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“Appaaaaaa.” Jin could hear Tae whining down the hall. “Hobi try’n to make me wear coat.”

“Yeah, you gotta wear your coat if you want to go out, Tae-Tae.” Hobi told the 4-year-old. “We’re gonna go see the Christmas lights, remember?”

Tae made a sound that Jin could only guess was a noise of complaint.  A moment later, Kookie came waddling out to the kitchen bouncing up and down.  It appeared Joonie had managed to get the tiny tot into his coat and gloves.

“Rea’y to go, Appa?”

Jin laughed. “Not quite, baby.  I have to finish making the hot chocolate first, and then we need to get Tae and Minnie to put their coats on.”

“Oh!  Ok!” Kookie turned back towards the hallway and waddled towards the bedroom.  Jin’s best guess was Kookie was going to try to convince Tae to put on his coat.

It had apparently been a success, because two minutes later Hobi came walking out with Tae and Kookie in his arms, both dressed in their puffy coats.  Tae was kicking his feet.

“Want shoes!” he hollered impatiently.

“Hang on, we have to get them,” Hobi replied, setting both boys down next to the shoe rack.  Tae’s feet had barely hit the floor before he was diving for his boots.  He plopped down onto the floor and tried shoving his left foot into his right boot as Hobi helped Kookie put his shoes on.  They were joined a minute later by Minnie and Joonie.

Hobi finished shoving Kookie’s feet into his shoes before moving on to Tae.  He tried taking Tae’s boot off to place it on the correct foot, but Tae started throwing a fit.

“No!  Don’t take shoe off!”

“Tae, you put it on the wrong foot.  I need to put it on your other foot.”

“No!” Tae kicked his feet until Hobi dropped his left foot.

“Appa!  Tae won’t let me put his shoes on!”

“I wanna do it!” Tae protested.

Jin sighed. “Just let him do it himself.  Go get Kookie in the car.”

Hobi sighed and stood up before picking Kookie up and carrying him to the car.  Tae proceeded to shove his right foot into his left boot before following Hobi and Kookie.  Joonie was finishing helping Minnie put his shoes on when Jin walked in with the bottles of hot chocolate.

“Ready to go?”

Joonie buckled Minnie’s boot. “Now we are.”

Minnie stood up and waddled over to the door before attempting to open it with his gloved hands.  Joonie reached up behind him and twisted the doorknob, opening the door.  Minnie grinned and bounced out the door, Joonie and Jin on his heels.

Once Jin was sure everyone was buckled and had their cup – or sippy cup – of hot chocolate, they set off.  After a few miles on the main road, they turned off into a smaller street and wove through a few more streets before finally reaching a well-lit one.  Nearly every house here was dressed from top to bottom in lights.  Kookie clapped and pointed at one of the houses.

“Look!  Is snowman!”

Sure enough, there was a snowman built in one of the yards.  It had a string of lights wrapped around it.  Jin couldn’t help but think that that seemed a bit dangerous.

They drove on, and Tae pointed out a Santa that was popping out of a chimney.  Tae grinned and clapped his hands.  A minute later, Minnie was pointing out a herd of reindeer in front of another house.  The toddlers continued to point stuff out until all three of them had fallen asleep.  At that point, Jin decided it would be best to head home.

Hobi and Joonie had been silent almost the entire car ride, only occasionally making comments on things their younger brothers pointed out.

Once they got home, Jin had the task of having to try to get all three boys out of the car without waking them.  Thankfully, Joonie and Hobi offered to help.  They each unbuckled a twin before letting Jin deal with Kookie.

They managed to get all three boys out of the car with little hassle. Minnie woke up briefly but was sound asleep on Joonie’s shoulder again in moments.  He and Hobi laid Tae and Minnie in their bed before heading off to get ready to go to sleep.

Jin had the hassle of trying to get the boys’ boots and coats off.  First, he stuck Kookie in his bed and took off his boots.  Then he pulled the tiny boy’s coat off, which was easier than Jin had expected because Kookie was such a sound sleeper.  Once everything was off, Jin tucked Kookie into bed.

Next, he had to deal with Minnie and Tae.  Tae’s boots didn’t come off so easily.  Maybe letting him stick them on the wrong feet hadn’t been the best idea.  Thankfully, Minnie’s boots came off no problem.

Now Jin had to get them both out of their coats.  Tae would probably be easier, considering he was pretty hard to wake up.  Jin got his coat off no problem and tucked him into bed.  But then he tried to take Jimin’s coat off.  Jimin gave a protestant whine and hugged his coat tightly.  Jin sighed.  Maybe he should just leave Jimin in his coat tonight.

Jin tucked him in and collected all the boots as well as Tae and Kookie’s coats.  Then he crept out of the room and shut the door.  As he put the boots and coats away, he remembered the first time they’d gone to see Christmas lights.  It had been the year they’d moved to the USA.  Joonie and Hobi had been six.  Yeong had still been here.  The four of them had piled into the car to go drive around and see what the lights looked like.

The twins had loved it.  that had been back when they were both hyper and bouncy, so hot chocolate had ultimately ended up all over the floor, but that night had been memorable.  But they would never have a night like that again.  Yeong had run off to somewhere Jin could never guess, and it had been three years now.  It was clear she never planned to return.

Jin plopped down on the couch.  Sometimes he thought about how the boys needed a mother.  He couldn’t imagine what it was like to have to grow up without a mother.  Maybe someday he’d find a woman who was not only suitable to be his wife, but suitable enough to mother his kids.