“Wait,” says Kris. He has parked outside Hana’s driveway with Suho with him, whom he’ll take home after dropping off Taeyang, who is asleep at the back. Before arriving, the three grown men had taken Taeyang on a adventurous day—they went to the park to play catch, had lunch at an all-you-can-eat-buffet, and finally to the theater to watch a kids’ movie. “Why did you looked at me when you said that?”

“Hm? Said what?”

“Earlier…this morning…when you said puppeteer…” Kris becomes uncomfortable and doesn’t know how to ask his question. Maybe he is overthinking, but he can’t help but sense that the look his friend gave him when he said it at the time is a sign of something. But just what? “…why did you looked at me?”

Suho laughs, “I-I did?” He blinks and then shrugs. “Hm, I don’t know…” He looks at his friend. “Sorry, did that bothered you?”

“N-no. It’s-it’s I was confused for a bit at why—ah, never mind. It wasn’t something you intended.” His hand reaches for the car handle to open the door.

“But what if I did?” Suho purposely says with a direct and strong voice. With no change of tone, he repeats it again.

Kris stays silent as he stares back, quite frightfully, at his friend.

Suho bursts into a laugh. “Gotcha! I was joking. I thought I should play around with what you were curious about.”

Kris almost faints due to sheer fear. Sheer fear that his friend was really referring to him. With a light laugh, he says, “Oi, that was not funny.”

“Sorry,” Suho says, stepping out too. “I wanted to mess with your reaction.”

Kris goes around his car and then opens the backseat door to take the sleepy Taeyang out of the car and carries him. Right after he closes the door, he catches sight of a well-known car parked on garage lane of Hana’s house. “He’s been here the entire day?”

Suho catches on. “I don’t think a day will be enough to settle the problem between them.”

Both men walk up to the door and Kris rings the doorbell. About a minute or so, the one who opens the door is Hana with a surgical mask.

She pulls her mask down and quickly rushes them inside. “Oh, you can put Taeyang asleep on the couch here.”

“It’s fine. I can take him to his room,” says Kris, who does so.

“Thanks,” Hana says as she greets Suho. “Have you guys ate?”

Suho answers and explains about their day with the young boy. He also quickly brushes through with what happened yesterday, though, not trying to assert that there was tension during the talk. He figures that she’s already have too much on her hands.

“Oh, Mr. Helper,” says Luhan, who steps out with the same surgical mask as Hana that has been pulled down, too. “I didn’t expect to see you here.” He purposely sits intimately close next to Hana. “Of course you would, since you helped—”

“—Luhan,” says his brother, coming from the same way as Luhan did. “Don’t be rude to her guests.”

Suho smiles. “It’s fine. It’s fine.” He timidly points to himself. “I’d do the same if I were in his shoes.”

“But you’re not.” Luhan immediately says, quite annoyed that this new man is taking his side as if repenting for the crime he committed.

Hana casually nudges onto Luhan’s chest with her elbow and he gets pushed back to the back rest of the couch. She thanks Kris, who has walked over to sit beside Suho, for the activities they did with Taeyang. “I hope he wasn’t much of a problem for you guys.”

“No, it was quite fun.” The two men laugh.

Suho points to Kris. “He got lost when he got up on the playground and we had to direct him.”

Kris embarrassingly jumps into the conversation. “Hey, when we competed to see who would go through the entire playground, you slid down head first.”

The two friends have a silent stare off. With seconds later, the both quietly and sternly stick out their hands and say, “Truce?” They shake their hands and happily drop the conversation.

“I’m going to take it that you guys had more fun than my son.” Hana says as she laughs to herself.

Suho bashfully massages the back of his head. “I think we did.”

The trio laugh without Luhan, who always gets let out when her circle of friends get together. It hurts even more when he knows that he could had been one of the people to happily converse about Taeyang if he were still involved with her. But with five and a half years that they have lost, it’s too much to catch up on. Or to pretend to know. And that’s the new darkness he has to face.

Kris clears his throat and the room becomes silent. “Since Taeyang is asleep…and all of the important people are present…I would like to have a talk about something.”

“Even with him here?” Hana subtlety bogs her head at Luhan’s direction.

Luhan sits up straight and pouts at her. “Of course I am! We’re going to get married in the future.” He puts an arm around her shoulders and glares at his brother to signify the challenge of yesterday’s talk about “divorce”.

