3. Protecting

“Stop running Jinam, you will hit something and hurt yourself,” Minho called out as he rushed after his son attempting to catch the little boy without running into something himself. His 5-year-old son had run off before Minho could place the tiny bell around his ankle. But his loud giggles were enough to guide Minho towards his son who was running circles around the couch.

“Catch me daddy,” the little boy taunted his father and ran off towards the bedrooms.

“Oppa, do you know where dad put my guitar? I swear I will definitely stop talking to him if he does not start listening to me,” Amber yelled towards Minho. She was in a bad mood because Onew refused to let her practice guitar till she improved her grades in school. She couldn’t believe that even though she was 16, her father was treating her like a six years old.

“He has a point Amber. You can’t let your grades slip in school just because you are learning guitar now. You can’t set a bad example for Jinam,” Minho picked up the little boy and walked over to hug Amber also. Both of them first squeezed Amber and then tickled her. Within a minute, the three of them were a writhing mess of laughter on the floor.

And that’s how Onew found them when he returned home, tickling each other mercilessly and laughing their heads off. When Onew tried to silently pass them on his way to the bedroom, Minho playfully caught his ankle. The older man tripped and fell on top of Minho.

“Oof,” Minho gasped for breath. “Get off me, you butterball. I can’t breathe.”

“Serves you right for tripping me,” Onew smirked and tickled Minho in revenge.

“Dad!” Jinam screamed and jumped on Onew’s stomach. “You are home! What did you get me today?”

It was Onew’s turn to gasp, “Ouch! You have grown baby. Be careful I have only one tummy. If I lose it because you jumped too much on it, I will have to take your tummy from you. That will leave you tummyless.”

Minho teased Onew’s chubbiness again, “You can afford to lose some, butterball.”

The older man groaned, “I don’t know how you do it. You eat all day long and still don’t put on even an ounce of weight. I eat one fried chicken for dinner and it settles around my waist and thighs. It’s so unfair.”

Minho poked his tongue out at him and put his head on Onew’s right arm, “But it makes you so cushiony. Don’t whine butterball. I like you soft and squishy.”

“Complain later dad. Where did you hide my guitar?” Amber moved to put her head on Onew’s left arm.

Onew smiled at the way his family welcomed him home. He closed his eyes in contentment. But the peace was short lived when Jinam and Amber poked him constantly till he gave in to their demands. He told Jinam to search the front pocket of his bag for the lollipop and Amber to search in his wardrobe.

Minho refused to help. He just turned and tucked himself closer to Onew, breathing in his cologne and smiling. When both children ran off to find their stuff, Onew wrapped his other arm also around Minho and relaxed with closed eyes. The two men were least bothered that they still lay on the floor.

The housekeeper looked at the little family and couldn’t help grinning to herself at the actions of the two fathers. She saw what no one else did, what the men themselves did not acknowledge.

The five years that Minho had lived with Onew and Amber had passed very quickly for everyone. Onew had helped the blind new father take care of his baby with a smile. Minho had named his son in honor of the two persons who made him a part of their family. For Amber, Jinam was her younger brother. And Jinam returned her love with all his heart.

When Jinam was one year old and began to speak, first person he addressed was Onew by calling him dad. He refused to listen to anyone and reserve the term for Minho. For him, only Onew was dad. Minho was oppa. After two months of pouting and sulking, Minho beamed again when Onew found a solution and got Jinam to call Minho daddy.

When Jinam turned two, he did not want to sleep away from his dad. Every night there was loud wailing in the apartment when the boy wouldn’t let go of Onew’s neck. He would cry even louder in the morning if he woke up anywhere else but in Onew’s bed.

One day when Onew was at work, Minho got the housekeeper to help him push the beds together again because he couldn’t bear Jinam clinging to Onew when asleep. He was the boy’s father after all. Onew and Amber teased the young man mercilessly making him pout all through dinner. Minho smiled again when Onew tucked not only Jinam in his arms that night but Minho as well, on his other side. Since then, it was Onew who slept between father and son, wrapping both of them in his strong arms. Minho forgot his original intention of tucking Jinam between them at night.

When Amber was 14, she competed in Paralympics and won silver medal in taekwondo. Minho sulked for over a month. He refused to accept the judges’ decision. According to him they were partial towards the winner and the other finalist should have been disqualified, but the judges overlooked a foul. Onew pacified the young man by loudly cursing the judges’ stupidity and threatening to unman them if he ever met them again in person. The sound of older man threatening and cussing had Minho rolling over in laughter.

Amber coaxed Minho to teach her other sports he knew. Onew became adept at blindfolding himself and playing with them. Weekends were spent with the three of them playing basketball and football. Minho always beat Onew in sprints even without a blindfold. Onew would celebrate Minho’s victory by eating more fried chicken over the weekend.

Now at 16, Amber could smell the change in the atmosphere every night when Onew came home from work. After a hug from Minho, Onew’s cologne would smell stronger. Minho would take deeper breaths and his own cologne would permeate the air more than moments ago. Amber smelled the changes. Her young brain took some time to put together the chain of events and compute the results.

