cw: sexual content, accidental nude, mutual pining, dirty texting
not proofread
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KUN
you didn’t even have time to process the horror.
a full nude. sent. to kun.
you: KUN I’M SO SORRY OH MY GOD PLEASE DELETE THAT
he was typing.
kun: you want me to pretend I didn’t see it?
you: YES. PLEASE. IT WAS AN ACCIDENT. I SWEAR.
kun: accident or not, it’s in my head now
kun: and now I can’t stop imagining your legs over my shoulders
you blinked. stomach dropping.
kun: next time, just call me over. I’d rather feel than see
TEN
you saw the notification and your soul left your body, you’d just sent your nude to ten.
you: OH MY GOD TEN PLS DELETE IT PLS IT WASN’T FOR YOU
ten: wow
ten: didn’t know you kept that kind of thing in your gallery
you: IT WAS AN ACCIDENT I SWEAR
ten: I liked the accident very much
ten: next time, let me help pose you, Ihave ideas and a camera
you were dead. fully, completely dead.
WINWIN
you realized the mistake before it even finished uploading. a full nude sent to winwin. fuck
he was online. and his reply came faster than you expected
winwin: wow
you: I swear it was an accident, I didn’t mean to send that to you, omg I’m so embarrassed
winwin: stop
winwin: you think I’m mad?
you didn’t know what to say.
winwin: I’m hard
you nearly dropped your phone.
winwin: now imagine what’ll happen if you show up at my place looking like that.
winwin: fyi, the door is unlocked
XIAOJUN
you saw his name and your stomach turned.
“photo sent to xiaojun.”
and before you could send him a message saying to not open the photo, your phone lit up.
Xiaojun. FaceTime
you froze. he saw it.
you answered with shaking hands.
“did you mean to send that?” he asked, voice low.
you opened your mouth, but no sound came.
he smirked.
“because if you did, you just ruined me. I’ve been hard since I saw it and I can’t stop imagining you laying here, naked, looking like you belong to me”
he tilted the camera slightly, just his boxers, and he was hard
“next time you want to tease me like that, be ready to finish what you start”
HENDERY
“photo sent to hendery”
great. hendery, from all people you sent accidentally to him
you didn’t even bother to say anything else, at this point, you were only expecting his exaggerated reaction
and the answer came quickly
hendery: oh
hendery: oh my fucking GOD.
hendery: why would you do that to me
you: OF COURSE I DIDN’T MEAN TO SEND TO YOU
hendery: I was literally drinking water and choked
hendery: this photo needs to be in a museum
hendery: or in my mouth idk
you: HENDERY
hendery: I’m not even joking, I’m painfully hard rn
hendery: wanna see it???
you: DO NOT DARE
too late. he sent you a photo. his hand holding his very hard dick
and you liked it
YANGYANG
you just sent your nastiest dirtiest nude to yangyang.
by accident.
perfect.
you: YANG PLEASE DON’T LOOK AT IT
you: DELETE IT
you: IT WASN’T FOR YOU OH MY GOD
yangyang is typing…
then he stops
yangyang is typing…
yangyang: ok but like
yangyang: why do you look so fuckable in it
you: IT WAS AN ACCIDENT
yangyang: my dick doesn’t think so
you: STOPPPP
yangyang: no because now I’m picturing you riding me with that exact look
PAIRING: private investigator!ex!kun x ceo!fem!reader
GENRE: fluff, private investigator au, exes to lovers, mystery
WARNINGS: mentions of blood and death, kidnapping, cursing, pet names (babe), making out, suggestive, drinking
SYNOPSIS: one of your employees is missing, and you want to find out where he could be and who did it. you decide to hire a professional, but will your history make you regret it?
WORD COUNT: 16k
A/N: can you guys tell i really like kun in a suit and glasses. THIS IS SO LONG OMG
"Here are the final records of last quarter. Is Winwin okay? I haven't seen him return since his vacation." Chenle, your Chief Accounting Officer, asks, softly dropping another folder of your company's accounting records. You smile at him, but your eyebrows knit together.
"To be honest, I'm not sure. He was supposed to return on Monday, but he hasn't responded to any of my texts all week." You answer, scratching your chin as you lean back on your chair. You look at the mini calendar on your desk, seeing that it's now Friday.
Your company, despite being in operation for less than ten years, has achieved continual success. You had a lot of people working under you, including Winwin, your Chief Financial Officer. You had allowed him a long vacation because he had been with your company since it started, and yet, never used his vacation days.
It's been a week now, and Winwin hasn't returned to the office or responded to your messages.
"I'm worried. He always responds immediately." Chenle frowns, and you just nod, face stoic. Chenle and Winwin worked closely, both being the heads of your finances, and you knew he felt weird coming into your office without his usual coworker.
"How is no one else, other than the finance department and HR, concerned? I feel like the other Chiefs don't care about Winwin." Chenle asks, more to himself than you, as he goes to sit on one of the chairs in front of your desk. You look over his trembling body, remembering the day Winwin was supposed to come back to work.
"Where's Winwin?" You inquire as you sit on your chair. Most of the Chief officers who report to you are standing across from your desk, except Winwin. Chenle's face mirrors your concern. You two had briefly spoken earlier, commenting on Winwin's unexpected absence. The other officers, though, looked like they couldn't care less.
"What? Is he gone or something?" Hendery, your Chief Information Officer, teasingly asks with a smirk on his face. Yangyang, the Chief Technology Officer, who worked alongside Hendery, chuckles. You quickly look over at Chenle, whose eyes are wide at their behaviour.
"Chenle's here, he can just tell Winwin whenever he's back." Ten, your Chief Marketing Officer, dismisses with an eye roll, turning towards Chenle, who flinches slightly and looks at you with an expression that reads "Am I the only one who cares?"
"Let's just get on with our check-in without him." Xiaojun, your Chief Operating Officer, suggests, waving a hand. You look incredulously between the unusually nonchalant Chiefs, ones who would usually bicker or annoy each other at any given moment.
"None of you are curious as to where Winwin, the most punctual one here, who's in my room sometimes before I even get here, could be?" You slowly ask, and Chenle has a look of relief on his face, as if he finally found a sane person in the room.
You and Chenle watch as all the other men in the room shrug, and you keep quiet, not wanting to make your suspicion more obvious, getting on with the small, weekly meeting.
"I know they're not the closest, and you, me, and Renjun are the only ones who actually talk to Winwin about things other than work, but the way they just didn't care was so weird." You reflect, looking at the folder on your desk before looking up at Chenle, who nods in agreement.
"Can I say this? I don't think any of them even liked him." Chenle states with a serious, slightly angry face. You take his words, not wanting to show any emotion that shows you agree.
Winwin was never included in your other Chiefs' conversation. You always saw how their faces would turn sour, and words would go silent when he looked at them, and you always wondered what the problem was.
Suddenly, the door burst open. Chenle jumps from his seat, stands, and turns to the door, while you stay seated and look at who has entered. Your Chief Human Resources Officer, Renjun, holds the door open and pants as he tries to stabilize his breathing.
"Y/N! I think something bad has happened to Winwin." Renjun breathes, moving to the seat beside Chenle. You don't think about reprimanding Renjun for not knocking since you were busy trying to remain composed, as Renjun had scared you.
"Holy fuck, Renjun, you scared me!" Chenle exclaims, slapping Renjun's shoulder, who is unfazed. Usually, Renjun would laugh and tease Chenle, but his face has concern all over it, so you and Chenle know he's serious. "Are you okay? Why do you think that?"
"I saw him on Sunday, when he came back from his vacation." Renjun, who happens to be Winwin's neighbour, describes, "He didn't have that smile people usually have after a vacation. I walked up to him and asked him how his vacation was, and I realized he looked so stressed."
Renjun puts his face in his hands to cover his eyes, but not his mouth, leaning on his elbows on his lap, "He could barely speak. It kinda felt like he was running? His phone buzzed, and when he saw it, his eyes went wide. He started stuttering before saying he had to go, and he slammed his door when he entered his home."
"Did you see who texted him, or what it was?" You ask, leaning forward. Renjun looks up at you, then looks back at his feet, and you can see the gears in his head shifting.
"I think it was one of the other Chiefs. I know for a fact that Winwin doesn't have the three of us as 'Chief,' but he does for the ones he's not friends with." Renjun theorizes, looking between you and Chenle. You scratch your head, overwhelmed.
"I think we need to do something." Chenle urges, standing from his seat. "I really don't think the police will be enough. I think we need a PI."
"A private investigator? I don't know..." You trail off apprehensively. Chenle looks at you questioningly.
"I think hiring one would be the best bet. I know a really good one, and I can give you his number, but only after you think about it." Chenle informs you. You look at Renjun, who nods, signalling he thinks Chenle's idea wasn't bad.
"Alright, I'll let you know soon. Come by before you leave." You accede. Chenle softly smiles as he nods, and Renjun gets up too. They lightly bow before they leave you alone in your office.
The silence is deafening. You were used to sitting alone in your office, but the severity of Winwin's situation hits you. Could he have been kidnapped? Murdered, even? By one of my staff?
You shake your head slightly, getting rid of your thoughts. You did not want to think about what horrible things might have happened to your friend.
You think back to Chenle's words. A PI... You've never needed a private investigator for any serious business, but you remember the PI who was once integral to your life.
You take off your shoes as you enter your small rental, gently pushing the door shut. You try not to make too much noise as you walk over to the kitchen counter and unpack your lunch.
As you finish putting your dishes in the dishwasher and open the fridge for something to eat, you feel hands wrap around your waist. You slightly jump, though you know who it is.
"Welcome back, babe." Your boyfriend, Kun, greets you with a smile as you turn to face him. You wrap your arms around his neck, and he pecks your cheek. "How was work?"
"Exhausting, same old. What kind of internship makes you work 10 hours? I can't wait for this work period to be over." You complain into his chest, placing kisses there. Kun laughs as he pulls away, grabbing a box of fried rice out of the fridge.
"I made fried rice for dinner. Go get ready for bed, I'll warm it up for you." Your boyfriend smiles, squeezing your hand. You nod, pecking his lips before going back to your shared room.
You're wiping your makeup off as Kun walks in with your food on a plate, along with a small bowl of fruit and a glass of water. You signal for him to place them on your nightstand as you get up from your vanity to throw your wipe.
You eat as you watch Kun study on his side of the bed, notes for his private investigator license test sprawled as he switches between them, sitting against the headboard. When you finish eating, you hurry to put the dishes in the dishwasher.
You come back to your bed clean of notes, and most of Kun's body is under your covers. His laptop is on his chest, and he smiles at you as you lift the covers to join him. You snuggle up to his side, and he adjusts his laptop away from your head.
"Tomorrow, let's go out to eat after I come back. We need a break from our work." You hum, your eyes closed. You feel Kun's body vibrate as he giggles at your words, placing a kiss on your forehead.
"I can't say no to that. You need a break. I'll study for a bit more, but you go to sleep. I love you." Kun softly says, and you open your eyes briefly, catching his smiling face looking at you. You peck his lips before going to sleep.
You lightly smile at the memory of your ex-boyfriend. You suddenly get a notification on your computer, and you start your work for the day. You're less worried about Winwin now, your brain occupied by questions about how Kun is doing.
You hear knocks from your door, and you look at the time. 5 P.M. It's probably Chenle. You realize you hadn't thought about the proposal to hire a private investigator. You get up, opening the door for Chenle.
"So? Did you think about it?" Your employee asks, returning to the seat he had occupied that morning. You go to stand behind your chair, turning your back to him and looking out at the almost pitch-black sky through your skyscraper's windows.
"Yeah, I did. I think we should do it." You articulate, then sit back down in your chair. Chenle straightens up at your words, placing his bag on the floor. "You said you knew someone. What's their name? Are they good?"
"Yes, he's one of the best in the field right now. He's had a bunch of success in the past few years. His name is Qian Kun." Chenle explains. You inhale a sharp breath through your nose. What were the chances he would recommend your ex-boyfriend?
You look down, tapping your knee. Your mind is racing with questions. Would it be awkward? What if he suddenly hates me? Will we be able to find Winwin?
"Wait," you suddenly wonder out loud, "Why do you know a PI? Did something happen?" Chenle lets out a snicker and shakes his head.
"No, I'm okay. He's a family friend, actually, but I'm not recommending him to you because of that. I wouldn't suggest Kun if I didn't think he could find someone, especially Winwin." Chenle solemnly swears. You look over his figure, feeling bad about the absence of his close partner.
"Okay. Let me just look at other PIs online and compare. I'll text you tonight if I make a decision, but if not, expect an answer soon. I don't wanna delay looking for Winwin." You smile as you approach Chenle and place a hand on his shoulder. He smiles and nods, muttering a goodbye before leaving with his bag.
