"Why? Surprised?" 

On the rhetorical question, Heechul quickly abandoned his stuff as he jumped from his seat to see better at the person who just pressed a cold can of soda to his cheek. He unconsciously took a few reluctant steps back, afraid that his eyes were playing with his mind right now. But he was not going away;

"Hyung, come on."

Yesung was not going anywhere. Without any warning, he launched himself at his old friend and hugged the hell out of him. He missed him so much; even after all the catastrophes that happened in his life, he still had time to humor his longing to see and talk about just how cruel this world could be with no one but his best friends. 

"You scare me, bastard," Heechul mumbled, voice already broken due to the sudden massive emotions shaking his body. He buried his face on Yesung's shoulder and unknowingly sobbed harder. He wanted to secretly vent what he had gone through after he decided to betray his friends and be selfish. He wished he could brag that it was for the best but he was not ready. He was still healing all the while clinging on to the hope that the storms ahead would be less scary. 

"Stop crying, Hyung. Your kids are watching."

Yesung's lips rose a little as he laid his gaze on the kids who were rushing back upon seeing a stranger with their parent. They would definitely freak out when they saw Heechul crying but he, too, could not blame his friend. It must have been rough—whatever his friend had gone through must have been draining him out—and meeting him unsurprisingly caught him off guard. He heard a thing or two about how Heechul was doing from Ryeowook and almost all news made him feel like he should have held Heechul back and insisted that he stay with them, realizing all dreams they rambled back in his dorm. But, at the same time, he knew his friend was indeed way stronger; all doubts he had as to why Heechul was so stubborn to come back almost made sense. This was what Heechul wanted. 

"Who are y-you, Uncle?" 

It was for the boys—one who stood bravely in front of his younger brother, who took the courage to confront the stranger holding their parent—that Heechul left and broke their damn dream apart. 

"Hello there," he warmly greeted, offering his hand to the glaring kid. He smiled and waited patiently until the bigger one took it. His lips stretched wider as he pulled away from Heechul's desperate hug and still, his friend immediately hid behind his back to probably wipe his tears. 

"I'm Yesung... I'm your... Errr... I'm Heechul's friend," he introduced himself, crouching down to be on the same level as the boys. He peeked at the little one, Donghae, if he remembered correctly, and grinned, "You met me right?" 

"Uh?" 

Donghae warily shook his head, still clutching his brother's hand. At this rate, it was almost embarrassing to insist on their meeting with the little kid when Donghae barely remembered it. Thankfully, Heechul came to the rescue as he ruffled Donghae's hair and pulled both of his kids closer. 

"You met him, Lil Donut. It's Uncle Yesung. Maw's friend... Remember?" 

Donghae puckered his lips cutely, seemingly trying so hard to remember him. And Heechul was more willing to help. 

"He's the uncle that gave you a vanilla ice cream—" 

"Eung!! Hae remember!!" 

Heechul beamed, watching Donghae immediately approach Yesung and give his friend a tiny heartfelt hug. But his smile fell when he realized that Hyukjae was in the opposite mood of Donghae. His first son was looking at him, all somber. 

"Bad uncle," Hyukjae stated out of nowhere, surprising both adults. Heechul widened his eyes and tried to understand what made Hyukjae say that. But it was Hyukjae—

"Uncle, you made Maw cry."

—he definitely knew what was going on. Heechul exchanged a look with Yesung, who looked a little taken aback and smiled sadly, motioning Hyukjae to come closer. 

"I cried because I'm too happy to meet my friend again after a long time."

Hyukjae looked at him for the longest time before he warily glanced back at Yesung. 

"So... He's not a bad uncle?" 

Heechul was about to convince his son more when Yesung suddenly took a seat on the couch and rummaged his fancy, polka dot bag. 

"Will a bad uncle give you these?" 

Both kids' eyes lit up when Yesung took out two bubble bottles and handed the humble gifts to them. Hyukjae did look back at him again, asking for permission, but a little nod simply sent his boys busy playing with their bubbles. 

"You came prepared," he commented, taking a seat beside Yesung. The latter only smiled and inhaled deeply, "I don't bring anything for you or Prof. Park. Don't get your hopes too high."

The silence that followed after was only their stalling before they, willy nilly, had to touch the topic. But it was as if both of them agreed that their little reunion was too heartwarming to talk about that. Though in the end, Heechul lost; he badly wanted to settle everything.