They had just arrived at the fancy restaurant where his mother was waiting, but Hyukjae was already nervous, sometimes glancing at Donghae who was walking calmly beside him. He wasn’t sure if it was a good decision to bring Donghae with him.

He could just hope everything would turn out well, and he wouldn’t have to go back to Japan. He never wanted to see Donghae’s ‘marvelous’ acting again, but this was the only way left for him.

“Okay, listen to me Donghae,” Hyukjae spoke, “Please be good. I hate being with you, but I don’t want to go back to Japan, so you need to be perfect. My mom is sweet and nice, but when she’s mad, she’s a monster.”

“Like mother like son,” Donghae joked, earning a smack from the blonde.

“I’m not in the mood for a joke, Lee Donghae."

“Alright, alright, be nice and perfect. I got it.”

“And don’t ever mention about her age, or you’ll get a free kick for sure.”

“Don’t mention her age,” Donghae repeated and nodded his head, “Anything else I need to know about my mother in law?”

“That’s all,” Hyukjae said. If only his mother knew that his future ‘son in law’ was actually a devil, he wouldn’t want to imagine what kind of reaction she’d show.

And he didn’t have time to calm down when his eyes landed on a familiar woman sitting at a table near the window, drinking a cup of coffee.

“So that’s your mother?” Donghae asked, though he knew he didn’t have to hear the answer. He could clearly see the resemblance between them, and he had to say, Hyukjae’s mother was indeed beautiful.

“Let’s go,” Hyukjae took a deep breath and approached his mother, who immediately looked up as soon as they arrived at the table.

“Well, I can see that you’re not alone,” Soojin, his mother said, a meaningful smile etched on her lips, “And you’re 10 minutes late, do you know that?”

“Yes, I know. We were stuck in a traffic jam,” Hyukjae laughed, awkwardly sitting down with Donghae close to him.

“And this person is…?” Soojin looked at Donghae, scanning his appearance from head to toe.

“I’m Donghae, Hyukjae’s boyfriend,” Donghae introduced himself and smiled in amusement when he noticed how Soojin dropped her jaw, before quickly changed her expression to a calm one.

“Boyfriend,” Soojin repeated, “A male friend? Or-”

“We’re lovers,” Donghae said before the blonde could open his mouth, intertwining their hands intimately.

Hyukjae looked at the latter in shock, but Donghae’s seriousness totally made him speechless. If he was an actor, he’d surely receive tons of awards by now.

“How long have you been dating?” Soojin asked, her smile was getting wider when she looked at their intertwined hands.

“I’ve been in love with him for two years, but he only accepted me recently. I’m sorry for not telling you, but I really want you to know that I really love him. There’s no one else in my heart.”

Hyukjae was trying hard to restrain himself from hitting the latter, realizing that he was repeating exactly what he had told Sungmin before. It was as if he was memorizing a script, and it annoyed him to the max. He shot him a stern look, but of course, he’d have to wait for a thousand years to make this devil listen to him.

“You look like a nice guy to me…” Soojin nodded and leaned back, her eyes studying Donghae’s face once again.

And Hyukjae found it hard to believe that his fussy mother was saying exactly the same thing Sungmin had said before!

Donghae was indeed an expert. Screw this devil.

“I might be lacking,” Donghae continued, “But I really want to make Hyukjae happy. I can’t live without him.”

“Oh dear,” Soojin chuckled, “Aren’t you cute? I wonder why my baby didn’t tell me anything about you. You’re too gorgeous!”

“Thank you,” Donghae grinned, “You’re beautiful too, ma’am.”

“Oh, stop it, you’re embarrassing me,” Soojin laughed, completely pleased hearing the word ‘beautiful,’ “And you don’t have to call me ma’am, dear. Call me mommy. I’m going to be your mother soon after all.”

“Thank you, mommy,” Donghae now had totally mastered the art of acting and gave Soojin a sweet smile, “But I’m afraid that I can’t stay here too long. I have something to do, but I’ll pick Hyukjae up later.”

“Alright, drive carefully my son,” Soojin waved her hand happily as Donghae bowed at her, and gave Hyukjae a kiss on his head before leaving.

Hyukjae was completely stunned at the completely unpredicted action, not even realizing that his face was turning red.

“Wow,” Soojin said, “That is so-“

“Don’t say anything, mom,” Hyukjae quickly cut her mother off before she could start ‘spazzing’ like a young girl, “You haven’t told me why you’re here.”

“I just want to see if my baby is doing well or not. You look so thin, honey, are you eating properly?”

“Mom, I’ve been like this since I was a kid,” Hyukjae rolled his eyes, “And besides, I’m big enough to take care of myself.”

“I know, but I’m still worried about you.”

“Everything’s fine mom, so stop worrying.”

“Hyukkie-ah…” Soojin sighed and reached out, ruffling his son’s blonde hair tenderly, “Actually…your dad is here.”

“He’s here too?” Hyukjae’s face instantly changed.

“He’s eating upstairs. Why don’t you go and see him?”

Hyukjae wanted to say no. He couldn’t imagine seeing his father again.

The fact that he was eating alone instead of coming with his mother to see him was enough to show that he hadn’t changed. But the hopeful look on his mother’s calm face made it hard for him to refuse, and he decided to listen to her in the end.

He reluctantly got up and headed to the stairs in the corner, walking up with his mind filled of so many thoughts, thinking about how his father would react to see him.

It didn’t take long for him to search for his father, when he saw him sitting at a table alone, reading newspaper. He didn’t change at all, that serious look on his face was still there.

Clenching his fists, Hyukjae stepped forward and stopped right in front of the table.

“Daehyun-sii…” he hesitantly called. It wasn’t normal for a son to call his father by his name, but that’s what he had been calling his own father for the past two years.

His father looked up, not even shocked to see him standing there. “Hyukjae.”

“How are you doing?”

“Take a seat,” Daehyun said without looking at his son, and continued to read the paper in his hand.

“I’m sorry if I’m disturbing you, Daehyun-sii,” Hyukjae said as he sat down, starting to feeling the awkwardness between them.

“Call me dad.”

“W-what?”

“Call me dad, it’s been a long since we last met.”

Hyukjae was quite surprised, but he couldn’t stop himself from smiling. Maybe his father had changed his mind, maybe everything would go well for them. And maybe, he could finally communicate with his father just like in the past.

”Yes, dad.”

“So how are you?”

“I’m fine, Sungmin-hyung takes a good care of me