Saturday came far too quickly, it wasn’t as if Seunghyun didn’t want the day to arrive, but the rest of the week just seemed to rush on by and he was up by 5am that very morning.

5am is no joke especially when Seunghyun fell asleep at 3:03am. As of right now he can only blame those incessant butterflies which won’t quit agitating his stomach. Seunghyun shakes his head and sits up, little Yuna wiggles at the movement but fortunately she doesn’t wake. Seunghyun takes this as his cue to make his escape slipping from his daughter’s grasp and the bed to creep off towards the kitchen. He pauses just before the kitchen doorway, there’s something’s glinting by his front door and Seunghyun doesn’t remember seeing it there before he went to bed, with a scratch to his messy bedhead he steps across the living room and bends to pick the thing up.

It’s a note in a golden envelope and Seunghyun lightly slips an index finger under the corner to gently ease it open. He only remembers to look on the front when a single piece of paper slides out, the front of the envelope reads,

“To Mr. My-Love-Doesn’t-Cost-A-Thing”

Seunghyun deserved that, he laughs and inspects the note. It’s a pretty little thing with a shimmering edge, there’s a yellow smiley face sticker occupying the top right corner, and some of neatest scribbles for handwriting Seunghyun has ever seen. Laughter dies down into a genuine smile as he reads,

“Hello my dearest Sunshine,

On Saturday at 5pm I will be coming over to pick you and your little one up. Please be ready by then. If you are worried about to what to wear I will be wearing a simple (black) suit, the dress code is smart but casual. Good luck and I cannot wait to see you again.

All my love,

The happiest man in the world x

P.S. Namsoo would like you to show the sticker to Yuna.”

I bet he would. Seunghyun grins and heads back towards the kitchen, he sighs holding the note and envelope against his chest. It feels as though time’s reversed and he’s that spotty teenager again fawning over a certain boyband which, actually, he did use to openly crush on. Even though he won’t share who they were because now the thought simply embarrasses him, call it years of living with strict parents and learning how to be semi-decent citizen. Seunghyun shrugs, clears some old shopping lists from the fridge door and pins the note to fill up the blank spot with some random magnetic letters then he takes a quick step back to admire his handiwork.

“Daddy…” A soft mumble of a sleepy voice calls from behind, Seunghyun turns to look at the source of the sweet voice (which kind of hurts because he forgot to put his slippers on) and he scoops his daughter up from the floor with a whoosh.

“What’s my gorgeous girl doing up at this time?” He coos dusting her temple with a few feather light kisses.

“Can we drink milk?” Yuna asks through a yawn, she’s so cute when she’s this sleepy.

“Of course we can baby.” Seunghyun balances her on a hip as he opens the fridge to get the milk out. He should probably stop this habit of carrying her everywhere but he just can’t stop doing it, rather selfishly it makes him feel secure and Yuna must feel it too because she soon snuggles into the crook of his neck.

“Thanks Daddy.” She tries to say through another long yawn. Seunghyun’s in a little bit of shock, Yuna’s language is sounding so much more fluent and her confidence in her speech seems to be growing. It makes his heart do a little ballerina twirl in his chest. The milk gets left on the counter and Seunghyun takes Yuna’s mug from the sink’s draining board to fill it halfway with some milk, he repeats the process when he fetches his own mug from the sink as well. Yuna holds her mug as Seunghyun carries his and her into the living room, they soon settle down on the sofa. With both hands Yuna takes a big sip from her mug, Seunghyun swigs a bit of his own milk, and the two set their cups down on the coffee table at the same time.

“So, we have all day today together. Is there anything you want to do beautiful?” Seunghyun asks as he wraps an arm around Yuna, she brings up her legs to snuggle as close as she possibly can into her father’s side.

“Umm…” Yuna thinks for a moment whilst Seunghyun brushes a few messy curls from her face and gently leans his chin against the top of her head. She tries to snuggle into more of Seunghyun’s loose cream dressing gown and he can feel her rubbing a cheek against the soft material.

“We could go to the park? With the big slide and swings?” Seunghyun cups the hand of Yuna’s which is resting in the middle of his chest whilst he crosses one of his legs over the other.

“No Daddy fell.” Yuna’s words make Seunghyun laugh. It’s true the last time they went to the park he managed to trip over a stick and that meant Seunghyun had to sit on a bench for the rest of the trip watching his daughter play on the swings by herself. She’d sulked for ages because “Daddy couldn’t push me so I didn’t fly.”

