Myungsoo spent some difficult time with Woohyun. The boy didn’t want to talk to him and became even more upset when Myungsoo asked everybody (even Sunggyu) to go home or to wait outside the room.

“Woohyun-ah, I know you don’t want to see me or hear me but if you insist on giving me the silent treatment I will not leave and then this uncomfortable situation will be harder and longer for both of us.” He said after some time trying to convince Woohyun to talk to him.

After understanding that Myungsoo wouldn't probably leave soon, the boy finally squirmed in his bed then turned around to face him. “What can I do for you to leave?” He asked frustrated as he sat.

“We can talk about your grandfather.” The elder suggested.

“He is not my grandfather because you’re not my father!” Woohyun spat sassily right after.

Myungsoo willed his tears back and took a deep breath. “Yeah, I lied to everyone about us not being connected by blood.” He agreed as he looked down. “But your mother trusted not only me but my parents because she knew we would love you and protect you like she wished.”

“I don’t believe that.” Woohyun turned sideways and crossed his arms. Myungsoo sighed and decided to try once more.

“I’m not lying about that. Moonsoo, mom and dad told you countless times - even when my parents didn’t know the truth - that your mother spent a lot of her time on our house, this is not a lie.” He reasoned and he could see Woohyun eyes moving, he was interested in the conversation but didn’t want to show he was. “She spent so much time in our house that my mom, that was always travelling for work all over Korea, managed to grow attached to her to the point of treating her like a daughter.”

Woohyun uncrossed his arms and turned his head to be able to properly see the elder. “I know.”

“What you seem to have forgotten is that while mom was working, dad was the one taking care of us most of the time. Do you think that if my father was really scary and dangerous Ji would come back every day? Your grandmother Nam was bad but she wasn’t crazy to trust Jihyun to someone that could hurt her.” He reasoned.

“But-but he hurt your arm in front of me.” Woohyun hesitantly said and Myungsoo allowed himself to feel a little hope although he knew he was far away from forgiveness.

“Woohyun, look at me so I can show you something.” He pleaded and Woohyun hesitantly turned to look at him. “Look.” He said as he pulled his sleeve to his shoulders then moved his arm and his torso so Woohyun could properly see. “I’m not hurt, I’m not hurt at all and I’m not upset over what happened.” He fixed his sleeve and continued. “Besides we lived everyday with my parents until we came to Seoul, you know my father only has love for you in his heart.”

Woohyun blinked and made an expression as if he started to reevaluate things. “Ok.” He relented after a couple of seconds and Myungsoo was about to feel a bit more relieved when the boy added a question. “But… why he didn’t want you to tell me the truth?”

“Because he was worried that I could hurt you even more when I told you about your biological family.” Myungsoo answered.

“Nonsense.” Woohyun snorted as he gave Myungsoo his back again, he was angry but he was fine right? 

“He is also scared, we all are.” Myungsoo confessed. “Dad is scared that my decisions can mess things up and you end up far away from us.”

Woohyun sunk his nails on his arms with some force as he remembered Myungsoo offer. “But you’re not scared, you can’t wait to get rid of me.”

Myungsoo went silent but his heart started to beat faster out of anger. He tried to think about what could possibly give Woohyun this impression but he decided that with this sudden anger he wouldn’t probably be able to find anything. Either way he took a deep breath and then decided to clarify. 

“I just told you things about them because I know you appreciate to know things and I don’t want to mess up with you again. I’m just not being paranoid like my father because I know more about your blood father than he does and, if any person wants to take you away from me, I am more than ready to fight. You might not see me as your father right now but I made a promise to your mom to take care and love you as my child until the end of my days and I will keep that promise.”

Despite not wanting to admit Woohyun felt relief wash over his heart, but he still chose to test Myungsoo’s boundaries. “What if I want to meet them?”

“For your grandfather I’d say it is impossible. He is in jail and there is no way I will take you to a place like that. Besides, he doesn’t know you are his grandchild and because of that we wouldn’t get permission to see him.” Woohyun made a face but Myungsoo continued. “In case of your biological dad, I told you his name and offered to take you to meet him... you can if you want to.” He gulped hard before asking. “Do you want it?”

“I do.” Woohyun blurted more because he wanted to hurt Myungsoo as much as he was hurt with the elder lie, but he didn’t think properly about it.

Myungsoo stopped to try to hold some tears inside again. After a few seconds he gulped a lump that had formed in his throat and finally spoke. “We can try that tomorrow if you want it.”

Woohyun eyes grew big in surprise and he turned his head to look at the older in disbelief, he didn’t think Myungsoo offer was real or at least still up after Myungsoo said he was ready to fight. 

