Hiding the hickeys turned out to be more challenging than Taemin anticipated. His dress shirt wasn’t high enough to cover the hickeys underneath his ear and wearing a scarf over it looked just as suspicious as the hickeys on their own.

Chanho’s questions he half-heartedly answered with “You know… when two people like each other these marks happen.” And that seemed to be enough for the young boy who was currently watching his two fish eat their food.

Taemin ended up going to one of the many make-up stores in the subway station, trying out different foundations, buying the one that was the closest to his skin-tone. He might need it in the future, he thought to himself as he walked to his workplace.

No one seemed to notice anything except for Minho who was looking at his neck a little too closely when he they passed each other in the hallway.

“Good morning, Mr. Choi.” Taemin said, greeting his boss appropriately with a ninety-degree bow.

“Good morning, Mr. Lee.” Minho reciprocated the young father’s greeting before walking away.

Work was as busy as always, Jinhee and Taemin doing their best to keep up with the administrative while everyone else kept giving them more tasks to fulfil.

In the afternoon, Taemin was called to get the documents that had to be brought to the post office. It wasn’t particularly nice to go to the post office as it included walking through busy streets, but he was picking them up in Minho’s office which made him more excited for the task than anyone else would be.

Upon entering the familiar place, Taemin was faced with Minho staring at him, scanning him from head to toe, eyes lingering on his neck once more.

“The documents are here. Come and get them.”

“Sure.” The young assistant replied and approached the sitting male with his eyes focused on the desk instead of the man sitting behind it.

“I thought we decided on a scarf?” Minho whispered when Taemin bent forward to take the documents that had yet to be placed in envelopes.

“You decided that. A scarf did ing nothing.” Taemin said through his teeth, smiling at his boss in case anyone was watching them through the glass door of Minho’s office.

“That was the point.” Minho answered with an expressionless face as if they were talking about business.

“Sadist.” Taemin commented before bowing and turning around to leave the room.

“Mr. Lee?” Minho shouted after him as if he forgot to tell him something.

“Yes?”

“What’s your favourite colour?”

Taemin had wondered why Minho had asked him for his favourite colour. What he didn’t expect was to find an anonymous giftbox on his desk the next morning, holding nothing else but a purple scarf.

“You’ll have plenty of more opportunities to wear a scarf” was written on the small note that came with it.

The young father blushed as he immediately put the box in his bag hoping no one had noticed it. Of course, he couldn’t be that lucky. As he was the last person coming to work each morning there was already plenty of talk around the anonymous box. Luckily no one opened it and Taemin could pretend that it was something work related – not that anyone believed him anyway.

“Office romance?” Jinhee asked when they were out getting lunch.

“Nothing of that sort.” Taemin answered, fully aware that that wouldn’t be enough for the woman to let go of the topic.

“Then explain.” She was interrupted by the worker asking for her order when it was their turn but that didn’t mean that Taemin could avoid answering her question.

“It’s from Mr. Choi.” Taemin admitted in a cold voice, knowing that lying would only make it more complicated – he couldn’t say it was from someone when that person could state the opposite.

“Choi?!” Jinhee’s eyes looked as if they would fall out of her eye-sockets any moment as she stared at Taemin in shock.

“It’s no big deal. It’s just a DVD” The young father said coming up with a story on the spot – pretty much anything was better than disclosing information about their real relationship. “You already know about my son, so I don’t mind you knowing but I would rather not have the whole office know about him.”

Jinhee nodded, looking confused.

“Mr. Choi has found out about my son a few months ago and while I was in a meeting with him, I was called back to school because there had been a fight with my son involved.” Taemin explained hesitantly, not used to talk about Chanho with co-workers. Jinhee listened attentively, something Taemin was not used to with the lively woman.

“I had to explain why I had to leave. Turns out Choi has a soft spot for children and found this DVD in a shop.”

Taemin’s heart was beating fast during the small silence before Jinhee spoke up again.

“Even that cold boss can surprise us, huh? It’s kind of cute actually. He doesn’t have children, does he? Maybe he wants some himself. Now that I think about it, I don’t think he is in a relationship…” She said and tilted her head. “You think I would be fit to be Mrs. Choi?”

Taemin looked at her sceptically, but he didn’t say anything – honestly not knowing how to reply to her question.

“I guess I am no silver spoon… Maybe his family isn’t that traditional? I mean he is hot.” She mostly talked to herself and Taemin couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable.

“Whatever” Taemin said, receiving his takeout. “Let’s go back.”

Sadly, the conversation didn’t end there. While they were walking along the busy street, Jinhee asked another question Taemin would rather not answer.

“By the way, what about your wife? How did you meet her?”

“No wife.” Taemin said firmly.

“Oh… you aren’t married? So what about your fian –“

“No wife. No fiancée. No girlfriend.”

“Oh…” Jinhee replied, never bringing up the topic again.

Taemin notified Minho about the explanation he had given to Jinhee and the older thought it would be fitting to meet the expectations made by the story promptly buying the currently bestselling children’s movie before he came over the following Friday.

“Seriously? Trolls?” Taemin asked as he held the DVD in his hands. They were sitting in the older male’s car, parked in front of Chanho’s day-care

“They said it was popular…” Minho answered, scratching his head. “Is it bad?”

“No idea. We’ll see when we watch it. Let’s go and get Chanho.” Taemin said and the older froze.

“You want me to come with you?”

