(A/N: it may contain errors because it's late and I'm tired, but I'll review in the morning. Please enjoy!)

Upon opening the door, I was greeted by Jonghyun's charming smile, the same one I fell for years ago. I couldn't help noticing he's still as handsome as ever. 

"Hey," he said softly. 

I gave a small smile. "Hey."

"It's nice seeing you. Um, you look great," he said sheepishly as he ran a hand through his hair. 

"Oh stop lying. My cheeks are so swollen right now, but thanks anyway."

"Anytime. Pregnancy suits you well as always. Congrats on the baby by the way. I know you and Minho must be very happy." He looked down solemnly. This wasn't the time nor the place to be having this conversation. 

"Um, come on in. The boys will be happy to see you." Just at the mention of our boys, his solemn frown was replaced with a sincerely excited smile.

I led him to the living room where Taemin and Jongin were on the couch watching tv. As soon as their eyes met Jonghyun's, they both leapt excitedly from their seats and ran to hug Jonghyun. 

"Appa!" They both claimed a side of Jonghyun to embrace. I couldn't help the satisfactory smile that crept onto my face as I saw Jonghyun and the boys' excitement. You could practically see the bond radiating from the three of them. 

Jonghyun whispered as they continued to hug, "I missed you guys so much, so much. You have no idea."

They all unlatched from each other as Taemin said, "We missed you too, Appa."

Jongin asked, "Why do you have to always be gone for so long? Why can't you stay home longer so we can see you more? Do you...forget about us?" 

Jonghyun sighed before ruffling Jongin and Taemin's hair to loosen the tension. "Appa's sorry, and I definitely do not forget about you guys. Ever. I've been on tour lately and that doesn't give me much room to come home, but I'm almost done with touring, so that means I'll have plenty of time to spend with my two favorite people in the world. How does that sound?"

Taemin and Jongin smiled brightly at each other before saying simultaneously, "Perfect!"

Jonghyun chuckled. "That's my boys. Now, go wait in the car for me. I'll be there soon."

Taemin interjected, "But you didn't say hi to grandma, grandpa, or Dad."

Jonghyun looked confused at the use of the word dad, which caused me to slap myself internally. I knew I should've told the boys not to use the word around Jonghyun when referring to Minho. "Dad?"

I sighed as I intervened. "They mean Minho."

He scrunched his brows. "You allow them to call him dad?" Before I could respond, he said, "Well, I guess it makes sense. You two are married after all. He is the step-dad. He's there for you and the boys more than I ever could be." I hated hearing him tear himself down even though it was true. 

I addressed the boys. "Guys, please go wait in the car. Your appa will be out soon, ok?" They nodded and I placed a kiss on both of their cheeks. "I love you, and be good for Appa today."

Taemin snickered, "Umma, we're not five anymore. You don't have to keep telling us to be good every time we go somewhere. It's getting pretty annoying. Come on, Jongin." I frowned as I watched the both of them leave out the front door. 

Jonghyun chuckled, "I see that he's picking up your snarky attitude. He's going to be quite the handful when he gets older."

I scoffed playfully. "You're telling me. I'm already afraid of him reaching puberty. Just imagine how much attitude he'll be giving me then. I want him to stay as pure as possible for as long as possible."

"You know there's no such thing."

I sighed knowing it was true. "I know, but I just don't want him making the same mistakes we made. If Taemin ever came home pregnant, that would really break my heart. I don't know what I would do. We suffered so much during those years. I don't want him going through the same thing." 

I felt Jonghyun grab my hand to comfort me, something he used to always do to calm me down. This time, it didn't feel like he was trying to force his feelings onto me. It was just him trying to help out a friend, which I was thankful for. 

"Don't forget, you're not in this alone. I'm their parent, too. I always will be. I know I've been busy lately with work, but if you ever need me, you know I'm just a phone call away. Trust me. You have nothing to worry about. Taemin's too young to be thinking about dating and anyway. I'm sure if I brought it up to him, he might even gag. He's never mentioned anything to me about it."

I snickered as I retracted my hand, "That's because you're his father. I'm pretty sure he'd be more comfortable sharing things with me."

That caused Jonghyun to let out a hearty laugh. "But I'm the cool parent after all. Just look at me. I'm a famous singer. You can't get any cooler than that. "

I rolled my eyes as I sarcastically replied, "Right."

Then I heard the sound of someone clearing their throat. I turned to see my dad coming in the living room with my mom and Minho behind him. 

Jonghyun instantly tensed up. "Hey," he said to my dad who ignored his welcome. 

"Nice to see you're finally with your kids since you're never around to be with them."

"Appa, please-," I interrupted, but he cut me off. 

"You said not to hate him in front of the boys. They're not here now are they, Kibum?"

"No, but-."

Jonghyun interrupted. "It's ok, Kibum. I deserve it. I've put this family through a lot of pain. The least I can do is take the heat."

"Please stop downing yourself."

