PROMPTS

In Pursuit of Happiness - 6

Dae-sik took the comment seriously. "Okay. I'll start with asking her to talk. Then, if I don't do well, I'll ask for your help."

Hoon agreed. "Tell Auntie Joo Hee, too. She's the falling in love master."

They shook on it with Dae-sik adding, "Don't worry about me and your Eomma and about falling in love, Hoon. That's my job. I'll sort it out. Just be busy being a baby boy, okay?"

"I'm not a baby. I'm four!" he declared, happy that this falling in love business was no longer on his shoulders. It seemed like a complicated task and he was not ready for it. He just wanted camping. Perhaps he can think about that when he was 5.

"Right. Just be busy being four," Dae-sik said hoping his tone assured the worries of this little man he was growing fond of. "What are four-year-olds up to these days? Do you even go to a swing?"

"Swing is for babies!" Hoon replied, scrunching his nose.

"It's not! I enjoy them. I feel like I can reach the clouds when I push myself really high," Dae-sik said.

"Really? Can we try? Can you push me high, Agent?!"

"Sure, let's meet at the park sometime."

"I'd love that, Agent Dae-sik."

"I'd love it, too, Hoon-ah."

*

The said "Falling in Love Master" was currently seated a few tables back with her best friend, Cha Mi-jo. "Why are we stalking your child?" Jang Joo Hee asked Cha Mi-jo, both of them staring at Cha Hoon and Park Dae-sik.

"Tch," Cha Mi-jo reprimanded her friend. "We're not stalking when Hoon knows that I'm here."

Jang Joo Hee shrugged. "Fine with me. I have a great view of the agent," she said. Sighing, she added, "He looks so perfect. I love my boyfriend but Agent Dae-sik is so fine. He's the most perfect looking man I have ever met."

"He still has that burn," Mi-jo pointed out, partly worried about the said scar. "It doesn't look infected so that's good."

"That scar just makes him look more dangerous," Joo Hee said.

The two women were interrupted by a laugh shared by Hoon and Dae-sik. Hoon's eyes were beaming up at the agent, mesmerised by what the Agent was telling him, while Dae-sik kept his eyes on the boy, amazed at every reaction he received from Hoon. Once in awhile, Dae-sik would feed Hoon with some cake or wipe the side of his mouth from the icing, or ruffled the little man's hair.

"They're so adorable together," Joo Hee commented. "The Agent seems to like being around our Hoonie."

Cha Mi-jo had to agree. For all her issues with the NIS Agent, she could tell that his reactions to Hoon were genuine and not tied to her at all; Dae-sik liked Hoon for who he was and not because he was her son. "Hoon hasn't stopped talking about Park Dae-sik-ssi as well. On some nights, he even demands that I send a message to the agent to make sure that he is home safe."

Joo Hee snorted. "What a convenient excuse to check up on the man."

"I'm only doing it for Hoon!" Cha Mi-jo said, defensively.

"So, you don't care if the agent is safe or not?" Joo Hee challenged.

"Of course I want Dae-sik to be safe. Hoon likes him!"

"You like him, too."

"Of course."

"AHA!"

"I like him as Hoon's friend!" Cha Mi-jo corrected. "I don't like him as a boyfriend!"