“Ah yes… Well what about going to the bookstore?” Seunghyun’s next suggestion immediately gets a headshake for an answer. Every few weeks or so Seunghyun would take Yuna to various bookstores and the two would sit in the kids’ zone to read a book until people started to give them funny looks. It was the only way Seunghyun could read to her because children’s books were so overpriced nowadays that Seunghyun would rather use his imagination to tell her a bedtime story later at home but she needed to learn to read from an actual book. It was either a bookstore or the library, the library was much farther to get too though and Seunghyun didn’t have the willpower to do something like that today.

“I want to see blonde man!” Yuna pipes up and shifts back so she can get a good look at her father.

“Ah, well, we’ll be seeing him later honey.” Seunghyun grins feeling his cheeks flush at the mere thought. “And his name is Jiyong. Can you say that for me? Ji Yong.”

“Gee-on… Jion!” Yuna repeats over and over again, Seunghyun laughs at the attempt.

“Yup you almost had it baby.” He kisses her head and grins. “Hmm… what about shopping?” By shopping Seunghyun means wandering around, staring at various shop windows, until they get too tired and head off to the ice cream shop in defeat.

“Yes!” Yuna nods before she pulls away and stretches out to reach her milk, Seunghyun sits back watching as his sweet daughter takes another big gulp.

“Great, have you nearly finished that?” She nods whilst he reaches out to drain the rest of his. The two empty mugs get put back onto the table and Seunghyun stands up holding out a hand for Yuna to clasp onto. She smiles but doesn’t take it

“Daddy, do you like Jion?” Seunghyun smiles and nods, he’d briefly wondered at the beach about when this conversation was going to happen. “Um…” Yuna pouts, she’s trying to think of what to say next, and so Seunghyun kneels down in front of her brushing down the skirt of her purple nightdress, waiting patiently for her words.

“And you…love him like Umma?” Her eyes glisten over whilst Seunghyun tries to keep his smile locked into place.

“No, I mean, there are hundreds of ways to love someone Yuna-ah.” He lowers his other knee to the floor and takes one of her hands into his. “I love your Umma a lot and she meant so much to me because she gave me the greatest gift in the world.”

“What did she give you?” Yuna starts to play with his fingers, poking at his fingernails.

“You” Seunghyun sighs and glances down to their held hands. “Sometimes the people you love can never feel the same way, others forget about why they love someone, and sometimes people are lucky and have their love returned. With your mother Yuna-ah…” He stops to look up at his daughter, she returns his gaze with a small smile and that’s all he needs to continue.

“Your mother loved you, she loved me in her own way too but it’s never right to force love.” Seunghyun unlinks a hand from Yuna’s and pokes her chest. “You have it feel it in there and with Jiyong-”

“You feel it there.” Yuna curls her hand around Seunghyun’s stopping his finger from poking her. She drops his other hand from hers and copies her father’s action, forcing his hand to fall to her knee whilst hers pokes his chest.

“Yeah…” Seunghyun exhales heavily. He feels choked, as if this is conversation was supposed to happen, as if Jiyong was always supposed to just come along and turn his silly little world on its head and he cracks.

“Daddy?” Yuna’s delicate call brings him back from his mind and he shakes his head slightly, focusing on her.

“Yes baby?”

“Will Jion give you a gift like Umma?” Yuna’s humorously naïve question causes Seunghyun to crack up with laughter instead.

“No, no he won’t. You’re my one and only.” Yuna’s father just about gets the answer out, she starts to giggle too even if she has no idea why.

“Good! Daddy can’t forget me.” Seunghyun stops laughing and leans up, over her knees, to hug her as tightly as he possibly can.

“I would never do that to you. Now, come on we need to add some things to our ‘Want’ list! Your birthday’s in a few months’ time!” Yuna locks her legs around her Daddy and he lifts her from the sofa, waddling off into the bedroom. “Ah! It’s the tickle Dino and he’s going to eat you!” Seunghyun playfully tickles her, Yuna squirms and her giggles only increase as they waddle.

Backpack – Check ✓

Daughter – Check ✓

Pants on – Check ✓

Jumper on – Check ✓

Wallet in pocket – Check ✓

Socks and shoes on – Check ✓

Keys – *pat pat*

“Ah where are those bloody mother- ducks gone…?” Seunghyun itches at his pabo head and looks around, Yuna’s stood by the door waiting for him all packed up and ready to go.

“Hurry up Appa!” She stamps her grubby pink trainers against the ground.

