Chapter Two

The sweet scent of freshly baked cinnamon rolls along with a hint of the bitter scent of coffee beans wafted around the cozy-looking cafe. The warm ambiance of the cafe letting the customers escape the chilly weather from the outside. The cafe was filled with chatters and occasional waves of laughter and giggles from its occupants. But among the flood of customers, there was one man who sat at a table which located at the very end of the cafe with a cup of hot chocolate in his hands.

It was Jeonghan.

Jeonghan was fiddling with the disposable napkin, unconsciously shredding the white napkin into tiny pieces. It was an automated reflex as to ward off the nervousness in him. 

Poor napkin.

The feminine-looking man glanced at the clock on the cafe wall for the nth times. He was ten minutes early before the appointed time. Jeonghan sipped on his hot chocolate while glancing around the cafe, trying to find any possible source of entertainment. But unfortunately, there was none. All he could see was an elderly couple standing in front of the counter, bickering loudly on what to order; a bored-looking cashier and a line of people patiently waited for the elderly couple to order their freaking beverages and cakes.

Yup, there’s absolutely nothing amusing.

Just then the bell jingled and two neatly dressed men entered the said cafe, and one of them is Daehyun. Jeonghan raised his hand before calling out ‘Dae-hyung!’ when he saw Daehyun was glancing around the cafe, probably trying to spot Jeonghan. Daehyun’s face lightened once he saw the one he was searching for. Jeonghan saw Daehyun pulled along the other man towards him.

Daehyun gave Jeonghan a brief hug while the other man, which might be Jeonghan’s possible-to-be-employer, offered a handshake as he introduced himself as ‘Choi Seungcheol’. Jeonghan gladly reciprocated and introduced himself as ‘Yoon Jeonghan’. He couldn't shake the feeling that he had met this guy before, but where and when? However, Seungcheol beat him to it.

“Have we met before?” Seungcheol tilted his head in pure wonder. 

“Are you trying to hit on my dongsaeng?” Daehyun teased. Seungcheol’s face reddened as he sputtered out a panic ‘No, I’m not! I just felt like I’ve met him before!’ but to the younger's dismay, Daehyun just shrugged it off mercilessly.

Jeonghan stared at the person in front of him.  Suddenly, an image of a little boy came in his mind. Jeonghan gasped.

“Ah! I remember! You’re Jihoonie’s father, am I right? The one who thought that I was a woman.”

Seungcheol eyes widened as he recognized the identity of the person in front of him. His pinked face was getting a shade redder. Daehyun being no help, doubled in laughter as he took in the new info.

Seungcheol felt like killing himself. But before that, he needs to kill Daehyun first.

Both Seungcheol and Jeonghan were sitting awkwardly opposite to each other. Daehyun left the two as he went to order some beverages for Seungcheol and himself; Jeonghan had already ordered his. Seungcheol protested saying that he was the one who should go and order the drinks but Daehyun swatted the idea away, retorting that the two should get to know each other, even when technically they’ve met before.

And so that explained how on earth they’ve ended up in such awkward atmosphere. Seungcheol was really tempted to end Daehyun's life.

Both of them were engulfed in silence before Seungcheol decided to break it.

“I’m sorry about the other day.”

Seungcheol started as his hand rubbed the back of his neck, feeling embarrassed of how their previous encounter had turned out. Jeonghan shook his head and smiled.

“Nah, it’s okay. A lot of people had mistaken me for a woman anyway. No big deal.” Jeonghan took his cup and sipped on his drinks. 

“No, it wasn’t about that. Wait, no, I mean, I’m sorry about that too but I was talking about my son’s behavior before. He’s not usually like that.” Seungcheol sighed. Jeonghan was curious as to where have the mother of the four-year-old had gone to. He fiddled with his hand, unsure of how to ask about the mother. But it seems Seungcheol could read what was in the latter’s mind.

“His mother’s gone; blood loss during labor.”

Jeonghan could only mutter an ‘Oh...’ as he couldn’t think of anything else to say to the young dad. It must be hard for him to raise his child alone after his wife departure. Again, Jeonghan fiddled with his hand.

“Sorry about that.”

Seungcheol shook his head as he smiled.

“Nah, it’s okay. Things are better left in the past.”

Just then Daehyun popped out of nowhere with two cups of coffee in his tray.

“Oh, I see you guys already getting to know each other.”

Daehyun put the two hot beverages on the flat table before plopping himself down the chair. He then clapped his hands once.

