The front door of the house opens as I got the dishes out and set the table, so I look on the right, and the relief fills me in a short second once I see my son.

"Hey," he puts his skateboard against the wall to take his shoes off and hug Choco, and I check his face and hands with a quick look to make sure he did not hurt himself. "Hey, how was it? Did y/n have fun with you?" I head back to the kitchen to get the food away from the induction stove. "Yeah, she seems to have enjoyed her time a lot. I taught her how to get on the board and move," he presses a kiss on the puppy's head and puts him down to go to the sink and wash his hands. "She almost fell though, but I was there to catch her."

"Good, I'm glad you took care of her," I put the food down and sit down. "I'm starving so much," he hurries to join me and get his chopsticks in his hand. "Thanks for the food," he never forgets the sentence he says every time we get at the table for a meal, and I smile but eat as well.

"Anyway, how was your day at work?" he asks about me, always willing to hear how my day went. "It was pretty alright, let's say it was a basic day. I ate well for lunch again," I smile, faintly. He knows what this means. "No way she cooked for you again."

"Hey, she's sweet, don't be like that. I just wished she would give more attention and care to her daughter. We don't know them well enough to judge," I try to be as objective and mature as I can since I am aware of the way he feels towards Harin. "Well, from what I've seen yet, y/n is respectful to others, but her mom does not give a shit about her, and you can see it whenever you're talking to y/n, this woman tries to be the center of the attention nonstop."

"She maybe doesn't even realize it," I give an excuse, and I chew on the rice that is perfectly cooked while looking at him, who is enjoying this meal as well. "She's a mom, how can she not?" he frowns at me. He has a point. "That's what I dislike about her because there is something odd about her. When  she's at work, with me, she's very smiley, respectful and calm, and always there to serve me, but when y/n is there too, she seems and sounds different, for some reason."

"For some reason," he repeats this and mimics me, rolling his eyes to show his disbelief. "She's just fake, dad. Stop it."

"Shh," I hush him up to not hear more of this and drink some of the soup. "Don't be like that. I raised you to be a good boy, so try to be a bit more respectful, and fake if you have to because you dislike her."

"But I don't like being fake around people. If I don't like them, I let them know," he disagrees with my rules. "That's how you learn to be a good person, dad. Trust me. Trust your amazing son."

"But disliking someone for no good reason is not good," I comment and start an argument, grinning at how invested he is into this. "Well...this is not 'for no good reason'. I just can see through people. I know when they hide something bad," he shoves more food in his mouth, eating quickly because of his hunger. "Eat slowly, you're gonna have a stomachache again."

"I know, but it's so good," he does not talk about Harin anymore and drops it. I managed to effortlessly change the subject.

I wonder if the feeling he has is reasonable. What if he is right?

"Oh, by the way," he pulls his chopsticks out of his mouth but makes it graze his piercing, making me cringe at the thought of the feeling it must have. "Y/n said I remind her of you."

"You're my son, so obviously," I do not get the point he is trying to make with this. "How did you take it?" I ask the question that cannot be kept to myself, expecting no compliments from him. "Well...I felt good," he grabs a piece of meat. "It made me feel attractive. You know, like, imagine being compared to a man who was and is still very popular around girls? Nothing can make your day brighter."

"Uh uh," I suspect some sarcasm, but he smiles. "I'm serious!"

"And what if she meant something negative by that?" I do not let him get me with his cute face that still looks like his baby one to me. "Nah. When I asked her why, she said 'When you smile, you look like him. Your big eyes are the exact same'. Then I said, 'Does that mean I'm good-looking?'," he replays the whole scene in his head and describes it in the most reliable manner. "And she answered with 'Your dad is more attractive because he's older', so I was a bit offended, but at the same time, not really."

I chuckle at this story but cannot believe what I just heard. I will not comment on this though, I should not.

"What I learned from this conversation is that she finds older men more attractive," he lets out the words I kept to myself, and I look at him thinking back to that moment. "She must be one of those girls who are the so-called 'girls with daddy issues'."

"Whatever, eat if you want to be as muscular as I am," I do not give him the chance to say more about this topic, and he smiles but obeys. "Yes, dad."

— Next day —

Wednesday, July 28th, 2021.

6:30 am.

The news playing on the TV in the open living room, I watch it while eating breakfast and check what Joonha is doing.

