Chapter 3

A few weeks after the zoo trip found Kris in a café near the clinic, enjoying his lunch break with some kind of pumpkin-themed sweet and Lu Han’s unfortunate face.

Lu Han looked torn between laughter and judgment. “So what you’re saying is, you’re lusting after ?”

“First of all,” Kris said indignantly, “He’s twenty two, he’s not . And second of all I am not lusting, am just saying that he’s really sweet and if I wasn’t afraid of making things awkward I would ask him out.”

“Cradle robber,” Lu Han muttered.

“It doesn’t even matter,” Kris said, “I’m not going to ask him out. Why did I even tell you about this?”

“Because you do want to ask him out,” Jessica said, sliding into the seat across from Kris, next to Lu Han (“Who invited you?” Lu Han asked, and he was ignored), “And you’re hoping that someone will tell you to go for it.”

Kris knew he was blushing. “I am not.”

Jessica gave him a pitying look. “Yeah, you are. Cradle robber.”

“I am not!!” Kris repeated.

Lu Han laughed. “You’re eleven years older than him, yes you are.”

“I’m surprised,” Jessica said, “It’s not like you to go after someone so young. It’s not like you to go after someone at all.”

“We’re not discussing this at work,” Kris said, getting annoyed.

“You started it,” Jessica pointed out.

“And now I’m ending it,” Kris said. Why, oh why did he have to bring up the trip to the zoo and the photo?

“What do you like about him?” Jessica asked.

Kris thought about ignoring her, but they were on their lunch break and he had really just sat down, he didn’t want to leave the café this early and he knew Jessica wasn’t going to let it go.

“He’s wonderful,” Kris said. “In general, but with Jamie, too. I don’t know, maybe I like him because it has been a while since I met someone, and since I had Jamie I feel like dating is over for me. I don’t want to go out with someone and then find out that they don’t get along with him. But I know that Jamie loves Baekhyun, and Baekhyun is very fond of Jamie. And he’s a really nice guy, he’s talented and humble…but I’ve barely had a conversation with him that wasn’t about Jamie, because I keep telling myself that he’s only twenty two and he’s Jamie’s babysitter.”

“So what?” Jessica asked.

“Well at my age, I’m pretty much dating with intent to marry. And that is what I want, I do want to get married. I don’t think Baekhyun’s ready to settle down, lord knows I wasn’t at his age, and with a kid, besides! And it’s so complicated, because if I do ask him out and things go wrong, I mean Jamie really loves him, I don’t want Baekhyun to go storming off and never come back, it would break Jamie’s heart.”

“And yours,” Lu Han added. “Look, you clearly have a crush on the guy. My advice would be to go for it.”

“You called me a cradle robber!” Kris said.

“Because you are one,” Lu Han said with a smirk, “But that doesn’t mean you can’t go for it.”

Jessica nodded. “Maybe Baekhyun wouldn’t mind settling down, you don’t know that unless you ask him about it. I think your biggest problem is that you don’t know him, and you need to fix that by finding some way to hang out with him without Jamie being involved.”

Kris sighed, “But we’re so awkward when Jamie’s not involved. I don’t know what to say.”

“You’ll figure something out,” Jessica said, “Tell him about what you liked to do in college.”

“That was ,” Kris mumbled.

“Okay, fine! Talk about your family, talk about your favorite memory of China, what your dream vacation would be, I don’t know!” She shoved Kris’ shoulder. “Come on, you remember dating! Just find an excuse to take him to dinner or something. It doesn’t have to be now, but soon. You don’t want to regret not making a move.”

Kris sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. “It’ll probably have to wait until after the new year,” he said.

The other two echoed his sigh. “Have we always been this swamped near the holidays?” Jessica asked.

“We’re busy, sure,” Lu Han said, “But I think this year’s the worst.”

“No more procedures,” Kris said firmly, “Not for me, anyway. I’ve got three weeks straight where I’m doing at least one procedure every day I’m in, and I’m coming in on a few Tuesdays as well.”

