3.

 

Taemin runs his fingers through his son’s hair relieved that the boy has finally fallen asleep after so many hours of complaining about his sore throat and aching chest. It pains him to watch his little boy being ill, but he knows there’s nothing much he can do. It’s not like he can just chase away the damn pneumonia that has been plaguing his baby.

 

He knows he’s already overprotective enough with his son and that any farther than that, he would be suffocating the tiny alpha and that’s the last thing he wants.

 

Lucas’s immune system is very fragile, one of the many consequences that came with his being born prematurely.

 

Taemin’s loathes the memories of those seven months his pregnancy lasted, yet he knows he can’t pretend none of it ever happened.

 

Alpha-withdrawal made it impossible for him to carry on a healthy pregnancy and in consequence, his little boy was born at only thirty-one weeks, subject to many of the problems that came with being born much earlier than he was supposed to.

 

He’s not only smaller than children his age, but he also falls sick easily and has an unforgiving asthma that requires constant watch. Taemin feels like a failure as a parent, even though the doctors keep reminding him that as he grows up, Lucas will most probably also grow out of most of the difficulties he has as a child.

 

It’s already a given that Lucas’s brain and other motor faculties seem to have developed at a rather typical rate. It’s a gift he knows not all children having been born in the same circumstances are granted.

 

The omega presses his lips in a tight line and sighs before setting a soft peck on his son’s forehead, glad that at least Lucas’s fever has gone down.

 

He rests his head on the pillow, keeping a protective hand over the three-year-old’s tummy, his heart breaking at his boy’s unstable breathing pattern, even though he knows that with his condition, he couldn’t have expected anything else. He looks over at the nebulizer he set on the bedside table, just in case Lucas needs it to breathe and hopes with everything he has that it doesn’t come down to it.

 

Just thinking of having to use the contraption makes him remember when his son was just a newborn and needed assistance from machines so he could breathe. Taemin would spend hours just watching his little baby in the incubator, breathing with difficulty with all these tubes and wires around him. His skin was so translucent and thin then, one could see the blue veins all over his small body. The baby was so tiny and fragile that Taemin couldn’t help but shed tears every time he thought of all the problems his son already had to face at such a young age.

 

It still makes his heart ache when he thinks about it.

 

Lucas grunts a little in discomfort, pulling the omega out of his thoughts, and Taemin watches as his son moves to sleep on his side, his little legs coming to rest on his father’s side. The raven-head smiles softly, brushing the memories away as he pulls the covers up, to adjust them over the boy's body.

 

Once he’s sure Lucas is still deeply asleep, he closes his eyes in hopes to get some rest. Yet, he’s still somewhat afraid to fall asleep and risk missing any sign of his son’s condition worsening.

So he simply lies there, eyes closed as he focuses on Lucas’s unstable breathing. As the minutes pass, his mind slowly drifts back to his encounter with Minho in the elevator a few hours before.

He sets his jaw in anger then, his heart clenching in his chest for a whole other reason as he tries to chase the memory from his mind.

 

He hates how, even after four years away from each other, the alpha’s scent still makes him feel so weak in the knees.

 

When he decided to accept that job offer at the Universal Ballet company and moved back to Seoul, he had been hoping that, with the city being so huge, there were chances he wouldn’t run into any of his old acquaintances from before and so, he had been far from imagining that he would end up living in the same apartment complex as his ex-lover, whom he had vowed to never let approach him or his child.

 

Now that he’s here, painfully conscious that the older male lives just a few floors above him, he wants nothing but to find himself somewhere else to live with his baby.

 

He grits his teeth as he recalls the alpha’s attempt at talking to him earlier as if the two of them were nothing but stranded acquaintances. What a joke. If Minho thinks that, after he so blatantly refused to talk to him or acknowledge their child four years ago, he can simply talk to him as if nothing happened, then he’s even more of a fool than Taemin thought.

 

As he Lucas’s hair soothingly, hoping the boy’s condition will have improved by morning, he comes to a decision he is positive is the best for his son.

 

As soon as Lucas is over his pneumonia, he’s going to look for a new place to live. He can’t bear the thought of raising his little boy anywhere near the father that never wanted him.