You sit back down and decide to do some research before you leave. In the search bar, you look up private investigators for missing persons. You scroll through websites of firms, as well as those of individuals.
You look up Kun's name, raggedly breathing. When you open his website, you can see many services offered, some of which you remember him studying hard, and others which he hardly studied. You see some testimonies and court cases in which he has brought about evidence and witnesses.
As you scroll through his website, you can't help but smile at all the good things people have said about him and the awards he has received. We've achieved our dreams...
After an hour of research, most of it spent looking at Kun's portfolio, you realize it's time to go home. You pack up before going to the elevator, where you write your text to Chenle, then send it as you reach the parking lot.
Y/N: Send me Kun's contact. I'll text him tonight.
While driving, your stomach erupts with butterflies. You were nervous to text Kun and didn't want to seem creepy. Wait, what if I've met Chenle before, when he was still a kid?
You drive with the image of your stressed-out boyfriend at the time, conversing with a child version of Chenle, who was probably very annoying. The funny image stays in your mind for the entire drive, calming down your nerves.
You enter your home and open your phone. You click on the contact that Chenle sent, specifying that it was Kun's work number on his second phone, so he would respond quick.
You sit on your couch, ready to finally text Kun. You keep rewriting your text, trying not to be too formal or too casual. You remember when you were nervous to talk to Kun before you started dating, and in the early stages of your relationship. That was over a decade ago...
You decide to stop acting like a teenager in love, just sending a text.
Y/N: Is this Qian Kun, the PI?
You close your phone and exhale. You walk to your kitchen, grab some leftover rice and stir-fry from your fridge, and put them in the microwave. As the microwave starts, your phone buzzes, and your heart skips a beat.
PI Kun: Who's asking?
You take a deep breath before responding professionally.
Y/N: CEO of Y/L/N Group.
PI Kun: Y/N?
PI Kun: What's wrong?
Your microwave beeps, and you jump from the sudden noise. You mutter out a small curse before taking the bento to the living room. "What's wrong?" feels more personal than "What happened?" You eat your dinner while texting your ex.
Y/N: Some of my coworkers and I believe we have a missing employee: Our Chief Financial Officer, Winwin, or Dong Sicheng. There's also suspicion that it was one of four Chiefs.
Y/N: My Chief Accounting Officer, Chenle, recommended you. He worked very closely with Winwin.
PI Kun: Ah, I see. I shall look into Dong Sicheng.
PI Kun: Is it okay if we meet soon? Preferably in your building before other employees come in. You can tell me everything you know about him, as well as information on your suspects.
You finish eating and put your dishes in the dishwasher, realizing that you and Kun have been texting slowly. You wonder if he was acting like you, rewriting texts and staring at the contact name in disbelief.
PI Kun: Do you have a master key?
Y/N: Yes, I have a key to every door in the building.
Y/N: Is 6 A.M. okay with you? I have tomorrow off, but everyone who works tomorrow doesn't come in until 9. Meet me in the back.
You look up at the time, and see that it's 8:50 P.M. You live close to your workplace, and it only took you an hour to get to work once you've woken up. You decide to go to bed soon, as you have to get up at 5 A.M.
Y/N: You can have a quick look around tomorrow, and this weekend, you can get down as much as you want.
PI Kun: Yes, that sounds good.
PI Kun: I'll let you sleep, then. Good night, Y/N.
Your cheeks warm at his words, and you grab some water to drink to stop acting childish. You didn't want to care about whether he was being unprofessional on purpose. You know he wasn't sleeping any time soon.
He still remembers that I like to sleep exactly 8 hours a night.
You park in the parking lot beside your building. You woke up with a clouded brain, wondering if Kun has changed, wondering if you've changed. Looking around, you find another car parked. It looked quite vintage, yet inconspicuous. You assumed it was Kun's car, knowing he'd probably gotten there a few minutes before you.
You walk to the back of the building, by the trash bins. Near the door, you can see a head of raven-coloured hair and a broad back covered by a long, dark grey coat. I wonder if he still works out... You blush at the images of Kun's muscles back when you were dating appearing in your mind.
You step towards him, and he turns around at the sound of leaves crushed under your shoes. You try not to gasp at how your ex has changed over the years. You find his face has matured in a flattering way. His circular glasses add to his sophistication.
His eyebrows are slightly raised as he waits for you to approach, and you wonder if you have the same expression. You smile at the little hoop earring on his left ear, a decision you made for him when he wanted a change when he turned 20.
"Hi, Kun." You lightly smile, and you can feel your heart hammering against your chest. You hoped your smile was more professional than nervous. Kun flashes you a smile, too, but it doesn't match the soft look in his eyes.
"Hey. Here." Kun hands you a coffee cup, and you hadn't noticed he had two in his hands. You brush your fingers against his, trying to see if he reacts. You could see in your peripheral vision that his tight smile softened up. "I assumed you still like two cream and one sugar. Sorry if you don't."
"I do." You respond, looking into his eyes. He's wearing the same glasses after all these years? You try not to make it awkward between you, but the tension in the air is undeniable. "Do you still drink it black?"
"Now more than ever." Kun confirmed. He holds eye contact with you for a few seconds, looking you up and down fast, before turning towards the door. You suddenly snap out of your trance, going towards the door to open it with the master key.
"I'll take you to his room first. It's in the same hallway as all the other Chiefs. Mine is at the end of the hallway." You say as you open the door for him, turn off the alarm, and lead him to the elevator.
During the trip to your floor, you tell him all you know about Winwin: his personal life, his relationships in the office, and his upbringing. While you were with Kun during your undergraduate studies, you met your friend Winwin during your graduate studies, both under the same mentor.
You try not to look at Kun, who has been looking at you softly in the eyes the entire time. He barely looked down at the notepad he was writing in, and you were shocked when you glanced at the somehow neat handwriting.
"Oh. I had a question," You slowly say as you unlock the door to Winwin's office, "Chenle said you were a family friend?"
Kun nods, taking a quick survey of the room before stepping in, "Do you remember how sometimes, when you visited, we were told to stay in my room while my dad held lunch with a mentee and his father? That was Chenle's brother and dad. He's a whole 13 years older than Chenle."
You raise your eyebrows in surprise as Kun looks through the drawers in Winwin's desk, trying to find important files. You remember spying on Chenle's brother and father through the stair rails when Kun told you their grandfather was a big entrepreneur. Although you knew about his grandfather when you hired Chenle, you had forgotten that you'd seen most of his family already.
"I hope you know I have to go through a lot of company information in order to help you. Do you have anything confidential I should know about?" Kun smirks, and you try not to roll your eyes as you stand beside him on Winwin's chair, but you laugh. When you first told your ex about your dreams of being a CEO, he always made jokes about you turning into a corrupt, money-hungry leader.
"I have nothing to hide. You're allowed to look through them. If there's anything suspicious, tell me. I trust Winwin, Chenle and Renjun, though," Kun turns towards you and cutely tilts his head at the new name, "HR Chief. The other Chiefs have always been more like coworkers; they never really were warm or friendly with each other. They argue a lot with everybody but me."
"Tell me more about them." Kun asks as he opens the financial report from last year. You make a note to give him the ones from this year, which were in your office.
You tell Kun about the other men. Xiaojun, as he was in charge of operations, worked very closely with you. He was, to you, the least likely, as he was the most professional one out of all of them. Ten, in marketing, was snarky. He made passive-aggressive comments to everyone who pissed him off, but he knew to stay neutral to you.
"Wait, is that the same Ten from all your marketing classes who would eat half of your lunch I made?" Kun asks, looking back up from the papers to you. You let out a small laugh as you nod. "It's a good thing he listens to you, or else."
You shake your head, but wonder what Kun would have done, considering you're not dating anymore. You tell him about Hendery and Yangyang's dynamic. They worked with technology and systems, but they were also very carefree and loud; you didn't mind, as they got the job done and brought about a degree of liveliness.
You ended your explanation as you told him about what they each had to say about Winwin's disappearance that day. You hadn't noticed that Kun had slowly moved on his chair, gravitating towards your frame standing behind him.
"I can see how they'd seem suspicious. You've got a cast of characters working for you." Kun sympathized, and you could see him try not to smile. Is he kind to all of his clients? "Do you have access to Winwin's account?"
"Yeah, I have his office login details on my computer. I'll go and do that real quickly." You told Kun. He gets up from his seat immediately at your words, and is about to grab your wrist, but stops before he can touch you. You look down before up at his expressive eyes.
"I'll come, too. You know, in case of anything." Kun volunteers. You try not to smirk, but nod, even though it would have taken a few minutes.
You silently walk to your office together, and once you reach, Kun looks around your room. He notes some pieces of furniture and technology that he knew you dreamed of having in your eventual office.
"Just like how I imagined it, huh?" You remind your ex-boyfriend. He nods as he stands behind you at your seat. He lightly smiles at how your hard work has paid off, getting the job you've always wanted.
"I'm proud of us," You turn around in your seat to find Kun smiling down at you, "I remember when Chenle first told me he worked for you. Our families were having dinner together at his house. My parents were shocked and asked how you were doing. I made sure they didn't mention us. He was probably a little confused."
"Oh. Thank you." You mutter, returning to the spreadsheet of everyone's account information. His parents always loved you, and you knew your breakup hurt them. "I didn't know about your work until I contacted you. You have a good reputation and a lot to show for it."
"Thanks." Kun smiles, watching as you pull out a notepad to write Winwin's account information. "If it's not too much trouble, can I get your four Chiefs' information, too?"
"I feel like this is super illegal. I can't believe this is your job." You huff. Kun visibly tenses, but you don't notice. He lightly laughs as he sees you find Ten's email and password next, hoping you didn't realize the weight of your words.
Kun watches in silence as you write down every suspect's credentials. He stands close to your chair, happy to feel your familiar presence after a long time. I wish I could talk about something with her, he thinks to himself, but he doesn't want to make you uncomfortable.
"And... done." You sang, getting up from your chair and ripping the paper from the pad to hand to Kun. Your breath hitches at how close you are; his breath fans your face, and you can see each detail in his face clearly.
Kun steps away from you slightly, and he raises his hand towards yours, gesturing for you to hand him the paper. You slowly hand it to him before leading him back to Winwin's room.
Back at Winwin's setup, Kun enters his information and opens it. You observe him pull a USB drive from his pocket and plug it into the computer's USB port.
"Need all the information I can get from Winwin's computer so that I can look through it at home. I brought a lot, so I can do it for everyone else's computers as well." Kun clarifies, turning to you as the screen of Winwin's computer shows the files slowly transferring onto the USB.
If this were any other private investigator, you wouldn't allow this to happen. You know Kun was probably surprised by your letting him do all this without any apprehension or objection. You trusted him, though, and you knew you had no reason to think he would try to do anything malicious.
"Might as well start on the other computers while you wait; this will take a while." You suggest, gesturing for Kun to follow you to the other offices. He nods and gets up, following you to each suspect's office.
No words were exchanged between you and Kun as you went through this process, but it's not awkward at all. When you put the USB in the last computer, Yangyang's, you head back to Winwin's office.
"His should be done now," Kun informs you as you approach Winwin's door, "I didn't realize Hendery and Yangyang's offices would be in the basement; it should have given all the USBs time to download everything."
"Oh, good. I always told them they should be up by the other Chiefs, but they preferred being down by the servers. Makes sense, though, that is their job." You respond, and Kun nods as he clicks the "OK" button on the screen and pulls the USB out.
You write down everyone's initials on small white stickers to label each USB in case you forget. Kun smiles at your idea; he forgot how resourceful you were. You label Winwin's USB, then walk back to each room and attach the appropriate sticker to each USB.
You look at the clock in Winwin's room once you've returned, reading that it's 7 A.M. It's been an hour? Time's so fast, you think to yourself. Your tasks didn't seem to take so long.
"To be honest, I don't think there's anything else I need now. I have the USBs, the login credentials, and I know how to log in without informing them." Kun strains, as if he were conflicted. You feel your heart sink; you didn't want him to go just yet.
"Oh, okay." You sigh, looking at your feet. Kun sees the frown on your face and pouts at the sight. He wanted nothing more than to spend some time with you.
"Sorry I made you wake up so early today. Are you... also off tomorrow?" Kun asks, and you nod, "I'll do some digging today, and I'll let you know what I've found at lunch tomorrow?"
"Are you sure?" You ask cautiously, slightly squinting, and Kun can tell you're not asking just to be courteous. He nods slowly, and the serious look in his eyes and confident demeanour let you know he's not playing around.