“Ok.” He hesitantly agreed. “I have to stay with my family.” Woohyun tried to convince himself that was a good thing but that was like a stab in Myungsoo’s heart.

“You already have a family, Woohyun.” He blurted hurt and instantly gave a step back to leave, he knew if he stayed he wouldn’t be able to control himself and he would cry in front of the kid. “I’ll call tomorrow to say when you should be ready, but give your grandfather a break, you don’t need to treat him badly due to things that happened because I wasn’t honest.” He said as he pulled the door open to leave but Woohyun stopped him.

“How should I talk to him?” The boy asked kind of embarrassed.

“You can always try to ask him for a milkshake, I’ll pretend that you can this time.” Myungsoo hushed some advice before he left and closed the door behind himself. Once he was out, he was able to see his parents waiting for him with worried faces.

“Myungsoo, how did it go?” They asked at the same time, but maybe Bumsoo was the one louder and even more anxious.

Myungsoo gave a few steps closer and looked at his father. “You’ll be fine if you offer him some milkshake. Small-sized, I don’t want him wired.” Myungsoo said but still being firm with an order not to spoil the boy too much. Instead of being happy that apparently his son was able to argue in his favor, Bumsoo felt there was something off and was instantly worried.

“That’s not all, was it?” The patriarch asked, too concentrated on his son to be able to notice that Woohyun opened the door an inch.

Myungsoo shook his head and the tears he tried to keep inside were finally falling. “He wants to meet him.”  Myungsoo explained and was immediately hugged by his parents.

Woohyun got surprised. First because he didn't expect Bumsoo to hug Myungsoo after they fought yesterday, second because after the fight Woohyun had the impression Bumsoo wouldn't like when Myungsoo announced he was allowed to meet his biological father. Contrary to what he thought, here they were, hugging each other. That was enough for Woohyun to be sure Myungsoo was telling the truth about the elder, and despite not liking that Bumsoo wanted to prevent his son from telling the truth, he decided had nothing to be scared.

"How do you want to do this?" It was the first thing that Bumsoo asked when he pulled apart and his wife kept patting their son.

"Tomorrow, I don't really care where." Myungsoo said as soon as he controlled himself a bit.

“Why tomorrow?” Sonmi asked in confusion.

“The sooner we get over this the better, I can’t take this anymore.” Myungsoo explained lowly.

"Ok, I'll tell my friend to pass me a list of all the places that Woohyun biological father goes, by now he should know more about this guy." Bumsoo promptly started looking for his phone and Myungsoo turned to speak to his mother.

"Mom, can you guys be there with us?"

Sonmi placed both of her hands on his cheeks and looked fondly at him. "Sure dear, I took a leave to deal with all of this, but you might not see me for a while once I return to work."

"Thank you." Myungsoo said and leaned in for another hug.

As Woohyun watched mother and son hug, he decided he was done peeping and closed the door. He returned to his bed and covered himself in his sheets, then for the first time in the past days he decided to try to think about the situation they were all in.

-------------------------------------------

After Myungsoo left the apartment, Sonmi received a phone call from her maknae and he explained Sungyeol idea of asking Hoya to talk to Woohyun then asked her opinion about it. Sonmi seemed to like the idea but asked for some time to convince the father-son pair about it because they were about to meet the boy's biological father and might not have the mood for it.

She tossed and turned almost all night in worry, she didn't think anything bad would happen right away but there were too many variables that could hurt Woohyun and wreck her son at the same time. As for Bumsoo, he tried to focus on a way to approach Woohyun again, he didn’t want to think about the encounter to not freak out (because he knew he would). Besides, his friend took some time to reply and he ended up pulling an all nighter waiting. Once he got the complete list of the places Woohyun biological father could be found, he informed his son before Woohyun woke up.

BS: Here it is the list, I suggest talking to him in a public place so everyone can see and remember if something happens.

MS: After some thought, I guess I prefer to meet him in a quiet place. He is not in the same situation as Ji mom, Woohyun will feel terrible if he gets rejected and I will probably be angry too.

BS: But that's too risky, how about finding him before he arrives home? He always visit this bakery after work.

MS: Ok, I'll text you when I leave home so get Woohyun ready.

Bumsoo still tried to text his son to ask if he was fine and if he was able to sleep but Myungsoo didn’t reply anymore. He tried to call him, but Myungsoo also didn’t pick up his phone. That had left him worried and he tried asking his wife to try to talk to their son but the outcome was the same. Unfortunately they couldn’t do anything more because Woohyun woke up early (actually they weren’t sure the boy slept the whole night) and they got sidetracked by him.

“Auntie, will my hyungs come today?” The boy asked sleepily as he tried to hug her.

“I don’t know dear, I still haven’t received any message from Sungyeol yet.” She said as she ruffled his hair. “But why don’t you take a shower to fully wake up while I try to talk to him, hm?” 

