“It’s Wenesday, why are you driving me to school? Where’s mommy?” The little girl squeaked as her father fixed her mangled uniform.

Junmyeon pat down her skirt straight and tucked in some stray hairs behind her ears to make sure she looked neat and ready for school. “Your mom has an errand to attend to so she’s skipping her turn today. Why? Doesn’t Jiwon like Daddy to drive you to school?”

“Hmm.” Jiwon crossed her arms and looked afar, her eyes narrowed as if deep in thought. “Only if you buy me a Happy Meal* for lunch.”

He sighed. “I knew you were going to ask that. Your mom packed you a perfectly good—and healthy!—lunch and that’s all you’re getting today.”

“You can have my lunch then! You said it’s good!” The six-year old suggested mischievously.

Junmyeon chuckled. “Don’t try to be clever on me, young lady. It’s veggie day.” He opened the car’s door and motioned for her to go in. “Now, hop on. You’ll be late”

“But I hate veggies.” She grumbled as he helped her climb to the passenger seat.

Once her father started the engine, she had to listen to him went on about how healthy and important it is to eat vegetables. At some point in their ride, he already listed all vegetables chronological according to their nutrient content. He was about to ramble next about fruits when his phone rang. She wasn’t even listening to him (while he was filibustering, she was counting how many people are wearing blue from those they pass by as she noticed it was the color of the day) but it was a relief.

“Good morning, Miss Gaeul.” He greeted the caller.

“I’m sorry sir, but I’m afraid it’s too early for jokes.” The old woman on the other side of the call had a strict and firm voice which scared Jiwon. Her voice reminded her of that one witch in a cartoon she watched, the one who kidnaps children and cooks them for her dinner. The woman continued talking, her tone remained monotone as she laid down her concern. “Dispatch broke the deal and revealed a dating scandal involving one of our artists just now. Our website had already crashed with complaints and inquiries.”

Junmyeon’s eyebrows furrowed. “Which one is it?”

“It’s Lee Taegun, sir.” It was a member of their newly debuted boy group.

“Ah f—“ Junmyeon almost cursed if the rear-view mirror didn’t remind him that his daughter was also in the car. He took a deep breath to calm himself before he responded. “You know the drill: gather the PR team and make them report to me the ratios**, call the Legal team and make sure they make Dispatch accountable, and tell the managers to stay with Taegun. Make sure he’s safe and he’s not blaming himself over this. When I get there, I want strategies laid out, okay?”  

“We’ll have everything ready before you get here.” And the call ended.

Junmyeon anxiously tapped his fingers on the steering wheel as he repeatedly looked at his side mirrors then to the rear-view mirror then to his phone then back to the rear-view mirror where he could see his child looking baffled at him. Cursing at himself quietly, he gripped the steering wheel forcefully and turned the car opposite to the direction to Jiwon’s school.

“Daddy, where are we going?” Jiwon asked which Junmyeon only ignored as he pressed on the accelerator harder. Jiwon clutched to her seatbelt tighter as her father went faster and before she knew it, they were in front of this glass building, so tall that its top had faded into the sky. Junmyeon carried her in his arms as they enter the building and she instinctively hooked hers around his neck.  

“How about school?” She whined.

“I’m sorry, Wonnie. Can you stay with daddy for today? I’ll let you play with my pens in my office! I have a lot of them, and I know you love to draw.” He answered as he rushed towards a nearby elevator. Once they were inside the lift, he brought her down to her feet.

“Won’t Mrs. Nam get angry? She said she’ll teach us something special today.” She continued to probe.

“I’ll talk to her.” He said, unfocused as he was fixing his tie and cuff links.

“How about Mom?”

Junmyeon paused, his eyes wide in sudden realization. “Yeah, I’ll talk to her too.”

The elevator opened to a chaos. People are going back and forth across the room, some are holding papers, and some are holding phones. Everyone was talking, some are even shouting. While Jiwon was shocked with the environment, her father was unfazed and just walked through the frenzy. While she was still confused, her father seemed to know exactly what to do. As soon as he arrived to the desk of an older woman, he talked to her in a tone opposite of what’s happening around.

“They’re waiting for you, sir.” The woman greeted him. Jiwon realized it was the woman who called her dad before. She was not as she imagined would be—of course what she imagined was that she was wearing a black robe and a pointy hat, and a broom in her hand. However, Miss Gaeul actually looked like one of her teachers in her school—formal and modest.

Junmyeon crouched to her height. Holding her on both sides, he told her, “Can you stay in my office for a while? Daddy just needs to talk to some people. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” Then he kissed her forehead before handing her to his assistant.

Miss Gaeul escorted her to her dad’s office and sat her on one of the sofas. She left for a second and came back with a stack of old papers and a bunch of markers. “Your dad said you like drawing. Can you draw something for your dad? He’d be delighted to see it when he comes back.” She told her.

Jiwon nodded. After the older woman left, she pulled out her crayons and pencil case. She sat on the floor and started drawing the things she saw today: the people wearing blue in the streets, her father in his suit, Miss Gaeul, the stray dog they passed by on their way, the ice cream truck parked outside the building. However, an hour later, she ran out of pictures to draw but her father is still not back. Jiwon peeked outside her dad’s office to see if he was around, but she was only met with the same chaotic scenario they arrived too, although for some reason, they’re a little bit calmer now. They must be tired, she figured.

