“Please, one more story Daddy.” Sawol pleaded sweetly, a pout forming on her lips that she inherited from her father.

Baekhyun smiled at her affectionally, reaching out to gently brush her loose hair behind her ear. He was a total pushover when it came to his daughter. He tried not to spoil her too much, but it was difficult for him to resist giving her everything that she wanted. That was obvious by the amount of stuffed animals surrounding her on her bed and the other toys decorating her room.

“It’s already past your bedtime Princess.” He answered as he shut the book resting on his lap.

“Just one more.” She whimpered, reaching out with her tiny hand to grab onto her father’s shirt and prevent him from leaving, “I want to hear one about Daddy.”

“About me?” Baekhyun replied with a small laugh, “How come?”

“Not you.” She corrected Baekhyun as she shook her head adorably back and forth, her little pigtails wiggling from the movement, “About my other Daddy.”

“…Oh.” Baekhyun gulped, his hands nervously gripping onto the book in his lap. He didn’t talk about Sehun much. It was a touchy subject. Sawol was still so young, it was difficult to explain it to her in a way she could understand, “He’s away studying, remember?”

“I know.” She answered quietly, looking over at a photo of her other father she had in a pink frame on her nightstand, next to her lamp and some adorable trinkets, “But why can’t I see him?”

Baekhyun’s eyelids lowered, and he let out a soft sigh. Sawol had been getting more and more curious about Sehun lately, it was only natural. He had avoided explaining anything to her in detail before, but it seemed like it was finally time to tell her the truth.

“Well…I didn’t tell Sehun about you yet. I was keeping it a secret.”

“A secret?” She asked with a tiny crack of her voice, “Daddy doesn’t know about me?”

Baekhyun shook his head gently, “…No…Like I said, he’s busy studying…I want him to concentrate on that…It’s important for him right now.”

“But I’m important too.” She pouted with a disgruntled expression as she crossed her arms, “I want to see Daddy!”

“You will, when he’s ready.” Baekhyun comforted her, reaching out to rub her arm, “Just think, won’t it be fun to surprise him?”

Baekhyun watched as his daughter’s eyes lit up, and a large smile appeared on her face. She began giggling, imagining the situation. For an innocent child, the idea of revealing a secret was always an exiting thought. She failed to comprehend the weight behind her little secret.

But for Baekhyun, the idea of springing the news on Sehun one day out of the blue wasn’t exactly thrilling. That is, if he ever found Sehun again. It was true that he was busy studying, at least Baekhyun assumed he still was. At the time when they met, Sehun was one of Baekhyun’s students at the university.

After much effort from the younger, Sehun had managed to weasel his way into Baekhyun’s life. Just like Baekhyun’s inability to resist giving his daughter what she wanted, he had trouble resisting Sehun as well. In a moment of weakness, he relented to Sehun’s desires and allowed him to come over to his house for some dinner and alone time together. 

It wasn’t meant to be a one night stand, at least that’s not what Sehun intended it to be. But Baekhyun was adamant about keeping his distance from the younger after that night. He couldn’t believe he let himself fall for Sehun’s charms. That he willingly slept with one of his students. He feared someone would find out and he’d lose his job.

Sehun was still persistent though, and Baekhyun occasionally had lapses of judgement that ended in small make out sessions in the classroom, before he pushed Sehun away again. It continued this way for a short while, until Baekhyun discovered some startling information.

Pregnant. In their one night together, Sehun had managed to get him pregnant. Baekhyun fretted over it for a long time, trying to decide what the best choice was to make. He didn’t like the idea of putting this kind of responsibility on Sehun, not while he was still young and trying to build his future. After all, at the time, Sehun was only twenty-one years old. He couldn’t bear to imagine Sehun suffering sleepless nights and trying to bottle feed a baby while studying for school. Besides, the situation put them both at risk for getting removed from the university. Attempting to raise a child together would no doubt eventually cause suspicion.

After much thought and careful consideration, Baekhyun decided telling Sehun about it could wait. He felt that separating himself from Sehun for the time being would be the best thing for the younger at that point. He made a request to the school, and had Sehun transferred from his class to another more “suitable” one. They saw each other occasionally on the school grounds, but Baekhyun maintained his cold shoulder. Still, he kept Sehun’s contact information in his phone, although he wasn’t sure how accurate his info was anymore. He hadn’t communicated with him since then.

As for his pregnancy, he lied to the chairmen of the school, managing to get some extended time off for “vacation.” Up until then, he attributed his growing belly to overeating, and made it a point to frequently bring up that he really needed to go on a diet. It wasn’t easy once his break was over, and to this day he still had to pay a lot of money for daycare while he was at work. But Sawol was well worth it. 

Before Baekhyun knew it, five years had already gone by. Sawol had grown into a beautiful young girl that resembled both her parents. Baekhyun recognized the shape of Sehun’s eyes, but was definitely more similar to Baekhyun’s.

From time to time, Baekhyun would stare at Sehun’s name in his contacts, imagining giving him a call. But after calculating the time in his head, he felt like Sehun was probably still studying. Just a little longer. Maybe one more year, and then he would try to find Sehun.

“Daddy.” Sawol spoke as she stared up at her father with sparkling eyes, “Please sleep with me tonight.”

Baekhyun smiled at her warmly, setting down the book he was holding on the shelf beside him, “Okay. But remember, you’re a big girl now. You need to start sleeping on your own.”

He watched as his daughter bit down on her lip mischievously, a habit she most definitely learned from her father. It was clear she believed she could get away with behavior for a good while to come.

