"How is everyone feeling back there?" The camerawoman, Boram, asked to the four squished bodies in the backseat. She frowned a bit seeing how cramped they all must feel. It seemed useless but she tried to give words of comfort anyway. "We have about an hour left in the drive so I suggest you take a nap. It's very late, after all. Seokju-sshi will drive all of us there safely."

Seokju peered on the rear view mirror to look at the bunch. He was sympathetic too. If he couldn't take a rest at this stressful moment, he could only wish his younger companions would. "Yes, since we're going to have to leave in the early morning anyway for your busy schedule, it'd be good to get in some sleep right now if you can."

"Yes sir," the four replied, the discomfort evident in their voices. With a nod, Seokju went back to focusing on the road while casually talking to his girlfriend in murmurs.

Music softly played in the car's speakers as they zoomed down the highways. The four cramped in the backseat turned within each other to have their own conversation. "By the way, Taeyong-hyung said we should try to call them when we see Jiwoo-noona," WinWin uttered. He tried to shuffle a bit to be more comfortable wedged in the middle of the backseat, but that only earned exasperated groans from Yuta and Minah.

"I kind of feel bad that we couldn't bring everyone," the lone female of their small group replied. "Donghyuck really wanted to go."

"Well, we can't help it if the babies have a bedtime," Yuta said with a shrug. "Taeyong too but he felt like it was his duty as leader to stay back."

A sigh left Minah's lips. "You're right. Maybe we can video chat so we can all see each other. I doubt that Donghyuck or Mark would be sleeping at a time like this."

"Yeah."

While Yuta and Minah fell into a conversation on their own about what their next step would be after seeing Jiwoo, WinWin turned to his side where Jaehyun quietly sat. He wasn't asleep, only just staring out the windows, the scenery of the night sky and the city sights rushing past them. The Chinese lad let out a solemn sigh as he knew that Jaehyun was the most worried out of all of them.

"Jaehyun, I think you should sleep. If you close your eyes, it'd be like almost no time until we can see noona again," WinWin quipped in a low tone for only the boy to his left to hear.

It was a promising idea, Jaehyun thought. However, his nerves were saying otherwise.

He shot the younger boy an appreciative smile anyway. "I'll try, but you should sleep too. Seokju-sshi will wake us up when we get there." All too readily, WinWin nodded and let himself relax into the seat. Within mere minutes, he was out like a light.

And eventually, so was Minah and Yuta, leaving Jaehyun alone awake in the backseat wrapped in his own thoughts.

"Are you not going to sleep?" The young vocal flinched at the sudden voice, not quite expecting any further conversation after his foreign members and Minah had fallen asleep. But in front, Boram had turned so to face him. She looked quite tired herself, most likely from the extensive work she does for Music Bank. "You know, this gonna seem like out of the blue but both Seokju and I are thankful to you all."

This definitely caught his attention. "Thankful, why?"

"Given to what had happened to her in the past five years, she has a lot of regrets and guilt. She's too young to be feeling all these adult feelings, it's too soon." As Boram said these things, Jaehyun couldn't help but look at Seokju's face on the rear view mirror. His expression saddened in a matter of seconds at his girlfriend's words.

She continued, "I feel like her only solace was her support for SHINee, but that changed when she started working with you guys. I finally feel like she's living how she's supposed to live, young and free, you know? She's still working hard, harder even, but at least she gets some kind of a break." A soft smile tugged at the older woman's lips. "Before her current circumstances, she told me how much she enjoyed working with NCT. I'm happy that she has people her age she can talk to now..." Boram let out a sigh, realizing how much she had been ranting to the idol. "Sorry, maybe because it's so late at night, I'm emotional to say all this. One day, I want to thank all of you properly when we're all rested and together."

Jaehyun gave a smile. "No... it's okay. We're all happy to know Jiwoo too."

He absolutely was.

"That's good," Boram chimed in delight. "Jiwoo is like my little sister, I just want her to be happy finally and move on. So I hope you can help her as much as you can."

"I will."

The drive didn't seem that much longer to Jaehyun. They arrived to a decently big two story house in a spacious, nice neighborhood, the lights dim inside. Just to think that this was the place Jiwoo lived most of her life made the boy kind of more anxious than he should.