Instead of nodding or doing anything else, Woohyun moved his eyes to Bumsoo, it seemed like the boy  wanted to say something but couldn’t. Bumsoo hadn’t any idea what to do, Woohyun wasn’t glaring at him so it was already a big change for him, but before his mind could conjure something to say, the boy turned around and moved to the bathroom.

Sonmi briefly scolded Bumsoo for not taking the initiative but did what she promised and tried to contact the taller friend/neighbor/ex-son-in-law. Sungyeol explained that he had to go to college today because something important would be happening for him there and that Sunggyu would be attending school but assured he would come for dinner. When Woohyun came out of the bathroom, he seemed sad to hear about Sungyeol and Sunggyu not coming but then Bumsoo had the brilliant idea of having breakfast out so he could try to get close to the boy again.

It turns out Bumsoo managed to have some progress with Woohyun but even if the boy was opening up he seemed anxious and a bit nervous. The elder couple could tell that the boy behavior had to do with the meeting that was supposed to happen soon and offered to listen to his worried, but Woohyun said he would talk with Sungyeol later. 

Although Woohyun didn’t want to open up to them, by lunchtime Woohyun couldn’t even pretend he wasn’t anxious for any news from Myungsoo.

“Has Myungso-shi called already?”

“No, Woohyun, not yet.” Either Bumsoo or Sonmi would answer whenever he asked.

Time seemed to drag for Woohyun and by 3PM he was already disappointed and thinking Myungsoo lied to him again, so he locked himself in his room and stayed in bed until his eyes felt heavy. He woke disoriented and thinking he was being called to eat and to welcome his hyungs but he was surprised when Sonmi told him to get ready because Myungsoo was about to arrive.

The boy’s eyes grew immediately big and he rushed to the bathroom to take a bath while Bumsoo separated some clothes for the boy and left in his bed.

While they waited for the boy to finish his bath, the elders started to nervously voice their worries to each other and it didn’t take long for Myungsoo to arrive.

“Myungsoo!” Sonmi greeted her son with a grave smile as she opened the door. “Why weren’t you pinking your phone?”

“Hey mom.” Myungsoo greeted tiredly as he stepped inside the apartment, he had dark circles like his parents imagined him to have, he probably didn’t sleep at all. “I tried to busy myself not to think too much. How things are going here? How’s dad? And how’s Woohyun?”

“They’re better.” She assured. “Woohyun is currently taking a bath.”

“Sungyeol and Sunggyu didn’t drop by today so I took him to have breakfast and lunch outside, he seemed more open to me.” Bumsoo offered tensely right after as he showed himself. 

“You don’t seem happy.” Myungsoo pointed.

“Don’t be mistaken, I am delighted, it’s just… this meeting today…” Bumsoo furrowed his brows and left the sentence unfinished.

Myungsoo sighed and he rubbed a hand over his face tiredly. “What was I supposed to do huh? I gave all the information I had in the hopes that it was enough but deep down I knew it was just going to be a matter of time for Woohyun to ask to meet him. He is the type of kid that has to check things for himself, with Jihyun mom he behaved the same way.”

“How are you dealing with that, Soo?” Sonmi asked softly. “You seem like you didn’t sleep well.”

Myungsoo gulped hard and avoided the couple gaze. “I’m fine, just nervous.” It wasn’t exactly a lie, but he didn’t want to tell his parents he was barely able to catch sleep since Woohyun discovered the truth and the lack of sleep was finally weighing on him.  “What if the guy changed? What if Woohyun likes him? If it is important to Woohyun to periodically see him, I think despite being hurt I would still be able to work something out but what if the guy regrets somehow?”
“We are not gonna let him take our Namu away from us!” Bumsoo said with conviction.

“My point is that Woohyun seems to hate me, what if he is the one asking me to let him go? I can’t - I can’t deal with that.” Myungsoo said already fighting tears.

“He won’t, he is upset but give him some more time, Woohyun loves you as much.” Sonmi tried to comfort him.

“I don’t know, whenever I try to talk to him he says I’m not his father...” Myungsoo shook his head.

“Well, there are still a few things we can do.” Sonmi said in a careful tone.

“Like what?” Myungsoo asked defeatedly as he moved to sit at the small kitchen table and his parents followed him.

“The DVD…” She tentatively suggested.

“NO! The things there are unnecessary, I don’t want to manipulate his feelings.”

“You’ll not manipulate his feelings if he meets the guy and gets rejected, besides Jihyun would be explaining things herself!” She argued lowly as she threw a glance to the bathroom door to see if woohyun might come out.

