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Mun-Hee opens the door while juggling the bags in her other hand. Nearly dropping one, she yelps a little and catches it with her foot. Those mom reflexes are coming in handy. She places her keys in her pocket and kicks the bag back up to her hand before walking into the kitchen.
She left Zen with Ha-Joon to be able to go grocery shopping. She loves her son, but sometimes she needs a small break from the spirited boy. He's four, and his energy is nearly boundless.
She puts all of her purchases away in the kitchen but leaves out the ingredients for French toast, which has followed the family tradition of being a favorite breakfast with her son. It's a breakfast for dinner kind of day. Looking down at the supplies, she lets a wistful smile grace her face. She misses her dad. Maybe her family will agree to come see them again soon. It's been a little while.
When this is finished and there is still no sign of her boys, she leaves the kitchen to go and search for them. They still live in Zen's tiny apartment, but they are nearly able to afford a house with the money they've saved from Zen's acting and modeling and Mun-Hee's job. Good timing too, since she also has some news for her husband when she can find him.
She first checks Ha-Joon's little room. There was a small room that Zen used for storage that they converted into a nursery when Mun-Hee found out she was pregnant. His room is tidy but empty, so she moves onto Zen and her room. Before walking all the way in, she peeks in through the open door to see what they're up to.
Ha-Joon—a literal copy of his father, all the way down to the red eyes—stands at attention as Zen paces the floor in front of him. "Okay, Ha-Joon. You're getting older now, and I think it's time for you to learn what our purpose is as men."
Ha-Joon nods very solemnly and waits for his dad to continue.
"Our purpose is to give the princess whatever she wants and protect her at all costs—to safeguard the princess as her noble knights." His hands are clasped behind his back, and he glances down at his son. "Your mom is the princess, and we live to make her life the best that it can be."
"Yes, dad!" Ha-Joon shouts, taking everything extremely seriously.
"And how are we going to do that?" Zen asks.
"By doing whatever she says for us to do!" the boy answers without hesitation, puffing out his chest and standing even taller than he was previously. He waits for his father's approval with bated breath.
"Good man," Zen praises, squatting down and placing his hand on the boy's shoulder. Ha-Joon gives him a wide smile and giggles a little bit, revealing the childish nature that Mun-Hee knows lies beneath the grown-up exterior he was trying so desperately to project.
Mun-Hee clears her throat from her place leaning against the doorway. "What exactly is going on in here?"
"Mom!" Ha-Joon yells, running into his mother's embrace as speedily as his little body can carry him. "I missed you."
"I missed you too, honey," she says, sliding her fingers through his white hair. He's been trying to grow it long like Zen's, but it seems to be stuck in a shaggy state. Perhaps one day it will grow as long as Zen's, but for now he's stuck with a bit of a mop. Mun-Hee likes it. It's fluffy and boyish and makes him still look little. She wouldn't want him to grow up too quickly. "Why don't you go wash your hands? Mom is going to make French toast."
The little boy squeals and scampers off. She leans up for a kiss from Zen and grins at him. "Did you get everything you needed?" he asks.
"Yes, I did," she answers. "I see that I've interrupted your knight's training."
Zen chuckles. "Don't worry, princess. I think he understood the lesson well enough. He'll be able to swear the oath soon." Zen goes to walk around her, but she stops him with a hand on his arm. Her face has a look of nervous anticipation laced with a bit of joy. "Mun-Hee? What's wrong?"
"Nothing is wrong," she promises. "I just have something to tell you."
When she doesn't continue and instead runs her fingers along the seam of his gray sweater sleeve, Zen gets a little worried. "Babe?" he presses quietly.
"We might need to get that house now instead of in six months," she says, sliding her hand down to rest on her flat stomach and looking up at Zen with a satisfied expression.
Zen's eyes light up. "Another baby?"
She nods enthusiastically, a broad grin on her face and tears forming in the corner of her brown eyes. Zen scoops her up in a hug and twirls her around their room. Mun-Hee is sure that her shrieking laughter can be heard by everyone in their neighborhood. When he finally lets her down, she brushes the hair out of her face where it's been flung out around her head. "So, I take it you're excited?"
Zen beams. "So excited, babe. I love you so much."
"Love you too, Zen," she replies, grabbing his hand and swinging it back and forth in between them. "Come on. I'll go make dinner and we can tell Ha-Joon he's going to have a sibling."
"Sounds great," Zen answers, keeping their fingers linked together and leading her out of the room and down the short hall.
As Ha-Joon shouts in excitement at the prospect of a new baby to protect (another princess to safeguard or another knight to help protect the princess) Zen thinks of his experiences with his own family. He thinks of his parents and their treatment of him; he thinks of his brother who claimed to support him but then didn't when he needed him most. Then he looks at Mun-Hee and thinks of her family and how kind they've been to him. How loving and accepting they were each time he's met them. Her dad talks to him about his acting, and her mom compliments his hair and actually means it. It's what he wanted to have when he was young. He couldn't have it then, but he can now.
Zen has always dreamed of a loving family, and he's determined to keep ahold of this big, happy one that's been given to him.