"But it's true, Key," said my dad as he got worked up. "He's never here for them. Then when he is here, he has the boys for only a few hours then drops them off and doesn't see them again for months. How are they supposed to build a relationship with their father if he's never here? Minho's certainly more of a father to these kids than this prick. If I had things me way, Minho would've been the man you met first."

Jonghyun seemed to snap in that moment. "Yah, my sons and I have a great relationship. I'm doing the best I can. I work hard everyday so that those boys can grow up without a worry and can be provided for. It's true that I'm not around enough, and I acknowledge that, but for you to ignore my effort in being a good dad is complete bull. Criticize me all you want, but don't you dare bring my damn kids into this."

You could cut the tension with a knife. 

Ok, this was going horribly wrong. Ever since the events in the past year between the both of us, Jonghyun has become a very fragile person behind his idolized persona. Although we've had a rough past, I've been always worried about him, and I've been proud of him for not reverting back to his old bad-tempered ways. However, my dad's actions are going to cause Jonghyun to lose all of the progress he's made so far. I had to do something. 

"Appa, I swear on everything that I love that if you don't stop being such an right now, you won't be hearing from me in a very long time and I mean it!" That seemed to get through to him. "Jonghyun has made a lot of progress and effort to change himself and I'm proud of him. You should be too."

"But-"

"And another thing," I glanced at Minho and grabbed his hand, gently pulling him next to me, "Please stop bringing my husband into this. Comparing the two isn't going to help anything. They both help take care of the boys. One's efforts isn't as important as the other. Appa, I know you mean well - most of the time - but come on. I'm just so tired of the drama. Aren't you?"

A few moments of silence passed by while my father showed no signs of communicating. The silence was starting to become deafening until the noise of the front door opening caught everyone's attention. 

Taemin came into the living room with his arms folded across his chest with a purpose. "Y'know, it's getting pretty hot out there sitting in that car. You don't want me and Jongin to die from exhaustion, now do ya?" That was just the comic relief everyone in the room needed. 

Jonghyun smiled and addressed Taemin. "I'm sorry, kiddo. I was just finishing up my greetings. Kibum," he said as he turned towards me, "it was nice seeing you again. We should meet up some time. Minho," they both stared silently at each other before Jonghyun gave a curt nod of acknowledgement. 

To be honest, that was as much of an interaction between those two that could be expected, but it works for them. Anything that aids  in avoiding fist fights are ok with me.

"Appa," said Taemin, "you forgot to say bye to grandpa and grandma."

It wasn't hard to miss the tight smile that made its way onto Jonghyun's face. His problem is with my dad more than it is with my mom. As much as I know he'd rather crawl into a hole right now than talk to my dad, I know Jonghyun will do anything and everything for Taemin. 

"See you later - sir," Jonghyun stretched. 

I noticed my dad clench his fist as he said, "Yeah, same to you."

Before things could escalate again, I quickly said, "Ok, hurry along now, Jonghyun. I'm sure you wouldn't want Jongin suffering in a hot car."

His eyes widened as realization as he remembered that Jongin was still out there, causing him to bolt out of the front door with Taemin on his tail. I quickly yelled, "Don't forget to drop them off here at 5!" He gave a thumbs up to signal that he had heard me. I waved with a smile as the car pulled out of the driveway. Once they were out of sight, I dead panned and looked at my dad. 

"Hey, don't give me that look. You're not allowed to."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm still your father, Kibum-"

"And I'm a grown man-"

"That needs to respect his father, and you're not doing that by cursing at me. I let your little comment earlier slide because you were heated, but I will not tolerate it again."

I scoffed as I glared at him and said, "You're unbelievable. Appa, I don't know what has gotten into you lately. Maybe it's because you haven't been getting any action lately, who knows?" My mom's eyebrows almost flew of her forehead at how shocked she was that I had actually said that, but honestly, I didn't care. "But I came here to enjoy my time with my family, but you've only been causing me more stress, Appa. Stress that isn't good for the baby." I subconsciously placed a hand on my growing belly at the mention of my baby. 

He took a moment to think. "Really?"

"Really." I looked towards Minho as he placed a hand on my waist. "I guess I'll go get ready for my date now that my husband put together." I quickly grabbed my makeup bag and went into the bathroom before Minho could slow me down with his pointless apologies. 

And that's how I found myself sitting across the table from coach Lee Jinki in a private restaurant a couple of hours later.  

I promise you guys there won't be drama between key and his dad (at least not now).  Key's starting to feel the effects of his hormones now and it's causing him to become more irritable (or balsy) lately.  To put it simply, he loves his dad, but he's starting to get on his nerves. 

Also, I've been thinking about writing this story in 3rd person so I can cover more sides of the story. It would still be key-centric, but I feel like it would be nice to see how Jonghyun interacts with the boys, or how the boys interact with each other and etc. Let me know your thoughts. 

Also, if anyone is wondering, I'm getting better as the days go by. Things are still not perfect, but I feel a lot better than I did when I wrote that post. Depression isn't something easily manageable for me, but it's definitely not impossible. THANKS SO MUCH FOR THE LOVE!