Yoongi let out a long sigh before he walked out of the office of the elementary school and down the hallway as soon as the lunch bell rung. Room 7. Yoonsung’s classroom was room 7. The boy had started school about two weeks ago and the school was having a school-wide picnic day, where the children can bring something from home to eat with friends and their teachers on the school’s field. Inhye and him were in such a rush this morning that they had forgotten about the lunchbox she had made for him. In addition, Mrs. Shin was busy with a massive shipment of medications for the pharmacy and was sorting it out with one of her techs. So, because of this, Yoongi was the only one that was available at 12:15 pm to drop off Yoonsung’s lunchbox.

There were children quickly filling up the hallway from various corners of the school since they were free from the classroom and Yoongi almost got overwhelmed by all of them. He eventually found the room and was about to enter it to look for his son when he came to a halt as he came face to face with Mr. Kim or, more specifically, Inhye’s Seokjin. As Yoongi had remembered, the man was good looking and tall. He looked good natured and kind.

“Y-You are-” started the teacher.

“I’m Yoonsung’s dad.” Yoongi breathed. “The name’s Min Yoongi. Nice to finally meet you. I’ve heard a lot about you from my son and Inhye.”

The man blinked as a tinge of pink dusted on his cheeks. “I-It’s nice to finally meet you.” he politely bowed and Yoongi did the same in return.

Yoongi quickly glanced into the empty classroom and turned back to the handsome man in front of him. “Yoonsung forgot his lunch box this morning and I came by to drop it-”

“Daddy?” called out his son in the midst of the loud chattering in the hallway. Yoongi quickly turned to him to find the child smiling brightly at him from a meter away. The boy ran up to him and threw a hug around him, in a giggling fit.

Inhye and Yoongi took the time to talk to Yoonsung after their dinner with Mrs. Shin to explain to him of the situation their family was in, why Yoongi wasn’t in the picture until now (or, more specifically, their divorce), and, that if he wanted to, he could continue to call Yoongi ‘Uncle’ instead. Ever since then, Yoonsung had slowly but surely began calling him ‘Daddy’ whenever they talked over the phone and during their meet ups on Saturdays. And, Yoongi’s just heart swelled every time he heard that term from his boy.

“Yoonsung-ah.” smiled the father as he patted the child’s head.

The boy pulled away from their quick hug and he turned to his friends. “This is my daddy.” smiled Yoonsung, as he held hands with Yoongi. His friends greeted him with big smiles.

Yoongi eventually handed his son the lunch box he and his mother had forgotten this morning after his friend’s introductions. “Mommy told me to bring this to you. She packed a lot of delicious food in there so you be a good boy and share some food with your friends.” The man smiled down at his child.

“OK, Daddy.” smiled Yoonsung as he reached out and grabbed the food. Before he dashed down the hallway with his friends, he quickly hugged Yoongi again and added with a laugh, “I’ll see you later at home!”

A thing that the father had recently started to do was dropping by the Shin household to read Yoonsung books at night. The boy had wanted Yoongi to read books to him over the phone for a while now, but Inhye never asked him because she knew he was busy. But, Yoongi didn’t mind. If it was for his son, then he’d bend over backwards just for him. He enjoyed spending the hour away from his studio anyways, nestled up with Yoonsung on his small twin sized bed, in that room with pastel yellow walls with glow in the dark stars plastered on the ceiling.

“OK!” Yoongi yelled after his son, as he watched him run down the hall with his friends trailing behind him. He took the chance and turned back to Mr. Kim. “I was wondering if I could talk to you in private.”

The man looked unsure at first, but agreed. “We can always talk in my classroom then.” he suggested and they did exactly that.

Inside the enclosed and quiet classroom, Yoongi didn’t know how to approach the topic he wanted to talk about. “A-Are you interested in dating my ex-wife?” he bluntly asked.

Mr. Kim immediately became flustered as he turned bright red. “I-I’m sorry, but that’s a very personal question.” he replied. “We shouldn’t-”

“Well, you obviously like her and I know that you’ve been trying to make some advancements, but she’s been rejecting you.” Yoongi interrupted, softly. “If you like, I can give you a few pointers and even try to convince Inhye to go out with you. You seem like a nice guy and-” He came to a stop when he noticed the other man’s frown. “Is something the matter?”

“Mr. Min, I think you should leave.” whispered the teacher, as his brows creased and frown deepen.

“I-” started Yoongi.

“Please leave.” demanded Mr. Kim, with a raised voice. “As much as I care about Inhye, I do notwant to talk about her. I hope you understand where I’m coming from.”

