It was late in the afternoon as Heo Young Saeng was lounging about in the living room with papers and coffee at hand. The last few weeks have been quite tedious for him at work since he was busy taking care of the preparations for the debut of his company’s, Prince Entertainment or Prince as it’s commonly called, newest group KJK, a girl group comprising of three girls who specializes in ballads and trot songs.

“Since there are two members with the name Kay, should I give them different stage names so the fans won’t be so confused?” he muttered to himself, a crease forming at his brows. “But it would be a sort of charm point two have to same names, and let their would-be fans decide how to nickname them.”

Clack! He heard the door open, so he turned his head to see who came home and was shocked to see his six-year-old daughter, Yuki, covered in dirt and scratches. “Yuki, what happened? Who did this to you?!” he asked frantically. How dare someone hit my precious daughter!

Young Saeng’s handsome looks, with his chic haircut, charismatic eyes, prominent cheeks and alluring smile, was quite youthful and so it was always a surprise to people, especially to girls who tries to hit on him, that he’s already in his late twenties, happily married and a father at that.

Yuki wiped her nose on the sleeve of her shirt before looking up at her father with teary eyes. “My classmate Taeyeon said it was weird that in our family, I have two daddies. So I punched her in the face. Her friend Jessica tried to scratch me too so I also clouted her. How come people say it’s weird that I have two dads? It’s not wrong, is it? You and Appa are the best parents in the world!” she cried into her father’s shirt as he lifted her into her arms.

“Sssh, don’t cry now Yuki. You sure showed those two girls how brave the daughter of Heo Young Saeng and Kim Yesung is, right?” he cooed as he patted the hair of his daughter. Yuki subtly nodded. “But next time, tell us first before you go hitting people, okay? We’ll talk to their parents. I don’t want you getting hurt or in trouble, you know.” He said as he placed her down on the floor.

“Yes daddy, I’m sorry. But it’s just that I hate it when people say bad stuff about you and appa!” Yuki said indignantly with her arms crossed over her chest.

“People are just not used to families like ours, don’t worry okay?” Young Saeng explained. “If they do it another time and your appa hears about it, I’m sure he’ll turn them into turtle food for Ddangkkoma, how about that?”

“Yay! But won’t Ddangkkoma get a tummy ache from eating those bad people?” she asked.

“Haha enough questions Miss Heo Yuki, now be a good girl and sit while Daddy gets some wet towels and the first aid kit.” Young Saeng told her.

“Yes daddy!” Yuki giggled as she plopped down on one of the soft, pale aqua armchairs.

As Young Saeng went off to get the stuff he needed to clean up Yuki’s wounds, he couldn’t help but feel rather angry at himself for what happened to his daughter. Yes, he loved his partner Yesung and he knows that together, they’ve been able to give their daughter a good upbringing despite their unconventional circumstances. But society was still very unforgiving, despite the more westernized changes that has happened in the recent years, couples like he and Yesung are still frowned upon.

Sometimes, just sometimes, he thought what life would have been had that not happened....had she not left...

Flashback...

“Honey, Yuki’s crying. I think she wants milk...” Young Saeng called out groggily as he was roused from his sleep. “Honey?” he said again as he d for his wife on her side of the bed and was surprised to find no one. Strange.He thought as he got up and went to the kitchen to get some milk for the baby.

He thought his wife must’ve gone to the market to avoid the Sunday rush and she’ll be back soon so he headed for the nursery to take care of their eight-month old daughter.

Heo Yuki, their little bundle of joy. She obviously inherited her wavy hair and double-lidded eyes from her mother because I have straight hair and mono-lids, but she definitely got my nose and smile.Heck, even a bit of my chubby cheeks too! He mused as he carried the baby and gave her the milk bottle.

Two hours later, when he was finished with feeding, burping, changing diapers and playing peek-a-boo with Yuki, he wandered around the house, expecting to see that his wife had returned but to no avail. So he had his breakfast and decided to invite his friend, Park Jungmin, over, since he lived only two blocks away.

“Hyung! What’s up with the sudden invitation, we just saw each other yesterday, or are you missing me so much that you can’t wait til we see each other at work?” Jungmin teased and pretended to hug Young Saeng in a lascivious manner.

“Yah!” Young Saeng exclaimed as he pushed Jungmin. “I knew I should’ve called Hyun Joong-hyung instead!” he said, shuddering from Jungmin’s attack.

“Hahaha, I was only joking Saengie-hyung!” Jungmin replied with an impish grin on his face. “Anyway, I brought some carrot cake and carrot juice I made this morning, you’ll have some right? You do know carrots are good for the body, not to mention they’re yummy and---“

“Gyah! I’ll have some! I’ll have some! Just get inside before you annoy the neighbours with your usual carrot speech!” Young Saeng exclaimed as he hurriedly pulled Jungmin into the house and handed him a pair of slippers. “And keep your voice down, Yuki’s sleeping!”

