A/N: Here’s the next update! :) It’s a slightly long-ish chapter. Sorry? xD

After seeing his ex again for the first time in five long years, Yesung did the only thing that he could think of to protect his mind and, more importantly, his heart: he tried to forget that he had recently seen Kyuhyun (as well as Kyuhyun’s daughter).

It would be much better for Yesung if he could just completely forget about the whole encounter. Pretend that it didn’t happen. Pretend that he didn’t see Kyuhyun again. Pretend that such a brief encounter with Kyuhyun didn’t wreak havoc in his mind and his heart again. After all, Yesung had been trying to forget Kyuhyun for the past five years. He (foolishly) thought that he could also just forget this recent encounter.

But he couldn’t forget it all.

For many days afterward, the encounter kept replaying in Yesung’s head. Every word from Kyuhyun. Every expression from Kyuhyun. Every look from Kyuhyun. Every action that Kyuhyun had done then. Everything about that encounter seemed to be permanently etched into Yesung’s mind.

However, Yesung was quite stubborn. His mind seemed to insist on dwelling on the encounter, but Yesung was stubborn as well and wasn’t going to give up without a fight. He fought against his own mind (did fighting against his own mind make him crazy?) and tried with all his might to forget about the encounter. Forget about Kyuhyun.

After all, it’s not like he was going to see Kyuhyun again, right? That brief encounter was just a one-time flaw in the Kyuhyun-free world that Yesung had created for himself in the past five years. He was so sure that it wasn’t going to happen again. And since wasn’t going to see Kyuhyun again, he might as well forget that he had seen him recently. Forget that his heart suddenly felt desperate longing once more upon seeing Kyuhyun again.

But the universe seemed to like proving Yesung wrong.

Because such an encounter like that apparently wasn’t going to be a “one-time” thing only.

Whether Yesung was ready for it or not—whether Yesung wanted it or not—great changes were about to happen in his life again.

Changes all involving his ex and even his ex’s daughter.

Ever since seeing Kyuhyun again, Yesung busied himself even more at his café. To avoid thinking about his ex and their recent encounter, he focused on working with his employees, serving customers, and organizing supply orders. (Though it wasn’t really helping much with distracting him from thoughts about Kyuhyun, but Yesung wasn’t going to admit that. Not even to himself.)

Two weeks after the meeting with Kyuhyun and Hyuna, the universe started showing Yesung that it had other plans for him.

The sky was gloomy and grey that day. It was drizzling outside. Yesung’s café was quite busy, with many customers wanting something to drink to warm their insides on this rainy day, or to stay and wait somewhere warm and cozy until the rain was done. 

Yesung was manning one of the cashiers, and he had just handed the customer her takeout paper bag of doughnuts. As the woman moved away from the counter, Yesung just happened to glance at the huge glass windows on either side of the café’s door. Through the glass, he saw a small figure walk past his café. He wondered why a child was walking alone in the rain. He didn’t get much time to think about it, though, because the next customer in line was already in front of him.

Yesung then became focused on processing and preparing the customer’s order. As he finished serving this customer, though, he saw the child walk past his café again, this time coming from the other direction. What on earth? Sure, the rain was just light, and the child was wearing a hoodie, and its hood was up; however, it was still wet and cold outside—why was the kid roaming around?

There were no more customers waiting in line at the counter. The customers in the café were all at their tables, enjoying their food and drinks and chatting among themselves. Yesung kept his eyes on the glass windows. Sure enough, after a few minutes, the little girl walked past his café again. Not that Yesung was being ist, but he guessed that it was a little girl based on how the child’s hoodie was pink. The pink color stood out against the greyness of the rainy day outside.

Curious as to why the little girl was just walking back and forth in the rain, Yesung asked one of his employees to take his place at the cashier, intending to approach the child and see what was going on. He stepped out of his café, just as the child was passing by again, and his eyes then widened in shock. Now that he was only a short distance away from the child, Yesung instantly recognized her.

It was Hyuna again.

Yesung was torn. During their brief meeting, Hyuna had been so sweet and charming to Yesung. However, Yesung was now aware that this little girl was his ex’s daughter—the product of the night when Kyuhyun had stupidly gotten so drunk and cheated on him. So, Yesung couldn’t help but feel again the old hurt and bitterness when he now thought of Hyuna as Kyuhyun’s daughter.

Still, Yesung was a genuinely good person, and he couldn’t bear to leave a child out alone in the rain, even if it was his ex’s kid.

“Hyuna?” he called out, getting her attention.

The little girl turned around, and Yesung’s heart immediately melted when he saw that she looked quite worried and scared.

“Mister Yesung!” Hyuna ran toward Yesung, surprising him when she immediately wrapped her arms around his legs. The little girl started to sob.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Yesung asked concernedly as he softly her head. His ex’s child or not, Yesung didn’t like seeing Hyuna crying, and he instinctively comforted her. “What are you doing here, Hyuna?”

“I am l-l-lost,” Hyuna choked out in-between her sobs. “I g-got s-s-separated from Daddy again.”

Yesung cursed Kyuhyun in his mind (which wasn’t exactly a new thing for him; in fact, it was like going back to an old habit). ‘Goddammit, Kyuhyun! Why can’t you keep better watch of your daughter?!’ he thought with great annoyance.

He would really give Kyuhyun a piece of his mind for this, but first, he had to take care of Hyuna.

“Ssshh, don’t cry, Hyuna,” Yesung said soothingly. “Come on, let’s go inside my café. You’ll get sick if you stay out here in the rain any longer. We’ll get you something to eat and drink, and then, we’ll try to contact your dad and get you back to him, okay?”