The whole clinic was closed on Monday, but the doctors all had different schedules. Lu Han worked five days a week, but he didn’t have any children. Kris tried to avoid coming in more than four days since he wanted to give Jamie as much time as he could, but around this time of year they got a lot of people looking for anti-wrinkle treatments, age spot removal, acne treatment, and so on. Everyone wanted to look their best when they went to see family. There were eight doctors in the Seoul office, including Kris, Lu Han, and Jessica. Since they had the most experience, they typically took on more surgical procedures and let the other doctors handle less complex appointments. But during this time of year, it was an all hands on deck affair.

“Looks like break time is over,” Jessica said, looking at her watch. “I have a consultation in ten. You guys?”

“Scar treatment,” Lu Han said proudly. “It’s my pro-bono case, the little girl who was in the car accident.”

“How is she?” Kris asked.

“Much better,” Lu Han said, “Her mom said she’s not crying when she looks in the mirror anymore.”

That was what Kris loved about cosmetic surgery. A lot of times when he talked about his profession, people thought he was shallow and money hungry. But people didn’t seem to grasp what it was that cosmetic surgery could do. For every surgery that was a reflection of the growing trend of western beauty, there was another procedure that made a scar vanish, or corrected a break that never healed properly. And the clinic was very proud of their flexible payment plans. They were lucky enough to have a firm, loyal client base, which gave them freedom to give leeway to people who needed things done, but maybe didn’t have a lot of money. Doctors like Kris, Lu Han and Jessica, could take several pro-bono surgeries each year. Usually these clients were children or teens who had been injured in car accidents and were left with facial scarring. In addition all three doctors had fans from their previous jobs—Lu Han and Jessica’s modeling and Kris’ os—who would often come together for their birthdays and holidays to donate to the clinic, to provide other such procedures. For Kris’ thirtieth birthday his fans teamed up with a charity organization to provide cleft lip and palate surgery to just over two hundred children from around the world. Kris himself performed twenty of those procedures on Chinese and Korean children.

Kris filed that bit of information away as something he could tell Baekhyun about later.

 

 

The good thing about the holiday rush was that it brought with it an influx of paying customers, and that provided the holiday bonuses for all the employees, from the doctors to the anesthesiologists to the receptionists. And in Kris’ case, it paid for Jamie’s Christmas presents.

Right before the holiday Jamie had gone through his toys and clothes, and picked out a good number to donate to charity. Now that he was nearing four, a lot of his building blocks and hand puppets were falling out of favor. The large rocking horse was gone from the room (actually it was in storage, in case Kris decided to have another baby), and so was the collection of teething toys. Kris had done a lot of shopping already, but those were little things like stuffed animals, books, and puzzles. Kris usually waited until about a week before the holiday before he bought Jamie something really nice. This year he bought Jamie a play kitchen set, and something extra special.

The clinic was closed from December 23-26, and Kris planned to make the most of it. He and Jamie spent the 23^rd baking cookies and decorating the tree. At 6:30, just as they were finishing up the dinner clean up, the doorbell rang.

“Who is that, I wonder?” Kris asked, scooping Jamie up and carrying him to the intercom. “Oh, look! It’s Baekhyun!”

Jamie squealed and pressed the button to unlock the door. Baekhyun came right in, holding a small cardboard box in his hands.

“Why are you here?” Jamie asked Baekhyun, “Is daddy leaving?”

“I’m not leaving,” Kris assured. He put Jamie down and he started tugging on Baekhyun’s pant legs.

“What’s in the box?” he asked.

Baekhyun grinned at him. “Ask your daddy.”

Kris lead Jamie to the living room and sat him down on the couch. “This is a present for you,” he said, taking the box from Baekhyun—Baekhyun quickly pulled out his phone and started recording. “Baekhyun was nice enough to hold onto it for me, but since he’s going to be busy on Christmas I asked him to bring it over today.”

Kris placed the box on Jamie’s lap—unbeknownst to Jamie, the side of the box not facing him had tiny holes poked into it. Jamie eagerly pulled at the ribbon and lifted the lid off the top. He stared into the box, wide eyed.

“What is it, Jamie?” Baekhyun asked.

Jamie slid off the couch, taking the box with him. He reached in and pulled out a grey kitten.

