Leaving

Staying

 As we all have breakfast at the kitchen table, I keep my eyes on Jooheon and Minhyuk, watching them in silence. The child looks at his father with clear adoration in his eyes. It's beautiful to see the pure and loving way a child looks at their parent, a parent they trust and love, it just shows that Minhyuk truly is a good parent.

Just by looking at them right now, I see that the love between the two of them is special. I keep quiet, watch them playing with each other, making funny faces, tickling each other, laughing, laughter so beautiful and warm it fills my heart with joy. I start wondering why I feel so happy to have them here, why they make me smile so hard, why I worry this much about them. They just got here and I already worry they'll leave.

"I think samchon was abducted by aliens." Minhyuk tells his son, both of them looking at me. I was thinking so hard my eyes are fixed on Minhyuk's shoulder, I stare at it blankly.

Jooheon gasps. "Aliens?!"

"Look!" Minhyuk points at me. "His soul has left his body! He can't even see us!" Minhyuk waves his hands and Jooheon copies.

I chuckle, smile widening. "I'm right here." I tell them then take a sip of coffee.

Jooheon lets out a breath of relief. "Neighbor samchon, please don't let aliens take you. You're nice, I'd miss you!"

My widened smile clearly shows how happy I feel listening to that because their smiles widen too then Minhyuk smiles at his son and kisses his forehead. "I'd miss you too, Jooheonie. I won't let aliens take me, okay?" I tell the kid.

Jooheon nods happily. And I wanna enjoy how happy he seems but I can't. The child has no idea what the fuck is going on, he probably thinks his mother will be back soon, that he's just having fun at his neighbour's for a while. And it all makes me worry. I wish he didn't have to find out. I wish I could make sure he is always this happy, I—I'm pulled out of my thoughts when I hear Minhyuk call my name. I widen my eyes and look at him then he looks at Jooheon so I look at the kid as well.

"Samchon, are we really going to a waterpark?" Jooheon asks, cutely as always.

I nod and the kid's smile grows bigger immediately.

"Really?" His eyes widen completely and his mouth hangs open.

"We wouldn't lie to you, would we?" I ask with one eyebrow raised.

Jooheon gets up quickly, walks around the table, and bumps into me, wrapping his arms around my waist and hugging me tightly. He raises his head, pressing his neck and chin against my stomach and smiling. "Thank you, samchon!" He yells. "You're the best samchon in the whole world, thank you! I love you, neighbour samchon, I love you the most!"

I pat his back and ruffle his hair. "It's no problem, Jooheonie."

"Hey, you're supposed to love appa the most, not Hyungwon samchon!" Minhyuk frowns, pouts and crosses his arms.

The child gets under the table, crawls to the other side and climbs on his father's lap, wrapping his arms around the man's neck and kissing his cheek. "I love appa the most in the world, you're my best friend!"

Minhyuk, who was pretending to be mad, can't hide his smile. He looks at his son with the same adoration as the kid when he looks at the older man. Minhyuk gives Jooheon kisses all over his face, making the child giggle out loud. Jooheon tries to tickle his dad as his dad playfully bites the kid's shoulders and chubby cheeks.

"Don't eat those cheeks!" I tell Minhyuk and he looks up at me, smiling.

I never thought I'd be one of those people that looks at a handsome man with a cute child and falls in love instantly but apparently, I am, because my heart is fluttering like crazy and the butterflies won't leave me alone.