Chapter Twelve

            Taemin smiled and turned to his uncle, “Uncle Siwon, Jinki-Appa is busy and said I could come here.”

            Siwon raised an eyebrow, “He didn’t contact me first.”

            “It’s too late to take me home now, Hyung. So can I stay here for the day? Until Kibum-Umma comes to pick me up after his last shoot, can I, please?”

            “That’s fine, just don’t get into too much trouble and stay with Hankyung or on the same floor as him,” Siwon nodded before entering his office. Taemin watched as him as he walked in before turning to Donghae and Hankyung.

            “Was it really that bad of a meeting? I mean, he looks so stressed out,” Taemin looked at the closed doors worried.

            “You’re still young, Taemin-ah, don’t worry about meetings like your uncle does,” Donghae smiled and ruffled his hair. Taemin smiled, before fixing it.

            “Donghae, who’s the department head for advertising?”

            “That’s Jonghyun-Hyung,” Taemin smiled. “I haven’t seen him for so long,” Taemin looked at Hankyung, “Can I go with you?”

            “Sure, I need to write this first,” Hankyung smiled and went to Donghae. “I need to run an ad. Do I send it to him first?”

            “Yes, then he’ll run it through me, and then Kibum, when he gets the okay from Kibum he starts printing,” Donghae explained.

            Minutes later, Hankyung finished and called for Taemin, “Taemin, want to go now?”

            “Yes~”, Taemin smiled and bounced after Hankyung. “Donghae-Hyung, I’ll be back soon~” He waved as the doors closed. Donghae chuckled and waved back. “Hankyung-Hyung,” Taemin pulled on Hankyung’s jacket.

            “Yes, Taemin?”

            “What is your relation to Uncle Siwon?”

            “I’m his…”

            “Boyfriend,” Taemin’s eyes lit up as he cut the older man off.

            “No, not exactly,” Hankyung smiled as Taemin’s eyes questioned him. “I’m more of his housekeeper, I take care of him.”

            “Like a boyfriend?”

            “No, not like a boyfriend,” Hankyung laughed as elevator dinged and the doors opened to reveal a busy floor.

            “I need those ads, now!”

            “JONGHYUN-HYUNG~” Taemin ran out of the elevator and wrapped his arms around a very young-looking man.

            “Taeminnie~ what are you doing here,” Jonghyun lower himself, so he would be looking into the ten year old’s eyes.

            “Jinki-Appa, dropped me off, because he didn’t want to leave me at home alone,” Taemin smiled as Jonghyun laughed and ruffled his hair before looking at Hankyung.

            “What can I do for you?”

            “I need ads for a new department head of International Affairs,” Hankyung smiled shyly as Jonghyun face-palmed.

            “Another one?” Jonghyun took the rough outline. “I can do this, but it’s only be half a year, what did this one do?” Jonghyun motioned Hankyung to follow him into his office as he held hands with Taemin. “Sit, sit have a seat,” Jonghyun placed Taemin in his chair before looking at the outline again. “How soon do you think we’ll need this in the papers? I’m working on some other things.”

            “I’m sure, Siwon-shii would want in the papers in tomorrow morning’s paper, until we get the replacement,” Hankyung guessed.

            “Yes, I’ll make sure it is then, I’ll look over the design and send it to Donghae-shii with the finished product then Kibum-shii,” Jonghyun smiled and looked at Taemin. “Could he stay here with me for a bit, I haven’t seen him in so long~”

            “Yeah, Hankyung-Hyung, can I? I’ll be good,” Taemin looked at the older man with his puppy eyes. Hankyung sighed, how was he supposed to say no to this if he couldn’t even say no to Donghae’s?

            “I’m sure it’ll be fine,” Hankyung smiled as Taemin jumped out of the chair and ran around the desk to hug his waist. “If you get tired, go back to Donghae-Hyung, I need to run some more errands. And if you get hungry, steal Donghae-Hyung’s lunch or wait for me, I’ll take you out.”

            “Okay, thank you Hankyung-Hyung,” Taemin hugged him again before going back over to Jonghyun and hugged his waist.

            “I leave him in your hands, Jonghyun-shii,” Hankyung nodded at him before leaving the office and going back upstairs.

            “Hankyung, Kibum needs to see you, about some file,” Donghae voiced as he placed a spoon full of rice and a piece of chicken in his mouth.

            “Don’t talk with your mouth full,” Hankyung scowled. “Did Kibum get his share yet?”

            “No,” Donghae handed Hankyung Kibum’s share and smiled as he stepped back into the elevator.