He is on his phone, texting as always.

Every morning is pretty quiet in this house, we never really want to talk about anything since we are barely awake, but this is not a bad thing to us, that is how we love it, how we enjoy waking up but sharing time together, nonetheless.

However, this morning is a different one, I need to talk about something since I kept quiet about it since I heard about this new matter.

"Do you mind talking about Nara?" I take a bite into my toasted bread, but his eyes remain on his screen, his jaw moving as he is chewing. "I don't mind, but...you know. There's nothing much to say about her."

"Why is that?" I worry about this sudden statement that I never thought I would hear. He seemed deep in love with her, and she did too. After two years of relationship, there must be a good reason for them to have broken up. "I wasted my time with her," his monotonous voice expresses all the anger he must have inside.

I think about the next words to say to not make a mistake but see him bring his phone away to eat. "I caught her cheating on me," he lets it out, and I freeze on my chair. This better be a misunderstanding or I am going to kill someone. "Tell me you're lying."

"I'm not. It happened when I told you I'd stay at her house for the weekend when you had to work, I went to her house, it was supposed to be a surprise because she was alone, but I told her I'd be working on that day, and when I got there, I knocked on her door, but when she opened, first of all, she was dumb enough to wear this asshole's shirt, she wouldn't let me in but uses excuses to give me a reason to wait at the door, and since I could feel that something was wrong, I got in, looked for the guy and found him in her bedroom, he was still naked, so I lost my composure and yelled at her and called her names for doing this to me and all...and I blocked her from everywhere since then, so I don't care about her, what she is doing, where she is, I'd rather not hear about her anymore."

"Why didn't you tell me about it on that day?" the pain felt in my heart stings my chest. I cannot believe she did this to my son. I gave her my trust, I was there when she needed me. She is lucky I was not aware of that. "Cause when you came home from work, you were exhausted as hell and had a bad day, so I didn't want to bother you with that stuff. I'd have told you at some point but since I knew you heard it when we dined at y/n's house, I waited for you to mention it."

"Joonha..." I sigh his name out. "You know you come first, no matter what. I'd rather hear about your problems, even if I had a bad day, than not be aware of it..."

"I know, dad, but don't worry," he smiles to deceive me, but I know him way too well to believe this fakeness. "Honestly, I always take my mind off with work, then I also hang out with Seunggil and Munhee, now y/n is there as well, and once I'm home, you're here for me, so my brain never has time to dig me into the typical heartbreak sadness."

"Hm," I mistrust those empty words but hope for some of them to be partly true. "Next time something bad happens, or if you don't feel alright, talk to me. Alright?"

"I will," he nods and takes another spoon of the food. I hope he will stick to his words in the future and not keep anything to himself only because he thinks this will bother me.

•••

5 pm.

< dad, I'm going out with y/n and Seunggil right now, so don't be worried if I'm not home once you're back ]

[ alright, have fun. Are you going to the skatepark? >

I make fast to answer him since he sent me this text thirty minutes ago but that I was too busy to see it, and I enter some information in my computer while talking to him.

< yeah, y/n wanna practice again lmao. I'm gonna get her addicted to it ]

[ That's a great thing, but make sure she does not get harmed >

< yeah, I wouldn't want her mom to harass me for hurting her daughter... ]

[ First, I wouldn't let her do that, and second, I just don't want her to get hurt >

< I know, I'll make sure she's safe, don't worry about it ]

[ See you later, and be careful too. I love you >

< I love you too ]

I leave my phone once I know for sure he is not going to say anything more, and I grab a pile of documents to look for the one I need before checking on the work my student has done during this private lesson.

•••

6:20 pm.

< dad, what are you doing rn? ]

I read the text Joonha sent me when I told him I was home ten minutes ago and would take a shower, and I step out of my bedroom with only my favorite pair of pajama pants on.

[ Just got out of the shower, and I'm about to cook, why? Is something wrong? >

I get in the kitchen, worried about the next text he is probably writing at this moment.

< no, I'm just at the skatepark after spending time with y/n and Seunggil and I wanna ask if I can bring y/n home for dinner? c: please ]

[ sure, I don't mind >

< thanks, we'll be here in a few minutes! ]

[ alright >

I put my phone in my pocket and fill a saucepan with water to make it boil and go back to the bedroom. I cannot stay shirtless when some guests are about to be here.

