Just when Hyukjae was about to answer, the main door suddenly burst open revealing frantic Jungsoo, his breaths uneven, his face all red. Heechul had no time to proceed with his professor's strange state when Hyukjae suddenly screamed.

"Daddy!!"

All the things happening today struck him like a series of scary thunderstorms. He was more than shocked; he was crushed. He did know very little about his professor's background and people did tell him that Jungsoo was once married which he did not care about. However, the reality turned out that his professor had a more complex situation than he ever imagined. Never did Jungsoo ever mention about his having kids whatsoever. Heechul would rethink twice or even thrice if it was the case. He thought he would only deal with his professor and his mother but the more he dipped himself into the duty of this secret work, he was finally aware that he was already drowning.

Jungsoo was stunned, unable to take a role in the scene because everything turned into a disaster in a split second. After his third class this morning, he finally saw a message his mother sent an hour ago saying that she left his children in his house. For a good minute, his mind went blank to think about what could be worse than having his children and Heechul under the same roof because that was the worst scenario.

Since the beginning of this agreement, Jungsoo had already planned on not revealing anything about his children because of so many goddamn reasons. They were his life and to think of letting them meet a cunning stranger, that was there only for money, was never what he wanted. He was afraid that the stranger he employed as his partner would treat his kids the way he didn't want to imagine. What eased him was the fact that his mother had already agreed to help him taking care of his children by saying that he might scare his partner if the person found out about his kids. He argued that it was better if he told his partner slowly and carefully with some convincing arguments that his mother bought until they finally reached a decision.

Now, just because his mother said his children missed him, he was caught off guard when she suddenly took his kids back to his house without him knowing.

Even when Hyukjae suddenly ran towards him, he was still stuck in a maze of ways to solve the problems; only his body worked on its own, out of habit, bending down and catching his son in his arms.

"Daddy, I miss you. You didn't come this weekend so I asked Grandma to..."

Jungsoo's brain refused to focus on what Hyukjae was explaining when his eyes finally met Heechul's wronged expression. His attention was split and he got utterly panicked when Heechul suddenly got up and intended to leave. He didn't know why but he felt like he needed to explain everything to his student.

However, the moment he was about to call Heechul's name, the student had begun to walk away although not long after that, he stumbled on the ground, holding his ankle. Not knowing what possessed him, Jungsoo released his hug and immediately went to help Heechul.

"Don't run. Your leg hurts, doesn't it? Do you—"

"No! Leave me alone!"

Jungsoo tried to calm Heechul down but the latter seemed to have been very angry, not even returning his gaze.

"Listen to me—"

"I said no—"

Heechul was taken by surprise when Jungsoo suddenly carried his body in the front and stood up.

"Hyuk, please look after Hae for a moment. I need to talk to... him."

Just then, Heechul finally realized that Hyukjae's expression had changed ten times worse than what he showed earlier. The poor kid looked traumatized albeit him nodding weakly. But, before he managed to observe more, Jungsoo had brought him to the master bedroom. He squirmed, trying to free himself from his professor's hold but in the end, he gave up.

»»————-　♡　————-««

"Stay here. I'll fetch a cold compress for—"

"Let's end this all, Prof. Park."

Jungsoo froze realizing that Heechul was someone who could easily take something too far. He sighed, trying to calm his heartbeat, and went out of the room to get a cold compress for Heechul's leg as well as to check on his children.

Heechul did not know why but he already felt so overwhelmed by the fact that Jungsoo had children. It made his brain work harder in trying to untie the knots of the current situation—how he could get away from the agreement without losing the money. 

Long enough he had been pondering, a click on the doorknob brought him back from his little daydreaming. He saw his professor coming in, a small bowl and a towel in his hands. Without saying anything, Jungsoo bent down in front of Heechul and pulled a chair closer to put his student's leg on. He, then, dabbed the cloth, like he did last night on the swollen part, not minding the judging look Heechul threw at him.

"You heard me, Prof. Park."

Jungsoo drew a long breath as his eyes moved upward to meet Heechul's.

"You're not the only one who hates this."

"That's why I want to end all of this ."

Heechul was dumbfounded when his professor continued to treat his sprained ankle as if the latter didn't hear his wish.

"What scares you?" Jungsoo suddenly asked and Heechul knew he implied the kids.

"I ain't scared of anything."

"Stay then."

A hot bud of tears rolled down Heechul's face without him knowing. Up until now, he did have one thing he was afraid of; something he never wanted to encounter with—marriage. Now that they involved children in it made him frightened of so many things unknown to him.

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