Seungcheol pulled up to Jihyo’s apartment building smoothly, setting the car in park. “Well...this is it,”

he chuckled, watching Jihyo gather her things for a few seconds, possibly a bit too fond and a bit too disheartened to see her go. He turned around after a few seconds, rolling the window down to check if it was still drizzling a bit—and it was, so he turned around to give Jihyo the towel, even if it was just a bit of rain.

“You don’t want to come in? It’s not good for you to be that damp for so long, you’ll get sick…” Jihyo offered, eyes bigger than ever and shining with concern and something else Seungcheol knows all too well, but won’t let himself get into it. And there’s a refusal on his tongue, but two tiny voices interrupted him.

“Daaaaad,” Hansol had dragged out his whine, something he only did when he was particularly upset.

“Mommy,” Tzuyu’s whine was short and sweet, but it sounded so heartbreaking and it tugged at even Seungcheol’s heartstrings.

“We’re hungry!” The two whined in unison. Seungcheol and Jihyo turned to look at each other; Jihyo with a soft smile on her face and Seungcheol with a look that said his resolve was breaking faster than he’d like to admit.

“I wanna play more. Hansollie and Wo-bu-fey have to meet Minjoongie, Mommy,” Tzuyu kicked her little legs in her seat, not obnoxiously so, but the two could tell she was getting unusually restless. Jihyo spared another glance at Seungcheol before finally getting out of the car to get Tzuyu.

“Alright, kiddo, guess we’re having a playdate today,” Seungcheol relented, shutting the car off and exiting to the sound of Hansol and Tzuyu celebrating. Seungcheol removed Hansol from the car and then locked it, and he followed Jihyo—well, more like Tzuyu, since the children were happily skipping ahead of them—up to the apartment. When they get inside, the kids barely get their shoes off properly before running inside to play. Jihyo sighed, but it was lighthearted, and she straightened up the kids’ shoes before neatly lining up her own on the shoe rack. Seungcheol did the same, and cautiously followed her further into the apartment, sitting down on the plush sofa as Jihyo told him told wait there for a moment.

The apartment building wasn’t in the best condition, and the apartment itself was small, but Jihyo made it look like a magazine-worthy home nonetheless. The place was decorated with all kinds of plants, and the furniture had what looked like hand-knitted blankets on them as well. The television was a decently sized flat screen fixed onto the wall, with a small cabinet underneath it filled with a few movies, a dvd player, and little lego figurines (Seungcheol had a lot of questions about these, but he’s not sure if he was allowed to ask them).

“Sorry for the wait,” Jihyo’s voice was a lot closer than Seungcheol anticipated; he jumped and possibly let out a little yelp, clutching his chest. Jihyo only laughed at his reaction, and the way she sounded absolutely like a young twenty-three year old rather than the middle-aged mother she tried to be on the daily—Seungcheol only made the comparison because he knows what it’s like—and that made him feel a bit more breathless than the unintentional scare she gave him. “here’s a towel and some clothes to change into. They might be a little small, but I hope they’re not too uncomfortable...”

Seungcheol took the towel and the clothes and made his way to the bathroom after following the very simply directions. He had intended to shower quickly, but as he stepped under the water, he ended up enjoying the warmth of the water on his body that he hadn’t even realized was littered with goosebumps from being so cold. After a short while of standing under the warmth for a little longer, Seungcheol washed his hair as well (revelling in the smell of Vanilla) and then exited the shower. He dried off and dressed quickly, the clothes fitting a but snugly—mostly the pants, since the shirt was a bit oversized anyways—but it wasn’t uncomfortable. Seungcheol finally shuffled out of the bathroom, thoughts still occupied by the clothes he was now wearing.

“Hey, sorry about taking so long, warm showers are real hard to part from.” Seungcheol chuckled and handed over his damp clothes to Jihyo. “These clothes though…they’re a bit fitting, but not uncomfortably so. Lucky that you had them on ha—oh. Oh ...wait—” There was an apology on Seungcheol’s lips but Jihyo had waved him off as usual with her classic chuckle.

“It’s fine, it’s fine.” Jihyo tossed Seungcheol’s clothes in the wash before getting to work making lunch for the children and themselves. “I just—I just wanted to keep something from him, you know...aside from Tzuyu, that is.” Seungcheol allowed himself to chuckle a bit at Jihyo’s sly smirk, and he settled himself at their small kitchen table.

“The Legos aren’t his?” Seungcheol questioned, motioning over to the little figurines under the television.

