Luhan groans to the sound of his door buzzer. Whoever it is has been buzzing him for almost a good half hour on a Sunday morning, the only morning he looks forward to since his Saturdays are usually spent reading records and dealing with various legal documents. He didn’t go to sleep until five-something this morning and when he checks the time on his alarm clock, the red numbers display 9:18 a.m.

He figured that the person who is buzzing outside his house will give up if he ignores it long enough, so he reaches for another pillow and covers his ears with it; however, it doesn’t help at all. About a minute later, the buzzing finally stops and he is completely awake.

I’d do anything for a Sunday sleep in.

He enters his bathroom and begins washing his face and brushing up. He still has a few documents left to do, so maybe he’ll finish them all after a light but healthy breakfast. Maybe after that, he can slip in an eight-to-ten minute jog around his neighborhood. Yes, that will be the perfect Sunday morning he had envisioned for the last five and a half years.

But he never accomplishes it.

One reason: there’s always something getting along with his Sunday sleep.

It’s always, always Sunday where he has to do something. Either his Mother comes over to visit and ensure that he’s living properly—something she has been doing ever since her “mother reformation”—or one of his buddies calling him over for a drink that he can’t be excused, or he has to drop by his company for a meeting, just anything.

After he finishes cleaning himself up, he gets into the clothes he had laid out last night by the foot bed: a washed out green T and denim shorts. He quickly ruffles his bed hair and is about to head straight into his office room when a call stops him.

“Hello?” He asks after accepting the call.

“Luhan! It’s Eunji!”

“Eunji?” He questions into the phone. “I don’t know—”

“—of course you know an Eunji!” She happily says from the other line with giggles. “I’m Eunji the Builder. Your partner who built your company for you?”

He smiles, finally remembering. He doesn’t call her by her first name despite the relationship they have established. “Ah, Eunji ah. Sorry. I’m still in sleep mode.”

“Sleep mode? I’ve been buzzing at your door for the last hundred decades and you didn’t hear me?”

“You are at my door?” He rushes downstairs, “Wait, I’ll come open you now.” He hangs up his phone and within fifteen seconds, he opens the door to see Eunji in a plain white blouse and black slacks. Her heels of choice are also in black, with a one-inch raise. After one look up and down at her, he questions, “D-do we have a meeting today?”

It’s usually at business meetings where they meet up, and when they do, she’s in those kinds of work outfits instead of her usual loose white T’s, long trousers, mustard yellow helmet and with brown-stained hands. If not, she can be found at the far back construction site, building the second building for his business extension. She and Luhan have been working together ever since he became a businessman, and she’s his exclusive construction worker.

Eunji’s s not only a construction worker, but she’s the only female in the group, and the leading person of the construction. She comes from a long family line of business in building, construction, and anything related to architecture. Her Dad’s one of the top most trusted and most competent people in the building industry. It all started off with a small business of carpentry back in the day, extending their offers into plumbing and maintaining. Then, when technology and the new age hit, the Jung family, already with extensive knowledge in all areas of construction, has established a notably reputation around the world, thus climbing the ladder to success.

But, it had always been the boys who had the honor of becoming the next Jung Chairman to lead the next generation, that is until Eunji, the eldest daughter of three of the current Jung leader, with a passion for building, takes the spot after her only younger brother ran out on the family, not wanting any part of the business.

“There’s no meeting today, but there’s a meeting between us, though.” She invites herself in, much to his dismay. “I told you countless times about the birthday party my friend is throwing, remember?”

Luhan shuts the door behind him. “And I told you countless times, no.” He turns back around and leads her into his living room. He motions for her to sit. “I’m not going, I can’t go, and I’m busy.”

“Busy with what?” She gets a good look at him. “Did you not have enough sleep for the past few days?”

He massages his eyes, knowing how she got that figured out—his dark baggy eyes in result of lack of sleep. He corrects her, “It’s not days. It’s been weeks.”

She stands up in shock, “What were you doing staying up?”

He walks into his kitchen, “Well, with my newest extension and another subsidiary business, I had to make sure it all fit under my budget belt. I can’t be a successful businessman if I go broke.” He takes out a cup and fills it with water.