“I know but he is already lost and already thinks we are not his family,  he might feel completely rejected if he watches it. I don’t want him to accept us because we are his only option, I want him to accept us genuinely because that’s how I - and I think everyone else - loves him too.” Myungsoo argued weakly. 

“I agree with Myungsoo.” Bumsoo butted in. “I mean, one day we will surely show him but I think right now it might do more damage than good.” 

“OK.” Sonmi sighed and decided that this was a good time to talk about what Moonsoo told her yesterday. “There is something else we can do to make him think at least, but I don’t know if you’ll consider it.” She spoke as she tried to maintain the careful tone from before.

Myungsoo frowned. “What?” She opened but Myungsoo delivered another question. “You’re not gonna ask help to Sungyeol hyung, right? I don’t want to depend on him and I’m already embarrassed enough that we ended up relying on him to make Woohyun eat because it seems he only trusts him.”

“No, not Sungyeol, if he were to press Woohyun too much their trust would also be broken and then we would have a totally uncooperative and distressed child again.” She said and shuddered as she remembered the trouble Woohyun was giving since he discovered the truth, a thing that was far from his usual behavior. And although this was the truth, she thought it was better to hide the fact that Moonsoo told her it was Sungyeol suggestion.

“Then?” Myungsoo asked curiously and she shifted her weight with a bit of nervousness then tried to sit in front of him in order to speak at eye-level.

“Do you remember Sungyeol birthday? Do you remember there was another couple of people our age there?”

Myungsoo squinted his eyes for a second. “You mean Hoya’s hyung parents?” They heard Woohyun come out of the bathroom and move for the room that was his for the time being.

“Yes, them.” She confirmed and Myungsoo blinked not understanding. “I kind of knew that already because unnie mentioned in her letters but they were very open about adopting Hoya.”

“You want them to talk to Woohyun?” Myungsoo wondered aloud. The guy was a dentist and the woman was a pediatrician and at first thought he didn’t know how they could help. After a second thought, they had adopted and took care of Hoya and they also dealt with Sungyeol problems for some time so maybe they could actually have some idea on how to soften Woohyun a bit.

“No.” Sonmi interrupted her son’s thoughts and Myungsoo furrowed his brows, he had so much going on in his head that he couldn’t connect the dots quickly. “I mean, as foster parents maybe their feelings are similar to what we feel towards Woohyun but Hoya… maybe Hoya was in Woohyun situation one day.”

Myungsoo was about to stretch his lips into a smile for the first time in a while when he made a concerned face. The truth was that he wasn't being the best employee or even friend to Hoya since Sungyeol broke up with him, would he even want to help? And even if he manages to convince Hoya, would Woohyun even want to listen?

"This is a good idea, but I don't know if Hoya hyung and Woohyun would want to do this." He ended up saying after rubbing a hand over his face.

"You don't even want to try?" Bumsoo asked as Sonmi slumped her shoulders. 

"At this point I don't think we have a choice, he is the less messy option to try to talk some sense on Woohyun." Myungsoo blurted, already thinking what he would do. "I'll try to ask him for help." He assured and while his parents sighed in relief Woohyun came out of his room with a towel and a brush in search for the only woman in the apartment.

“Hey, Woohyun, looking nice.” Bumsoo pointed to the boy’s clothes and received a shy smile in return.

“Auntie, can you help…” He stopped in his tracks and when he noticed Myungsoo there.

“Hi, Woohyun.” Myungsoo tried to greet him but it came out really awkward so the boy hesitated a bit but, at the end, continued his way towards Sonmi. 

“Auntie, can you help me with my hair?” He asked as he offered the towel and the brush while Myungsoo sighed and his father had to pat his shoulders for comfort.

Sonmi grabbed both items and got up so Woohyun could sit in her place. She dried Woohyun hair and combed neatly then Bumsoo fixed Woohyun shirt and, before they knew, they were out of the door.

Woohyun and Myungsoo sat in the backseat together and that was awkward, the boy kept asking if they couldn’t simply leave Myungsoo behind and it took some time for him to accept his ‘fake’ father presence. After that, Myungsoo kept looking longingly at this son while the boy felt eyes on him but decided that looking out of the window was a better option. Bumsoo seemed to know the way because of the GPS but Woohyun couldn’t recognize where they were going, the only thing he could feel was something unsettling his stomach. He wanted to meet his father and ask some questions but started to get cold feet as he thought about all the what if-s.

As the tenth song played on the radio (not that anyone was counting), Woohyun got impatient and started to ask when they would arrive. He had the impression they would leave Seoul at any moment but all the adults always answered that they were still in Seoul and would be arriving soon. Woohyun hated that.

When the car parked they still walked for some minutes until they entered a small bakery. Woohyun looked around, the walls were painted in pink and white and there were some people serving, but he couldn’t identify the person he wanted to meet among the clients.

