would have been nice," Tae Kyung sighed before starting again, "If you would have eased me into this whole I-have-a-child thing because all this at once is just…I feel like I'm harboring a fugitive. Even though I don't like this idea do I really have a choice?" Regardless of whether Ye Eun was out of the country, it was Mi Nam's responsibility has to take care of his child and provide a roof over her head. Tae Kyung wasn't cruel enough to reject a child. She was innocent. That and Go Mi Nyu would probably end up scolding him if he decided against it. He was still mildly terrified of this other side of Go Mi Nyu and did not want to make her unintentionally snap.

That and, honest to god, he had never seen Go Mi Nam as sincere as he was at the moment. It was almost making him feel sympathetic towards the boy.

"You don't have to look for another place. She can stay here." Ah, he still couldn't wrap his head around the concept of a little kid running around the dorm, "With exceptions. A part of those exceptions is you explaining to Manager Ma and President Ahn your situation. I'm not going to let A.N Jell go down because of a decision you and your ex-girlfriend made four years ago."

"Thank you, Tae Kyung hyung." Mi Nam responded humbly.

"I'm surprised Mi Nam." He heard the voice of someone say on his way to his the spare bedroom where Min Jee was. Mi Nyu had graciously given Min Jee a bath and helped her organize the spare bedroom to make it a bit more kid friendly.

"Huh?" Mi Nam turned to see Shin Woo. "Oh, hyung. Surprised at what?"

"That you decided to really do this. Although I'm glad that you've taken responsibility for your daughter, I wish you would have gone about this in a different way."

"I know. I should have told him before but, honestly the opportunity to tell him- or any of you directly was never really open. I didn't mean to drop a bombshell."

"Mi Nam, are you really ready for what will happen next?"

"Honestly Shin Woo hyung, I'm not sure about too much of anything right now. The only thing I know is that I am Min Jee's father and that she is the most important thing to me. Jeopardizing your career is something I never intended to do and have no intention of doing. I prepare to take full responsibility for whatever happens."

While what Mi Nam did was admirable, Shin Woo just had the feeling he didn't quite understand the weight of the situation yet. "What are you going to tell President Ahn?"

"The truth."

"Why was Uncle mad?" Min Jee cuddled into her stuffed tiger as Mi Nam pulled the covers over his daughter.

"He was mad at daddy." Go Mi Nam replied, quickly moving from his spot beside her on the bed to plug in her heart shaped night light. She didn't like sleeping in the dark.

"Why was he mad at you?"

"Because he did something impulsively." He came back beside her.

"Impulsive?" She gazed up at him with curious eyes.

"It's when you do something without thinking, Min Jee-ah. In life, there will be times for impulsiveness and times when it's not proper. Most of the time it's not proper. Don't be like me and try to always use your head."

"But don't people always use their head to think?"

"Well, there are things we do without thinking and we don't necessarily need to think about. But most actions require a certain amount of thought. Even then, there are people, who don't think about their actions beforehand and just do them. No thought of the consequences. That can get them in trouble-" Wait. Why am I explaining this to a four year old? "Aren't you supposed to be asleep?"

"No. I'm not tired." She said, but he could tell. Her little eyes were beginning to droop.

"I think you are."

"Uh-uh." She shook her head before yawning. "But I'm really not tired, daddy..." Her speech began to slow and her eyes started to close. Huh. He could see himself in his daughter already. This kid has my stubborness. That will get her nowhere unless she learns how to harness it for her benefit. Oh the fun we're going to have.

Her eyes soon close and Go Mi Nam kissed her on the forehead. "Goodnight, Ji-yah."

Mi Nam sighed as he closed the door to the bedroom. This is going to be challenging. But if Ye Eun could do this why can't I?

"Wow." He heard another voice- Jeremy's- say. His eyes located him across the dimly lit hallway. "You're taking on this father role pretty well."

"Thanks, I guess?" He accepted the possible compliment. Mi Nam couldn't talk with him long with what he knew about Julie. Quickly moving past Jeremy, he attempted to escape to his bedroom.