            “Remind, Siwon-shii, to eat,” Hankyung nodded as the doors closed. Hankyung quietly waited for the elevator to reach the thirtieth floor. Reaching the floor, Kibum was seen walking around, reminding everyone to get back to work with the company files.

            “Hankyung, I need help,” Kibum flashed a sheepish smile, before opening the door to his room. “I was wondering if you could help me with the company papers. Every three months, we get an essay from each and every employee of the company, on why they deserve the job their doing and we do a background check on them, family, expense, you name it, I’ve done it. It’s a bit of a pile up on what I’ve looked at and..”

            “Don’t worry; I can have this done in a couple of hours, after lunch if that’s okay?” Hankyung smiled at Kibum handing him his lunch.

            “Thank you,” Kibum smiled and nodded at the older man. Hankyung smiled, and left, going back upstairs, to fine Taemin eating out of Donghae’s lunch.

            “Hungry?” Taemin nodded and resumed taking Donghae’s lunch. “Come on, I’ll treat you to lunch.” Hankyung smiled as Taemin attached himself to him.

            “LUNCH~” Taemin smiled and Hankyung shook his head, called Hazaki.

            “Come on,” Hankyung got on the elevator and both went to the lobby floor, only to have Taemin run into someone.

            “Yunho-Hyung~ JaeJoong-Hyung,” Taemin smiled as he waved at the older man. Yunho looked down and smiled.

            “How’s our little Taemin?” Yunho laughed and ruffled his hair as JaeJoong hugged him. “Lunch?”

            “Yes, Taemin is hungry,” Hankyung smiled and Taemin attached himself to Hankyung again. Both went to lunch, at small Korean restaurant, where Taemin had told Hankyung the food was beyond excellent and the prices were good. Lunch went by quickly, both chatting and watching people walk by and before they knew it, a storm came pouring down. “That’s odd, the weather didn’t say anything about rain today…”

            “Maybe… it’s the aliens,” Taemin blurted out as he watched the sky darken and the restaurant became crowded with people, escaping the rain.

            “Aliens…”

            “Donghae-Hyung has a thing about aliens, I think he gave it to me too,” Taemin laughed as he finished his food. “What about you Hankyung-Hyung?”

            “What about me?”

            “What do you think of Uncle Siwon? I mean, he could be considered an alien if you wanted to. If you watch him, he’s so… robotic. It’s kind of scary, but he’s really nice. He was the same with me, took me forever just to get him to hug me instead of pat my head, or something.”

            “Geng, Taemin-shii, it’s time we went back,” Hazaki came in with an umbrella as he looked at the rain coming pouring down on the car.

            “Yes, we should, let me pay. Take Taemin first then,” Hankyung smiled and went to go pay. Quickly he finished and Hazaki was waiting for him, “Thank you.” He was guided to the car, where he slipped in and Hazaki closed the door behind him.

            Himself getting into the driver seat, he looked at Hankyung and Taemin in the rear-view mirror, “It’ll take a while to get there, while you were in there, Leeteuk-shii called, he wanted to tell you that Yoo-bin had to cancel because she would not be attending the engagement party due to some problems. He would like you to call back.”

            “Yes of course,” Hankyung looked at the screen before turning to Taemin, who was smiling. “Could you…”

            “Of course, I would love to,” Taemin smiled and started pressing random buttons and soon the car was filled with the sound of a phone ringing.

            “Hello? Hankyung, there you are,” Leeteuk’s voice and soon his head appeared on the screen. “Taeminnie-ah, how are you? I haven’t seen you in so long. Look are you all grown up,” Leeteuk squeaked over Taemin as Taemin smiled and waved back.

            “Leeteuk-shii?”

            “Ahh, yes Hankyung, I’m sorry to say Yoo-bin has cancelled on the meeting you were supposed to have with her, so I’ll just find you another girl,” Leeteuk frowned.

            “Its fine, Leeteuk-shii, I don’t have to go with a date,” Hankyung smiled hoping Leeteuk would give up on the date business.

            “Non-sense, you will go with a date,” Leeteuk stated as he pointed his finger at the screen.

            “Leeteuk-shii, it’s fine really,” Hankyung insisted.

            “That’s okay Leeteuk-Hyung, Hankyung-Hyung is going with Uncle Siwon, isn’t he?” Taemin butted into the conversation.

            “He is?” Leeteuk turned and looked at Taemin before looking at Hankyung. “You are?”

