Sad to blow your bubble, but the truth is, love ain’t come that easy. No. Baekhyun doesn’t love Yookyung, well, at least not in a lover way. He loves Yookyung as a sister. In any other story, both of them might have fallen in love, or at least Baekhyun will, but not in here. There won’t be any cotton candies and rainbows, only dark cloud following the little lady with a son in her arms.

Love comes when you least expected it. It was lunchtime and Baekhyun just came back from sending Hoon to school. Yes, he made it clear to Yookyung that he’s going to be Hoon’s personal chauffeur, not that the little guy is complaining. Like usual, it took sometime for Baekhyun, with the help of Hoon, in convincing the mother to agree to it, which she eventually did.

Feeling competitive, Baekhyun decided to have his lunch at Starbucks, rival of his business. It was, perhaps, too pompous of him to compare his business with the huge, worldwide coffee chain, yet he can’t help it.

Entering the café, it felt different. While Baekhyun’s café gave a home-y and familiar feeling, this café gave evoke a cold, commercial, almost industrial feeling. His eyes roams around the abundant array of foods behind the glass counter, ranging from sweet dessert to savory light lunches. He contemplated between egg salad sandwich or tomato and mozzarella Panini.

“Fu*k…” someone cursed under their breath. Baekhyun looked up and found a girl, struggling to rummage through her bag, standing in front of an obviously annoyed cashier.

“I swear I’ve brought my wallet with me this morning,” she cursed.

Baekhyun, feeling nosy and empathy for the girl, walked up to the cashier, “excuse me, combine her bills with mine, thank you,” he smiled at the cashier. “Sure, what would you like, sir?” the cashier asked, smiling at Baekhyun

“Just an egg salad sandwich and tall hot Americano, thank you,” he smiled while handing out his card to the cashier.

“Excuse me…”

“One skim green tea latte for Yunji-sshi,” the barista called out from the pick up area, cutting of the girl who just almost confronted Baekhyun. She huffed, frustrated.

One week later, they came back… together, as a couple.

“How was school, honey?” Yookyung asked while washing the dishes.

The little kid was sitting on the stool behind his mom, his snacks of mandarin and cookies sprawled in front of him. He was still in his uniform, as he just came back from school. There were only the two of them in the kitchen. Other employees were out for their break.

“It was good,” Hoon answered while playing with his animal biscuits.

“Yeah? Anything interesting you want to share with me?” Yookyung asked again, now on the process of rinsing the dishes.

“Well, do you remember the uncle that spoke on stage? The one wearing the suit?” Hoon asked, now looking at his mother’s back.

Yookyung froze for a moment. “…yes,” she answered carefully, hoping this conversation is not going where she thinks it will be.

“That uncle talk to me everyday and even gave me snacks. He’s very nice,” Hoon smiled to himself.

She knew it. Joonmyeon saw her. She inhaled, trying to calm her anxious heart. She needs to do something about this. She needs to stop this. She can’t lose her baby and with a man as powerful as Joonmyeon, he will not back down so easily. She turned the faucet off and dried her hands on the apron before turning around, looking at the kid for a moment and approached him. The kid’s curious eyes just followed his mother’s movement.

“Hoon-ah…” she started slowly, “that uncle is a bad person,” she emphasized.

“But, he’s very nice to me,” Hoon said, confused at his mother’s words.

“Do you want to be separated from me?” she asked, carefully. As expected, the boy shook his head, no. She smiled and ruffled the little kid’s head, “then, you should stay away from that uncle. If not, he’s going to take me away from you, do you want that?” she looked into the boy’s eyes.

Hoon quickly circled his arms around his mother’s neck, hugging her protectively, almost possessively. “You’re mine. You can’t leave,” he whispered harshly.

Yookyung smiled and hugged her son, too.

“I’m not going anywhere, baby. You’re mine and I’m yours,” the glint of her eyes changed.

The little guy was standing by the school’s gate, kicking off the little pebbles around him. His stomach growled, demanding to be filled. Yet, he was still waiting for his mom who, this morning, insisted in delivering his lunch to school, instead of giving it to him in the morning like she usually did.

“Hey, Hoon,” the familiar voice came again. He looked up and, expectedly, found the uncle smiling down at him. “What are you doing out here? Aren’t you going to eat your lunch?”

Hoon stepped back, remembering what his mother told him about this uncle wanting to take her away from him. Joonmyeon, confused about the latter’s unusual reaction, tilted his head. “What’s wrong, Hoon?” he asked, as friendly as possible.

“Stay away. Mommy said you are a bad person,” he almost screamed.

Joonmyeon’s smile faltered. He knew it. Sooner or later, he will need to face Yookyung, anyway.