“K-kitty,” Jamie stammered.

“Yes, it’s a kitty!” Kris said, “It’s a little girl, Jamie.”

Jamie looked up at Kris, his eyes wide as Kris had ever seen them. “Mine?” He asked.

“Yes, she’s your kitty.”

Jamie opened his mouth, but nothing came out.

“Do you like her?” Kris asked.

Jamie nodded, and then to Kris’ shock he began crying—really crying.

“Why are you crying?” Kris asked. Jamie only cried harder, holding the kitten gently against his chest.

Kris held out his arms and Jamie practically fell into his lap, still holding the kitten. “M-mine?” He asked again, stammering between sobs.

“Yes, she’s yours,” Kris laughed, “Are you happy?”

Jamie was seriously crying. “I love her,” he wailed, “She’s so pretty!”

Kris gently took the kitten from Jamie’s arms and let her down. She was a little older, about four months, but she was still very small. She’d been found on the street at seven weeks old with a badly infected eye, in fact it was so bad that there was no saving the eye, and it had to be removed. Jamie had been wanting a pet for a while, at first it was a puppy, but when Baekhyun showed him pictures of his own cat, Jamie changed his mind and wanted a kitty, too. In fact it was sort of Baekhyun’s idea to surprise Jamie with this particular kitten—he saw her a week ago, in the vet’s office when he took his cat in for a checkup, and sent Kris a picture. Kris had run to the vet and adopted her right away, making a generous donation to go towards her surgery.

“Baekhyun’s been watching her for you,” Kris said, wiping the tears from Jamie’s face. “Can you say thank you to him?”

Jamie got up and shuffled over to Baekhyun, still crying. “Thank you, Baekhyun-hyung,” he sobbed, holding out his arms.

Baekhyun put his phone down and hugged Jamie tightly—there were tears in his eyes, too. “You’re very welcome, honey,” he said.

Jamie backed away and ran back to Kris to hug him as well. “I love her, thank you so much!”

Kris was fighting back tears of his own as he kissed Jamie’s cheek. “You’re going to help me take care of her, right?” He asked. “You’ll play with her, and be nice to her?”

Jamie nodded. “I will, I’ll help!”

The kitten hadn’t moved much, she was sniffing at her box. Jamie knelt next to her and started to pet her again. She purred loudly and walked in circles around Jamie, rubbing up against him and brushing her tail against his cheek.

“She likes you,” Baekhyun said, snapping some pictures.

Jamie seemed to have finally stopped crying—he was smiling, anyway. “She’s so pretty!” He cooed. “But what happened to her eye?”

“It was hurt really badly, and she was in a lot of pain,” Kris explained, “The doctor made her go to sleep, and then they had to take it out so she wouldn’t be hurt anymore.”

“Can she still see okay?” Jamie asked.

“Yes,” Kris said, “She may bump into a few things until she gets used to our house, but she’ll be okay.”

“She’s like a pirate!” Jamie exclaimed, “I want to name her Jack Sparrow!”

“Oh, you do?” Kris asked. “Okay then, we’ll call her Jack Sparrow.”

Now that the cat was out of the box, Kris was free to pull all the cat-related supplies he’d bought out of the closets. He set up a litter box and let Jamie show Jack Sparrow where it was, and then he gave Jamie some toys to try—a feather, a few bells, and stuffed mice. For a while he and Baekhyun just watched Jamie play with the kitten. He was very gentle, just as Kris knew he would be, and he was absolutely in love with her.

“Thanks for texting me that picture,” Kris whispered to Baekhyun as they watched Jamie slowly drag the feather toy across the floor.

“You’re welcome,” Baekhyun said. “I’m glad she’s going to have a good home.”

“I didn’t expect him to cry like that,” Kris said. “It really surprised me.”

Baekhyun laughed. “It surprised me, too. But Jamie is a really innocent kid, he doesn’t try to hold back his emotions. He wasn’t expecting to get a kitten at all.”

Kris nodded and smiled as he watched Jamie play with Jack Sparrow. “I don’t know how I’ll ever top this next year.”