"Okay. Just text me when and where." You agree, and you can see Kun's stiffness fade. The elevator ride to the main floor no longer feels like you're stuck with someone you have to work with, but rather, like an old friend. As you walk towards Kun's car, he stops you.
"Let me walk you to your car first." Kun flashes a handsome smile at you, and you feel yourself melt at the sight. You felt like you were 18 again, meeting Kun and being enamoured by everything he does your way. You nod, nonetheless, and his smile grows when he sees the shy one appearing on your face.
You stop at your door and look back at Kun, who waves at you with an earnest smile. You wave back and enter your car. Feeling his eyes on you still, you quickly back out of the lot. As you drive home, you can't get the doubts out of your head.
Is it a good idea to go out with Kun, my ex-boyfriend, whom I might still have feelings for?
At home, you're bundled up in a blanket on your living room couch. You scroll through different movies and shows, but none of them seem interesting, or you have already seen them. You know the real reason you haven't been able to pick one out.
Kun had occupied your thoughts ever since you had seen him. His face was all you could see, and you wanted nothing more than to see him again. I miss his warmth under this blanket, you reminisce. You remember the last time you cuddled with him under your throw blanket.
"Ugh, why have we watched everything on here?" You complain as you tighten your grip on Kun under the blanket. He smiles down at you, looking back at the TV as he uses your remote with his arm outside of the blanket to scroll through selections.
"Maybe it's a bad thing we've graduated. All we've done is purge through everything on here." Kun half-jokes, squeezing his arm that was around you.
You graduated together last week, and you are now at your family's house. They insisted you bring Kun over, and he agreed. He found it cute how your family loved him as much as his family loved you.
"I know something we could do instead." You smirk as you trace a nail along Kun's abs through his shirt. He uses his hand inside the blanket to hold your wrist, but lets you continue moving.
"Your parents only just left us alone for the night. What would they think if they knew their child wanted to do it on the couch?" Kun teases, but drops the remote on the side table, turning towards you.
You move to wrap your legs around Kun's sides, sitting on his lap as he stretches his legs to lie on the couch. You bring your hands to his face, taking off his glasses as he grips your waist. You brush your thumb over his lips and whisper, "You act like we've never done worse. In your house."
Kun just hums as he stares at your lips, leaning in to capture your lips in a kiss, and you feel his tongue immediately try to slide in. You let out a small laugh against his lips, opening your mouth slightly to let it enter.
You blush at your memory. You missed yours and Kun's intimate moments together; you had never felt so vulnerable yet so comfortable at the same time, and you found it was thanks to his presence and attention to your preferences.
Your phone abruptly rings beside you, and you check it immediately. You feel yourself falter a little when you realize it wasn't Kun, but Chenle. You pick it up, putting it on speaker as you continue your search for entertainment.
"Hello?" You greet, holding the phone to your mouth, eyes trained on the TV.
"Did you meet with Kun? I saw his location at the office this morning, but I thought I was tripping." Chenle asks on the phone, and you raise your eyebrows in surprise.
"You guys are that close?" You quiz. You start to suspect Chenle knows about your history with Kun.
"He's like my brother if he were younger. We didn't get that close until I started university, though, and he started doing his master's. After that, he's let me annoy him with open arms." Chenle responds, and you feel yourself let out a small breath of relief, careful to not let your junior hear it.
"Oh. Well, yes, we were at the office together this morning, doing some snooping. I'm not telling you the details, but I trust Kun will be able to find everything out soon. We're meeting again tomorrow to discuss anything new he's found." You inform Chenle. You figured you'd let him, the one who suggested bringing Kun on, know how it's coming along.
"Oh, that's good." Chenle breaths, pausing. You wait for him to continue, and you can hear the smirk forming on his face, "And what do you think about him as a person?"
"There is no way you're asking me, your boss, this. Wait, do you have Winwin's location?" You ask, deadpanning. Chenle laughs loudly and takes a few seconds to calm himself down.
"No, he doesn't use an iPhone, Anyways, you don't think Kun's handsome? I need him to find a girlfriend. I shouldn't tell you this, but apparently, he had a really good, stable relationship with a girl he thought he was going to marry during his undergrad years." Chenle starts, and you feel your heart beating furiously. What the fuck is happening?
"Anyways, I can see it still affects him sometimes. He has this kinda mournful look on his face whenever anything dating- or marriage-related comes up. I need someone to distract him and make him move past it. I don't wanna see him sad." Your brain short-circuits at Chenle's words.
You had felt the same. You couldn't get Kun out of your head ever since you broke up. Your family tried to support you, especially when the breakup was fresh, but you knew they missed him, too. Any person you tried to date since couldn't compare; Kun gave you the world, and no one else could provide anything close to it.
"So? You think you'd fuck him?" Chenle laughs, and your sad memories instantly are gone; now you're embarrassed.
"Oh my god, never contact me again. I'm telling Renjun you're talking weirdly to your boss." You roll your eyes, a smile still on your face.
"We're not at work, and I'm your friend. I just think it's time you and Kun get some bitches." Chenle lectured before saying goodbye, ending the call. You close your eyes and rub your forehead. That kid is so annoying.
The call made you wrap yourself up in your blanket more. Your thoughts are back to Kun, not that he had left your mind anyway.
You stand outside the diner that Kun texted you to meet him in. You were thankful he suggested a new restaurant and not one you've been to together; you might have been too overwhelmed with emotions to go in.
You enter the restaurant, bells chiming signalling your entrance. You see a head of black, almost blue hair turn to look towards the door, and you smile at Kun's relieved expression when he sees you. You take off your coat as you walk up to him.
"Hey, I hope you're hungry and haven't changed your favourite breakfast plate, cause I just ordered for the both of us." Kun smiles as you settle into your seat in front of him in a booth.
"You're lucky I'm starving and it's the same." You tease, but you feel a pang in your chest when you realize how it's like you never broke up. Your smile falters, and Kun notices, but doesn't say anything.
The diner is filled with people, and the sounds of loud conversation are everywhere. You had been skeptical of coming to a public place to discuss Kun's findings, but now you had no doubts. You were sure your suspects weren't around as you scanned the restaurant quickly.
"So, I looked through Winwin's documents. There wasn't anything too fishy, but I guess I'm not qualified to know what's suspicious or not, so I'll email them to you tonight through his account." Kun starts. You nod, hoping to hear something good.
"I saw that he had a group chat with all your suspects. I looked through it and-" Kun is interrupted by the waitress. She sets down your breakfast plates in front of you, and you both smile and mutter a thanks before she leaves.
"To be honest, your employees are kinda ass to him. Your descriptions of each of them were true. Yangyang and Hendery kinda gang up on everyone to make fun of them. Ten's quite rude, and Xiaojun tries to mediate by telling everyone to stop and focus on the task." Kun explains, and you shrug. You know you should care about your company's dynamic, but they're also adults and should know their behaviour is tied to their job.
"Those were work chats, though. I couldn't find too many personal details in them. In the suspects' computers too. I'll send you Winwin's documents though, let me know if there really is anything suspicious." Kun suggests, and you hum as you eat a spoonful of your food. "Do you have access to your cameras? You think you could get me footage from days before Winwin vanished? We can see if anything suspicious happened, or find a witness to something strange."
"I could get it from the security office tomorrow. I'll just go in a little early." You offer, and Kun nods. You eye him as he uncharacteristically eats his food quickly. "Did you eat dinner last night?"
"No," Kun blushes, and you try not to smile at his shyness, "I was busy looking through everyone's emails to find something for you." You breathe in a sharp breath through your nose, and you hope he didn't hear it.
"I know this is your job, but you should take care of yourself. You've always overworked yourself, I don't want you to do it all your life." You murmur, and Kun presses his lips together. It's only worth it, he thought, if you're there.
"I'll remember that," Kun notes, and you look at him to find any trace of lying. His eyes are not genuine, and you see some sadness in them, prompting you to look away. "So, how are you? I realized I haven't asked that at all."
"Um, good?" You answer, squinting your eyes at the weird question. Kun laughs at your expression. "My job's pretty stressful at times, but right now, it's okay. You?"
"You're my first client in a while. I don't get missing persons cases too often, but I was defintely gonna take this one on." Kun lets you know, scratching his neck. You wonder if it was for a challenge or for you. "How's your family?"
"Good. Still in the same house all these years. I call them once in a while." You disclose, and Kun nods. He remembers that house like the back of his hand. He wonders if it's decorated the same. "And your parents?"
"Yeah, they're good. I helped them move to another house recently, so they're actually living closer to me now." Kun says, covering his mouth to hide his chewing. His plate is empty, and you realize you were too engrossed in the conversation to eat at your usual pace, your plate still a bit from being cleared.
"What do your parents think of your job now?" You query as you take big bites of your food. Kun's parents had always supported their son; they were never disappointed in his choices. Their biggest concern was about his safety; something you worried about too.
"Oh," Kun starts, feeling a little awkward, "They're okay with it now. I don't get myself into crazy muddy waters. And the cases I've worked on aren't too high-profile, so it's not like I'll have a target on my back." You try not to react in any way at the thought of his life being in danger, something you both had discussed many times before.
Kun watches as you finish your food silently. When you finish, he tells you he already paid for it earlier, so you thank him and get ready to leave. He walks you to your car again, remembering which one it was. Before you enter, though, you finally speak, as you had been mulling something over.
"Do you wanna come in with me tomorrow morning?" You offer, and Kun is surprised. It's the first time you've initiated his involvement in the case. "We can look at the footage over early morning, like yesterday. If there's a witness, you can talk to them after. If not, you can go... or stay? Bring your laptop, and you can work in my office."
"Okay," Kun quickly agrees to your bold offer, and you wonder if you should regret it. "No one will be suspicious?"
"I'm the CEO; who cares what they think?" You half-joke, nudging Kun's shoulder, prompting him to laugh.
"Wow. I thought you were better than that."
"Good morning." Kun greets you as you walk up to him by the back entrance again. He immediately hands you your coffee, and you thank him.
"You know, I knew you were gonna get me coffee," You start, "so that's why I got us some pastries." You sing as you raise the white bag higher in your hand for Kun to see. He laughs, and you feel warm at the sound. This feels so... normal. Right.
"Let's hope we don't leave any crumbs around." Kun teases as you open the door. You wonder why the two of you were in good moods today. You lead him to the other side of the lobby, unlocking the security door.
Many TVs, large and small, are lined up along the walls, offering a glimpse inside many rooms. You sit in one of the chairs and open the large computer, motioning for Kun, who sits beside you, to hand you a USB drive. You insert the one he hands you and start downloading all the footage from the three days leading up to Winwin's disappearance.
"It might take a while. Might as well start now." You say, leaning back on your chair as you move to let Kun sit in front of the monitor to expand the footage. He moves to your spot, and you turn toward the monitor to watch him start his analysis of the footage from three days before Winwin left.
After half an hour, you put your elbow on the armrest and rest your head on it. Kun notices and turns to you. "Tired?" He whispers, and you nod. "You don't have to bore yourself here. You can go to your office if you want, work or take a nap."
"No, it's okay. What if you mess something up?" You tiredly joke, and Kun lets out a teasing scoff. "I'll just rest my eyes. If I sleep, though, don't wake me up until it's time to go or if you find something."
"I know. How many times have you almost killed me for waking you up for no reason?" Kun reminds, and you let out a laugh.
Before you can close your eyes, though, you can see Kun lean close to you, moving his shoulder to be at the same level as your head. You mentally debate whether you should take his shoulder, which is much more comfortable. Fuck it, you think as you bring your arm to your side and lean on his shoulder, feeling his shoulders ease.
Your nice rest is suddenly interrupted by a hand lightly shaking your shoulder. You let out a small groan, hesitatingly opening your eyes. Your eyes immediately open at the sight of Kun's face directly in front of yours. He leans away, and you get up from his shoulder to look at the monitor.
You can see Winwin and Ten standing around in the marketing wing. Kun presses play, and the footage rolls. Ten is discussing something seriously with Winwin when a junior walks up to them. You watch as Ricky asks Ten a question. After Ten answers, Winwin enters the conversation, saying something with a smile.
Ricky and Winwin are laughing, but Ten's eyes squint as he slowly turns to the financial chief. His frown is evident, and it makes Winwin stop laughing. Ricky stops laughing, but before he clarifies something with Ten and leaves, you can tell from the way he looks at the two seniors that he suspects Ten is angry with Winwin.
"That's Ricky," You say before Kun asks, "he's part of marketing. Ten likes him; Ricky isn't scared of him like every other junior. I can call for him to my office when he comes in so you can question him."