“Where is he?” He asked once Sonmi suggested to sit at one table.

“He is not here yet but he will come so we’ll have to wait.” Myungsoo explained only to receive a light glare from the boy.

"Since we are here and we will wait, how about we have an early dinner." Woohyun was about to complain when the elder offered something that would surely distract him. "How about a piece of chocolate cake? Come on, let's go to the counter and order."

They moved to the counter where different kinds of sweets and breads were on display and Woohyun plastered his face on the glass to try to concentrate on choosing something for him. Soon enough someone appeared to take their orders.

"Hello, how can I help you?" The girl asked with a kind smile.

"I want one of this and this with a small cappuccino." Bumsoo said as he pointed through the glass and the girl started to grab the pastries and put on a plate for him. "Have you chosen Woohyun?" He turned to the boy.

"I don't know, can I choose anything?" Woohyun asked.

"Anything." Bumsoo confirmed and the boy just made a sound that Bumsoo interpreted as a yes. "Tell her what you want." He encouraged and the girl tried to look past the counter to spot the kid.

Woohyun took off his face from the glass, gave a step back to be seen and finally spoke.

"I would like a piece of lemon tart and water." He pointed to the glass and then looked up and blinked cutely, he knew he was cute so he was aiming for a bigger piece with that.

Once the girl was able to take a good look on his face, she gasped and while Bumsoo furrowed his brows, Woohyun tilted his head in confusion.

"Is everything ok?" Bumsoo ended up asking and the girl got embarrassed.

"I'm sorry." She bowed a couple of times. "It's just... he resembles a client that always come. A lot."

"Do you know my dad, miss?" Woohyun perked up and the girl got pale so Bumsoo decided to wrap it up.

"Can you deliver our order in that table?” Bumsoo pointed to the table where Sonmi and Myungsoo were talking to each other then grabbed Woohyun by the shoulders so he could direct the boy. “We will be waiting there.” He said and gently pushed the boy to start walking.

“Uncle, wait, she knows dad.” Woohyun tried to argue even though he didn’t have much space to turn around and complain, Bumsoo was holding him firmly enough.

“She doesn’t know him, she probably only sees him a lot.” Bumsoo tried to explain as he made Woohyun sit beside Sonmi.

“What happened?” Myungsoo and Sonmi asked together. 

“I think the waiter noticed similarities between Woohyun and his biological dad.” The elder explained.

“I... look like him.” Woohyun said a bit shocked with the information. It wasn’t as if Woohyun minded not looking like Myungsoo when he didn’t know the truth but now that he knew, he missed something that made him feel like he belonged somewhere. He probably would find something that gave him a sense of belonging, but perhaps not through physical resemblance. 

Meanwhile Myungsoo shoulders slumped, there was no way he would ever look like Woohyun or the other way around, therefore there was no way he could argue about physical resemblance. Sonmi reached for Myungsoo hand and squeezed and then tried to distract him by taking him to order something as well. Although he got up and followed her, Sonmi’s plan didn’t exactly work, Myungsoo wasn’t hungry and he mostly watched his mother ordering something and then they returned to their table.

“Come on, eat something.” Sonmi tried to offer a cannoli to Myungsoo but at first he avoided. “Come on, I don’t want to be worried about you not eating as well.” She insisted and Myungsoo finally grabbed the said cannoli from her hands to eat lazily as he looked anywhere.

They ate in a heavy silence because Woohyun pretty much was pretending that Myungsoo wasn’t there and the young father was half way his cannoli when he turned just in time to see Woohyun biological dad enter through the door. He almost choked as the guy moved to the counter.

“What happened?” Bumsoo asked worriedly.

“He’s here.” Myungsoo explained after he coughed and Woohyun gasped. “Are you ready to meet him, Woohyun?”

“Yes?” Woohyun seemed nervous and unsure although he tried to peek behind Myungsoo to see his father.

“It’s now or never Woohyun, he is good at hiding so it took a lot of time to find him. Come on.” Myungsoo urged and both of them dropped their food to go. When they were close they were able to hear a part of the conversation the guy was having with the waiter.

“But he said he was your son and he really looked like you.” The girl said not noticing Woohyun and Myungsoo arriving.

The guy furrowed his brows hard and made a confused face as he grabbed his order. “What? But I don’t have a son.”

Myungsoo relaxed on the inside. It seemed like nothing really changed and the guy would probably give the same reactions he gave Jihyun back then. Myungsoo could work with that, in fact, he gained the energy and courage necessary to face this situation. “Really?” Myungsoo asked as both other adults turned to him. “How do you explain him then?” Myungsoo pointed to Woohyun, that waved, and then crossed his arms.