Once stirring the sleeping back seaters awake, the six of them hopped out the car and approached the front door. Now getting a better look, Seokju looked even worse than in the car. He looked pale, the nervousness and concern etched across his face because this was his uncle. Sometimes, it's still bewildering to Jaehyun to remember that they're all related. Of course he's upset of what had happened, who knew what kind of close relationship Seokju could have had with Jiwoo's father...

"It'll be okay, Seokju. He's inside and fine, so let's go see him," Boram reassured the man, clutching onto his arm to comfort him.

From his pocket, he fished out keys that must've been for the house. With a simple twist, the front door was unlocked. The two older adults entered first, the last four cautiously following after into the unfamiliar place.

The hallways seemed too dark.

"Hello?" Seokju called out into the seemingly empty house. "I'm here!" They all reached, what the new visitors have guessed, was the living room area of the house. "Hello--"

"SURPRISE!"

The lights shot on, the sudden brightness blinding the six. Streamers and confetti popped into the air and cheers were shouted, much to the arrivers' massive surprise... well, besides one.

Happy... birthday?

"Wait..." Seokju frowned at the sight of his full family in front of him. Boram swerved towards him, placing a quick kiss to his cheek and placing a party hat over his tousled brown hair. "Uncle?..."

"Seokju, seriously, we play a this kind of joke every damn year," an even older man, clad in a Star Wars sweatshirt and shorts, chortled from the corner of the room. "You seem to forget it every time."

"As to why we keep doing it just to see how long it'll be until it finally gets engraved into your brain," a hazel-haired man, possibly a little younger than Seokju, replied, a shake of his head to show his disappointment for the SM producer.

"And oh? We have more people, I see?" A woman just besides that man pointed out with a raised brow. Her arms were crossed as she locked eyes onto each of the four strangers, instantly sending each of them into an uncomfortable state. It was like she was deciding their ill fate with the intense gaze she held.

"Eh? Jiwoo, they're part of NCT, aren't they?" Another male, much more their age, asked turning towards the very girl.

The girl who looked like she had seen ghosts with the way her mouth was agape and her eyes bulged.

"What are you guys doing here?" Jiwoo asked, bewildered beyond belief, her eyes darting at each of her friends. She finally looked at Seokju's girlfriend, who had been in on the joke the whole time. Surely, she'll have an explanation. "Unnie?"

"They just happened to find out about your "dad" thing, and they insisted on coming," Boram simply answered with a shrug and a pleased grin. "Who am I to decline when they're so worried about you?"

"Jiwoo!" Minah was the first to break, lunging herself towards her friend and bringing her into a crushing hug. Both Yuta and WinWin also came forward to hug the girl in greeting, all of them quoting how much they missed her and how distraught they were over her random disappearance in the past couple weeks.

Jaehyun finally moved and engulfed his crush into his own embrace.

He felt more at ease now that he can see Jiwoo in the flesh and that there wasn't yet another problem for her to face. She already had so much on her plate, if she were to have something else, would she have handled it all?

"Jaehyun?..."

The body warmth was overwhelming.

"Hey, hey, okay, as much as I like your music, you can stop hugging my baby sister now." The very same younger man of the group quite literally pried Jaehyun's arms from her. Jiwoo could only turn and smack her brother's shoulder with a deathly glower for being so rash.

"Everyone's welcome here. The more, the merrier, right?" An older woman, possibly Jiwoo's mother, announced with a clap of her hands. "It's officially midnight, so let's start our usual tradition right after we're all rightfully introduced."

Jiwoo let out a huff. As much as she couldn't believe how her few friends had come and crashed the party, she obliged nonetheless. It's only right that everyone knows everyone. "Alright, first of all, family, these three here are in the group I'm working with, Yuta, WinWin, and Jaehyun. The lovely girl is their stylist--"

"And Jiwoo's best friend, Minah!" The girl finished with a bright smile.

Jiwoo rolled her eyes with a laugh. She turned to the three oldest of her family, a couple who had been in the corner and an older woman with graying hair. "Alright. So, here's my mom and dad, they own this amazing noodle restaurant in town. Very famous for it. And this is Aunt Mijoo, Seokju's mother, the main cook for the noodle restaurant."

