Minseo went to school, it was swimming class she said she don’t want to go and Minho felt helpless, they reached the sport center and his daughter started to complain again about her stomach, however, when he offered to take her to the clinic to get a treatment the girl shook her head and got out of the car. She never acted like that before, never wanted to miss swimming class, what was wrong?    

Inside the sport center Minseo left to the showers to get ready for her class, Taemin was a little busy with one of his trainers, he waved at Minho with a big happy smile on his face and rolled his finger like telling him 'I'm sorry, we'll talk later', Minho nodded understandingly and waited for Minseo to get out of the showers before he left to his own businesses.

Taemin felt anger rippling his bones, Minseo hadn’t listened to him through the whole class, deliberately endangering herself.

"Minseo!" he called at her when she swam away from him "Minseo!" he raised his voice and swam after her, he caught her right before she got into the deep water and grabbed her leg, he pulled her closer to him so she won't swim any farther, the girl kicked him in order to get free and he groaned in pain when her leg hit his chest.

"What are you doing?" he burst at her angrily and she stopped swimming, staring at him like he was her biggest enemy "do you want to get hurt? Do you want to drown?"

Minseo hadn’t answered.

"Do you understand you're endangering yourself?"

Still there was no answer.

"Answer me! What is wrong with you?!"

"Don’t yell at me…"

"How can I not when you're not listening to what I say?"

"You're not my father! Don’t tell me what to do! And you'll never be like Changmin Appa! Never!"

Taemin was a little shocked by her outburst but before he could answer Minho's voice cut them off.

"MINSEO!" he called and the girl shut immediately, she gave her father a sad look and tears sprang in her eyes "out, now" was all Minho said and she obeyed.

Taemin's heart pounded wildly, and his limbs became weak, who was Changmin? What she was talking about? He looked at Minho confused but his eyes followed his daughter, he hasn't noticed him. Slowly swimming out of the pool he wished his body would hold, he felt weakness and ache in his heart, like it was the end.

Minseo took her bag and walked without looking at Taemin or at her father, Minho followed her, he wasn’t looking either, so angry at his daughter he forgot about Taemin who stood outside the pool wishing someone will explain to him what just happened.

"What was that all about?!" Minho barked in the small space of the car, Minseo hadn’t answered.

He stood by the pool long enough to see Taemin swimming after his daughter, he saw the way she kicked him and heard the way she burst out on him, the boy looked shock when she screamed his husband's name. So far he hadn’t told Taemin about Changmin, he couldn’t find the right time for it, it wasn’t easy thing to tell and Minseo just spat it out, it made him angry.

"Why have you endangered yourself? Why have you talked to Taemin disrespectfully?"

Silence.

"Do you want to drown? Do you want to make me sad? I don’t have many daughters, I only have one- you, do you want me to lose you, like I lost Changmin Appa?"

He couldn’t take his eyes off the road but knew his daughter lowered her head sadly.

"Aren’t you going to tell me why you've been acted like that?" he asked trying to moderate his anger "Minseo…I'm talking to you" he said when his daughter decided to stay silent "you know what, no swimming class for you until you'll tell me what happened"

The girl gasped and her head snapped at her father, she stared at him for a moment before she turned her head back to the window and crossed her hands angrily. Fine, no swimming class, at least she won't see Taemin again.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Maybe, he was divorced? That make sense, Minseo couldn’t deal with the fact that her parents broke up and now she's angry that her father dating someone else.  

But why Minho hasn't told him? God, he felt stupid.

It's been three days since Minseo burst at him, she was supposed to show for class today at the community center but hadn’t, the thought about calling Minho crossed his mind but he decided not to, the man hadn’t even bothered to call him and explain so why should he? It was too humiliating to chase him like a needy boy, no matter how much he wanted.

Minho hung up the phone after a long conversation with Amber, he needed some advice and consolation, three days has passes by and he still hasn’t called Taemin, a little afraid he might scared him away, Minseo hasn’t talked with him since that day either.

He placed his phone on the nightstand and got into bed when a small knock sounded on the door "yes?"

Minseo peeped her head into the room "Appa…" she said quietly and when he tilted his head waiting for her to keep talking she got into the room without saying a thing.

"Yes?" Minho asked again, his tone was a little harsh but it softened when he saw her eyes sparkling with tears she held back "are you ready to talk?" he asked and moved the covers by his side for her to join him.

Minseo nodded and let the tears roll down her cheeks as she climbed into the bed and threw herself into her father's comforting hug.

Minho kissed his daughter's forehead and hugged her tightly giving her a moment to calm.

"I'm sorry" she hiccupped.

Minho nodded understandingly as he asked "are you ready to talk with me, tell me what happened?"

She raised her eyes at him and he wiped away her tears "Appa, do you still love Changmin Appa?"

"Of course"

"I…saw you kissing Taemin Oppa"

Oh, it all made sense now.

"…Do you love him now instead of Changmin Appa?"

Suddenly Minho felt lost, he looked at his daughter and saw fear in her eyes, their family had been ruined before and she probably felt like it could happen again "No sweetie" he said quietly and tightened his hug to reassure her safeness "I loved Appa very much and I still love him, no one could ever replace him in my heart but that doesn't mean I can't love other people, just like I love you"

Minseo nodded understandingly, or at least she tried to understand.

"I'm sorry that I haven’t told you that I'm dating with Taemin, I guess I should have but that doesn't mean it was ok to act the way you did, I taught you to be respectful to older than you, I was very angry to see you kicking Taemin and talking rudely at him, even if you're mad you should be respectful"

Minseo gulped as she nodded, though her father scolded her he was still holding her.

