Jinae and Taehyung are thrilled to see Sehun. They jump into his arms and it felt so good. Picking up Zhiyu and Haowen, though. Well, that was a different story.

Zhiyu reluctantly let Sehun hug her, and Haowen refused to even make eye contact. He just moved right to the car and acted as if he’d never seen Sehun at all.

“You can’t blame him,” Luhan whisper as they walk to the car. “You betrayed him. You were his hero. It’s not easy for him to handle this. I suggest talking to him.”

“Yeah, I know. I will,” Sehun sighs. He can’t believe the mess he’s made. They head back into the car and head for Luhan’ mum’s house to get the baby.

“Do you guys want to go out for dinner tonight? Anywhere you want,” Sehun says, looking in the rearview mirror. Haowen looks out the window and doesn’t answer, but Jinae and Taehyung cheer excitedly. “Zihyu?”

“I guess.”

“Haowen? Babe?” Luhan asks.

“If I have to.”

“It’ll be fun,” Sehun promises. “Where do you want to go?”

“Anywhere you’re not,” he mumbles, but Sehun still hears it.

“Haowen,” Luhan scolds gently. “Not right now.”

He huffs out in annoyance. “Fine. I don’t care where we go.”

“I want Japanese,” Zhiyu says simply.

“Japanese it is, then,” Sehun replies, trying to hide his utter disappointment and hurt. His kids can’t even stand to be in the same room with him, and he doesn’t know how to fix it.

The drive to the restaurant is fairly quiet, besides the babbling of Joshua and Taehyung telling stories about his day at school. Sehun responds when appropriate and engages in the conversation, loving how much Taehyung enjoys school. He’s learning to read, now, and he gets so excited about it. Every time they go shopping and he sees books, he rushes over to them and begs Sehun and Luhan to buy him one, and they can’t help but indulge him. He’s already such a bright little boy, and Sehun wants him to keep his mentality of loving knowledge.

Once they arrive, Sehun and Luhan help them out of the car and they walk in, asking for a table for six with a high chair. They sit and Sehun tells them all to order whatever they want, so, obviously, Haowen picks the most expensive thing on the menu, and Sehun is fairly certain he won’t even like it, but he’s doing it out of spite. If that’s what he wants to play at, though, Sehun will let him. Sehun orders chicken teriyaki, Haowen’s favorite.

When dinner comes and Haowen very obviously hates his dish, if his pushing food around his plate and not eating any of it is anything to go by, Sehun silently takes it away and hands him his own. Haowen doesn’t bother protesting, but digs into his new meal. Luhan mouths “thank you” to Sehun across the table.

Dinner is awkward, to say the least. Sehun tries to start conversation with his eldest kids, but Jinae is the only one to even pretend she’s interested. Taehyung and Joshua babble happily, and thankfully break some of the tension. Joshua tosses a piece of his cut-up chicken at Haowen, which promptly throws everyone into a fit of laughter, Joshua clapping proudly in his highchair. He’s a menace, just like his dad.

They order dessert, which is definitely a treat for the kids. Normally, they won’t get dessert when they go out, because both Luhan and Sehun agreed on making sure their kids had healthy diets, so they stuck to lower sugar foods and less processed foods. But, tonight, Sehun thought everyone deserved a sweet treat. Luhan passed, so he focused on feeding Joshua a small bowl of ice cream.

“You sure you don’t want anything, Lu?” Sehun asks. “You can have some of mine.”

“No, thank you. I’m watching my weight.”

Alarm bells went off in Sehun’s head. What? Why is he watching his weight? Luhan is perfect the way he is, and he’s already a bit underweight for his frame. He dropped the baby weight of Joshua in no time at all, and Luhan might be even thinner than he was when they met.

“Luhan, just have a few bites. Cheesecake is your favorite.”

“Sehun, I don’t want any.”

“Lu-“

“Sehun,” Luhan snaps. “I don’t want any. Thank you, but no thank you.”

Sehun makes a mental note to talk to Luhan about this further at a different time.

After dessert, Sehun pays the bill, and they drive back home. Well, Luhan’ home. It’s no longer Sehun’s home. Sehun is no longer welcome there. Surprisingly enough, though, Luhan invites him inside to talk. Sehun can’t believe it, but he definitely jumps on the opportunity.

