Taekwoon slowly opened his heavy-feeling eyes. He didn’t wanted to get up so early on a Saturday but he had to. Today he will visit his father and get introduced to his girlfriend, Jaemi. As he thought of the imminent meeting he got nervous and thousands of questions rushed through is mind.

How is her son like? Is she a nice person? Will they like him?

He sighed. Taekwoon knew that he was overthinking again but he couldn’t help it. Six long months changed so much in his life, that he didn’t knew where he stood in his own life anymore. He just hoped that everything will turn out fine and that they will welcome him with open arms but a voice in his head whispered mean things that made the boy insecure.

A look at the alarm clock told him that it was 11:00 a.m. already and that he had overslept for two hours. Taekwoon literally jumped out of his bed, grabbed clothes from his wardrobe and rushed out of his bedroom and into the bathroom to take a shower and brush his teeth. Afterwards he put on the white button down shirt and the black pair of skinny jeans and went back to his bedroom to grab his phone and wallet. He put both in his pockets and went down the stairs to tell his mother that he was leaving and that he will be back late. But instead of his mother, he found a note on the table.

It read: „Good morning Taekwoon, Since you’re going to visit your father today, I decided to go on a date with my Colleague from the USA, Mark. I’ll probably be back home late or even stay at Mark’s place. Food is in the fridge if you’re hungry and money’s on the coffee table.  Don’t wait for me.
- Mum“

Taekwoon stared at the paper for a while before he sighed. It didn’t surprised him at all that his mother was out again, it happened almost daily that she went out with men and had fun. He scrunched the paper in his hands and threw it on the ground. Then the boy noticed the smashed vase in the corner of the room. She must have smashed it yesterday after the visit of his father. Did she really hated him so much? Sometimes Taekwoon tried to understand what had happened to separate the family. Back then when he was a little kid his parents had loved each other like no other. They were happy together, shared almost everything and showed Taekwoon the bright side of love. The young had looked up to his parents and always wished to find a person he could love as much as his father had loved his mother and the other way around. And now? Now they weren’t even able to hold a normal conversation without yelling at each other. Love was a funny thing, Taekwoon thought. Love can be the best thing that happens to you, it can make you feel whole and safe, even like you’re home when the person you love is by your side yet love can become your living nightmare and smash your soul, tear you apart and destroy you.

The boy shook his head to get the thoughts out of it. There was no need to think about it now, he had to look forward to the future and welcome it with open arms. The past had happened and the future is yet to come, so why looking back?

He went to the telephone, typed in the phone-number of his father and pressed the green button. They hadn’t arranged a time yet. It took the person on the other end not long before they took off.

„Hello?“ the voice of a boy that was clearly not his father spoke into the phone.

Taekwoon frowned, he didn’t knew the voice. He assumed that the boy must be the son of Jaemi, his father’s girlfriend.

„Hello, here’s Taekwoon“ he said.

„…Taekwoon?“ the boy sounded as if he was thinking „Ah! You must be Kyusung’s son! Wait a second.“ the boy chuckled, making Taekwoon feel uncomfortably nervous.

„Taekwoon-ah?“ His father’s voice got Taekwoon’s attention and a smile formed on his lips as he felt a wonderful warmth surrounding his heart.

„Hello Dad“ Taekwoon said „I’m calling to ask you when you want me to come over“

„Whenever you want to“ he said „Well, no.“ he chuckled „We’re preparing lunch right now so you better don’t eat before coming here. Let’s say 01:00 p.m.?“ his father asked

„That sounds great“ Taekwoon answered and suddenly his stomach made a rumbling sound, making the boy laugh.

„Someone seems to be hungry“ his father laughed „Alright I got to go now. I cannot wait to see you, Taekwoon.“

„See you soon, Dad.“

Taekwoon hung up and threw the phone on the couch. He went to the corridor and put on his leather jacket and shoes. He had looked up how long it will take him to get to his father and google maps said about two hours. When he wanted to be at his dad’s place at 01:00 p.m. then he needed to hurry. He took the front door key out of the key safe-box that was hanging on the wall and left the house and locked the front door before running to the next train station.

