The four of them stood in the dining room, and for a long moment, none of them knew where to look.
The clock ticked in the hallway. Mr. Min studied the ceiling. Seo-yeon studied the floor. Min Yoongi looked at his shoes and wished the floor would open.
Mrs. Min broke the silence. She hung her coat on the chair, folded her hands in front of her and looked at her son.
"Yoongi," she said. "What is happening?"
"Mom, I..." He stopped and cleared his throat. "It's not what it looks like."
"It looked like exactly what it looked like."
"Okay, it's a little what it looks like."
"Then explain."
He rubbed the back of his neck. "We... You said you met at the fan event. You said that, Seo-yeon, at the door."
"I know," Seo-yeon whispered. "I'm sorry, Auntie."
"Don't apologize to me. Let him talk."
Min Yoongi took a breath. "Okay. We didn't meet at a fan event. We met at a bar. Diamond Bar, a while ago. I went there alone, in a hoodie and a cap. Seo-yeon was there. She was drunk, and she stumbled into me."
"She stumbled into you," Mrs. Min repeated.
"Yes. And she recognized me. She said 'Oh my God' about twenty times."
Seo-yeon pressed her hands against her cheeks.
"We started talking," Min Yoongi said. "And then she told me why she was drinking. She'd just found out her boyfriend was cheating on her with her best friend."
Mrs. Min's face softened. "Oh, Poor girl."
"She went home and saw them herself. Then she went to the bar to forget about it." He glanced at Seo-yeon, then away. "And then she made a... a request."
"What kind of request?"
"A silly one."
"How silly?"
Min Yoongi swallowed. "She asked me to spend the night with her."
There was a very short pause. Then Mrs. Min burst out laughing.
"Ah!" She pressed a hand to her mouth, but the laughter kept coming. "Oh, my goodness. She asked you? Just like that?"
"Mom."
"A silly request, he says." Mrs. Min wiped her eyes. "My son, the great star, was asked to spend the night, and he calls it a silly request."
Seo-yeon's face turned as red as a ripe persimmon. She tried to hide behind her hair.
"I said no," Min Yoongi said, a little desperately. "At first. I told her she was drunk. I said she would regret it. She didn't listen, and I..." He stopped. His own ears were bright red. "I'm not going to say the rest."
"You don't have to," Mr. Min said dryly. "We're not children."
"Dad."
"I'm only saying."
Min Yoongi took a long breath and kept going. "I left in the morning, before she woke up. I know that was wrong. I looked for her afterward, but I couldn't find her. Then today I came home, and she's here. And Mom told me she's pregnant."
His voice dropped.
"And it's mine."
Nobody moved.
Mrs. Min stopped smiling. Mr. Min took off his glasses, wiped them on his sleeve, and put them back on, though they hadn't been dirty. The tick of the clock seemed very loud.
"Yours," Mrs. Min said slowly.
"Yes, Mom."
"The baby."
"Yes."
"You're the father."
"Yes."
She stared at him. Then she looked at Seo-yeon, at her face, and finally at the curve of her stomach under the dress. Her lips parted, and nothing came out.
Mr. Min sat down heavily on the nearest chair. "I need a moment," he said.
"Dad?"
"I'm fine. I'm only sitting."
For a few seconds, nobody said anything. Seo-yeon couldn't breathe. She twisted her fingers together and waited for the shouting, or the cold looks, or the polite request to leave. She had imagined all of it a hundred times.
Mrs. Min came out of her stupor first.
She let out a little gasp, and then another, and then she clapped both hands over her mouth. Tears sprang to her eyes.
"A baby," she whispered. "My son's baby."
"Mom..."
"I'm going to be a grandmother." She crossed the room in two steps and took Seo-yeon's hands in both of hers. "Oh, my dear. Oh, thank you. Thank you."
Seo-yeon blinked. "Auntie?"
"Thank you!" Mrs. Min was laughing and crying at once. "Do you know how long I've waited? My son is thirty-two years old. Thirty-two! Not once did he bring home a girlfriend. Not one. I stopped asking years ago. His father said I should leave him alone, and I did, but every night I thought, will I die without seeing a grandchild?"
"Honey," Mr. Min said.
"And now this girl falls out of the sky and into my arms, and she's carrying my grandchild!" She turned to her husband. "You hear that? We're going to be grandparents!"
"I heard," he said. His voice was thick. He had taken off his glasses again, and this time he was really wiping his eyes. "I heard, honey."
"Are you crying?"
"My eyes are dry."
"You are!"
"It's the onions from dinner."
"There were no onions!"
Min Yoongi stared at his parents. He had come in expecting an argument. He had prepared for anger and disappointment. He had not prepared for his mother shaking Seo-yeon's hands up and down like a pump while his father pretended to have onions in his eyes.
"You're not angry?" he asked.
"Angry?" Mrs. Min spun around. "Why would I be angry? You didn't do anything wrong. Well, you did, you left her alone, and we'll discuss that later." She pointed a finger at him. "But I'm not angry about the baby. You never brought anyone home, Yoongi. I thought you married your work. Now here she is, with a baby, and she's lovely, and she's already eating my cooking. What is there to be angry about?"
"Mom, we're not..." Min Yoongi glanced at Seo-yeon. "We haven't talked about anything yet."
"Then talk! You have plenty of time." She turned back to Seo-yeon and squeezed her hands again. "Dear, are you all right? Do you need to sit? Do you need water? I'll get you tea."
"I'm fine, Auntie. I'm just..." Seo-yeon's voice shook. "I thought you would hate me."
"Hate you?" Mrs. Min stared at her. "Why?"
"Because I'm nobody. Because I didn't tell him. Because of how it happened."
"Nonsense." Mr. Min stood and walked over. He was a stern man, and he looked stern now, but he put a hand on her shoulder. "You're carrying our grandchild. You've done nothing to hate."
"Thank you, sir," she whispered.
"Call me father," he said gruffly. "Or uncle, if that's easier. Just not 'sir.' It makes me sound like a teacher."
Seo-yeon laughed through her tears.
"Sit, sit," Mrs. Min said, pushing her gently into a chair. "Everyone sit. I'll make tea. This is a day for tea." She stopped and turned around. "Wait. You said you were almost... how far along did you say? I never asked the doctor's name, or whether you've seen one. Have you had your checkup? Do you know how the baby is doing?"
Seo-yeon hesitated. She looked at Min Yoongi, who was standing beside her chair with his hands hanging at his sides, watching her with wide, careful eyes.
She took a breath.
"I had a checkup this morning," she said.
"This morning?" Min Yoongi said. "You didn't say."
"I didn't have a chance." She smiled shakily. "The doctor said everything is healthy. Strong heartbeats. And..." She stopped. Her fingers twisted together in her lap. "And there's something I haven't told you yet."
"What?" Min Yoongi asked. His voice was very quiet.
"It's not one baby."
The room went completely still.
"What do you mean?" Mrs. Min said.
"I'm having twins," Seo-yeon said. "A boy and a girl."
Mrs. Min let out a sound that was somewhere between a squeak and a scream.
Mr. Min sat down again, very suddenly.
And Min Yoongi didn't say anything. He stood with his lips slightly parted, looking at her as if he had forgotten how to speak. His eyes moved from her face to her stomach and back again. His hand rose halfway toward his mouth and stopped.
"Twins," he said at last, in a whisper.
"Yes."
"A boy and a girl."
"Yes."
"Both of them."
"Both of them," Seo-yeon said, and she was crying and smiling at the same time. "I found out this morning."
Mrs. Min burst into tears and threw her arms around her. Mr. Min covered his face with both hands.