Chapter 17 The baby-sitter

When the week came to an end Hyukjae found himself more tired than usually. The weather was unforgiving with its heat and the students at the kindergarten had more energy than the teachers. Every day felt longer than the one before. Making the weekend a welcomed friend.

Donghae had spent every day at the other man´s flat. Be it sleeping, eating or just hanging out until it was time for him to go to work or go to bed. Neither of the two neighbors talked about it and acted as if they had done this for years already.

Hyukjae had talked to his mother about the failed date (or what to call it, it hadn’t even begun before it ended) and pointed out that that was one of the reasons why she shouldn’t stick her nose into his dating life. His father had asked to speak to him after that and asked how his life was going. And how Donghae was doing. The older man didn’t push him about the conversation they had previously had regarding the son´s oblivious feelings towards his new friend and neighbor. Something Hyukjae was grateful for.

But when he had happened to let out fact about how much time they spent with each other, and the previous secret that the two men shared a bed during most nights (not the ones the younger worked through) his dad had gone silent. The anxious feeling that the black-haired man felt a lot of times came crawling over his skin, making him feel like throwing up.

Mr. Lee hadn’t said anything more about it and said his goodbyes to both of the younger males. It only left Hyukjae feeling worse afterwards.

Like the Saturday before Donghae had to be at the hospital until lunchtime before beginning his weekend. This left the older all alone in his apartment with nothing to do. Calling his friends didn’t seem all that tempting, they would probably drag him out shopping or worse-case scenario they would set him up on a last second blind date.

So, he ended up tidying up the flat and then lazing about on his sofa catching up on social medias on his phone.

A lot of muffled sounds was heard from the hallway outside the apartment before the doorbell went off. Confused about who it could be, the resident walked over to the entrance and un-locked the front door. Before him stood a rumbled-up brunet with a small bag next to him and a little child in his arms.

“Is there something I should know about you Donghae? Congratulations? Who´s the lucky woman or should I say lucky mother?” The ugly feeling of jealousy that sometimes showed up at times made an entrance in the pit of his stomach.

The man on the other side of the door gave him a look of utter confusion until the girl in his arms wiggled around. She seemed to be trying to either get down to the floor or turn around to see whom it was that had been talking.

Donghae let the child down and instead held her tiny hand so she wouldn’t be able to sneak away from him. He gave the raven-head a toothy grin and laughed at him. “Silly Hyukkie. This is my niece Haru, I´m looking after her this weekend. Haru this is oppa´s best friend Hyukjae. He will be playing with us today, is it okay?”

The little girl raised her head to look up at the stranger before her.

Being used to taking care of children (it was after all his occupation) Hyukjae crouched down so he was about the same height as the little girl. He gave her a small wave, while saying hello to her with a smile.

Like most children under the age of twelve, Haru took a liking to the black-haired man and smiled towards him before walking over and taking his hand. The brunet let go of his hold on her and grabbed the bag handle instead. Seeing this the older man lead the two in to the apartment and helped Haru with her shoes.

Being a curious little kid, the girl didn’t have a problem with walking inside the strange house and snoop around.

“I´ll be right back I just need to go to my apartment and get some of Haru´s things that she´ll need. It won´t take long so please keep an eye on her while I´m gone. I don’t get why a little child need so many things for the span of not even two days. Oh well, hyung said that it´s stuff that we´ll need in one way or another so… Thanks.”

Before getting the chance to response to anything the younger man had just said or even ask questions about it all, the latter had closed the front door and went on his way. Realizing that he had to wait with all his questions the kindergarten teacher went to search for the waddling girl.

He found her in the bedroom standing next to a high bookshelf. Her short arms where stretched upwards, with her hands opening and closing as if trying to grab something. Hyukjae followed the tiny arms and saw what she was after.

A brown monkey plushie sat on one of the shelves. It was a gift he had received from his older sister when they had been young. Their family had gone to an amusement park and right before they were going to leave they had been playing different games. The little Hyukjae had lost every one of the games the siblings had played, leaving him in despair with big sad tears falling down his cheeks.

