(A few months later)

Months passed, and unknowingly September had rolled by once again.

A lot had happened in the past eight months. For one, Hyunseung finally decided to meet up with his mother. He had managed to avoid her ever since he went into premature labour, since she didn’t go to his house to find him and also didn’t bother calling him after a few times. She had been angry, and Hyunseung had been angry, and by the time her anger dissipated she was too ashamed to look her son up.

A few weeks after Yoseob’s birthday, Hyunseung asked his dad to arrange for a family dinner. He didn’t want to bring Ilhoon at first, but eventually decided that his mother still deserved to see her grandson at least once. The shock on her face when he showed up with Ilhoon was slightly amusing; clearly she hadn’t been expecting Hyunseung to join them. They talked things over, and she admitted that she was being biased, and was a terrible mother. Geurim and Mr. Jang talked to her a lot, and somehow managed to convince her that she wasn’t being fair to Hyunseung. Junhyung had been good to Hyunseung, and honestly it was obvious that he wanted to turn over a new leaf, yet she was prejudiced and didn’t want to accept him – thus causing her to not accept Ilhoon as well. What did that lead to? Hyunseung giving birth prematurely.

Hyunseung forgave her, naturally, and let her play with Ilhoon when he woke up. She promised to visit and help out with Ilhoon, but since she was still working, she only dropped by once a week. Geurim and Mr. Jang still did come by as often as before though.

Next, Ilhoon and the twins met a few milestones. They teethed, crying a lot in the process and causing many neighbours to complain because most of the time, all three would be wailing together at the same time. That lasted for about a month. Also, they began crawling, which was a problem for the adults because sometimes they knocked stuff over. They were trying to stand now, and also beginning to blabber some words but not really forming any real words or syllables yet.

Also, Jungmin and Kyujong weren’t following Hyunseung and Ilhoon around anymore. Hyunseung realised that Jaewon, whoever the hell the man was, really only wanted him and Junhyung to be separated. He kept to his word and didn’t harm either Hyunseung or Ilhoon, even after so many months. So, Hyunseung called BoA and told her to tell Kyujong and Jungmin to stop being his bodyguard. They had done a lot for him, and he was grateful, but they deserved to have their life back and not revolving around him and Ilhoon.

Last but not least, it was Hyunseung’s birthday once more. Just like last year, at midnight, someone knocked on the door and Hyunseung opened it to find a package much like the one from a year ago. Similarly, he decided to leave it till at night to open it, knowing that Junhyung would somehow know to get the perfect present for him.

At the moment, Hyunseung was preparing breakfast for himself and Ilhoon. The eleven-month-old baby sat in his highchair, hitting the plastic spoon against the table while mumbling in incoherent baby language. Hyunseung looked at his son and frowned when Ilhoon threw the spoon to the floor, clucking his tongue disapprovingly as he picked it up and washed it.

“Ilhoon, honey, it’s umma’s birthday. Behave yourself a little, please?” he asked, handing the spoon back to Ilhoon and turning the TV on to let Ilhoon watch Pororo. As usual, Ilhoon’s attention was immediately diverted to the children’s cartoon, and he stopped hitting the plastic spoon against the table. Hyunseung hurriedly finished preparing his food and grabbed Ilhoon’s milk bottle, as well as the bowl of porridge he’d cooked for the boy.

Hyunseung ate while feeding Ilhoon, having learnt to multitask over the months. He had his family and friends to help with Ilhoon, yes, but most mornings he had to take care of his son on his own. It sure as hell wasn’t easy, especially when he had to teach dance lessons at night and was dead tired in the morning – he’d taken Donghee up on his offer, and was currently a part-time dance instructor at the elder’s dance academy in the city.

“Ilhoon, say ah,” Hyunseung said when Ilhoon refused to open his mouth, too engrossed in the colourful characters on TV. Sighing softly when Ilhoon didn’t respond, Hyunseung nudged the baby slightly in the cheek. “Ilhoonie, eat your food before I turn the TV off,” he said sternly.

It took a few seconds, but Ilhoon did open his mouth eventually and let Hyunseung feed him. Usually, it took Hyunseung a half hour to finish breakfast, and then another half hour to clean the house up. It was a routine by now, and he started cleaning up after Ilhoon was done with the porridge, because the baby knew how to hold his own bottle already.

Halfway through cleaning up, Doojoon and Yoseob showed up with the twins and a birthday cake.

“Happy birthday!” they exclaimed, grinning and telling Hyunseung to make a wish before blowing the candles out. Hyunseung bit on his lip, wondering what he should wish for.