"…when I asked you what happened" he continued "you should have told me instead of being mad, you could have go to swimming class instead of being punished and stay at home. Anyway, next class you're going to apologize to Taemin, clear?"

"Yes"

"Good, now go to sleep, you have school tomorrow"

Minseo got free from her father's hug without arguing and got out of the room quietly, she left Minho alone with his thoughts about Changmin, unlike her, he wasn’t going to sleep tonight.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"I'm sorry for my behavior" Minseo said and bowed her head, Taemin looked at her and then at Minho who stood by her side, he was still confused. Nodding he dismissed her and she went to the showers "what's going on?" he asked now that they were alone, his tone was harsh.

Minho took a step closer to him "I'm sorry for not calling, I needed to…work things with Minseo"

"Who is Changmin?"

"Can we talk about it privately? Not here…not like that"

Taemin was angry, he had many things to say to the man in front of him, so many questions to ask but his anger fade away when Minho talked so quietly, he truly wanted to hear what he had to say. Nodding he lowered his gaze and took a shaky breath "are we…over?"

Minho frowned "why would it over?"

"There is another man, right? Minseo found out and-"

"Taemin" he cut him off "let's talk about it later, please"

He had no choice but to agree.

Minseo wasn’t pleasant as she always been at class but Taemin noticed she was trying, she probably got a hell of a scolding from her father.

Minho left when their class started and came back two hours later to pick her up, they said they'll meet for coffee after Amber would come back from her physiotherapy meeting so she could babysit Minseo and they could have their privacy to talk.     

Now as Taemin parked his car he promised himself he won't be dramatic or sad if it would over between him and Minho, somehow he had the feeling it was about to happen today.

He got out of the car and made his way into the café, Minho was already there sitting by one of the tables with espresso in his hand, he noticed he was a little shaky and looked tense. When Taemin took the seat in front of him the waitress hurried to give him a menu but he turned it down, his stomach twisted and the thought about drinking or eating at the moment made him nauseous.

They were like two strangers before Minho reached his hands and took Taemin's in his "Taemin…" he said quietly making the boy's heart sink in his chest, there it is, the moment he was about to break up with him "I'm sorry, I should have called you that day and I'm truly sorry for the way Minseo behaved, I guess it was my fault- I should have told her we're dating"

Taemin looked at him without saying a word.

"We had a rough year, me and her. Changmin…" Minho was barely heard when he said the name but the boy heard it clearly, he pulled his hand from his grip uncomfortably making him repeat the name, this time a little bit louder.

"…Changmin, was my husband and last year we…he…"

"It's ok" Taemin talked for the first time since he came into the café "you don’t have to explain, she's still can't handle the thought that her parents separated and dating others, I guess we should stop dating until you and your divorced would work things out and you'll be-"

"Divorced?" Minho cut him off "I'm not divorced Taemin"

The boy looked like someone just told him Santa wasn’t real "you're still married?"

"Taemin…I'm a widower"

Heavy silence lingered between them for a long moment, Taemin's confusion shown on his face as he parted his lips and repeated the word 'widower', Minho nodded and watched him with sadness in his eyes as he got up from the chair and mumbled "I'm sorry, I need some time"

"How could you not tell me?"

"Well, hello to you too…" Amber said confused, she was in the middle of a date with Henry in a quiet restaurant and Taemin's voice was too loud through her phone. She smiled apologetically at Henry already feeling stupid for answering the call but Taemin left her no choice, he called multiple times and nagged repeatedly until she finally answered "what happened?"

Henry left his fork and excused himself to the men's room so she had few moments of privacy.

"He's a widower!"

It hit her "so?"

"So how could you not tell me that?!"

"Would it have change anything?"

"It changes everything!"

"Why? Does it change the fact that you like him?"

Taemin shut.

"Minho is a good man, a good father, he was a good husband as well but Changmin is dead and the fact that he's a widower now doesn't change him into a different person, he's still a good man"

Taemin made unpleasant groan in his throat as he mumbled "he could never love me like he loved him…"

"And…that's a problem?"

"Isn’t it?!"

"No, that actually good…you two can have new kind of love"

"And what if he's not emotionally available for something new?"

"Minho would have never date you if he had that kind of a feeling"

"What about Minseo-"

"It's Minho's problem to handle with" she said cutting him off "stop it, don’t find excuses why he's not good for you"

Taemin sighed "I really lo…like him"

"Then don’t act stupid, don’t complicate things" she said and from the corner of her eye she saw Henry coming back from the men's room "look, I'm with Henry, I'll call you later, ok?"

Taemin hummed and they hung up the call, while she got back to her date he asked for another beer from the barman and looked at his phone for a moment, when he felt brave enough he dialed Minho and waited for him to answer.  

"Good night, Appa" Minseo said while her father covered her with her blanket, he kissed her forehead and wished her good night before he left the room.

Right as he closed the door his phone rang, he made his way to the living room and picked up the device, Taemin's name flashed on the screen and he slide his finger on the screen to answer "hello…"

Soft music, dim conversations and clicking glasses heard before Taemin quietly said his name.

"Where are you?"

"Went out for a beer" They were quiet for a moment before Taemin took a breath and asked "want to join me?"

"I can't…Minseo is already asleep"

The boy hummed understandingly, the man has a kid and a lot of responsibilities, he can't just come and go whenever he likes "oh…right"

"Taemin…"

"Sorry, I had a rough day, few hours ago this amazing guy I'm dating with told me he's a widower and I left him at the café like an idiot, told him I need some time" he said trying to light things up a little, he earned a snort of laugh as a reaction before they both talked at the same time.

"Want to come over"  "can I come over?"