Then came the last younger three, another who seemed like a couple themselves and the guy around their age. "Here are my older sister, Jira, and her husband Songtae, been married a little over two years now. Then my dorky brother who's only a year older than me, Jihoon."

"It's awesome meeting you guys, I'm a fan," Jihoon chimed, a thumbs up for the boys. "But then again I always love my baby sister's stuff." In response, Jiwoo's hand instantly shot out and smacked her brother's arm... or rather punched... hard. The two siblings scowled, one for the sudden attack and the other for the fallen, careless words.

Jaehyun eyed the two, amused at their kind of relationship. It was nice to see Jiwoo acting this way despite her current situation.

"By the way, let me heat up the food and then we can eat," Jiwoo's mother called out for everyone to hear. "Everyone just relax and settle while we do that." Round of replies were proclaimed before everyone began sitting down and greeting the emotionally-exhausted Seokju with more birthday wishes and lighthearted apologies.

While this happened, Jiwoo ushered her friends to their open backyard so they can privately talk. At the furnished deck, the five settled on the plushy lawn chairs that was there. Minah was quick to take the two seater with Jiwoo, much to Jaehyun's dismay. So he decided to sit in the lone chair across from the girls.

"I still can't believe you guys are here at my house," the twenty-year old girl huffed out, eying each her friends. "We're an hour and a half away from SM."

"Jesus, Jiwoo, we were just concerned," Yuta responded. "First, you become MIA, and then all of a sudden, we hear news that something bad happened to your father--"

"But nothing happened," Jiwoo interjected with a frown.

"That's not the point here," Minah sighed. "The point is that you suddenly cutting us off got as worried. And a matter of fact, it looks like you lost weight since the last time I've seen you."

"Noona, we just want to be here for you," WinWin pouted.

"I know... I've been a horrible friend--"

Jiwoo's words were instantly interrupted when Minah let out a shrill no. "You're not!" The older girl proclaimed, giving Jiwoo's arm a gentle squeeze. "Look, we don't understand anything. If maybe you give us a warning next time that you'll be silent for a bit, that's fine. But if there's like a problem we can help with, we want to help you, or at least make your day less crappy."

"Yeah, maybe you can clear us up on the deal with Hong Yoora?" Yuta asked next. "Or something?"

A more prominent frown appeared on Jiwoo's face. "Yoora?"

WinWin answered, "She asked to see you after Music Bank."

"Then when that didn't happen, she talked to Jaehyun," Minah added.

Jiwoo's eyes trailed over at Jaehyun. "You talked to Yoora?" The male could only nod at the question, it bit shameful and still a little heated from their short talk at Music Bank. "I..."

A ringing had gone off. Coming from WinWin, he had taken out his phone to see that Taeyong wants to video chat with him. The Chinese idol looked over at Jiwoo, cautious as to whether it was okay to answer the call.

"Well, I think it'd be better if all of you listen to what I have to say."

The call was answered.

All of a sudden, the last four who couldn't accompany the trip appeared on the small screen. Taeyong, Taeil, Mark, and Haechan all said their greetings, their voices merging together and making it quite hard to hear what they were saying. There were words of worry, rampant I miss you's, and even lighthearted threats for making them go insane with concern. But this all caused Jiwoo to smile a bit.

"Noona! How are you? How is your dad?" Haechan's voice picked up. The maknae made sure to squeeze his way through so he was seeable through Taeyong's phone screen.

With a small laugh, Jiwoo went off to explain how she had gone home earlier today to prepare for the surprise party for Seokju and used a fake injured relative excuse to bring him over. "It's been a running gag because Seokju-oppa seems to forget his birthday every year. So that's why we're here..."

"God dang it, Jiwoo, we were panicking because of you," Taeyong grumbled out like a nagging mother, but the relief was evident in his voice.

"Or so I've heard."

Looking at everyone, Jiwoo could really feel how much they cared for her... a person who they only met not that long ago. Comparing to how long everyone else knew each other compared to her, she knew them for such a miniscule time. However, seeing how half of them had come out of their way to be here for her over something that wasn't even true, showed how true of friends they were.

And they don't deserve to be kept in the dark.

Jiwoo took in a deep breath. "Look, everyone, I'm so sorry for being so discreet and off lately."

The brunette knew if she doesn't tell her friends anything now, they were bound to find out another way... a worse way. She can't let her fear of possible bad luck cause her to lose people she cared so deeply for.

