Family of Three

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1

After a long day of hard work, Chanyeol expected to come home to Yifan infiltrating his apartment and cooking a proper meal for him or nothing at all. It had always been like that for four years and he didn't ask for a change. Well, there was a change he hoped for actually, and it was Yifan moved in to his apartment.

They had been dating since the last year of Yifan’s study in their university which was seven years ago already. And a year after graduating and catching a good job of his own, he moved to this apartment which was not far from Yifan’s apartment and yet still close to his office. Since his day one in this new apartment, Yifan was more often than not checking on him.

“Why did you decide to live alone? You could move in with me.” Yifan had said that he couldn’t take care of himself, a statement which Chanyeol -at that time- couldn’t deny. But he had his own reason, he couldn’t let the other man to always take care of him.

Back to right then, Chanyeol expected that there was nothing waiting for him in his apartment because he knew Yifan left for Canada after getting his permission to take some days off to visit his mother, thus why he ordered some food online.

Not wanting to go up yet to his floor, Chanyeol waited for his food in the lobby while talking with the receptionist which he had been befriended since his day one there. Once his food arrive, he paid the delivery man and gave one of the snacks to the old man who in turn gave delicious kimchi made by his wife.

Going up to his floor, Chanyeol was careful with his belonging, minding to not move the plastic bag too much or he would break the packaging and turned his dinner into bibimbap of jjajangmyun, tangsuyuk, mandu and pickled radishes -well, there is no rice in it but still. He loved them all but he wasn't sure that he would love the taste after they got all mixed into one dish.

Reminding himself of his passcode, he was ready to punch in the number when he spotted a little girl waiting in front of his door as soon as he stepped out from the elevator. His eyes widened when the girl looked up at him and he dropped his bags when the girl started crying.

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Woken up awfully by his phone in the early hour of six in the morning,  Yifan grumbled out of his old bed to grasp his phone on the table.

Raising his brow when he saw his lover’s name on the screen, he expected a good excuse from him for this call in the ungodly hour. Otherwise still with the annoyance of woken up rudely, he answered calmly. “Hello? What is it Chanyeol?”

“Hyung! What should I do to a crying girl?” Chanyeol’s panicked voice invading his just woken up sense like a train wreck that Yifan paused for a bit to think over what the other had just said.

“What?”

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When the girl suddenly cried, Chanyeol leaped into panic that he dropped his meals on the floor and he kneeled in front of the girl who immediately clutched onto his jacket, creasing the fabric in her tiny hands.

Not knowing what to do, Chanyeol opted to hug the girl, the action seemed to calm the girl a little bit as she let go of his jacket and latched onto his neck. Bringing the girl up in his arms, the young man patted her back awkwardly and he could feel her tears and snot -oh god, please no- dripped onto his neck and his shirt collar.

Looking frantically around and almost whining when there was no one else beside him in the two roomed apartment floor, Chanyeol in his panic haste fished out his phone from his shirt pocket and  called the only person he could think of able to help him.

The call to Yifan turned out not helping at all. At first, that's it. Yifan, who he lately realized had just woken up was silenced by his outcry and the sound of the girl crying on his neck.

“What?” He finally heard the elder reply. And Chanyeol didn't waste another time when he heard her started coughing between her cry. “How do we calm a crying girl?”

The saddening sound of her cough seemed to make Yifan even more alert when Chanyeol heard his serious tone telling him what to do. The other didn't say anything beside any tricks he knew to calm the girl but Chanyeol was aware that once he calmed the girl -if he could really do it-, Yifan would start questioning him.

To his numerous attempts, the girl slowly calmed down, her cries stopped leaving some coughs and little sobs as he rocked her gently and let her hearing Yifan’s calming words from his phone which he had put on speaker. His big hand caressing her long hair which felt dry against his palm and neck, along with Yifan’s small coo when she didn't cough again and her sobs died down into sniffles.

Both of the older man didn't say anything after that, Yifan went silent while Chanyeol continued caressing the girl's hair without a word. The only thing which telling him that his lover hadn't hang up on him was the screen of his phone which he had placed on the windowsill of the small waiting room outside his apartment room.

Chanyeol glanced at the girl after a while, the noise had stopped completely and he was curious about the girl's condition, and Yifan seemed to think about the same thing when his voice surfaced again from beneath the silence. “How is she?”

“I think she fell asleep.” Chanyeol said unsure, with her face not facing him, he couldn't know yet. Awkwardly careful, he moved her in his arms, positioning her so she could rest her head on his still clean left shoulder.

“Yeah, she is asleep.” The young tall man informed once he saw her closed eyes and felt the puffy calm breathe against his neck. Leaning toward his phone, he asked with a whisper. “What should I do now?”

“Where are you now?” Yifan finally started his questions.

“In front of my apartment.”

“Outside?”

Looking at his door in front of him and then the elevator beside him, he said. “Inside. I had just stepped out of the elevator when I found her in front of my door.”

“If you found her there, she is probably staying there too. How old is she?”

“I don't know. Maybe four? Five? I don't know anything about kid. She is so small, and her height only reaches my waist?”