"Appa!" Hansol jumped from his spot as he sat on the stool on his school lobby with his teacher, Jisoo. 

"Hansolie! I'm so late, I'm sorry!" Seungcheol jogged to the small guy who folded his hands in annoyance. It was almost 2:30, meanwhile his class ended around 12:30. "Appa, I waited nearly two hours." Hansol retorted. 

"I know, I'm so sorry. I had a sudden meeting." Seungcheol crouched down to even the 8 year-old's height. He then looked up to Jisoo who stood there quietly on his side, "I'm so sorry to bother you, Teacher Hong." 

"No, it's fine, he's a sweet kid." Jisoo waved his hands. Seungcheol knew better. Actually, it was not him being sweet, but he just sat there silently. He was not very keen of being alone with people, especially an adult, he was not even as close with Seokmin the pupils' idol.

Hansol played with his finger, "you know I don't really like being alone with stranger." Hansol alternately spoke both English and Korean. He knew when to use English so that their conversation would be rather personal (rarely anyone speaks English there) or at times, he was just not as fluent in Korean as he was in English. It was one of the reason he did not really talk to a lot of people, because his Korean was not perfect, except from that kid Seungkwan. That kid was something, he even tried to speak weird, or even made-up, English just to talk to Hansol.

Jisoo gaped at the kid. 

Seungcheol was about to say something but Jisoo cut him off. "I see you speak English very well," he said in Hansol's first language fluently, "but I'm your teacher, Hansolie, not a stranger. A teacher means I am your second parent when your Appa is at work." 

It was now Seungcheol and Hansol's turn to gape at the teacher who kneeled down beside the eldest. The two Choi's had their cheeks reddened at the realization that the teacher spoke very fluent English and knew that the child basically just talk secretively. They both apologized.

Hansol's startled expression was later replaced with a sparkly eyes. It was not an everyday occurrence to find someone speaking fluent English. He was rather pleased with the fact. "Teacher Jisoo! You speak English?" He dared to ask shyly.

"I do," Jisoo chuckled, "I was born in America." 

"Me too!" 

Jisoo realized the discomfort in his dad's eyes as he stared at the floor awkwardly. So he just smiled, "really? See, that means we're alike! We should get along, we could be good friends." 

Hansol nodded. "Okay, my name is Hansol. Or Vernon." He reached out his small hand. The teacher took his in his bigger one, "you can call me Joshua, Vernonie." 

That day, it would be a lie if Seungcheol said he did not feel utterly relieved. Hansol was not a very talkative person, due to his imperfect Korean, therefore he was very grateful of Seungkwan. He was Hansol's everything in the school. The other kids did not especially avoid him or something, but they don't really play with him either. So he was rather worried when, like today, he was late to pick his son and Seungkwan's home. Hansol would be sitting alone silently. But now that the new teacher Jisoo was here, it might be a bit better, Hansol seemed to like him more than other teacher he used to stay silent with. (Mostly because he was awkward and uncomfortable, so he tended to speak English with his dad, and most of the teacher could not really catch what he's saying or could not reply to him. It makes things awkward to know someone was talking about you in other language.)

"S P A G H E T I!" Hansol chanted the alphabets forming the word spaghetti in a rap kind of tone. He swung his legs as he sat on the tall kitchen stool, waiting for his father to finish cooking their dinner. A special dinner for today. One, to celebrate the new semester going. Two, to make up for picking him up late. That was why he was cooking Hansol's favorite food, and it was pretty easy as well, pasta. Today's pasta would be spaghetti with prawns and spinach with tomato sauce, to which Hansol complained why did he have to put spinach on it. 

"Spaghetti has double T." Seungcheol chuckled.

"Oh?" The kid tilted his head before chanting it once again, "S P A G E T T I!"

Seungcheol turned to his son, "you're missing the H this time." He laughed before clearing his throat, "it should be, S P A G H E T T I. Yeah! Today I'm cooking spa-ghe-tti! You're eight, and I'm thirty! Yeah!" He pretended to do rhythmic rap as his kid waved his hand around like a hip hop singer. "We're going to eat!" He pointed his finger to the small boy.

"Spaghetti!" The kid shouted.

"One more time!"

"Spaghetti!"

"Yeaahh! Vernon Choi!" Seungcheol cheered as he pour the spaghetti. They laughed and joked around throughout dinner. There were days where they were both silent and sleepy, but most of the times, they make a good partner. Hansol was always a sweet child to Seungcheol, and Seungcheol was always a cool dad to Hansol.

"Dewishios." Hansol stabbed his last prawn, Seungcheol had made sure he got a lot more but still he finished his prawns fast. His small hand reached his cup and he drank from it before turning to his dad. "Appa," he called out.

"Hmm?" His father was chewing but he leaned in closer to indicate he's listening. 

"You're a cool dad." He chuckled sheepishly. 

"And you're a cool son." Seungcheol reached out to rustle Hansol's hair lovingly.

He did not expect he would be this much in love and adoration to his small son five years ago. When he got Hansol that abruptly. He was panicking. He was not a 100% shocked, but he did not expect to have his son either. The son he did not even plan to have. 

The first weeks was purely out of guilt and sympathy. The small kid was badly shaken. He was only three but his mom, his only family, just shoved him on some dude he never knew. Seungcheol is his biological father, but the three-year-old Hansol never even met the guy nor heard about him until a week where his mom seemed to only chant, 'i'm sorry' 'you can't live with mommy anymore'. He was in a bad state the first few weeks in Seungcheol's care. 

They were actually just as bad. And as confused. Hansol's more like, 'who the is this person and where is my mom I want my mom back don't leave me' and Seungcheol's more like, 'oh I suddenly got a kid I have to raise forever it's a ing human child I can't even make him stop crying how do I raise a child'. 

But after a month or more, the two started to get used to each other. Hansol opened up and started to accept Seungcheol. Seungcheol was more than relieved when he seemed to get a grip in handling a child, well, it could also be because of the books he bought about parenting. In a year, they grew on each other and now they love each other like they never had been separated since day one. 

"Really? I really like Appa, you won't leave me, right? Will you always be my Appa?" Seungcheol watched the kid's lips trembled and his tiny fist clenched on his fork. His owns too. A perfect reflection of the junior's action. It hurt him to see Hansol this way even after years. It seemed to leave a trauma in his heart. Being left by a parent must've been so hard. 

"What are you talking about? I love you more than anything in this world, even if sometimes I got mad or late in picking you up," he tried to joke but it came out dry, "Appa loves you, you'll always be my son even if I had to run in the street." He tried one more time.

This time Hansol let out a loud snort. He was chuckling the next second and heck it was contagious. The next thing he knew was himself laughing along with his son.