I wish that Ilhoon won’t have to grow up without his father.

And the birthday boy blew the candles out with a smile, albeit a wistful one.

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Junhyung sighed softly, toying with the pen he had asked for and thinking about what he should write. He looked at the calendar, smiling slightly to himself when he saw that it was Hyunseung’s birthday and remembering what he’d asked Sungjong to get the elder. Of course he also wrote a card for it, and he hoped that Hyunseung would love the gift.

A figure appeared beside Junhyung, and he looked up to see Kangta. “Hey hyung.”

“Thinking about Hyunseung again?” Kangta asked knowingly.

Junhyung sighed, nodding and tapping the pen against the table. “Ilhoon, too. His birthday’s in a month, hyung. My son is turning one, and I haven’t seen him a single time because of Shim Jaewon.”

 Kangta shrugged, not really being able to understand exactly how frustrated and upset Junhyung was right now. He didn’t have many friends, and his family had cut off all ties with him. The only person he really missed from the outside world was BoA, and she couldn’t visit him much because chances were that she might be recognised by the guards.

Still, he had Junhyung in here with him now and life was more bearable in prison. After all, Kangta let himself be arrested willingly. He didn’t fight the police when they found him, and let them throw him in here without much of a struggle. Junhyung, on the other hand, had confessed to all his crimes, but he wouldn’t have done that if Jaewon hadn’t forced him to. Junhyung was a victim of the circumstances, of Jaewon, and he was frustrated.

“Just behave yourself in here, don’t get into any fights, and you’ll be out a lot faster,” Kangta advised, patting Junhyung on the shoulder and walking away to get some exercise done while the field was still open.

Sighing again, Junhyung started to write the letter for Ilhoon, although he knew that the boy wouldn’t be able to read it till at least two years later. He was careful not to mention anything about his location, although Sungjong had already told Hyunseung that he knew where Junhyung was. Luckily, Hyunseung didn’t ask for his exact location. He was just glad that Sungjong at least knew where Junhyung was, and that was enough to reassure him of his boyfriend’s safety.

“I wonder what Seungie’s doing now…” Junhyung mumbled to himself, looking out of the barred windows of his jail cell, the one that he just so happened to share with Kangta. He honestly wondered how Hyunseung was coping alone. It wasn’t as if Sungjong didn’t update him, but he wanted to see for himself that Hyunseung was fine, at least for now.

Leaning back in the uncomfortable chair that was provided, Junhyung tried to sort his thoughts out. He still had a long jail sentence to serve, and it wouldn’t help the time pass any faster if he kept on being depressed about being unable to see his boyfriend and son. He made the choice to leave, to turn himself in, and he couldn’t be regretting it now. Nonetheless, there hasn’t been a single day over the past year that he hasn’t thought of his family and friends.

Sometimes Junhyung wondered why it had to be him that had to suffer. As if his childhood wasn’t bad enough, what with him being practically orphaned at the age of six.

I hope Seungie can get on with life, and live well with Ilhoon before I get back.

Shaking his thoughts off, Junhyung focused on writing his letter to Ilhoon once more.

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Hyunseung didn’t do much that day.

After eating the cake, Doojoon and Yoseob stayed for a while and played with the kids while waiting for lunchtime to come. Then, after lunch, they went back to their own house to let the twins take a nap. Ilhoon fell asleep too, naturally. Hyunseung ate dinner together with his family at seven. Doojoon and Yoseob then went back to Hyunseung’s house to let the kids play, after the birthday boy arrived home. Currently, the twins were playing with their toys, while Hyunseung was reading a story book to Ilhoon in an attempt to get him to learn basic words.

“Umma. Ilhoon-ah, say umma,” he said, setting the book down and looking at his son hopefully.

“…ma!” Ilhoon squealed, giggling and throwing his baby bolster in Hyunseung’s face.

“Um-ma,” Hyunseung repeated, handing the bolster back to the baby.

“…umma?”

Hyunseung gasped, feeling a sudden wave of emotions overwhelm him. He hurriedly took his phone out, taking a video and telling Ilhoon, “Say it again!”

“Umma!” the baby boy said excitedly, motivated by Hyunseung’s enthusiastic response.

“Oh my god,” Hyunseung breathed out, a wide smile making its way onto his face. “Oh my god.”

Doojoon looked over at his friend, who seemed to be hyperventilating. “Are you ok, Seung?”