The guy gasped as he met eyes with Woohyun, the similarity was completely there, meanwhile the girl looked at the three clients and decided to keep an eye from far away or tend to other clients. Both the guy and Woohyun took a few seconds evaluating each other but once the older adult cracked and gulped hard, Woohyun took the opportunity to address him for the first time.

“Da-ad?” If Myungsoo had to be honest, he didn’t like it one bit that HIS son was calling another man by that word. At the same time, the guy seemed livid and not accepting the word already and that… that comforted Myungsoo heart.

The guy moved his eyes from Woohyun to Myungsoo a couple times then stuttered the next dumb thing he could muster. “Who are you?”

“Oh yeah, maybe you don’t remember or you made sure to forget.” Myungsoo said with a bit of sarcasm as Woohyun kept looking at the guy from head to toe, finally recognizing where his features came from. “Let me refresh your memory then, I’m Kim Myungsoo, I was the hobae that punched your face before you left for college.”

“You punched him?” Woohyun gasped as he promptly turned to glared at Myungsoo.

“I was defending your mom.” Myungsoo merely stated and Woohyun pouted. Myungsoo took the opportunity that the boy seemed a bit out of himself to pat his hair gently. “This one here is Nam Woohyun.” He said fondly and then turned to the guy again, already serious. “Does his name rings any bells?” The guy looked at Woohyun and gulped hard again  while paling considerably. “Maybe you know his mother: Nam Jihyun. My best friend? You know her, right? She was short, white, had deep brown hair, kind smile…”

“She was beautiful like an angel, I have a picture of you together.” Woohyun patted his pockets and took the picture of his mother with the guy (that he had torn Myungsoo out of it) and tried to show him.

The guy looked briefly to the picture and gulped hard because there was no way he could deny, it was really him in that picture. “I remember now.” He admitted through gritted his teeth. “What do you want?”

“To meet you.” Woohyun said first as he folded his picture and placed in his pocket again. “Is your name Jung Taegun?” Taegun unconsciously nodded but soon put his eyes to Myungsoo again.

“Why would you guys want to meet me?” He then looked around in search for something. “Where is her? Haven’t I told her to not contact me anymore?”

“Why?” Woohyun asked as he slumped his shoulders.

“It’s just Woohyun and I, we just need a little chat.” Myungsoo tried to say calmly. He was ready to fight for Woohyun but he didn’t know that the anger he felt for Taegun back in the day would reappear with such fire inside him.

“I don’t want it.” The guy blurted and that startled Woohyun. “Now, if you excuse me, go play house with that girl while I…” The guy stuttered and tried to move.

“But you’re my father.” Woohyun reasoned while trying to be in front of his biological dad.

“I’m ...” The guy was about to snap when Myungsoo grabbed his arm.

“I know what you feel about it but maybe it would be better for everybody if you explained things yourself. With nice words and patience.” Myungsoo said lowly so only Taegun could hear. “Explain a thing or two and we are out of your sight. Please.” He insisted.

Taegeun wanted to move but Myungsoo held him firmly. Back when they met, he didn’t think Myungsoo had the guts, or even the strength, to hurt him but he still received a punch on his face. Now Myungsoo was even taller and (just by looking) probably stronger, so he didn’t think he had that many options.

“Will you really leave me alone for good?” He ended up asking lowly back as Woohyun looked from one to the other. Myungsoo didn’t seem to be hurting his biological dad but the boy was still kind of confused about what was going on.

“If I were to see you in my next life it would still be too soon, you have my word.” Myungsoo whispered back. 

The answer seemed to please Taegun, the feeling was probably mutual. He pulled slightly away to confirm things with his eyes and then finally sighed. “Fine. How did you even find me?” He agreed then complained lowly and Myungsoo instantly let go but chose not to reply to that question. 

Both looked around to see if anyone was paying attention, Myungsoo’s parents were obviously paying attention (thought they were being inconspicuous) but most clients/workers didn’t take their interaction as an impending fight so they were minding their own business. Once they were satisfied about that, Taegun opened this wallet and grabbed some cash as he walked to the cashier to pay while the other two followed him, Woohyun didn’t want to miss his chance to talk to his dad but Myungsoo only wanted to make sure the guy wouldn’t escape this conversation the same way he escaped taking responsibility.

“Keep the change.” Taegun said and once he turned around Myungsoo pointed to an empty table near his parents.

