Numbness was a friend. Heechul pulled his jacket closer to his body as he punched the password on the intercom. Thankfully, the pin had not been changed. He fixed the glasses sitting on his nose, hoping they would cover the aftermath of last night's final battle. Inhaling deeply, he turned the knob and finally entered the warmth the house once offered. His initial plan was to go straight to the kids' room without even bothering anything else in the house. But his gaze first landed on the man sleeping on the dining table, bending uncomfortably. His eyes moved downward and saw the broken vodka bottle that he did not notice last night. His legs were the first thing he would blame for they suddenly coasted on by, bringing him closer to the man. 

Jungsoo was a mess. The bruises on his cheek were left unattended, swollen. His eyes were as puffy as his, if not worse. The second thing he would blame was his hand that slowly rose, wanting to touch him. He wanted to know if Jungsoo was also hurting, or feeling numb like him. He wanted to know what had gone wrong that everything turned out this way. But before he even managed to touch his husband, Hyukjae saved him. 

"Maw?"

Heechul quickly retracted his hand and approached his son, ignoring the grunts from someone who was seemingly woken by Hyukjae's voice. 

"Good morning, Sergeant."

Hyukjae, still rubbing his eyes sleepily, hugged his Maw like they always did every morning, oblivious to the chaos before him. 

"Were you outside?" 

Heechul was taken aback by the sharp question when he realized that Hyukjae noticed he was still wearing a jacket. He gulped and smiled, "I was taking a walk around here."

", my head hurts."

The look on Hyukjae's face after hearing his Daddy cursing was almost as terrorizing for Heechul. He quickly asked Hyukjae to go and take a shower before the innocent boy witnessed something more than he could take. And thankfully, Hyukjae complied. He was about to follow his son and checked on Donghae when someone stopped him. 

"Dammit, this— Heechul? Ah, ."

Jungsoo stumbled, grappling on whatever he could find when he got up in a panic after vaguely realizing who was standing in front of him. 

But any pain could no longer stop him from being with Heechul. He had witnessed his chance yanked away and he could not bear another one. 

"Heechul. You're back? I— I'm sorry. Listen—" 

"No. Listen," Heechul's voice was surprisingly stern, "Save it, Prof. Park. I... I come back for my kids. I don't have any business left with you nor your wife."

"She's not my wife—" 

"Yet," Heechul cut and finished off, taking big strides leaving him to the kids' room. Jungsoo broke down on the floor, pulling his hair out of frustration. He heard it loud and clear. He heard the disappointment lacing Heechul's words.

He had failed him, once again. 

He could only disappoint Heechul. 

«────── « ⋅♥⋅ » ──────»

"What are you doing here?" 

Heechul, who was originally busy transferring the omelet to the plate, did not even look back when her voice echoed in the room, surprising him. He leisurely took his time to grab some more plates, surely provoking Nara to confront him more, and ignored the hell out of that woman. 

"Don't pretend you didn't hear me. Why are you here?" 

Leaning against the kitchen island, Heechul was glad that he wore the glasses to hide the damage she, or they, caused last night. He chuckled and finally gave the answer she wanted, by throwing another question. 

"Why? Surprised?" 

It was the way Nara's face grew whiter that he knew, she had been planning to get rid of him since day one. But it would never be the case. Hyukjae and Donghae needed him and even though their parents wanted him to go, unless the kids themselves asked him to, he would never. He could afford to let another kid suffer, just like what he did to Kibum. 

"Don't worry, Nara-ssi. I'm here to meet my kids. I won't get in the way with your plan to get Prof. Park back," he dragged his eyes down, staring at her in disgust. Heechul was ready to argue back when Nara was clearly fumed by his little confrontation but it was lucky for her that the kids suddenly ran to the dining room. His heart was thumping loudly for he finally stood up for himself. It was thrilling; he barely breathed. He glanced at her for a second before he drew a deep breath and proceeded to help the kids like usual. 

«────── « ⋅♥⋅ » ──────»

"I'm not going anywhere. I'll be here when you wake up tomorrow, Hyuk," Heechul almost gave up assuring his kids to go to sleep because it seemed that they began to