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Shards of Us“Hyung, I know you hate me and will continue to for many years to come.” Sehun chortled into the phone line. The bitterness inside him gnawed away. He never thought of himself as any better than his stepbrother. If anything, he wanted Baekhyun's acceptance. “The girl is so predictable,” he mumbled to himself as he sat on the train to Busan.
“Can we talk fast? My train is about to arrive,” Baekhyun was always irritated when he spoke with Sehun. He always wanted to make things quick and short.
“I need you to do one favor for me…” Sehun hesitated from the other side of the line unsure if he was really doing the right thing. His heart ached since the day he left her. The hurt in her face and anger in her voice, the strength of her punch; he remembered everything clearly.
“Our father’s going to call you soon. This is your chance. I just want you to know, you're like the brother I've never had. However much you hate me, please just do this one favor for me. Please, please say yes. Take care of her for me. Whatever you do, make her the happiest girl alive. Do things that I didn't get to do with her. Protect her, love her, kiss her, hold her, smile her, make her laugh.” Sehun's words began to tremble. “But,” he hesitated. His voice cracked. “But, don't make her fall if you aren't going to catch her.”
The line went dead after that. Baekhyun became dumbfounded as he stood on the platform that would lead him back home to visit his birth mother. The dead silence in his phone was contrary to the noise around him. He was at a lost of words. The sudden visit home became unimportant as the handphone he held, once again, began to vibrate.
He stood from afar and tilted his head to the side as he stared at his couch. It wasn't new or any of that sort, but he felt like he needed to rearrange his room for a change.
“That definitely was not the perfect place for it,” he mumbled to himself. He moved the couch back to the previous spot he had placed it and smiled in satisfaction. New changes weren't always a good thing nor did they ever go the way one wanted. He fixed the photo of his daughter and himself on the lamp table next to the couch. He stepped back and appreciated his work.
“Daddy!” his little girl ran up to him and he couldn't help but turn around and open his arms to catch her. “When is she coming?” Hyesoo asked with excitement. At an age of four, she couldn’t help but want someone who could be a mother to her and so, she looked forward to their guest.
Sehun chuckled at her eagerness. “I’m going to get her later when I send off Uncle Jongin. But first, let's go see Mrs. Choi,” he smiled at her. Hyesoo fastened her embrace around father's neck as he walked them out the door.
They lived on the outskirts of Seoul. The house was nowhere near the size of the elites, but for now, it would do. In fact, he found it sort of cozy. He didn't have to walk a mile from his bedroom to the dining room, something he'd found comfortable after living so long in Busan.
Sehun had been very thankful to his friend, Jongin. Without his support, he would have never made his way back here. Life in Busan was different. It was rough and very far away from family. It was amazing how quick a turn in judgment would change his entire world upside down and backward. His father had cut off all his support and he was stuck starting life from the bottom again. The days he spent as a barista at the coffee shop to coming home to a daughter that had the hardest time accepting him was brutal. He learned many things while he was away. In fact, he found a new way to love, again.
“Daddy?” his little daughter called breaking him away from the thoughts.
“Hmmm?” he hummed. He looked down and smiled at her as they waited at the crosswalk. He loved how her tiny hand fit into his palm and especially how she addressed him even if it took her about a year after her mother passed to be able to call him by that name.
“Is she pretty like mommy?” Hyesoo asked.
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