 

 

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

 

 

Taemin smiles as he sees Lucas walking into the kitchen, dragging his steps and his Pororo doll by the foot, rubbing his sleepy eyes with the back of a hand.

 

“Good morning, baby,” the omega greets, setting a jar of fresh orange juice on the table before making his way to the three-year-old.

 

“’moning, daddy,” Lucas greets back, his voice still a little hoarse.

 

The omega crouches in front of the boy and sets a hand on his forehead to check his temperature and smiles when he notices it seems normal. Even so, he pecks Lucas’s forehead and instructs him to go sit on the couch in the living room so he can check his temperature with a thermometer and give him his medicine.

 

“Let’s have breakfast,” Taemin invites cheerfully once Lucas begrudgingly swallows his antibiotics.

 

The boy grimaces and shakes his head.

 

“I don’t wanna,” he whines, sliding down on the couch until he’s lying on it, hugging his Pororo doll to his chest.

 

Taemin presses his lips in a tight line and then forces a cheerful expression as he speaks cheerily, hoping that his enthusiasm will somehow affect his son, “I made your favorite, honey,” he explains. “You don’t even want a taste?”

 

Lucas simply shakes his head and Taemin represses a sigh. Even though it’s been two weeks since his diagnostic and though his condition has improved a lot, Lucas still isn’t eating properly. When he does express hunger, he is only able to eat a little before stopping altogether, claiming to be full.

 

Taemin is quickly running out of ideas on how to make his son eat and he’s afraid that at that rate, he’ll be forced to take Lucas to the hospital to be hooked on an IV.

 

“Daddy?” Lucas calls, pulling Taemin from his musings.

 

“Yes, sweetie?”

 

“You work today?”

 

The omega smiles softly and chases a few strands of hair from his son’s face with his fingertips.

 

Despite Lucas being sick, Taemin saw himself forced to go to work every day and leave his little boy in the cares of a nanny. Although he hates the idea in itself, there’s little he can do as there is no such thing as leaves for single parents with a sick kid. It breaks his heart every time he comes back home to hear the nanny recount to him how Lucas won’t stop asking for him all through the day. And as if he doesn’t feel guilty enough about leaving his baby with a nanny, the boy refuses adamantly to sleep anywhere but in his father’s bed “because it smells like daddy and I miss daddy”.

 

“No, I don’t, honey,” the omega informs softly.

 

“Because it’s your day off, right?” Lucas inquires, his big dark eyes that he inherited from his alpha father, shining with hope.

 

Taemin nods and says in a joking tone, “yes. Which means you’re stuck with me for a whole three-days-weekend.”

 

“I don’t mind,” the boy states seriously. “You’re good company.”

 

Taemin huffs a small, incredulous chuckle.

 

For an almost-four-year-old, premmie boy, Lucas is a very smart one. What he doesn’t have as physical attributes, his brain compensates with intelligence and many times, Taemin finds himself bemused by his son’s eloquence. Even though the boy can act like any other child his age any time he finds himself in a situation he judges unfair and throw the biggest tantrums the world has ever known, Lucas can also put on the most surprising shows of maturity for a child. Even his speech is advanced for a child his age, the fact surprising any adult that comes in contact with the boy.

 

“Yeah, well, Daddy would love to spend the weekend with a healthy boy. But that’s only happening if my little man eats something.”

 

Taemin berates himself for being so low, but he’s willing to even go there if that means Lucas will at least eat a little.

 

In response, the boy pouts.

 

Taemin pouts right back, making sure to exaggerate his expression with a grotesque pull of lips and frown, which makes the three-year-old press his lips in a tight line to repress a smile, his eyes shining with restrained amusement.

 

“You look funny,” Taemin tells his son with a fake worried tone, eyes widening exaggeratedly as he pokes his son’s nose. “Are you sick again?”

 

Lucas giggles at him and shakes his head before burying his face in his Pororo doll, his father cracking a fond smile as he tickles the boy’s side, making him squirm.

 

“So, will I spend my weekend with a sick baby or a healthy baby?” The omega inquires.

 

“Healthy is good,” Lucas states, his voice muffled by his doll. “But healthy doesn’t mean hungry.”

