When Your Kids Fell Sick and Cranky Because (S)he Misses Her/His Father Too Much

as requested by L-yana

Hoya

“Wonjunnie stop crying, darling, mommy will make you feel better, okay ?” you ran to Wonjun’s crib and picked him up again. You embraced him tightly and tapped his back to make him feel better. You could feel the heat from his body and it clearly shown that the temperature hasn’t changed yet

 “W—wait, eomma will take your medicine first,” you put Wonjun back to his crib and hurriedly ran downstairs to the kitchen to get the paracetamol and some wet warm cloth to at least ease Wonjun’s uncomfortableness from his fever.

“mma—mm—oww,” he kept mumbling unclearly as soon as he spotted you back from the space at the door.

“Arasseo arasseo, eomma’s here,” you touched his puffy red cheeks to let him know that you’re paying attention to him.

You then carefully feed him the paracetamol and changed his clothes before trying to tuck him back to bed. You knew it’s kinda impossible to make him sleep in such condition like that though, but you tried it anyway.  You softly patted his chest, the way he likes it. But instead of getting calmer, he freaked out and bursted into tears again.

“Wh—what’s wrong, Wonjun-ah, sshh sshh uljima uljima,” you carried him in your arms and let him rest his head at your shoulder. He resisted at first but as he got tired, he ended up clinging unto your neck and nuzzled at it. “Ulmyeon andwae—ulmyeon andwae--,” you hummed a short lullaby and paced back and forth to slightly rock him.

“mma---a-pha,” he mumbled unclearly.

“Apha ? where does it hurts, baby ?” you sympathized and eyed him with a worried look. He didn’t answer you though. He just clutched onto your shirt  tighter with tears welled around his eyes.

“Shh shh shh uljima uljima, crying will make it even worse, baby,”  you could notice how he’s having a hard time to  breathe from the way his little chest heaved up and down the moment he started crying again.

“Ppaa—appa—ho—ya,” the way he talks still confuses you lately, but you knew it right away when he sounded like he mentioned that familiar name. He’s looking for his father.

“Appa? You want appa ?” you asked him as you walked to the little couch at the edge of his room and sat there. Despite Wonjun’s crying, you managed to sit him safely at your lap. “Let’s talk to Hoya appa then,” you dialed his number, praying that Hoya would answer it.

It didn’t even finish ringing the first time. “Hello,” he answered.

“Oh thank God,” you exclaimed in relief.

“What’s wrong, honey ? Is everything okay ? Did something happen to Wonjun ? Wha--,” Hoya could really sense that something’s wrong that he instantly interrogated you.

“Howon-ah,” you cut him off, trying to get a moment to explain everything. “Wonjun’s sick with fever and he’s being so cranky….he wouldn’t stop crying, and--,”

“W—what ? Did you check his temperature ? Should I go home now ? I—I--,” Hoya lost it, he freaked out as if his son’s dying or something. Justifiable though, judging from the story of how you gave birth to him, the idea of losing you or Wonjun is the scariest thing that he wishes would never ever happen.

“Stop freaking out, Howon, it’s just a regular fever, okay ? I checked his temperature and it’s 101, it’s just…he’s been crying for you,”

“Appa~!!” Wonjun shouted. He knew that you were talking with Hoya and tried to grab the phone from your hand.

“I’ll—I’ll just turn on the loudspeaker, and let him talk with you, okay,”

“Wonjun-ah, appa’s here and he wants to talk with you, baby,” you turned to Wonjun who’s been busy trying to snatch the phone from you.

“Appaaaaa~,” he cried out and grabbed the phone. You assisted him by positioning the phone near him so that it’s easier for him to  listen to his voice.

“Wonjun-ah,” Hoya’s voice called him out  and Wonjun started to immediately calm at the sound of his father’s voice.

“Appaa, da-da- appa,” Wonjun pulled the sleeves of your shirt, trying to get attention from you. “Yes, baby, it’s appa….happy now ?” you smiled and patted his hair lightly.

“Wonjun-ah, listen eomma well, okay ? Appa knows that you’re sick, and I’m so sorry that I’m not there right now, that’s why you have to listen to her,” his voice cooed. Wonjun didn’t understand everything he said though, but at least he smiled and stopped crying.

“Appa—wonjunnie want—ap-pa,”

“I know—appa wants to be there too, baby, I promise I’ll be home soon. You have to get better soon, so that we can go to the park, okay ? I’ll buy you some new toys too. Does that sound nice ?” his voice once again put him at ease.

“Eung~,” he replied with a short mumble.

“Now you have to go to bed, okay ? Appa will call you again tomorrow,” Hoya kept on soothing him.

“See, appa wants you to sleep too, baby, let’s go to the bed, okay ?” you tried to convince Wonjun and to your surprise, he easily nodded his head and opened up his arms so you could get him back to bed.

“Tell appa you love him first,” you told him before ending the phonecall.

“I---love—app-pa,” he mumbled unclearly in a scratchy voice.

“I love you too, Wonjun-ah. Good night,” Hoya replied.

“Love you, Howon. Get back soon,” you finished.

“Love you too, honey. Do call me if anything happens, okay ?”

“Araseo, good night,”