Like A Star (별처럼)

chapter twelve.

"Annyeong! I'm Leeteuk."

Taeyeon was in diguise again, same as Leeteuk, as they both met up in a restaurant. Leeteuk offered a hand shake to the little Hyesun. Hyesun smiled as she shook hands with him.

"Annyeonghaseyo, Jang Hyesun imnida!" She told him.

Leeteuk gave Taeyeon his why-is-her-surname-Jang look.

"Let's sit down first shall we?" Taeyeon suggested, trying to avoid Leeteuk's stare.

They took a seat as Leeteuk ordered food for them. Hyesun spotted a playground nearby and asked her umma if she could play. Taeyeon allowed her as she watched her from the glass window.

"Jang Hyesun? Her surname's Jang?"

Taeyeon looked back at Leeteuk. "Yes. Wooyoung's still his father." Taeyeon told him.

"But doesn't she wonder why her surname's different from yours?" he asked.

"She did. I just tell her it's not important to know why." she replied.

"Oh..."

Leeteuk felt a little sorry for Taeyeon. She must've suffered so much. He wanted to help her. He wanted to take care of her and her daughter.

"Your food's here!"

The waiter went to them serving their food platter. Leeteuk offered that he'll be the one to call Hyesun back. And so he did. He walked towards the playground when he heard little kids mocking someone. It was Hyesun, being bullied again.

"What's up dad-less kid?" One girl laughed at Hyesun. It was once again her classmate, Lee Riah with her friends. "Too bad Minkyo's not here to save you huh?"

"Maybe he left you because he finally realized how ugly your accent is!" One of Riah's friends added.

Hyesun looked down to her toes as the kids were pulling her hair and were pushing her around. Leeteuk didn't waste time as he ran over to help Hyesun.

"Hyesun-ah!"

Hyesun turned to see Leeteuk.

"What are you kids doing to her?!" Leeteuk shouted at the other children.

"Her friend left her because she had an ugly accent!" Lee Riah mocked.

"Boys really dislike her! Even her dad left her!" her second friend shouted.

"Yeah! She has no dad anymore!" And another arrogant girl laughed at the poor Hyesun.

"She has a dad!" Leeteuk paused. "I'm... I-I-I'm her dad and I love her very much!" Leeteuk held Hyesun's hand as Hyesun was crying.

"How about you little kids? Where are your parents? They must've left you here because they got fed up with your attitude!" Leeteuk scared the children, making Hyesun chuckle a bit.

"Now come here and apologize to my daughter!" He commanded them. One by one, the children who bullied Hyesun apologized and ran back to where their parents were. Hyesun looked at Leeteuk as she gave him a thank-you smile.

"Hyesun-ah, do you want me to be your appa?" Leeteuk asked.

Hyesun immediately answered him with a nod.

"From now on you'll call me Leeteuk-appa, okay?"

Leeteuk smiled and they then walked back to their table inside.

"Omo, what happened to Hyesun?" Taeyeon asked as she was really worried.

"Kids were bullying her." Leeteuk answered her question.

Hyesun hugged her umma and she told her:

"Umma, I'm alright. He helped me with the kids."

She said as she pointed at Leeteuk. Taeyeon embraced her daughter, stroking her long hair as she smiled at Leeteuk. Leeteuk smiled back. Taeyeon released Hyesun from her arms as they were about to eat.

"Jalmeokkesseumnida!"

--

Ding Dong.

Wooyoung was all sweaty and was out of breath when he reached SNSD's dorm. He rang the doorbell as Seohyun opened the door.

"Wooyoung-ssi?"

Hearing Wooyoung's name, Jessica ran up to the front door. She signaled Seohyun to leave for a while as she would take care of this.

"What do you want?" Jessica coldly asked him. She never really wanted to see his face. It just reminded her what Taeyeon told her -- that he has a new girlfriend.

"Jessica-ssi, can I talk to Taeyeon?" Wooyoung said in between his heavy breaths. Jessica thought this might be a bad idea. So she told him to stay out instead.

"Please, Jessica-ssi! I need to talk to her. I need to see my daughter!"

Jessica doesn't really know how Wooyoung knew he had a daughter. Her face expressed confusion as she still gave Wooyoung her icy glares.

But though Jessica thought Taeyeon wouldn't want him to talk to her at the moment, she felt pity towards the man and told him where Taeyeon and her daughter were.

"They're at their own apartment. It's near the Han river. Here's the address." Jessica told him as she handed out a piece of paper with Taeyeon's address written on it.

"Kamsahamnida." Wooyoung thanked her before rushing out their dorm, now running towards the address written on the small piece of paper. "Taeyeon, I will talk to you. I will fix this all up." He said to himself as he was running. The sun was slowly setting as he was out of breath, but still struggling to be able to talk to Taeyeon