“Appa,” Ken whispers as Daesung holds his hand tighter.

“Hmm?” the said appa is not taking his eyes off of their house intruder. “What?” he says just as quiet as his son did.

“What is it?” the son asks again, this time a little louder, a little braver.

Daesung, however, is still frightened from head to toe. “It is a cockroach.”

If Seunghyun could see them right now, Daesung bet the older male would be hysterically laughing. Daesung and Ken are standing on the kid’s bed, with the father holding a broom and had given his son a sandal to be his weapon. He couldn’t think straight the moment he entered his son’s bedroom to find Ken sitting on his bed, staring at a cockroach near his door. How Daesung made his way to the bed was a mystery though.

“Appa, it moves.”

“Shhhhh!” panicking, Daesung takes a step back, almost crushing Ken’s foot with his. “Keep your eyes on it.”

“It is small, appa.”

“It is dangerous!” he hisses, irritated by the unnerving son.

“Can I touch, appa?”

Daesung’s head turns to the kid in slow motion. Staring at his son, he doesn’t trust himself to believe what’s happening.

“Oh! Appa it comes!” Ken exclaims as the cockroach –the nightmare –makes another 5 centimeters closer to them with its legs.

Daesung’s head snapped forward once again raises his broom alarmed. “WHERE? WHERE?!”

Ken frowns at his father. “There, appa.”

The cockroach seems to sense their presence because it speeding up suddenly toward them. Daesung hurries to scoop his son in his arm while his broom flies from his hand to the floor and of course, misses the target.

“It is stop, appa,” Ken informs him as if Daesung’s eyes aren’t fixed at the said bug already. That’s true, the cockroach decides to stop walking just on Daesung’s slipper near Ken’s bed. That means, the only way to go downstair is flying barefooted because hell no Daesung would never walk in his house with his feet unguarded by his slippers knowing there might be monsters –bugs –chasing him.

“I need to get the...the bug spray,” Daesung whispers in Ken’s ear as if the cockroach might hear their evil plan and call its army. “Can you watch it for me?”

“I come with appa,” the kid quickly protests at the idea.

“One of us need to watch it here so it won’t be flying –” he shivers at the thought. “ –and hiding somewhere.”

Ken puts his best pout on. “I come with appa!”

“Ken,” Daesung feels like crying and sure as hell, he’s just a second away from literally screaming for his mom. “Look, you need to be my hero.”

“Hero?”

“Yes,” Daesung flashes him a nervous smile. “A hero needs to watch that thing while I go downstairs to get the spray. Okay?”

Ken hesitates but then nods.

“Keep looking at it, okay?” Daesung bravely puts his feet on the floor, lets out the softest sigh of relief he can manage when the bug doesn’t seem to move an inch. “I’ll be right back.”

The son nods again.

Daeesung bolts downstairs quickly, thanking God for his healthy feet and breaths he didn’t have to stop before reaching his living room. His messy as hell living room.

“Bug spray,” he thinks out loud, trying to remember the place he kept it. Or Seunghyun. Who used it the last time? When??

He checks around and finds nothing. Nothing in the bathroom too, nothing in the kitchen. He is sure that it’s not in Seunghyun’s art room or his own Lego room. Could it be in his bedroom? But his bedroom is just across Ken’s, which means he has to go back upstairs.

First, Daesung walks to his front door to put his shoes on. That’s all he has until he gets himself a new slipper. “God, help me,” he mutters under his breath.

Ken doesn’t seem to realize his presence as he peeks inside the kid’s room. The three years old is still watching the bug intensely, immersing the hero role he’s having. Daesung opens his bedroom door as soundless as he can, slipping into his bedroom tip-toeing. He grins happily as he spots the can in the corner of his room. Now all he has to do is going back to Ken’s bedroom and –

“Appa.”

Daesung jumps in fright, dropping the can and nearly tripped on his feet. “What?!”

His son blinks innocently as he stands in front of his room. His hands are clasped together like when he’s praying.

“Didn’t I tell you to watch it?” Daesung doesn’t mean to get angry but he can’t help himself. “Why are you standing there?”

Ken smiles proudly. “I catch!”

Even in his wildest dream, Daesung had never thought of that. “You…what?”

“Catch,” the kid stares down at his own clasped hand. “Here, appa.”

Daesung’s head processes the information together and finally he squeaks in small voice. “You caught it with your bare hands?”

Ken nods rapidly.

“It’s….in your hand? You –” Daesung has to pause to calm himself down. “You’re holding that thing?”

“Yes, appa. See!”

“No!” Daesung shouts immediately. “No,” he repeats when Ken’s eyes glance down in disappointment. “I’m scared.”

“Appa?”

“Yes, me,” Daesung admits weakly, torn in between laughing and crying. He’s used to be bullied for being a coward toward bugs, used to be pranked for fun, used to run away away from those kind of animal. But for someone to catch it for him? Not even Seunghyun would do that.

“I catch,” Ken says again.

“I know, thank you,” Daesung bites his lower lips. Pretty sure Seunghyun would throw a glare at him for letting their son getting near to the dirty animal but hey, it wasn’t Daesung’s fault that the kid decided to catch it, right?

“Appa?”

Daesung is seriously at loss of what to do. He can’t spray the dangerous chemical at the bug while it’s in his son’s hand. The only way to kill it is to release it first. But what if the cockroach decides to attack him as soon as it’s being released?

What if it attacks Ken because he’s the one who caught it?

“Ken,” Daesung grits his teeth to keep his courage from escaping his shivering body. “Can you hold it until we reach the window?”

“Yes, appa.”

“Good,” bracing himself inside, Daesung scoops the kid in his arm, trying not to cringe at his clasped hand, pushing the image of the bug buzzing inside of his son’s hold to the back of his mind. “We’re going to set it free.”

“Free?”

“Can you throw it as far as you can the moment I open the window?”

Ken nods as confirmation.

“Okay,” Daesung carries his son downstairs with jaw set in determination to let the cockroach go away without killing just this one time.

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