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean you should work yourself to death over it.”

He playfully scoffs from in the kitchen and comes back to the living room. He hands her the cup and sits on the opposite couch. “That’s why I’ve been telling you that I’m not going to go.” He smacks his lips together. “And, I don’t want any more rumors about us or anyone ‘shipping’ us together.”

Eunji tries to keep a smile.

“I told you that we should keep our distance from one another. We’re work buddies.”

“Work buddies?” She places the cup down. “But you know—”

“—I know what you feel for me, but I don’t see you that way.” He sits up straight and clasps his hands together. “I’m sorry, Eunji You’re more than friends because I see you as family.” He sends her an apologetic smile, “I wish you’d start seeing me in that way, too.”

Eunji exhales. “I know.” She repeats it again, but this time, she utters it. “But, can you please go with me to celebrate my friend’s son’s birthday? I promised her that I’d take you.”

“You promised you’d take me? For what?”

“To-to show her the man—uh—businessman, I’ve been praising about.” She picks up her cup and glances gloomily down at it. “I haven’t seen her since I transferred college and I’d really like to see her son.”

“Her son?” He tries his best to keep in his laugh.

He and Eunji both know that Eunji doesn’t get along with nor likes kids. She can pretend to like them and smile at them, but she can’t hold a stable conversation with a kid for more than ten seconds. Or worst, sometimes, the kid ends up crying. Luhan didn’t believe it’d be true until he witnessed it last summer when a toddler accidently stumbled upon the construction site she was working at and while she tried to the kid away, the toddler ended up crying—without being touched at all—and walked away from the site.

Eunji catches the tone from Luhan’s previous question and blushes while bashfully looking away. “Well, I-I want to try…” she begins to lower her tone, “…to be…with kids.”

“Why?”

“Because you love kids.”

The room becomes silent as the atmosphere around them slowly becomes filled with awkwardness.

Eunji purses her lips together and continues with a question. “Isn’t that why you started this business? I know there’s also the assumption of you having a fondness for toys, but whenever I see you lay eyes on a child who happily steps out of your business with an action figure or a doll in their hand, it’s-it’s like you lived to only see that, that small glimpse of a smile from a stranger’s kid.”

Hearing his friend speak on the subject with the combination of kids and his business, his stomach churns and his eyes lower. This mixed subject always makes him moody because of what happened five and a half years ago.

“Luhan?” asks Eunji.

She used to call me tenderly like that, too, back then.

“Luhan?”

And then, she’ll say, “What’s wrong with you?” After that, she’ll—

“Luhan, what’s wrong with you?”

When he hears a familiar question verbally out loud, he perks up with a fright. “Y-yeah?”

“You became silent. Thinking of something?”

“A bit.” He tries to smile, but can’t force himself to.

Eunji inhales, “Look, just go with me to this party. Get your mind off of your business. Like my dad always said, ‘work when you could, party when you should’.”

Yeah. I’m in no mood to work anymore anyway. He gets up and stretches. “You’ve got it.” He points behind him, “Let me get dressed and I’ll be back.”

“Sure,” she smiles, pleased. “Take your time.”

*

“So, how long have you two known each other?” Luhan asks Eunji as she drives them to the friend’s place. “She must be older than you if she has a kid.”

Eunji lets out a laugh, “Actually, she’s your age.”

“My age and already with a kid? But, isn’t her son turning seven?” He looks out the window while shaking his head. Doing a quick mental math, he says, “I have turned twenty-four this year, and if she’s my age, that means she has been a mom since seventeen.” Having processed this, it rings a memory he has been agonized countless times over and over again.

I, too, was a father at seventeen.

“I was shocked myself, too, when I did the math. She doesn’t look like the type who’d end up with the baby at seventeen.”

“End up?”

Eunji nods. “Yeah. I think she divorced her husband with full custody for her child and has been raising him as a single mother since then.” She adds a proud smile, “But, no matter how exhausting her day was throughout our college years together, she was like you—she had this huge grin from cheek to cheek on her smile and it was as if her exhaustion disappeared if she’s with her son. And for once, she made me want to have kids of my own.” She scrunches her nose, “But, of course, kids aren’t for me.”