"Alright. Is he coming in at 9 A.M.?" Kun asks, writing something down on a notepad beside him. You look over a little and see that he's already halfway through the pad, scribbles and diagrams everywhere.
"10 A.M., I think." You clarify, looking down at your watch. It's 8:30 A.M., "We should get going. People should start to come in. You can use my computer if you need to, I can just use my phone. I'll just notify all my Chiefs not to come in for our weekly meeting. Maybe I should let Chenle and Renjun see you, though." You say, getting your things ready. Kun nods as he takes the USB drive, which has been ready for a long time, and puts it in his pocket, then gets up.
As you go back to your office, you text your group chat with the Chiefs to say you have an emergency and can't hold the meeting. You switch to a group chat with Winwin, Chenle, and Renjun to tell them to come straight to your room.
Chenle: ??? What's the emergency you were talking about
Y/N: Do you wanna see Kun or not?
Kun moves one of the chairs in front of your desk, placing it in front of your computer. You look at him, confused, "Take my chair, it's more comfy."
"No, it's okay. You can sit on it and watch. This is already more comfy than my chair back home." Kun smiles as he sits on the accent chair. You just shake your head, but listen. You lean over as he continues to watch footage.
You feel sad seeing Winwin in the footage. You wish he were around, or at least knew where he was. But I wouldn't have seen Kun again...
The door opens, and you see Chenle and Renjun immediately enter, startling you and making you move back from Kun. Kun looks up, stoic as ever. You look down at your phone and see it's exactly 9:00 A.M.
"Hi, Kun." Chenle greets, and Kun nods before turning to you, seeing if you were okay. You give him a small smile before glaring at Chenle's smirking face.
"Kun, you know our accounting chief, Chenle, and that's our HR chief, Renjun. I wanted to at least show you two that Kun and I are working together to look for Winwin, and that we are making progress." You speak more professionally than friendlily.
"Hi, Chenle. You're Winwin's neighbour, too, right, Renjun?" Kun greets. Renjun nods at the question, and Kun asks him for information about their living situation and for more details on anything suspicious. Renjun sits on the accent chair across from you, spilling details, and Chenle stands behind him, listening.
You look at Kun's hand as he writes down the details Renjun gives, which are general and not helpful for identifying the suspect. You can see Kun's focused face in your peripheral vision, and if Chenle weren't standing there, eyeing the two of you, you would be less subtle. You always thought he looked handsome when he was focused on writing down things he heard.
"And I think that's about it." Renjun concludes, and you feel guilty when you realize you hadn't heard anything from that point on. Kun nods, and Renjun gets up. You look to see that it was now 9:50 A.M. Chenle and Renjun bow before they leave, and you see Chenle's annoying smirk again.
"Would you kill me if I asked you to come with me and break into Winwin's house?" Kun asks sheepishly from beside you, a while after your two employees left, and you whip your head to look at him with wide eyes.
"Are you serious?" You bellow, and Kun scratches his neck, nodding slowly. You didn't think private investigators actually did that.
"It's not really illegal, you know? We're just trying to help. It's not like I'm asking to break into Ten's house." Kun explains, lifting his hands up beside his head, feigning innocence. You raise an eyebrow as you contemplate the offer.
"Do you really need me there?" You suspect, watching the man's face.
Kun looks down at his feet, his voice barely above a whisper, "You know the answer to that." You bite your lip, still thinking. Kun returns to the footage, hoping to fill the awkward silence.
"Okay," You answer after a long time, surprising Kun, "I've always wanted to do something crazy with you." You answer, but widen your eyes after admitting the last part. Kun's lips parted, signalling he was speechless.
You look at the time and see it's 10 A.M. You take the opportunity to lean over and pick up the phone to call the front desk. "Hey, Yuqi, could you bring Ricky into my office? I need to talk to him about something."
"Yes, Ms. Y/L/N." Yuqi obeys, ending the call to contact Ricky. You look over at Kun, who was looking at you before turning to you.
"After talking to him, shall I go?" Kun timidly asks. You really didn't want him to go, and you're sure the way your fingers were drumming on your thighs gave it away.
"You probably can look at the footage easily at home. How are we gonna get in anyway? Do you use lock picks?" You tease, but you think you already know the answer.
"Yeah." Kun answers nonchalantly, making you laugh. You find it funny that he isn't too concerned about breaking the law, and Kun looks at you strangely. "Breaking the law is so funny to you, huh, CEO?"
Before you can argue, you hear a knock on your door. This causes you and Kun, who were craning your necks at each other, to sit up straight. "Come in!" You instruct loudly, and the door opens.
Ricky's tall frame enters the room, closing the door behind him. His white shirt's sleeves are rolled up to his elbows, and you can see his neck tattoo peeking out, framed by his shaggy blond hair. He bows to you before looking Kun over, bowing to him as well. "Good morning, Ms. Y/L/N." He greets with a small smile.
"Good morning, Ricky. This is Kun," You introduce, gesturing to the man beside you. "He's a private investigator. You've probably heard about Winwin?"
"Yeah," Ricky's deep voice lets out, and he sits down on the chair you motion towards. "I heard he hasn't come in for a while. Hao in finance said it's been hard without Winwin around to monitor everyone."
"Yes, we've been working together to find out what's happened to him. Which is why we've called you here." Your voice falters as you turn to Kun, and he takes the queue to speak.
"While monitoring security footage, we saw that you spoke to Winwin and Ten the day before he disappeared." Kun continues, and he turns your monitor to show Ricky the footage from earlier. "We suspect it could help us in finding out what happened. Do you remember what was discussed at all?"
"I think so. I needed Ten's help with designing the new billboard. I went up to him to ask about the fonts, cause I couldn't find them. When he helped me, Winwin said like 'Oh, this is a much better idea than the Instagram hashtag.' I don't even know how he knew about it, but it was funny. Nobody liked the idea, but we're all scared of angry Ten. I laughed, pretending to be nice, but I did find it funny. Ten was pissed, though. We stopped laughing, and Ten looked like he was gonna kill Winwin. I left after that." Ricky recounts, and Kun writes it down at rapid speed.
Your heart skips a beat at the word "kill," and you don't know how to feel. You purse your lips, and when Kun looks over at you, he knows you won't be able to say anything.
"Do you have information on Ten's idea?" Kun asks you, and he places his hand on top of yours, away from Ricky's view, to grab your attention. It works, and your heart starts beating faster for another reason.
"Yeah, I have the proposal he sent me." You breathe, and Kun softly smiles, nodding at you. He turns back to Ricky, who's slightly anxious.
"Thank you, Ricky. You've helped a lot." Kun smiles, and you look over at the junior.
"Is Ten guilty?" Ricky asks, and you feel bad. That's his boss, too, and you knew he didn't have much of a problem with him.
"We're unsure yet, but we will find out." Kun gently tells Ricky, and he nods. He stands up to bow, then leaves your room.
"So, we've got one person to be extra cautious of." Kun notifies you, and you look down at your hands.
"Fuck." You whisper, bringing your hands to your face. Kun watches and hesitantly puts a hand on your back. You slouch, and he starts rubbing it.
"I know it's hard. I'm here for you." Kun soothes, but quickly scrambles to reword his statement, "I'll help you the best I can." You nod, leaning closer to him. "Did you look over the documents I sent you from Winwin's computer, by the way?"
"No. I've been a little overwhelmed. I really should, huh?" You say, looking up at Kun's face. He nods with a tight-lipped smile before getting up from his seat. "Where are you going?"
"Home?" Kun quizzically answers, as if it were obvious. You suppose it was.
"Stay with me?" You ask, and you cringe at how vulnerable it sounds. Kun looks at you with concern, knowing you wouldn't be so unguarded in your office. "I can just let you know if there's anything weird now that we have time."
Kun takes one last look at you and smiles before nodding. His hand that was on your back was much lower now, and you didn't say anything about the arm that was now around your waist.
Kun moves his chair so that you're sitting in front of the keyboard and mouse. You scroll through the monthly and yearly reports, with your own sales records to cross-reference.
"I feel invasive. Like I shouldn't be allowed to look." Kun kids, causing you to let out a small laugh.
"Yeah, you aren't. But I know you would have dug it up anyway. Might as well make the process easier." You respond. "You know, we can leave if we find stuff for lunch. Wanna find somewhere to eat?"
"Of course. I don't mind at all." Kun agrees, and you don't see the way he's been staring at your face, memorizing every detail. He can see how your makeup has changed and wonders if your skincare routine has as well.
Kun goes on his phone, looking for places nearby that you haven't been to together. He wonders how things will change once his job is done. Would you still contact him? Do you still think about your old times? Would you be willing to try again?
Kun's thoughts are disrupted as he hears you whisper, "Whoa." He looks over to your screen, and you've highlighted some of your recorded sales. "Look at the sales from September-December here, and look at how he managed them."
The monthly spikes in sales generated significant revenue, and your document showed the desired transactions. In Winwin's document, though, you can see that he broke down the large transactions into many small ones.
"Why wouldn't he do the transactions you told him to do?" Kun asks, turning to you, as he didn't know your company policy.
"When we reach a certain revenue in sales, we have to do bigger transactions so that it cuts a certain amount to help fund the businesses around our building. We've got a good relationship with them because of it. When I first chose this building, I promised I would help them cause they were on the verge of shutting down." You explain, and Kun's heart warms at your kindness.
"Well, it's weird why he wouldn't do that." Kun hums as he writes down all your information.
"I know. He's not the type to do that." You frown, "I feel like I don't really know my employees as well as I thought." Kun smiles sympathetically, bringing his hand to your back again.
"I found a spot for lunch. Why don't we go now?" Kun offers, and you nod slowly. "They have a lot of dessert." You perk up with a wide smile, and Kun laughs as you quickly get ready to leave.
After lunch, and Kun paying yet again, you agree to get picked up before going to Winwin's apartment that night. You hoped to finish early so you could get your sleep, but you have no problem being late. You lived a few minutes away from Winwin, thankfully, so you could quickly sleep afterwards.
You stand outside your apartment building when you see Kun's car approaching. He stops in front of you, but gets out of the car. You try not to laugh as he quickly comes to your side to open your door, flashing a smile. You get in, and he runs back to the other side.
"So romantic. Is breaking into Winwin's house a date?" You ask, and although you shouldn't joke about dating, you couldn't help it.
Kun laughs before driving away, "I thought it would be perfect."
A few minutes later, you reach the building. Kun helps you get out again, and you follow a group into the elevator so you don't look suspicious. You thought about telling Renjun, but as the head of HR, you don't think he would like to hear about anything illegal you were up to.
The elevator stops at Winwin's floor, and you and Kun exit. He looks over at you to see if you're ready, and you smile back, which assures him. You weren't as nervous as he thought you would be.
Kun leads you to Winwin's apartment, which he had written down on his phone. He then gets on his knees and pulls out a lock pick set. He analyzes the lock, and you think he looks funny when he looks in the hole. He pulls away with a shocked face, and when he twists the handle open, it opens immediately.
"Has it been open the whole time?" Kun theorizes as he motions for you to enter, and you do. You had been in Winwin's apartment once before, but briefly. You were about to have a company dinner and were supposed to pick up Winwin and Renjun. They both took the time to let you enter their apartments while they were finishing up.
"Oh, wow. Was looking into doors to know which lock pick works part of your training?" You tease, and Kun laughs as he locks the door behind you. He's about to respond before he notices something. You were facing him, your back to the apartment, when he grabbed your wrist before you could step back any further, pulling you into his chest.
You look back and see tiny porcelain shards on the floor. If Kun hadn't caught you, you would have definitely hurt yourself. You look back at your saviour, his face close as he eyes you.
"Thanks." You breathe, and Kun snaps out of his daze, nodding. He lets you go and bends down to inspect the shards. He pulls out a mini plastic bag and tweezers from his backpack to collect the samples.
"Do you have something to find DNA on them." You mutter, wondering how much your ex really had access to.
"I don't. My friend Minghao does, though. I just pay him to find out for me." Kun cooly responds, focused on picking up every piece. When he gets up, he finds that you're not behind him, but rather, in the kitchen. "Don't tell me you're hungry?" He teases.
"Please," You scoff. "I'm just checking something." You turn to the counter under the sink, where you think Winwin's trash can is. When you opened it, your suspicion proved true: there, in the trash can, you found the rest of the porcelain. "Look! I found the rest."
Kun comes up behind you, looking in the trash can. "Oh, that's what you were doing." You can hear the warm smile on his face, "So smart." You blush at the compliment. Anytime you did something before he thought of it, he always called you his smart girl. You wished to hear it again.
"I think it's supposed to be a bowl?" You hypothesize that the decorative bowl was almost perfectly split in half, save for the shards you found on the ground.
