His hair was ruffled, pajamas wrinkled. Blinking his sleepy eyes awake, the tall, lanky man glanced at his bedroom door and watched as it creaked open, slowly and painfully loud. There was a small whimper coming from the hallway outside and Chanyeol sat up immediately, recognizing the sound as his darling baby boy's. 

"Kyu? Baby, is something wrong?" he started, his voice croaky from sudden use. 

"Appa...It's scary."

"What's scary, baby? Come over here and tell Appa."

His five year old son scurried over to his bedside and climbed on top of the bed, clutching to Chanyeol's neck immediately. Chanyeol was in momentary shock as he watched the little boy whimper as he buried his tear-stained face into Chanyeol's muscular chest. Patting his back and muttering soothing words, the concerned father felt his own heart shatter as his tiny bundle of joy hiccuped in the midst of tears. 

"Kyu baby, tell Appa what's wrong. Did you have nightmares so you can't sleep?" he said, trying to coax the words out of Kyumin. 

"Yeah..."

"Tell Appa about your nightmares love, then it won't be so scary." 

"If I t-tell A-appa, then can I s-sleep with Appa t-tonight?" Kyumin stuttered, body still shaking slightly. Chanyeol cooed at his little angel, agreeing immediately. 

"Of course you can. Go on, tell me what happened."

"At school, M-miss Lee told us to draw a family p-portrait. I drew me and Appa..." Kyumin mumbled. 

"And then baby? Did something happen in your dream related to that picture?" Chanyeol inquired, wondering how a picture could be the cause of a nightmare.

"Woojin and Chunho asked me w-why I only drew two people and then I said it was b-b-because I only live with Appa so there was no n-need to draw anyone else. They laughed at me and told me that if I have no...Umma...then that isn't a f-f-family. Then they also told me that my family is broken and that Appa wouldn't want a broken family."

"Woojin and Chunho?!" Chanyeol growled, his tone startling his son, "What else did they say?"

"Woojin said that Appa doesn't want a broken family so he will not want me anymore and then I'll be alone...so I dreamt that Appa left me and I was all by myself..."

Chanyeol felt his own eyes b with wet and unplanned tears. His baby boy felt unloved because there was no mother figure in this 'family' of theirs. He wrapped his long, strong arms around his son even tighter and the two sat in silence and savored the heartfelt embrace. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chanyeol knew he never wanted to get married. Most his life, even during his idol days, dating and marriages never went well amongst his friends. When he decided to go back to college after he finished his contract in the entertainment industry, Chanyeol's mindset was to start anew and enjoy life to its fullest. His friends stayed close and they still occasionally met up every now and then to catch up with each other. Some got married, others started to date, but Chanyeol himself, found no interest in any of those things. All he wanted was to live a peaceful life and be around the people in which he loved most.

At the age of twenty-nine, Chanyeol was living by himself in a beautiful house while working in a high-ranking position in a top notch Korean hotel company. Everyday, he went home and roamed about his empty house, feeling the emptiness of the structure and the loneliness in his heart. All the luxuries he desired, he could have. His career, health, and social life were all stable, and yet a part of him was depressed. There was no one to share these luxuries with and that was the worst of it.