Minho awoke the next day to his obnoxious alarm. He knew he always set it for 7 o’clock, but he always looked at it when he woke up. Maybe it was a sort of consolation to him that he wasn’t late for work or that he was actually alive. He didn’t know. By the time Minho was showered and dressed in his pants and undershirt, it was 7:30. He almost forgot that he had company until he heard soft snores coming from the guest room.

            Minho helped himself to a simple, boring breakfast of bland corn flakes and low fat milk and bitter orange juice. He wrote a note and stuck it to the television.

            Taemin-- I’ve gone to work. I should be home by 3:30pm. I left my credit card for you so that you and Inho can go buy some food, since I don’t really have any. I have a spare key on my bedroom dresser, in the top left drawer. My number is 895-627-4346. --Minho.

            Then, at exactly 7:45, he left to catch the train to work. He hoped Taemin would see the note before he freaked and claimed abandonment. He checked his bank account every ten minutes and was finally relieved when he saw that the amount had decreased by about 33000 won. When work was over, he rushed home, worried and then happy when he saw Taemin and Inho sitting on the floor, playing with an old toy dinosaur.

            Taemin stood up to greet the elder. “You’re home.”

            “Yeah,” Minho said, hanging up his jacket. “I recognise that dinosaur,”.

            “You gave him to me before I moved.”

            “He was my favourite one.” He remarked.

            “Now he’s Inho’s favourite.” Taemin added, smiling at the boy.

            “Don’t you think that’ll get confusing? Minho and Inho?”

            “Well, you’re hyung and he’s Inho. What’s so confusing about that?”

            Minho shrugged, walking into the kitchen.

            Taemin picked Inho up and followed Minho, setting the toddler on the kitchen counter. “What kind of job do you have?”

           Minho poured himself a glass of wine. “Just a typical office job, you know. Kind of boring, but it pays the bills. Sometimes there’s excitement, like when someone gets fired or quits and they act all dramatic about it.”

            “You’re entertained when someone is fired?” Taemin scoffed.

            “Not that, Taem. Like, when they start screaming and throwing their cra-- stuff everywhere and taking the office stapler like they have entitlement to it, that’s entertaining. Do you want a glass?”

            Taemin denied the offer. “It’s like a spectacle, then?”

            Minho ignored him. “What did you do all these years?”

            “From the beginning?”

            Minho nodded, leaning against the wall, occasionally sipping his drink.        

            “Well, after I left here my parents made me take an exam for some fancy boys’ school and I passed it and I got in, but with a scholarship so a lot of the other boys didn’t want to talk to me because I wasn’t a gazillionaire like them. We weren’t poor or anythin--”

            “I know that” Minho interrupted

            “Yeah, you know. But they were just mean about it. But there was this one kid who was my friend and he was popular so even after he graduated, his reputation protected me. And senior year, I was 17 at the time, they invited me to a party. My first party, hyung. So I went, obviously and I met that girl, Inho’s mother. She was nice and sweet and pretty back then and I wasn’t really looking to do anything with her, but these things happen. I just felt so lonely. After Key hyung left, I had no friends and she seemed like a friend. But she wanted more than friends,”

            “And you let her be more than a friend?”

            “Yeah, I did. I just needed someone hyung. But then I graduated and I told her ‘I’m going back to Seoul because I promised’ and she told me that I couldn’t go back and leave her and I said ‘why the hell not? I told you this was temporary,’ and she said she was pregnant.” Taemin paused for a moment, hugging Inho against him. “And I thought I was doomed, because how could I get a girl pregnant, hyung? How could I have a kid when I had to come back to you? But I couldn’t just leave her, you know that.”

            “I know you couldn’t.” Minho replied.

            “So I stayed with her and I tried to be good to her that whole time and three days before he was born, she said she didn’t want the baby, so I had to take him. I didn’t want to, at first. So he was born and I took him and I thought that now that I have the baby, there’s nothing tying me to her and now I could go find you but I was going to wait until I saved a little bit of money in case I couldn’t find you right away.”

            Inho fussed because he was terribly bored of hearing his own story, and Taemin had to pause to let the child back onto the floor.

            “But then she said ‘I don’t want the baby, but I want to see him,’ and I said no at first, but then she got the courts to force me to stay close to her so she could see Inho whenever she wanted. It was still like that,”

            “So how did you get to come here?” Minho asked, putting his empty glass into the sink. “If it’s still effective, how can you be here?”

            “She moved to China. Somehow she can move to god-knows-where, but I can’t move three hours away. But since she moved to a different country, that nullifies the whole thing and I took Inho and I left. The day I heard she was gone, I packed our things and I left, hyung. I didn’t think I’d be able to find you, especially when I went to your old home and they said they’d never even heard of Choi.”

            “My mother moved out a few years ago, when I graduated. She wanted to live by the beach in her ‘old age’. She’s only 43. I can’t believe she thinks that’s old.”

            “I’ll feel old when Inho’s 23, so I guess I can imagine,” Taemin replied. “I can’t believe he’s already three.”

            “I can’t believe you have a three year old son. I just always thought that you wouldn’t do that. I don’t know, I thought you were the kind of guy who would wait until you got yourself together before you would even think about having a kid.”

            “I didn’t think about it. That’s exactly it. If I’d thought about it, I’d have been here right when I said I would.”

            Minho bit the inside of his cheek. “Does he like me?”

            “He hasn’t really talked to you yet, has he?” Taemin said. “We can go see if he likes you.” Taemin took Minho’s hand and led him to the room where Inho played, imitating gun noises and knocking down the dinosaur. “Inho, this is Choi Minho. He was Appa’s best friend when we were little like you,”

            Inho looked over at Minho and smiled shyly, but he didn’t say anything.

            Minho twitched nervously. “Nice to meet you, Inho”

            Inho went back to playing, ignoring Minho’s advances.

            “He doesn’t like me,” Minho stated.

            “I’m sure he likes you. You’re just less interesting than the dinosaur.”

            “Thanks, Tae.”

            “You know I didn’t mean it like that.” Taemin playfully pushed Minho. “Hyung, I want us to start over. You love me, I love you. Can’t we just pretend that the gap never happened? Let’s pretend I’m 18 and you’re 20 and I just graduated.”

            “Ah, so then you had Inho when you were fifteen!” Minho feigned surprise.

            “Shut up, I’m serious. Can’t we try? I didn’t just forget about you, I didn’t just leave you. I tried so hard to come back and now I’m back and you said there’s nobody here,” he placed his finger over Minho’s heart. “Can’t I fill the space again?”

            Minho pushed Taemin’s hand down. “I’ll try, Taemin. What am I to him, if this works out?”

            “Would you really mind being his father, too? I know there’s this whole argument about whether or not kids can grow up well with two fathers, but who cares? You grew up with just your mother and you’re just fine. Would you mind being ‘Minho appa’?” Taemin questioned.

            “Minho appa,” Minho repeated, liking the way it sounded. “I wouldn’t mind that. But this has to work out, Taemin. I love you and I’ll love Inho, too. Just give me a bit of time? I’ve just now become a father.”

            Taemin beamed. “I’ll try to get him to warm up to you a bit,”

            “Doesn’t he miss his mother?” He wondered.

            “Well,” Taemin began. “Not really. She had rights to come see him, but it was hardly ever. He doesn’t even call her mother.”

            Minho directly his gaze at the small boy. “I’ll try my best. Minho appa”