“Uncle Sehun…”

A tiny hand tugged at his clothing fabric gently. Sehun halted his steps for the fifth time, getting no where near their destination, especially with this little one stalling behind on purpose.

“You never want to come home,” Taeho mumbled, his head drooping in disappointment. “You are like dad. You don’t like home.”

Hearing these direct words coming from his 4-year-old nephew angered Sehun tremendously. Not to say that he’s any better, but this kid’s parents really need to get it together for the sake of their child. Catching his mildly distracted uncle staring off elsewhere, a sneaky Taeho tried slipping away by wiggling his wrist free from the man’s grip. His attempt was cut short when Sehun picked up the boy instead, throwing half of his body over his shoulder playfully. Taeho laughed, all while kicking his two legs around to divert his captor. The uncle and nephew duo became lost in their own little world, so much to have completely missed a familiar face approaching them. 

Haeun slowed down to admire the sweet scene. Her son had always been on the more quiet side, mirroring his mother’s shy tendencies greatly. These rare moments held a special place in her heart. Like any mother would, she managed to sneak a few photos before calling for them.

“Taeho!”

Arching his head over to the direction of his mother’s voice, Taeho smiled brightly at the woman. He eagerly tapped his hands on Sehun’s back as a signal to release him. Once free, the little boy sprinted over to his caretaker’s side, greeting her warmly with a hug. 

“Mommy!” He beamed, holding her tightly as if she were a prized trophy. 

“Why are you with uncle Sehun right now? Should’t you be at the playground?” Haeun asked. She reached in her bag for a packet of wet wipes to sanitize the boy’s hands while waiting for his answer.

“I wanted to play with uncle Sehun but he was playing with a girl again,” pouted the boy, only for him to sneak a mischievous grin at his uncle when Haeun looked away. 

“Wow, what a little—“ Sehun muttered under his breath, sending the tattletale a glare as a light warning. 

Haeun shook her head in defeat, finding it impossible to deal with these two together. Regardless, she mouthed a simple ‘thank you’ to her brother for taking care of Taeho at the daycare. It was never Sehun’s intention to work here in the first place but he needed the extra cash income somehow. He was either too unfit to be a teacher or too useless to do practically anything else. So instead, he found his perfect balance.

“When are you going to stop dodging us?” Haeun managed to squeeze in a quick question, knowing how desperate her brother was to slip out right now. He immediately scoffed, his eyes wandering off to avoid hers.

“Come over tomorrow,” she continued, this time with much emphasis in her words. 

“Don’t count on it,” Sehun chuckled, almost mockingly as he walked off. As expected from her difficult sibling, Haeun sighed. Nothing can get through to him, at least not where she stood in their family affair. 

“Mommy, does uncle Sehun hate coming over to our house?”

“It’s not that, your uncle is just mad at mommy at the moment,” she gave Taeho a small smile, reassuring the boy that everything was okay. The last thing she wanted was for him to worry about the adults around him. 

Taeho’s little pouty face yesterday really had Sehun reconsidering the invite. Immediate regret struck him upon entering his sister’s driveway, her automatic gate spared no chance for him escape. An exaggerated groan slipped out of his mouth as he dragged his feet to the door unwillingly. His sister mentioned something about dinner, he recalled through their short exchange over text. In fact, he never even replied to that message. Whatever, he thought. 

Sehun rang the doorbell once, not going in for a second time in hopes to give himself a valid excuse to leave if they don’t answer. Although luck was certainly not on his side, the door was answered right away. Behind it stood an emotionless Baekhyun, who almost seem unamused to see his brother-in-law. Then again, that makes two of them. He stepped aside for the younger one to enter, not a single greeting from him. Baekhyun spent way too much time tracking this one down and for him to show up unannounced felt like it was a waste of time after all. Plus, their clashing personalities contributed to the cold treatment. 

The siblings must have talked it out, he thought.

Baekhyun caught on to the weird animosity between the two a while back, one month ago to be exact. He never found out the reason behind it, nor did he instigate further since it was none of his business to begin with. The only downside to this whole thing was tracking down Sehun for his wife, just to make sure that the kid was still alive somewhere out there. Between Haeun being on the verge of hiring a private detective to track down her little brother and Sehun refusing to return any calls, the past few weeks had been absolutely ty for the man.

Immediately after hearing his uncle’s voice, Taeho stormed out of his playroom to meet him. He skipped all the formal greetings, going straight into showing off his new toy robot. Earning a thumbs up from his uncle meant a success for Taeho, who could be seen grinning from ear to ear. Baekhyun quietly excused himself to give the pair some space and to avoid the fact that he had nothing in common to share among them. 

Joining his wife in the kitchen, Baekhyun instinctively found his way over to where she stood and began plating their food. They were absolutely in sync with one another despite the lack of communication. Haeun grasped the chance to steal a glance at her husband, the corner of her lips automatically lifted into a smile seeing him so concentrated. She inched closer towards his side, poking her head over in an attempt to pull his attention.

“Are you hiding from Sehun? Is that why you’re here?” Haeun asked with a devious grin, knowing how awkward it gets for the two men to converse. 

“No.” He quickly shot her down, although the little hesitation in his voice would say otherwise. 

Dinner was finally served once Baekhyun got a hang of the whole plating task. Without having to call for the youngest ones to come for dinner, both Sehun and Taeho had already settled at the dining table ahead of time. Sehun wasted no time digging into his chicken alfredo because the sooner he finishes, the sooner he’ll be able to leave. The heavy atmosphere was felt by everyone, yet they all kept their mouth shut for obvious reasons. Taeho observed the adults one by one curiously, his developmental stage have yet to understand these abstract thoughts surrounding them. He cracked a smile at Sehun then, who returned a cheeky grin to ease the child’s mind. Reaching the peak of silence, Haeun finally spoke up for the first time since sitting down.

“Your credit limit exceeded again last month,” she began, already setting the mood for what is to come of this conversation. The smile on Sehun’s face immediately ceased. He