            “I… I… never said that,” Hankyung stuttered as he looked at Taemin.

            “Anyways, I don’t like Euiyun,” Taemin pouted in looked at Hankyung. “I think you should go with him.”

            “But… I’m…”

            “That’s a wonderful idea KangIn,” Leeteuk smiled and kissed him. “Taeminnie what is your idea?”

            “I’m thinking since Euiyun is always around Siwon and she must think she’s already engaged him to, or something like that. So… I can talk to her about being my future auntie or something, maybe I can get her to watch me while the ball is going on.” He smiled innocently.

            “How can a ten year-old, think of such things?” Hankyung mumbled.

            “Because I’m an amazing ten year old,” Taemin smiled. “Jinki-Appa, has a lot of Chinese clients and they all love me.”

            “I can see you’re a very proud ten year-old” Hankyung stated as he looked at Leeteuk. Taemin smiled at Hankyung before turning to Leeteuk as well.

            “So how about that, Leeteuk-Hyung?”

            “Well, you are cute, and she does seem to like you—“

            “We’re here, Geng, Taemin,” Hazaki lowered the screen that was had separated them before.

            “I’ll call you later Leeteuk-Hyung,” Taemin smiled as Leeteuk nodded and hung up. “Come on Hankyung-Hyung, you can’t be late.” Taemin called for him as he waited by the door.

            “Yes, of course,” Hankyung slipped out of the car and smiled at Hazaki. “Remember to stop by the house before you leave.”

            “Yes, Geng, I remember,” Hazaki smiled and drove off after Hankyung closed to the door.

            “Why does he have to stop by the house?” Taemin asked as they entered the building.

            “He was sad this morning,” Hankyung looked down at Taemin. “I told him I would cook some food for him, why?”

            “I don’t like him, you should only cook for Uncle Siwon, Donghae-Hyung, and Kibum-Hyung.” Taemin pouted as they entered the elevator, “And sometimes for me, because I’ll be visiting more often now.”

            “Alright, call before you visit then, so I can cook for you as well,” Hankyung smiled as Taemin hugged his waist.

            “Taeminnie~” A young man exclaimed as the elevator doors opened. “I was looking everywhere for you after your father said he had dropped you off here.”

            “Umma~” Taemin smiled and ran over to the young man. “Hankyung-Hyung, this is my Kibum-Umma, Umma this is Hankyung. He was taken care of me.”

            “Ahh, yes thank you,” Kibum turned to Hankyung and smiled. “I hope he wasn’t too much trouble.”

            “No, none at all. Very sweet,” Hankyung smiled at Taemin before excusing himself.

            “Umma, can I come over more?”

            “I don’t know that’s wise—“

            “Please, I’ll be good and stay here when Hankyung-Hyung has to run errands,” Taemin pleaded.

            “Go ask your uncle,” Kibum sighed but smiled when he saw Taemin’s smile brightened. Taemin knocked on the oak doors before opening them to see Euiyun leaning over Siwon’s deak.

            “Uncle Siwon~!” Siwon looked pass Euiyun and let out a small smile.

            “What is it, Taemin?”

            “Is it okay if I come and visit more often? Hankyung-Hyung said he would cook for me everything I came to visit,” Taemin bounced towards Siwon, stopping only to smile at Euiyun. “Can I?”

            Siwon looked at the bouncing Taemin, who had stopped when he came around the desk. “If you don’t cause trouble, I’m fine with it.”

            “Yay~! Thank you, Uncle Siwon,” Taemin smiled and hugged the older man before going to Hankyung, who was outside speaking with Donghae. “Hankyung-Hyung, I’m going to visit tomorrow, so make me food,” Taemin exclaimed and Hankyung simply laughed, nodding at him.

            “Come on, Taemin. We need to get home now,” Kibum called his son.

            “Coming, Umma~! Hankyung-Hyung, Donghae-Hyung, I’ll be back tomorrow,” Taemin smiled.

            “Great, the monster is coming back tomorrow,” Donghae teased as Taemin pouted at him before running over to Kibum and they stepped onto the elevator together.

            “So when did Euiyun get here?”

            “After Yunho-Hyung and JaeJoong-Hyung finalized their plans with Siwon, I called Sungmin but he couldn’t be reached. They said he is having a meeting with Kyuhyun and ZhouMi right now,” Donghae frowned and went over some meeting schedules again.

            “Is there anything I can do?”

            “Cook?”

            “Besides that,” Hankyung smiled at Donghae.

            “I don’t know,’ Donghae pressed the call button to Siwon’s office, waiting for him.