"Yup, and I think..." Kun says as he puts on latex gloves and picks up one half of the bowl. He turns it around, and you gasp. There were a few drops of old, week-old blood along the broken part. "This might be our key. Get me a bigger bag, please."
Walking back to his backpack, you search for the clear plastic bags that can fit the ceramics. You bring one back to Kun, and he carefully puts the halves in it.
You and Kun explore the rest of Winwin's apartment, but don't find anything else that could help your investigation. You were thankful to have found a damning piece of evidence, as you would have been disappointed without it.
Kun stuffs the evidence into his spacious bag before motioning you to quietly leave the apartment. You quietly go back down, and he opens his car door for you.
"Did you actually get to eat dinner, though?" Kun asks, turning to you as he starts the car.
"Yes, I did. I should be asking if you've eaten dinner." You smirk, leaning slightly towards him.
"No, I haven't." Kun mocks, and he finds the frown on your face cute. He always thought it was adorable how you hated it when he didn't eat, but you both knew he would get angrier when it was you who didn't eat.
You hesitate before offering, "Why don't you come to my place? I have some leftovers." You had no problem asking him to come over, but you didn't want him to reject you and make things awkward.
Kun's eyes widen, looking at you for a couple of beats. He didn't know whether to say yes so he could stay with you a bit longer, or no because of the nervousness on your face. Is it a good nervous? Nevertheless, he nods, wordlessly driving to your house.
You fumble with your keys as you open the door to your apartment, hyperaware of Kun's warm body next to you. When you open it, you let him look around your apartment, which he thinks perfectly reflects you, as you prepare to heat up his food. You check with him if the portion is enough, and he nods.
"You kept a lot of things from our old place." Kun mumbles as he sits on the barstool across the island, pushing his glasses up his nose.
"I wasn't just gonna throw them away," You shrug. "they're still in good condition. It's not like I hated you." You whisper the last part, and silence ensues. You don't need to look at Kun to know he was looking down too, remembering your breakup.
You sit on a bench in a park, waiting for your boyfriend. Living at your parents' homes, but not with each other, has been hard. Your new job and Kun's training made it hard to meet up.
"Hello." You hear a familiar voice sing behind you. You get up to turn around, but Kun is already standing in front of you. You replicate the warm smile on his face as he puts a hand on your cheek and pecks you on the lips.
Plopping onto the bench, you tug at Kun's arm, and he falls down to sit beside you. You sit together, your head on his shoulder and his hand resting on your thigh. You sit in silence for who knows how long.
"Babe..." Kun starts. You look up at him, knowing the tone in which he said it meant it can't be good. "I don't know how to say this, because I didn't think I would ever say this."
You turn to Kun, concern evident on your face. His heart breaks, and he holds your hands tightly. "I love you. I love you so much, Y/N. Ever since we started dating, you're all I wanted. I don't want you to think I don't love you anymore or that I think we're incompatible."
"Then why are you doing this?" Your voice cracks as you ask in a whisper. Kun frowns, bringing your hands up to his face to cup his cheeks.
"My field is dangerous, babe. This past week, I've been learning how to keep myself safe at work and at home. I can't be too careful. I have to move out soon because I don't want anything to happen to my family. And I can't imagine anything happening to you because of me. You don't deserve that. You deserve to be happy and safe." Kun explains through sniffles, and you look down, hiding your tears in your eyes.
"But I feel happy and safe with you." You whisper, and you're grateful you two were alone in the park.
"Me too, babe. But I can't risk it. I don't want you to get caught up if something bad happens." Kun snivelled, and his hands on your shoudlers makes you look back up at him. He places his thumbs on your cheeks, wiping away tears. "I still love you, which is why this is so much harder. I will never find anyone like you. Maybe, if everything is fine in the future, I can be with you again. If you'll have me."
You nod vigorously and lean towards his face, placing your forehead on his, "Of course, Kun. I wish this wasn't happening, but I understand. I would never hate you."
The microwave beeping interrupts your thoughts, and you place Kun's food and two wine glasses in front of him. You couldn't think straight; questions flooded your mind. You can feel his eyes burning into you as you grab a bottle of wine and pour it into your glasses.
Kun raises his glass, and you silently make a toast before taking big sips. You motion towards the couch, taking your glass and the bottle, and he follows you with his plate and glass. Kun eats while you put on an on-demand channel and find a random movie starting. As it starts playing, though, it doesn't feel random.
"Did we watch this when it first came out?" You ask as you sip more of your wine, and Kun nods with his mouth full.
"I wanted to watch it so bad, but you ended up liking it more than me." Kun laughs as he swallows his last bit of food, and you laugh at the memory. You remember your boyfriend at the time being mad at the video effects, but you were enamoured by the story.
You silently watch the movie together. You smirk as you see Kun watch it, like it's his first time, much more delightful than he was years ago. He had set his plate aside and filled up both your glasses. You grab your old blanket, and you don't see his warm smile when he recognizes it.
At the beginning of the movie, Kun sat beside you, keeping a good distance. Approaching the middle of the movie, however, your thighs were touching. You were slowly scooching closer to him while the movie was playing, and hadn't realized that he was doing the exact same.
You're unsure how many glasses of wine you and Kun have drunk, but your mind is no longer paying attention to the movie. You're aware of how warm your breath is. Your eyes are trained on his fist and how hard he's clenching it to not put his hand on your thigh. You could feel his clothed bicep, which he was unintentionally flexing, on your bare arm.
You can see Kun quickly turning to look at you through the corner of his eye. Biting your lip, you turn to look at him head-on. He turns to you as well, his eyes flickering to your lips.
"I've missed you, you know. I didn't think we would see each other again, but I'm happy we have." Kun confesses.
"Me too. I was scared at first, but I knew I wanted to see you and know how you're doing." You mutter, looking over Kun's face. He smiles as he does the same.
"My job isn't that dangerous..." Kun breathed. "At first, it kinda was. But recently, since my clientele has been paying me a lot for things that aren't too dangerous, it's been okay. I'm very protected. I have untracable methods online and real life. I do the occasional illegal thing, but I guess you could say the law doesn't apply to me. So..."
"So?" You repeat, prodding Kun to say what you've been wanting to hear. He smiles, and the nerves leave his face once he realizes you weren't going to get angry.
"So..." Kun starts, bringing his hands close to yours. You lift your hands so that he can hold onto them. "I want to try again. We can go slow. I'm not expecting much. Our lives are very different now, and I wanna find that rhythm again. I haven't stopped thinking about you, and I've been working hard to get to where I am now. I was scared that you would try to push me away, but I swear, I can't lose you again."
You smile at Kun's words, and even if you couldn't hear the raw emotion in his words, his crushing grip on your hands was enough to know he wasn't lying. His eyes search yours as he waits for an answer.
"I love you." You whisper before kissing Kun. He lets go of your hands, takes off his glasses in between a kiss, and immediately latches onto your hips. You put your hands on his cheeks, wanting to keep his face close to yours.
Kun lifts you onto his lap, and you break off the kiss to let out a small laugh. He takes the opportunity to insert his tongue into your mouth, and you happily let him explore your mouth as you wrap your legs around his waist.
"Fuck," Kun whispers as he takes his lips off yours to breathe. He can't get enough of you, it seems, as he peppers kisses along your neck. "I've been waiting for this for so long."
"Why don't you show me?" You tease. Kun brings his face back up to yours, staring into your eyes darkly.
"Are you sure?" Kun whispers, looking down at your lips and back up to your eyes. You give him a warm smile and nod softly. "Where's your room?" You laugh as he lifts you up, your legs still on his waist and your arms around his neck, carrying you to where you point.
You wake up, your body aching. You pry your eyes open to find yourself alone in your bed. The blanket falls from you as you sit up, looking at the clothes, apart from Kun's underwear and pants, scattered along the floor. Quickly grabbing your phone, you see that it's 7 A.M. You text Yuqi that you won't be in the office today.
You blush as you get up to put on your underwear and Kun's button-up shirt. Every morning, after a night with Kun, he's always the first one up, making breakfast for you. Most of the time, you wake up to find him mid-cooking. If you don't wake up when he's finished, he'll bring the food to you and feed you.
"Wow, I missed you in my clothes." You hear from your door. You turn to find Kun leaning against it, shirtless, staring at you as you finish buttoning up the rest of the shirt. You playfully roll your eyes and approach him. He leans down to kiss you, and you cling to his shoulders.
"Good morning to you, too." You whisper as Kun leads you to the kitchen. He grabs your plates and takes them to the couch. You pick up your blanket and lay it across the two of you. You sit close beside each other, his arm around your shoulders and your head on his chest as he looks through channels on your TV.
"So, this is actually happening, right? You're willing to start again?" Kun asks, mouth in your hair. You look up at him and nod with a smile, and he pecks your lips. "I woke up really early to drop the samples off at Minghao's, by the way. We won't get it until tonight."
"Oh, great. I told my front desk I won't be at work today." You say while you chew your food. "I guess we're stuck together until then."
You and Kun spend the whole day on your couch, talking about major things that have happened since separating. You look through each other's camera rolls, commenting on how much you've changed and how much you've kept the same. Your hands are always on each other, wandering.
Finally, Minghao texted Kun saying he had the results. You and Kun dress up before he drives you to his friend's house. Kun helps you out of the car once you arrive, but you spot Minghao standing at the door.
"Good evening," Minghao greets, nodding at you and Kun, "Come in, my lab is in my basement."
Minghao leads you through his very white, modern house and down to his basement. It's quite dark in some areas but highly technical in others. He stops in front of a computer.
"I found two main fingerprints on the shards. I assume one was the victim and one was the perpetrator. The bits of blood were all linked to one person, so I assume that one was just the victim." Minghao explains as he motions for you to put in your email. "These are the fingerprints. Is there any way you can get your suspects' fingerprints?"
You stop to think, then your eyes widen. "I have everyone's fingerprints." You gasp. "We collect them when they first join, in case of any fraud or laundering." Kun smiles from behind you. He remembers you saying that if you owned a company, you would do everything possible to prevent crime.
"Oh. Well then, there you go. You're almost done." Minghao smiles, and you nod. You turn to Kun with a look of disbelief; you couldn't believe you were so close. He squeezes your hand.
"Thanks, Minghao." Kun smiles at his friend, who smirks in return after looking up from your interlinked hands. He nods and leads you back to the front yard.
You enter the car as Kun finishes talking to Minghao. So much has happened in the past few days, you thought, and now... it's almost over.
Kun enters the car, smiling as he places a hand on your thigh. "We're so close. Where do you want to go now?" You look over at the time. 9 P.M. You pause as you fiddle with his hand.
"Would you kill me if I asked to go to the office? I wanna get this over with." You plead. Hearing the car engine start and feeling Kun's hand squeeze your thigh, you smile.
Arriving at your office yet again, you quickly go to unlock the back door, turning off the alarm. Kun follows as you speed through the hallways, urgently press the elevator buttons, and run to your file cabinet. As you flip through different files, he rubs your back, soothing you.
"Relax, babe." You feel Kun whisper against your ear as he leans over your bent position. You shiver at his body so close to you and his warm breath on your cold neck, and you slow your movements.
You pick out each suspect's employee information sheet. Whenever you hire someone, you would conduct a criminal record check and have them place their thumbprint on the employee contract. Most people think it's too much, but a few, like Xiaojun and Yuqi, appreciate how secure working for you is.
"Okay," You huff, standing up straight and logging into the computer. "Time to find out who it is."
Kun slides his arm around your waist and stands beside you. You open the picture of the thumbprint that Minghao sent you and compare it to each contract.
You start with Xiaojun, the one you hope it's not, and Kun starts with Ten's, the most suspicious one. You let out a sigh of relief as you find that Xiaojun's thumbprint is very different. You reach for Yangyang's paper.
"Babe..." Kun calls, and you feel your heart sink. You look over to Ten's paper and compare the thumbprints. "It's... the same."
You feel your heart race, and your eyes get cloudy. Kun can feel you start to shake a little, and brings your head to his chest. You begin to let out tears as you weakly wrap your arms around him.
"I-I can't believe it," You stutter. "I've known him for so long. I never thought he would do something like this." You remember meeting Ten on your first day of university. He sat beside you and immediately started a conversation. You always gave him your food when you saw that he would never buy food. He was one of your first employees because he served as head of marketing for many clubs.
"I'm sorry, Y/N," Kun whispers. He lets go of you to bring his face in front of you as he holds your shoulders. "Let's rest now. You need to be ready for tomorrow. I'll help you confront him." You nod, and you let Kun turn off your computer, put the papers back in your drawer, and turn off your lights. He holds your hand as you go to the elevator and to his car.
