a week later... 

"daddy!" jongdae practically screams as he rushes over to his father who kneels down to pick him up. "daddy~" jongdae repeats as he covers his father's face with kisses. joonmyeon smiles, placing a kiss on the five year old's forehead making jongdae giggle. "how was your day at school, jongdae-ah?" he asks, smile never leaving his angelic face. 

"it was nice! oh, that reminds me. can you put me down for a second?" jongdae asks as he tries to wiggle his way out of his father's grip. joonmyeon sets him down, following him as he runs over to the preschool's entrance. "hyung~!" jongdae calls. "hyunggie!" jongdae smiles widely as his "hyung" walks over to the entrance, smiling as he kneels down, allowing the five year old to hug him. "hyung~ you didn't meet my dad yet, right? because you're new? and you're always too busy after school?" 

"oh, that's right..."kyungsoo stands up and smiles. "hi, i'm jongdae's new teacher, kyungsoo. it's a pl-" kyungsoo stops mid sentence as he stares at joonmyeon, eyes wide, joonmyeon looking at him with the same, exact expression.

jongdae looks at kyungsoo and then at his father, alternating the direction he was looking. "daddy? are you okay? hyung? are you okay?" jongdae asked, slightly confused. joonmyeon focused his gaze towards his son, his expression softening. he nods slowly. "yeah... i'm okay. jongdae-ah... do you mind if you go play on the swings while i talk to your teacher?" 

jongdae smiles sweetly and nods, running over to the swing set not too far from the preschool's building, dropping his backpack next to the leg of the swing set and plopping down on the swing. joonmyeon watches as his child starts pumping his legs, just like how he taught him to do. he then looks back at kyungsoo who was softly biting down on his lip. 

kyungsoo was frozen in his spot, watching as joonmyeon drew closer to him. he swallowed hard, contemplating on whether he should run back into the building and shut the door on him or to hear him out and then run away. he chose the first alternative. but before he could enter the building, joonmyeon had gripped his wrist and gently pulled him back, kyungsoo letting out a small yelp.  

"please. let. go. of. my. wrist. kim. joonmyeon." kyungsoo said through gritted teeth, hands clenching and unclenching. 

"please talk to me first." 

"let go of my wrist then."

"only if you promise not to run away." 

"fine." 

joonmyeon sighs as he releases kyungsoo's wrist, apologizing for holding onto it too tightly and asking him if it was okay. kyungsoo scoffed. "i'm fine. just, say what you need to say and leave."

"look... kyungsoo... i'm sorry. i'm sorry about what happened back when we were in high school and going into college. i didn't mean to hurt you. i was only thinking about myself at the time. i was stupid and selfish back then. i regret letting someone like you go..." joonmyeon had blurted out, the words coming out jumbled and hard to understand. joonmyeon had practiced the apology many times before, even after jongdae was born, but when it was time to actually say it, it didn't come out as he wanted to. 

kyungsoo swallowed his saliva and closed his eyes, praying that his tears wouldn't fall right this instant. he opened his mouth slightly. "who.... whose child...?" kyungsoo asked, shocking joonmyeon who looked up. kyungsoo didn't meeting his gaze, and joonmyeon nodded slightly. 

"ah.... his mother... is..." joonymeon exhaled slowly. "taeyeon..." 

"t-tae....yeon?" kyungsoo asked, not believing what he had heard. joonymeon broke up with him for her? it was quite unbelievable to kyungsoo. "well... you guys should be happy. you have an itellgent son, you're rich as , her acting career is up there. congr-"

"we aren't together... anymore... and as for my wealth... that's gone also... i got kicked out of the family for getting a girl pregnant after i graduated... funny... right?" joonmyeon asks sarcastically. kyungsoo looks at him, chewing on his bottom lip. he wanted to apologise, but another part of him was disagreeing, saying that joonmyeon deserves it. but then again, he didn't... 

"w-what.... happened?" kyungsoo mumbled. joonmyeon looked at him and sighed. 

"well... of course we did it.... because jongdae's here... but... after she gave birth to him, when i went over to the hospital to pick jongdae and her up, the secretary told me that she had already signed out. she left jongdae at the hospital. she left us." joonmyeon spared a glance at his son who was happily playing by himself on the swing set. "she didn't leave me a voicemail, or text... not even a simple letter saying she was leaving... she just... left. sometimes i wonder where she is and if she's coming back, and if she did, maybe we could be a family again. but, i don't want that. i don't want her... even though jongdae's five, she missed a lot of his life..." joonmyeon stopped once he realized what he had just said. kyungsoo had asked what had happened, not his whole life story. 

kyungsoo looked up, eyes b with tears, and stared at joonmyeon who already had tear stains on his pale face. joonmyeon coughed slightly.

"anyway... i really am sorry, kyungsoo. for everything. you don't have to be good to me... but please, be good to my jongdae. he doesn't deserve to be hated by you. i do." joonmyeon wiped his tears and gave a small smile to kyungsoo. "we'll be leaving then. please take care of jongdae." kyungsoo didn't say anything, just watching as joonmyeon went over to the swing set to get his son. jongdae waved to him, that angelic smile on his face. he wondered why it looked so familiar. he inherited it from his father. 

joonmyeon sets jongdae into his car seat, fingers working on the buckles.

