「 lukewarm | yang hongseok 」

[ t h r e e ]

03 | mysterious motives

"Daddy?"

Hongseok groaned as he turned to his side, looking at the small boy kneeling next to his bed. He ran a hand through his bedhead hair, a yawn escaping his lips as he sat up and brought Juhyung onto his lap. "Yes, Hyunggie?"

"Mr. Jung called, he said that there was something important and that you had to be at the station at 9 o'clock", his son recited, his hands in his lap as he fiddled with his thumbs. Hongseok sighed annoyedly, upset because weekends were when he could rest and spend time with his son.

Probably another meeting, Hongseok thought to himself, closing his eyes tightly before bringing Juhyung close to his chest and gave him a tight hug. He felt the boy squirm in his grip before finally wrapping his stubby arms around his dad's neck, pressing his chubby cheek against his chest.

Hongseok recalled the events of last night, feeling the sensation of a bullet scrape against the nape of his neck. He got lucky that whoever was shooting at him narrowly missed him because if not, he would have been dead. The man knew that since he was a police officer there would be great risks involved - not only could he get hurt or even killed, he could leave his son behind without a parent. Of course he had his older brother and parents to rely on if something terrible did happen, but he didn't want Juhyung to grow up without a dad (he was already missing a mom, anyways). It was a terrifying thought to him, it truly was but what could he do? He loved his job and it was a good way to make a living, but he didn't want to lose his life and more importantly his son.

"Daddy, too tight", Juhyung managed to squeeze out, causing Hongseok's eyes to widen and pull away from him. His son sent him a wide smile, sitting on his lap and tilted his head. "Can I go to work with you? Please?"

The man knitted his eyebrows together, shaking his head. "Next time, but not today because it will be boring. You will have to sit in a room and do nothing for two hours as someone talks on and on", he said, poking the boy's chest and internally groaned to himself because that was what he had to do. He had to listen to his chief rant and rave as he sat in a room for two hours. Juhyung frowned, his shoulders slumping as he stared at his dad.
"Fine", he pouted, hopping off of the bed and marched out of the room, still wearing his astronaut pajamas. Hongseok followed him, pouring Juhyung Lucky Charms and himself Honey Nut Cheerios. He gave his son his breakfast and sat on the couch next to him, watching mindless cartoons with him as he pulled out his phone to look for a babysitter that he didn't have to pay for since money was running low.

Scrolling through his contacts, Hongseok remembered that his parents were busy with their business today and that his older brother was working at YG. He couldn't get his other friends to do it either because they were also going to be at the meeting. Wracking his brain for other people, he got up and went into his room. Searching around in his two uniforms, he found the small slip of papers with numbers scribbled on it. Typing in the number, he chewed his lower lip as the phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Ah, uh, Yeseul? This is me, Hongseok - the person who has a son and who patched you up a couple night ago, if you remember", he greeted, pacing around his room whilst biting the tip of his thumb.
"Of course I remember", she chuckled, leaving Hongseok to physically face palm himself for stating something so stupid. "So, what's up?"

"Um, I was wondering if you can come over today to watch Juhyung for a couple of hours. Something suddenly popped up at work and I don't want to think it would be appropriate for me to take him. I know this is so sudden and it's alright if you say no, I mean I don't want to force you or anything -"