🔵 Scott - Chapter 14: An Extraordinary Day at the Park
The Scotts spent the afternoon only a short walk away, at Harang River Park. It felt far enough to count as an outing. Cassian tried fishing for the first time, standing beside Henry and following his instructions carefully, but his patience ran out long before anything could bite. He laughed it off and abandoned the attempt.
Auron surprised everyone by enjoying himself the most. Away from his computer, he ran into classmates from school and lingered near the street musicians, listening closely to the live music drifting through the park.
Henry spent most of the time sitting with Yujin on a bench near the river. They watched their sons move through the park and talked about how quickly everything had changed. Both Cassian and Auron seemed settled again, even after Siyeon had moved out, and seeing them adapt so naturally brought relief. The moment stayed gentle until Yujin suddenly stiffened. The contractions began without any warning. Cassian immediately took Auron home, while Henry helped his wife into a taxi and went with her to the hospital, the park receding behind them as urgency replaced the calm silence.
Two days later, Henry and Yujin returned home together. This time, they carried someone new with them. Standing in the living room, smiling despite their exhaustion, they introduced their sons and Octavia to Corvin Scott-Son.
The house shifted instantly. Auron embraced his role as a big brother with pride and spoke about it freely at school. Cassian and Octavia took the change in stride. Both of them were familiar with babies and didn't feel any need to hover.
Octavia often offered to watch Corvin for an evening, giving Henry and Yujin a chance to rest, and they accepted gratefully. Even so, Cassian and Octavia appreciated the quiet of school whenever it provided a break from the constant sounds of a newborn.
Corvin became the joyful center of the household. He passed from arm to arm, surrounded by affection, but no one held him longer than Henry. After work, he rarely put his son down, carrying him through the rooms as if reluctant to miss a single moment. The house adjusted once again, not dramatically, but decisively. Another life had settled into its rhythm and everything else shifted just enough to make room.
🔵 To read the full Scott story from the beginning, click here.
After Siyeon had moved out, an unfamiliar silence settled in all over the house. It lingered in the hallways, in the evenings and in the small routines everyone suddenly noticed because she was no longer there.
Auron filled much of that silence with the clicking of his keyboard. He discovered a fascination for media design and spent hours cutting together short videos from commercials and online clips, chasing smoother transitions and faster edits all the time. At one point, it led to an argument with his mother. He promised her he would not neglect school, no matter how tempting the screen became, and she chose to trust him.
Henry and Yujin enjoyed the quieter house more than they had expected, yet it felt strange at the same time. Siyeon’s room stayed dark at night and no guitar music drifted through the walls anymore. Once Cassian and Auron had gone to their rooms, they often remained at the dining table, talking about the life they had built together. They spoke about work, about the children and about how quickly everything seemed to change. Cassian’s nearing teenage birthday came up more often than either of them admitted.
When the boys sat at the table alone, their conversations sounded very different. They talked about new anime releases, favorite superheroes and school gossip that felt urgent only to them. Laughter returned easily in those moments, even if it never stayed for long.
Cassian missed Siyeon more than he wanted to show. Despite his closeness to Auron, the absence of his sister weighed on him in loud, persistent ways. Sometimes it led to arguments between the brothers. Auron tried hard to cheer him up, but his efforts often came too fast, too obvious, when Cassian only needed space to process his feelings.
Henry continued to take on a few extra hours at work. The money he had spent on second-hand furniture for Siyeon and Luca had tightened things for a while, but he never regretted it. The joy in their eyes had reminded him of a promise he once made to himself and to Yujin: that Siyeon would never feel unloved, no matter what.
Then Cassian’s birthday arrived. For the first time, Henry realized he was looking his oldest son straight in the eye. The resemblance was uncanny. Standing there together, father and son shared a quiet moment that needed no words, only the understanding that time had moved on and neither of them was quite the same anymore.
🔵 To read the full Scott story from the beginning, click here.
Auron sat across from his mother in the early evening, the clinking of cutlery filling the room. For a while, they ate without much conversation. Then, almost too casually, Yujin looked up.