“Oh, you’ll think of something. Or Jamie will think of something for you.”

Kris hesitated for a second. “So, what are you doing for Christmas?”

Baekhyun looked excited. “My friends and I are going skiing, actually. We’re leaving at 3 AM tomorrow. I’ll be back in time to watch Jamie though, so don’t worry about that.”

“I’m not worried,” Kris said quickly. “I just…you know, I never asked.” There was a lot he didn’t ask. “I guess you should get home then, and get some rest.”

Baekhyun nodded, looking at Kris curiously. “What are your plans? Is it just going to be you and Jamie?”

“On Christmas day, yes. But tomorrow Minseok, Yixing, and the boys are coming over for dinner.”

Jamie suddenly plopped down on the sofa. “And for Lunar new year, Nainai is going to visit and bring me Christmas presents!”

“That’s right,” Kris said, ruffling Jamie’s hair.

Jamie crawled into Baekhyun’s lap. “Are you coming over for Lunar new year, since you’ll miss Christmas?”

Baekhyun shrugged. “I don’t know. We’ll have to see.”

“You should come,” Jamie whined. “Dad, tell Baekhyun he has to come over for new year!”

Kris knew he was getting flustered. “We’ll talk about it after Christmas,” he said. “But right now it’s time to say goodbye to Baekhyun.”

Jamie was getting far too good at pouting. “Do you really have to go?” He asked Baekhyun.

Baekhyun nodded. “I really do. I have to get up early tomorrow.”

“But how will Santa find you if you’re skiing?” Jamie asked.

Baekhyun laughed and jugged Jamie tightly. “Santa sees everything,” he whispered, “Including where you are on Christmas eve.”

Jamie sighed. “Oh, okay then.” He kissed Baekhyun’s cheek. “Have fun, I’ll miss you.”

Baekhyun looked shocked. “I’ll…miss you too. Both of you,” he added, looking at Kris.

Kris wondered if he would ever stop being surprised at how much Jamie cared for Baekhyun. It wasn’t until after Baekhyun left that he realized what Jamie had said to him.

“Jamie, how did you know that Baekhyun was going skiing?”

Jamie didn’t even pause in petting the kitten. “I asked him weeks ago if he was going to come over on Christmas, I wanted to show him what Santa would get me.”

Kris shook his head. “Weeks, huh?”

Jamie nodded seriously. “You should talk to him more.”

“Oh, should I?”

“Yes, because I want you to like him as much as I like him.”

Kris sat next to his son. “How much do you like Baekhyun?”

Jamie tapped his finger against his chin thoughtfully. “I like him…to the moon.”

Kris’ eyes widened. “Wow…that’s a lot.”

Jamie nodded. “He’s nice, he’s fun to play with, and he likes my pretty clothes.” He smiled widely. “He’s a lot like you, daddy.”

Kris didn’t know how to describe what he was feeling. It was a good feeling, that was for sure, but for some reason his eyes were watering. He cleared his throat. “I’m glad that you like him so much.”

Jamie grinned widely and hugged Kris. “I still love you most. To the moon, and back.”

“You’re an incredible little boy,” Kris whispered into the crown of Jamie’s head. He leaned back and kissed Jamie’s cheek. “I love you most, too. To the moon and back.”

 

On Christmas morning Jamie came running into Kris’ room at 5:54 AM and started jumping on the bed. “WAKE UP DADDY, SANTA CAME LAST NIGHT!”

Kris groaned and pushed himself up. It was on the tip of his tongue to remind Jamie that there was no jumping on the bed, but he let it slide. It was a special day, and Jamie had let him sleep an extra twenty minutes from last year. He held out his arms and Jamie practically fell into them, giggling madly.

“Can we open presents dad? Can we, can we?”

“Yes, we can,” Kris said. He let Jamie squirm away and pull him out of bed and down the hall.

Kris thought there were few greater joys in life than watching children unwrap gifts. He sat on the couch with a cup of coffee (cold, left over from yesterday, but it was better than nothing) and watched Jamie tear into the gifts. He went to the kitchen set first, since it was the biggest box. Since Kris had given him a kitten, the kitchen set and all the extra food and dishes were from Santa. Kris gave Jamie a few other things, and at the bottom of the pile were gifts from Lu Han, Minseok and Yixing, and Tao, Jamie’s godfather. Kris had wrapped a few things for himself and signed them as Santa, and Jamie ate it up.

