Little Ba Reum AU - The roads not taken

Chapter 7

Hyuk smiled at his dad, seeing the sadness in his eyes, even though he smiled at the memory of the woman. It was silent for a few moments, before they started to eat.

"So, no little yet?" the man asked, and Hyuk shook his head.

"I guess there aren't a lot of babies," Hyuk said.

"And you can't try an older headspace?"

"No, I tried that in the past. It's just, it doesn't work out. I want more, they want less," Hyuk explained.

"I'm sure you'll find someone. A good catch like you,"

"Dad, I'm not that good of a catch," Hyuk said, but still feeling a little happier with the man nearby.

"Of course you are. One day, you'll be living here, a little sitting on your lap and your husband plastered to your side, both of them doting on you,"

"That would be a nice day," Hyuk agreed, not wanting to say to his dad that he didn't believe in it. One of the two, he did think could happen, but he had given up finding a romantic partner.

"There is a fair going on in the park, thought it would be nice to get a breath of fresh air," Hyuk's dad asked.

"That sounds nice," Hyuk said, always loving to run around those places, hoping to spot littles with a look of wonder in their face at all the lights and the activities.

Ba Reum was happy that his friends believed him about hitting it off with the caregiver. Both seemed to be less on his case about spending healthy headspace times, but they tried to get him to talk about it.

He always managed to get the conversation redirected, and his friends dropped it easily enough. The day after it happened, Ba Reum had called the agency, who had already been contacted by the caregiver.

"We just don't know where it went wrong," the woman on the other side said, "he got good reviews with littles already, just never found the one for him,"

"He hit me," Ba Reum said, "that went wrong. I said no corporal punishment on my application,"

"You did?" the woman said, "here it's noted that you said you were okay with it. It's even noted as an extra,"

"No, I said no. You do know it's borderline illegal these days?" Ba Reum said, and the woman tried to apologize, thinking it was wrongly noted, and offered to pair him with someone else, but Ba Reum didn't want to risk anything like that anymore.

Life went on, and he kept his one day a month schedule up, combining it with his police school. Glad for once that weekend arrive, he took a walk through the park. A fair was being held, and although he felt exhausted after a long week, he couldn't resist just visiting for the atmosphere.

The sky was already getting dark, and he could hear the music and see the light, he felt himself wake up a little more.

He saw several people running around, children with sugar floss and candied apples, littles with their faces painted and carrying balloons, smiling couples holding stuffed animals.

Ba Reum wandered in the crowd, looking around a bit and trying his best to not feel lonely. He wasn't that bad off, he had his friends who cared a lot about him, but how much they cared about him, he didn't have a special someone, who was there just for him.

"Come on, mom," a little shouted nearby, making Ba Reum turn and see a woman going after him, a smile on her face while she carried a big stuffed animal, and went to buy him some popcorn.

He turned away, knowing that things like that weren't for him. But that didn't mean he couldn't enjoy being there. Suddenly, he stopped, seeing hanging from an activity stall the fluffiest unicorn he had ever soon.