Baekhyun looked out the foggy window and out to the streets. It was raining hard outside, the sky dark and gray, and the March winds combined with the precipitation created a gloomy forecast for the day. But inside the coffee shop, it was quite peaceful. Customers were quiet, reading books, typing away on their laptops, speaking softly to one another, a stark contrast to the noise of car horns and screeching tires outside. Baekhyun listened to the tapping of his ex-lover’s finger as their conversation paused. He had always been an impatient man.  

“Listen Baek,” he began, halting to take a sip of his chai latte, “we don’t have to pick up from where we left off, we can just—”

        “We don’t have to pick up anywhere,” Baekhyun said, interrupting him. “You had your chance a long time ago, and you lost it. I’m married now, happily, I have a son, I have a family. What was between us is finished now and there’s no turning back.”

        Baekhyun looked at his face, searching for any sign of defeat, but he could only see a face that seemed intrigued, as if he was accepting a challenge.

        He pulled out a business card from his pocket and threw it at Baekhyun. Attorney-at-law, the card read. Baekhyun was surprised the idiot was able to get a law degree.

        He placed his hand on Baekhyun’s shoulder. Baekhyun wanted to shake it off, but he kept his composure.

        “Just call me whenever, Baekhyun. I’ll answer,” he said. He patted Baekhyun’s shoulder and walked out the coffee shop.

        Baekhyun balled the card into his hands and walked out of the shop. The rain had let up a little, a light drizzle now showering the city. He passed by a trash can and reached his hand out to throw away the card, but hesitated, then placed it into his pocket. He couldn’t explain why he kept it, but he walked on, keeping his breath steady in the cold air.

Baekhyun unlocked the door to his house and stepped inside, kicking off his wet shoes on the doorstep. He hung his raincoat on the coat hanger and walked towards the kitchen, a strong garlic smell permeating the house. Daehyun must have been up to something, someone probably challenged him to put more garlic in his Seventy Cloves of Garlic Chicken. Baekhyun walked in to see his son, Taehyung, typing on his laptop, with headphones in his ear. Baekhyun ruffled his hair, scaring him a little. Baekhyun looked up to see piles of crushed garlic on cutting boards, spread across the kitchen counters.

“What has your father done?” Baekhyun asked, looking at the carnage his husband caused.

“Someone said he couldn’t put a hundred cloves of garlic in his chicken. He said he has to prove them wrong,” his son said, still typing furiously on the computer.

Baekhyun sat down at the table, resting his tired and aching body. He began staring lovingly at his child, remembering when Taehyung was just a baby, holding his father’s finger while making little noises. He had always been a very vocal child, probably because he was the son of two singers, but as he grew into a teenager, he talked to his fathers less. Books said it was typical of teenagers to become very inward, and sometimes they needed space. Baekhyun tried to give him more privacy, but the two had been inseparable when Taehyung was little, and it was hard to see his son transition into an independent adult.

Taehyung looked up to see his father smiling at him. He quickly resumed his attention to the computer screen.

“Where is your dad anyway? Why did he leave this huge mess?” Baekhyun asked. He got up and opened the fridge to see the largest chicken he’d ever laid his eyes on taking up most of the space in the fridge.

“He only has seventy-three cloves. He went out to buy more,” Taehyung answered.

Baekhyun nodded his head. His son was still typing away on the computer. Baekhyun looked at the word document on the computer. “99 Problems but this Paper Ain’t One,” it read.

“What class is this for?” Baekhyun asked.

“The Importance of Hip-Hop in Today’s Society.”

“Who teaches that?”

“Mr. Blackman.”

Baekhyun looked around the table and saw the clippings of recipes Daehyun had scattered. Daehyun was on a never ending search to find recipes to add to the restaurant’s menu. The latest addition was his Lavender Ice Cream he found in a Martha Stewart magazine. Baekhyun thought it tasted like soap, but his husband insisted on adding it, said it would give the restaurant a more contemporary feel.

He glanced over to the other side of the table to their wedding album sitting there. He picked up and thumbed through the pictures he and Daehyun had taken years ago.

“Why is this out?” Baekhyun asked.

Taehyung looked up from his laptop. “Dad’s trying to blow up some pictures to put up at the restaurant. He wants to make it more ‘homey.’ He’s got my baby book out too.”

Baekhyun looked at their old pictures. The one he loved the most was taken in front of the bar him and Daehyun met at.

They met at a karaoke night in college. It was Love Song Night and Baekhyun had just gone through a bad breakup, and his best friend, Taeyeon, dragged him to it. She’d been sick of seeing him lie on his bed each day in the apartment, and made him bathe and go out. For the majority of the night, he sat at a booth, occasionally listening to someone singing terribly off key.

But then Daehyun came to sit with Taeyeon. He’d seen him around campus a couple of times, but had never spoken to him, too consumed with his boyfriend at the time. Taeyeon suggested the two sing together, and after a few encouraging punches from her, Baekhyun sang “Just the Two of Us” with him, winning the entire competition that night. Their prize was unlimited nachos for a month, and Daehyun asked him if he’d like to share those nachos with him sometime.

A year and a half later, the two were married at a small ceremony at a farm. It was a calm fall day in the middle of September, and they promised to love each other until the end of time. They danced to the song they first sang together, holding each other tightly, hoping they would live forever just so they could be together.

Just a year after their marriage, Taehyung came, right before the New Year, into the arms of Baekhyun and Daehyun. He was the most beautiful baby either of them had seen, coming into the world with a smile on his tiny face and fists tightly closed, only opening to hold someone’s finger. He had the nose and lips of Daehyun, but the eyes and smile of Baekhyun. Neither of them could explain the orange hair though.

Baekhyun closed the album and looked up to see Taehyung had left the room. When he came back, he was holding the card his father had balled up earlier.

“Appa! Why do you have a lawyer’s card? Are you trying to divorce Dad?” he asked.

Baekhyun snorted. “No, I just picked it up earlier at the conference I went to this morning.”

Taehyung raised his eyebrows. “Park Chanyeol, attorney-at-law. Sounds familiar.”

“Yeah familiar,” Baekhyun agreed.