“I’m coming, I’m coming!” Seunghyun’s not coming because he’s stood looking around the kitchen hopelessly. He can’t remember the last time he had his keys. “Think idiot think!” He slaps a palm to his forehead when he remembers, he always leaves the keys in the front door.

“Appa!!!” Yuna loudly whines as Seunghyun vaults out of kitchen and runs over to the door. “Come on!” She whines some more raising the volume when the door opens, he doesn’t tell her off yet, he knows that she’s just as excited as he is – what can he say? It’s been a while.

They catch the bus into the city centre and wander into a grand shopping multiplex, it’s huge and he hasn’t brought Yuna here for ages. Today seemed like a good day to go to somewhere which had a load of shops in one place and because Seunghyun wants to be home in a few hours’ time to get ready (he’s still inwardly panicking about what to wear) he doesn’t want to traipse around Seoul all day. Yuna’s calm down a little now, her excitement faded along the bus journey, and now she’s only stamping her feet as they walk.

There are loads of people shopping today, Seunghyun thinks that this is the busiest that he’s ever seen the shopping centre, and this realisation only makes him grip onto Yuna’s hand tighter. Just before they left Seunghyun slipped the pink reins on and it hangs in between them, Yuna sways their held hands and stares around in awe. It’s funny because Yuna definitely inherited her father’s shy side and so the two are totally overwhelmed by what feels like an army of busy-bodies.

“Ooh…” Yuna exclaims as her eyes land onto a toyshop, Seunghyun straightaway knows which shop she’s looking at because, let’s face the facts here, he saw it first.

“Want to go in baby?” He pointlessly asks whilst tugging her off towards the shop.

“Yeah!” She hops once then skips to catch up with her overexcited father. The two Choi’s come to complete standstill, just in front of the shop’s window, it’s full of bears, models, Lego, and so many more wonderfully bright coloured things. Both mouths hang open at the overly lavish display and it’s not until Yuna pokes him that Seunghyun realises just how alike they are.

“Daddy, can we go in?” Yuna looks up at him with her biggest puppy eyes and Seunghyun sighs, how can he say no? He’s in too much of a good mood to say no.

“Ok but you have to promise me no temper tantrums, ok? I might buy you a present if you’re a good girl.” He lets go of their hands so that he can ruffle up her curls.

“Ok!” Yuna nods overenthusiastically leading her father into the shop by their joined wrists.

The day is exhausting, Seunghyun forgot just how tiring window shopping was, and Yuna has been on her best behaviour for most of the day so a few minutes ago he brought her a little blue bunny teddy from the toy shop. She keeps the small thing squeezed against her chest, refusing to put it back in its bag so Seunghyun just rips the tag off and lets her keep it. They’ve stopped outside a general clothing store and Seunghyun’s dreamily eyeing up an extravagant black suit which is paired up with a white shirt and a golden bow in the window display. He sighs because it’s too much and too expensive, the price tag alone is worth more than his house and possessions combined. Yuna’s looking up at it too, she’s wearing a similar look to her father’s except she’s probably not dreaming about wearing the suit.

Just when Seunghyun’s about to give up and walk away something in the shop catches his eye, it’s a guy in a bright fuchsia jumper with beige coloured trousers and a dusty brown trilby. Seunghyun can’t really see who he is but his bright appearance practically glues Seunghyun’s eyes to him. The guy turns around and points at the suit in the window, it’s then Seunghyun freezes.

Hang on… It can’t be…

The guy turns back around to the store assistant as someone else comes to the window and removes the suit, this assistant briefly flashes Seunghyun an apologetic smile before she returns to the guy.

“Jion!” Yuna shouts and Seunghyun yanks her around the corner of the shop, he presses up against the wall trying for the life of him to remember how to breathe.

“I will be wearing a simple (black) suit”

Yeah right…

Seunghyun pants as Yuna stands next to him in complete silence, she’s shocked by the sudden hiding and puzzled by why they have to hide. More questions float through Seunghyun’s mind like: just how much money does Jiyong make?! What does he do for a living?! And he panics because he basically knows nothing about the guy. It’s at this exact moment Seunghyun feels his phone vibrate but he ignores it as the guy in the pink jumper walks past him. It’s definitely Jiyong and he doesn’t notice the idiot with his daughter who are both hiding in the corner. Luckily there’s an escalator which Jiyong steps on to go downwards and with a long sigh Seunghyun takes his mobile out of his pocket to check the message, when it pops up his heart stops.

