Kyungsoo walked his parents back to their car after the hour-long dinner had concluded.  “Thank you so much for coming,” he told them gratefully, hugging each of them goodbye. 
 

He pulled back and blinked tears away as Kyungsoo gazed into his father’s eyes.  “Appa… are you keeping something from me?”
 

“Like... what?” Yifan asked cautiously.
 

“You were too quiet during the gathering.  Are you feeling weak?” Kyungsoo fussed, obviously panicking.  “What did the doctors say this time?  About your kidneys?  You’re still in remission, right?”  He looked at his mother for empathy.  “Right?”
 

Yifan sighed so deeply that Kyungsoo felt his heart twisting inside his chest.  “Sometimes, not knowing everything can protect you.”
 

“W-What do you mean?” Kyungsoo’s eyes filled with tears now.  “Appa…”
 

Yifan framed his child’s face in his hands, trying a small smile to alleviate his fears.  “I told you, I am fine, Kyungja.  I’m simply tired from my check-up, but not so that I wouldn’t attend my child’s engagement dinner.  Would you have wanted me to be my usual expressive self?”
 

Kyungsoo bit his lower lip, thinking that if his father had stood up and given a speech, he would have ranted about how disappointed he still was about him and Chanyeol eloping. 
 

“And I promised to go easy on your alpha, didn’t I?” Yifan said, just as he saw Chanyeol coming up to them to bid them goodnight.
 

His child’s alpha bowed low.  “We are grateful that you were able to attend, eomeonim, abeonim.  This gathering wouldn’t have been complete without you.”  Chanyeol straightened himself up and extended his hand to Yifan.  If only for this time, since no trouble or tension was stirred during dinner, that he was declaring a truce… however, temporarily.  “I wish you good health.”
 

“Kamsa-hamnida, sawi.”  Yifan gripped Chanyeol’s hand firmly.
 

Chanyeol felt discomfited as his father-in-law stared at him just a little too long. 
 

“How uncanny it is that you look so much like your father…” Yifan whispered, blinking as though to test if his eyesight was playing trick on him.  “It feels as if I am standing in front of him right now.”
 

Kyungsoo looked up at his alpha nervously, whom he could feel was trembling on the inside.  There was no use denying that his father could remember Chanyeol, which now explained his animosity towards his alpha, given how their fates had intertwined and had kept intertwining, which all began with the debt Yunho had owed Yifan.
 

“Yunho… was an extraordinary man,” Yifan said, almost in wistful nostalgia. 
 

Chanyeol swallowed, attempting to digest whether his father-in-law meant mockery or flattery.  Yifan sounded as if he was speaking from memory, as if… he really did know his father… 
 

“He… He was,” was all Chanyeol could reply at this unexpected compliment. 
 

“Whatever differences your father and I had in the past, I promise to amend from this day on,” Yifan vowed, looking at his child and his omega resolutely. 
 

Kyungsoo hugged Chanyeol by the waist, coaxing him to look at him and getting him to smile back. 
 

Chanyeol upturned his lips for a passable smile, but returned his attention to his father-in-law, still assessing him in calculation.  
 

The older alpha’s face crumpled, as if sensing some discomfort, his left hand landing on the side of his stomach. 
 

“Appa, gwaenchanaeyo?” Kyungsoo immediately asked, about to help him when his father gently deflected him.
 

“I told you to stop minding work for now,” Junmyeon reprimanded his alpha, supporting him on his left arm.  “I think we should head home.”
 

The chauffer hurriedly opened the passenger door of their vehicle.
 

“There are some pressing matters that need attending to,” Yifan heaved as he was escorted inside the car. “Chanyeol-ah?”
 

Chanyeol looked at Kyungsoo, who encouraged him to go.   He tentatively leaned in to the open car door.
 

“I am experiencing some obstruction on a mass of land in the Gwanak District and the delay in the acquisition has been going on for over a month now.”
 

Chanyeol’s heart pounded on his chest, careful not to stare at his father-in-law. 
 

“This is to fulfill my promise to my best friend from long ago,” Yi