Present Day

Jiyong smiled as he watched Minhee talk with Daesung. “And how do you say ‘hello’ in English?”

“Silly appa! You already asked that!” She giggled as he smiled back.

“Oh, so you don’t remember?”

“Hello, hello, hello!” She replies as she bounces in her seat.

“Minhee-yah,” Seungri spoke up from across the aisle. “Tell Daesung-appa how you say good afternoon in Japanese.”

“Konnichiwa!” She grinned and continued to bounce, waiting for the next question.

“What about good evening?” Daesung asked.

“Konbanwa!” She turned to Seungri. “And Seungri-appa taught me good night too! It’s oyasumasai!”

“Oyasuminasai,” Seungri corrected.

Minhee made a face as she said it again. “Oyasuminasai.” When both men laughed, she pouted, and Jiyong couldn’t help but grin.

“She really is something,” the voice next to him said, and he turned to see that Youngbae was watching the trio as well.

“Yes she is.”

“You and Seunghyun did a good job,” Yougnbae started with a smile, but then shut his mouth quickly. Jiyong saw the older man glance his way before turning back to the trio. In return, Jiyong just sighed, trying to keep himself from feeling upset. True, they had done a good job together. When they were together, that is.

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Flashback

After a little while, Seungri, Daesung, and Youngbae all moved out of the house they were living in. Seungri, due to his schedule, now had an apartment both in Japan and downtown Seoul. Youngbae had met a girl and became engaged, so they were trying the western ‘lets live together to try this out’ thing. Daesung had been the only one left, but laughed at being a third wheel and finally moved out as well. Which left just the three of them.

And it was perfect. Most days.

It was the day before Children’s Day, 2018. Tension had been running high between Jiyong and Seunghyun for the past month, and an article published online that day brought it all to a head.

As soon as Jiyong got the text from Seunghyun saying he was on his way home, he immediately called Seungri.

“Hello?”
 

“Seungri-ah? I need you to come pick up Minhee for a few hours.”

“Um, sure hyung. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” he tried to reply calmly, but the tone of the maknae told him his anger was leaking through and he had accidentally snapped out his response.

“Alright, I’ll be there soon.”

As soon as he hung up the phone, Jiyong went into his daughter’s room to see her just waking up from her nap. “Hi sweetie.”

“Hi appa,” she smiled at him as she yawned.

“I have a surprise for you.”

“Really?” She shot out of bed and he laughed at how suddenly her energy had returned.

“Yup! Seungri-appa is on his way over and wants to take you out.”

“Yay!” She jumped up and down before running over to her dresser and pulling out one of her favorite outfits. “Appa, can I wear this?”

“Of course, sweetheart,” he replied with a smile as he helped her get ready.

30 minutes later when the doorbell rang, both father and daughter were waiting.

“Seungri-appa!”

“Hi pretty lady!” He said as he scooped up the running child and gave her a hug and a kiss.

“Well hello to you too,” Jiyong said with a half laugh.

“Hey hyung,” the maknae replied with a smile. It quickly became a concerned face as Jiyong’s face suddenly grew dark. A car had just pulled up, one that Jiyong was very, very not happy to see. “Um, hey princess, you ready to go?” Seungri gave Jiyong a questioning look with only a headshake as a reply before heading towards his own vehicle with Minhee in tow.

Jiyong waited until they were safely in his friend’s car before he turned and stormed into the house, slamming the door behind him and ignoring the man who had exited the other car and was talking towards the house. It was only a few seconds before the door was opened again and a very startled Seunghyun entered.

“Jiyong-ah? What’s wrong?”

The younger man went and sat on the couch before pulling out his phone. “What’s wrong? Oh, I don’t know what could possibly be wrong!”

He remained silent, forcing the older man to speak up again. “Well obviously you’re being pissy about something because-“

“Oh, I’m being pissy? Really? What gave you that idea?”

“For the love of god, tell me what’s wrong or drop the act,” the older man said as his patience wore even thinner. The past two weeks the fights had been almost every other day due to stupid, nitpicky things, but focused mainly on the growing friendship and ‘intimacy’ between Seunghyun and his current costar. And yet this was the first time Jiyong wasn’t being straight forward with what was upsetting him.

“it’s not an act, seunghyun-ssi,” Jiyong said with a sneer. “Maybe if you asked your friend why I was pissed, she would know!”

“Oh goddamn it, is that what this is about?” Seunghyun sighed as he leaned against the wall and worked to control his own anger. “I told you last week, we are nothing but costars! What else do I have to say?!”

Jiyong sprang up out of the couch and marched over to the older man. “Just costars?! Who do you think you’re kidding! Do costars take other each other to the park with someone else’s daughter?!” At that point Jiyong shoved his phone into Seunghyun’s face, the screen on and the internet open to a news article titled “Drama Costars seen on a date at local park” with the secondary title being “Choi Seunghyun and Park Shinhye seen at the park accompanied by Kwon Jiyong’s daughter, Minhee” accompanied by a picture of the three playing on the swing set together.