And finally, she admitted to once being a trainee under SM and her short history with Hong Yoora. Everyone had listened intently as she explained how her reunion with Yoora had thrown her into a loop and how it reminded her of things of her past she would much rather forget.

"In fact... I was supposed to debut back in 2011, in a three-girl group."

Well, this wasn't something Jaehyun had heard before. He leaned forward so to pay more attention to the story.

"It was me, Yoora, and one other person, Songyi. We were all pretty good friends before news came out we were debuting together. Songyi was someone who treated me so well while we trained together. She showed me the ropes and was like a sister to me. I was cool with Yoora too since we both looked up to Songyi a lot... but things kind of shifted when it was announced we were to be in a group together."

A shaky breath left Jiwoo's lips, but she continued with her story. "I don't know. Yoora didn't think I deserved to be put in a group so early and I was acting like such a brat so we argued one day... things happened when the three of us were talking..." She paused, unable to stop the soft sobs. "I was so stupid a-and... I was the one that stopped us from debuting. It was so bad that Sooman-sshi had to force us out."

There was a moment's silence. The boys and Minah wasn't even sure what to say. With such a reveal, of course they needed time to process what happened. But in the quietness, Minah grasped onto Jiwoo's hand and gave it a comforting squeeze. The dark-haired lass peered up through misty eyes.

"Jiwoo, I know that must be such a hard memory to remember, but I want you to know that it's all in the past now," Minah told her in a low tone.

"I did something... that will haunt me for the rest of my life, unnie," Jiwoo choked out. "I'm--"

Minah gave her hand another squeeze. "At this point, there's nothing you can do. Just like Yoora, you need to move on and do what you have to do. And maybe to put your heart at ease, you should talk to Yoora and Songyi. Then, from then on, you can live your life freely and how you want it..."

Minah's words earned chimes of agreement from all the boys. Looking at everyone around her, Jiwoo wasn't sure what she did to deserve to have such great people. If anything, that only let the tears pour more. She was so damn grateful.

In a sprawl, Minah, WinWin, Yuta, and Jaehyun all came forward and did their best to comfort the happily sobbing girl. They were all now a team that will be there for each person, to support and cheer on. And in whatever Jiwoo's case, NCT and the young stylist will always have her back. After all, she left such a lasting impression on them, there was no way they were going to leave her behind.

After chatting a little bit more with the boys at the dorm, the five were called to eat the delicious meal prepared by the oldest adults. The boys didn't fail to mutter a throng of compliments for the food, as it had been a while since they had a home cooked meal. In response, Jiwoo's mother promised that she will package some dishes for all of them to take back, including an appalling amount of kimchi to spare. As much as Jiwoo uttered that that was too much of a task to do, her parents insisted, claiming they were more than happy to feed the boys that their daughter worked alongside with. The late night dinner was filled with genuine joy.

Once that was done, it was time they move on to continue their birthday traditions.

Their own karaoke party.

With everyone crowded in the living room, excluding the oldest three as so the younger ones could have their own fun, the karaoke machine was turned on the big television screen. The couches and coffee table was spaced out, so to have an open area to dance all they wanted.

Jihoon had grabbed one of the microphones, proclaiming introductions in a variety show manner. "Alright boys and girls," the middle Shim child chimed. "We've had this wonderful birthday tradition for all of our lives so let's not make this disappointing, more so now that we have full-fledged idols in our lowly presence!"

"Who are you calling lowly?" Jira shot back with a snared lip. "Is that something to call your family?"

"Oh come on, I love you, noona," Jihoon replied, making a heart with his arms. "I love everyone here, or else I wouldn't be here right now." He then tossed the microphone over to Seokju. "And as tradition, we have the birthday person sing first to start us off!"

"We all already know that I'm not the best singer," The oldest of the bunch huffed, leaning back on the couch as if to make him less noticeable. He turned towards his girlfriend with a surprisingly pouty expression. "Can you sing for me?"

"That's not part of the tradition," Boram giggled, pushing the microphone back onto Seokju. "Just find a short song to sing."

Seokju then turned to the trio of NCT, definitely catching them off guard in the midst of just watching the family interactions. "How about we have my boys sing instead in my place? They can't stay up too long anyway so we should allow them to sing when they can."