Before you went to Minghao's home, Kun quickly stopped by his apartment to pack things to stay with you for the next few days. He knew that he couldn't leave you alone to cope, but he also just wanted to be with you.
You wipe your makeup off as you watch Kun unpack his suitcase. You were happy to have him with you. He starts changing his clothes, smirking when he sees you silently observing his every move. You look down at his suitcase, and happily gasp at the sight of your favourite shirt of his. You always used it when you slept over at his place.
Kun throws the shirt at you. "I brought this just for you. It was my favourite shirt to sleep in; it felt like you were still with me." You change into just his shirt as he lies in your bed. You turn off your light before crawling over to him and pecking his lips.
"Thank you. You always know what to do, what I want. I love you." You smile as you hover over Kun. He smiles, taking off his glasses and holding your cheeks.
"I love you, too. Always." Kun whispers, bringing you into a real kiss. You drop down beside him during the kiss, and he turns his body to you to continue the kiss.
You pull away. "We can talk about what to do tomorrow. Good night." You sigh contentedly. Kun nods, kissing your forehead before resting his head atop yours. He rubs your back to soothe you to sleep, and you can feel it working.
You wake up before your alarm and realize Kun is cooking breakfast yet again. You freshen up before leaving your room.
"Hello." You mumble as you slither your arms around his waist, resting your cheek on his bare back. Your boyfriend turns around in your arms and places a small kiss on your nose.
"I'm almost done. You can wait for me by watching TV or you can keep hugging me, I don't mind." Kun smiles as he turns his attention back to your food. You stay, closing your eyes as you rest against his warm skin. You place occasional kisses on his back, revelling in the way his back would slightly tense at the sudden sensation, before he melts and vibrates as he giggles.
Kun plates your food and brings both of your plates back to the TV. You silently eat your food, feeling his eyes on you.
"What are you gonna do about Ten? Are you gonna call the police?" Kun asks. You take a deep breath.
"That's probably the best thing to do. After we find out where Winwin is." You respond.
Kun rubs his thumb over your thigh. "I can call some officers I know. We can extract information from Ten before they come in. Your security cameras will record it." He brainstorms. You nod and continue eating, making small talk about the show on TV.
As Kun's car approaches your office, your nerves, once eased, return. His hand squeezes your thigh when he notices your leg shaking incessantly. While you were getting ready, you heard him on the phone with an officer, arranging Ten's arrest. It's starting to feel too real.
In your office, you sit on your chair as Kun kneels in front of you. He holds your hands, looking up at you as you calm your breathing.
"It's okay, babe. I'm here to help you. The officers are disguised right outside the door. We're all ready when you are." Kun whispers.
"Did you ever think being a therapist would be part of your job?" You joke to lighten the mood.
"I'm your boyfriend. That job is way more important than being a private investigator." Kun assures you with a kiss on your cheek. You smile as you reach for the landline, and Kun stands up. "Do you want Chenle and Renjun here, as well? Ten won't be able to do anything if there are many of us in here."
Your heart hurts at the thought of Ten doing something bad in front of you. "Yeah. I think they also deserve to know everything." You call both of their lines and tell them to come to your office.
Kun moves from beside your chair to the edge of your desk as Chenle opens your door, and Renjun follows right after. Chenle waves at Kun, and Renjun bows.
"We know who did it." You announce, and the two boys' eyes go wide. "I'm gonna call him soon. You guys deserve to know everything. There are officers outside the office, and with you guys in here, it'll be safer."
"Oh, okay," Chenle responds. "Call him. Let's not delay this so we can find out where Winwin is." Kun moves to stand right beside you, and Chenle and Renjun stand at either side of your desk. You're surprised that Chenle doesn't comment on Kun standing so close to you. You nod as you reach for the phone yet again, asking Ten to enter your office, which he agrees to.
When Ten walks in, you can see him stiffen before he closes the door. He looked to Chenle and Renjun, both visibly angry, and Kun, whom he didn't recognize, standing right beside you with his arms crossed.
"Yes?" Ten says once he's bowed to you. Kun looks down at you to see if you had the heart to speak. He watches your chest rise and fall as you take a deep breath.
"Ten," You start. "Do you know what happened to Winwin?"
Kun observes how Ten's breathing halts and shoulders tense. "No. Has he been found?" He answers. Kun notices Chenle's fists balls up. Kun calmly walks behind Ten, urging him to sit on the chair in front of you as he stands behind him.
"We believe you may know about his whereabouts. After all, you were in his apartment when Winwin came back from vacation, no?" Kun intigates. Ten looks up at him with disbelief. You can see anger start to bubble in his eyes.
"Ten," You mediate, and Ten turns to you. You can see his shoulders drop as he looks down at his lap. "Please answer his question."
"Fine. Yes. You got me." Ten admits, and you're surprised at how quick he was to confess. "Winwin pissed me off when he made fun of my Instagram idea. He kept bringing it up for days, and it started getting under my fucking nerves. Then, one day, I found out he wasn't recording your sales properly because he got into a fight with one of the business owners nearby and used that to blackmail him into shutting up."
"We saw you with Winwin and Ricky before he left. Did that make it worse?" Kun asks when he sees you bring a hand up to your face to rub it.
"Ugh, yes. Winwin swore never to talk about it again, but he decides to bring it up in front of a junior. Do you know how embarrassing that shit was? I was so fucking angry, but Winwin got out of it with no consequences." Ten angrily expresses himself, and you're worried for Kun's safety, as he's the closest to Ten.
"So you made him deal with the consequences when he came back?" Kun leads, trying to get closer to the end of the story.
"I kept texting his phone while he was gone. He never read them. I made sure that if he didn't feel my anger through the phone, he'd know in real life. It was stupid of me; I regret it so much. When he came back that night, I went to his apartment. He was so scared, and I was so angry. I just yelled at him the whole time. At one point, he started yelling back, and that's when I saw red." Ten continues.
"What the fuck did you do?" Chenle seethes. You feel anger like your two other Chiefs; Winwin was a close friend and didn't deserve any of this.
"I... grabbed the closest thing I could find. Some bowl. And I... hit him with it. His head." Ten chokes up, reliving the moment. "Fuck, I really wasn't thinking. I never hated him. He fell, and that's when I got scared. I threw the bowl away. I grabbed Winwin and ran."
"To?" You urgently ask, hoping Winwin is safe.
"My home. He's there right now. I've been trying to help him recover because I feel so guilty." Ten tells, and you feel shocked. "He woke up soon after it happened, and I begged for his forgiveness for so long. He's been letting me take care of him, and only recently has he forgiven me."
"Wait, he's okay? And he's fine with you?" Renjun asks incredulously. You can see shock on everyone's face, even Kun, though you know it was only evident to you.
"I know. It's weird, he's a little too nice. He just didn't want me to tell everyone because it would make me look horrible, and he wanted to come back when he was fully okay. He's not too hurt, just a few cuts. He said he would return home and to work very soon." Ten sighs, combing his hand through his hair. You look at Kun, who does the same.
"Can you call Winwin? So we know if he's okay?" You ask, and Ten nods. He pulls out his phone to call Winwin, who instantly picks up.
"Hello?" You hear Winwin's voice say. It felt like you hadn't heard his voice in years. Chenle and Renjun gather up beside you.
"Hey, Winwin. Y/N, Chenle, and Renjun wanna talk to you." Ten hesitantly says. You hear Winwin gasp slightly.
"Winwin?" Renjun and Chenle ask, still doubtful.
"Renjun? Chenle? Hi." Winwin quietly responds. "Y/N? Are you there?" Your eyes look to Kun, unsure if you should talk. Kun nods.
"Hi, Winwin." You mutter. Ten looks at you sympathetically, knowing you're probably feeling a whirlwind of emotions.
"I'm sorry, Y/N. You probably know about the transaction thing, and I truly apologize for that. I know I shouldn't have let my anger jeopardize my job, and that's what happened to Ten. I saw that he was essentially the same as me; that's why I forgave him. I hope you forgive us." Winwin apologizes, and you feel your heart start to race.
"To be honest, I don't know what to think right now. I don't want you to go to jail, Ten, and knowing that Winwin is okay with you makes me think you should be fine. But I can't keep you here. And I'm not the professional." You spill, and Kun wants nothing more than to hold you in his arms.
"Fire me too, then. Ten and I are on the same boat. Just please don't take us to the police." Winwin begs over the phone. You hear Chenle let out a sigh, and Renjun has the most guilty look on his face.
"Renjun, Kun, what do you guys think?" You ask, looking between the two men. Kun can see Renjun's internal conflict and decides to speak first.
"Well, if Winwin forgives Ten and they both feel regret, firing them seems okay. I can tell the officers outside that we have the wrong guy." Ten turns around to Kun, fear in his eyes at the information. "If they do enough redemption, who knows, they can come back. But if you want to keep them and just have them watched, that's okay, too, Y/N."
"If you do want to keep them," Renjun slides into the conversation, "we can just demote them for the time being. I don't condone their actions, but it doesn't seem too serious. I do think Winwin and Ten can be the good employees they once were. This is seriously against everything I stand for, though." You laugh at his last sentence.
"Okay. I trust your decision, Renjun. Maybe give them some unpaid time off, then bring them back under a lesser role. We can have someone sub in." You conclude, and Renjun nods. You look to Ten, who nods as well. Kun signals to you that he's going to step out to talk to the officers, and you let him. "Is that okay, Winwin?"
"Yes, Y/N. Sorry again. Ten and I will make sure to be on our best behaviour." Winwin says over the phone, and you nod as if he could see you. You rub your forehead as Renjun leads Ten to his room, still on call with Winwin to determine what to do.
Chenle stands beside you, jaw clenched, "Wow, I'm so confused and conflicted. I can't imagine how you feel right now." He says, putting a hand on your shoulder. You put your elbow on your armrest, holding your head with your hand.
Kun opens the door, "The officers are gone." He shortly says, coming to stand at your side as Chenle lets go of you. You smile warmly at him.
"Thank you, Kun. For everything." You earnestly tell your boyfriend, who tries not to break out in a big smile in front of Chenle. "Thanks for recommending him, Chenle." You turn to your junior. You squint when you see that smirk on his face again.
"You're welcome. It looks like I got you a new boyfriend, huh?" Chenle teases, and your eyes widen. You turn to look at Kun, who looks aghast. "Did you forget I have Kun's location? I've seen that he's not staying at his house. And I know where you live."
Kun rubs his forehead as you laugh. Your boyfriend looks back at you, feeling himself smile. Chenle looks between you two like you were incredibly cute. "Did you take my advice, then?"
"No." You huff before Kun can ask. You make a note to tell him what his friend said a few days ago. "Kun's ex-girlfriend you were talking about was me. We're just back together again." You explain, and Chenle's jaw drops.
"No fucking way!" Chenle exclaims, running to Kun and shaking him, "Why wouldn't you tell me? Especially after I told you she was my boss. Wow, that's why your parents always ask about her. I can't believe it."
"Yes, yes, but don't tell anyone. Especially not my family, I want us to be the ones to tell them." Kun laughs, finding Chenle's reaction absurd.
"Get ready," Chenle giggles, "They'll get on your ass for not getting married yet."
"Yeah, yeah." You sigh as you get up, pushing Chenle out your door. "Go do your work. You've got a lot to do now. I need your help appointing a new CFO. I need Xiaojun's help finding a new CMO, as well."
"How do I know you're gonna do your work when your boyfriend is here?" Chenle teases, but lets himself be escorted. Kun wants to roll his eyes, but just laughs at the scene in front of him, following you.
You turn back around once you close the door, throwing your arms around Kun. "Finally. It's over." You sigh in his neck.
"And how do you feel about the decision you made?" Kun asks, one hand on your waist and the other patting your hair.
"My therapist is back." You smile, pulling away from the hug to smile at Kun. He laughs, placing a peck on your lips. "I'm okay with my decision, and I trust Renjun to deal with it appropriately."
"I don't wanna take up your time, then. Maybe it's best not to let your Chiefs know you suspected them. You also probably need to think of a lie to tell everyone why Winwin and Ten are demoted, so I'll leave you to work." Kun says, and you groan as he lets go of you.
"Leaving me to do the hard work. You have my spare key, right?" You ask, and Kun nods as he gathers his stuff. "Can we go on a date tonight? Like old times?"
"Of course, babe. I was just waiting until all this was over." Kun whispers as he approaches your figure, placing a longer kiss on your lips before heading out your door.