Tears still flowed down Hyuna’s cheeks, but she nodded in agreement.

Yesung took her hand and led her into his café. 

Hyuna sniffled as she looked around. “This p-place is yours, Mister Yesung?”

Yesung’s employees curiously eyed the kid, but Yesung shook his head pointedly at them. He walked with Hyuna to a door at the back of the café, which led to his small private office. 

Hyuna’s hoodie was slightly damp from the light drizzle, and Yesung helped her out of it so that she wouldn’t get cold and sick. Thankfully, her shirt underneath was still dry. Then, Yesung lifted her onto his armchair behind his desk.

“What happened? How did you get separated from your dad this time?” Yesung asked as he her hair.

Hyuna was still crying, but she managed to explain in-between her sobs, “There w-was a b-big crowd, and I g-got separated from Daddy, Mister Y-Yesung. Then, I saw s-s-someone with a c-coat like Daddy’s, and I thought it was h-h-him, so I chased a-after h-him. But it w-wasn’t Daddy, and I h-had already gone a b-bit far from where I w-was last with D-Daddy, and I c-c-couldn’t find him again.”

Yesung sighed. Well, at least Kyuhyun hadn’t left Hyuna on her own this time. But still…

Ah, well, he would take care of Hyuna first; then, he’ll deal with trying to get a hold of Kyuhyun.

“Can you wait here while I get you a drink and some food, Hyuna?”

Hyuna nodded, still crying and sniffling.

Yesung felt at ease about leaving Hyuna in his office. She had a tendency to wander off, but she couldn’t do that this time. She would have to pass by the counter in front of all of them to get out of the café. So, in the few minutes that it took to prepare a hot chocolate drink for the child, Yesung took the time to let his mind process what had just happened.

He had been so determined to forget the encounter a couple of weeks ago, but now, by some weird twist of fate, his ex’s daughter was in his office. What the heck? Since when did his life become so insane and out of this world? 

Well, the sooner that he took care of Hyuna, the sooner that he could work on getting her back to her dad, the sooner that Kyuhyun and his daughter will be gone again, and the sooner that Yesung could go back again to pretending that he hadn’t seen Kyuhyun again. (Yesung really was stubborn and insistent about denying the presence of Kyuhyun again in his life.)

Yesung sighed as he finished preparing the drink by topping off the hot chocolate with some marshmallows. Then, he got a slice of cake, put everything on a tray, and carried it back to his office. When he opened his office door, the first thing that he noticed was that his armchair was now empty. For one heart-stopping moment, he thought that Hyuna had somehow still wandered off. But he let out a sigh of relief when he spotted her standing front of the glass tank in the corner of his office. She was still sniffling, but she was looking at his turtles in fascination.

“Hyuna? Come and eat,” Yesung said as he put the tray on his desk.

Hyuna went back to Yesung’s desk, but she didn’t eat. She just continued to cry.

“Hyuna, you have to eat,” Yesung sighed. All he got in response was more tears. “At least drink the hot chocolate? It will warm you up.”

Again, just more tears. With also a whimper of “I want Daddy.”

And Yesung thought ,‘Yeah, I want Kyuhyun, too.’

…Wait a minute. WHAT did he just think?!

Yesung mentally -slapped himself. Because what in the heck?! Where in the world did that thought even come from?! He did not want Kyuhyun. Not anymore. He was trying to forget everything about his ex, after all. The past should be kept in the past, exactly where it belonged.

Yesung must have just subconsciously copied Hyuna’s sentiment. Yeah, that must be it. It wasn’t because he actually still wanted Kyuhyun…

Anyway! He forced himself to focus on the kid for now.

Yesung originally had been planning to find a way to contact Kyuhyun while Hyuna was eating, but Hyuna clearly wasn’t going to eat on her own. So, he sighed, forked some of the cake, and held it front of , trying to feed the kid.

“Please? For me?” Yesung even pretended to pout, making a pitiful face.

Hyuna stared at him for a second; then, she opened , allowing Yesung to feed her.

‘Success!’ Yesung triumphantly crowed in his mind.

So, that was how Hyuna was able to finish the cake, with Yesung feeding her forkfuls of it until it was all gone.

It was a very weird moment for Yesung. He was feeding his ex’s child with another person from the night that his ex cheated on him. How messed up was that? But at the same time, Yesung couldn’t help but find it amusing how, despite the continuous tears, Hyuna’s eyes brightened a bit due to the sweetness of the cake. A kid will always like sweets, after all.

Once Hyuna was done with the cake and the hot chocolate, Yesung left the still-crying child (seriously, won’t she be running out of tears any time soon?) and went out of his office. The rain had stopped now, and some of the customers had left. The café wasn’t so busy anymore, so he called his youngest staff member, a teenage boy who was still attending college classes at the local university.

“Henry,” Yesung said when his employee approached him. “Can you keep the kid accompanied in my office for a while? She’s still crying. Try to see if you can stop the tears and keep her entertained for a bit.”

Another employee who was nearby got curious and joined Yesung and Henry. “Who is the little girl, hyung?” Zhoumi asked.

“Her name’s Hyuna. She’s my ex’s daughter.” Then, at Zhoumi’s raised eyebrows and Henry’s surprised look, Yesung quickly added, “Look, it’s… well, it’s a… very long and complicated story. Can you please just keep her accompanied for now, Henry?” 

“Okay, hyung,” Henry nodded, though he was still looking quite curious.

“I’ll go with you!” Zhoumi said brightly. “I was just about to take my break, anyway.”

Once his two employees had gone into his office, Yesung started wracking his brain. How was he even going to contact Kyuhyun now?

After their breakup, in an attempt to get over his ex, Yesung had de