"daddy, do you know kyungsoo hyung?" jongdae asks curiously as joonmyeon buckles him into his carseat. 

joonmyeon nodded. "yeah. i do, actually." 

"it looks like you've known him for a long time... do you love him?" 

joonmyeon's lips curled into a small smile, tears rolling down his face once again. "you're really smart, jongdae-ah..."

"daddy? you're crying..." 

jongdae smiles up at his crying father and lets his warm palms rest onto his father's damp cheeks. "daddy. don't cry. i know kyungsoo hyung still loves you, too." he says soothingly, using his small thumbs wipe away the unintentional tears that had drifted out of joonmyeon's opened eyes. joonmyeon pauses and looks at his son who is now looking out of the window on the other side of the car, and swallows his own saliva, letting another tear stream down his dried face.

joonmyeon finishes buckling jongdae into his car seat silently, closing the door and climbing into the driver's seat. the ride back home was accompanied by jongdae telling him about his day and the quiet hum of the engine and acceleration of the car. 

when they arrived at their apartment complex, joonmyeon started to cook dinner as jongdae did his homework. 

"daddy?" jongdae asked once he was done finishing up his art homework. joonmyeon turned his head to glance at his son, letting him know that he was listening. "can you tell me the story of what happened to mommy?" he asked suddenly. 

joonmyeon turned fully after he turned the stove onto a low level. "what?" he asked, shocked. 

"where did mommy go?" he asked again. 

joonmyeon bit his bottom lip and looked towards the ground. he didn't want to lie to jongdae and say that she died or something like that, for he'll have to tell jongdae the truth someday and he doesn't want jongdae to hate him when that time comes. joonmyeon sighed as he sat down at the table. his gaze fell onto jongdae who was staring at him. 

"jongdae-ah. come here." joonmyeon said softly, jongdae complying quickly, walking over and standing in front of his father's legs. joonmyeon picked him up and placed him on his lap, wrapping his arms around his small torso loosely. "you may not understand all of this, but, i'll have to explain further when you're older." he continued. jongdae nodded slowly. "mommy left. she left after you were born." joonmyeon swallowed his saliva again. "daddy doesn't know why she left, though. he doesn't know where she went, or if she's alive or not. but daddy won't leave like mommy did. daddy will always be here for you, and will always try his hardest for you." joonmyeon finishes, placing a kiss on top of jongdae's head. 

jongdae was silent, tears rolling down his cheeks. joonmyeon turned him a bit so his face was exposed, surprised to see that jongdae was crying. joonmyeon's heart broke a little upon seeing his child crying, just like how it does everytime jongdae cried. he wiped the tears away and hugged him, mumbling "don't cry" and humming one of jongdae's favorite songs. 

after a few moments, joonmyeon loosened his grip so he could look at jongdae. his son's gaze was on the floor beside them and his lips were tightly pressed together. 

"i hate her." he said quietly, shocking joonmyeon again. "she hurt you..." the five year old said, rather intelligently. "so i don't like her..."

joonmyeon was speechless, but in the end he smiled, pressing a kiss against jongdae's temple. "let's eat. i bet you're hungry." joonmyeon says as he places jongdae on the chair he was just sitting on and walking over to the stove. 

-

"good morning, jongdae." kyungsoo coos as jongdae enters the preschool, a bit earlier than the rest of the kids, like usual, because joonmyeon starts work early and he has no one to take jongdae to school (except for kris, but the last time he let kris drop jongdae off, he forgot jongdae's lunch.) 

"good morning, hyung~" jongdae smiles, hugging his teacher's legs. 

kyungsoo smiles back. "did you do you're homework?" he asks, kneeling down. 

jongdae nods. "can i turn it in right now?" he asks. 

"sure." kyungsoo replies and quickly, jongdae opens up his backpack and hands kyungsoo a piece of paper filled with different colors and shapes. impressed, kyungsoo nods. "it looks very well put together, jongdae-ah. but can you explain to me what it means?" 

"well... it was a picture of my family. me, my daddy, and mommy. but then i asked daddy about mommy and he said that i don't have one, so i had to scribble her out. and since you said the picture had to fill he whole page, i added you in because you're my teacher and daddy and i love you." jongdae finishes, looking at his masterpiece with pride, a smile spread across his face. "hyung. do you love daddy, also?" 

kyungsoo softly smiles. "at a time... i did." 

"i mean... do you still love him." jongdae corrects.

kyungsoo inhales. "somewhere in me, possibly, i still do." he says, contently. 

"good." jongdae smiles, eyes turning into small crescents. "do you love me?" he asks. 

kyungsoo laughs. "of course. i love all of my students." he says. 

jongdae laughs also, turning his head as he hears the door open and a few kids walking inside. "i'm going to go over there to talk to baekhyunnie hyung and chanyeollie. i'll talk to you later, hyung~" jongdae says as he rushes over to baekhyun, waving at his teacher. 

kyungsoo sighs contently as he watches jongdae talking to his friends, looking down at the picture in his hands and gently sliding his fingers over it. he noticed some words at the bottom of the paper. 

My Family by Kim Jongdae 

kyungsoo smiles. 

;:;:;

basecally the drabbles with minor adjustments. yeah... so if you read them... i'm sorry if it wasn't what you expected... but if you haven't... i hoped you liked it. THANK YOU. please comment and subscribe. ^^ <3 /ugly whale sobs/