‘Kid, don’t go around messing up my closet and wearing my stuff. You don’t just sneak into my bedroom in the middle of the night to sleep right beside me either. It’s creepy when I wake up to something curled up hidden under my blanket. You also annoyingly hog my entire blanket in the process,’ Yunho said in a surprisingly calm manner while sweeping up all the eraser dust on the dining table where Sumire did her homework on last night.

‘I’m sorry, but you’re hardly home and wearing your clothes and lying next to you makes me feel less lonely.’

‘This must be some terrible nightmare, I feel like a e having a kid around at home,’ Yunho muttered, disposing of the swept up eraser dust into the kitchen’s bin.

‘Daddy…’

‘Don’t call me that, it’s… awkward.’

‘But I like calling you that,’ Sumire grinned.

‘Call me Yunho, please.’

‘Yun-yun.’

‘Okay, just stick to Daddy.’

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‘It’s show and tell tomorrow and I want to bring you to school.’

‘I’m not a toy.’

‘Teacher said that we’re supposed to bring something precious to us, and you are to me.’

‘Don’t get me wrong, I’m extremely honoured that I’m your most precious thing in life but I’ve got a job and it just happens to be more important than attending your show and tell,’ Yunho stuffed his files into his briefcase.

‘Daddy, please?’

‘Puppy eyes don’t work on me.’

‘Look, I finally trimmed my nails.’

‘Fine. But make sure you go first for show and tell so I can hurry off to work.’

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‘This is my Daddy and he has the coolest job in the world. He is the big boss of the famous Blitz magazine. I hope to visit his office one day because I bet it is as cool as him. Anyway, he is always expressionless but he is really caring. He is really good at math and he loves numbers. Do you know that he can do mental calculations really fast?’ Sumire took the calculator from the teacher’s desk and pressed on the buttons, ‘If I ask him let’s say… 56+90+83+23 then multiply it by 3 – ’

‘756.’

‘See?’ Sumire jumped excitedly and showed the class the same answer on the calculator’s screen.

Her classmates were all amazed and clapped wildly at Yunho’s prowess.

‘So, Sumire, anything else to add on?’ The teacher asked kindly.

‘Daddy used to live alone and I know he likes his freedom a lot but he was kind enough to allow me into his life. For that I am very grateful for his sacrifice. Also, he is really funny because he calls me ‘Kid’. I think that’s also really cool. He is also very kind to his employees, he lets them skip work to go on dates.’

‘She overheard me on the phone with Latecomer that night!? Great. Now everyone here will think badly of me as the boss of Blitz,’ Yunho mentally slapped himself.

‘Really? Wow, he must value the subject of love very much.’

‘Not really,’ Yunho thought bitterly.

‘I just want to say to Daddy…’ Sumire ran towards Yunho and hugged him, ‘I love you!’

Yunho just nodded and patted her head.

She nodded back, ‘Okay, that’s the end of my show and tell. Daddy, you can go to work now.’

‘I’ll pick you up when school ends later.’

She nodded.

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‘Thanks for coming just now for my show and tell!’ Sumire beamed as she entered and sat at the front passenger’s seat in Yunho’s huge- black and well-polished Rolls Royce.

‘You’re welcome,’ Yunho started the engines and took off.

‘I got the highest marks for the show and tell!’

‘That’s good.’

‘When can I visit Blitz?’

‘It’s only for professional working adults.’

‘Please?’

‘A firm no.’

‘I won’t make you tie my hair for the rest of my life.’

‘Deal. I’ll bring you there this Saturday.’

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‘Your office is depressing,’ Sumire deadpanned when she stepped into Yunho’s office which had black walls and the only source of light came from the windows located at the back of Yunho’s desk.

‘Even if I painted it in rainbow colours, it still won’t change the feeling of being jailed up in here,’ Yunho sat down on his black leather swivel chair.

‘Your desk is huge! It’s almost like a dining table!’ Sumire gaped.

‘I don’t like people commenting on my desk.  And it’s really weird, especially coming from a kid,’ a picture of Barney suddenly popped into Yunho’s mind.

