This is My Love

Your Love Story

"Ok, buddy, this is where we have to say bye-bye." Sehun gripped his son's tiny shoulder, wishing with all his heart that he didn't have to resort to this. There was no choice. With his busy work schedule and the nanny next door unable to help anymore his son had to start going to daycare.

A jittery pulse traveled through his veins. He was nervous. Having never left his three-year-old with strangers before, but if this was a good opportunity for him to socialize and make friends then Sehun would hope it was for the better. Beyond the front doors he could make out the shrilly noises of children being dropped off for the day already at play.

It would be all right he chanted mentally. He'd called, looked up reviews of this Sunny Daycare. It sounded trustworthy from what he'd read. No accidents or reports about child deaths. Plus, the owner had been in this business for a decade. That was a good number.

Eyes bearing wonder stared right back at him. Opposite his father, Oh Gunta didn't seem one bit nervous. Clutching a stuffed white bunny against his small body he nodded. "Daddy leave?"

"In the afternoon," Sehun promised. They had talked about this over the weekend. Sehun being uncertain whether Gunta really understood what would be happening from now on.

"Ok," though he looked dispirited.

Sehun ruffled his soft black hair. Soaking in the thought that this was his child. His child. The child he had struggled for. Gunta was reality in front of him. All Sehun lived for. All he cared about.

His son was all he had left.

After all the hurdles he'd jumped Sehun promised to become a better father, a better man. He would always put family first. Work and money could come later. His parents' nagging; the decisions they believed to be the best would never overweigh his son's happiness.

"Give me a hug?" Sehun asked. His small child didn't take the step forward but opened his tiny arms. Enveloping his strong arms around his son Sehun squeezed him and kissed his cheek with another promise not to be late. Then he stood up.

"We'll look out for him." A woman in her forties came over to take Gunta's hand. "If there's anything, I'll call. I promise he'll have a good time."

Something about an outsider holding his son's hand made his heart ache. Sehun felt like he had failed his son somehow. By leaving him in the care of another person. Not his mother. Not his family.

Would his son be ok?

"He's never been away from me before. He can get picky with food. Maybe nervous or anxious around new kids. He's never shared toys before. This is his first time with people he doesn't know. I can't tell whether he can get difficult if I'm not there," Sehun realized he was blabbering. Of course he'd said this before. Noticing the patient smile on the woman's face made him flush. "Sorry. I'm not quite used to this."

"There's always a first," the woman comforted. "What time will you be picking him up?"

"I'll come at four," Sehun said then made himself walk into the parking lot.

This was harder than he'd imagined. He really didn't want to leave his son behind. Tilting his head back to get a full view of the Sunny Daycare sign he struggled to ease his heart.

◊◊◊◊◊

Groaning under her breath, Kim Namjoo glanced at herself in the car mirror once before slapping it close. Her makeup was half done. One eyebrow was there, the other missing. Her hair wasn't yet dried from her morning shower. Thanks to her no-nonsense ex, she'd slept late and woken up even later.

"Mommy?" Moowon's tiny voice called from the back. Her four-year-old son from a previous marriage from her immature times. When love and lust was all she saw in the world. If Namjoo could wake up her old self, she promised to travel a dozen times into the past to douse herself in oil and on fire.