Jihyo shook her head. “Oh no, those are Jeong’s. She is obsessed with Legos and when Mina won’t let her keep any more in the house, she brings them over to everyone else’s.” Jihyo rolled her eyes. “Old clothes are the only things I have left from Mark, and there’s not even a lot. Most of the time, I just keep them put away, but sometimes I wear them. Just like I used to.”

Seungcheol nodded, understanding the sentiment. “You know, when we met, you said that he got you pregnant and then left you in Taiwan. Did he….was there not more to it than that? Like, not to sound childish or anything, but did he get involved in anything, you know, illegal ?” Seungcheol leaned across the table and whispered, making Jihyo laugh out loud.

“Well, I’m not sure about him doing anything illegal, but I doubt it? He was honestly the most harmless guy. I know he got me pregnant very young, but that was a mutual mistake—he thought pulling out was a good counter-contraceptive measure and I thought having meant everything, so it didn’t matter in the end. It did matter, by the way. Wasn’t sure if you’d pick up on that by the way I ran away from home to a country that both he and I knew next to nothing of.”

“Went right over my head,” Seungcheol motioned his hand going over his drying hair. Jihyo rolled her eyes again with the softest smile to lessen the bite.

“Anyways, there’s not much to the story. We stayed at a motel at first, and along the way he got a job and I studied everything I could about Taiwan so I could help out too. He didn’t leave immediately, he was at least there for the first year, but after that he just left one day. Nothing but money to fly back, you know the story.”

Seungcheol felt it before, but as Jihyo hummed as she continued making lunch, he couldn’t help but wonder just how was she so...not upset about the whole situation. “I think you’re amazing, really.” Seungcheol started. His shoulders sagged and he ran a hand through his hair. Jihyo glanced over at him, concerned, and he began to elaborate. “It’s just that...you don’t seem to beat up about it anymore. I mean, when my partner left me, I didn’t know what to do, and I still feel the pain like it was just yesterday. That whole experience...it really affected me in all the ways I still can’t believe it does. Honestly, and I’m sorry for assuming things about you, but I just assumed that it would hurt more, you know? He was the biological father to your baby, and he just—he just left . And yet, you recount it like a fond memory…”

Jihyo’s hands didn’t stop moving immediately; they slowed to a halt, and her entire demeanor dropped even slower. Her head hung for a moment before she took a deep breath and turned towards Seungcheol with a smile. “No, no, you’re right...it did hurt. It hurt like a  , but I learned to forget. I had to forget that it hurt, because I couldn't afford to. I had a baby with me in a country that I didn’t understand while, admittedly, still being a baby myself...I just—” And with this, Jihyo started crying, and Seungcheol had never moved faster in his life as he went over to pull her into a hug.

Jihyo drew closer to Seungcheol, and for a moment, his mind was reeling. “The clothes still smell just like him…” Jihyo muttered to herself, but the kitchen was so quiet and they were so close that Seungcheol heard it anyways, and he didn’t even blame her. Seungcheol carressed Jihyo’s head and rubbed at her back, apologizing profusely for bringing everything up.

“I’m really sorry, I shouldn’t have pried…” Seungcheol pulled back a bit, instinctually cupping Jihyo’s face and wiping away her tears with his thumbs.

“Don’t apologize, I needed this anyways.” Jihyo sniffled a bit and busied herself with worrying over dampening Seungcheol’s shirt with her tears before she finally mustered up the courage to continue. “It’s really hard trying to talk about your past relationship...with people who expected it to fail anyways. I’ve tried, but...I just can’t when it feels like everyone is judging me, even though I know they’re not. But—” Jihyo cut herself off with a bite to her lower lip, worrying it until it nearly started bleeding.

Seungcheol moved his hands from Jihyo’s face to her shoulders, gently squeezing them. Jihyo looked up at him and he smiled at her the same way he smiled at Hansol when he watched the younger play by himself and he caught his son talking about him like he was a superhero. “But…?” Seungcheol coaxed softly, raising his brows a bit.

“But...I’m glad we met, and that I have you now. I feel bad that you had to go through such a ty situation too, but it sure does make venting a lot easier. So, thank you, for existing. You and Hansol.” Jihyo’s smile was a bit strained around the edges, but Seungcheol didn’t mind, she didn’t need to be okay right now, he understood. Seungcheol smiled back and offered to take over lunch duty so she could have a moment to herself, but Jihyo declined the offer, figuring getting back to what was most important would be better than getting drowned in her own thoughts. Seungcheol had nodded along, but still insisted to help out, and for once, Jihyo accepted and they continued making lunch for the little ones and for themselves.