The next few days passed (thankfully) rather uneventful.  There were a couple more errant texts from Sehun, but I was able to set him straight mainly because the things he had questions about all had either ridiculously obvious answers, or no real answer at all.  I could tell him that feeding little Sehee fresh, spicy kimchi was not the best idea, but I had no idea what to say when he asked me things like, “Sehee has been cranky all day. I think it’s because her shirt is green. Do babies not like the color green?”

            I was hoping they were starting to forget about me and I wouldn’t have to have a huge role in their single-daddies-club.  But then I got this text from Baekhyun:

To: Do Yisoo

From: Byun Baekhyun

911!!! EMERGENCY IN THE MEETING ROOM!!!            

            I ran out of the house immediately and sprinted to the community center. All of the worst possible scenarios ran through my head.  Had someone choked? Ran into the wall? Eaten something poisonous?  I was racking my brain trying to remember the child CPR lesson from middle school when I arrived at the room and found… no such emergency at all.

            I burst through the door, phone in hand already dialed to 911, to find no child choking, bleeding, or projectile vomiting.  No, besides the usual chaos that comes from a room filled with 5-6 kids, the place seemed fine.  I looked around and found Baekhyun, sitting on the floor reading a book.  When he saw me walk in, he looked up, smiled his weird rectangle shaped smile, and waved.

            I was ready to slap him.

            “Yah, I thought you said there was an emergency!!?” I yelled.

            “There is!!” He paused dramatically. “I’m bored.” And he pouted.

            I let out a frustrated sigh.

            “Hey, I actually have work to do! I can’t just run over here because you are bored.”

            “But you did.” He winked playfully.

            “Because you text made it sound like someone was dying!”

            “And I am! Of boredom.”

 I glared at him.

“I learned a long time ago,” he continued, “That if you want someone to come to you, all you have to do is tell them it’s super urgent and an emergency. Works like a charm!”

“You’re awful.” I said. “Why did you ask me to come, anyway?”

“Because everyone else has plans or is working, and watching the kids is tiring when I have to do it alone. Most of the time, Chanyeol and I share shifts but he had to take Chanyong to the dentist.”

“Is he alright?”

“Yea, his teeth are fine.  I think Yeol is just worried they won’t come in straight or something.”

“He does realize those are just baby teeth, right?”

“Probably not. Chanyeol’s a great guy, my best friend, but one thing he is not is, well, smart.” Baekhyun snickered.

“That’s a little harsh, no?” I asked.

“Nah, I’ve known him long enough.  We can say stuff like that to each other and it’s no big deal.”

Before I could respond, we heard a cry that soon turned into a long, high-pitched, deafening wail.

“AppppaaaaAAAAAAAA!” Baekha screamed.

I turned to see where she was as Baekhyun ran over to his daughter.  She seemed totally fine, until my eyes trailed down to see Sehee lying next to her, biting on her toes.

“Yahh!! Sehee stop it!” Baekhyun screeched. He ran over and scooped his little girl up protectively in his arms as I ran over to grab Sehee from claiming her next victim.

As Baekhyun coddled Baekha lovingly in his arms to get her to stop screaming, I picked up Sehee and looked around to find a teething ring to satisfy her with.

“Oh my god, she is deafening.” I said under her banshee moans. Thankfully, Baekhyun couldn’t hear me complain.  He was totally absorbed in trying to get her to stop her siren calls before the windows all smashed. I began to worry that people outside the building would start wondering why people were torturing animals in the community center.

            I looked around to see the other poor souls in the room, Jaehan, Bing and Ace, suffering, but they all had their little hands clamped firmly over their ears. For the most part, they seemed unimpressed.  As Baekha finally started to quiet down, I turned to Baekhyun.

            “Is that normal?” I asked, trying not to sound as insulting as I felt.

            “What, that?” He asked with a quizzical look on his face. “Ohh, yea.” He finished, catching on. “She has a strong set of lungs, that’s for sure.” He grinned proudly. “Just like her dad.” His smile grew again.

            “How do you deal with that?” I asked again. “Do you have ear plugs in or something?”

            “No!” He chuckled. “I’m just used to it! They all are.” He said, motioning to the other kids.

            “Oh.” I said. “You should get her into singing,” I joked, “She would be a smash.”

            “Oh she will be.” He said decisively. “She’s going to be a singer, just like her dad!” He smiled proudly at his daughter.

“I majored in music in school. And yup, she definitely has my voice.  I think she has my looks and charms too, but it’s a bit soon to tell.” He winked, and I ignored his lack of subtlety.