“Oh—Corvin mentioned something yesterday,” she said, as if the thought had only just come to her. “About a girl from your school… Nanako, I think?”
The timing was too precise to be accidental. Auron noticed it immediately.
There was a certain brightness in her eyes that she did not quite manage to hide, no matter how casually she tried to present the question. It was the look she always had when something caught her interest and when she had already been thinking about it for a while.
Auron tried to keep his expression neutral though.
“It’s nothing,” he said at first, hoping the simplicity of the answer might be enough.
It was not. Yujin waited, her attention steady, giving him just enough silence to continue. He sighed quietly.
“We just… get along well,” he added. “Same interests. That’s all.”
“Mhm,” Yujin replied, as if accepting the answer, but the small smile that followed suggested she had already drawn her own conclusions.
About an hour later, Corvin returned later than usual, his cheeks still slightly flushed from the cold and the excitement of playing outside with his friends. He sat down at the table with Henry, who had only just found the time to eat himself.
They shared a simple meal, the kind that required little to no conversation, until Corvin suddenly looked up.
“Dad,” he said, “how did you and Mom meet?”
Henry paused for a moment, then leaned back slightly, considering the question.
He spoke about London, about moving to Dowon, about the unfamiliarity of everything when he first arrived. Then, almost casually, he mentioned the small kiosk where he had met Yujin. A chance encounter. A short conversation. Something that had quickly become more.
Corvin listened carefully. When Henry finished, Corvin frowned slightly.
“That’s it?” he asked. “I thought it would be more… I don’t know. Bigger.”
Henry laughed softly.
“I suppose it felt bigger at the time.”
Corvin nodded, though he did not seem entirely convinced. The idea of love, at least in the way his father described it, did not quite match whatever he had imagined.
Outside, winter had begun to settle over Dowon two weeks ago. The cold air brought a stillness, broken only by the occasional sound of distant traffic. A thin layer of snow rested on the garden, barely enough to cover the ground.
Auron sat on one of the sun loungers. He had not planned to come outside for long, but the cold helped him think. Or at least, it should have. No matter what he tried, his thoughts kept returning to the same place. To the same person. Nanako’s voice, her expressions, the way their conversations had unfolded. It replayed in fragments, repeating without his control.
Even when he tried to distract himself later, opening his laptop and returning to his projects, it did not last. His focus slipped. Again and again.
The next day, Corvin found himself paying more attention than usual. During recess, he watched his friends closely, especially the girls. Not in any obvious way at first, but enough for one of them to notice.
“Do I have something on my face?” she asked, brushing at her cheek where a trace of snow still lingered.
Corvin shook his head quickly.
“No,” he said, but he kept looking, trying to understand.
He compared what he saw to what he had heard. To what his father had said. To what Auron seemed to be going through. In the end, he could not make sense of it at all. No matter how closely he looked, he could not figure out what exactly made it all so special.
Auron, meanwhile, had the day off. The house was quieter than usual, his parents occupied elsewhere, leaving him with more time than he knew what to do with. He decided to leave, stepping out into the cold and making his way toward the nearby park.
The walk helped. A little, but not enough. His thoughts still circled back to Nanako, uninvited and persistent.
Then, as he moved along one of the paths, he heard a familiar voice - Cassian. He stood a short distance away, speaking with two women seated on a bench. The conversation seemed casual, unimportant, so Auron approached. Cassian noticed him almost immediately, greeting him with an easy familiarity before finishing his conversation.
They walked together afterward, side by side. It did not take long before Auron brought it up. Nanako and how often he thought about her. How difficult it had become to focus on anything else.
Cassian listened, a small smile forming. He placed a hand on Auron’s shoulder, a gesture both reassuring and knowing.
“That sounds pretty obvious to me,” he said with a quiet laugh. “Maybe you should try getting to know her a little more.”
Auron nodded, though he did not respond right away. The idea had already been there. He just had not said it out loud before.