“If you like, we can always talk about this over coffee.” offered the father.

Mr. Kim’s dark eyes narrowed at Yoongi as his lips curled into a tiny snarl. “No thank you.” he replied with a curt tone. With that, the tall man quickly left the classroom leaving the father being the only person within its walls.

Yoongi wasn’t entirely sure what happened, but it didn’t settle really well with him. Did he say something wrong? Were his intentions too rude and standoffish when all he really wanted to do was help out? He just wanted Inhye to start dating again and maybe he was doing it the wrong way. Well, if there was any man that he’d want as Yoonsung’s step-father, then it’d honestly be this Kim Seokjin. He seemed like he was genuinely interested and cared for Inhye andYoonsung. As a father, all Yoongi wanted was for Inhye’s second husband to love Yoonsung as if that was his own son and that was hard to come by. Mr. Kim was honestly the catch that Yoongi wished she would consider dating and re-marry.

Inhye let out a long sigh as she trudged through the front door. She blinked slowly when a pair of familiar black Converses with skulls on them was the first thing that greeted her. She was slipping out of her heels when her mom came to the door with a tired smile. “You got back so late.” she stated. It was almost 11 pm.

“Was Yoonsung disappointed?” asked the mother. “My boss suddenly wanted me and his secretary to put some files together before the big meeting tomorrow so that’s why we were stuck at the office for so long.”

Inhye had promised her son that she’d come home to make him his favorite scallion pancakes since that was something he had asked her to make him lately. She kept on putting it off and was going to add it to the lunch box she had made for him to take to school this morning. But, she wanted to watch him eat her cooking. So, she told him that she’d make it for him for dinner when she dropped him off at school earlier today and it unfortunately never happened since she was caught up at work again.

“He was, but Yoongi was here to help calm him down so he wasn’t upset for too long.” answered Mrs. Shin.

“That’s good.” nodded Inhye. She was about to go up the stairs when she caught the look on her mother’s face. “I hope he’s not still up if his dad is still here.”

“I don’t think so.” softly smiling Mrs. Shin. “The ruckus up there seemed to have calmed down about an hour ago.”

Inhye let out a long sigh as she rolled her eyes. “Yoonsung better be asleep when I get up there or those two will hear a mouthful tonight.” she muttered under her breath as she quickly went up the stairs. She went straight to the boy’s room, but stopped herself right before pushing the open the bedroom door that was left ajar. Yoongi, who would usually be reading Yoonsung a book, wasn’t reading anything out loud and the room was unusually quiet.

She slowly pushed the door open to find her ex-husband and son sleeping soundly on the small twin sized bed that belonged to the child. A smile made its way to her lips despite today being an extra long and exhausting day. The two boys just looked so adorable snuggling and cuddling up against each other with a closed picture book in between them. For a second, Inye wondered the life they’d be living if Yoongi and her had never divorced. She’d still be hopelessly in love with him like she was now, he’d still play and around, and Yoonsung would only have one parent to care and love him. Things honestly turned out for the better, despite her heart ache.

She walked up to the bed and watched the two of them sleeping soundly. She hesitated to wake Yoongi up, but she knew it was probably for the better if he headed out as soon as possible. The last thing she’d want would be for him to wake up in a frenzy in the middle of the night and waking up the whole house in the process. So, she softly shook him awake and waited. The man woke up startled and was even more taken back when he saw Inhye standing there. She watched as he flashed her a confused look to a look of realization.

“.” Yoongi softly muttered. “I fell asleep.”

“Maybe you should just go home and get some rest instead of going back to the studio.” suggested Inhye, noticing his dark circles.

“It’s OK.” he replied, as he got up from the bed. “I’m not that tired. It’s just that Miyoung woke me up early for some morning…” He began to trail off and Inhye rolled her eyes. She got it – her ex-husband had with his girlfriend this morning and that was why he was tired, but she didn’t need to know this information. After he placed the book on their child’s nightstand and they were out of his room after turning off the lights, he glanced at her. “I was wondering if I could talk to you about something.”

“Sure,” she replied. “We can talk in my room.”

There was an uncomfortable feeling sitting in her gut as she led Yoongi to her room. The last time he had been in there was years ago or, more specifically, a month before she realized that she was pregnant with Yoonsung. Even though he had dropped by many times for sessions, Inhye could still remember each time he visited, what he wore, how he smelled like, and so much more. Unfortunately, her mind was also going to hold onto the memory of Min Yoongi standing in her room with a black Mastermind t-shirt, a pair of khaki joggers, and plain black socks. It wasn’t much to remember, but the Yoongi that had visited her before didn’t drive a nice foreign car nor have a Rolex snuggly fit around his left wrist. Things have changed so much, but the one person that haven’t changed very much at all was Inhye herself. At least that was what she felt.