The phone on Miss Gaeul’s desk started ringing, but no person seemed to notice it even though it was really loud. Thinking that it might be rude not to answer the phone, Jiwon ran to her desk and climbed the table to grab the phone. “Hello, Daddy’s office!”

“Jiwon? Oh thank god! Your teacher called to tell me you were absent and I was worried what happened to you!” The worried woman’s voice was too familiar for her. She was about to reassure her but she cut her off before she could. “Can I talk to your Dad?”

Jiwon nodded even though she couldn’t see her. Holding the phone in her one hand, she used her other hand to support herself on sliding off the table. She ran around the office, asking the busy employees where her dad was and they pointed her to a room. She ran to the room with glass as walls and pushed the door as hard as she could. It’s like the world stopped as people in suits like her father turned to her, wondering why a little girl was interrupting their meeting. Junmyeon was the most shocked out of all these faces.   

“Daddy, there’s a mommy on the line for you.” She announced.

*

“Daddy, is dating bad?”

Junmyeon looked up from his papers to his curious daughter. He pressed his lips together in a small smile and shook his head. “No, baby. It’s not.”

“The why are the misters outside angry? I heard him cursing someone because he was dating. His exact words were: dammit that selfish jerk is going to pull us down just because he’s dating!” She told him, even imitating the way the man waved his hands angrily.

Junmyeon was shocked at his daughter’s words. Remind him not bring her to the office ever again; he didn’t want her to learn such profanity. He walked out of his office chair and went to her side on the floor. “Well, for some people it not seem good for them for someone else—especially the popular ones—to date.”

“Why is that?” His daughter asked as she crawled to his lap.

He struggled to find the right words for an explanation that would leave a mark on her but at the same time would not scare her. “Sometimes, when people like someone, they also think that they can control his or her life. That’s why when that someone does something they did not want, people get angry. In this case, people did not want a certain someone to date.”

Jiwon frowned. “That’s unfair! They’re not their dolls or puppets! I didn’t think people can love me that much, even if it means hurting the one they loved. Shouldn’t they be happy for him no matter what?”

His lips curled into a proud smile. He playfully ruffled her hair and then showered her with kisses. The kisses tickled her and she ended having a laughing fit. “How are you smarter than most people? I wish everyone thinks the same, and then it’d be easier for us.”

“Of course, she’s smart! She’s my daughter!” Someone caught the two in their bonding and joined them.

“Mommy!” Jiwon squealed, running towards the new person.

Joohyun bent over to give her child a hug. “She’s smart and pretty like her mommy!”

Junmyeon pouted. “Come on, give me a credit. We both made her!”

His wife only scoffed in response. She went over him to give him a kiss on the lips. “I just heard the news on the way here. Are you okay?”

He shrugged. “I’m okay. We’re just doing damage control right now. I’m more worried about the kid more than anything else, honestly. He’s just new to this industry and he’s already facing so much hate for not doing what they wanted him to be. When they were trainees, I promised them I’d take care of them but I feel like I’m not doing enough.”

She pulled him into a hug and patted his back reassuringly. “It’s not your fault. It’s not like you can protect them 24/7. I know you’re doing your best to fix this. This is not your first dating scandal. You handled the others well, I know you’ll do well this time too.”

Junmyeon could see their daughter puzzled with the current situation in his peripheral. He pushed Joohyun off him softly and told Jiwon, “Can you fix your things, Wonnie? Mom’s here to pick you up.”

Seeing how discouraged her husband still was, she continued to uplift him. “Hey, I would give anything just to have a Director like you to handle our case when people found out we were dating. The management really back then. If it wasn’t for you making an initiative to appeal to the people personally, it would’ve been a lot harder for us.”

Junmyeon chuckled at the memory. He straightened up his seat and confidently tugged his blazer. “You’re right. And now look at us!” He said proudly as he pulled her by the waist, making her yelp in surprise. “And I love how everything else turned out.” He said, kissing her smilingly. Until she pushed him off.

“I’m still mad at you! How can you make our daughter ditch school when her exams are nearing!” She charged.

Junmyeon was speechless with her sudden mood change. Scratching his head in guilt, he apologized, “I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking—“

“Oh, you weren’t, alright! Your company wouldn’t die if you dropped your daughter to school in a minute!” Joohyun crossed her arms. Looking at how regretful he was, she sighed. “It’s too late to attend her classes anyway, I’d just take her out to the mall. It must’ve been tiring for her too to witness your office in a mess.”

“Yeah, you really should take off some steam. I feel like I kinda traumatized her for bringing her here.” He said.

Joohyun just nodded. “You’ll be home late tonight?”

Junmyeon sighed. “Yep. I also got some reports to organize. Don’t wait up.”

She hugged her husband one last time. “Please, don’t forget to eat. I’ll check on you later, okay?”

Junmyeon watched his family leave his office. He was proud of what he has and he also wants his artists to be free to want something like that, free from people’s heavy criticism. And that’s enough motivation for him to work harder for the company.