“You never know.” Luhan says, monotonously. “Kids. They-they really are miracles. They’re the joy of a parent’s life. They’re hard work, expensive, and prone to danger, but at the end of the day, when you look deep into those beautiful innocent eyes,” he scoffs happily, “a feeling of wonder washes over you and-and—”

At first, while he is explaining, he thought of all the happy and delightful memories he had from five and a half years ago with his two most special people. But all of it disappeared when the aching memory of seeing his special someone walking into a champagne-colored car and getting driven off, never turning back to look or stop for him, no matter how hard he called out to her.

“You went quiet again,” Eunji comments. “You’re doing that awfully a lot today.”

“Sorry.”

“I’m sorry.” Eunji says, “I really shouldn’t have forced you to come with me.”

“No, I’m the one who should be sorry. I-I just recalled a few things.” Excruciating things.

“Then, I hope her kid will help take your mind off of it. I’ve met him a couple of times, and he’s…” her comment trails off because, well, they both know it.

She has no good words about kids. It is with kids, after all.

“But-but,” she stutters, “he is a good kid. That, I can say.”

The two burst into laughs.

“I guess I can’t wait to see him.” He shifts in his seat, “By the way, what’s his name?”

“His name is Taeyang.”

Luhan’s entire body freezes. That name sounds too familiar.

“A cute name for a sunny boy who was born in the summer, isn’t it?”

*

“Spacing out again?” Eunji is out of her car, resting her hand on her open car door as she looks down to Luhan, who hasn’t gotten out; in fact, halfway through the ride, he has stayed silent and when she had tried to ask if he wanted to change the music station, he didn’t replied. The loud cheering from inside the nearby house gets to her and she tries one more time to get her friend’s attention. “Luhan, we’re here.”

He hears his name and perks up, “Y-yeah?” When he looks around and sees that Eunji has gotten out of the car, he embarrassingly steps out, too. “Sorry, I—”

“I know.” She smiles, forgiving him.

The two starts walking to the door until Eunji gasps.

“Darn it, I forgot the present at the back of my car.”

“I’ll go get it. You go on inside.”

“Thanks.” She gives him the keys and rings the doorbell without him.

Within five seconds, the door opens.

“Eunji! You made it!” exclaims the happy mother.

“Of course I would!”

The two girls hug but it is broken when a male’s voice calls the host from in the kitchen.

“You should go,” Eunji says, patting her friend on the shoulder. “I’ll…” she looks inside the house filled with wild kids—playing games on the T.V., jumping on the sofa, or running in the hallway. “…I’ll…stand around.”

“Make yourself comfortable, Eunji.” And the host leaves to do her work.

“Got it here,” Luhan says, coming up from behind Eunji. “Here.”

He hands her the gift and the two enter inside the house, just in time for the birthday song. They include themselves in the song, squeezing at the corner of the entrance of the kitchen, standing right behind the joyful mother who is busily opening the cake’s box.

“Ah, Taeyang, run out there to get your father and his friends,” says the mother.

“Father?” Eunji utters in confusion.

Luhan overhears and whispers to his friend, “I thought you said she raises her child alone.”

“I-I thought so, too.” She didn’t tell me anything about it when we talked two nights ago. “Well, I’m glad she’s got—” drops, “Mr. Lu?”

Luhan knows that Eunji doesn’t refer him as “Mr. Lu,” so he’s about to question her when he notices that she isn’t intently looking at him, but at someone else. As he turns his attention around, his gaze passes over a familiar face and he instantly looks back at the person in front of him.

The mother.

The both of them stands still. In shock.

Before he knows it, his hands reach out to pull the lady into his embrace. Panting as if he has just ran the mile and sweating as if he just came out of the shower, he whispers between them, “Tag. I finally found you.”

*

“Good bye, and thank you for the gifts!” The host closes the door to her house after bidding the last of her guests, goodbye. She then turns her attention at the friend who stays behind sitting on her couch. “Sorry Eunji, but whenever you’re ready, though.”

Eunji has to ask her friend to take her home because Luhan has used her car to drive back to work because he’s received a call from the Store Manager about an inventory problem. But, because her friend can’t leave until she’s send all of her guests home, Eunji’s only choice is to wait until her friend is free.

