Luhan had been stressed out the whole day after he got that phone call. He had been unable to sit still since then and Sehun wasn’t helping by watching him with amusement in his eyes. Shooting a glare at him, Luhan sighed before making his way to the couch. Once he was near enough, Sehun had reached out and grabbed him, making him sit on his lap. Kissing him on the nape of his neck, Sehun continued trailing his lips down to his shoulders. Damn, he wanted to strangle the man so badly. Here he was all stressed out and Oh Sehun was .

Instead of strangling Sehun since he still wanted his child to have a father, Luhan settled for elbowing Sehun away. “I – You are not helping!”

“Lu, everything will work out fine eventually. You don’t have to stress yourself over it – “

“You – you are impossible!” Luhan pushed him away, staring incredulously at him. “You think you can just walk my parents house, flash them a smile and expect them to just accept you with no questions asked?”

“Well – “

“No, don’t answer that!” Luhan pointed at him, knowing what his response would be. “You are the one meeting my parents, why am I stressing over it while you look as though this doesn’t concern you in the slightest?”

“Lu – “

“Forget it, do whatever you want. I don’t care anymore, screw this meeting. See if I care when my parents chase you out of the house.” Luhan took visible breaths to calm himself down.

Sighing exasperatedly, Sehun hugged Luhan from the back and clasping his large hands together on Luhan's tummy. “Baby, there is nothing we can do if your parents don’t like me. But I promise you that I will be on my very best behaviour, okay?”

Luhan pressed his lips into a firm line, “What if they don’t want us to be together?”

“Baby,” Sehun’s voice gentled and he turned him around before placing his forehead on Luhan’s. “Don’t worry, okay? I am not going to make you choose between your parents and me and I believe that your parents wouldn’t do that to you either, because all of us love you.”

“But what if they – “

“Then I will do everything in my power to make them accept me because I know how much you love your parents.” Sehun placed a kiss on his forehead and Luhan flashed him a shy but pleased smile.

“I overreacted again, right?” Luhan burrowed his face into Sehun’s chest, why did he smell so good?  Luhan never smells this good, even when he uses the same cologne as Sehun. “You smell good,”

"Shh, that's inappropriate," Sehun told him. “I am trying to comfort you so – “

“How about doing the comforting in bed?” Luhan reached up to give Sehun a kiss. A deep, thorough kiss which made Sehun’s eyes darken with lust.

“Your wish is my command,” Sehun didn’t waste another second, carrying Luhan to their bedroom.

Sehun did indeed turn up his charm, and he was behaving exceedingly well today. He was respectful and courteous, and didn't show even an ounce of annoyance no matter what kind of questions his parents asked him. Sehun simply took it all in stride, answering them politely.

He even held onto Luhan’s hand, giving it a squeeze periodically to reassure him that everything would be fine. After they finished their dinner, Luhan got up to clear the plates only to have his parents and Sehun to tell him to sit down.

He had frowned exasperatedly before stacking the plates and bringing them to the kitchen. All of three of the others had an amused smile on their faces but eventually let it be. Luhan’s mother followed him to the kitchen and was about  to wash the plates when Luhan volunteered to do it.

“Honey, you can do the drying up for me instead.” His mother told him while donning the gloves. “What is on your mind, sweetie?”

Of course, his mother had known Luhan had questions he wanted to ask. “What do you think of Sehun?”

“He certainly isn’t the man I would have chosen for you,” his mother confessed rather truthfully. “He is the type that I would tell my son or daughter to stay away from, he is bad news. He is the 'bad boy' that all parents want to protect their children, and frankly, he's just not good enough for you. All parents want the best for their children after all.”

“But Mum – “

Giving him an indulgent smile, Luhan’s mother took off her gloves before hugging her son. “But he makes my baby so happy and for that I am willing to overlook everything. You should have seen how you positively glow whenever he is near and your smile, that smile which tells me that you are content with him. I could never fault him if he is able to make you smile like that.”

Luhan’s eyes started to water. “I am happy, I am happy with him. He – “

“He looks at you as though you are everything that he ever wanted,” Luhan’s mother completed the sentence for him. “I am sorry that we couldn't be there for you when you are younger, we were selfish and if given a chance, I would turn back time and take better care of you.”