“This way please.” They moved there and as soon as they sat woohyun opened his mouth but Myungsoo interrupted him. “Before we start you need some context.” Taegun rolled his eyes but was silent as he waited for Myungsoo to finish his speech, if he didn’t interrupt maybe this would be over soon, right? “Jihyun died after she gave birth to twins, Woohyun sister died around the same time.” Despite not liking the situation Taegun couldn’t help but let his jaw hung low, he definitely wasn’t expecting to hear that. “I took all of the responsibility but Woohyun recently discovered we aren’t related, he wanted to meet you and here we are.” Myungsoo tried to summarize, he didn’t think it was wise to talk about details that would only make this unpleasant meeting longer than it had to be.

“Can I speak now?” Woohyun glared at his ‘fake’ dad and Myungsoo did a hand motion for him to go on so Woohyun looked at his ‘real’ dad again. “Dad, you dated mom, right?” The boy fired and Taegun was already shifting in his seat.

“It wasn’t exactly...” The guy was about to explain with patience (per Myungsoo request and because the said man was boring holes on his skin) but Woohyun didn’t wait to throw him another question.

“Did you love her?”

“No.” The guy was firm.

“Why not?” Woohyun was super disappointed but still tried to argue. “But mom was perfect and pretty like an angel.” 

“I loved someone else back then.” The guy said in a monotonous tone that shocked Woohyun and made Myungsoo snort, at the end the guy probably didn’t love anyone but himself.

“Then why did you date her?” The boy asked in a mix of confusion and frustration.

“I was bored and she was pretty, but I didn’t exactly…” The guy tried to explain again but Woohyun was too eager to check if the things he heard from Myungsoo were true.

"Did she tell you about Soohyunnie and I?"

The guy took a deep breath to keep his patience but in fact he was annoyed."I'll take that 'Soohyunnie' is your sister." Woohyun promptly nodded. "I didn't know it was gonna be two but she tried to tell me she was pregnant.” He admitted.

“And what did you do?”

“Well, at first I thought she was lying to tie me down with her...” Myungsoo snorted a second time. "And then I thought Myungsoo was the father." The guy tried to lie and opened an amused (evil) smile.

"Why?" Woohyun mumbled as he made a confused face. 

OK, his mother agreed with Myungsoo lies and that made her a bit of a liar too, but Taegun was confirming things that Myungsoo told him it happened so his mother would have no reason to lie at that point even more it was crystal clear who was his father now. Besides, Myungsoo was gay and that was one thing Woohyun could believe without much effort.

Before the guy even thought about replying to Woohyun, Myungsoo interrupted to fix the facts. “Wait a minute! You didn’t ‘think’ about anything.” He said as he made air quotes. “Jihyun told you her child was yours but you straightforwardly insulted her then blamed me and said you wouldn’t take responsibility.” He pointed and Woohyun gasped, Myungsoo hadn’t told him about any insult.

The guy simply blinked back at Myungsoo, he hadn’t cared about Jihyun back then and he didn’t care about that now, so he couldn’t care less about sugarcoating things too much for this kid. “Yeah, I did all of that.” The guy agreed with no shame whatsoever. 

“You insulted her?” Woohyun looked from one adult to the other with disbelief and disappointment written all over his face. This time he wanted to believe Myungsoo was lying again but Taegun just admitted and Woohyun couldn’t process that faster enough.

“You’re admitting, unbelievable.” Myungsoo snorted.

“What do you want me to do? Hm? What is really the point of this conversation? ” Taegun snapped to hell with patience. “You married her before the school year were over and you made sure to tell everyone about that - very proudly if I recall correctly - so why did you decide to appear now after seven years?” 

“Woohyun just wanted to meet you, that’s all, I wouldn’t be here if he didn’t care about you.” Myungsoo briefly explained, trying hard to control his anger that was rising by the second.

“As if I can believe that. Come on, tell me, have you grown tired of playing father? Or suddenly you’re broke and wants to get rid of him?” The guy pointed at Woohyun and Myungsoo felt his blood boil.

“But.. but you are my father... we need to stay together… you need to take care of me.” Woohyun stuttered as his eyes quickly watered.

The guy gave Woohyun a judging look and snorted loudly. “Boy, cut that crap, do you think I care about that? Even if we do look alike, I’m not your father and I will never be.” Taegun glared at Woohyun that seemed to be getting even smaller in his seat.

“What? You don’t need to be that harsh to get your message across, he is a child!” Myungsoo interrupted to scold the elder flabbergasted. A second later, his eyes were on Woohyun and he was trying to hold the boy’s hands. “Woohyun, don’t mind him.” He instructed but Woohyun was already hiccuping. “Look at what you did.” Myungsoo got up to tend to Woohyun that was too sad and disappointed to find something to say.

“I don’t care.” Taegun hissed, already getting up to go, but before that he pointed a rude finger between Myungsoo and Woohyun. “You took responsibility now you raise him. if you want to dump him throw him in an orphanage, I didn’t give about him then, I don’t care about him even more now.” 