Hana shrugs her friend’s arm away and ignores his comment. The two older men do the same too. The marriage discussion will probably be the last of their concerns.

“I’d like to discuss about your business proposal, Luhan,” says Kris.

Luhan perks up. He’s completely forgotten about it. In fact, it’s probably something he can wait forever for an answer. Better yet, maybe it is better if he doesn’t receive an answer. At all. “Why are you involved?”

Hana answers, “Because I want Kris to decide what’s best for his son.”

Both brothers irk at the very end of her sentence. ‘His son.’

Kris awkwardly gulps. Luhan frustratingly shifts in his seat. Suho is the only man who smacks his lips.

“Okay.” Luhan gives in. “What about my business offer?”

“First off, you’ve never had any concerns about using or having a business logo, so why now?” Kris firmly asks. Even if he is simply conversing with his younger brother, he is also curious at what his younger brother’s plans are with involving Taeyang and Hana into the business scene. “If it is a must, why not use another child?”

“It’s an obvious choice and answer—why would I want to use some other child when I can use my own son?”

Hana jumps in. “Taeyang’s not—”

Luhan stops her. “—He was and he’ll always be. There’s no denying of that. Even if we only spent a year together.”

“Luhan.” Kris gently raises his voice at him. “She didn’t have a choice back then.”

“She didn’t?” Luhan scoffs. “We could’ve talked it out, you know.” He sadly gazes at his friend who has looked down on the floor. “That’s what couples do. They communicate and work things together. At least, I thought you’d see our friendship as something valid to ask for help.”

The casual conversation doesn’t even last a minute and it has already turn sour. It leaves everyone in silence after Luhan’s comment. And he doesn’t stop there.

Amongst the silence, Luhan gently and softly says the truth. “I want to make up for the years we’ve been apart.”

Suho hasn’t parted his eyes from Luhan and tries to hide his understanding smile. Kris apologetically nods his head in comprehension. And Hana, eyes still on the floor, only glances to the figure beside her. The three of them can sense the hurt, the desperation, and the honestly the younger man had confessed.

“Hyung…you asked me back then…about why I chose to manage a business like mine.” The side of Luhan’s mouth curls. “It’s so that one day, if my family ever wanted to come find me, they can always know where I am. And that I’m always waiting for them. And always will.” He then snickers. “And if that isn’t the case, well, Taeyang’s always liked toys and since he’ll be a spoiled brat, his mother will have to at least come across my business, and that means I’ll always have a chance each day to find her.

“And although both didn’t happen, what I really want is to mend mine and Taeyang’s relationship. That brat has caused all of this to happen and even though I want to hate him so much, the only woman I love is always going to choose him no matter what. Since I can’t be called a “Daddy” because that role has been replaced, I might as well be lumped in with the other so-called Uncles that he knows.

“…And…is that so wrong of me?”

The tension in the room rises even more as the weight of Luhan’s confessions get heavier and heavier with each word he speaks.

Kris has had a feeling from the very beginning that the business his younger brother has opened has a much deeper meaning, but he didn’t expect it to be this deep, that it is to find his virtual family and to repair the relationship.

Kris breaks the silence. “I-I just want to say that…I’ve allowed and persuaded Taeyang to…accept the proposal.”

Luhan’s expression doesn’t change, as the three had assumed. They thought he’d cheer or be in a victorious and happy state of mind, but maybe it’s due to the dense discussion they are in that he isn’t in the mood to celebrate.

What they didn’t know is that Luhan can’t be happy. Especially not with the way his brother had said it. He wasn’t looking for permission. And the way his brother has become the authoritarian figure in the offer, he can’t help but feel envious and disappointed at how this is concluded. But regardless, he has to accept it if he wants to develop the relationship between the virtual family.

“But I would like to ask for his personal privacy,” adds Kris.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, your business has always done well, even without any logo figure, so if news of your business using a logo figure to promote sales is exposed to the public, I’m sure you’ll have questions about whom Taeyang is and why you chose Taeyang.”

Luhan smirks. “I’m not stupid to involve Taeyang and Hana into the public press.”

“I know, but with our situation like this, I want to make sure we’re on the same ground.”

“We are…” he sighs. “But I don’t know how long you guys will last.” He purposely brings in the past. “Because from what I know, I’m not the one who does things halfway.”