The living room looked like a tornado had hit by the time Jamie was done, and he sat among the damage, balling up pieces of wrapping paper and flicking them across the floor for Jack Sparrow to chase. After a few minutes of this Jamie suddenly got up and ran into his room. He came back with a small box.

“This is for you,” he said happily, depositing the box in Kris’ lap.

Kris opened the box and took out a small ceramic statue of a pair of rabbits, one adult and one baby. They had been clearly painted by a child.

“It’s beautiful! Did you make this?” Kris asked.

Jamie nodded. “I painted it,” he said proudly. “I have more for Nainai and all my uncles. Baekhyun took me to this store where they had all white statues and things, and I got to paint them. Do you like it?”

Kris nodded and Put an arm around Jamie’s shoulders. “I love it, baby. Is it a daddy rabbit and a baby rabbit?”

Jamie nodded. “Like in our favorite book!”

Kris hoped to god he wouldn’t start crying. “Yes, like our favorite book.” He kissed Jamie’s cheek. “Thank you so much sweetie.”

Jamie was absolutely delighted. “Let me show you what else I made!” He ran to his room again, giving Kris a moment to wipe his eyes on his sleeves, and came back with a box of carefully cushioned ceramics. There was a child in a karate pose for Tao, a flower vase for Nainai, salt and pepper shakers for Minseok and Yixing, and a deer for Lu Han.

“Baekhyun helped me wrap your present,” Jamie said, “But you have to help me with all of these. And you need to take me shopping so I can get Baekhyun something, I couldn’t do it in the store while he was looking at me.”

Kris almost smacked himself in the face. He hadn’t gotten Baekhyun anything yet!

“We’ll go tomorrow,” he promised—the after Christmas sales would start and stores would have new things out on display. He had no idea what they would get, but he’d worry about that when the time came.

 

 

Kris went back to work on the twenty eighth, and just as he promised Baekhyun was right on time for the morning. Jamie was in the bathroom, and Kris took a moment to talk to Baekhyun.

“So, when did you take Jamie to a ceramics store?”

Baekhyun blushed and ducked his head. “It was a while ago, he said he wanted to get you something. One of my friends works there, that’s how I know about it.”

“I was surprised,” Kris said. “If I’d known I would have given you money for it.”

Baekhyun shook his head. “I didn’t mind, it wasn’t that expensive. I didn’t starve for this.”

“I hope not,” Kris said. “But really, thank you so much.”

Baekhyun’s blush darkened. “You’re welcome. It was fun.”

Jamie ran into the kitchen holding a big box. “Merry Christmas!” He screamed. “Baekhyun, look what we got for you!”

Baekhyun looked confused. “What?”

Jamie held up the box, banging it against Baekhyun’s hip. “It’s for you, it’s for you!” He crowed, jumping up and down. “I helped daddy pick it out!”

Baekhyun looked at Kris in shock. “It’s for me?”

Kris nodded. “Merry Christmas.”

“Oh, wow,” Baekhyun laughed. He knelt down and took the box from Jamie. “Should I open it now?”

“Yes!” Jamie screamed.

Baekhyun slid the ribbon off the box and opened it. He gasped. “Oh, oh my gosh…” he pulled out the jacket. It was dark blue, made of a heavy fabric and filled with downy feathers, and had a large hood, edged in fur (fake fur, of course).

“Try it on,” Kris urged, “If it doesn’t fit, we can get you another one.”

Baekhyun put the jacket on. It was a little long, in the sleeves and at the waist, but Baekhyun said it was alright, he liked it that way.

“It’s beautiful,” he said, eyes shining. “I really…thank you so much, both of you.” He gasped suddenly. “Oh, I have presents for you both, too!”

He grabbed a shopping bag from the hall and pulled out two boxes. “It’s not much but I hope you like it,” he whispered to Kris.