Sehun gets Joshua out of his car seat and carries him inside while holding Taehyung’s hand and Luhan wrangles the other kids out of the car.

“Why is he coming inside?” Haowen asks Luhan. Sehun tries to pretend he can’t hear them.

“Because he’s your father and he deserves to see you,” Luhan replies easily.

“Well I don’t want to see him,” Haowen snaps.

“Okay. You don’t have to. But your brothers do, and I need to talk to him.”

“Well I’m going to my room, then.”

“That’s fine. I’ll bring you up a cup of tea later, if you want.”

“Fine.”

Sehun’s first-born child hates him and can’t even handle being in the same room with him. He could throw up right about now.

Haowen storms right upstairs when they get into the house, and neither Luhan nor Sehun addresses it. Zhiyu follows him up, and Sehun grabs Joshua’s diaper bag to change him.

“I’m going to put him in his pajamas and I’ll be back down. Want me to get Taehyung and Jinae ready for bed, as well?”

“That would be great,” Luhan says. “Thanks.”

“Alright, kiddos, time to get ready for bed. Then we can cuddle and read, okay?” Sehun says to Jinae and Taehyung. Joshua is already blinking slowly on his shoulder. Sehun has always been a big believer in reading to his kids and with them when they were old enough. It’s been a great way for him to bond with his kids and he knows that it’s helped their brains developed. He used to love coming home from work and reading with his kids. That was always one of Sehun’s favorite parts of the day. It’s been so long since he’s gotten to do that.

Luhan sits down on the plush loveseat and flicks the TV on. Sehun is glad he can take the kids off his hands for the night so he has a chance to relax. He deserves it.

Sehun draws a bath for Joshua and Taehyung and sends Jinae into her bathroom to bathe herself while he gives the boys a quick bath. The boys giggle and play with their bath toys and Sehun is soaked by the time he’s done, but he can’t remember the last time he was this happy. He’s missed his kids so much it aches, and these two kids don’t hate Sehun yet. They’ve got the gift of innocence and ignorance still.

Sehun gets both boys dressed, gets Taehyung to brush his teeth, and allows them to play on the floor of the playroom while he goes and checks on Jinae.

“Want me to do your hair, babe?” Sehun asks, finding Jinae in her room with her pajamas on and her long wet hair soaking through her t-shirt. She’s scanning her bookshelf for a book to read.

“Yes, please.”

“French braids okay?”

“Perfect.”

Sehun grabs her brush and some elastic bands and sits on her bed. She crawls in front of him and he begins to brush out her knots.

“Papa, can we start reading Harry Potter tonight?”

“Think you’re ready for that?” Sehun smiles. They had tried it before everything went wrong, and she was struggling to get through it, so Sehun said they could wait a while and try again when she was ready. So much time has passed, Sehun realizes, and he’s scared of how fast his kids are growing up.

“I’ve been practicing a lot,” she says proudly. “Daddy said we could start it, but you promised we’d read it together. I want to read it with you.”

Sehun’s heart grows three sizes. She doesn’t hate Sehun. She only wants to read Harry Potter with him, even though he doesn’t even live in the same house as her anymore. God, he misses his kids.

“Of course, baby. Let’s start it tonight.”

He begins to braid her hair and she speaks up. “Are you ever going to live here again? I miss you. I don’t like you living in that other house. I liked when you lived here with us.”

Sehun could burst into tears right now. “I know, baby girl. I miss you, too. But daddy and I are still trying to work some things out. Maybe one day I’ll move back in, but I just don’t know yet, sweetheart. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Jinae sighs. “I just miss seeing you every day.”

“Oh, baby, I miss you too. I miss you so much. But you can come see me whenever you want. All you have to do is tell daddy, and he’ll take you to see me. Or, if you miss me, you can always call me. I’ll always pick up for you. Okay?”

“Okay,” she sighs again. “Why is daddy mad at you?”

Sehun had hoped she wouldn’t ask, but it’s a fair question. Her whole life has been turned upside down because of this, and she has a right to know.

“Well, marriage is very hard. Sometimes, we make big mistakes. Papa made a very big mistake, and it really hurt daddy’s feelings,” Sehun tells her. He can’t be totally honest, but he can try his best to explain things gently.

“Can’t you just say you’re sorry?”

“I wish it were that easy, kiddo. Sometim