"Wait." Jeremy uttered. Mi Nam didn't want to, but his body kept him glued to his spot. "I want just you to know, whatever you do- I'm going to support you okay?" Jeremy couldn't even possibly begin to comprehend what those words meant for Mi Nam. The older boy moved in front of Mi Nam, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Really?" Mi Nam looked up.

"Yeah." Jeremy started. "I think it takes a lot of courage to do what you're doing Mi Nam, even if the way you're going about it is a bit reckless. But if it wasn't would you be doing it?" He chuckled a little.

Mi Nam almost choked up at his words and his gaze immediately dropped, instantly feeling tears rush to the brim of his eyes. What the hell is wrong with me? He says a couple of words and I'm brought to tears?

"Mi Nam? Are you…crying?" Jeremy asked curiously. It couldn't be right? Those simple words…were they really enough to stir him?

"No, hyung." Mi Nam rubbed his eye. "Something just got in my eye."

"Awh." Jeremy said, poking his cheek playfully. "You don't have to lie. I don't care if you cry, you know." The older boy was happy to be a shoulder to cry on.

"I do." Mi Nam mumbled under his breath.

Jeremy ignored his mumbling and pushed the conversation on,

"I know you're probably still really angry at what I said and I don't blame you. But I'm going to be selfish for a moment. I don't want you to ignore me anymore. Even though I've tried spending time with others, nobody can replace you." Admittedly, this was not exactly the way Jeremy would have normally gone about apologizing but he was doing his best given the situation.

"Right." There wasn't much Mi Nam could think of in reply to Jeremy, so he just proceeded to walk away again. But it felt nice to know that Jeremy felt that way about him.

"Wait!"

Mi Nam suddenly felt warmness engulf his back. Jeremy was…hugging him?

"I'm serious." Jeremy mumbled, his hands tightening around Mi Nam's midsection. Mi Nam just had to know how Jeremy felt- he had to know how serious Jeremy was.

The younger didn't even know how to respond. It was strange to him how much he was enjoying this attention- this feeling. Quite frankly, he didn't want Jeremy to let him go.

"I hate it." Jeremy whispered, resting his head on Mi Nam's shoulder. "Do you know how much I hate this?"

Then stop looking at Julie... Mi Nam wanted to just bash himself with a blunt object at the thought. Jeremy loves Julie. That was his girl. But therein laid a two-sided problem: the fact that Julie was two-timing Jeremy and the fact that Mi Nam was jealous. There was really no denying it at this point. He wanted Jeremy to all to himself and he knew that was a problem in more than one way.

Inwardly sighing, Mi Nam broke away from Jeremy. "Yeah, yeah you hate it. Well." He turned back to Jeremy. "It might take a little while but I'll temporarily forgive you for the next couple of days while Min Jee gets settled in and you celebrate your birthday. After that you'll just have to suffer my wrath until I feel like you deserve to be forgiven."

"Thank you!" Jeremy hugged him again.

Mi Nam groaned. Fuck. How could he not forgive this guy?

"Go Mi Nyu."

"Oh?" She responded from the bathroom, where she was brushing her hair.

"What is your brother thinking?"

Mi Nyu chuckled. "Oh, Tae Kyung I don't know."

"Don't you have twin telepathy or something?"

"No, definitely not."

"But he is your brother."

"True." She stopped brushing, setting the brush down on the counter. "Believe it or not, my brother has always been responsible. He can be lazy and stubborn sometimes, but when it comes down to it he knows what's right."

"This will definitely be a test to Mi Nam then."

"He knows it. But he wants to take responsibility, not only to prove to Ye Eun he's capable of taking care of his daughter and being a father but also to himself since he's always had a hard time with the idea of parenthood."

"I thought you said you didn't know anything?"

"I don't."

You could have just hit Tae Kyung with a fish. "Come here you."

Mi Nyu came into the main bedroom area and sat down next to him.