When he returned home later that day, the thought had settled enough for him to act on it. He found his father and, somewhat unusually, started a conversation himself. Henry looked up with mild surprise, though it quickly gave way to interest.
Auron explained everything. Slowly at first, then with more certainty as he continued. About Nanako and the thoughts he could not quiet. About not fully understanding what it all meant just yet.
Henry listened carefully. When Auron finished, he nodded once.
“That sounds about right,” he said.
Auron looked at him.
“For what?”
Henry smiled faintly.
“For something worth figuring out.”
He paused for a moment before adding, “You don’t have to understand everything immediately. Sometimes it becomes clearer when you simply move forward.”
Auron considered that. It was not a direct answer, but it was enough for now.
🔵 To read the full Scott story from the beginning, click here.
Corvin settled into school faster than expected. Within a short period of time, he seemed to know everyone, or at least enough people to never be alone. Most days, he returned home only briefly, just long enough to eat before rushing off again. One invitation followed the next and his afternoons quickly filled with voices, movement and laughter.
Corvin and his friends often gathered in the parks scattered across Dowon. The open spaces gave them room to run freely, chasing each other across the grass in endless games of tag. Between bursts of energy, they sat together, talking about the newest anime episodes or characters they admired, their conversations overlapping with excitement. The laughter came easily, carrying across the park and blending into the lively sounds of the city.
Auron’s days followed a quieter rhythm but brought big changes too. A few weeks earlier, he had met someone by chance between classes. Nanako Fujiwara had been part of an older grade and their first conversation had been brief, almost accidental. Yet it did not stay that way. They began to talk more often during breaks, discovering shared interests that gradually formed something more consistent. Among those was a simple idea: they both wanted to take better care of their fitness.
It seemed like an easy reason to meet outside of school. They agreed to train together at the Scotts’ house, where the family’s fitness room offered more than enough space. The equipment stood ready, neatly arranged, waiting to be used. But once they were there, the original purpose of their meeting faded almost immediately. They talked instead.
Time passed quickly, their conversation moving naturally from one topic to another. Whatever tension might have existed at the beginning softened into familiarity. When they eventually stood closer than before, the shift felt almost unnoticeable. Auron hesitated only briefly before leaning in, and for a moment, it seemed as though the distance between them would disappear entirely.
Then the door opened...
Corvin stepped into the room without hesitation, his presence as lively as ever. The moment dissolved as quickly as it had formed. Auron straightened slightly and introduced his younger brother, and whatever might have followed gave way to something simpler. Nanako greeted Corvin warmly and the two of them connected almost immediately. She spoke to him with a natural ease, one that suggested she genuinely enjoyed being around children. The atmosphere shifted again, lighter now, though not quite what Auron had hoped for.
Later that evening, Nanako left, and the house returned to its usual calm. Auron stayed in the fitness room a little longer, with Corvin lingering nearby. While Auron attempted to settle into meditation, Corvin filled the silence in his own way. As so often, he began to sing. Softly at first, then with growing confidence, as if the room itself encouraged him. Auron remained still. It took effort, but Corvin’s voice no longer pulled him out of focus as easily as it once had.
Eventually, the two of them left the room together and prepared for the night. Corvin moved through the routine with visible contentment, clearly enjoying the shared moment. Auron followed along without resistance. He had no intention of sleeping yet, but he did not say so. Some things did not need to be said.
🔵 To read the full Scott story from the beginning, click here.
Auron never spent a moment without love. During the day, Yujin cared for him with her usual warmth and patience, guiding him through every small discovery of babyhood. But the second Cassian returned from school, the toddler had a new sun to orbit.
Cassian dropped his backpack, slipped off his shoes and slid straight onto the floor beside his little brother. Every afternoon turned into a mix of giggles and crawling races; Auron slow and wobbly, Cassian dramatically matching his pace. He taught him new words, exaggerated expressions and tiny games only siblings could understand. The little brother adored every second.
