Chapter 16
Daddy?
Top layed down on Daesung's queen sized bed. Their ritual went way back...ever since the trainee days: he would talk and Daesung would listen. The donsaeng sat down on the loveseat next to the bed.
"So, hyung...what's on your mind?" Daesung asked.
Top sighed, not knowing where to start. "This morning when I woke up, I saw Dara playing with Junho. And I thought, Dara is his nanny now, like is she the mother figure for him now. But she will have to leave eventually. So how can I raise him without a mom? And when he asks, 'Appa, omma eodisseoyo?(Daddy, where is mommy?) How will I answer? How will I explain all this twisted story? How will he react when he finds out that his real mother left him on my doorstep?"
Daesung sighed and crossed his legs, just like a real psychiatrist. "For now, you don't need to worry about explaining to him. He will have to know but not until a few years. All it matters now, is that you took him in and you love him. And that love should be enough to help him grow up."
"I know, but still...he needs a mom. And I don't want to get married to just any girl. I want someone who will like me for who I am and genuinely love Junho. Someone who will help me raise him to be a good man." Top explained.
Daesung had a smirk on his lips. "Like Dara?" he asked trying to trap his hyung.
"Yes! I mean, what? Why suggest her?" Top frowned looking at the tanned man.
"Well hyung, I have noticed that you are starting to like her." the dongsaeng answered.
Top frowned again. "What? How so?"
Daesung cleared his throat and leaned towards Top. "I noticed that ever since you saw her tattoo two weeks ago, you look at her differently. And whenever she's around you just look at her like a lovesick puppy and and with a smile bigger than mine. I don't know how she hasn't noticed yet. And no, don't tell me it's just curiosity because I have known you for too long."
Junho's appa sat up on the bed, not knowing how to explain. He did like Dara as a friend , well she was his best friend and she was now helping him out with his son.
"I'm not in love with her. But I do like her. But I'm sure she won't like me back, at least that way. So I rather leave things as they are." Top ran his hand through his now short brown hair.
"You will never know until you actually try. Ask her out." Daesung said with a smile.
"Mwo?" Seunghyun had his eyes as big as bowls. He had never thought on asking Dara out.
"Hyung, come on. I bet all of your funky socks that she will say yes."
"What? Don't put my socks on the line! Anyways, if I do take her out, who'll take care of the baby?" Top asked already fearing the answer.
"Well, us obviously!" the man said.
"Aniyo! Andwae! The last time, you left my son alone with the door unlocked. I'm not putting his life in risk anymore." he said while shaking his head.
"Hyung~! Stop being like that, we will take care of him now. We will bring him over. It's safer. Just tell me the day and I'll go get him." Daesung pleaded his hyung.
"Fine, I'll think about it." the hyung said giving in. "Daesung-ah, can you make your hyung some breakfast?"
Daesung sighed and smiled."You know, I should seriously consider charging you. Everytime you come, I have to listen to you and feed you."
Two blocks away, Dara was at home playing with the small boy when when someone rang the bell.
'Who could it be?' she thought. She opened the door to find her younger brother Sanghyun who had a huge smile in his face.
"Sanghyun-ah? What are you doing here?" she asked as she let her brother in.
"Nuna! I made it! I'm in! I'm in J.Tune!" he said jumping up and down. Dara was so happy for her brother that she started jumping with him.
"Waah! I'm so proud of you. Omo! My brother is going to be famous!" Dara said hugging the younger boy who was way taller than her.
"Yeah, the audition building was around here, so I just had to come and tell you." he said. Then he saw the small boy who sitting on a mat playing with some cubes. "Is that Seunghyun hyung's son? He looks just like him!"
"I know right?" Dara said while picking up Junho. "Nuneo, say hi". The boy hid shyly on Dara's neck.
"Annyeong Junho." Sanghyun waved to him. The baby copied him and waved back. The young man looked at his sister again. "So...have you confessed?
"Shh! Oppa might come in at any moment! And no I haven't and I don't think I will. I think we should just stay as friends." Dara said playing with Junho's hand.
"But if you like him you should go for it. Right? Isn't that how it's supposed to be?" Sanghyun said.
Dara smiled. " No Sanghyun-ah. It's not that easy. First, the other person need to like you back. And clearly I don't stand a chance around those girls that he must date. I mean look at Junho; a perfect baby. It just means that his mom was a beauty."
"Hey...That's so not an argument. He's still a baby you can't see his features yet. And besides he looks like his dad. Keurigo (Also), don't you see how Junho likes you so much? It means that he wants you to be his omma, right Junho?" the big boy asked the small boy who babbled as an answer.
Dara smiled seeing her brother play with Junho.
"Anyways nuna, you better tell him fast before he's taken. You do know that Junho will need a mom eventualy." Sanghyun warned her.
Dara was about to answer when she heard keys jingling on the other side of the door. "He's here, don't say anything arasseo?" she whispered to her brother before Top came in.
As soon as Junho saw his father, he started clapping in joy, which made him smile. Top then noticed that Dara was not alone. He frowned wondering who was the stranger that Dara let in his house. Seunghyun didn't know why, but he felt kind of...angered. The man then turned around and faced him.
"Oh! Seunghyun hyung, annyong hassaeyo." the boy said with a smile and bowed.
Top looked at the boy who could easily be three or four years younger than him but was just as tall as him, if not taller. His face was so familiar but yet he couldn't place it.
"Oppa, it's my brother Sanghyun. Don't you remember him?" Dara asked.
He then remembered the teenager that always asked him to teach him how to rap whenever he went to Dara's house. He could now see the similarities between brother and sister. 'That's why he looks so familiar...'
"Sanghyun? Wow! Long time no see! The last time I saw you, you were small and skinny. How are you?" somehow he felt relieved, for a moment he thought he could be her...boyfriend.
"I'm fine...actually I just got into J.Tune. That's actually why I came...to tell her the news. Well, I'll be leaving now. Annyeong nuna. Annyeong hyung." Sanghyun said and quickly left.
"So, oppa, how was your walk?" Dara asked. "Are you hungry? You didn't have breakfast."
"Ani, gwenchana." Top said still trying to formulate how he was going to ask Dara on a date.
Dara nodded and went to the kitchen to prepare Junho's bottle. Top followed her and sat on a high stool with Junho on his lap. He took a deep breath and went at it.
"Dara?" he said.
"Hmm."
"Would you...like to go on a date with me?" he said quickly.
It was fast but Dara caught every single word of it. The shock caused her to drop Junho's bottle and the formula container and and the hot water to spill on the floor. Top quickly put Junho in his high chair to go help Dara who was still in a daze. When most of the spilled powder was clean, Top asked her again.
"So, will you?" he looked deep into her eyes.
"Oppa, I..."
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