“Ilhoon said umma,” Hyunseung sobbed, unable to keep the tears at bay. He started peppering the baby boy with kisses, hugging him and bouncing him up and down. Yoseob gasped, turning towards his baby girls and pouting at them because they hadn’t said anything yet.

“I’m so jealous of you, hyung,” Yoseob whined. “Jihyun, say umma. Sohyun, you too.”

“Seobie, that’s not how this works,” Doojoon chuckled. “I think this is Ilhoon’s birthday present to you, Seung,” he added, happy that at least something good happened on his best friend’s birthday.

Hyunseung grinned and nodded, continuing to squish Ilhoon and pinch his cheeks and just shower his son with love. After spending another hour at Hyunseung’s place, Doojoon and Yoseob went back home because the twins seemed to be tired. Ilhoon, too, was down for a nap, and during that time, Hyunseung decided to call Sungjong and wish him a happy birthday too.

“Happy birthday Sungjong-ah! What’s it like to be a year older?”

Sungjong laughed. “It doesn’t seem much different. How’d your day go?”

“Ilhoon said his first word today!” Hyunseung nearly squealed, still euphoric from hearing his son call him umma. He was going to keep that video forever, if only for the fact that it was a huge milestone in both his and Ilhoon’s lives.

“Congrats hyung! Did you also receive something from Junhyung hyung?” Sungjong asked.

Hyunseung’s gaze darted towards the package that he’d received at midnight and nodded despite the fact that Sungjong couldn’t see him. “Yeah. Any idea what it is?”

“Of course I know what it is, but shouldn’t you find out on your own?” Sungjong questioned.

Hyunseung bit his lower lip, slightly nervous about what Junhyung had gotten him this year. “Alright then. See you soon, Sungjong-ah,” the elder said, ready to end the call and see what was in the package. Sungjong hummed in response, saying goodbye before hanging up.

Taking a deep breath, Hyunseung went to pick the package up and slowly opening it. Inside of the packaging was another box – a shoe box. By now, Hyunseung could roughly guess what Junhyung had gotten, but he was taken aback when he opened the lid of the shoe box.

The shoes Junhyung had gotten weren’t normal shoes, but hip-hop dance shoes and from what Hyunseung could see, the shoes’ design was customised. Hyunseung didn’t know how Junhyung had even found someone to custom-make dance shoes, and he sure as hell didn’t want to know how much they’d cost. He did already have two pairs of dance shoes, but one was pretty old and worn out. Again, there was a card inside the package as well, and Hyunseung took it and began reading.

Dear Hyunseung,

Happy 26^th birthday. I really wish I was with you, but I know I’ll be back someday. Until then, I’m trusting you and Ilhoon to Sungjong, Sunggyu and the others. I hope Ilhoon’s behaving himself and not giving you too much trouble. It must be hard raising him without me, huh.

I heard that you’re teaching at Donghee’s dance academy now. Congratulations, baby. I’m really proud of you for chasing your dreams and even prouder because you’re doing a great job of raising Ilhoon, even while working part-time.

I hope you like the present. It has a little of my flair and yours in it, don’t you think? I spent quite some time coming up with the design and sourcing for someone who’d custom-make dance shoes. Of course you are worth it, though. You always were, and always will be.

I don’t know how long it’ll be till I see you again. It’s already been over a year since I left. But just know that a day doesn’t go past without me thinking about you and Ilhoon. You’re all that I care about, even when we’re unable to physically be together. I love you, and hope you had a great day.

Junhyung.

Hyunseung closed the card, looking down at the pair of shoes and smiling to himself. He didn’t know how he’d managed to score a guy like Junhyung, even though it was technically Junhyung’s fault that they couldn’t be together now. It wasn’t every day that you’d find a guy who was willing to go through so much trouble to make sure that even when he was gone, his boyfriend and son would be well looked after. Also, as far as Hyunseung knew, it really wasn’t easy to find people who custom-made dance shoes. The fact that Junhyung thought of it was touching in itself, and made Hyunseung love Junhyung all the more even though he broke his heart by leaving.

Setting the shoes aside, Hyunseung made one last birthday wish before going to sleep.

Please, please let Junhyung return to my side soon.

HELLO GUYS IT'S BEEN A WHILE! Sorry for kinda going MIA (again lol)

I would say I've been busy with school (which I have, but I had time to type) but honestly I was lazy and mindblocked :/

Major timeskip coming up, which is good because it's closer to Junhyung's return! :D I don't know when I'll update, as usual, but I'll try my best ><

Thanks for putting up with my irregular updates and look forward to the next chapter! I hope you guys enjoyed this! Annyeong~ ^^