Every October, Yeosang hallowed out enough time in his schedule to spend a few days with his uncle.

He couldn't always visit on the twelfth, like when last year his daughter had gotten reprimanded at school for punching a boy who tried to kiss her (an action Seonghwa treated the family to ice cream over), but Yeosang always tried.

He would learn so much about Jongho over those days. The first year, San, Wooyoung, and Seonghwa all came, too. The latter two coming on and off in the following years as well.

This year would mark Yeosang and Yunho's fifteenth anniversary of the tradition.

Yunho always drew visitors in, it was the way he spoke, the way he wove stories, it was like Jongho was alive.

He was Uncle Jongho, now, when being spoken of by the family. And Yunho was blessed to, every October, relive and share the moments and memories of their life.

Three years back, the whole Park family came over, but after that hurricane only the oldest Park daughter returned next year. She, too, wanted to learn the stories.

It was October again, October ninth, and Yeosang was at a writing workshop. While teaching, he received a call. He ignored it, of course.

The call next came to Seonghwa who was staying home with their newest arrival.

When Seonghwa answered the phone, and the caller spoke, Seonghwa began to cry.

"Papa?" Came a worried little boy's voice. And Seonghwa smiled, picking the child into his arms. "Papa, what's wrong?"

Seonghwa sniffled, looking into his new son's eyes. It had only been two weeks since the little one came, and Seonghwa took off work for the first month, just like he had years back for the arrival of their other two children.

"Jongho-ah, don't cry." Seonghwa began and the little one looked at him with such empathy it made him want to cocoon the child for eternity. "It's one of your uncles, the one who lives far away. . . You've never met him."

When the little boy still looked at him, confused, Seonghwa tried to explain. "He went to go be with your namesake, Jongho. Uncle Yunho did something today called dying."

Seonghwa knew that Souls were mated for life, for all of life. So he wasn't sad for Yunho, quite the opposite, actually; but he was sad for the ones who remained without his wisdom. For Jongho who had never heard his stories, never listened to his morals. For Wheein who was too small last time to sit still, and for Hwasa, the oldest, who was only just beginning to love Yunho as one of her own.

"Jongho, I need to put you down, but Papa is okay. He just needs to call Appa." But the boy held on tight with quivering lips to his new father. Seonghwa picked up the phone as the little one clung to his neck.

As the line rung across the miles, he tried to think happy thoughts.

"Seonghwa? What's up? I'm in class." He heard Yeosang's slightly annoyed voice on the other end and smiled.

"APPA!" Jongho yelled into the phone but Seonghwa quickly shushed him.

"Yeosang-ah," He began as softly as possible. "It's about Yunho. I know you're at the workshop but can you please come home? Can't you skip just the last day?"

Hearing Seonghwa's tone, Yeosang's heart spiked. He waved over an assistant to the front and walked to an empty conference room.

"Seonghwa," he was firm. "What about Yunho?"

But over the line the older begged him not to ask now. "Tell them it's a family emergency and please just come back."

Beginning to pace, Yeosang ran a hand through his black hair. "Hyung, how do you expect me to survive a four hour drive with your last words being family emergency?"

"Please, not now, Yeosang."

But Jongho decided his appa should know. "Dying!" He said into the phone.

And his appa's heart stopped. "Seonghwa?" He asked, so quietly. "Did Jongho say dying?. . . Is Uncle dying?"

But choking on his sobs, Seonghwa could only nod in response. Thankfully, Jongho was there to translate. "Papa says yes! He's nodding." And Jongho mimicked the movement, even though Yeosang couldn't see.

"Seonghwa?" And his Soul mustered the courage to speak. "No, Yeosang-ah, Yunho isn't dying, he's already died."

Yeosang stopped pacing, stopped breathing, and closed his eyes.

He had two options, fall to the ground and sob like he wanted, or switch into high gear like he needed. He choose the later. Repress he told himself, just for now.

"Hey, hey," Yeosang tried to comfort through the speaker. "It's okay, Hyung. I'll be back by five."

Yeosang grabbed his keys, to the same silver car, and scribbled an explanatory note, apologizing to his assistant. "Seonghwa, are you okay to pick the girls up from school or do you want me to call Appa to do it?"

"No," Seonghwa said, "I want to pick them up; I can. Yeosang," the older begged, "can you please take a cab back?"

But Yeosang was nearing his car. "Seonghwa that's four hours, it'll be very expensive and then we have to come all the way back, eight hours, for my car in the midst of this." He knew his Soul was scared, but it would be fine. "I'll be super careful, alright?"

And Seonghwa trusted him. "Alright." He breathed, "I love you."

"I love you, Hyung." Seonghwa could hear his opening a car door.

"Hey, Jongho. Take care of Papa for me, okay? Can you get him tissues and water?" And Seonghwa laughed a little as the boy wriggled down and ran to the bathroom. "I'll see you soon, Seonghwa." He ended the call.

As Yeosang removed the phone from his ear, he pulled off his suit jacket and dialed another number. Don't think, just drive. . . He told himself again.