Meanwhile Henry found his rhythm in the gentle winter of Dowon. He used the milder days to recharge after weeks of intense journalistic work. He wandered through city parks and listened to the hum of conversations around him while resting on one of the sun-warmed lounge chairs.
Some days he bought food for the koalas that occasionally wandered close to town. They already recognized him, being curious, cautious, but increasingly fond of the man who visited them with quiet respect. Those slow afternoons helped him let go of the pressure his career constantly brought.
School life moved quickly for the older two kids. Cassian kept expanding his world, forming new friendships almost daily. He and his classmates chased soccer balls across the dusty playground until the daylight thinned into evening.
Siyeon, however, faced a different kind of change. She could no longer deny the flutter in her chest every time Luca Martin messaged her or waited for her after class. He had guided her through her first months in the new school, always patient, always ready to help, even when she texted him late at night, unsure about homework or her own thoughts.
One evening, on her way out, she ran into Luca’s sister, Octavia. The girl greeted her kindly, polite and composed, but with an unmistakably reserved aura. Still there was something about her presence that made Siyeon curious.
The crawling races, the quiet park afternoons, the blooming friendships and new feelings - the Scotts continued to shape the winter in Dowon into their own season of growth.
🔵 To read the full Scott story from the beginning, click here.
Yujin and Octavia finished their training in the small gym of the house when Yujin asked her to stay for a moment. The air shifted instantly. Yujin chose her words carefully and explained that as much as everyone appreciated having Octavia and Cassian there, the situation would soon have to change. Corvin was growing quickly. He would need his own room before long, just as all of her children had always been given one.
Octavia listened without interrupting. She nodded, understanding before the explanation had fully unfolded. She promised to speak to Cassian as soon as possible. For a brief second, she gathered the courage to ask about Henry’s investigations into her family. She had heard about them from Cassian. Yujin only smiled gently and said she did not know much about it. If Octavia had questions, she should ask Henry directly. The answer came softly, but it closed the door all the same. Octavia realized then that shared activities and warm conversations had not deepened the bond as much as she had believed. She left the room, carrying a sadness she did not show.
Yujin returned to Corvin, who moved through the house with surprising steadiness now. He walked confidently, growing more independent with every passing day. Time with him felt effortless. She loved all her children, but something about Corvin felt unique and instinctive. They understood each other without needing any words.
Auron continued to program with enthusiasm, but his world had widened beyond the screen. After school, he often wandered through Dowon for hours, observing people, noticing details, tracing streets he had once only explored digitally in games. The city unfolded differently when walked through slowly and with eyes wide open.
That evening, after finishing his homework, he sat down for a late meal and found Cassian waiting there. The conversation began casually, but Cassian’s tone shifted quickly. He told Auron that he and Octavia had decided to move out. They had made the decision soon after her talk with Yujin. Auron was the first person they wanted to tell and he felt honored by that, though sadness followed immediately. He would miss them. Still, he offered his help without hesitation and Cassian gratefully accepted.
A few days later, Corvin grew up. The house filled with small preparations. Yujin and Auron arranged a cake, music and a large teddy bear nearly as tall as the boy himself. Corvin climbed onto the old rocking horse that had once belonged to his brothers and managed to move it on his own for the first time. Laughter followed him everywhere.
The brightness of the day eased the pain of the other thing the day held. Cassian and Octavia moved out. The entire family helped with the boxes. Henry treated Octavia kindly, no differently than before, but distance lingered beneath the surface. Trust did not disappear in a single argument, yet it did not repair itself instantly either. Some adjustments required more time than others. By evening, the house felt both fuller and emptier at once. Corvin’s laughter echoed through rooms that had already begun to rearrange themselves.
🔵 To read the full Scott story from the beginning, click here.
Six months had passed since the last chapter of their lives and the Scott household was once again transformed. This time by the arrival of Henry and Yujin’s second child together.
Auron Scott-Son came into the world on a quiet winter morning. From the moment they held him, the whole family fell in love. Still Henry and Yujin made an effort to spend time with Cassian and Siyeon individually, wanting both kids to feel just as cherished as before. Their family had grown but their love only stretched further.