"You are my light, you are my sunshine, you are the only star in my sky~" He sweetly serenaded Mi Nyu. "How's that?"

"It's good." She gave a thumb up.

"I don't want a thumbs up and an 'it's good' Mi Nyu. I want your opinion."

"That was my opinion."

Tae Kyung lifts his brow. "A critique."

"Okay." She said. "Then, I guess it was a little repetitive? Maybe 'you are my light, the only star in my sky' and take out the sunshine part. I mean, it's pretty but unnecessary. Too wordy."

"You-" Tae Kyung nodded his head, taking the criticism like a true artist. "I like that, actually."

"In English?"

"Yes, but it's a Japanese song."

"That sounds cool." Mi Nyu moved beside him, noticing some lyrics written down with Japanese translation underneath. "Is this the first song you're writing in Japanese?"

"Attempting to." Tae Kyung sounded. After a successful Japanese tour not too long ago, President Ahn decided it was about time to tackle it head on and really focus on Japan. After all A.N Jell was already considerably popular in Japan, even though they only release 3 Japanese singles. The man knew he didn't have a penchant for Japanese, but why did that have to mean that A.N Jell couldn't? "I only remember basic and some bits of conversational Japanese. So I don't have much. I wanted to see how much I could write before reaching out for help…" He didn't hate Japanese but he didn't know it very well. A.N Jell would be working on their first Japanese mini album in the near future and along with that came promotions. And with all of that came lessons.

"That sounds fun, Tae Kyung. We should all take it together!"

That didn't sound too bad. "You're right."

"And then, we could go to a Japanese restaurant afterwards to make up that sushi I owe you." Mi Nyu kissed Tae Kyung on the cheek.

"You don't owe me anything." Still it would have been nice if they had gotten to go.

"Ah!" She sounds. "Tonight at the restaurant, I was going to give you something." She leaves his side to go into the jacket she was wearing that was now on the coat rack. Tae Kyung watched as she fished a little box out of the pocket. She smiled, scooting right in front of his desk. "Here." She sets the box in front of Tae Kyung, on top of his paper. "What could this be, huh?" He playfully asked. It was definitely some sort of jewelry. But he wasn't that much of jewelry wearer.

Tae Kyung picks the box up, slowly snapping it open. It was…a ring. Tae Kyung didn't even know what to say as he gazed at the shiny sliver band. Mi Nyu…actually bought me a ring?

"I was saving my money for this." Mi Nyu said with a smile. She takes the box from Tae Kyung and gently pulls out the ring. "Now, Tae Kyung has a ring too." Tae Kyung is still in shock as Mi Nyu took his hand and slipped the ring on his finger.

"Because Hwang Tae Kyung…." She began, coming closer to Tae Kyung, "is mine as well."

Tae Kyung smiled as he bridged the gap in between them with a kiss. There's a side to Go Mi Nyu that I don't know? I feel like I'm experiencing a part of it now and….. I think I like it, Mi Nam. To say that he was pleased over the fact Mi Nyu got him a ring would be an understatement.

"Oh yeah?" He asked.

"Yes." Mi Nyu had a look in her eye he had never seen before- a dare he say, lust-filled one. It made him feel hot from the tip of his toes to the very root of the hair that rested on his head. And honestly, it made him want to push all the objects off of his desk and throw her on it.

Before he knew it, his thoughts turned to action and Mi Nyu watched wide eyed in shock as the objects on his desk hit the floor with a loud clatter. Hwang Tae Kyung- making something messy? She just couldn't believe it.

"I-" Before she could even get out he reeled her to him, like a fish on a line. "Mi Nyu. You make me crazy."

He kissed her again before practically throwing her on the desk. "You have turned me into some crazy man."

She giggled, as he crawled over her. "I'm sorry."

"No you're not." He denied, before attacking her neck in kisses- making sure to hit all the spots where she was the most ticklish.

"You're right." He brings his head back up to look at her. She has an almost devious look in her eyes as she wraps her hands around him. "I'm not."