As she walked out of the men’s bedroom with her guitar in hand, her brain that smelled the stronger colognes warned her to go slow. Her foot touched Minho’s body and she smiled. Without disturbing the two men on the floor, she skirted them and went to find the housekeeper. “They are still on the floor, hugging each other, right?” Amber asked the woman who was standing still, deep in thought.

“Yes, they are,” was the bald response.

“When will they realize they are in love?” Amber whispered her question, not wanting the two men lost in their own world to hear her.

“How did you know?” her question was met with another question.

Amber sniffed deeply, “Can’t you smell the change in the air when dad returns home? I can smell their colognes from here. Their increased body temperatures make their colognes stronger.” The housekeeper sniffed, but couldn’t feel any difference. However, she didn’t need to. She could see what Amber could sense. Suddenly Amber giggled, “Does it mean they have the hots for each other?”

When her question was met with silence, Amber pinched her lip and thought more, “You need to help me bring them together. What should we do? Move Jinam into my room? Propose to oppa myself to become my daddy too? Hit dad on his head to make him realize what he feels? If dad confesses first, oppa will sulk forever. If oppa confesses first, dad may not accept out of his misplaced sense of responsibility. Why am I inexperienced? I should have had a few boyfriends to be able to help them better.”

Their housekeeper began laughing at the young girl’s words. She picked up an apple and put it in Amber’s hand who absently began to bite and chew it noisily. When Amber continued with even more complex plans to bring the two men together, the housekeeper decided to help her.

“Convince Onew to buy you a bunker bed and make Jinam sleep in your room. Start calling Minho daddy. Ease both of them into the idea of becoming your fathers. Hint about each of them being a single parent and how you and Jinam would love to have two parents, instead of one. Buy them couple clothes. And if none of this works, buy couple rings and stand over their heads with your guitar. If they don’t exchange rings, clobber them with it.”

The two of them kept planning, without realizing that the objects of their schemes had gotten up from the floor and were standing only a foot away listening to their every word. Both men blushed and Minho couldn’t contain his embarrassed moan. Habitually, Onew wrapped his arm around the younger man and tucked him protectively into his body.

Minho pouted in Onew’s hair, “I don’t sulk.”

“Of course you don’t. You only pout cutely,” Onew forgot his embarrassment when faced with the younger man’s discomfort and his own desire to protect him.

“Don’t tease me, butterball. I have never been so embarrassed in my life,” Minho whined not lifting his face from Onew’s hair.

“What about me then? You think it’s every day that my teenage daughter plans my love life for me?” Onew absently wrapped his other arm also around Minho.

Minho stiffened at Onew’s choice of words. He thought about Amber’s words and realized she was right. There was no way he could allow the older man to confess first. He pushed his face deeper into Onew’s hair and whispered, “I love you. There I said it first.”

“I love you too. See, I don’t have a misplaced sense of responsibility,” Onew smiled and tried to move a tad bit away so he could see Minho’s face. Maybe he wanted to just reach the younger man’s lips. He was a little unclear about why he wanted the space between them. But Minho refused to move away.

“No, you cannot do it here in front of everyone. I confessed first. You propose first. I would like a plain band, nothing ornate,” Minho instructed in his usual no-sense manner.

“I would like a simple and private ceremony. Just the five of us. You cannot invite your students or team members,” Onew’s mind raced ahead with the planning.

Their personal bubble disappeared when Amber squealed loudly and Jinam in their arms, “Jinam did you hear them? We are going to get a little brother or sister soon.”

Jinam kissed both men with his sticky lips and demanded to be put down. He wanted to search Onew’s bag for more lollipops. The two men flushed again in embarrassment and went to sit on the couch, hoping that Amber would lock herself in her room as usual to practice her guitar. But she followed them into the living room and continued to make plans for more siblings.

Their housekeeper took pity on them and whispered helpfully, “I hope you have heard of a little thing called ? Use it for yourself and remember how to use a gag on your daughter.” It was her turn to double up in laughter when the two men stared at her in open-mouthed shock.

Oh yes, their home certainly echoed with laughter.

And it continued to do so through two more little ones. The couple was blessed with a daughter a year later whom they named Minji. When Minji was three, she got a baby brother whom Amber and Jinam insisted on naming Jinho.

Finally, Onew put a stop to more babies. According to him, at 46, he was too old to stay up all night with them. Minho loudly claimed it was because the butterball was plainly too old to produce more babies. And so ten months later they had another son. The children decided to call him Minki.

This time the doctor took the decision out of their hands and made sure that 35-year-old Minho couldn’t get pregnant again. It made little difference to the family which continued to roll on the floor in laughter at the smallest pretext.

Dad was still the first word all children learnt, followed by daddy. Minho pouted every time he thought about it.

And Amber complained of their strong colognes every time Onew returned home from work.

~~~~~ And the not-so-little family continued to live happily, without making any more babies but making many more memories which this author is too lazy to write about.