❥・word count: 25.5k
❥・genre: fluff, enemies to lovers, single dad kun, single mom reader, there is some angst but not between reader and kun, more-so around them in terms of like life events
❥・warnings: cursing, kid on kid violence (biting lol)
❥・extra info: people are called ‘mommy’ and ‘daddy’ in this so if u can’t be normal abt that maybe skip this one
❥・author’s note: omggg it’s finally here! this one has been a wip for like literally like 1.5 yrs i think? anyway im absolutely in love w single dad kun in this one, and i hope u guys fall in love w him too 🫶
“Mr. Qian, I’m failing to see how this is any of your concern.”
“Because you’re treating my kid like he’s a felon.”
“Well yours treated mine like a chew toy so excuse me for exercising some caution,” you finally snapped, tightening your grip around your son and cradling the back of his head.
PART I: moments turn to dreams within my mind
Woobin had always been a kid with big feelings, from big smiles to big tears, and as his mom you encouraged him to feel those big feelings when they came. Your older cousin often warned you that you were raising a “crybaby,” but you brushed off her attempts at parenting advice. You’d rather have your Woobin and all his softness than her kid who screamed and threw his monster trucks at the wall at the slightest provocation.
But that didn’t make it any easier for you to walk in and see your son bawling by himself in the corner of his classroom when you went to pick him up from preschool that afternoon. You immediately skirted around a couple other kids and parents to kneel down beside him, feeling your heart breaking as you rubbed his back, “Binnie, Binnie, hey, hey, hey. Mommy’s here.”
You caught the three-year-old by the underarms before he could throw his arms around your neck. His face was bright red, eyes puffy from clearly how hard he had been crying, and snot and spit coated his chin.
“Wait a second, Binnie, I know,” you kept your voice level and calm despite how frantic you felt. “Is it a scary cry or a boo-boo cry?”
It took him several deep inhales and sniffling exhales before he could sob out, “Scary and boo-boo cry, Mommy!”
“Oh, baby,” you immediately enfolded him in your arms, cradling him to your chest gently. “What hurts, Binnie? Can you show me the boo-boo?”
It was then that one of his teachers finally joined you, an apologetic look on her face, “Ms. Y/N, I am so sorry. We would have called, but it happened right before the end of the school day.”
“What happened?”
“Woobin had an incident with another friend.”
“An incident? What sort of incident?” You looked around for another crying kid, expecting that they both had gotten hurt doing something together.
Woobin had just pulled up the left sleeve of his whale patterned longsleeve shirt when his teacher explained to you, “Woobin got bit.”
And there, on your son’s upper arm was the bright red imprint of teeth marks. In fact, it seemed to have been so recent that you could still see the indents in his skin. You were filled with such a burning, white hot rage that your skin tingled and if you weren’t already holding Woobin, you think you would’ve swung on someone. You liked to consider yourself a level-headed person, in control of your emotions, but it was practically all out the window in that moment.
“He got bit?” You repeated her phrasing incredulously. “You mean another kid bit him.”
“I understand that this can be upsetting—”
“How did this happen?” You demanded, pulling Woobin’s sleeve back down and wrapping your arms around him tighter. “What were you doing?”
“Ma’am, I think it would be best for all of us to have a discussion about this together.”
“All of us? Including the biter’s parents? I want to know what you are going to do to make sure my child is safe at your preschool before I even think about bringing him back here, much less have some mediation like he’s at fault as much as the kid who bit him.”
The teacher paused, as if waiting to see if you were done, before speaking again, “Ms. Y/N, it is our policy in such incidents to have a meeting between school personnel and the guardians of both involved children, regardless of... injury. In order for Woobin to keep his spot, you two are required to attend this meeting. We understand if you wish to seek out different accommodations for him, however, we’ve found that all parties are typically satisfied with the outcome of this process. I highly encourage you try it, and if you still want to pull Woobin from our program after, that is of course your decision as his mother.”
Your chest was heaving as you took deep breaths, clenching your jaw as you stared her down. After a few moments of deliberation and listening to your son’s continued sobs, you let out a short and bitter sigh, “When would this meeting be?”
“After school tomorrow. Will you be available then?”
“Fine. Yes,” you stood up with your boy still in your arms, shifting him onto your hip. “But Woobin will not be at school tomorrow.”
“He will be missed,” she nodded with that same placid smile.
As you stalked out of the classroom, you passed by a father and son speaking to the other teacher.
The next day, you dropped Woobin off at your parents’ place with a peck on his forehead and profuse ‘thank you’s to them. You had vented to your mother on the phone the night prior, after putting your son to bed, finally letting loose all the obscenities that you had wanted to in the preschool. Your mom gladly took her grandson for the day before shooing you off to work.
You then had to leave work a little early to pick Woobin up from your parents’ to take him to the preschool since the meeting was to take place right after the school day ended. For some godforsaken reason that escaped you, they required the kids to be in attendance at the meeting too. As if your three-year-old was really going to be testifying about the entire situation. The most him being there could accomplish was prove that he had a bite mark, which a picture on your phone could also do.
After a “give ‘em hell” from your mom, and an offer to come along from your dad, which you contemplated for a moment, then declined, you started for the school. While your dad coming along would make you feel better, it would also make you feel like you were buying your first car again and were afraid of the salesman trying to scam you for being a woman. This was a meeting about the welfare and treatment of your son, you could do this.
Standing in the lobby with some other parents who were milling around, waiting for the respective classrooms to announce they were ready for pick-up, you found yourself tapping your foot impatiently. The 1-year-olds picked up first, then the 2-year-olds. As those families filtered out, you were left with only a few parents, as this section of the school only went up to 3-year-olds. The 4-year-olds went to a different wing of the building for VPK, and you knew that the other buildings on the rather expansive campus held an elementary, middle, and even high school.
You felt Woobin shift in your arms to get comfortable, and readjusted him to your other hip, “Sorry, Binnie, I know you’re tired.”
“Do you two want to sit?” A voice spoke up from behind you.
You turned around and had to look down at a man in a suit sitting on one of the padded benches in the lobby. He was presumably some kind of businessman from the nice upkeep and fit of his suit, even as he had loosened the tie a little bit for being off of work. His handsome, friendly smile would’ve made your heart skip a beat on any other day, if you weren’t on a mission today.
All of the seating had been taken up when you got there, and you didn’t even think to look around for open spots as other parents started to leave.
The man shifted to one end, gesturing towards the open spots that could fit probably three adults comfortably. You smiled at him gratefully, “Oh, yes, thank you.”
You sat down, keeping your sleepy Woobin on your lap. Being at his grandparents’ today had thrown off his usual nap schedule, and you rubbed his back soothingly. Rolling up his sleeve which was on the side opposite from the man, you inspected the bite mark. It had blossomed into a rather gnarly bruise overnight, all blue and purple, and it only made anger churn again in your chest. He hadn’t given any indication that it still hurt as you fixed his sleeve, thumb tenderly swiping over the area after.
Finally, the three-year-old class was dismissed for pick-up, and the other parents gathered their children. You hung back, waiting for all of them to filter out, before you approached the classroom. You figured the parents of the biter would still be in there, but hadn’t expected the man who had offered you a seat to be the one there with another little boy and the teachers.
“Wonderful, everyone is here,” Mrs. Chen, the older of the two teachers, announced.
“Qian Kun.” The man took it upon himself to do the introductions, bowing to you politely. He then ruffled the hair of the boy standing beside him, just above knee-height, “And this is my son Junyi. I am deeply sorry for Junyi biting Woobin, Miss…?”
“Y/L/N Y/N,” you half-nodded half-bowed back to him as best you could with Woobin in your arms. “And before we get into all that, what I really want to know is—” You rounded on the teachers. “How this could have even happened.”
Ms. Xu, the younger teacher with whom you had spoken yesterday, opened a door on the far side of the classroom, “Of course. We’ll be having the meeting in here.”
With a short sigh at how your question was once again brushed off, you stepped into the interior office space. It looked like it must be where the teachers took their breaks and did any sort of administrative work. A few desks were against the walls, closed laptops and bags set on a couple of them. There was a table set up in the middle, four chairs around it, and a small area with toys off to the side.
“We have a place over there for the children to play while we discuss,” Ms. Xu smiled, gesturing to the toys you’d spotted when you walked in.
Mr. Qian nodded, gently directing his son towards them, “Go on and play for a bit, Junyi. Daddy’s going to talk right over here, okay?”
Junyi toddled over and plopped himself down on the playmat, picking up a truck and doll, easily entertaining himself. The other three adults looked to you and your son expectantly.
“Thank you, but Woobin is going to be staying with me,” you informed them. All the talking had made Woobin stir, but he seemed rather content in your arms anyway, simply looking between all the adults with big, curious eyes.
“Ms. Y/L/N, I assure you, I had a talk with Junyi last night and again this morning about not biting our friends. He shouldn’t be doing that anymore.”
“And I assure you, Mr. Qian, my concerns are not about your parenting,” you told him frankly. “But Woobin will be remaining with me for the duration of this meeting.”
“Ms. Y/L/N, really, Woobin will be fine with Juny—”
“Mr. Qian, I’m failing to see how this is any of your concern.”
“Because you’re treating my kid like he’s a felon.”
“Well yours treated mine like a chew toy so excuse me for exercising some caution,” you finally snapped, tightening your grip around your son and cradling the back of his head.
Mr. Qian’s jaw dropped, and Mrs. Chen cut in before he could say anything else.
“Let’s all sit down and try to have a more productive discussion.” The words were phrased like a suggestion, but the stern tone she said them in very much let you know that they weren’t. “Ms. Y/L/N, Woobin can of course be wherever you are most comfortable having him.”
You nodded to her curtly, taking a seat at the table. With Woobin more awake, you turned him in your lap to face the table, and set up a couple toys and small games on the tabletop to keep him occupied. The teachers took a seat beside each other, leaving you and Mr. Qian sitting caddy-corner.
“First, I want to know what happened,” you demanded, entirely focused on the two teachers.
Ms. Xu took over the explaining, “The class had earned free play yesterday after finishing their curriculum work early. After, we were doing our end of the day clean-up activities, which all of the students help with. Junyi and Woobin were assigned to pick up toys this week. It seems there was a disagreement about who was going to be putting away a specific toy, a whale. Woobin was bit.”
You clenched your jaw at that passive phrasing again. “And where were you two when this was going on?”
“Mrs. Chen was assisting the students who were cleaning the snack tables on the other side of the room. I was the one overseeing the students tidying that side of the room.”
“What do you mean when you say disagreement? I’m trying to understand how it was allowed to escalate into biting.”
Mr. Qian finally spoke up again, “Ms. Y/L/N, Junyi has never done anything like this before, I honestly don’t know where this came from. He’s not a mean kid.”
“Mr. Qian, that is not what I said nor asked,” you turned to him coolly. “I want to know what exactly she was seeing and how much time she had to intervene.”
Ms. Xu recalled, “The two of them were getting along fine. Junyi did seem to be getting a little frustrated, and Woobin was beginning to tear up, but there was no contact at that point, and we know how Woobin is.”
She glanced at the boy on your lap with a sympathetic look, and it took everything in you to hold back your revulsion at her. Yes, your son was quicker to cry than others, but that didn’t mean that as the adult, she shouldn’t investigate what exactly was making him cry.
“I was keeping an eye on the situation to see if they would resolve it on their own,” she tried to reassure you. “If I had thought that it would escalate like that at all, I promise I would have intervened. The contact was entirely unexpected and very sudden.”
“The biting.” You clarified flatly.
“Well, yes,” she nodded. “As soon as I saw it happen, both Mrs. Chen and I went over and separated the two. It was no more than a second or two at most, Ms. Y/N.”
“It sounds like you two did the best you could’ve,” Mr. Qian told the teachers before turning to you once more. “Ms. Y/L/N, again, I am so sorry that Junyi did this, but it sounds like it really did come out of nowhere.”
You pinched the bridge of your nose, inhaling deeply to recenter yourself. Entirely ignoring Mr. Qian’s platitudes, you looked at the teacher, “It took you just a second or two to separate them?”
“Yes,” she confirmed.
“Binnie, may I?” You murmured to your son, reaching for the sleeve of his shirt.
“Okay, Mommy,” he easily let go of his toy for you.
Rolling up the longsleeve of his shirt you turned him a little to show off the deep black, blue, and purple bruise in the perfect shape of a set of little teeth to the other three adults sitting around the table with you. Ms. Xu audibly gasped, Mrs. Chen covered her mouth and looked away, and Mr. Qian had the most visceral reaction, grimacing with his whole upper body as if he’d been slapped.
“I simply find it hard to believe that it was only a mere one or two seconds when my son’s arm looks like this now,” you stated, making firm eye contact with both teachers. “So, I will ask again: How long did it take you to separate them?”