 

“Oh, really? Last time I checked,” Taemin says, pulling the boy up from the couch into his arms, Lucas wrapping his arms around his father’s neck and his legs around the man’s torso, like a koala, as the omega keeps talking, “healthy boys ate a lot more than you do.”

 

The three-year-old rests his head on his father’s shoulder and hums in consideration.

 

“Okay,” he finally gives in just as Taemin reaches the dinning part of the room.

 

Taemin represses a sigh of relief and slowly walks them to the dining table. He sets the boy on the chair where his booster seat is installed.

 

Lucas’s eyes go wide as scans the food laid out on the table and he exclaims, his voice cracking slightly, “egg toast!”

 

His father cracks a smile as he runs his fingers through the boy’s hair, “I told you there was your favorite.”

 

His son’s happy smile is everything and Taemin feels like he’s just won his whole day just by seeing it.

 

“Look, there are braised potatoes,” as he says that, Taemin grabs a small plate where he deposits some of the said food and Lucas’s eyes shine at the sight, “and beef stew.”

 

“No beef stew,” Lucas firmly states looking at the stew as though it offended him.

 

Taemin sets his jaw and then decides to abide by that, “okay, no beef stew,” he then smiles again, as he sets the plate in front of Lucas before tapping his index finger on the edge of a small bowl in front of the boy, “but there’s chicken porridge.”

 

Lucas presses his lips in a tight line and then he declares, “just a little.”

 

Taemin nods, conceding again because he’s just happy the boy looks like he’s not opposed to eating anymore.

 

After serving the boy a glass of orange juice, Taemin settles by his side and serves himself, keeping an eye on Lucas and making sure the boy eats at least half of his meal.

 

 

 

Later in the day, they’re sitting on the living-room floor, Lucas’s Lego and several other toys spread around them as they try to build the Big Ben 3D puzzle-set that Jongin, Taemin’s brother, got Lucas as a very early Christmas present.

 

Adam and Eve, their dogs, are laying on the couch, sleeping, which is the most they do nowadays, given their old age.

 

“Daddy! It doesn’t work,” Lucas complains, a pout pulling at his lips.

 

The tower is half-built and for once, Lucas doesn’t appear to be in the mood to finish it in one go, like he's usually so eager to.

 

“Do you want to take a break, baby?” Taemin asks. “Maybe we can go to the park for some fresh air.”

 

Lucas hums in consideration as he lays on the floor and turns on his back, staring at the ceiling.

 

“Besides, Adam and Eve need to take a walk.”

 

Honestly, Taemin feels apprehensive about taking Lucas out because of his condition. Even still, he also knows that fresh air could only do his little boy good.

 

“Okay,” Lucas says, rolling over so he’s laying on his stomach again.

 

Taemin smiles and says “let’s put away your toys and we can go.”

 

Lucas beams at that and gets up, proceeding to gather his Lego in his tiny arms, dropping several on his way to put them in their box. Taemin watches him fondly and slowly starts collecting the other toys lying around.

 

A few minutes later, as they’re almost done tidying up, the doorbell rings.

 

Taemin frowns, wondering who it could be. There aren’t many people who would come to visit them. Apart from the nanny on workdays, and his brother, who has just gone back to Japan two days ago, Taemin can’t think of anyone else.

 

Then it suddenly occurs to him that there’s one more person who knows he’s back and he tenses up at the thought. Minho wouldn’t dare show up at his doorstep, would he? There is no way.

 

“Can you take these to your room, sweetie? I’ll see who’s at the door.”

 

Lucas just nods and takes the storage cube with the last of his toys.

 

“Is it heavy?” Taemin inquires and the boy shakes his head before starting his trek towards his bedroom, Eve on his tail as Adam follows Taemin to the door.

 

The omega breathes deeply, praying that it isn’t Minho who’s standing at the other side.

 

Just as he unlocks the door and pulls it open, he feels both relieved and upset at the person that greets him. He had known from the day he met Minho again, that he wouldn’t be able to avoid that moment. It would be a lie to say that he hadn’t hoped for it to never happen though.

 

“Hello, Taemin, it’s so nice to see you again!” Kibum says, there’s this expression on his face, a cocked eye-brow, a pull to his lips that indicate he’s not all that happy.

 

“What are you doing here?” He inquires in-lieu of greeting, trying to sound as nonchalant as he can.

