Jaehwa came to the hospital with a paper bag secured in her right hand, feeling at ease that she and Jeongguk were finally on good terms again. She had prepared purée for Hyun, deep inside her heart was excited to see the boy being able to eat again. When she called Jeongguk earlier on that morning, the guy told her that Hyun's body temperature had lowered though he was still a bit cranky, but it was nothing Jeongguk couldn't handle.
When she stepped into the hospital compund, Jaehwa was feeling giddy to see Hyun smiling like a happy baby he was to the point she didn't realise that her steps became faster as she entered the building. Her heels couldn't stop tapping the tiled floor as she waited for the elevator, starting to grow impatient when the long-awaited ting never rang.
Few minutes later, Jaehwa found herself running towards the department, however still checking the content of the bag to make sure nothing was spilt, especially the food which she had worked hard on preparing. Yerin even laughed at her determination to wake up so early just to cook baby food, but Jaehwa chose to ignore it like passing wind as she focused on washing and steaming the vegetables.
Her steps came into a halt when she reached the registration counter of the department. Jaehwa didn't know if her ears were playing trick on her or she really heard it right—the guy standing at the counter just mentioned Hyun. She decided to shrug it off at first, but decided to turn her heels to get a better look of the guy.
Jaehwa couldn't see his face but she got a clear view of his side profile. The Greek shaped nose and the sharp jawline made her scrunch her eyebrows. It wasn't long before her eyes fell on the set of plump lips mumbling words she couldn't catch since she's bad at lip reading, but that didn't stop Jaehwa from leaving the foyer. She knew she shouldn't be there as it's probably another Hyun but something within her forced her to stay and freeze at the spot until the guy turned to leave the counter.
The moment the guy turned his torso, Jaehwa was struck by Déjà vu. He was tucked in a navy blue velvet suit, hair all dressed to keep the strands on their place. He gave off the vibe of a rich guy, those who would never associate with her but why? Why did she feel like she knew him?
Why did he look so familiar?
Jaehwa scrutinised his movement—everything about him was captivating that even the way he tucked his hands in the pockets of his slacks seemed so graceful.
Hands gripping the paper bag with all her might, she took a step forward but her feet were glued to the ground when the guy turned to her direction, his puffy eyes widened when Jaehwa came into his view. Still confused upon her vision, Jaehwa raised her eyebrows but what happened next never crossed her mind.
The guy flashed her a smile, the sound of the heels of his leather shoes hitting the floor tuned off every noise coming from the background. Before Jaehwa could realise, he was already standing across her, the orange zest of Jo Malone Orange Blossom dominated the air—sweet, subtle yet tempting at the same time.
"Hey." The guy started. "You- you are the babysitter, right?"
"Y- yes, I am." She stammered, wondering how he could know her. "Do we know each other? I mean- I don't think I know someone like you. You seem like a..."
"Like a?" The guy quirked an eyebrow, the corner of his lips twitched when Jaehwa took a long pause before she could finish her sentence.
"Like a very successful person." Jaehwa wasn't joking, she wasn't even exaggerating.
The guy let out a stream of high pitch chuckles, probably amused by what he heard from Jaehwa. Jaehwa, on the other hand, was still trying to recall if she had seen the guy anywhere.
Maybe she was taking too long that the guy suddenly introduced himself, without any warning, blurting the words out so casually like it's nothing.
"I'm Park Jimin. We met at the casino back then, remember?" Jimin tilted his head, catching Jaehwa off guard when he smirked all of a sudden. "Fine. If that can't make you remember me, I'm sure this will. I am Hyun's father."
The gears of her mind finally worked again and the scene where she followed Jeongguk to the casino almost a month ago seeped into her head. She finally could remember him, though the Jimin standing across her at the moment wasn't the Jimin she saw at the casino back then. The guy she saw before was nothing close to this successful entrepreneur, nothing close to elegance and anything along the lines. Park Jimin she met back then was a guy with a scent of alcohol and cigarette smoke mixed together, slurry words and mocking chuckles.
"Earth to Jaehwa?" Jimin snapped his fingers, throwing Jaehwa back to reality in no matter of time. "I can tell that you're shocked to see me here. Last night, I received a text message from Jeongguk, telling me that Hyun was admitted so I thought I should drop by before going to my business trip. Though I believe Jeongguk can manage this, it feels bad to pass by the hospital when I know my son is in there."
As much as she wanted to question him, Jaehwa ended up nodded before pointing towards a room. "That's Hyun's room. Jeongguk- Jeongguk is inside."
________
"Jaehwa is here~" Jeongguk sang song when Jaehwa pushed the door of the room. "And it seems like she brought you something."
