POV Hyesung

The night fell on the village more quickly than they expected. 
They gathered to say their farewell as they each slept at different places. They all were a lot more comfortable as they had quite a few bottles of soju. 

Hyesung especially, forgot a lot of his shyness toward Choongjae as they made their way toward the ranch. 
He had even taken Eli's leach from Choongjae, who had been insisting on carrying his trunk.

« Be careful, he is very energic » 
« I can manage on my own, thank you...bwuh ! » 
One very strong pull from Eli and Hyesung was falling face first in the dirt.
« AAACK ! Eli ! Nooo ! »
« Eli ! Sit ! Sit ! » 
As soon as the young man rolled onto his back, the giant dog proceeded to his face clean.

« Aaaargh ! »

Choongjae finally managed bring his dog away from Hyesung, who stayed flat on his back in the dirt, panting.

Choongjae's face popped up above him, looking concerned.

« Are you okay ?! »

A incontrolable laugh escaped Hyesung's lips, and Choongjae's features relaxed as he laughed too while helping him get up.

With that, the singer decided Choongjae had the cutest smile he ever seen.

« Let's go ? »

« Let's go. »

They finally decided to let Eli run around freely while the youngest assured he was vry obedient and would always come back to him. And sure enough, the white dog was waiting at the ranch fence.

Hyesung was blown away by Choongjae's house.

The house was a large renovated traditional korean house : at first glance, Hyesung at least saw three cats on the porch, and a little puppy sleeping on the wooden bench.

« We 'll go see the ranch tomorrow, let's go in! »

They left their shoes at the door, and entered the house in the dark. Little did Hyesung know, he was in for another surprise.

« Oppa ! Were you drinking again ? Sehee wanted to... »

Hyesung jumped as a woman appeared in the corridor. He glanced at Choongjae, who didn't seem surprised at all.

Was he married ? He didn't tell him he was married ! And why was he so disappointed ?!

Okey, let's down, Hyesung !

« Hyesung, this is HeeJae, my sister. »

« Oh... »

He may have seemed a little too reassured, but now that he could look at her, she definitively was too youing for Choongjae. They also had similar smiles, it seemed.

« You're …. Shinhwa ! You didn't tell me he was from Shinhwa, oppa ! »

« Sorry, she is a big fan... »

Hyesung was now as red as a tomato.

« Huh...it's okay... »

« Stop it now, Heejae, you're scaring him. Why aren't you going to bed ? »

« I'm not a little girl anymore, big brother ! »

« But you still have to go back to Seoul tomorrow. »

« hmphf… Okey. See you later, Hyesung ! »

She totally ignored her older brother, who was smiling mischeviously.

« Love you too.. ! »

When she was out of hearshot, Hyesung looked back at Choongjae,

« Sorry but...Sehee ? »

He didn't like to ask questions, but he just couldn't ignore the fact that he was going to live with three strangers.

« Sehee is my daughter. »

Later, in Hyesung's room.

Hyesung was kinda glad he was given his own room in the dependance of the house, with his own bathroom too. Here, he could relax.

He took out and organized neatly his things and took a very hot shower which eased off his nerves.

As he settled on his bed, he took out his camera and set it on the table, while thinking of something meaningful to say.

He decided to go for telling the truth.

« Okay….uh...Hi. This is Hyesung ? I'm not even sure you'll see this but …. let's talk about this. I met a lot of people today. And somehow i indeed upp at Choongjae's house. I don't...don't actually know him that well… but he is definitively a good guy. He is good at making people fell at ease and...I hope i'll be able to get to know him better tomorrow. Oh...and it seems like Choongjae is a single parent...He seems so young...how did he manage to do that … ?

Hm… I guess i'll stop here. I'll try to film a little tomorrow, but we'll definitively do a lot of farm work and I don't know how to feel about that. »

[…]

Morning couldn't come any faster. When someone entered his room without any warming to pull the curtains, he hoped all of this was a dream.

But Choongjae's cheerful voice brought him back to reality.

« Get up, sleeping beauty ! We have work to do ! »

Hyesung's headache hadn't cooled down when he stepped out in the cold, wearing training gear.

Choongjae, who had as much soju than him the day before, was fresh and seemed oddly satisfied.

To take revenge against him, Hyesung started to film him : but the man only smiled brightly.

«  Go ahead, the camera loves me anyway. »

The singer wasn't going to object.

« How can you be so cheerful at ing 6 in the morning. » He mumbled.

« You'll have to get used to this ! »

The young man grumbled but didn't complained. He kinda wondered where the so-called Sehee was. He had to admit he was curious : Choongjae didn't tell him anything about her or what happened with her mother, which was normal, as they still didn't know each other really well.

« Let's go work at the refuge. »

The Angel's Refuge was a place where Choongjae's took in every abandonned animal he found or was brought to him. He explained to him that he took in the animals to get them in shape to be adopted, eventually. Infortunately, a lot of them didn't have a chance, so he took care of them with his own money.

Knowing this, Hyesung didn't expected to find such a big refuge for abandonned animal, and was a little schocked when he realised there were at least 30 to 40 dogs and cats in there, both little and big animals living in big cages.

They started barking and meowing as soon as they entered the tent.

« Okey, let's get them some snacks, and i'll introduce them to you. »

He handed him a giant pack of dog biscuits under which weight the young man nearly crumpled, but other than this, he handled it pretty well. He was still weary of the big dogs, but he swallowed down his fear to get them food. He knew that Choongjae was there, anyway, and it was strangely reassuring….at least until he saw that he had disappeared.

He found him at the back of the tent, kneeling beside a tiny box.

« Hey... »

The man had something in his arms : a tiny white puppy, his tongue falling out of its mouth. He was really cute, but he seemed kind of sick. Sure enough, Choongjae was feeding it carefully.

« What's its name ? » he whispered as he came to sit beside him.

« She is Suzy. She was hit by her previous owner… Her jaw was fractured so badly we couldn't get it heal fully, and she still can't eat properly... »

Choongjae seemed so sad, Hyesung felt his heart crumple in his chest as he the little one's fur.

« Poor thing... »

They stayed for a while in silence when suddenly :

« Daddy !! »