heeeeeey guys! i've made it, chopsticks! it's been months again T^T I know, I so much. I keep saying I'll try to update more quickly but here we are again =_="

i didn't manage to play any Assassins Creed today because I was busy writing this chapter but I think it was worth it :) (this was my only day off work for the whole week sobs)  I hope you guys are going to like it. Happy fluff for the cold days woohoo!! Christmas is coming up soon *w* hopefully I can update again before the year is over #goramengo

   have fun reading everyone and see you below <3

For a moment, Sunggyu thought it was Haneul who was crying but the toddler was still sleeping in his buggy. He quickly found the source of the noise. A child was crouching on the path in front of them, obviously crying in distress and seemingly alone. No one seemed to come to the little girl’s help. Sunggyu looked over to Woohyun but noticed the younger man had already walked away and was headed towards the child. “Hey!”, he called after him but Woohyun didn’t stop.

Sunggyu huffed and grabbed the abandoned buggy. He pushed it forward and quickly caught up to Woohyun. The younger man crouched down in front of the girl. “Hello, are you hurt?”

She shook her head without looking at him and hugged her knees tighter. “Are you alone?”, he continued.

The child shook her head once more but mumbled something in between the sobs this time. “Mommy.”

“Oh, so you’re here with your Mommy? Did you lose sight of her?” She nodded and looked up this time.

Woohyun gently smiled at her and wiped her cheeks with a tissue. “How about we try to find your Mommy? Where did you last see her? What was she wearing?”

She sniveled. “I don’t know. Saw a little doggo and ran over to pet it, although Mommy said to stay by her side at all times. When I turned around, Mommy was gone.”

The girl started to cry harder. Sunggyu winced and glanced at Haneul. He was going to wake up at this point. Woohyun stayed patient though. “Don’t worry. We’ll help you. I know you must be scared, but try to be strong for your Mommy. How can we recognize her?”

“Mommy is wearing a yellow coat...”

Sunggyu looked around but couldn’t spot anyone with a yellow coat. Woohyun held out his hand to the little girl. “Okay, let’s find your Mommy then. I’m Woohyun. What’s your name?”

“Minnie, but Mommy said not to go with strangers.” She pursed her lips.

Woohyun nodded thoughtfully. “Your Mommy is right but we can’t leave you alone here. Do you want to wait here with my friend and I’ll look for your Mommy?”

The little girl looked up to Sunggyu who gave her a short smile. He wasn’t that good with kids, okay? He rarely interacted with children and Haneul had always been the exemption. Sunggyu wasn’t sure if it was a wise idea to leave him with the kid because he had no idea what to say to her. And what if Haneul woke up? But he knew they could hardly turn away and leave the girl all by herself. She nodded reluctantly and grabbed Woohyun’s hand. He pulled her up and guided her to a nearby bench.

“You two will wait here. I’ll try and find your Mommy, and if I can’t find her, we will call a nice policeman, okay?” She nodded again. Sunggyu opened his mouth to say something but Woohyun just shook his head. “Do you want to look for her?”

Uh, no. Sunggyu would honestly rather sit on the bench and wait. “Fine, go then and be a hero.”

The two of them sat down on the bench while Woohyun took off to look for the mother. Silence engulfed them and Sunggyu’s eyes nervously moved from Haneul to the girl again and again. She started to snivel once more after a moment, obviously feeling more distressed again with the silence and the absence of her mother pressing down on her tiny shoulders. Sunggyu cleared his throat. He just had to try and do what Woohyun had done – distract the girl.

“How old are you, Minnie?”

She sniveled again. “I’m six. I’m an adult!”

Sunggyu laughed shortly. “U—Uh, sure, you’re a big girl.”

Minnie let her legs swing back and forth. “Big girls stay by Mommy’s side and listen, Mommy said. Maybe she won’t come back to me because I was a bad girl.”

“There’s no way your Mommy will hate you and leave you behind. She’s probably looking for you in panic as we speak.”

She wiped her cheeks. “Really?”

“Mothers are like that.” Sunggyu’s smile turned a little sad when he remembered his own mother. Their relationship had been kind of rocky but she had never abandoned him. She had never hated him. There were so many things he had missed to tell her; things he had thought of as obvious and rather unimportant. Now Sunggyu wished he could tell her how much he loved her, how thankful he was for the life she had given him.

“Ahjussi, are you okay?”

“Ahj—“ Sunggyu huffed. “I’m fine. Your Mommy probably feels really sad too. When my friend brings her back, you should give her a big hug and tell her you’re sorry.”

