~Soobin's POV~

"He is not picking up!"

Beomgyu eyed me from his place on the couch, sipping his hot choco with intentionally loud noises. "You are being dramatic." He stated calmly.

I threw a glare at him. I was already a bit tensed ever since Taehyun left, and the fact he wasn't picking up his phone nor contacting back, and it had already been two hours. Beomgyu wasn't helping either. "You need to shut up."

He sniffed, resting the cup on the coffee table. "You know that the lockdown may be lifted again starting next week, right?" I halted at my place, slowly lowering my phone from view.

"What?"

His face was sombre, which supported his words. But I still had a hard time believing. He cleared his throat, clasping his hands. "Well, it's all over the news. Yeonjun hyung messaged me about it. He was thinking of buying the train tickets for the day after tomorrow."

"You two made up?"

"That's beside the point Soob-"

"I am very obviously trying to ignore the point, Beom. Change the subject." Beomgyu chuckled at that, shaking his head.

"Dude- yes we made up...and..." he trailed off, looking at me searchingly. I took a seat beside him and show as much tranquillity I could muster. Although my head was literally in the chaos of thoughts about Beomgyu's words from before.

"And?" I pushed, eyeing the brunette curiously. He had never looked this anxious ever before, which got me curious. 

"And we made out."

My eyebrows shot up with feigned shock. I already had some idea what would've been going on with their trio but had never actually been sure about it. "Wow, I did not imagine that."

Beomgyu threw a cushion at me, making me laugh. "Shut up." He whined. Then, we sat still, staring at each other as Beomgyu but on his lower lip, trying not to smile. He failed miserably, and so did I.

"But I am happy that you three are together now. Seriously, y'all are super cute."

"You and Taehyun are not bad either."

"We are the best."

"Narcissistic mega bunny." I slapped his shoulder, barely containing my laughter. We were always like that-- teasing each other and just having the best time of our lives. I never told him this ever, but I admire Beomgyu a lot. He was so kind and humorous in general, it's not a surprise everyone liked him so much.

I turned my phone around in my hand, turning it on to check the time.

7:09 PM

"Do you think we should go to Taehyun?"

The brunette gave me a side glance as he got back to his hot chocolate. "I don't think I have anything to do there. It's his parents and you two. Won't I be a nag?"

I shrugged. "Yeah. Maybe I should go alone, then." I said while standing up from my spot, grabbing my jacket.

He didn't say anything, instead, taking a sip from his drink. I grabbed his car keys from the coffee table and headed to the door, opening it. But I stopped halfway, turning to him. "I am taking your car, do you mind?"

"Nah, bro. It's free real estate." I smirked at him, stepping outside and closing the door behind me.

The drive didn't take long, setting the GPS did. Sometimes I just hate it so much, but Busan is big and didn't want to lose my way in that city.

Now was the time with the real test. I stood on the front porch of Taehyun's house, making sure there was any living presence inside or not. Windows were tightly covered with the curtains, making it hard for me. My hand was in the air, ready to press the doorbell but the night was too tranquil, almost making me afraid to disturb it. Snow had melted away and the days were a lot warmer than the one before. I gave up soon, however, letting out a sigh which formed a puff of cloud before, evaporating out of existence in tandem. And yes, the bell was a bit too loud for me.

But soon enough, the door opened, a stream of light entering the porch along with a gust of warm air from the heater inside. However, the person who stood in front of me now wasn't Taehyun, not his mother. And there was only one other occupant of the house beside the two aforementioned. 

Taehyun's father.

As soon as I saw him, I bowed down low, internally cringing at myself. "Good evening, sir."

He was startled, probably at the sudden voice and bow, but quickly put on a neutral face. He cleared his throat. "Good morning, Sooin."

"Soobin, sir." Great! He didn't even bother to remember my name correctly. Just fucking amazing.

His wide eyes, one identical to his son, regarded me for a moment before nodding. "Soobin. Please come in if you don't want to become an icicle.

He stepped aside, gesturing towards the interior of his house. I smiled gratefully at his gesture, slipping past him as I entered the house. I was greeted by the sight of Taehyun on the loveseat with his mom, talking animatedly about something only minutes ago before turning around. His wide brown eyes met mine and all of my anxiety flew away, replaced relief when I saw his lips spread in a large grin. He got to his feet immediately, talking long stride towards me. I barely caught myself from falling as he threw his arms around my neck. "Binnie! We were talking about you a few minutes ago." I smiled fondly at him, hugging him back tightly, placing a peck on his forehead, earning a soft giggle from his mom and him returning the hug.

"Glad to hear."

But we were interrupted as someone cleared their throat aloud. It was his dad. We pulled away. I could feel the heat going to my ears with the burst of embarrassment. I shifted my weight to my other leg as I tried to keep away the awkwardness.

"So," Mr Kang started, "as I wanted to say, I...I am sorry for my childish behaviour, Sooin."My heart melted. God bless him for apologizing first. I didn't even bother to correct him this time around. "No, no, I understand," I assured him softly. Mr Kang nodded with a stern face. He was about to turn away but, just then, Taehyun spoke up.

"Dad, you are forgetting something."

The elder's eyebrows scrunched. "I have to do that?"

Taehyun tightened his lips into a line, throwing a glare at him. "Dad."

The old man obviously wasn't okay with the idea of whatever his son conveying but he apparently had no choice, anyway. He sighed and walked close to me as Taehyun stepped away. Puzzled, my gaze went to and fro between the two. "What...?"

But was taken by surprise as Mr Kang gently held my upper arms, looking anywhere but at me. I completely froze when he pulled me onto a hug, patting my back. "I accept you both."

There was no way this wasn't a dream. But it was real and seriously, now I can say that I was on top of the world.

"And call me dad." I could feel my eyes welling up with tears as a fleeting memory of my own father came back to me. I sniffed as he stepped back, giving the last pat before letting go altogether. "But it will take me a bit time to get used to the idea, I am sure it won't be hard." He added, his eyes meeting mine as if checking whether I agree with his reasoning or not, to which I gladly accepted. Mr Kang nodded once more as he turned away to walk out of the living room.

A hand slipped into mine, but my gaze still looked straight ahead as I, at best, held my tears back. "Are you happy, baby?" But failed.

"On the ninth cloud, really."

A/n: two more chapters to go~~

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