“So, what did you guys talk about?”

It was a rare moment for the Choi household to be in such harmonious state. There was no usual shouting from Seungcheol to rush his son to go and get ready and his socks miraculously didn’t go missing that day. In fact, he was already in his crisp suit with Jihoon sitting beside him on the couch, the child’s legs were dangling from it.

“Jihoon honey, it’s the first day you’re going to be under your nanny’s care so I expect you to be good to him. Did you copy?”

Jihoon only nodded his head in understanding. Seungcheol smiled and ruffled the boy’s hair. 

Jihoon is a boy of few words. He’s acting a tad bit mature for his age that Seungcheol sometimes worried about. Jihoon rarely shows any emotions for most of the time the child seems indifferent. The only time Seungcheol saw his son acted his age was when it comes to the topic of the child’s mother. 

The event happened during Christmas Eve where Jihoon mistook Jeonghan as his mother wasn’t the first one. It had happened before after Seungcheol showed Jihoon the picture of his mother. Seungcheol remembered the first time Jihoon saw his mother’s picture; the boy couldn’t leave his gaze from the said piece of glossed paper. The three-year-old boy at that time slowly took the picture into his hand and before Seungcheol knew it, the picture is already one of the most important items to have for the boy to go to sleep.

It seems that the image of the soft, effeminate-looking person with silky long black hair in the picture had imprinted into little Jihoon’s head. It was on a Sunday evening at the park when Seungcheol heard some commotions a few feet from the bench he was sitting only to realize that his son was arguing with another kid and a long black haired woman was standing near the two boys, looking flustered. Seungcheol presumed that the lady was the other boy’s mother.  Seungcheol quickly went to get Jihoon who was sobbing and shouting at the other boy. It left him perplexed as he never saw Jihoon acted that way.

It turns out that Jihoon claimed that the lady was his mother and he pleaded for the lady to come home with him. The other boy felt threatened that his mother was going to be taken away and started pushing Jihoon away and that was how the argument started. The boy’s mother tried to stop the fight but to no avail. That explained how Seungcheol frantically apologized to the lady and the little boy as his son refused to do so and kept demanding for his ‘mom’ to come home with them and resorting to hauling his son on his shoulder and fled from the scene.

That night, Jihoon refused to talk to Seungcheol.

Seungcheol was awoken from his train of thoughts when he heard the bell rang. He made his way towards the entrance and opened the door, revealing a fresh-faced Jeonghan. Jeonghan was wearing a simple cream long-sleeved knitted top and his black hair falls on his shoulder. He was smiling sweetly as he greeted ‘Good morning’ to Seungcheol. Seungcheol could barely breathe out ‘Good morning’ back because wow, Jeonghan was lookin’ so fine.

“Mommy!”

The high-pitched voice of Jihoon caused Seungcheol to wake up from his daydream. The next thing Seungcheol knew, his son was hugging the new nanny tightly while repeating ‘mommy’ over and over again. He saw how Jeonghan was getting flustered for a second before the latter smiled sweetly and hugged the boy back. Seungcheol opened his mouth to reprimand his son from causing his new nanny to feel uncomfortable but he saw Jeonghan put his index finger on his mouth, before lowering his hand and mouthed ‘It’s okay’, letting the boy do whatever he wants. Seungcheol closed his mouth. His eyes were still lingering on the nanny’s soft facial features. The soft, effeminate look and the silky long black hair,

‘He really does look like him...’

That morning Seungcheol gave Jeonghan a briefing on the layout of his house. He showed the living room, Jihoon’s bedroom, the playroom, bathroom and they ended their tour in the kitchen.

“So, yup. That’s it I guess.” Seungcheol clapped his hand once. He glanced at his wristwatch.

“I need to go. Is it okay if I leave you with Jihoon right now?” Seungcheol asked with concern. He then glanced at his son who was attached to the nanny’s waist like a koala, refusing to let the nanny go. Well, at least the smile didn’t leave his son’s face.

Jeonghan smiled sweetly and shook his head.

“It’s okay. I’ve got this. He seems to like me already. Aren’t you, big boy?” Jeonghan cooed at the boy beside him. The four-year-old giggled in glee as he nodded. Seungcheol couldn’t help but smile along.

“Alright then, if anything just give me a call.”

Jeonghan nodded in understanding. He then turned towards the boy beside him.

“Jihoon-ah, daddy is going to work. Aren’t you going to give him his goodbye kiss?”