Cassian didn’t need any time to adjust to being a big brother. He embraced the role instantly. Every day after school, he dropped his backpack at the door and sprinted straight to Auron’s crib. He would sit beside him and talk about everything he’d seen, done and discovered that day.
Yujin often watched from the hallway, her heart swelling at the sight of Cassian’s gentle enthusiasm and the way Auron’s eyes followed his brother like he already knew he was someone important.
Meanwhile Siyeon and Henry made a habit of taking little winter outings through Dowon. Snowy sidewalks, warm cafés, city parks glittering under holiday lights. The trips weren’t extravagant but they brought the two of them closer than ever. Slowly, steadily, they built their own bond. Stepfather and stepdaughter learning each other’s rhythms.
As soon as Auron learned to crawl, he was never alone. If Henry wasn’t showing him something, Cassian was. The baby became the center of a constant orbit: gentle hands guiding him, voices telling him stories, laughter bouncing off the walls as he followed them across the floor like a tiny explorer.
Somewhere in the middle of this warm winter chaos, Cassian made another discovery - he loved ball sports. Basketball first, then soccer. Both with equal obsession. Henry noticed immediately, of course. A few days later, Cassian came home to find a brand-new basketball hoop installed in their garden.
Soccer, however, belonged to school. Cassian played it every single day with his closest friends, racing across the dusty playground until the bell forced them apart. His laughter during those games was unmistakable: open, bright and full of that carefree joy only childhood can hold.
Through it all, the Scotts continued growing together, learning to balance the tenderness of a newborn with the bright energy of two older kids discovering themselves. Winter felt softer that year, wrapped in warmth, in small beginnings and in the quiet certainty that their family was stronger than ever.
🔵 To read the full Scott story from the beginning, click here.
Cassian talked more these days. Ever since he grew older, his thoughts seemed closer to the surface and Henry noticed how naturally their conversations unfolded. They spoke about school, routines that had shifted, things Cassian had not questioned before. There was no pressure in those talks. Cassian knew that nothing he said would be dismissed and Henry listened without needing to steer the discussion anywhere.
Not long after, Yujin told Henry that she was pregnant again. The words came almost quietly but the joy followed right away. They stood there for a moment, sharing the realization, smiling at the familiarity of the situation. Another child meant change, but it did not bring any uncertainty. It simply meant that their family would grow once more.
At school, Auron felt the absence of his big brother more than expected. Cassian’s schedule no longer matched his own and the breaks felt longer when spent alone. He sulked about it at first, lingering at the edges of the schoolyard, but it did not take long until he found his own ways to pass the time. Even alone he laughed, ran around and returned home with stories that belonged entirely to him.
Meanwhile Cassian began talking more often to a girl from his grade. Her name was Octavia Martin. He knew who she was, not only because they shared classes, but because her family was already connected to his own. Luca Martin was her older brother. She spoke easily and so did he. What started as brief exchanges turned into longer conversations and eventually into time deliberately spent together. One afternoon Octavia told him that being at home had become difficult lately. The tension there weighed on her constantly and she did not feel like she could stay much longer without it affecting her whole life negatively.
Cassian brought the subject home carefully. He told his parents about Octavia, her difficult situation and the way she carried herself as if she was always bracing for something. Henry and Yujin listened. The house had a free room now, empty since Siyeon had moved out, and the baby would not need it for quite a long time. The idea did not feel disruptive but practical, and more than that, it felt right.
The arrangements were made without complication. Octavia’s parents agreed, familiar with Henry and Yujin already, and trusting them. As Octavia arrived, she carried only one suitcase. It held what she needed for now. The room was ready, the door open, the house already adjusted to making space for one more presence.
By the end of the day, the Scotts’ home felt different. Neither louder, nor crowded. Just fuller in a way that did not demand attention but quietly settled in.
🔵 To read the full Scott story from the beginning, click here.