Jamie tore the box apart and squealed in delight when he pulled out a stuffed horse. “I don’t have a horsey yet!” He cried, and he hugged Baekhyun tightly. “Thank you, I love her! I’ll go introduce her to the others!” And he scampered off.

Kris and Baekhyun were alone again. Kris opened his own box, and found himself holding a picture book. He opened it curiously, and found it full of pictures of Jamie. Some of them he recognized as ones Baekhyun had sent him before, but some he’d never seen.

“It must be hard to be away from him,” Baekhyun said, speaking quickly, “And I don’t want you to feel like you’re missing out on anything. So I thought, maybe you could take it to work with you, or keep it at home, whatever works for you.”

Kris hoped he wasn’t going to start crying. “I think I will take it to work,” he said quietly. He cleared his throat and gave Baekhyun a smile. “Thank you so much, I love it.”

Baekhyun looked relieved. “Good to know. And thanks again for the jacket, it’s really nice.”

“You’re welcome.” Kris glanced at the clock. “I should get going, or I’ll be late.”

“Right,” Baekhyun said quickly. “Well, have a good day.”

“Thanks, you too.”

 

“Lu Han…”

“Oh my god, will you get lost!”

“Lu Haaaan!”

“Stop hanging off of me, what’s wrong with you? You’re heavy, get off.”

“He made me a picture book, all with photos of Jamie, moments I missed while I was away. Lu Han, he’s actually the sweetest man on the planet.”

“Jeez. You’ve got it bad.”

“I know. What do I do?”

“For god’s sake, man! Take him out to dinner and then bang him!”

“Don’t talk about my son’s babysitter like that.”

“Get the hell away from me and stop treating me like your own personal teddy bear.”

“I’m going to ask him to join us for new year.”

“Alright fine, now will you please get off me?!”

 

Kris’ mother was a force to be reckoned with. She was very open-minded and loving, but she could also be very pushy at times. Kris kind of worried about exposing Baekhyun to her, but when he turned up for dinner the first thing he did (after picking Jamie up off the floor and hugging him) was introduce himself.

“Hello Ma’am,” he said, in English, bowing ninety degrees. Then, haltingly, he said, “I don’t mean to intrude.”

Kris knew his mother would love him. “Intrude?” She gasped, “Oh darling, you could never!” She cupped Baekhyun’s face in her hands and kissed his forehead. “You’re such a dear, Jamie speaks very fondly of you.” She looked at Kris pointedly, and he translated for Baekhyun.

Baekhyun was blushing deeply, and he bowed again. “Thank you.”

Jamie grabbed Baekhyun’s hand. “C’mon,” he whined, “Come see what Nainai got me for Christmas!” And he dragged Baekhyun away.

Kris was expecting the look he got when Baekhyun walked off, but he purposely avoided his mother’s eyes. “Help me set the table, okay?”

“Such a handsome young man,” mom said, elbowing Kris sharply. “And so good with Jamie.”

“Yes, he’s very nice,” Kris said. He’d already been subjected to her interrogation on his love life, her questions about when he would get married, give her a son-in-law that she could fuss over. “Mama, I’m not ready to date anyone right now,” he whispered, looking around to make sure that Baekhyun was, indeed, still with Jamie. “Especially not someone so young.”

His mom swatted his arm. “Just try, will you? You have such high standards, he meets them!”

“You don’t even know him.”

She looked at him sharply. “I know that Jamie loves him, and you’re not far behind.”

Kris brushed it off. What did she know? Kris barely knew Baekhyun, there was no way he was in love.

But after dinner the four of them settled down to watch some special programs on TV, and Jamie curled up in Baekhyun’s lap and whispered quietly about all the new toys he’d gotten, and how he couldn’t wait for all the games he’d play with his dad, and with the twins, and with Baekhyun. Baekhyun held Jamie so sweetly, clearly hanging off of Jamie’s every word, and when he met Kris’ gaze he smiled like there was no place in the world he would rather be.

Maybe his mother was right, and maybe Kris was slowly falling in love. Lu Han was going to have a field day with this.

 

 

I'm thinking this story is going to be 7 or 8 chapters, haven't decided yet