*

Hana enters the bedroom of her son and Kris. She closes the door behind her and depressingly looks at her son sleeping soundlessly. It’s been an hour since the conversation with Luhan, Kris, and Suho. After the seal of the offer was done and over with, Kris and Suho left first, as they have an early job tomorrow, and Luhan left after ten or so minutes of silence. He tried to lightened up the atmosphere when it was just the two of them by attempting to give her a good night kiss or to persuade her to allow him to sleep for the night again. When he gave her the ultimatum and was really intending to leave if she did one or the other, she gave in, with much humiliation. She chose to give him a peck on the cheek instead. He complied but tricked her and turned his cheek away and smooched her on the lips. The two laughed it off with much bickering—from her—and with much teasing—from him—before he actually left.

Due to the depressing conversation they had earlier, she can’t find the energy to sleep by herself. She wants to sleep with her son because she can’t help but fear that this offer will possibly bring the “truth” to light. Even though it has a high possibility of it not happening, the fact that Luhan and Taeyang will be seeing each other more often is enough to strike fear in her heart.

She can’t believe that her six years of defending both boys’ lives might come to a close if this persists.

*

Luhan: I’ll see you and Taeyang at 4 sent at 2:18 p.m.

Although it has been a good two weeks since she last had anything to do with Luhan, she kind of feels relieved to receive something from him after his two-week departure. Apparently, he's been busily booking staffs, dealing with business deals, and working with his creative design management for the upcoming commercial and logo mascot debut of Taeyang. At the same time, she's overwhelmed at how things are going to play out from here.

At work, sitting on her office desk, Hana grudgingly turns off her phone after she looks at her text. Today’s the day where she and Taeyang will have a business meeting with Luhan’s staffs regarding the offer of using Taeyang as their promotional logo figure, like how Progressive Insurance has Flo for their promotional logo, or like how McDonalds cyesns use Ronald McDonald.

Taeyang will be the business’ first—and only, in the mind of Luhan’s—promotional logo mascot.

Except, Taeyang is and will be the cutest of every business mascot.

Who or what could beat a cute little boy’s charms?

“I can’t believe we’re doing this.” She says to herself. Since morning, she’s been having feelings of regret over hers and Kris’s decision, although she knows it’s something she has no reason to stop Taeyang. She rests her elbows on the desk and puts her palms together. She silently prays. “Luhan…I could only do so much for all of us.”

*

“Mom,” Taeyang steps into the backseat of Luhan’s car. He had just gotten out of school and is surprised to see his uncle present with his mother. “How come Uncle picked us up again?”

This morning, Luhan stopped by and “asked” to take them to school and work. Because Hana didn’t want to make a ruckus so early and didn’t want to make Taeyang late, she had no choice but to allow it.

Luhan, who is behind Hana as he patiently waits for her to seat belt her son, answers, “From now on, Uncle Luhan is taking you anywhere and everywhere.”

Hana finishes seating her son and steps out of the back. “Am not.”

“Am too.” He opens the passenger door for her and then walks to his side. “Taeyang, wouldn’t you like that?” He sits on his seat and waits for his friend to come inside. When he sees that she's reluctant and that she's eyeing him due to his previous comment, he chuckles under his breath and waves for her to come inside.

She obeys, much to her dismay.

He starts the engine and then blurts out, “Let’s go have lunch!”

While Taeyang excitedly celebrates from in the back, Hana is extremely against the idea of lunch. For all she knows, the meeting is commencing at four and there is about half an hour left before it starts.

“Don’t worry,” he says, “it doesn’t start until five.”

“You said four.”

“Yeah. For lunch.”

She can’t believe she’s fallen for such a thing. She rests her head on the head rest and silently groans. “We don’t need lunch. And all of us had ate already.”

Luhan ignores her and before swirling onto the main street, he turns his head back to the little boy. “Taeyang, don’t you want to eat something?”

Hana clicks her tongue. She gently presses Luhan’s chest back onto the seat and leans inwards. She whispers, “You’re purposely using Taeyang, aren’t you?”

“For what?”

“Whatever it is that you are doing.”

“I’m not.” He then quickly gives her a peck on the cheek, and she reflexively leans back in shock and in embarrassment. He brushes off the situation and continues to ask the same question to Taeyang.

Taeyang, however, has seen the scene and with his twinkling eyes expressing curiosity and interest, he asks, “Why did you kissed my mom?”