Shaking his head, he then thought about sending Sumire into a boarding school, and preferably, overseas.

‘Is there anything fun that I can do in this office?’ Sumire broke the deafening silence in Yunho’s office.

‘Sit on that sofa and keep quiet. You were the one who wanted to come here,’ Yunho was surprised that this visit turned out to be a torture session instead for Sumire and at that thought, he sadistically smiled inwardly.

The kid jumped off the sofa and walked towards Yunho’s shelf filled with books and files.

‘Not even one storybook in here…’ Sumire muttered, ‘Daddy?’

‘Yes, Kid?’

‘This is funny,’ Sumire clutched her tummy and went into a fit of hysterical laughter.

Yunho looked up at her from the financial sheets he was checking though.

She lifted up a book called ‘The Only Math Book You’ll Ever Need’ and said, ‘But you still have hundreds more math books on this shelf.’

‘My Lifestyle Director, Mr. Park Yoochun, gave that to me in an attempt to humiliate that shelf of books over there.’

‘Did it work?’

‘I told him ‘I don’t need math books. I collect them. And don’t look down on my mathematical abilities because this book is made for people who need assistance in this subject.’’ Yunho went back to work.

‘Poor Yoochun,’ Sumire pouted.

‘You can have that book, it’s for kids anyway.’ Yunho stated.

‘Okay, at least I’ll have something to read now,’ Sumire hopped back onto the sofa and opened the guidebook, ‘How come there’s so much writing and cancellations in the book?’

‘I simplified the solutions even further.’

‘You should be endorsed to make a revision of this book then,’ Sumire smiled at her brilliant Daddy.

‘I got my secretary to contact the publisher and got a rather rude reply to mind my own business.’

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

‘We’ll be going downstairs to the cafeteria for lunch, so please be on your best behavior or I’ll send you straight home.’

‘Okay!’ She nodded in understanding.

Yunho opened his office’s door for Sumire and she skipped out and headed towards the lift lobby.

‘Stop pressing the buttons repeatedly,’ Yunho told the 10-year-old off.

‘It changes colour each time it’s pressed! It’s so cool!’ She persisted on her actions.

‘I’ll have you know that my fingers are now wrapped around the car keys in my pocket,’ and she retracted her hand immediately at those words.

‘Good, now get in,’ Yunho replied, pushing the motionless girl into the lift.

Yunho flinched inwardly as the lift stopped at the 20^th floor and opened its doors to reveal Jaejoong and Number 4 waiting for the lift hand in hand.

‘What a coincidence,’ Yunho muttered.

‘Good afternoon, Mr. Jung!’ Number 4 bowed.

Yunho nodded at the greeting.

‘Hello, Yunnie,’ Jaejoong tugged at Number 4’s hand and the couple entered the lift.

‘She’s so adorable! Is she Sumire? Jaejoong told me about her a few days ago,’ Number 4 smiled down at the child.

‘Yes, she is, Latecomer.’

Sumire burst into laughter, ‘Latecomer? That’s harsh.’

‘But it’s true,’ Yunho stated matter-of-factly.

‘Oh, have you met your uncle?’ Number 4 pushed Jaejoong towards Sumire.

‘Uncle?’ Jaejoong chided, ‘You make me feel old and wrinkly.’

Sumire giggled again, ‘Hello, what’s your name?’

‘YUNNIE! YOU DIDN’T TELL HER ABOUT THE FABULOUS ME!?’ Jaejoong sprang forward to choke Yunho.

‘Behave,’ Yunho pried Jaejoong’s fingers off his neck and adjusted his collar and necktie.

Jaejoong pouted angrily and his face softened when he looked back at Sumire, ‘I’m Jaejoong, so please just call me that.’

‘Hello Jaejoong! You’re very pretty!’

The lift reached the ground floor and the doors opened.

‘I love you way more than Yunho already! I’ll treat you to lunch!’ Jaejoong placed his hand on Sumire’s shoulder, walked out of the lift together and led them both towards the cafeteria.

‘He never treated me to anything before, that ing biased cheapo!’ Number 4 seethed.

‘I’ll treat you then.’ Yunho told 4, ‘And mind your language please.’

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