                                                                                                                    *     *     *

It was colder than he thought it would be as he stood at the railway line, waiting for his train to arrive soon. He pulled his jacket closer around his body and walked around to keep himself warm.

Lately the weather seemed to plack tricks on the people. One day it was unbelievably hot for spring and two days later it was snowing. The day before yesterday Taekwoon had to wear shorts and a T-Shirt in order to survive the sudden heat and today he needed a jacket in order to keep himself warm. On the one hand he liked spring for the blooming nature and cherry blossoms but on the other hand he disliked spring for the sudden weather switches.

Taekwoon listened to music while he was waiting for the train. The main reason for him to listen to music was not to be entertained while waiting, no, he tried to distract himself from the nervousness that was making him crazy. And again, hundreds if not thousands of questions rushed around in his mind to make him insecure, even when he had no reason to be. He knew his father and he wouldn’t introduce him to Jaemi when he knew that she and Taekwoon wouldn’t get along. The boy sighed. He wished that he will get along with her and especially her son.

As Taekwoon walked around he noticed a beautiful petite girl with glossy brown hair - Hyori. Should he talk to her personally and tell her that they had to set the their appointment on another date? Again, he sighed. He needed to do it himself since he wasn’t a coward. Taekwoon took a deep breath and went over to the girl, tapping her on the shoulder. The girl jumped at the sudden touch and turned around, surprised to see the boy in front of her.

„Taekwoon-oppa?“ she asked obviously confused „I thought you had an appointment today, well, Eunkwang-oppa told me that you forgot about something important..“ she bit her lower lip.

Taekwoon nodded „He is right as well as you, I am waiting for my train to get to my appointment and I am sorry that we had to cancel out date.“ he forced himself to a little smile „I suddenly saw you standing here and I thought that I should talk to you personally to tell you that we should set another date to meet.“ he explained and she started to smile happily.

„Sure! I am glad that you want to set another date“ she said „Do you want to set one right now or do you want to text me and then we’ll look when it suits both of us?“ Hyori asked and looked at him with her innocent big brown eyes.

Taekwoon had to admit that she was a very cute and friendly girl. Also, he was glad that she wasn’t angry at him and that she was understanding and didn’t yelled at him.

„I think texting would be better“ he said and she nodded in response and handed him a piece of paper with her phone number written on it.

„My bus arrived I got to go now“ she didn’t seemed happy that she had to leave „See you soon, Oppa!“ she waved goodbye and rushed to the bus.

„Dear passengers, please stay away from the rail, the train XX will arrive in a few seconds.“ the voice of a member of the railway staff caught the attention of every passenger that was waiting for the train and people that stood too close at the rail took a few steps away from it.

Taekwoon hadn’t had to wait long until the train arrived and people rushed out of it as soon as the doors had opened. When the last passenger left the train, the black haired male and other passengers entered the train and sat down on the empty seats. The boy got a seat at the window and he looked out, while he was listening to music for the whole train ride.

                                                                                                                    *     *     *

“Next stop XXX.” the programmed female computer voice sliced through the music he was listening to and he looked up to make sure that he understood the station she announced. As he looked up a shocked gasp escaped his mouth. He hadn’t noticed that there were so many people in the train. How was he supposed to get out of it ever again? Well, he had to figure that out fast, because he had to leave the train in about a minute.

He got up from his seat and tried to squeeze himself through the passengers and to the door of the train. It was more difficult than he thought it would be and he almost missed getting off the train. As soon as he left the train the doors closed again and the train started moving. He sighed in relief, he had left it just in time. Taekwoon took a glance on the bog clock that was on the station building 1:25p.m. He hated being late but he couldn’t help it right now. The boy pulled out his phone as he was walking towards the exit and started to write his father a text message that he was at the train station, that he will ride the bus and that he will be there in about twenty to thirty minutes.

Shortly after he had send the message his phone vibrated in his hand: He had gotten a message from Hakyeon. Taekwoon decided that his friend had to wait until he was in the bus. The black haired boy left the train station and went to the nearby bus station where the bus that he had to ride already stood. He put his phone back in his pocket and ran to the bus. The doors were already closed as he reached it and the bus was about to take off when the driver noticed the boy and opened the door again. Taekwoon thanked the old man and showed him his ticket before he went to an empty seat and sat down.

