Can you please just pick up Inyoung here? I will send you my address. Please.

The vague text message replayed in Yerin’s head over and over again, even after she started driving. She doesn’t remember Kyungsoo ever making her pick Inyoung up from his place, let alone telling her his exact address. She knew that it was his second house which is far away from his family’s residence so she wasn’t worried about that but still, it was definitely a first. “Is he drunk or something? Oh god, I hope not.” She shook the thought off her head, there was no way Kyungsoo was going to drink while their child is in there. “He’s probably stuck with work, yeah, that’s more like it.” She continued to self-talk to calm herself down.

After all, it’s Do Kyungsoo, The Ever So Busy Man.

Reaching her destination, she was quite shocked of what she saw. It wasn’t a huge house like she was expecting. It was actually pretty normal and humble; a kind of house that she would actually get if she could afford it. She parked on the side of the road and got off. She pressed the call button beside the doorbell. “Kyungsoo? I’m here.” She spoke after ringing the bell.

“Eomma? Come in!” She heard her daughter’s excited tone from the other end of the speaker and the gates flicked open. Hmm, humble looking house but they still have an automatic gate, still pretty fancy after all. She got into the gates and she could already see Inyoung waving at her from the front door. “Hi sweetie!” She skipped faster to reach her kid. “How’s your weekend? Oh my god, I missed you princess!” She asked before placing a kiss on the child’s cheek. “Ssh, Eomma. Appa is in bed. He’s still sleeping.” Inyoung suddenly gestured her to keep her voice down making her frown.

“Still sleeping or already sleeping? It’s six in the evening.”

Inyoung shrugged her shoulders. “Appa came out only to prepare my breakfast and lunch but he just went to bed after every time, so he’s still sleeping now maybe?” Concern filled her chest right away as soon as her child explained the scenario of her day. “Can I come in, you think?” She whispered to the kid who, again, responded with a shrug. Yerin came in anyway. “Eomma, he told me to just go straight to you outside though. . .” Inyoung followed behind as Yerin looked into the house. It’s not the cleanest but she didn’t expect anything, she doubted Kyungsoo would hire a housekeeper for this place. The house wasn’t dirty, there’s just some clutter in some corners. All in all, it was fine. She could see dishes in the kitchen too that’s needed to be done.

“Where’s his room?” She turned to her daughter who quickly pointed at the door at the very corner of the house. “Okay, stay here. I’ll just check on your father.” She gestured the kid to stay in the living room before making her way to the bedroom. With much hesitation, she knocked. “Inyoung, it’s okay honey. Don’t come in, tell your mom thank you. Okay? I love you.” She heard him answer. She frowned when she noticed his hoarse voice. He sounded very sick. Ignoring his pleading, she turned the knob to open the door. What welcomed her was a decent sized room, it wasn’t cluttered like the other parts of the house. The bed was all white and there was a big bottle of what seemed like whiskey and a glass beside it. Beside the alcohol, there was a small bottle of cough syrup that was surprisingly for a child.

“Child cough syrup and whiskey? Really?”

Kyungsoo immediately turned to the door out of panic before collapsing back down, grasping on his head. “Ugh—what are you doing here.” He groaned in pain. “Usually, medicine for kids says it only works for kids 12 years old and under. Adding Whiskey doesn’t necessarily balance it out into adult medicine.” Yerin ignored his obvious disapproval of her presence and walked into the room while folding her arms across her chest. She turned to one corner where his desk is at, his laptop was one and pile of paper work was on the table.

“Please tell me you’re not working in between nap breaks and cough syrup whiskey shots.” She claimed, almost pleading.  She reached to touch him and felt how warm he was, he was burning with fever. The sickly man only moved his head away from her reach. “That’s none of your business, leave me alone.” He turned away from her, rolling farther on the other edge of the bed and covering himself with the comforter. “I’m not about to have my daughter have an ill father or worst, a dead father if you never take care of yourself like right now. Get up and eat something, I doubt that you did. After, we can get you something more proper to take, better than your shots.” She fought back. As much as she wanted to deny, she knew him very well. “I’m fine. It’s just a cold.” He muttered.

“Classic Kyungsoo, ever so stubborn. Get up!” Yerin exclaimed louder this time before grabbing the comforter and pulling it away from him, throwing it to the ground. She immediately regretted it when she realized that he was only wearing his boxers underneath the comforter the whole time. “Oh—” She covered her face with both hands right away as Kyungsoo grunted loudly while getting off the bed. “You’re nuts.” He muffled as he grabbed his comforter from the ground throwing it back to the bed. Despite the terrible feeling throughout his body, he stopped and stared at her palm-covered face. A smile crawled up his lips. “A-are you dressed yet?” She asked, not moving at all.

“Yup.” He simply answered, moving even closer to her. He caught her moving her fingers a little away from her eyes to check before immediately adjusting it back to where it was positioned, obviously regretting that she checked. “Hmph—Kyungsoo, seriously. Get dressed first then I will cook something for you quickly.” She squeaked while stomping her feet. “No. I’m not going to do anything. I’m just going to stand here until you leave. I don’t need you to take care of me. Tell Inyoung I’m fine and she doesn’t have to worry so you don’t have to do this.” He quickly lost his smile, on purpose, to push her away.

“A-are you actually just going to stand there in your boxers the whole time? Unless. . . unless I leave?” She asked, fear evident on her tone. Kyungsoo doesn’t want to smile again, he fought back as much as he can. It was slowly creeping back up his face and he didn’t want to accept it. “Like you said, classic Kyungsoo. That’s all you’ll ever get.” He nonchalantly said while putting his hands on his bare hips. Yerin then started walking sideways, idiotically moving her feet to walk, as if she’s on the edge of a building. She did so until she reached the door and with her one hand covering both her eyes, she grabbed the door knob with the other and got out.

Once she was gone, Kyungsoo sighed. For a moment there, he almost gave in to the thought of Yerin t