It wasn’t like Myungsoo didn’t know about this guy attitude, but he didn’t think Taegun could be even more cruel with a child. At this point Myungsoo blood was already boiling for far too long and he found himself unable to have any patience with the guy. He didn’t even think but the next second he was already throwing a punch in his face. 

When Taegun lost his balance and fell on the ground because of the punch, all the clients and workers finally paid attention to them and tried to guess what was happening. Sonmi and Bumsoo, that had been watching everything from afar, came running to their side.

“Myungsoo!” Bumsoo scolded as he tried to hold his son so he wouldn’t hit the guy again while his wife scooped Woohyun and moved outside the bakery with him.

“YOU CRUEL PIECE OF...” Myungsoo hissed enraged but stopped once he felt arms, that he knew it belonged to his father, around him. “Let go dad, let go!” He pleaded as Taegun checked his nose (it was bleeding but apparently not broken), then glared at the one that punched him. “I’M NOT YOU, I’LL NEVER ABANDON HIM, I’M A KICK FATHER...” Myungsoo was about to say more when Taegun spat on his face.

Almost everyone gasped in shock as Myungsoo put more effort to get people off him. He looked like a mad bull and his father, even with the help of other people, didn’t seem like he could hold him for long. Noticing that, Taegun knew that if Myungsoo were to be free he had real chances of not leaving the bakery in one piece, so he made sure to run away as fast as he could. “GO, YOU COWARD, GO AND DON’T EVER LET ME SEE YOU AGAIN!”

Once Taegun closed the door and Myungsoo stopped struggling, people started to let him go and ask what happened until he was finally able to be free, get a napkin and clean his face.

“The show is over and we are leaving.” Bumsoo told everyone before they got kicked out.

“Where is Woohyun?” Myungsoo asked as soon as he looked around and started to panic.

“I think Sonmi took him outside.” Bumsoo guessed as he opened his wallet and put more than enough money over the table to pay for what they ordered and for the trouble. Myungsoo sighed heavily then nodded to agree and Bumsoo started to push him outside as he scolded. “What were you thinking?” 

“I don’t care what you say, he started to be cruel to Woohyun on purpose and I had to do something.” Myungsoo explained, anger still evident in his tone. “I already punched his face because he was cruel to Jihyun in front of me, I couldn’t let him destroy Woohyun, he is in a confused and sensible state.” He unconsciously wiped his face again. “The guy is such a coward that he took advantage of the fact that I was being held to spit on me and then ran away, can you believe that? I totally don’t regret giving him a second punch.” 

“You know he can sue you for that punch, right?” Bumsoo asked cautiously.

“I’ll sue him back.” Myungsoo spat angrily right back. “I’ve spent seven years cleaning his mess and being a father to Woohyun, he can’t simply tell me to throw Woohyun on an orphanage and expect me to be cool about it. I shouldn’t take this lightly, this is probably verbal child abuse.” Myungsoo took a breath to continue. “And have I mentioned that he was mean on purpose? You can’t not expect me not to act like a father and defend MY SON.”

“Yeah, he deserved.” Bumsoo ended up agreeing. “Do you think he will be a threat to us in the future?”

“He made it clear he doesn’t want Woohyun as I told you he would do back then.” Myungsoo spat and his father visibly relaxed but then looked at his son’s hands, they were trembling.

“Calm down, you are out of your mind, you’re trembling in anger.” Bumsoo stopped to beg.

Myungsoo checked his hands and yes, he was trembling, but there wasn’t much he could do about that at the moment. “Of course I’m out of my mind. He is the guy that offended and ed up my best friend, hurt the boy I call my son, and just spit on me, that guy pisses me off more than anyone. It was more than fair to take all my anger and frustrations on him with a punch.” He argued.

“But Myungsoo, Woohyun got all scared because I held you firmly, what if he sees you like this? He would be scared and I don’t know how that benefits you.” Bumsoo tried to pat his son back. “Try to calm the down, Woohyun is probably distressed and needing us.”

Myungsoo felt his father hands rubbing circles on him and looked as his trembling hands, he concluded he would need a lot of time to calm himself. “You’re right, I’m not in any condition to assist Woohyun and I also don’t think he will be in any mood to talk to me. You and mom will probably do a better job and this will probably straighten your relationship a bit more so, please, go calm him down.” Myungsoo said and gave some steps back as he avoided his father hands.

“How about you? Who will calm you down?” Bumsoo asked and Myungsoo shrugged, turned around and disappeared in a darker street.

_______________________________________________________

AN: Hello guys, I came back before a month, cheers... I actually wrote too much and broke in two chapters at some point and this is why this chapter is slightly shorter than usual. Also... I didn't check the mistakes, kind of in a hush here. Who will calm Myungsoo down?