I wonder if everything went well again today, I hope it did, but no matter what, I am happy about this new relationship he has with her. He seems to get along with her a lot, and that is amazing. She also seems pretty genuine, kind, and respectful, so I am happy to know him around people who may have a good influence on him, even if I know he would not hang out with anyone bad.

'YOUR P.O.V'

"Are you sure your dad doesn't mind?" I ask him for the hundredth time, fearing that I might bother. "Yeah, stop worrying, girl," he throws his head back to grumble, not standing to hear me repeat the same things.

"I told you already, didn't I? He would say it if he doesn't want anyone to be home," he asserts, so I shut up about it and trust him. "We're gonna eat some good sundubu jjigae and bossam today, I'm so hungry that I wanna get on my skateboard and be home quickly," he types on his phone, the darkness at this hour making the screen brighten his face up with its light. "And leave me here?" I cross my arms over my chest.

"My dad would kill me for doing so, and I'm not a bad guy, so I'm not gonna do this when I literally asked you to eat at my house," he turns his head towards me to look at my face he must not see clearly, and I sneer but glance away. "I'm pretty sure you just feel some pity because you hurt my knees..."

"Shut up," he hits me in the arm. "That's not my fault! You jumped off the skateboard when I told you not to! And Seunggil was supposed to be there, but this jerk was busy sucking his lollipop instead."

"I'll let your dad know about this," I threaten him like a kid, being pitiful but only playfully. "I'll tell him it is not true. He'll believe me."

"I'll pull my socks down and remove the bandage you put around my knees so that he can see the blood and scratches on them," I raise my chin up to gaze up at him, but he pokes his inner cheek with his tongue and glares at me. "Alright...I'll take the blame...you'll see me get scolded. You seem to wanna see it so bad...I'll cry in my bed once you're gone."

"Ah...I feel pity for you now, so I won't do it," I pretend to change my mind, but he drops his skateboard on the floor and jumps on it to lead the way. "You make me wanna leave you here in the middle of nowhere."

"You'd leave a girl in dark streets with no one there to protect her? How evil are you?" I hold back from kicking him since I would not want him to trip over and get injured, but he scoffs like his dad would, and he goes a little faster to go ahead of me. "Run, it will heal your knees."

I hasten the pace at which I am going, but I do not run. I hate running. "Slow down, or I scream."

"And? I'll go even faster," he shows no mercy as if it was fun to bully me. "You know that I have your dad's number, right?" I remind him of that, and for some odd reason, he slows down. "Oh...yeah. I knew it. Just wanted to play with you," he does some tricks, flexing in front of me. "Always pulling the 'I'll tell your dad' card. You think I'm scared of this big man, but I'm not...I'm just pretending."

"Just pretending," I laugh at him, but he shoots me a dirty look, and he gives another push for the wheels of his skateboard to keep rolling. "Can you do a kickflip?" I ask him to show me, and he affirms with no doubt. "Yeah. Wanna see one?" he licks his lips, not scared to fail at all. "Yes."

"Alright, let me go a little further," he distances me to make sure he does not hit me by accident, and once he is far enough, has enough speed, he performs the trick with no flaw but impresses me.

"See, that's what you call skills," his arrogance gets the best of him, but I smile and stroke his ego. "You're good at it. I can't lie."

"Good?" he does not show any happiness about this compliment. "Is that all? That was a perfect kickflip!"

"Yeah, calm down," I do not flatter him more, and he slows down but gets the lollipop, that Seunggil gave him earlier, out, and he unwraps it. "I practice every day to be a copy of my dad."

"Is your dad a pro skater too?" I tuck my hands in the pockets of my oversized zip-up hoodie, but his big eyes drift up towards mine. "Did you just imply that I'm a pro?" he puts the pink and yellow wrapping in his pocket and gets the candy ball in his mouth.

Crap.

"Yeah, if that's what you wanna hear," I roll my eyes, loving how cocky he is but feigning annoyance. "When he was younger, he was a pro at skating, but also a pro at swimming, and a pro at dancing...and...Just," he sighs but shortens it. "He was literally a pro at everything, so I'm tryna be like him because I want to make him proud," he pulls the lollipop out and focuses on where he is going to not humiliate himself in front of me, and he swirls his candy in his mouth.

He makes me want to eat mine, but I should not since we are soon at his house.

"What about your dad?"