“Kissed?” He turns to look at Hana. He challenges her. “Would you care to explain?” He wants to know how she’d explain their relationship to Taeyang.

Because she’s hidden due to the seat of the passenger, she angrily mouths to him, “I’m going to kill you after this!” She leans to the side and puts on a smile in front of Taeyang. “U-Uncle Luhan didn’t kiss me.”

Being the innocent boy he is, Taeyang takes that one-comment explanation and only utters an “oh.”

Hana relievingly exhales. As she does so, she glares up at Luhan and growls to him. “No lunch. Just—”

He interruptedly whispers, “—so, you want Taeyang to bore himself for an hour?”

He has a point. If the meeting was to really start in an hour like he had said, that would mean they’d have to wait for almost an hour, and since Taeyang doesn’t have any of his toys with him, he’d definitely be bored. And, she wouldn’t like having to stay in the office alone for an hour with Luhan as they wait for the rest of the people.

“Fine.” She grits her teeth and says. “Lunch is fine.”

“That’s my girl.”

“I’m not—”

“—I know, I know. I’ll call you my woman when we’re—”

“—Luhan!” She hisses. She hastily glances back and sees Taeyang’s attention on the fast moving scenery outside the car, something he does when in the car and doesn’t have his toys or games with him.

Luhan pouts at her. He gets out of parking and swirls onto the main road. “This then.” With his right hand, he grabs her left and tightly clasps them together. She resists and he murmurs, “Since I can’t say it out loud, I want to hold hands.” He sends her an assuring smile. “I’ll hide our hands under here.” He brings their intertwined hands and rests it near the gear stick is, and thanks to the middle armrest box in between them, it neatly shield their hidden hands from Taeyang. He looks up at the front, “You’ve already run away once, so you can’t pull away.”

She looks down in agony. She hates how he always brings that specific part up. But, she understands why, and she can’t and she won’t blame him.

“Even if you do, I’ll still come after you.” After a while, his grip loosens around hers and he utters just loud enough for her to hear. “Because I love you.”

*

Their forty-minute lunch went by well. Although she stood much by the sidelines and watched her friend and her son conversed together about the types of foods they liked, hated, and all sorts of other topics of interests, she found the interactions between both boys to be much pleasure. At first, it was interesting and funny as she found herself laughing alongside too, but once Luhan left to pay, reality hit her. It reminded her of why she chose this relationship in the first place and of why she chose “Taeyang”.

Because of that, she stayed quiet on the entire ride to Luhan’s business.

“Uncle!” Taeyang enthusiastically kicks his legs up and down as he eyes the recognizable tall building. “How did you know that I love this store?”

“You do?”

“Yeah, yeah!” He’s so in love that while Luhan passes by the tall building to find a parking spot, his head follows the direction of the building slowly falling behind the car. “A-are we not going?”

“Of course we are, Taeyang. You’ll be working with us from now on.”

“Working?” He turns his head back to face the older man.

“Didn’t your mom and Kris talked to you about filming commercials for us?”

“Eh, so it’s true?!”

Luhan turns onto his left when he has found a parking spot. “Yep.”

“That’s so cool!” He begins to clap. “Mom! Mom!”

“Y-yes, Taeyang?” She’s come to her senses at the sound of her son’s angelic and hyper voice.

“Can I buy something from here?”

Luhan butts in with his answer. “I’ll let you have anything you want.”

Both Mother and son give him a look; however, Hana’s is more painful-looking in comparison to the astonished expression of Taeyang’s.

“I can give you anything you want, Taeyang.” He puts the car in Parking. “And, we’re here.”

Taeyang’s eyes widen. “Really, Uncle Luhan? How come you can give me anything?”

Luhan lightly smiles. He pauses.

Hana becomes slightly worried for his change in expression.

He reaches for her hand again and secretly clasps them together like before. He then looks back Taeyang and while squeezing her hand, he answer to the boy. “I made this place for you.”

*

After what seems to be a two hour business greet and talk with the involved staffs of the project, it finally comes to a close with satisfaction. Well, at least to Luhan and his people. The entire time, Hana fidgets in her seat and although she could had died out of worried, she managed to survive. She couldn’t even watched Luhan formally introduced the young boy to everyone else, and although she laughed here and there at Taeyang’s humor and sociable behaviors, the more she saw Taeyang’s smiles, the more fearful she becomes of the possibility of never seeing it agai