“Hi Seunghyun! I’ve brought you a present and I can’t wait to see you later. Lots of love, Ji x”

What?! Seunghyun shoves the phone back into his pocket and runs over to the balcony beside the escalator, he looks down just as Jiyong’s halfway. The guy is clearly humming to himself although he glances up and that’s when Seunghyun truly panics. There’s a mirror along the opposing side of the escalator and Jiyong looks straight into it which in turn reflects Seunghyun’s presence just a couple of inches above him. Seunghyun wants to duck, he needs to duck, but his stupid legs won’t move and he curses as Jiyong’s face lights up in recognition. He turns on the escalator and waves up at Seunghyun, who like a true waves back. Yuna’s giggling to herself because she’s just twigged what exactly is happening here. Before either of them knows it Seunghyun’s phone is ringing and he curses the day that he ever decided to buy the stupid scrap of metal.

Of course he answers within the next heartbeat, “Jiyong?”

“Hey! What are you doing here? Did I pass you on my way down?”

“I-I-Didn’t see you-” Seunghyun stammers only able to watch as Jiyong peeks up, double checks, then hops on the escalator back upwards.

“Oh, that’s weird.” Jiyong laughs and shakes his head. “I must’ve walked right past you?” He looks right up at Seunghyun again and the latter almost drops the phone.

“Weird-” He lets out in one short breath.

“You ok Seunghyun? You don’t sound so good?” Jiyong frowns as he jumps off the escalator and Seunghyun hangs up on him, shoving his mobile into his pocket. Jiyong looks startled by the abrupt ending of their call but strides over to them with happy steps nonetheless. “Seunghyun!” He stops and yet again Seunghyun forgets how to breathe.

“Jion!” Yuna seems to pop out of nowhere and runs to Jiyong, he kneels down and stretches his arms out keeping his shopping away from Yuna as she hugs him.

“Hello gorgeous!” Jiyong pecks her cheek when she finally lets go and when he returns to standing up Jiyong keeps his arms open. “Your turn” He cheekily grins.

“I-uh-erm-” Seunghyun’s tongue-tied, it feels like he’s meeting Jiyong again for the first time and as of right now he’s cursing the very day that he was born.

“Hyun, you look kinda pale?” Jiyong lowers his arms whilst taking a step forward to get a closer look at Seunghyun. The statue is sweating buckets and it doesn’t help that he feels shaky.

“Daddy?” Yuna pulls on the reins.

“Sorry I-You look amazing-” Seunghyun rushes out in yet another hasty breath. He holds out a hand and Jiyong looks at it as if Seunghyun’s sticking a solo finger up at him. The latter laughs and raises the hand to his hair, combing back some fluffy caramel locks. “I-uh-Didn’t know you shh-shopped here…” Nerves get the better of Seunghyun and he trails off looking everywhere but at Jiyong.

“Well I didn’t know that you shopped here.” Jiyong fires back in a sort of sulky tone.

“Ah-I-You-I’ve buggered this up haven’t I?” Seunghyun stammers on as his tummy twists into tiny knots.

“Almost” Jiyong smirks. He looks so good though and Seunghyun’s having serious problems, he really wants to touch the jumper – it looks so damn furry – but he needs to control himself because this conversation is just spiralling downhill. Whilst Seunghyun watches him Jiyong shifts the shopping bags to behind his back and he smirks when this mystifies Seunghyun.

“Can we try again?” Seunghyun sighs, blinking a couple of times and flicking some itchy sweat from his forehead.

“Sure, hang on.” Jiyong makes this buzzing noise and walks backwards, he nearly knocks another shopper out but the woman’s too busy on her phone to notice and the two just miss by an inch. He pauses in front of the escalator and pretends to put his mobile back into his pocket. All the while Seunghyun clears his throat, Yuna pinches his hand, and Jiyong stops walking just as he reaches the two.

“Seunghyun!” He calls in exactly the same tone as before, the man in question bursts out into a fit of giggles at his sheer idiocy and takes a step forward.

“Hi Jiyong.” He smiles as Jiyong gets down onto his knees and gives Yuna another hug.

“Hello gorgeous!” Jiyong repeats from before, Yuna giggles when he pecks her cheek again. Following that Jiyong returns to his feet for the second time today and smirks. “Your turn” He repeats. Seunghyun can’t help but laugh some more as he embraces Jiyong, it’s a quick hug and there’s more squeezing on Seunghyun’s part. “That’s better!” Jiyong laughs too when they quickly pull apart.

“I’m sorry about before.” Seunghyun manages to say after clearing his throat. “Honestly I’m nervous.”

