Taemin bids Jinki and their son goodbye and returns to his gardening activity. His periwinkles are looking just divine and the hibiscus is in full bloom. The rains have been leaving the soil saturated for the past few days and so Taemin can’t complain. Apart from his husband and son , seeing his garden flourish makes him truly happy. With Jinki being busy ever so often and Jae Hwa in kindergarten he needs to do something substantial with his time whenever he’s not working.

***

“Hey you.” Jinki greets when he returns and places a peck to Taemin’s cheek.  Taemin tastes the ladle and closes the pot before pointing to his lips. Jinki chuckles and obliges. Satisfied, Taemin begins to prepare Jinki a snack.

“The kids are knocked out.” Jinki says and shuffles around the kitchen.

Taemin hums and continues what he’s doing.

“Kibum was a bit late in dropping Hope off and I wasn’t expecting to stay on the road for so long but Jae Hwa wanted ice cream and so we ended up spending a whole lot a time at the park.”

“You could’ve called to notify me.” Taemin suggests, his hands at work cutting the cheese just the way Jinki likes it. The atmosphere gets a little tense and Jinki nods in silence. “I just don’t like being left in the dark, you know?”

Taemin gets antsy when he knows Jinki is meeting Kibum. It’s like he’s dancing on eggshells in his marriage. If there’s some kind of undeclared competition for Jinki’s affection, Kibum has already won but Taemin refuses to give in and give up.

Jinki sighs. “I know.” He sighs again and cards fingers through his hair, feeling slightly attacked. “It’s that sometimes I’m so consumed in their company that I forget.”

That I forget you matter, Taemin thinks bitterly.

Taemin doesn’t reply. He checks dinner again and finishes up Jinki’s snack which he slides across the counter.

“Why don’t you eat it. I’m going to make a phone call.” Jinki grabs an apple from the fridge and heads upstairs leaving Taemin to stare at the snack he prepared for him French toast, ham slices and grilled cheese. He stares for a while and becomes frustrated. He doesn’t like when Jinki dismisses him like that, making him feel inadequate.

He sniffles and throws everything on the plate into the trash can.

***

Taemin hears padding of tiny feet and infections laughter coming his way. A smile emerges on his face when his son run towards him and grab his legs.

“How’s my favourite boy?” Taemin asks. Jae Hwa laughs in response, totally consumed by giggles which then morphed into hiccoughs. Taemin hands him a cup of water and catches a glimpse of Hope at the doorway looking scared to intrude or even come into the living room.

Every time he sees her, the latent ager towards Kibum and Jinki intensifies. He’s bound to snap one day. He’s sure of it. Hope’s little face resembles Kibum’s so much that it’s so very difficult to ignore that she’s the product of Jink’s affair. Taemin should be over it by now. It’s been four years already.

“Hope.” He calls.

The little girl reveals herself and advances with tiny strides. She’s cute , really and the way Kibum dresses her is even cuter. Jae Hwa reaches out for her as a brother does to a sister but she resists a little under Taemin’s stare. It’s painfully obvious that she knows Taemin is not fond of her and it makes him feel like crap. He’s so petty and partial towards a 4 year old. The affair wasn’t her fault. None of it was but she is the only one to whom he can show some sort of retaliation towards, even it its petty and a excessively immature.

“Do you want apples?” Taemin asks, a smile etched on his face.

Hope big brown eyes glances towards her big brother as if gauging his response.

“Yes!” Jae Hwa laughs and erupts in giggles once again now that his hiccoughs have subsided.

“Hope?” She nods her head slowly , a small, shy smile on her face.

Taemin goes to the fridge and takes three apples. He cuts and slices each one into bits and pieces so they don’t choke on them. He usually shares them in two plates giving his son more slices than his stepdaughter. How immature. This time he decides to put everything on one plate.

Jae Hwa takes the plate with tiny, plump fingers and sits on the living room floor with Hope following suit. Jae Hwa is only a few months only but he’s visibly bigger and taller than his sister.

Taemin takes a seat opposite the children and skims through as magazines. He needs to get over the whole ordeal. He needs to. Jinki will return Hope to Kibum the next afternoon and honestly he can’t wait. His enthusiasm extinguishes almost immediately when he realizes that Jinki will be meeting Kibum again.

Felt like writing this today. Spur of the moment thing.