His phone vibrated again and he pulled it out, now his father had send him a message. Taekwoon opened it and read it, his father said that they will wait for him and that everyone’s already excited to meet him. He ironically thanked his father for reminding him of the uncomfortable nervousness that is annoying him the whole day. Then Taekwoon remembered that Hakyeon had written him a text message as well and he opened it to read it.

Cha Hakyeon, 1:29 p.m.

Hey Taekwoonie!!
I heard that you’re visiting your dad today ~
I’m super excited and hope that you’ll have a wonderful day!
I cannot wait to hear how it was, please sent me a text when you’re back home!          
Oh, and stop being so nervous! Nothing’s gonna happen :-)
-Hakyeon

Taekwoon frowned „Taekwoonie?“ he mouthed unimpressed. He hated being called ‚Taekwoonie‘ and Hakyeon always called him like that. He had told him many times that he didn’t wanted him to call him like that but the tanned boy then called him cute and grinned like an idiot. Taekwoon hated being called ‚cute‘ more than being called ‚Taekwoonie‘ so he was rather okay with the nickname given by his friend. He then started to wonder how Hakyeon could know that he was nervous. Of course a little amount of nervousness was normal when you visit someone but normally his friend wouldn’t mention it in a text message.

Hakyeon knew Taekwoon way too well. No wonder, they knew each other since Kindergarten and have spent their whole childhood together. They also went to the same primary school and middle school and even now to the same highs school. They knew everything about each other and Hakyeon could read Taekwoon’s mind as if it was his one. The same goes for Taekwoon and Hakyeon’s mind. Sometimes only one glance is enough and they both know what they meant.

„Next stop XXX.“ the programmed voice announced and Taekwoon got up from his seat, put his phone back in his pocket and went to the door. He hoped that he will find his father’s home. He had given his son the address but let’s be honest - Taekwoon wasn’t the best at finding the right way to go. The bus stopped, the doors opened and Taekwoon got off the bus and started to go to the direction he felt was right. More likely the direction google maps had shown him.

It didn’t took him long to find the residential blocks and he looked for the right number. He had to admit that the block looked super fancy and that he didn’t expected it to be. The buildings were super high and painted in white and the window frames were painted in anthracite. Taekwoon was sure that an apartment in one of the buildings must be expensive.

Well, Taekwoon’s father was a successful architect and earned enough money to live a carefree life. As impressive as the buildings looked like, Taekwoon was curious about how the apartment will look like and if it was located high enough to see the Han River from up there.

After walking around for a few minutes he found the right number and entered the high, white painted building.
Even the corridor of the building looked expensive, it even had an elevator that he entered. He pressed the button for the 14th floor and that wasn’t even the highest. The building had in total 25 floors.

With each floor that the elevator passed, Taekwoon could hear his heartbeat getting louder and faster. He calmly breathed in and out over in over again in order to calm himself down. He will see his father again and will get to know two strangers, so what? Why was he so nervous all the time? Something inside of Taekwoon told him that something was about to happen to him but he couldn’t tell what it was. Was it something positive? Or negative? Or none of them? What had the universe planned to surprise him with?

The ‚Ding‘ of the elevator ripped him out of his thoughts and he took a deep breath before he left the elevator and searched for the apartment of his father, which he found pretty fast. His heart was pounding faster and faster as he rang the doorbell. His hands were ice-cold and slightly sweaty from the nervousness.

The boy could hear footsteps coming from inside the apartment closer and closer until they stopped and a key was turned around in the lock.
Then, the door opened and Taekwoon couldn’t believe his eyes. The person in front of him was not his father, neither his girlfriend Jaemi. It was a boy around his age with big brown eyes, chocolate brown hair and a beautiful smile that let his dimples show. He was almost as tall as Taekwoon and slim. Long story short, in front of Taekwoon was standing a young and attractive boy that took the black haired male’s breath and made his heart stopped beating for a moment or two. The boy he was looking at returned the surprised look as if he had the same thoughts Taekwoon had. They seemed to look at each other for an eternity until the deep voice of Taekwoon’s father broke the tension and ripped both male out of their thoughts.

“Who is it, Hongbin-ah?”