“Will handsome oppa really find her?”

Wow, so he’s a handsome oppa and I’m an ahjussi? Thanks, kid. Sunggyu looked around for a sign of Woohyun but didn’t find him. There were only more women giving him these looks that screamed ‘single dads are so y’. “I don’t know but if he can’t find her, we’ll ask a nice policeman to find out where your Mommy lives and what her phone number is.”

“I know where we live!” She exclaimed and smiled proudly.

“Oh, you do? You really are a big girl, aren’t you?” Sunggyu had to laugh at her cuteness.

His ears caught a soft whine and he glanced into the buggy. Haneul’s hands were no longer curled into tiny fists and his face was scrunched up. The toddler was in the middle of waking up it seemed. Minnie stretched her neck to take a look. “Is that a baby?”

“Yes, he’s a baby. His name is Haneul.”

She smiled widely. “Mommy told me babies come out of our tummies. Did he come from your tummy?”

Sunggyu felt his face heat up at the ridiculous question. He was flustered about the sudden change of conversation. He didn’t know how to talk to kids about that kind of stuff. “Uh, no. Only, uh, special people like your mom can have babies.”

He swore he could see stars sparkling in her eyes as she asked. “Am I special then? I want to have a baby too!”

“W—Well, it’s too early to know that! You will have to wait at least another 20 years or so.” Sunggyu wanted to facepalm himself. He had no idea how to talk to little girls. Suddenly, he was happy Haneul couldn’t ask these kinds of questions yet. How to get out of this?

“Twenty?” Minnie asked and she made a face like she was trying hard to contemplate how long into the future that was. When she started counting with her fingers with the most serious expression, Sunggyu stifled a laugh.

Haneul whined to get his attention and Sunggyu pulled the buggy closer. He smiled at the toddler. “You can sleep some more if you want. We’re just doing a small stop.”

His nephew’s face scrunched up in reply. Sunggyu sighed and touched his cheeks and forehead. At least Haneul didn’t feel warm. When he became fussy, Sunggyu quickly got him out of the buggy. He made sure the cap was covering Haneul’s ears. There was no need to risk Haneul getting sick – if he wasn’t already coming down with a cold.

Minnie stopped counting. “I don’t think I can wait that long. I’ll ask my Mommy.”

Haneul leaned against Sunggyu’s chest for support and observed the newcomer with great interest. The man glanced at the girl. “You know you don’t have to think about babies yet. You should enjoy your childhood as long as you can. The time will pass quicker than you think and before you know it, you spend most of your day working in some office to pay your rent and meals. You have to pay taxes and you start feeling the pressure about being single, getting kids or starting a career. You’ll look back to your childhood days and think ‘I should’ve enjoyed it more instead of thinking I want to be older soon’.”

The girl frowned. “Ahjussi, are you nagging me? I don’t understand you.”

What am I doing lecturing a 6-year-old? “No, I wasn’t. Just forget about it.”

“Ahjussi is weird! But you’re nicer than you look.”

“Uh…thanks?”

“Minah!” The shout made Sunggyu jump.

He turned his head and saw a panicked-looking woman running towards them. Her hair was wild and all over the place. She wore a yellow coat like Minnie had said. The little girl jumped up from the bench and dashed towards her mom. “Mommy!”

Sunggyu stood up as well, carefully holding onto the toddler in his arms as he looked around for a sign of Woohyun. Don’t tell me that idiot is still looking for her! We should’ve just waited here together. Now I got to look for him, probably. Haneul babbled something as he looked around as well. Sunggyu hoped he wasn’t looking for Woohyun too. He didn’t need Haneul to start crying because he was missing the other man. Haneul might not understand yet who Woohyun was but he liked the man and that was enough.

“Minah, I was worried sick!” He glanced over at the mother and child. The woman was on her knees, probably getting her coat dirty, but she was obviously relieved over having found her daughter. Sunggyu even saw tears running down her cheeks. Minnie’s face was hidden against her mom’s chest but she was obviously wailing again.

“J-Just wanted to pat the doggie…”

“Oh, sweetheart, I told you to always stay by my side. Don’t just go running off.”

“Mommy was g-gone when I turned around.” Minnie cried more loudly then.

Her mother hugged her tighter. “I’m so sorry, my little angel. Mommy is so sorry. How could I not notice you were gone?”

Sunggyu looked away, feeling like he was intruding on a very personal mo