“Nervous?” Jiyong raises an alarmed brow. “Why are you feeling nervous?” Because you’re freaking hot and I can barely string a single sentence together in front of you.

“A-about tonight…” Seunghyun’s voice fails him once more.

“Ah, I see.” The look of confusion slips from Jiyong’s beautiful face as a smile brightens his whole complexion up. There’s just something about Jiyong’s smile which warms Seunghyun right away and he starts to feel a little more confident. “Well did you bus here?”

“Yeah” Seunghyun replies still in a bit of a daze from his thoughts, the overwhelming urge to hug Jiyong again just won’t go away.

“Oh I brought my car, are you still shopping?” Seunghyun nods in reply to Jiyong’s question. “Wanna get a coffee or something? Maybe we could chill with each other for a bit?”

“Sure.” Seunghyun really wants the ability to kick himself square in the face, it’s pathetic how quick he is to agree with everything Jiyong says. It’s even more ridiculous how he can trust this guy so quickly and they haven’t even had their official first date yet. Official first date, Seunghyun grins, he likes the sound of that.

“Well if you’ll both follow me.” Jiyong extends a hand to Yuna who takes it and the trio set off with Seunghyun’s little girl walking in between the two men swinging their held hands in time with their feet.

They sit down in a little generic coffee shop – it’s all brown and dark wood and packed with a ton of people sipping on their various versions of fancy coffee – but it does the trick. Seunghyun feels a lot calmer than before and when they sit down he feels like he can breathe fluently now, Jiyong leaves the two sat sandwiched together on a compact leather sofa whilst he goes off to order something. Jiyong did ask Seunghyun what he wanted but his reply was to just get Yuna a small milkshake, to be honest Seunghyun didn’t want to overspend – he was planning on buying Jiyong a present for later. Ten minutes later, the coffee hero returns with a full tray and sits next to Yuna, again she’s positioned between the two but neither mind or if they do they don’t vocalise it. Seunghyun shakes his head, turns on the sofa to face the both of them as he slips the reins from his and Yuna’s wrists all the while shooting a look of strong disapproval at Jiyong.

There’s a big banana milkshake with a nice stack of cream and sprinkles covering the very top whereas the rest of the tray houses two coffee giant mugs, two éclair cakes and a lollipop.

“You didn’t have to.” Seunghyun’s still shaking his head as Jiyong drags the small coffee table from in front closer to them.

“I know but want and need are two completely different things…” Jiyong shrugs with a mischievous wink to Yuna who sits up and stares at the milkshake as if she’s fallen in love for the very first time. “Here you go little one.” Jiyong casually says when he lifts the milkshake from the tray and puts it just before the edge of the table. Now that she’s sat up Yuna can reach the long straw and she in the milkshake with a pleased smile. Seunghyun’s still looking at Jiyong from behind his daughter’s back and on instinct he keeps a palm resting against the small of her spine, just helping her to stay balanced.

“Well thank you.” Seunghyun slowly says when Jiyong raises an elbow to the head of the sofa and shifts onto his side to meet Seunghyun’s gaze.

“Don’t thank me until you’ve tried the coffee, I guessed that you’re a vanilla kind of guy?”

“I am.” Seunghyun smiles sitting up to study the coffee “And you’re a caramel guy?” He guesses.

“It’s like you know me.” Jiyong smirks reaching up to lift his mug from the tray, he presses the white ceramic to his rosy-pink lips and drinks in a huge sip. “So Seunghyun…” Jiyong says once he’s swallowed the sip and settles the mug back onto the tray.

“Yeah?” Seunghyun blows on the coffee before he drinks, he smiles right away because it’s heavenly and everything is exactly how he likes it.

“You can have your present before our date if you promise me that I can drive you home after you’ve finished shopping.” The coffee almost escapes Seunghyun’s mouth at the request.

“Why?” He shakes and places the mug back down.

“Well I don’t want you to get the bus back.”

“But what if I want to get the bus back?” Seunghyun argues just for the fun of it seeing as how he’s already decided in his divvy head that his answer is a yes.

“Well then you can’t have your present, ever.” Jiyong replies poking the corner of his tongue out as it his smile.

“Fine then I won’t show up for our date.” Seunghyun distinctly swallows, it’s like his eyes can zoom in on Jiyong’s lips or something.

“I’m picking you up from your house pabo.” Jiyong points out with a laugh and Seunghyun’s face quickly streaks with humiliating shades of crimson as his eyes stop zoning in on Jiyong’s lovely lips. “You have to be there, it’s your house.”