 

Kibum’s eyebrows arches even more.

 

“Well, I heard that you were back and since you didn’t bother contacting us, I decided to take the first step.”

 

The younger omega presses his lips tightly. He doesn’t miss the veiled accusation in the elder’s voice and he’s not sure how to react in response.

 

This is Minho's best friend, there's only so much he can be after Taemin for.

 

“So... are we going to just stand here, or are you going to invite me in?” Kibum questions, adjusting the strap of his bag on his shoulder.

 

Taemin is tempted to ask the elder to simply leave, but he knows he has no actual reasons to. After all, he’s the one who disappeared without a trace, without notifying anyone. Kibum wanting to talk to him isn’t unexpected, although it’s still far from wanted.

 

So Taemin nods and invites the elder in and guides him to the living room. He offers him a drink and snacks, though Kibum opts for just a tea.

 

A few minutes later, they’re sitting in the living-room, Taemin on the armchair and Kibum on the couch. There's a tense silence in the air and Taemin wonders if the elder will eventually start talking. He sure as hell won’t be the first to break the silence.

 

“When did you come back?” Kibum finally asks, setting his mug on a coaster on the coffee table.

 

“A little over a month ago,” the younger omega replies, he internally winces at how terse his voice sounds.

 

“And it didn’t occur to you to ever give a sign of life?” Kibum inquires, accusation now clear in his tone.

 

Before Taemin can answer, Eve comes running into the living room, closely followed by a giggling Lucas, who’s chasing after the poodle with grabby hands.

 

The boy stops on his tracks just by the couch as he catches sight of their visitor and his cheeks go instantly pink and he looks down shyly.

 

“H– hello,” he greets in a small voice.

 

Taemin smiles fondly at his son’s quirks and invites, “come here, honey.”

 

Lucas takes tiny steps towards his father and lets the omega pull his small body onto his lap.

 

“Hi there,” Kibum greets the boy with a soft smile. He looks at Taemin and says, “when Minho told us, I almost didn’t believe him.”

 

Taemin frowns at the mention of the alpha. But more than anything, he’s upset at the fact the bastard went and so freely spoke of Lucas with his friends as though he has always been a part of their lives.

 

“What’s your name, sweetheart?” Kibum asks the boy on the younger omega’s lap.

 

The three-year-old presses so close to his father’s chest, it’s like he’s trying to disappear into it.

 

“My name is Lucas,” he answers anyway, though his voice is still as meek as before.

 

“Nice to meet you, Lucas,” Kibum says, smiling. “My name is Kibum, I’m an old friend of your daddy’s.”

 

The boy looks up at his father then, to confirm the information and though Taemin deems the claim an overstatement, he still smiles down at his son, nodding slightly.

 

“Did you put your toys away, where they should be?” He asks his son once the boy is satisfied with his answer, running a hand to smooth the boy’s bangs back.

 

Lucas hums, nodding his head in confirmation.

 

Taemin smiles and pokes his nose, “good job,” he compliments. “Now honey, why don’t you take Eve and Adam and go play with them in your room? Daddy and Kibum need to talk.”

 

“Big boys’ talk?” The boy inquires curiously.

 

Taemin chuckles and presses a kiss to his forehead before saying, “something like that.”

 

“Okay,” Lucas gives in easily before sliding off his father’s lap and then calling out to their puppies and waving Kibum goodbye before rushing back to the hallway he emerged from a couple of minutes before.

 

“He’s adorable,” Kibum comments once the boy is out of sight.

 

“Thanks,” Taemin says and then takes in a deep breath.

 

Before he can say anything, Kibum comments, “he looks like Min–” he interrupts himself, scoffs with a frown and revises himself, “never mind. How old is he? He’s so eloquent.”

 

Taemin pretends he doesn’t notice how disturbed Kibum looks at the sight of Lucas. He muses that with how much his son looks like Minho, it was bound to bring on such a reaction. Still, he is surprised by the question the older omega asks instead of finishing his sentence and raises an eyebrow in confusion as he answers almost hesitantly, “he’s three.”

 

Kibum stares at him for a couple of seconds and then scoffs in disbelief as he comments, “wow... You moved on pretty quick from Minho, huh?”