Connecting the car's bluetooth, he turned his head and begin to back out as the line rang.

"Hiiii~ Hyung! It's been a while."

And Yeosang laughed. "How long has it been, Wooyoung?" Yeosang knew he knew.

"Five and a half months since we last talked. . . But I still love you! How's the newest arrival? I saw him on your page."

"Really, really good. Jongho is doing far better then Wheein did, but he's younger than when we got her. . ." Yeosang trailed off, and Wooyoung got the hint.

". . .But you didn't call to talk about him. . . Something is going on, Yeosang, what is it?"

Stopping at a red light, Yeosang turned up the volume. "It's Uncle Yunho. He's-" breathe. "He's with Uncle Jongho."

"Oh. . ." Silence. "When did this happen?" Yeosang started driving again, just at the speed limit.

"Seonghwa just told me twenty minutes ago, I'm driving home now."

"San!" Yeosang heard the younger call away from the phone. "Pack your bags, we're going to Yeosang's!"

"Wait, Young-ah," Yeosang tried not to cry over the love he held for his oldest friend. Don't think, just drive. "You don't need to drop everything, I know San has that thing this--"

"Sang-ah, we're dropping everything and coming." It was San's voice on the line now. "We'll be there in four hours. Don't worry."

"Thank you guys, I- we could really use you right now. . ."

~~~

Three hours later, Seonghwa buckled Jongho into his booster and they were off to pick up the girls from school.

As the car idled in line, Seonghwa thought of what he'd say. Yeosang wanted to tell them together, but since Jongho already knows, both parents agreed to tell their daughters immediately, before the little one spills it.

Pulling up to the front, Seonghwa greeted the children and they entered, Wheein in back and Hwasa in the passenger seat.

As they drove home, Seonghwa thought some more. He thought all the way until he was sitting opposite two curious girls in the living room. Then he had to stop thinking and speak.

"So, I have some news about Uncle Yunho." Seonghwa began, holding Jongho quietly in his lap.

"Are we going to visit him?!" Wheein shouted but Hwasa, being the empath she was, shushed her ten year old little sister.

"Let Papa talk, Whee-ah," the older said. "We can see he's sad about Uncle Yunho."

Oh. Wheein's small eyes went wide. "Papa!" She yelled a little softer. "What's wrong?" Running over to him she threw herself against her papa's side and he laughed.

But Seonghwa sighed, letting Wheein climb onto his other knee. He looked across the rug at a patiently expectant Hwasa.

"Dying." Jongho mumbled. He could now feel that word wasn't one to shout.

"Yes," Papa started. "You all know Uncle Yunho was getting older, and when people get older," he bit his lip and sucked in a breath before continuing. "When people get older, t-their body doesn't work as well anymore. And, and when their body stops working, they can't live anymore."

Seonghwa pointed to the red mark next to his eye. "So when their body stops working, the soul leaves." The two girls both grazed a hand over their respective marks, and Seonghwa nodded, trying not to cry.

Hwasa came to his defence. "What Papa is saying is that the soul goes and lives somewhere else, and we can't talk or play with that person anymore." She looked at her siblings. "Eventually, the body will disappear, too. It will go back into the earth."

Wheein did her best to process the information. She'd heard of death before, of course, and she knew people who knew people who had died, but she herself had never met a dead person. Never seen a body without a soul.

"Unnie," she asked. "How long does a soul live without a body?"

And Hwasa smiled. "A soul lives forever."

Wheein had more questions of her sister. "Where do they live?" She asked. "Can we talk to them. Are they lonely?"

This was getting a little above Hwasa's education, but still she tried to explain. "They live in the afterlife, there are different places, for what the soul is like. Uh," she thought. "Well, we can talk to them, but they can't talk back."

She looked to her Papa for the last question. Was Yunho lonely?

Collecting himself, Seonghwa spoke again. "No, Whee-ah, he's not lonely. He's with a lot of people, including Uncle Jongho." He bounced Jongho on his lap as the younger started to squirm.

"Uncle Jongho died a long time ago, but soulmates are always reunited when they die." Seonghwa smiled. "It's good that Uncle Yunho died, it just sometimes will make us sad, because we can't see him anymore."

Seonghwa tried to think if he'd explained everything. "Appa is coming home soon. He'll be sad, okay? So everyone should give him a big hug."

They all nodded in understanding.

"Uncles San and Wooyoung are coming over, too." Seonghwa informed the assembled tribe. "They're going to spend the night for a little bit. . . They're going to help Appa, so try not to bother them too much, hmm?"

And again, they all nodded.

***

A/N: 1-10-21 so I uh, have 3 chaps of fluff and now we're at this. . . I haven't even written two of the fluff chapters yet but I'm almost done with this (soft) angst chap. I can't even read angst why does it flow so easy writing?

1-11-22 the kids played a bigger role than expected but uwu. this is gonna be a trip to edit 😅

1-20-22 EDITED so the photo at top is seongsang with their kid's drawings

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