Clutching his coffee cup for his mittens were not enough to provide warmth, the man—whose earpieces were always attached to his ears—brought the cup close to his face to blow the hot liquid before he took a little sip. He hissed when it turned out that the coffee was still too hot—enough to burn his tongue. The place was pretty quiet; he was probably too early but he did not mind waiting. He slowly dragged his gaze up and a soft sigh escaped his lips. The snowstorms last night had turned the sideroad into tiny white and icy mountainous.

The season had changed.

But, his feelings remained the same.

Heechul was still the same.

The melodious guitar strings tickling his eardrums brought his mind further and further into thinking about what had happened and what could and should have happened. He smiled and finally got a hold of himself, snapping out of the raveled matter with no end. Taking out his notebook from the bag he gifted to himself after receiving Jungmo's call that the songs he composed were bought by the company, he jumped to the page he left yesterday. This new song—whose title was still undecided—would be his fourth song. However, it, now, took longer for him to compose since he had lost his two trusted partners who used to be the adviser to his works.

Kyunghoon and Yesung—he gulped—had not once contacted him after he left. And he had zero reasons to be mad. He deserved it. What he wished for was for them to forgive him one day—the day when he could ask about how they were doing to Jungmo like it was nothing.

"Maw!"

Heechul turned to his left and his lips unconsciously stretched wider welcoming the brown-haired boy whose gummy smile was incomparable. He put down his notebook and opened his arms to the boy who immediately threw his body at him.

"How's school, Sergeant?"

"It's fun. We learned about how to write a letter today."

Heechul simpered and extended his arm to reach the hot chocolate he had been keeping under the bench for no one but his son.

"Hyuk, hot chocolate?"

Hyukjae who had tidied his Maw's stuff to sit beside Heechul nodded enthusiastically on the offer. He helped Heechul to pack his stuff into his bag and immediately snatched the cup from his Maw's hands.

"Hmm. Chocolate," the boy hummed, wiggling his feet out of contentment. He gulped the sweet beverage and leaned his body to Heechul, wanting some more warmth that was only his Maw's.

"Ah... Maw, we don't need to pick up Hae because Daddy is taking Hae with him."

Thankfully—Heechul thought. He had gone to Donghae's daycare and the ladies told him that Donghae was not coming today. He blindly guessed that Jungsoo was probably taking the kid with him to campus.

"I know, I went there before I came here," Heechul confessed honestly. And what followed was only a nice silence that, right at that moment, Heechul preferred rather than having Hyukjae to ask him—

"Why don't you live together with us again, Maw?"

That.

Heechul's savior came at the right time; he should thank the Heaven, or his professor, for he suddenly saw Jungsoo's car coming closer and stopping right in front of them. His heart began to race. It worsened when he got out of the car, still in his teaching attire. It was as if his voice were suddenly taken away that he could not utter a single word, only staring blankly at his professor.

"Hyuk, get in the car," Jungsoo ordered, eyes not once meeting Heechul's. The little boy nodded weakly and proceeded to hug his Maw, bidding his goodbye before he got in the car.

"H-hae— is he with you?" Heechul said, mirroring the gesture to always look at anything but each other.

"Yes. He's sleeping. I've told you not to bother—"

"Your coffee. It's probably already cold. S-sorry."

Jungsoo shut his eyes momentarily before he sighed in defeat and grabbed the cup from Heechul's grip.

It was, indeed, already cold.

Everything was, indeed, already cold.

The air was thickening steadily and none of them knew how to get away from it. And Hyukjae came to the rescue when the boy rolled down the window and hesitantly asked. They thought Hyukjae would save the day. They thought.

"Maw, c-can you come home with us?

But today—apparently—this boy was an oblivious villain.

Heechul quickly blinked his tears away and bent his body to look at the boy whose eyes were so somber. He smiled and tried to give assurance as best as he could, given he, himself, needed one.

"Next time, Hyuk. Maw has to go to work today."

"You can come after you've done with work, Maw."

On that, Heechul threw his gaze elsewhere and to Jungsoo it landed. Noticing from the stiffness, he knew his professor was against the idea. And of course, he could do nothing about it.

"Let's see tonight. Don't forget to do your homework, Hyuk."

Heechul rushed to grab his things, throwing his unfinished coffee to the trash can and began to walk in the other direction. No—he did not run away, nor did he avoid them. It was because if he stayed any longer, he would let his professor witness his tears already spilled. Nothing hurt more than to live the way he did right now. He had to always pretend everything was alright when it never was.

Not when he had become nobody in what he began to refer to as his family.

«────── « ⋅♥⋅ » ──────»

"Something is off. Hyung never took this long to prepare."

The waiter who just got back to his station, attending the small bar where Sungmin had settled in, only cast the latter a tired look. He followed where Sungmin was staring and at Heechul who was busy strumming his guitar it was. Heechul's expression was sour but not many could tell the difference because Heechul was never a bright person, to begin with. That did not apply to him and Sungmin. They knew something was bothering Heechul right now.

"Heechu