 

The younger male can only stare back, not understanding where that is coming from.

 

“While Minho was here, hurting and pinning over you, you were already jumping someone else! How could you?!”

 

“I’m sorry?!” Taemin asks indignantly, his expression falling at Kibum’s words.

 

“Oh, don’t act dumb, Taemin,” Kibum states, scowling. “Seeing the way Minho was, we were all worried sick about you. About how you were handling the situation. But obviously, we worried for nothing. You could’ve called and at least informed us that you’d already moved on.”

 

Taemin’s blood is simmering, his anger growing a little more at each of Kibum’s words.

 

“Is that what the bastard told you?” The younger omega inquires, his tone of voice dry. “That I’d moved on and had gone on to have a kid with someone else?”

 

Kibum’s scowl turns into a frown of confusion.

 

“I did call Kibum,” Taemin informs dryly. “More times than I could count. I left Minho voice mails, texts, emails. The bastard never once bothered picking up or answering. He had his freaking secretary tell me to stop calling.”

 

“What?”

 

“I was already pregnant when we broke up,” Taemin reveals, scowling. “I found out when I was in St Petersbourg. I called to tell him. When he didn’t pick up, I told him through the messages I left him. He never once got back to me. Not even to tell me he didn’t want anything to do with me and my kid.” By then, the omega is speaking through gritted teeth. “You’re going to tell me the bastard never told you?!”

 

“You’re not making sense…” Kibum states and then he lets out a trembling breath. “You’re… You’re saying that Lucas is… that he’s Minho’s son?”

 

“He’s my son. Minho was merely a donor. And that’s what he’ll stay as. He gave up the right to call Lucas his son four years ago.”

 

Kibum shakes his head, having a hard time wrapping his mind around the information.

 

“Minho wouldn’t… you know Minho, Taemin. He would’ve done anything to be with you and Lucas. Are you sure he even knows?”

 

The dry, humorless laughter that escapes Taemin is a foreign sound to Kibum’s ears. The Taemin he knew wasn’t this bitter. Granted, he hadn’t known the younger for very long before he’d left for St Petersbourg, but he still recalls those three years they’d been acquainted for. The Taemin he knew was sweet if a little of a goofball.

 

Not this bitter and cold persona that he is facing.

 

“I think it’s way past time you left,” Taemin decides as he gets up from the couch.

 

Kibum huffs in incredulity and says, “you can’t just drop a bomb on me like that and be done with it. We need to talk about this!”

 

“No, we don’t,” the younger states in all seriousness. “It’s been four years, Kibum. The time to talk about this is over. Look, I didn’t come back to Seoul to dwell on the past, I came back to give my son a better life.”

 

Kibum rises to his feet, just as serious, “yeah? And keeping him from his father is a definition of a better life in your book?”

 

“Keeping him from the father that rejected him is,” the raven-head argues without missing a beat.

 

Kibum staggers at the words. Had he been in Taemin’s place, would he have done any different? Although it’s hard for him to picture Jinki rejecting him and their daughter, if it had happened, would he have ever wanted the elder anywhere near his baby after so many years?

 

Then again, how can he be sure Minho ever even meant to turn his back on Taemin and their child? He knows Minho and he can’t imagine the alpha running from his responsibilities like that. He needs to talk to the alpha, he decides. He needs to get to the bottom of this.

 

“This conversation is not over,” Kibum tells the younger as he lets Taemin him to the front door.

 

“Believe me, it is,” Taemin retorts as he opens the door and waits for Kibum to walk out. “Have a good day.”

 

Before Kibum can even say anything, the younger closes the door, leaving the older omega to stare at it in shock.

 

After his astonishment at having the door slammed on his face subsides, Kibum takes in a deep breath and pulls his phone out of his pocket.

 

He scrolls through it for Minho's number and barely hesitates before pressing the call button.

 

There are a couple of dial tones before Minho picks up.

 

“Hello?”

 

“We need to talk. Now.”

 

---

A/N:

Hi guys! I know for a fact that this week wasn't an easy one for any of us. I hope you're all doing well (better?). Know that you're free to dm me if you need to talk, or you know, talk to someone you feel comfortable with.

With Love,

Joorin <3