            “What is it?”

            “Hankyung would like to know—“

            “He’s dismissed for the day; tell him to go food shopping. It seems we’re low on food again. And the same credit card number as last time,” Siwon added before the line was cut off. From the closed doors, Donghae and Hankyung could hear Euiyun arguing with Siwon about his credit card number. Siwon’s voice again filled the room, “Tell Hankyung to make enough food for six to seven people, Yunho-Hyung and JaeJoong-Hyung, Euiyun, and Taemin are coming over for dinner.”

            “Of course,” Donghae rolled his eyes and turned to Hankyung.

            “Does Taemin like everything? Maybe a Chinese dinner tonight?” Hankyung looked at Donghae as he pulled out a small notepad. “Is there anything Euiyun-shii, JaeJoong-shii, Yunho-shii, and Taemin-shii have to have?”

            “I know Taemin isn’t a very picky eater, he’s only ten and he seems to love you already. Euiyun only like high class foods, foreign European type foods. JaeJoong-Hyung is in love with anything spicy, so anything spicy will do him and yourself good. Yunho-Hyung,” Donghae paused to think. “I think he’s a rather simple man, he’ll eat whatever you put in front of him. Siwon, however, can not handle spicy things like JaeJoong-Hyung can; just a little but not too much.”

            “Right, thank you. I’ll make sure to save some food for you,” Hankyung laughed as Donghae nodded.

            Upon returning home after he went food shopping with Hazaki, Hankyung began dinner. Only to stop go to the bathroom, or answer the phone. Soon Hankyung had everything, finished from the food to the seating of the dining to the small snacks in the living room. He smiled and looked at the time, it was already eight o’clock and he need to go shower before everyone came home. He took a nice relaxing shower, it was cut short however when he heard a car pull up to the house. Quickly he dried himself off, and got dressed. Running down the stairs with his semi-dry hair, just in time as Siwon and company came through the door. He couldn’t help but frown when he saw Euiyun clinging to Siwon’s arm. The frown was chased away as Taemin lunged himself at Hankyung’s feet, causing both to fall.

            “Taemin,” Siwon’s stern voice scowled a bit.

            “Its fine,” Hankyung smiled at the younger boy and helped him up. “Hungry?”’

            “Of course, I’m a growing boy, I hope you made a lot of food,” Taemin smiled as he held hands with Hankyung as Siwon led them into the dining room, where all the food was set out.

            “Hankyung-shii, you really out did yourself,” JaeJoong complimented as he took a seat next to Yunho, who had taken the seat at the other end of the table. Taemin took the seat next to Euiyun, surprising Hankyung. He looked at Taemin oddly before brushing it off.

            “Please, eat,” Hankyung gestured as Siwon and Yunho started to put items onto their rice. Slowly conversations started and Hankyung was pulled into them by Taemin and JaeJoong.

            “So Hankyung, tell us about China. Yunho hardly ever lets me go with him,” JaeJoong glared at Yunho before turning to Hankyung.

            It was quiet, save for the quiet talk between Taemin and Euiyun. Hankyung looked at the plate before sighing. He started, “It’s hot in the summer, but it gives—“

~*Flashback*~

            “Geng, hurry,” his mother called the young boy, who had fallen behind to take the sight of the blue waters. “Geng, over here!” She smiled seeing her pride and joy run towards her.

            “Ma~! The waters are so blue today~!” Geng looked at up his mother, silently asking her if he could go into the waters.

            “Of course, Geng, you’ve applied your sun screen? You have your float?”  She looked at her son, who was white from the amount of sun screen he had applied and the float tube that was placed around his waist. “Go ahead,” she laughed as he ran off, only to run back hugging her to run back off. “Stay close, to where your father can see you,” she laughed along with her husband, watching the younger boy slow and tested the water only to back away then jumping in.

~*End of Flashback*~

            Hankyung smiled as he remembered, only to be pulled out of the memory when a small hand pulled on his sleeve. “What is it, Taemin-ah?”

            “Can we make cookies?” Hankyung raised an eyebrow. “I don’t know why, but I really want to eat cookies right now.”

            “Of course,” Hankyung smiled. Taemin smiled and grabbed Hankyung’s hand before dragging him away. Taemin smiled at Yunho and JaeJoong before he disappeared into the kitchen.

            “That Taemin,” JaeJoong shook his head, but let out a laugh, getting Yunho’s and Siwon’s attention. “It’s going to an interesting party.” JaeJoong gave them a promising smile.