Yukhei felt sorry for all the difficulties he caused Mark over the past week. “Mark let me take you and Ash out for dinner with Mei and me as a way of saying sorry and thanks for everything” he says.

“You don’t need to, it wasn’t your fault, apart from getting stuck in the slide that definitely was your fault” Mark says and he laughs.
“No please, just let me do it, apparently you can’t cook anyways” Yukhei says teasingly while giving Mark puppy eyes.

Mark sighs “Fine”. “Thank you” Yukhei smiles and puts his arm around his shoulder. Mark likes the feeling, he wonders how his hugs would feel. Not that he would ever get to feel that of course, he probably has a wife, a girlfriend or something like that.

They inform the kids about the plan, who express their happiness by jumping up en down on the couch. Yukhei already starts to regret his idea. Maybe loads of candy and going out for dinner on one day isn’t a good idea. But he really wants to thank Mark so he’ll just have to stick through Mei being hyperactive.

They settle on Mcdonalds because then they at least won’t have to deal with any kids whining about the food. And maybe because they themselves just want to go there but they won't admit that as long as they can use the kids as an excuse.

They get seated in Mark’s car. After a while, Mei decides to ask a question “What is a boyfriend”. “Something you’ll not have until you’re thirty” Yukhei responds. Mark laughs. “Really, because Sophia from our class asked Ash to be her boyfriend today” Mei follows. “WHAT” Mark shouts. And now it’s Yukhei’s time to laugh.

They arrive at Mcdonalds not long after that. The kids immediately sprint off to the playground.When being asked what they want to eat the only response they get out of them is “a happy meal” not even caring what kind of food comes with it, they only want the toy.

They place their order and wait. Yukhei’s phone rings and he looks surprised at the caller id before excusing himself and leaving their table to take the call. Mark can’t see his face but by seeing Yukhei’s body language he can tell the call isn’t exactly making him happy.

Yukhei hangs up and comes back towards the table. “I’m sorry that was my mom” the latter says. “Doesn’t matter the food isn’t done soon anyways” Mark responds.

Now that Mark’s come to think of it, he has never heard Yukhei or Mei mention anything about his parents before. Wanting to know more about the man in front of him he asks “Do your parents live in the neighborhood?”. “No, they live in China” Yukhei says.

“Wow.. don’t you and Mei miss them a lot, they must miss you guys a lot as well” Mark says. “I don’t think they miss us” Yukhei answers.

Mark looks at him with a questioning look on his face but doesn't ask any further so Yukhei takes matters into his own hands and starts explaining.

“They kicked me out of the house when they found out I got my girlfriend pregnant. Luckily her family took me in, but a couple months after Mei was born we got into this huge fight and she said she had the rights on everything our and my stuff since it was in her house and I told her I didn’t care as long as I would get my daughter and then she and her parents kicked both of us out of the house onto the streets, I still wonder how she could do that to her own daughter.”.

“Wow..” Mark says not knowing what even was an appropriate reaction to that, “That’s terrible”. Only the thought of banning a baby Ash out of his life like that makes him sad. “What happened after that” Mark asks softly, hoping he didn’t just ask a wrong question.

“My friend Johnny lived in Canada and when he heard the story he didn’t think twice before booking us a flight and letting us live with his till I had earned enough to buy us our own place” Yukhei says with a proud smile on his face.

Before Mark really gets an opportunity to respond, their order arrives and Yukhei goes to the playground to get the kids. “Make sure you don’t accidentally get stuck in the slide again” Mark shouts.

That makes Yukhei laugh. ‘If that means your pretty would come and rescue me again I might consider it’ he mumbles to himself.

The kids happily eat their food while non-stop trying to play with their toys. “Daddy please make a braid” Mei says motioning to her My Little Pony toy. “I can’t make braids in that hair sweetie” Yukhei says.

“You can and you will daddy, Felicia is a part of the family now, she has to look pretty”.

Yukhei sighs, thinking back to all the hundreds of toys Mei already tried to make a part of their family.

“What’s the code word” Yukhei says. “PLEASEEEEEEEE” Mei shouts so loudly that all the other people probably think she’s throwing a tantrum.

So he starts braiding the pony’s hair which results in Mark almost choking on his milkshake because he thinks the sight is just too hilarious.

“Daddy, can we go back to the playground?” Ash asks once he and Mei both finished their food. Mark agrees while he and Yukhei finish their ice cream as they chat about random stuff.

They leave shortly after that, but not after Yukhei pays of course. Mark drops Yukhei and Mei off at the bus station.

“Well thank you for such a happy meal” Mark says not even caring if Yukhei will know he’s quoting a movie or not. Yukhei snorts before bursting into laughter.

“Okay that’s lame” Yukhei says. “It made you laugh tho” Mark answers while smiling. “Yes yes, it did” the taller one says.

They say their goodbyes and Mark and Ash drive home.

“Today was a fun day daddy” Ash says. “It was” Mark asks not knowing the reason why he couldn’t stop smiling yet.