“Ah yeah… I guess you’re right.” Seunghyun gulps.

“So what do you say?”

“Well at this rate we’ll be going straight from here to our date…” Seunghyun does that thing, you know, the really stupid thing when you say your thoughts out loud and you don’t really mean it.

“Oh! That’s a great idea!” Jiyong’s response makes Seunghyun groan but he somehow keeps it in.

“I didn’t mean-”

“No it’ll be great and we won’t spend too much time overworking our nerves, I cannot wait.” Seunghyun resists the urge to roll his eyes as his brain thinks, Jiyong is anything but conventional, and the simple realisation is enough to make him exceptionally happy and anxious – both at the same time. Everything settles down for a while and the two men get halfway through their drinks before they discover that Yuna’s finished hers. She’s now eyeing up the lollipop but Seunghyun can read her like a book, he knows that she won’t touch until she’s sure that it’s for her – she’s good like that sometimes.

“Here.” Both Jiyong and Seunghyun are sitting up and the former stretches out, grabs the lollipop and unwraps it handing the finished blue product over to Yuna. She accepts it with a small thank you and a bow whilst Seunghyun eyes the sweet treat up, he lets it slide this time because normally he’s against spoiling her with excessively sugary foods although, it can be just a one off right?

“And this one’s for you.” Jiyong points out lifting one of the éclair plates up into Seunghyun’s empty hands which foresee this coming and turn over to hold the plate.

“Thank you.” Seunghyun quietly replies not looking up at Jiyong as he slips a hand from under the plate and scoops a little of the cream onto the tip of his index finger, tasting it with a light . It’s good, almost too good, and he breaks the end of the éclair off to eat the rest. He doesn’t even register the fact that Jiyong’s eyeing him up like a deprived hawk. Seunghyun gets about halfway through the éclair when Yuna pipes up and nudges his side.

“Daddy I need to pee-pee.” She whispers when her father just about turns his attention from the creamy treat back to her.

“Oh?” Seunghyun puts the plate down onto the tray and absentmindedly the leftover chocolate from his fingertips.

“There must be a disabled loo?” Jiyong questions gazing around the coffee shop, a waitress passes them and he catches her attention. “Excuse me miss, do you have a disabled toilet?”

“I’m sorry.” She shakes her head. “The only disabled toilets are the ones on the ground floor, by the main entrance.”

“Well that’s not good enough, what if a disabled person needs to go? Or a man whose daughter needs to go but can’t use the gents?” Jiyong shakes his head. “Never mind, thank you.”

“Sir, does your daughter need the toilet?” The waitress looks from Jiyong to Seunghyun nervously. Jiyong looks at Seunghyun and the latter gulps.

“Do you think I would be implying something which isn’t true?” Jiyong glances back at the waitress. “Or maybe I just like to make things up for a laugh? Of course she needs the toilet.” Seunghyun’s rather stumped right now, he’s never seen Jiyong so… what’s the right word… fearless? Bold?

“I’m so sorry Sir but that’s all I can offer you. She looks like a big girl so surely she can go into the ladies by herself?”

“Well I’m so sorry that your customer service is poor, a parent needs to accompany their child to the toilet no matter what gender they are.” Suddenly Jiyong stands up, Seunghyun was just about to tell him to leave it, but he reaches out a hand to Yuna. “Come on I’ll take you.” The two look at Seunghyun who doesn’t answer, he’s still stumped.

“Sir you can’t-”

“I can do whatever I want, I’m a customer and the customer is always right.” Yuna shyly takes Jiyong’s hand and before Seunghyun can get a full grasp on the conversation Jiyong’s strutting right into the back of the coffee shop with the poor waitress flustering about behind him. Seunghyun almost falls off the sofa as he moves to catch Jiyong throwing a smile into his direction, Seunghyun melts. He’s in love with an idiot.

When Jiyong and Yuna return from their toilet travels Jiyong simply flicks a wave at the latter and continues on, heading straight for the door. Seunghyun leaves his half-drunk coffee and pelts after him, all too happy to leave the stupid coffee shop behind. They wander around the shopping mall, not really paying attention to where they’re heading, all the while Yuna rambles on about how Jiyong scared all the women in the toilets as he guarded her stall door and by the time she’s finished explaining what happened both adults are laughing.

“I guess they got a bit of a shock, huh?” Seunghyun asks, squeezing Yuna’s hands in his.

“But Daddy Jion was amazing!” Little Yuna bursts with further excitement.