            “You’re a singer?” I asked, trying to change the subject.

            “Yup! Mostly small gigs here and there, I can’t really audition for one of the big agencies because of, you know.” He motioned to Baekha, “But I still have my choices of places to perform at and I’m trying to get into composing.”

            “That sounds like fun.” I said.

            “It is, I love what I do. I was thinking I would start involving Baekha into my compositions, for the bonding thing.” He said.

            “How?”

            “I don’t know, maybe writing a song about her or something? She’s given me inspiration before.”

            “That’s a really good idea.” I said. “I told Kyungsoo he should start singing to Kyungbin for his bonding thing too.”

            “Woah, Kyungsoo sings??!” Baekhyun asked, shocked, and suddenly I remembered that none of the guys had probably ever heard him sing. He stopped after Kyungbin’s mother left and he hadn’t, as far as I knew, sung since.

            “Yea.” I replied. “He’s actually pretty good. He was always too shy to sing much in front of others, but I’ve heard him sing a bunch and his voice is really sweet.”

            “Him and I should sing together!” Baekhyun said.

            “You think?” I asked. “I don’t know if Kyungsoo would be up for that, he’s never sung with anyone else before.”

            “Don’t worry about it! I’m a great singing partner.” Baekhyun said, smiling to himself. “It’ll be fun!”

            “Maybe talk to him about it first.” I said cautiously.

            “Oh, he can’t say no to me.” The boy responded, his playful smile masking any signs of arrogance. Just then, Baekhyun’s phone began ringing on the floor and Jaehan ran over to pick it up.

            “Hello.” The little boy said into the phone. There was silence for a moment as the person on the other end responded. I looked over to Baekhyun, waiting for him to do something, but instead he just watched with a huge grin on his face.

            “No, you sound like a little kid!” The little boy said defiantly, stomping his foot.

            “Ok, I think that’s where I step in.” Baekhyun laughed as Jaehan began to get a frustrated look on his face.

            “Listen lady, my Daddy’s not here right now, but if he was you would be in big big trouble!” Jaehan huffed, just as Baekhyun snatched away the phone.

            “Hello, sorry my bad.” Baekhyun said into the line, but the smile on his face dropped as soon as he heard the voice on the other end of the line. He looked irritated at what they were saying but I tried to ignore it, it wasn’t any of my business anyway.

            “Listen, I don’t think you should come pick her up this weekend.” He paused.

            “Because you backed out last time and I don’t think you should get to pick and choose when you have her! We made to arrangements so that visits were scheduled, not so that you could take her whenever was most convenient for only you!” Baekhyun yelled. I had never seen him look so unhappy. The smiling, joking boy who was here just a minute ago had disappeared.

            “Yea well you can go to hell, too!” He yelled as he hung up the phone.

            “What’s hell?” Came the response of a confused looking Jaehan, but a still irritate Baekhyun just muttered, “Ask you dad.” And started to anxiously bounce Baekha on his hip.

            “Sorry.” He said, and it took me a moment to realize he was talking to me.  I had tried to distract myself from him and was playing blocks with Ace and Bing.

            “Oh, you don’t need to worry about it.” I said.

            “No, you shouldn’t have heard that.” He continued. “That was my ex. Baekha’s mother. She just gets me so angry, especially when she tries to change plans and stuff.”

            I didn’t respond, I knew he was going to continue.

            “It’s like, we made the dual custody arrangement so that we could both raise her, but most of the time she doesn’t want anything to do with her! And she thinks she can just move around what weekends she has Baekha and make plans without telling me. It’s so frustrating.” He let out an exaggerated sigh. “I wish I could just raise her by myself. I hate having to deal with this stuff.”

            I just sat there, not knowing what to say.

            “I’m sorry.” Was all I was able to mutter.

            “Don’t be.” He said, his mood starting to lift. “It’s not your fault. I’m the one apologizing for making you feel so uncomfortable.”

            “Well then,” I said, trying to lighten the mood, “Apology accepted.” And I threw him a smirk.

            He responded with a grin.

            “See, I knew it would be a good idea to call you. You’re fun to be with.” He replied, throwing me off guard.

            “You too.” I said a bit too quickly, trying to hide my blush. I turned back to the blocks and began frantically trying to build a pyramid, but I could still hear Baekhyun’s snicker.

            “Did I make you blush?” He joked.

            “Of course not.” I quipped back. Not letting him see my cheeks. “You didn’t see anything.”

            He laughed again, “Alright, whatever you say, Yisoo-shi.”

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