“Destiny is usually just around the corner. Like a thief, a hooker, or a lottery vendor: its three most common personifications. But what destiny does not do is home visits. You have to go for it.”

Carlos Luis Zafon

Startled at the sudden turn of events, Donghae looked back and forth between his supervisee and the man he met just an hour and a half ago. He cursed silently in his head when Hyukjae caught him staring.

So that explains the familiar voice. The black-haired man thought.

“You two know each other?” Hyunwook asked the moment he and Hyukjae were comfortable enough on their seats. Both Donghae and Hyukjae nodded their heads.

“He is my boss, Appa. The one I told you about before.”

“Oh! The one you always ranted about whenever I called you,” Hyunwook laughed. “Then, he must also be the one you have a cr—”

“Shh! Yeah, he’s that person, Appa!”

Donghae found the exchange of words between the father and son duo quite amusing to say the least. Although he was not sure whether to be happy that Hyukjae mentioned him to his father or to be annoyed and livid that he was the subject of Hyukjae’s rants.

The two continued to talk and bicker like children of the same age and Donghae could not believe himself upon not noticing soon enough the resemblance of the old man he had helped and his nosy supervisee. Now that he got a closer look of the two, he noticed that Hyukjae looked like the younger version of his father. They were literal carbon copied, except that his father already had his fair shares of wrinkles, a definite sign of aging and stress.

Donghae was clearly enjoying the view that he was caught off-guard when Hyunwook turned to look at him with a somewhat silly and unreadable expression on his face.

“Donghae son, did you know that Hyukjae here always talks about you every damn time I get to call him?” Hyunwook said and elbowed his own son who looked like he just wanted the ground to swallow him whole. The young supervisor bit back another small laugh, enjoying the view of a suffering Lee Hyukjae. It was not always he would get to see a flustered Hyukjae rather than the confident one.

“Now I know, samchon. Thank you so much for informing me,” he answered, a small smile urging to be shown. Hyukjae stared at him with a look of disbelief as if he could not accept how Donghae actually tag-teamed with his father to tease and make fun of him. What more was that Donghae flashed him a small yet teasing smile.

The three of them enjoyed the company of each other way too much that they forgot about the time. It was only when Donghae’s phone beeped that the youngest among the three excused himself. It was a message from Doctor Choi and Donghae suddenly remembered that his therapist scheduled a meet up with him which would happen in ten minutes. And if he would not hurry, he would definitely miss it. One thing Donghae hated the most was tardiness. He hated it when his supervisees were late and he hated it even more when he was the one running late.

“You’re going home so soon, Donghae son? Too bad, I want to spend more time with you and this brat over here,” Hyunwook exclaimed when Donghae made an attempt to excuse himself. The way the oldest easily and casually called him son brought unexplainable tickles and fuzziness to Donghae’s heart and somehow, he did not want the moment to end. He suddenly felt loved. He suddenly felt appreciated. He felt the warmth of a home. He felt the enjoyment of having a father. He felt the love of a family.

“I truly enjoyed your company, Hyunwook samchon, but my therapist scheduled an appointment with me and I can’t postpone it any longer.” He tried to hide his guilt and disappointment with that of a small smile and he noticed the sadness flashing through the eyes of the man. Truly like a father when a child of his is leaving. He made himself believe.

“Just let my boss go to his appointment, Appa. You could meet him some other time. I’m sure Donghae would not mind.” Donghae was thankful when Hyukjae tried coaxing his father to let him go, without him feeling that guilty. Hyunwook reluctantly allowed him to go as long as Donghae promised that he would meet him again with Hyukjae before the man went back to Paris.

“I still can’t understand why you are here with me.”

Donghae could no longer hold back the question that was lingering on his mind, and so he spoke out after approximately eight minutes of driving in silence.

After bidding warm goodbyes with his Hyunwook samchon, Hyukjae ran after him saying that he wanted to accompany him to his appointment with Doctor Choi. The romance novelist looked genuine when he requested that leaving Donghae speechless and without that much of a choice.

“I told you already, didn’t I? It would be lonely going there alone.”

Donghae stole a glance at his blonde supervisee beside him and sarcastically laughed. Hyukjae looked like a kid playing with the seatbelt like that. “It’s not like this is the first time I would go there alone. Mimi and Minnie usually go with me but I actually prefer to undergo with my therapies alone.”

He heard Hyukjae laughed but he kept his eyes on the road ahead. “I know. Honestly, I don’t even know why I’m also here. But hey! A little companion won’t hurt, right?”

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