Jeongguk's smile disappeared in a blink of an eye when he saw the guy standing behind Jaehwa. Though he was the one who told Jimin about Hyun, he had never foreseen him to visit his own son so when he suddenly appeared, Jeongguk felt like he was crushed from the inside, couldn't even bring himself to fake his expression when Jimin walked towards the bed.
"What are you doing here?" Jeongguk spoke through his gritted teeth, not bothering that Jaehwa was there, witnessing everything.
Jimin chuckled breathlessly, sounding so fake that the urge to punch him right on his face unknowingly seeped into Jeongguk. "My son is hospitalised. Isn't that what a father should do?"
"So a father gives his son to a random person so that he can live happily without any responsibilities?" Jeongguk deadpanned, his heart was starting to thump against his chest, knew that there was a probability he would throw hands if Jimin didn't shut up or leave the hospital room.
Jimin shrugged, his facial expression was telling Jeongguk that he didn't give any single fuck. Shamelessly, he made his way towards the bed and sat on the edge of it, just across Jeongguk as if he was trying to provoke him. Jeongguk's blood boiled when Jimin leaned closer towards Hyun, was so close to pulling the boy into his embrace but Hyun's reaction was faster than his.
Jeongguk couldn't believe his eyes. No, Jeongguk didn't want to believe his eyes. He didn't know what he should feel when Hyun looked away from him to look up at Jimin, blinking his eyes for a few times as if the boy was confirming if the guy standing before him at the moment was his father. His real father.
"Daddy is here, Hyun-ah." Jimin cooed. "Look at our Park Hyun. You're such a big boy now!"
Jeongguk held his breath, didn't know why the mention of Hyun's full name—Park Hyun—shattered his heart into tiny bits. He was well aware that Hyun was never his, but why did his heart ache so much?
Jeongguk only stared blankly when Hyun raised his arms, a gesture he did when he wanted the person to pick him up. But it wasn't directed towards Jeongguk this time. It was directed towards Jimin, and that, for some reason, made Jeongguk swallow his saliva for God knows how many times.
Sure, it was beautiful to see Hyun smiling happily again but Jeongguk had never imagined the person to be Jimin. Maybe Jaehwa was right all along—no matter what happened, Hyun was still Jimin's son. Jimin was still Hyun's real father. Unlike Jeongguk and Hyun who were bonded by time, the two were bonded by blood. Hyun was a part of Jimin. No matter how Jimin abandoned him, he was still the first guy to hold Hyun when he was born, the guy who probably Hyun had known his existence ever since he was still in the mother's womb.
While Jeongguk? He was just someone who happened to look after Hyun after losing a round of gambling. A university student who would never be able to give Hyun all the happiness he deserved.
Hyun's incoherent baby talks filled the atmosphere, leaving Jimin in awe though he couldn't understand a thing. Jeongguk spared the two a quick glance, and God, he felt like he was stabbed for numerous times when he saw Hyun's eyes lit up like he just saw his universe, his lips didn't stop moving as if he had so many stories to tell Jimin. Maybe Hyun was telling his father how living with Jeongguk was like, or maybe he was begging Jimin to not leave him again. Jeongguk had no idea what those incoherent words were supposed to mean but one thing for sure; he was jealous of Jimin.
"Have you eaten? Do you want daddy to feed you?" Jimin asked, reaching for the paper bag Jaehwa had placed on the table without any hesitation. Jeongguk turned to look at Jaehwa who fell into silence, sitting on the couch like a statue as she stared at Jimin and Hyun having their own time together. He wanted her to speak something out that would make Jimin leave the room, but once again, Jeongguk remembered that Jaehwa knew her limit. She didn't have the right to stop a father from seeing his own son.
"Daddy need to go somewhere after this so let's make it quick, hmm?" Opening the lid of the container, Jimin them fumbled for a baby spoon from the bag. His hands moved swiftly to mix the purée and blow it gently, making sure it wasn't too hot for Hyun. "Hyun! An airplane is coming~." Upon that trick, Hyun let out a squeal, clapping his hands in amusement when the 'plane' landed in his mouth. "Good boy! Ah, what a shame your mommy isn't here. She must be happy to see how grown up you are. You were still on breast milk when I gave you to Jeongguk but look who's eating solid food now."
Despite two months of Hyun's absence, it was evident that Jimin hadn't lost his skills in parenting.
And despite two months of not seeing each other, it was clear that Hyun knew who he belonged to.
It's Jimin. Park Jimin.
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a/n:
thank you so much for reading this!
i'll try my best to write better contents 😭