“Did you hear that Hyun? I’m amazing.” Jiyong smugly winks then swings Yuna’s hand in his.

“No I must’ve misheard I thought she said you were sunbathing, sorry.” Seunghyun jokes, which forces more laughter from Jiyong’s lungs specifically when Yuna uses their held hands to nudge her Father’s stomach.

“Appa!” She scolds with a small giggle.

“What? I didn’t say anything…”

“Yeah, yeah… Come on.” Jiyong rolls his eyes with a laugh. “So what were you both doing before I interrupted you?” Well that question just knocks the wind right out of Seunghyun.

“Browsing…” Seunghyun shrugs peering off to look at a nearby jewellery store. His eyes pick up on a big silver ring with an emerald green gemstone in the middle and he halts the rest of the troupe when he stops walking. Without realising he pulls Yuna, which in turn pulls Jiyong, over to the open shop. A man is sat behind the row of velvet-lined goods and he stands when the trio approach him.

“Wow…” Seunghyun whispers studying the ring, it’s beautiful, the silver is dusted with what looks like patches of gold and an intricate line of striking indents encircle the gemstone.

“What is it Hyun?” Jiyong asks and that’s when Seunghyun nearly jumps out of his skin, he’d totally forgotten about everyone else.

“Ah it’s no-”

“It’s a very handsome choice Sir.” The store clerk lifts the ring Seunghyun was looking at and holds it up for Jiyong to see.

“It’s pretty.” Jiyong’s reply sends Seunghyun’s heart racing, he shakes his head.

“It just caught my eye that’s all.” Seunghyun answers when he spots the price tag. He likes it but not that much. “Honestly, now that I’ve seen it up close I’m not sure I like it.” Jiyong takes a step in as Seunghyun steps out and the latter frowns when Jiyong grabs it from the store clerk.

“I like it.” Jiyong smiles slotting the ring onto his finger, Seunghyun’s vacant fist unintentionally balls up and he’s fuming by the time Jiyong says to the clerk “I’ll take it, it fits perfectly.”

“Excellent, your friend has a very good eye for beauty doesn’t he?” The clerk stares over Jiyong’s shoulder to look at Seunghyun.

“Yes he does.” Jiyong nonchalantly replies without looking back at Seunghyun.

“Shall I box it up for you Sir?” Yuna drops Jiyong’s hand as the latter reaches into his back jean pocket and pulls out his wallet. Seunghyun’s jaw is quite possibly resting against the ground by now and if he was a cartoon character steam would be escaping his ears in cloudy puffs of anger.

“Sure, sure…” Jiyong nods over and over again as the clerk puts the ring in a blue box then pops it into a pretty paper bag. When it’s been paid for Jiyong bows at the clerk before he spins around to find an angry Seunghyun glaring at him, “Come on, I think that’s enough shopping for one day, I’m so tired.” He yawns.

“What was that?” Seunghyun gestures at the shop as Jiyong walks up to him, he’s confused but Seunghyun knows that he’s just trying to cover up for himself.

“Well you said you didn’t like it so I brought it?” Jiyong answers, blinking several times over his extra wide eyes.

“But I only said that because it was expensive, I liked it really!” At this Jiyong shrugs and takes Yuna’s hand, the two start wandering off without Seunghyun. “Hey! Come back here, I’m not finished with you yet!” He shouts after Jiyong who’s laughing with Yuna and Seunghyun scowls, stamping his feet on the spot before he gives up and follows them.

They head back to Jiyong’s car which is stationed in the underground car park, Seunghyun sulks the entire way there trying to make it blatantly obvious to Jiyong that he’s annoyed with him though the latter doesn’t seem to care and he preoccupies himself in a conversation with Yuna. The car journey back to Seunghyun’s is also strained except this time Jiyong tries to talk to him, but still Seunghyun ignores him. When Seunghyun’s back at home he opens the front door and leaves Jiyong to stand there whilst he puts Yuna down for a little nap, it’s when he comes back that Seunghyun actually says something to him.

“I’m going for a shower, make yourself comfortable.”

“Hyun I’m so-”However Jiyong doesn’t get the chance to finish his reply because before he can the bathroom door slams right on his face.

Seunghyun doesn’t really know why Jiyong’s annoying him this afternoon, everything was fine until he brought that ridiculous ring, and he sighs stripping off his clothes. As soon as the shower’s hot enough Seunghyun steps in, he hums a slow tune which ends up sounding something like “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” whilst he washes. When that’s done he steps out and throws his old clothes into the wash basket. All the nerves in which he’d previously felt have somehow been replaced by pure frustration and when Seunghyun catches a glimpse of his angry self in the bathroom cabinet’s mirror he sighs yet again.