“If you want to?” Taemin replied with a soft smile and Minho shook his head in disbelief. Their hard-to-define relationship has been going on for several months, but Taemin had never given him the impression that he was ready to really include him in his life. It always seemed as if he expected the older to disappear, not letting him get in touch with the few people around them. Minho had gotten used to waiting in the car while Taemin got his son from day-care – so used to it that he honestly hadn’t expected to be asked to join him, ever.

“You are seriously asking me if I want to come inside?” Minho said and the young father nodded. “Aren’t you worried about what people will say?”

“How bad can it be… At this point I feel like it will come out someday anyway. I think Chanho would be happy if you came to pick him up. Apparently, he likes to brag about your height.”

Minho was baffled for a moment, not knowing what the source of Taemin’s change of heart had been, but he sure as hell was not going to question it further.

Soon enough, they were walking towards the building, both equally nervous, taking a deep breath before opening the door.

“He is usually over there. You want to get him while I talk to Mrs. Park?” Taemin asked and Minho nodded.

The amount of trust he was given that moment made his chest tighten. Minho knew that this was a huge step, and he wasn’t going to mess this up. Taemin let him take part fully and he didn’t know how to thank the young father for this opportunity.

Hesitantly, he walked towards the area Taemin had pointed him to, looking into the room, slightly hunched over. The room wasn’t very big but there were plenty of toys lying around and he easily spotted Chanho in a corner talking to a girl who was quite a bit taller than him.

For a few seconds Minho stood in the door like a creep, not knowing if he should call out Chanho’s name.

“Sir, may I ask what you are doing?” A young man asked, tapping Minho on the shoulder.

 “Oh, sorry I am here to pick up Lee Chanho.”

The young man – obviously someone working here – mustered him sceptically. “Where is Mr. Lee?”

“Taemin is over there, talking to a Mrs… Park?” the tall male answered, not quite sure if he remembered the name correctly.

“And you are?”

“Choi Minho.” He introduced himself but apparently that wasn’t what the other had wanted to know.

“I mean in what relations do you stand to the boy?”

Before Minho could answer Chanho saved him, shouting Minho’s name from the other side of the room. His voice made both men turn around to see the boy running towards them.

“Uncle MINHOOOOOO!!! You came to pick me up??????” Chanho smiled from ear to ear, hugging Minho’s thighs when he finally reached them. “Mr. Son, I told you about him, didn’t I? This is Uncle Minho! He is very tall, isn’t he?”

“Absolutely. He’s very tall. I am sorry for mistaking you for a creep but we have to be careful about whom we let close to the kids. Nice to finally meet you Mr. Choi.” The young man, Mr. Son, said, facing Minho with a much friendlier look on his face than before.

“Don’t worry. I am aware of that.”

“Where is dad?” Chanho then interrupted their conversation and Minho pointed around the corner where he suspected that Taemin was still talking to Mrs. Park. 

“I’ll say goodbye to Heejin! Wait for me Uncle Minho!” Chanho said before sprinting away to hug the girl in the corner.

Minho also bowed to the worker who was reciprocating his greeting, turning his attention to one of the other boys who was eating a toy.

Back in the car, Minho was exhausted. He hadn’t realised how tense he had been every second he spent inside the day-care. He was the one driving and for the time it lasted, he wished he could fully belong to their little family. Chanho was in the child-seat in the back, happily chatting with Taemin next to him.

“Uncle Minho bought a movie for us to watch tonight.” Taemin spoiled and Minho listened to the two make plans on how they would order food and eat in front of the TV as they were getting closer to their home.

Minho didn’t feel like he should be taking part of their conversation for some reason, his role in their life still unclear, even after picking Chanho up from day-care. He had been aware that it wouldn’t be easy being in a relationship with a single father, but he hadn’t quite been able to grasp the extent of time it would need for him to earn his place in their little family.

There were times where he felt fully included and other times like right now, where he felt like an intruder, or in this case a driver. What was most surprising was the speed in which these feelings would alternate.

A simple “Uncle Minho, I really liked that you picked me up today! Heejin-noona thought you were very handsome!” was enough to make him smile, warmth spreading in his chest, covering the previous feeling of being left out.

“I am sure she thinks you are more handsome though.” Minho replied and Chanho smiled widely.

Taemin held back a chuckle and ruffled the boy’s hair, agreeing with what the older had said.

“He got that from me.”

“He surely did.” Minho answered, smirking at Taemin through the rear-view mirror.

“How the hell are you eating pizza?!” Taemin exclaimed watching Minho putting ketchup on his slice, folding it together like a sandwich.

“This is the best way to eat pizza, I swear.” Minho answered and Chanho watched the latter with wide eyes, immediately copying what he was doing.

“Chanho put down that ketchup this instant. You won’t eat pizza like this.” Taemin said, trying to grab the bottle of ketchup but the young boy was faster, he shot up, running away from his father.

“Come and get meeee”

“You littleee” Taemin replied chasing his son around the small apartment, finally able to take a hold of him in their bedroom where he threw Chanho over his shoulder to carry him back to the living room where Minho was silently chuckling by himself.

“Let me down!!” Chanho complained while hanging upside down.

“You know, you should let him try at least.” Minho commented, earning a death glare from Taemin who put Chanho back on the floor.

“Yes dad. Listen to Uncle Minho. I wanna try.”

Having the two unite against him, Taemin finally gave in with a “Whatever, do what you want if Uncle Minho is oh so great.”

To Taemin’s horror, Chanho was absolutely amazed by the ketchup-pizza-sandwich and he had to expect the boy to eat his pizza that way for the rest of his life.

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