“Geez...you’re the fussy one who should be keeping your voice down.” Jungmin muttered as he removed his sneakers and wore the slippers that his hyung gave him.

“Oh, where’s noona?” Jungmin asked as he noticed the silence in the house. Usually, whenever he came for a visit, Young Saeng’s wife would strike up a conversation with him; Young Saeng would often about how Jungmin suddenly looks like a gossiping housewife whenever he talks to his wife.

“Hmm... I’m not really sure.” Young Saeng said as he took out glasses, plates and utensils from the kitchen cabinet. “I was woken up by Yuki’s crying and she wasn’t there, so I figured since it was Sunday, she probably did some early shopping at the market. I’m sure she’ll be back soon.” He finished, although for some reason he had a nagging doubt about his last words. Something didn’t feel right.

“Oh, I see.” Jungmin nodded in reply.

Since it was a Sunday and neither of them had schedules for that day, they were able to talk well into the afternoon. Jungmin stayed over for lunch, he ordered take-out from the nearby Ramen shop while Young Saeng took care of Yuki who was woken up from her sleep due to the loud argument he and Jungmin had about Otters.

Young Saeng began to wonder why his wife hadn’t returned even when Jungmin had left at around 5pm. She wasn’t home by dinner, or even the next day.

 He tried calling their friends, her former band mates back in her idol days, her former manager, relatives but no one has heard anything from her. Nobody had inkling as to where she was. Panicking, he even contacted the police but no news either.

Trying to placate and lessen his anxiety, he thought that his wife must’ve just taken a short vacation; after all she had been cooped up as a housewife, then a mother since she retired from being an idol when Young Saeng married her. She must’ve gone out of town, to some beauty and health spa resort or something. He thought.

The days turned into weeks and soon faded into months, and still there was no sign of his wife. Grief-stricken and desolate, he was really losing hope of any chance of finding his wife alive. He’s done everything he could to find her, he even tried to put up a reward to anyone who could give him a reliable information about his wife’s whereabouts, but nil, nothing.

It wasn’t until the day before Yuki’s first birthday when he received a letter, no stamps or a return address written on the envelope. With shaky hands, he quickly opened it and his heart died at what he saw.

It was unmistakably his wife’s handwriting.

“I’m sorry for leaving so abruptly like that, but I had no choice. I know you didn’t notice this, but I was no longer happy with our marriage. I felt neglected; the passion in your eyes was no longer there since we had Yuki. You were always so busy with work that you never had time for us.

I had to leave like this because I know you wouldn’t let me go so easily, for whatever reasons such as your career, I don’t know. But I had to this. I’m sorry. The divorce papers and my ring are included in this letter. Please don’t look for me anymore. And tell Yuki I love her.”

Hot tears streamed silently down his pallid cheeks. I didn’t know all this.Why didn’t you tell me? We could’ve fixed this! He thought desperately. But he knew his wife was the type to remain silent about things like this, he should’ve been the one to notice...to ask and try to fix these things.

End of Flashback.

“Daddy? Daddy?” his daughter’s voice calling out to him woke him from his reverie. “Ah, coming princess! I’ll be right there!” he said over his shoulder and quickly gathered the things he needed.

When he arrived at the living room, he was scared out his wits when a man dressed up as Freddy Krueger seemingly appeared out of nowhere. “Gyahhhh!” he let out a high pitched scream and threw the first aid kit, towels and whatever nearby object he could grab at the ‘monster’.

“Stop it! It’s me Yesung! Honey, stop it!” said the man in the costume who was trying his best to avoid the objects Young Saeng threw but it was hard, seeing as Young Saeng had good aiming skills thanks to his baseball playing background. “It’s me! I surrender” Yesung finished as he removed the mask.

“Yah! Why would you do that?” whined Young Saeng who was nearly in tears.

“I was only doing a little prank, Yuki even recognized me right away. She only giggled and said ‘Welcome home appa’” Yesung explained. “Right Yuki?”

“Yeah! It’s because Appa’s hands are tinyyyyyy so I knew it was him right away!” Yuki said, giggling.

“Yah! Who said my hands are tiny, huh?” Yesung said, feigning anger as he bombarded Yuki with tickles.

“Hmph! Break it up you two, Yuki here got into a fight at school and I still need to clean her wounds.” Young Saeng said, suddenly acting all motherly.

“Yes ma’am.” Yesung teased as he set Yuki back on the couch.