The Heather (Kim Dongyoung centric)

2

Doyoung arrived at his home at approximately 1.30 in the morning. His shift ended right at 1 and it only took a 10 minutes walk towards his house but Doyoung took his time. He wanted to reminisce about everything that happened just a few hours ago.

He was separated from Jaemin, Chenle and Jisung for more than 10 years. He was starting to lose hope. He was somehow convinced that they won't be able to cross path anymore. Even though, he still did his saving just in case the boys looked for him and they wanted protection.

It was sad indeed. He didn't want to let his past go. He didn't want to let the kids go. Not when they were so good to him. Not when the past was such a happy memories that he wanted to treasure. However, he knew that he was a nobody.

He didn't have the right over the kids' lives. He can't force them to live with him. He can't force them to meet him. Not if they were finally happy with their new adopted family. Doyoung didn't want to disrupt something that would destroy others' life, especially not his kids.

But it seemed like fate sided with him. He didn't know or understand why but he was grateful to say the least. When he saw the matured face of the three mischievous kids at the orphanage, all emotions came running to him all at once. He was overwhelmed and that would be an understatement.

But he was most grateful for the fact that the kids were blessed with great adopted families and an additional great friends to top it off.

He did his normal routine upon arriving at his home. After a nice long shower, Doyoung head straight to bed with happy memories of the past few hours and a smile on his face. He just hoped that he can smile like this and be happy for a longer time in the future.

Well, who knows.

When the sun was up, Doyoung was already at Soonyoung's cafe. Doyoung owned a spare key to the cafe in case he arrived a little bit too early or if Soonyoung arrived a little late than usual. Both of them were always already at the cafe an hour prior to the cafe's opening time.

In their opinion, customers' satisfaction was their responsibility and priority. They always gave their all if it was a matter regarding the cafe. Since it was the thing that they enjoyed doing, they didn't mind giving it their all. They were even willing to sacrifice more things in the future.

Thanks to their hard-work, the cafe was always lively with customers especially during break hours. In the morning, customers always came to order a takeout. Most of them rarely stayed and dined in the cafe in the morning, making the cafe a bit calm and quiet compared to lunch hour.

Time flew a bit slower this time. Or maybe it was just Doyoung. He was expecting to meet the trio any time soon this day. Based on the event yesterday, he bet the kids wanted to send him off again to his work place tonight.

Well, it was true —— except that, they can't. 

During the busy lunch hour, Doyoung almost had no time to take a breath. Customers came flooding in and both he and Soonyoung exchanged places once in a while. It was so hectic that Doyoung even forgot that he owned a phone. When the situation had calmed down and the customers were slowly starting to leave the cafe one after another, Doyoung grabbed his phone.

He wanted to check if the kids had reached out for him during the previous hours and he didn't notice it. Somehow, it turned out to be true. They did left him a message, a voice message —— but one that made Doyoung pout in their recently made group chat.

"Hyung~~ It's Jaeminie~~" Jaemin's voice was one that full of cuteness. This can only mean one thing to Doyoung. It was either Jaemin wanted something from him or he had done something that will make Doyoung mad. And the rest of the voice message was indicating the latter —— except that, Doyoung wasn't mad. Just sad.