She turned to watched as his eyes quickly scanned her room when they walked in. Ever since moving back to live with her mother, she had changed the layout of her room. It was no longer the room of a young woman that lived off the thrill of the party and the high of having with various men on a weekly basis. Her room used to have polaroids all over the place, capturing moments with friends at parties, late nights around Seoul, and bits and pieces of her relationship with Yoongi prior their marriage. Her room now was much more boring than what it used to be. It was plain and simple. The polaroids were replaced with a few selected pictures of Yoonsung and his drawings of the two of them and Mrs. Shin.

Something on Inhye’s desk caught the man’s attention immediately and he walked up to it without hesitation. Within a few seconds, she noticed how he had picked up both of the polaroids she had of Yoonsung’s first day home from the materials of her desk. One of them was supposed to be his copy, but she decided to take it with her the day she and her son moved out of the Min residency. It was just lying around in no particular place in the bottom drawer of his desk, collecting dust. So, she decided to take it with her at the time because there was no point in letting him have a copy of that precious polaroid when all he was going do was eventually forget and possibly tossing it away one day.

Yoongi let out a long sigh as he stared down at the two polaroids. “Did you have these two copies all these 4 years?” he questioned.

“You mentioned something along the lines of never wanting to be a father or being tied down in a useless marriage when you handed me the divorce papers so I just made sure to take what would remind you of Yoonsung and I when we left.” answered Inhye, truthfully. “It’s not like you weren’t already planning on throwing out everything that reminded you of us anyways so I saw no harm in that.”

“But, you decided to leave that pink bunny behind anyways?” retorted Yoongi, curtly. He looked up this time and his face was colored in bitterness and annoyance.

“I was simply giving back the one and only thing you ever gave Yoonsung.” replied the young woman. “You were never a good father then so the last thing I needed was to see that toy because all it reminded me was how horrible of a person you were to our son.”

Yoongi’s jaw clenched at her comment, out of anger. “I-” he started.

“What did you want to talk about?” interrupted Inhye. “I invited you to talkprivately in my room, notto engage in an argument.”

The man in front of her looked at her with sad eyes. He let out another long sigh before answering her question. “I’m not sure how you feel about this, but I was wondering if we could go to Daegu on a Saturday so then Yoonsung can meet his other grandparents and uncle.” stated Yoongi. “I know that a lot has happened between you and my family and, I will respect whatever your decision is as the mother of our child, but I think he should at least be given the opportunity to bond with my parents and brother.”

The young woman blinked. “Your family never cared for him so why do you think they will start now?” she responded.

“It’s not about whether or not they care about Yoonsung. It’s about him knowing that they exist. Now that he knows he has a dad, he should know that he has a paternal grandfather, grandmother, and uncle as well.” countered the man.

“Why does that matter, Yoongi?” blurted out Inhye. “What kind of benefit does this knowledge do for our son? Do you really want him to know that these people had never even bothered to love him when he is their own flesh and blood?” She let out a shaky breath. “As a mother, I will notlet my child go through that. The last thing he needs in his life is to know that his father’s family hates his existence. Not now, not ever.”

The man in front of her frowned deeply, finally understanding her concern. “I have no excuse for the way my family disregards Yoonsung.” he muttered, softly, as he hung his head. “He is a very good, sweet, and loving child and I want them to see that. I want them to meet him because I’m sure they will learn to get over the grudge they hold against him once they do. I want them to learn to love him just as I did. It’s honestly not that hard when Yoonsung is Yoonsung.”

Inhye stared at Yoongi for a long time, not knowing what to say. “I’ll think about it.” she replied.

She continued to watch him as he finally looked up as he nibbled on his bottom lip. “Let me know when you make a decision.” With that, he left in the middle of the night to return back to his life.

“Oppa, why are you going to Daegu withYoonsung and his mother?” demanded Miyoung. Her voice was laced with an animosity that Yoongi couldn’t ignore even if he wanted to.

“Because my son needs to meet his paternal grandparents and uncle.” replied the man, curtly.

He could practically hear his girlfriend’s lips pursed into a thin line as she sat on the passenger’s side in his car. They were heading over to a pre-grand opening party of a new Italian restaurant in Gangnam. It was a party reserved for food critics, social media influencers, family, and friends of the owner of the restaurant. Hoseok knew the owner and head chef well and asked the two of them to join him upon receiving an invitation to it.

“But, your family hates Yoonsung.” stated the upset young woman, quietly.

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