“Hello Jongmin-ah. Daddy is home.”  The ashy brown eyed man says with warmth as he watches the small boy shoved behind his mother.

He’s clinging onto her spring jacket, looking at the tall man with big brown eyes. Jongin sees his own self reflected in the boy. The same dark hair, the nose and the skin tone. What are not his are the eyes and the lips. Aside from that, Park Jongmin is his spitting image. That, even a blind man would affirm.

“D-daddy?” The little boy speaks out with a light frown, gazing between the two adults.

He tries out the word in his mind a couple of more times until he gets used to it. It feels strange on the tip of his tongue, for Jongmin had never spoken such a word. And even if he did think of his father, there was nothing but a dark, shadowed figure. He couldn’t associate the word ‘father’ with a face, which left him hanging.

The boy had felt hollowed for the whole of his life, having but one parent. However, his mother had always granted him everything, even if that meant that she had to starve for days or wear shabby clothes. Even if Taehee couldn’t wear make-up, or properly arrange herself, she was happy, watching Jongmin play with a simple toy, or wholeheartedly enjoy ice-cream.

It might be difficult to believe, but Park Taehee did not lead an easy life. And it’s not like she could forever entrust herself in Chanyeol and Hyera’s care either.

“He’s not your father, Minnie.” The woman speaks harshly, shocking both of them.

Jongin stares at her expressionless face in utter horror, while her beloved Minnie looks up at her with tears in his big brown eyes. His mommy is usually not mean. So why is she acting like a bully, and towards his father, of all?

“B-but…” The little boy begins with a shaky voice, but Taehee cuts him off.

“Head upstairs first.” She tells him coldly, and gives him the apartment keys.

It’s not a very wealthy area, and the apartment they live in is small, but it’s everything Taehee could afford to buy, with her job as a secretary at a notary office.

Jongmin lingers behind one more moment, with the keys in his tiny fist. He looks up to the figure of his father, hovering over him and his mother. And in response, Jongin shots him a warm smile, and waves at him softly. Nodding, the little boy turns on his heel and begins to walk away, only to look back at his parents at every fourth or fifth step.

Taehee opens to speak only after Jongmin is out of aud