Sora on the other hand had won three soft toys and a water gun (in which she had use on the small boy for the remaining of the summer). Of course, the older girl had hit all the cans at the booth and received another win. Seeing how upset her brother had gotten she picked her prize and given it to the boy hoping it would make him quiet. It had been a success.

´A monkey toy for the monkeyboy´, Sora had said.

Coming back from his childhood memory the raven-head walked over to the plushie and took it down before giving it to the girl. She gave him a bright smile and thanked him for it while hugging it close to her chest.

“What´s its name, mister?” Big eyes sparkled at Hyukjae while waiting for an answer.

“Well, I was really young when I got him, so I named it Weonsung-i. But if you have a better name then we can re-name him.”

Haru gave him an odd look- similar to the one his sister had given him when he first named the little brown toy.

“It´s a cute name. He can keep it.” The little girl nodded in agreement with herself, a gesture that the older had seen a lot of times by her uncle. It seemed to be in their family´s blood.

Hyukjae laughed and agreed that it would be best to let the plushie keep its original name. ´So as not to confuse it after all these years´ Haru had said. While they stood in the bedroom talking about other toys that stood in the bookshelf, someone walked in the room.

The brunet male gave them a toothy smile and walked over to where they stood. When he reached the pair, he crouched down so all three of them had the same height. He then ruffled his niece´s shoulder-length brown hair making the youngest complain about him ruining her pretty hair style. The man only laughed in response.

Hyukjae promised to fix her pigtails that her uncle had messed up.

After joking around in the sleeping chambers for another few minutes Hyukjae suggested that they all should get something to eat since neither of them had had lunch yet.

Donghae had brought a highchair over from his place and placed it next to the kitchen table. When they entered the room the doctor to-be seated the toddler in her chair and brought out a bag filled with coloring books and crayons. The monkey plushie got its own seat at on one of the chairs. The brunet then put everything on the table in front of the child and they both began to draw.

Hyukjae started to fry egg, putting in tiny pieces sausage and cutting up cucumber, cherry tomatoes and spinach into a salad for them all to share. While the food was sizzling, the older man turned around to look at what the other two were doing.

The uncle and niece were fully engrossed in their drawings, fighting a bit like small kids over the crayons. “How old are you Haru-ah?”

When hearing the question both family members looked up from their papers and turned towards the source of the question. The little girl raised one of her hands and held up four fingers, proudly informing that she was these many years.

He hummed in replay while nodding his head.

When the food was almost done Donghae volunteered to set the table, a task he did most of the times before they had dinner or lunch together. Plates, glasses and chopsticks got place on the table together with special utensils for the toddler to use.

The three of them ate while talking about each other. Donghae was telling both of them about the other, claiming that it was his duty as the common part. “Hyuk-oppa works at a kindergarten similar to the one you go to Haru. And he´s really good at cooking, I think I have gained a few pounds since I first met him. Hyukkie also has a lot of sweets in his kitchen, so if you are a good girl you can have some of it. But you´ll need to listen to your oppas, alright?”

The little girl nodded in understanding and gave Hyukjae an adorable smile and giggle.

“What´s your favorite sweet Haru? If we´re lucky then maybe I have it.”

“I like pudding!! The ones that wiggle.” The girl giggled as she shook her body pretending that she herself was a wiggling pudding.

“I don’t think I have that; your uncle has a tendency to eat them every time I buy them. But if you finish all of your lunch we can go buy more pudding cups later.”

“Yay!! I will eat all of the food, mister.”

After lunch it was time for Haru to take a nap. Donghae went to the bedroom with the little girl and placed her on the bed, surrounding her with pillows from the couch so she wouldn’t be able to fall off. During that time the older male cleared the table and did the dishes.

Ten minutes later the two men sat in the living room together enjoying each other´s company.

“Where is your brother Hae? Isn’t it quite a long drive from Mokpo till here? Just so you can babysit her.”

“My brother and his wife went out for dinner and some play they had bought tickets to. This weekend is their five-year wedding a