The look of shock on Seunghyun’s face should have been enough to appease Jiyong, but the rage that tinted his vision red kept him from thinking clearly. “Jiyong-ah,” the taller man started to speak until Jiyong snatched his phone away.

“Do you realize what this means?! No, of course you don’t.  God damn it, Seunghyun-ah! Do you know what people are saying now?!” when the older man remained silent he continued. “They’re saying I’m not a fit father. That I shove my kid off onto other people whenever I don’t feel like dealing with her. That she was seen out in public with you instead of me because you’re obviously more mature and make a better father! That you are picking up my slack!”

“Jiyong-“

“No!! I gave up singing and turned to just producing so that I could be with Minhee every day. Do you realize what that feels like? To know that I’ll never be G-Dragon again?! Not only that, but I was the one who adopted her. I’m the one who society can’t understand. I’m  the one that still has to deal with rumors that I got some random girl pregnant because I slept around! I’m the one the netizens called a monster, not you!! And to have them question my parenting skills?! I’ve raised her for the past two and a half years and people are now saying that I’m the bad father! They’re saying that you, the one who is almost never around, who was too afraid to hug her, to comfort her, to do anything with her at first, that you are the better father!” By now tears were leaking from Jiyong’s eyes, but he didn’t care. “They’re saying that I’ve given up, that I don’t care for her anymore, that I’ve become bored with raising Minhee. Do you know how much that hurts?!”

Seunghyun moved away from the wall and tentatively reached a hand out to the ranting man in front of him, but Jiyong just slapped his hand away. “You know what?” He said as he pointed a finger at the taller man. “I’ve been ten times the father you have. If anyone should be considered a bad father, it’s you.” But even as he said it, he realized he had over stepped his bounds. He instantly wanted to take it back, but from the change in the other man’s demeanor, he knew it was too late.

“Really?” Came the reply in a dark voice. Jiyong’s anger kept him from feeling anything else, otherwise there was a chance he would be terrified at that moment. “You really think I’m a horrible father?” Instead of replying, he simply continued to stare, the contest of their will causing both men to be incapable of looking away first. Finally, Seunghyun snapped. “Fine! If you think I’m such a horrible father, then what the hell do you need me for?!”

He should have remained silent. Or apologized. Or cried. Or something. Anything besides what he did next. “I don’t know,” he answered calmly.

The air instantly went chilly and the room fell silent. Minutes passed. How many, Jiyong didn’t know. Until finally Seunghyun stirred. “Neither do I,” he replied in a monotone voice. “And you know what?” He strode forward until he was staring down at the younger man who was glaring back. “Maybe you should just do this on your own. While you obviously don’t need or appreciate me, I know of at least one person who does. And I know she’ll never doubt me,” he finished with a sneer before turning and marching to the bedroom.

The second he heard the door slam, Jiyong slowly collapsed to the floor. He heard Seunghyun on the phone with someone, and he didn’t even want to guess who it was. He kept replaying the argument in his head, and he couldn’t believe what he had said. Couldn’t believe what Seunghyun had implied. He just couldn’t believe what was going on. He heard the doorbell not much later, but ignored it. It rang two more times before whoever it was finally let themselves in. He glanced up to see Daesung and Youngbae entering the living room, though he had no idea how they knew to show up. But with a small glance to each other, Daesung hurried to the bedroom and Youngbae raced over to Jiyong on the floor.

Neither said a word before Jiyong leaned into his best friend and burst into tears, his sobs drowning out the comforting words that were said, the sound of Seunghyun storming out followed by a frantic Daesung, and the sound of the door slamming behind the two of them.

Hours later, Seungri returned with Minhee. Youngbae had moved Jiyong to his bed, so he was only able to hear the sound of voices, not the actual words. It wasn’t until Youngbae actually came in to talk to Jiyong that he realized not only how late it was, but how bad the situation actually was.

“Hey Ji?” When he simply turned and stared at his best friend, his eyes red from the crying he had been doing, his friend sighed and laid a hand on his shoulder. “Seunghyun is staying with Daesung for tonight. Seungri is back with Minhee though. Do you want-“

“No,” Jiyong was shaking his head before his friend could even finish. “He doesn’t have to take her for tonight, I can-“ he tried to get up only to get hit with a sudden dizzy spell that forced him to lay, or more like fall, back onto the bed.

Youngbae reached over to touch his forehead and clicked his tongue at the results. “You’ve gone and worked yourself up until you’re sick, Ji,” he said as he shook his head. He glanced from his friend to the door before coming to a decision. “Seungri and I are going to stay with you and Minhee tonight.” When Jiyong opened his mouth to object, Youngbae quickly covered it with his hand and shook his head again. “No arguments. Seungri is going to look after Minhee while I make some dinner for you both, alright?” He smiled down at the taller man when he finally nodded meekly. “Good.”

After he left the room, Jiyong couldn’t help but let his mind wander back to what he had done. Soon enough the tears started flowing again, but at least this time he managed to keep the sound in, for Minhee’s sake.

And that became the first of many nights that Jiyong cried himself to sleep, alone in his bed, with Seungri watching over both him and Minhee.