"Oh come on, that means we don't get to see your awesome singing, oppa," Jira snickered. "However, I'd be more than happy to watch them sing. I'm prepared to be serenaded."

"What do you mean by that?" Her husband huffed at her side. "The only one who should be serenading you should be me! They can serenade someone else."

"You're no fun."

Seokju waved the microphone over to the three idols, just hoping they'll take away his eminent humiliation. "Is there something we get for singing for you?" Yuta asked with a raised brow, a mischievous tone in his voice.

"It's only fair, Seokju-sshi," Minah chuckled, backing the Japanese boy.

The man looked at them exasperated before turning towards Jiwoo, just at least one person to defend him from the group. Unfortunately for him... "Sorry, oppa, but I agree. You're breaking our tradition for making them sing for you."

With a solemn sigh, he finally cracked, "Um, an hour early release for your next practice?"

After shared exchanges with one another, the three boys finally agreed, Yuta being the one to take the microphone into their possession. "Hopefully, when we get back to Seoul, we can all properly celebrate your birthday with our crew," the oldest of the NCT boys said into the mic. With unanimous vote, the three decided to play it safe and picked BIG BANG's Bang Bang Bang.

The boys started the karaoke party with a high note, getting everyone hyped and dancing along to the upbeat music. Person after person, they all sang songs they all were all fairly familiar with, having fun and not caring one bit about annoying the neighbors. Even the newcomers relaxed into the scene, having fun with Jiwoo's family (although it was a bit weird seeing Seokju so carefree).

And it was just a little bit, but Jaehyun able to get a taste of what Jiwoo's singing was like. When it had been her turn to pick a song to sing, she had, of course, chosen a SHINee tune to play. While to some of her family's distress and other's excitement, Jiwoo sang the song to the best of her abilities. Every high note, every low note, even some of the rapping, she had gotten it all. When Boram had chosen Replay, Jiwoo was instantly on the dance moves, initiating them as perfect as she can with the limited space.

In a glimpse, he could see the idol within her. Just how brilliant she could've been performing on stages and creating studio albums. Touring, meeting lots of fans, her face plastered on advertisements. She would've been widely loved and appreciated by many, Jaehyun knew that.

He was curious on the actual reason as to what happened that day that lead Jiwoo's group to disband even before debut. Their group would've been successful if they were let out, he knew that by Jiwoo's overall being and, he guessed, Yoora's vocal prowess. It was also concerning that this kind of knees was kept hidden in SM. Surely, everyone within the company would have known about the girl trio and their dilemma.

But looking at Jiwoo right now made him realize this was something that can stay hidden. The way she was slowly coming out of her shell, after years of the traumatizing event, showed that she was, just as Minah quoted before, moving on. He shouldn't let his curiosity halt that process.

And for now, the letter that was from Oh Songyi in his pants pocket will be kept secret as well.

A/n: So, this ended up being a +4000 word chapter. Holy shit fam.

Again, hopefully this isn't a weird pace for you all, but Jiwoo is slowly moving on with the power of family~ I made her have a decently large family, because I think it'd be good for her to have a group she can lean on (other than our precious boys).

Speaking of our boys, I tried to keep in mind of the unofficial voting in the last chapter on who should visit Jiwoo. Haechan and Taeyong gotten a surprising amount of votes! And as much as I would have wanted to add them in, Yuta and WinWin were already in mind of who I wanted to write in this chapter.

Reasons why I couldn't have either Haechan or Taeyong visit was mentioned before.

But to recap, I just thought, since he's the leader of NCT 127, it wouldn't be right for him to "abandon" his duties. He's someone to be a good example for his members, so sacrificing himself to stay behind so to lead his members to their next-day activities was the right thing to do.

So, in Haechan's case, there's the rule for both him and Mark (and surely the rest of Dream), that they do have a bedtime. As they aren't "of age" yet, they shouldn't be going out late at night, definitely not when it's as late as midnight. That's my reason for him~ But, maybe, since Taeyong and Haechan were voted a lot, I can write another chapter featuring the both of them. Good deal?

ALSO FOR BONUS right after this will be an extended character page, so I can explain and introduce Jiwoo's family. I'll go more into detail, adding in fun facts for each one, along with Boram and Seokju~