“Hoon!” someone shouted from afar. Both guys looked to the direction and found Yookyung running, approaching them. Hoon ran to his mother before circling his arms around her waist, gripping it for his dear life. Both of them carefully walked up to Joonmyeon.

“Yookyung-sshi…”

She held up her hand, her head motioning to the little guy, still gripping her waist. Joonmyeon stopped, understanding what she meant. Slowly, she took off Hoon’s circling arm as she bent down. “Hoon-ah…” she handed the small bag, “go inside and eat you lunch, ok? Uncle Baekhyun will pick you up later, understand?” she slowly caressed his head.

“No. Mommy don’t leave Hoon,” he persisted, lips quivering as his eyes slowly watered.

“Mommy’s not going anywhere, I promise,” she held up her pinky.

Hoon, on the other hand, was not convinced. Looking apprehensive, he looked back and forth between his mom and Joonmyeon. Yookyung softly grabbed the little boy’s cheeks, focusing his gaze on her. She looked into his eyes.

“Trust me, I will not leave you,” she whispered and kissed his nose. Finally, while still being careful, Hoon slowly walked away from both adults and into the school. When the kid was completely out of sight, Yookyung turned her head and glared at the man beside her.

“Yookyung-sshi…”

“Stay away from him. I don’t know and I have no interest in what you want to achieve with him, but I don’t like your presence around him,” she threatened.

“Yookyung-sshi, I have no bad intention towards Hoon. I just want to spend some time with my son…”

“He’s NOT your son. You’re not around from the beginning of his life; you can’t just waltz in now. Because, the truth is, Mr. Kim, money can’t buy anything and your wealth is not what Hoon needs,” she spat.

While he was generally a calm man, Joonmyeon felt something burning inside him. “Well, now that you’ve said it, I feel the need to walk into his life, Ms. Lee,” he spat back.

Yookyung, not expecting that kind of reaction, froze for a moment, before again glaring at him. “Try…”

“Maybe I should. Cause the truth, if I am to bring this case to the court, who do you think will win, Yookyung-sshi? Let’s just be honest,” he smirked.

She broke, then. The truth slapped her in the face, hard. The truth that she’s nothing but a single mother while Joonmyeon, here, is someone with great power. He can take Hoon away in a blink of eye.

Joonmyeon was no less surprised by his own reaction. How can he be so mean, he didn’t know. It was never his intention to take Hoon away from her. Yet, her threats just blazed something inside him.

Laying her head against the window, Yookyung was sitting in a bus. She tired, no, exhausted, from the confrontation. Joonmyeon just left her back there, standing in her pitfall of emotion. Anxious, anger, whatever there is. All she wants to do was just to go back to the café and drown herself in work to help prevent her negative thoughts from swarming around her mind.

“Oh, Yookyung-ah. Where did you go?” Baekhyun welcomed her as soon as she entered the café. She just tiredly smiled back at him, “somewhere…” she trailed.

“Ok. Umm… Yookyung-ah, do you mind following me for a moment? I need to talk to you,” he asked, carefully.

As much as she had no interest in talking, she couldn’t say no. Thus, both of them ended up at his office just minutes later.

“Yookyung-ah…” he trailed. His expression was not a good one and Yookyung started to feel anxious about it.

“What is it, oppa?” she asked.

“Umm… You know that I’m going out with Yunji right now, and I really think that she’s the one. I’m really sure about my feelings this time,” he explained. Yookyung raised her eyebrows, unsure about where this is heading.

“So?” she asked.

“Well… the thing is… we are going to get married in 4 months and… she demanded me to stop helping you and Hoon…” he explained very, very cautiously.

Yookyung froze. “What do you mean?”

He sighed harshly before continuing, “Yunji is a very… insecure person and I don’t want to hurt her. She doesn’t like your presence around me. Furthermore, she doesn’t like the fact that I’m financially helping you. So…”

“Enough,” she cut, tears now dripping down her chin.

“Yookyung-ah…”

“I got it. That’s enough. I will stop working from tomorrow onwards. Can I still keep the you got for us in my flat?” she tearfully asked.

“You can keep it, Yookyung-ah,” Baekhyun said, guilt creeping up his skin.

Yookyung, head facing down, stood up and bowed to Baekhyun, “thank you for all your help for us. I wish you and Yunji the best of luck,” she said before running out of the office.

Baekhyun sharply inhaled, closed his eyes, before harshly exhaling all the air in his lungs. Is it the right thing to do? Is Yunji really much more important than Yookyung?

Now, not only Hoon might potentially be taken away from her, she had also lost her job, her support, and most importantly… her only ‘family’.