"Mum, it is fine. You were fine." Luhan shook his head. 

"Now, you don't have to shoulder everything by yourself." His mother cupped his face gently. "If you ever fall, he will be there to catch you without fail."

Sehun walked over to him once he saw him coming out of the kitchen, there was a smile on his mother’s face when she sat down beside Luhan’s father. “Honey, why don’t you show Sehun around?”

“Sure!” Luhan grabbed Sehun’s hand, excited to show him his mother’s workroom. His mother was an exceptional painter and Luhan was lucky to inherit a little talent from her. The workroom was mostly filled with his mother’s paintings. All those paintings would have fetched a high price, should she have taken them to n auction or exhibition,  but his mother refused to sell them because her best works were often memories that she wanted to keep.

“Why did you and my father talk about?” Luhan asked once they were in the room. “You didn’t say anything to displease him, right?”

“Nothing much,” Sehun answered him. “Nothing you have to worry about anyway.”

Deciding to trust Sehun, Luhan left it at that as he pulled Sehun to the back of the room. In the centre of the room, there was a large painting of Luhan squatting down with his camera, seemingly to take a picture.

It was beautiful because Luhan’s mother had managed to capture all the details vividly. But what Sehun liked the most was the smile that was on Luhan’s face; dazzling and bright. “Do you think your mum would be willing to sell me that?”

“What will you do with it?” Luhan cocked an eyebrow.

“Not telling,” Sehun placed a kiss on his lips.

The visit ended rather nicely with Luhan’s parents sending them off. Luhan waved to them from the car until they were out of sight. He loved his parents but they weren’t always there for him when he was younger.

After his grandmother passed away, Luhan had started to live on his own while his parents visited him from time to time. He never hated them though, he had known that they free spirits and weren’t meant to be tied down.

Leaving Luhan behind, his parents had travelled the world and sent him postcards when they couldn’t make it back to see him on time. They missed his graduation, his – stop. He closed his eyes, this was all in the past and he never bore any grudges against them.

His parents were never cruel to him, making sure he had a roof as well as enough spending money. They did all they could except for –

“Lu, what are you thinking?” Sehun asked him softly, breaking him out of his thoughts.

“I want the both of us to be there for little cupcake, I want the both of us to be there to see watch him grow and to watch over him so that – “ Luhan swallowed when he saw Sehun looking at him tenderly.

“Your parents love you, you know?” Sehun took both of Luhan’s hands in his.

“I know but – it is so stupid. When I was younger, I felt as though as I was left behind. I thought I was a burden to them or something and I was scared because I was alone and I had no one to call – “

“Baby,” Sehun took his hands up and kissed the back of it. “You have me now.”

“I guess the reason I am so independent now is due to them, it is a good thing though. Just that there are times whe – when I just wanted to call them and tell them that I was lonely, I wanted to tell them that I missed them or just to talk because I wanted to hear the sound of their voice.” Luhan confessed something which he had never told anyone before. His childhood fears had just come out in a rush, words that he had kept buried deep inside of him until now.

“You can call me,” Sehun tightened his hold on Luhan’s hands. “You can call me whenever you want, for the rest of your life. If you miss me or want to hear my voice or just to tell me something random, you can call me and tell me about it. I can’t promise you that I will always be able to pick it up but I will make sure that I call back.”

“Sehun,” Luhan’s voice softened as he leaned into him and Sehun’s arms just came around him automatically.

“Sleep, I'll wake you up later.” Sehun told him softly, pressing a kiss onto his hair. Luhan closed his eyes with a smile on his face. 

Warm, protected and most importantly, loved.

*an:okay, this is rather sweet, don't you think? i didn't want it to be so sweet to be honest. but oh well, what's done is done and for the next chapter, i think i will have a scene to show what happened between seoyeon and sehun that night, let's just see how it goes. and no brother since i have decided to make luhan the only child here. that's all for now, thanks for all the upvotes and subscriptions and comments. 'til the next chapter then!