Jihoon left his nanny’s side and ran towards his dad. Seungcheol crouched a bit and caught his son in a tight embrace. Jihoon gave his daddy a kiss on the cheek and Seungcheol did the same.

“You’re going to be good, right?”

Jihoon nodded his head. Seungcheol smiled as he gave another peck on his son’s fluffy cheek before releasing the boy.

“Okay then. I’ll go first.” Seungcheol waved towards the two as he opened the door. Jihoon sent his father out with a cheery ‘Bye bye daddy! I love you!’ in which Seungcheol chuckled and replied back ‘I love you too’. Once the door closed, Jihoon turned towards his new nanny.

“So, it’s only us now. What do you want for breakfast, Jihoonie?” Jeonghan asked.

“Can we have a pancake with strawberry and cream?” There was a hopeful glint in the boy’s eyes. Jeonghan smiled cheerily and clapped his hand.

“Okay! Pancake it is then.”

It was past 9 p.m. but then there was no sign of Seungcheol coming home from work. Jeonghan put Seungcheol’s dinner in the fridge, hoping that the latter would eat some when he gets back. After bathing the four-year-old, Jeonghan brought the boy into his bedroom and tucked the boy in the bed. Jihoon asked Jeonghan to lie beside him and tell him a bedtime story, and so what that was what Jeonghan did.

It was halfway through the ‘Beauty and the Beast’ story-telling when Jihoon suddenly got up crawled towards the side table, opened the drawer to retrieve something. It was a picture. Jeonghan paused his story-telling, curious about the person inside that piece of photograph.

“Oh, who is this Jihoonie? He’s so pretty.” Jeonghan asked the little boy. He eyes couldn’t leave the image of the pretty person inside the picture.

“It’s mommy. He’s pretty, isn’t he?” Jihoon smiled as he showed the picture to Jeonghan. Jeonghan took the picture and admire the person in it.

“Yes, he is. He’s beautiful, like an angel.”

Jihoon nodded.

“That’s what daddy said too. But he said sometimes mommy could be a diva. What’s a diva anyway?” 

Jeonghan burst out laughing as he heard the innocent comment from the four-year-old. Jihoon looks adorable, tilting his head in confusion, seemingly oblivious to what’s so funny about that.

“Oh, Jihoonie. I think it’s better if you asked your daddy later. Now, why don’t we go to sleep? It’s late already.” Jeonghan patted the boy’s head. Jihoon just shrugged. He could ask his dad about that anytime anyway.

“Can you sing a lullaby for me?”

Jeonghan smiled as he whispered out a ‘Sure’ before kissing the boy’s forehead. He adjusted his position so that he was facing the boy. His hand patted the boy gently as he started to sing. Jihoon hummed in contents as he heard the angelic voice. His eyes were getting heavier each second.

Jeeonghan smiled as he heard the boy’s breathing was getting steadier as he sang each part. Jihoon was already in dreamland. Jeonghan carefully released the picture from Jihoon grasp. His eyes caught the writing on the back of the picture.

Choi Minki

Jeonghan put the photo on the side table. He gave a peck on the boy’s chubby cheek before continuing lying down beside the boy and patted the boy.

“Sweet dream, Jihoonie.”

Jeonghan felt his eyes were getting heavier. The next thing he knew, he was off to dreamland along with the sweet little angel.

"I'm home..." Seungcheol tiredly greeted even though he knew no one would welcome him home at this hour. It was 11 p.m. and the house was dead silent. He proceeded to remove his shoes and went to the kitchen for some water. The young dad then walked to his room before stopping halfway in front of Jihoon’s room. The door was left ajar. Seungcheol went to check on his son and the view that greeted him washed away all his tiredness. The dim light located on the side table provided enough for Seungcheol to see the two figures cuddling with each other, lost in dreamland. 

Seungcheol smiled as he walked carefully towards the two so that he won’t woke up any of them. He grabbed the blanket and cover both sleeping figures with the warm quilt.

“Goodnight,” Seungcheol whispered. He proceeded to the side table to turn off the light but then his eyes caught the ever so familiar photo. The picked it up and his lips unconsciously formed a smile.

“Our Jihoonie is a big boy now...” his voice came out as a whisper. He put the photo back on top of the table before switching off the light. Seungcheol padded his way out of the room and closed the door gently.

Now he needs to wash up and go to bed. He smelt like skunk anyway.