“First, you’ve got to tell me everything about this ‘father’ that I never knew about.” She chuckles and pats at the empty seat beside her to motion for her friend to sit. “Come on, Hana.”

The host winces and sits beside Eunji. “Eunji…um, before we get to that, is your friend…alright?”

“Oh, Hana, I’m-I’m terribly sorry about what he did to you earlier. Today, he’s been all out of sorts. He’s a very busy man after all. But, do you two know each other?”

Hana backs away, “N-No, I’ve never knew the man before.” She clears and slightly changes the subject off of her. “Is he the man you’ve told me about?” She sees her friend’s cheeks turn pink and receives her answer. She smiles and softly says, “You’ve got a good man. You really do.”

*

“I guess it’s going to be another long night for him.” Eunji says as she looks out at the empty driveway of her house while sitting in the passenger seat of Hana’s car. Since her car hasn’t been returned from Luhan, she knows that it’s still at his workplace, and she doesn’t mind. She can always take other means of transportations. “And he has work at six tomorrow.” She unsnaps the seat belt and steps out the car door, “Thanks, Hana and do tell Taeyang I said ‘Happy Birthday’. I didn’t really get a chance to since he left with his ‘Father’.”

Hana snorts at her friend’s comment. “Yes, I will. But, um, please don’t let what we talked about slip, okay?”

“About Taeyang’s ‘Father’? My lips are sealed.” She winks at Hana and then adds, “Good night.” She closes the door and sprints to her door. Upon entering, she gives one last wave to Hana.

*

“Luhan,” Kris says after opening the door of his house. After receiving a text from his younger brother right after the incident at the party, he already expected his brother’s arrival with loads of questions. “Want anything to drink?” He closes the door behind him while glancing at the time on his watch. 11:52. I didn’t think he’d still come since it’s late into the night already, and we both have work tomorrow.

“Let’s cut to the chase, hyung.” Luhan firmly says as he invites himself to the couch in the living room. When he gets there, he sees various toys and action figures neatly stacked and put away at a clear plastic box at the corner. No wonder his brother doesn’t want him to visit. It’s because his place is filled with evidence of Taeyang’s and Hana’s presence! “How long has this been going on?”

“Luhan, I know you have questions and—”

“—and I want answers. I didn’t think you’d do this to me.” He sits down at the end of the couch, crosses a leg over the other, and rests a hand on the hand rest. “I want to know everything. Like…” his fingers dig deep into the hand rest so he can keep calm despite recalling what he witnessed the birthday party—his brother and his friend cheerfully standing next to one another, ignoring his presence and singing the birthday song to the boy who used to be his. “…how long have you two been married. Or what is the relationship between you two. Or what kind of boy did Taeyang grow up to become? Or…” his fingers relaxes and instead curls into a ball. “…in all of these years…did she stayed…happy?”

Kris looks down in remorse. He knows that this kind of similar conversation between him and his brother will come one day, but if there’s one thing he didn’t expect, it’s the last question. Kris knows Luhan doesn’t get mad easily unless Luhan’s been trampled unfairly or if something meaningful to him has been ruined, but Kris was sure that his brother will flip after seeing what he saw today.

You asked…about her happiness? That’s the one you want to know the most, Luhan? She ran out on you and left you unanswered. Even friends don’t understand each other to this extent.

“Hyung…” Luhan brings his brother back from his thinking. He repeats, “Was she happy?”

Before Kris can answer, his attention is taken when he sees Taeyang coming down the stairs. He gets up and walks over to Taeyang, “What’s wrong?”

Luhan sees this and is shocked. “H-how come he’s here?” He left the party without seeing his brother taking Taeyang to his brother’s place.

“Hi uncle.” Taeyang says, in a shy manner, to Luhan to greet him.

Uncle? I’m your—ugh, forget it.

Kris notices the uncomfortable and tense Luhan and understands why, thus he ends up feeling bitter again. “Um, Taeyang, th-this is um…”

Luhan perks up in hopes that his brother will confess everything to the little boy.

“He’s a friend of mine and you call him ‘uncle’.”