Just what are you doing Seunghyun? He shakes his head and brushes back his hair. You’re not really jealous over a stupid ring are you? What does this say about your feelings for Jiyong? If he annoys this much you can’t possibly love him right?

Seunghyun fiddles with the tucked in edges of his towel and grumbles to himself, leaving the bathroom. After checking that the coast is clear he quickly runs across the hallway, into his bedroom, and relaxes when the door’s closed. Luckily Jiyong didn’t see him so Seunghyun quietly wanders over to his bed, trying not to wake the sleeping Yuna, whilst he thinks of something to wear. As he approaches the bed though he notices a black suit hanging over the foot of it, Seunghyun frowns.

What the heck?

When he gets closer Seunghyun recognises the gold sparkly bowtie and he almost faints in gratitude. Who put this there? Where did this come from?

“Jiyong!!” Seunghyun nearly shouts then marches out of his bedroom, holding the suit out in front of him. He walks into the living room to find Jiyong sat on the sofa picking at his nails and straightaway he says

“What is this?”

“It’s a suit?” Jiyong looks perplexed as he glances up to meet Seunghyun.

“Well I can see that but why is it in my room?”

“Er…” Jiyong clears his throat and whistles, directing his gaze away from Seunghyun.

“What? Why are you whistling? OH GOD I’M !” Seunghyun looks down at his missing towel and cries out, he rapidly presses the suit to his front then tries to peer over his shoulder to look for his towel. “Don’t look at me! Cover your eyes! I SAID COVER YOUR EYES JIYONG!!” Embarrassment creeps right up Seunghyun’s neck and inflames his face, all the while Jiyong’s trying to peek in the gaps of his raised fingers.

“WHERE IN THE HELL DID MY TOWEL-”

“Daddy?” Yuna’s sleepy voice sounds out from behind Seunghyun and he freezes midsentence. “Here.” Seunghyun’s just about to turn around when he can feel something fluffy cover him and with a sigh he wraps the rest of the towel around his front.

“Thank you baby, I’m sorry for shouting but you need to go back to sleep.” Turning around and giving his daughter a gentle kiss on the forehead Seunghyun then brushes one of her cheeks with his thumb. She smiles at the contact before saying

“Daddy strops too much, he needs to smile more.” And with that she plods off back to bed. Seunghyun sighs and shakes his head, turning back to face Jiyong a moment later. He’s expecting Jiyong to look confused, maybe even a little hurt or annoyed, however he doesn’t look like any of these things instead he’s just smiling, just smiling.

“I didn’t see anything.” Jiyong comments draping his hands over a crossed knee, “And do you like the suit?”

“Of course I like the suit…” Seunghyun slowly mumbles. He’s just waiting for Jiyong to run out of the door and never come back.

“Well then I’m glad you like your present.” Jiyong nods still smiling.

“But why? It’s so expensive…” Seunghyun looks from Jiyong to the suit then back again.

“Because I wanted to, because you’re worth it, and because I want our outfits to match.” Jiyong stands as he talks, barely inches away from Seunghyun once he’s finished.

“Why?” Seunghyun still questions with a deep frown.

“Because I’m taking you somewhere special and I want you to feel your best.” Jiyong answers, Seunghyun swears he can see sparkles in those honey eyes and he’s too engrossed in the sight of them to even notice Jiyong’s hand which is trailing up his left arm.

“You mean you’re taking me somewhere expensive and through choosing my own clothes I’ll only drag your appearance down?”

“You’re putting words into my mouth.” Jiyong’s smile cracks but it feels as if he’s getting closer.

“So?” Seunghyun just notices the touch which is now tickling at his neck, he can feel Jiyong’s every breath against his lips and suddenly it’s all a bit much. He feels like he might faint.

“So I would rather you put something else in there instead.” The smile’s back and it’s double its original size. “But let me, at least, treat you to dinner first.” He pulls back which allows Seunghyun to exhale a much needed breath. The latter just nods slightly.

“I’ll go-go to change-” Seunghyun breathlessly stammers slowly backing away from Jiyong in the process.

“Hurry, it’s already four and our table is booked for six.” Jiyong returns to sitting back down on the sofa and Seunghyun nods, swiftly speeding off into his bedroom to change. With the fast pace comes a new rush and it stirs Seunghyun’s nerves up again though they aren’t that bad, not compared to how alive he feels and how much his heart is racing.