Shutting off the light, Baekhyun crawled in the bed beside Sawol, wrapping his arms around his daughter to hug her gently. With a kiss goodnight, Sawol and Baekhyun both closed their eyes. There was a smile on Sawol’s face, still excited about telling Sehun her big secret. She dreamt of him that night, of the three of them laying together in bed as a family.

————————

“Why are we having a faculty meeting so early in the morning again?” Baekhyun asked with a yawn, covering his mouth with his hand.

“A new professor was hired, remember?” Jongdae replied with a chuckle, “We’re just meeting with him.”

“Oh, right.” Baekhyun blinked, reaching up to rub his eyes, “But why does it have to be so early? Couldn’t we meet him at lunch time?”

Jongdae laughed again as he patted Baekhyun’s back in comfort, “At least it will be short.”

Entering the faculty room together, they discovered most of the other professors were already there. They were gathered around a large table, sipping on coffee as they chatted with each other quietly. Eyeing the room, Baekhyun spotted an unfamiliar figure, a tall man with broad shoulders speaking to the dean of the school. Baekhyun couldn’t see his face at all, since his back was turned towards him, but something about his general appearance gave Baekhyun the impression that he must have been rather handsome. Stepping over to the two of them, he decided to give his own greeting before the meeting began.

“Hi, I’m Byun Baekhyun. It’s nice to meet yo-”

With his hand already extended for a shake, Baekhyun suddenly went completely stiff. Staring back at him were a pair of very familiar eyes. Eyes that looked exactly like his daughter’s. He was right to guess the stranger was handsome. Somehow, Sehun had become even more inhumanly perfect than Baekhyun remembered. 

“It’s nice to see you again. I’m not sure if you remember me. My name is Oh Sehun.” He replied, giving Baekhyun a knowing look as he reached for his hand to shake it.

Slowly pulling his hand away, Baekhyun remained flabbergasted, staring at Sehun silently with his mouth partially open. Watching them both curiously, the dean decided to elaborate, a little perplexed why Baekhyun was being so silent.

“Oh, you’re already familiar with Mr. Byun? Did you take his music history class?”

“I did.” Sehun answered simply, still staring at Baekhyun. His expression lacked the warmth of familiarity. In fact, he didn’t seem very excited to be seeing Baekhyun again, at least that was the impression Baekhyun was getting. Thinking back on the past, Baekhyun couldn’t remember ever seeing such a cold look on Sehun’s face before.

“…You’re…the new professor?” Baekhyun asked in a whisper, still in disbelief that he was speaking to Sehun.

“Yes. I’m going to be teaching marine biology.”

“Oh, that makes sense.” Baekhyun answered, remembering the many times Sehun randomly told him facts about marine creatures. He knew Sehun was interested in studying that subject, but he didn’t realize he had decided to focus his career around it.

“All right, let’s get this meeting started.” The dean interrupted them, noticing that the last remaining professors had finally arrived.

Sehun stared at Baekhyun for a moment more, looking deeply into his eyes before finally turning to find a seat. It was only once his eyes were off him that Baekhyun noticed how fast his heart was racing. He took a nervous gulp, continuing to watch Sehun as he fumbled to sit down as well. 

During the entire meeting, Baekhyun couldn’t take his eyes off Sehun. He failed to concentrate on the conversation amongst the faculty, his thoughts too preoccupied with the past and the secret he had been hiding all this time. It was finally his chance to tell Sehun about it…but the thought of it still frightened him. It didn’t help that Sehun was acting so distant, which Baekhyun realized was entirely his fault. It was possible that Sehun hated his guts by now. Regardless of how he felt though, it was important for Sehun to know the truth.

Baekhyun felt a cold sweat run down his face as he tried to imagine the different ways of telling Sehun.

‘Oh by the way, you have a five year old daughter.’ 

‘Hey, remember that one night we had ? I got pregnant.’

‘I just wanted to let you know, you’re a father.”

Even just thinking of saying something like that to Sehun made his stomach churn. It wasn’t something to bring up casually like that, and he knew he should probably wait a while for Sehun to adjust to his new job until he revealed the big news. But somehow, someday, he was going to have to tell him.

Once the meeting was over, Baekhyun stayed behind in hopes of chatting with Sehun for a short moment. Noticing that Baekhyun had stayed, Sehun remained in the room as well until everyone else had left. He rested against the table, facing Baekhyun as he waited for him to speak.

“…Hi.” Baekhyun eventually spoke, giving Sehun a weak smile, “It’s been a while.”

“Yes, it has. I hope it won’t be a nuisance for you now that I’m here.” Sehun responded with a dull expression.

“No, not at all.” Baekhyun answered with a gentle wave of his hands, his eyes falling slowly to the floor before he continued, “Actually I…I was hoping we’d meet again.”

“Why? Did you want to apologize?”

Sehun’s voice lacked any emotion, he didn’t sound happy, but he didn’t really sound upset either. Baekhyun wasn’t sure how to take it. The Sehun in front of him now hardly resembled the sneaky brat he remembered from five years ago. Still, the way he made Baekhyun feel inside was undoubtably familiar. With just one look, he made Baekhyun feel like a puddle of goo.

“I do.” Baekhyun admitted, taking a deep breath before looking up at Sehun again, “…I was hoping…one day we could have a long talk with each other.”

Sehun stared back at Baekhyun blankly, blinking a few times before he replied, “Fine. How about tonight?”

“No no.” Baekhyun answered in a panic, waving his hands again to decline, “You should get settled into your new job and everything first. Just keep it in mind.”