Mrs. Chen and Ms. Xu exchanged uncomfortable looks before the older woman took over speaking.
“Ms. Y/N, I’m not sure if you’ve had experience with removing a child that’s bitten onto another and won’t let go, but you can’t simply rip them apart without causing further damage to the other child’s skin. Ms. Xu couldn’t separate them on her own, she had to wait for me to get there, and as we’ve already said, I was on the other side of the classroom. So yes, it did take longer than we would have liked to separate the two.”
“So it took longer than two seconds, which is what you just told me, twice. You have lied to me twice now about how my child got injured in your classroom.” You rolled Woobin’s sleeve back down, absentmindedly patting his head. Leaning forward as much as you could with him there, you jutted your pointer finger decidedly into the tabletop outside of his toys, “So now I want to know what you and the school are going to do to ensure my son’s safety in your classroom.”
The father beside you suddenly jolted into action at your words, “Ms. Y/L/N, Junyi won’t—”
You rounded on him incredulously, doing your best to both be firm while not absolutely losing it on him, “Mr. Qian, I have already told you that I am not here to concern myself with how you parent your child. And I think the fact that you take my concern for my own child’s wellbeing as an affront to your relationship with yours says more than I would ever think is appropriate for me to.”
Okay, maybe you lost it on him a little.
With him sufficiently dumbfounded, you were able to focus back on the school staff in front of you, “Now please, can we get back to the topic at hand? I want to know what you two plan on doing about classroom management and observing the children under your care to prevent future incidents like this from happening. And I want it written down in a formal document, with assurances from your superiors about how both that and your staff training on communication with parents will be handled, because it certainly can’t include lying to them.”
Ms. Xu looked down at her lap guiltily, while Mrs. Chen simply looked disgruntled. You held the older woman’s gaze steadily, having a distinct feeling that little lie you’d been told was her doing, and the junior teacher was following her own superior’s lead.
“Of course, Ms. Y/N. I will call the principal right now to aid in drawing up the document you’ve requested,” Mrs. Chen acquiesced, standing up and moving over to one of the desks, picking up the landline phone sitting there.
You nodded to her, finally letting your eyes drop down to your kid in your lap. You were unable to fight off the smile that spread across your lips as you looked at your son, picking up one of his hands and bringing it up to your mouth to kiss his little fingers.
“My turn Mommy!” He squealed, grabbing one of your fingers and giving it a comically loud smooch.
You could feel Mr. Qian’s gobsmacked stare on you still, but ignored him. You’d done what you came here to do, none of which involved making nice with the biter’s parents. While what you’d said about not wanting to comment on his parenting was true, that didn’t mean that you hadn’t formed a silent opinion or two about it, especially with how defensive he was. Needless to say, with how he’d attempted to handle this, you didn’t really think very highly of Mr. Qian.
After leaving the mediation with your own copy of the formal plan on how the three-year-old classroom’s management and safety procedures were going to be tweaked—with specific policies about biting and inter-student de-escalation—and a form that you and Mr. Qian had signed attesting that you participated in and were satisfied with the mediation process, you paused in the lobby of the school. You were juggling too many things: the papers, some of Woobin’s toys, Woobin, your purse, all while trying to get your car keys.
“Hey, you need some help?”
You turned to Mr. Qian with a strained smile, “No, thank you, we’re okay.”
Considering the conversation over, you went to set Woobin down on the ground, “Here, Binnie, wait right here next to Mommy.”
“Oh, glad to see his legs do work.” The man was apparently still there.
“Yes, they do.” You pressed your lips into a flat line, not very amused. “And I don’t appreciate the passive-aggressive comment on my parenting, Mr. Qian.”
“I didn’t mean—”
“Your joke was referencing the fact that the entire time you’ve seen Woobin and me this afternoon, I’ve been either carrying him or holding him in my lap, despite the fact that he can stand on his own. You’ve been letting your son walk on his own all afternoon and haven’t picked him up once. Thus, implying that I’m coddling my son and raising him to be dependent on me, while you’re raising yours to be independent.” You tossed Woobin’s toys into your purse, then folded the papers in half to tuck in as well. “Trust me, I’ve dealt with lots of people thinking they can give me unwarranted advice on parenting. Especially men who think I’m going to give him one too many hugs and he’ll develop an Oedipus complex. They also presumably think that my uterus is roaming around my body causing me to become hysterical while I’m telling them off, too.”
Having finally fished your car keys out from the bottom of your purse, you hoisted Woobin back up into your arms, defiantly making eye contact with the father, “Goodbye, Mr. Qian.”
A couple weeks of uneventfully picking up Woobin from preschool passed by. You saw Mr. Qian in the lobby, or passed by him in the classroom, of course. But you made no moves to talk to or even acknowledge him, nor he you. Ms. Xu seemed genuinely apologetic about what happened, doing everything possible to ingratiate herself to you at every opportunity, chatting you up at pick-up, asking about your day at work, or telling you about how well Woobin did at curriculum or art or such during the day. Mrs. Chen was cordial, and did your requested weekly check-ins on how the implementation of the new procedures were coming along. You sincerely engaged with and thanked her after each update. After all, you wanted your relationship with your son’s teachers to be productive, not adversarial. As long as they were done lying to you.
Today when you went to pick up Woobin, he was contently sitting in his chair at a table, swinging his feet under him. You squatted down beside him, mussing up his hair a bit, “Hey, Binnie. Have a good day?”
“Yes,” he nodded, reaching out towards you, and you grabbed his hand. “Missed Mommy.”
“And I missed Binnie!” You replied, squeezing his little tummy, delighting in the bright little giggle he let out. “Now come on, bubbles, let’s go home.”
“Oh, Ms. Y/N!” Ms. Xu was suddenly at your side before you could stand up.
“Ah, hello, Ms. Xu, how are you?”
“I’m very excited, actually. But first, Woobin had a fantastic day at school today. He went down so easy for naptime, and he finished the curriculum so fast that we brought out a 4-year-old worksheet for him just to see, and he did that one too! It was some counting, and he did great!”
You turned to your son with a grin, “Did you have fun doing all that counting, Binnie?”
He nodded enthusiastically.
“And are you proud of yourself, bubbles?”
“Yes, Mommy. Can I have a high five?”
“You can have two high fives,” you held out both your palms for him to smack his little hands into.
Turning back to the teacher, you indulged her in the question she very clearly wanted you to ask, “And why are you so excited, Ms. Xu?”
She handed you the piece of paper in her hands, “Well, the Fall Festival is coming up. The entire campus pitches in to put it on, and this year the preschool is running the Bake Sale table. We’re asking parents to volunteer to either bring treats, set up, break down, or do a shift running the table. If you’re able.”
It looked like you were the first parent Ms. Xu had given the sign-up sheet to, all the slots were empty. Eight slots to bring different baked goods, and two slots for each hour-long shift. While you weren’t exactly feeling charitable to the school—Woobin’s bruise still hadn’t fully healed—you noticed the text at the top of the sign-up sheet advertising that any parent who volunteered would get two free ride tickets. Woobin hadn’t gone on his first Ferris Wheel yet, and that was a memory you were looking forward to making with him.
“The ride tickets—” You tapped that part of the paper to draw Ms. Xu’s attention to it. “Will there be a Ferris Wheel?”
Her face immediately lit up and she nodded fervently, “Yes! And Woobin should be just big enough as long as he sits in your lap.”
Well, you could kill an hour running a Bake Sale table with another random preschooler’s parent then take Woobin on the Ferris Wheel. You quickly scribbled down your name for the first hour after the set-up shift, then handed the paper back to Ms. Xu.
The day of the Fall Festival was upon you, and you were holding Woobin’s hand as you walked across the expansive campus grounds. The booth where the preschool’s Bake Sale was set up was near the other food and carnival games towards the front of the grassy clearing, and you could see the Ferris Wheel at the very back. You were about fifteen minutes early, and most vendors were still finishing setting up. Since you were doing the first shift, you wanted to make sure you weren’t late, as well as see if there was anything from set up that you could help with if needed.
The Bake Sale booth was easy to find, and you saw two men there carrying in large tubs filled with containers of various baked goods.
“Good morning!” You greeted them brightly. “Are you the set-up crew?”
“Johnny Suh,” the taller of the two gestured to himself, then to his companion, “Jeong Jaehyun.”
“Nice to meet you two, I’m Y/L/N Y/N, and this is Woobin. I’m on the first shift. Your kids are in the three-year-old class as well, right?”
“Yes, Sungchan,” Mr. Jeong confirmed with a smile. “I think I’ve seen you around the classroom at drop off and pick up before.”
“And Mark is my boy,” Mr. Suh nodded, then looked around the property. “Well, these are the last of it. Now, he should be around here somewhere…”
You followed Mr. Suh’s gaze, and your stomach dropped as you recognized two familiar figures approaching the table from the direction of the school. Qian Kun was holding a metal box in one hand, and his son’s hand with the other. He set the metal box down on the table.
“Sorry, had to get the money box from Mrs. Chen in the classroom,” he explained, then looked to the two men with you. “Thank you, Mr. Suh, Mr. Jeong. Ms. Y/L/N and I have got it from here.”
“Alright, we’ll see you at the end for break-down, then,” Mr. Suh slapped Mr. Qian’s shoulder in a friendly gesture.
“Goodbye, Ms. Y/L/N, Mr. Qian. You too, Woobin and Junyi!” Mr. Jeong gave waves to all four of you before taking off after the other man who was already several long strides away from the table. “Hey, Johnny!”
Two pop-up chairs were set up behind the table, and Mr. Qian grabbed a bag that was beside one, unfurling a playmat from the inside and laying it down on the ground beside the table. He poured out a bunch of toys too, then squatted down beside his son.
“Alright, Junyi, I need you to look at me. Daddy needs you to play on this blanket today, okay? If you need to go off the blanket, you have to tell Daddy first. It’s so we can stay safe. You cannot leave the blanket without telling Daddy. All your favorite toys are there, you’re going to play with them and have fun. I’ve got snacks and stuff, too. But you need to stay on it. Do you understand, Junyi?”
“Yes, Daddy.”
“Okay, can you please tell me what you’re going to do then?”
“I’m going to play on the blanket.”
“And what if you want to leave?”
“I ask Daddy.”
“Why?”
Junyi’s face screwed into a pout as he tried to remember. “I forgot, ‘m sorry…”
“That’s okay, buddy. It’s so we can be safe,” Mr. Qian repeated it for him. “Now, why are we going to stay on the blanket?”
“So we can be safe.”
“Good, buddy,” He ruffled his son’s hair. “Now go play, I’ll be right here at this table.”
The man stood up straight again, his eyes flicking over you briefly as he began organizing the sweets on the table.
“Good morning, Ms. Y/L/N. Woobin is welcome to play on the mat with Junyi during the shift, if you’re comfortable with that, of course.”
“Oh, thank you.” You led Woobin over to the mat as well. “Binnie, Mommy is going to be working for a while at this table. Your job is to stay on the playmat with Junyi, so that you two can stay safe, okay? You cannot leave the playmat without Mommy.”
“Okay, Mommy.”
“So tell me, what are you going to do?”
“Play with Junyi.”
“Where?”
“On the playmat.”
“Can you show Mommy what all the playmat is?”
He pointed to the edges of the yellow and blue blanket for you.
“And are you going to leave it without Mommy?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“So I can be safe.”
You grinned at him, “Thank you, bubbles. Go play, baby. Call for Mommy if you need me, okay?”
“Okay.”
After depositing a few more toys that you had brought along for Woobin on the mat, you returned to where Mr. Qian was setting out the food.
“Here,” he held a tray of brownies out to you. “These will go there, right in front of you.”
“Oh, got it.” You set them down exactly where he gestured. “So, you signed up for set up and the first shift?”
“I’m actually helping to run the Bake Sale, so I’m setting up, breaking down, and filling in for whichever slots nobody signed up for.”
“Wait, did you bake these, too?”
“Only the ones in containers with the green lids. Other parents contributed too.”
You looked over the baked goods he had indicated. All the ones in the green containers looked the best, you had considered in the back of your mind that one of the richer parents might have just bought them from a bakery and brought them in instead of baking themselves.
Sneaking a glance at the man beside you, you then panicked when you realized that he was already looking at you, expectantly holding out a plate of frosted sugar cookies.
“Here, next to the brownies.”
“Right, on it.”
Mr. Qian cleared his throat, “I am surprised, Ms. Y/L/N… that you’re allowing Woobin to play with Junyi.”
“I’ve also allowed him back at school for the past month, Mr. Qian.” You pointed out. “As I said, my issue has never been with Junyi, but with how the school handled the entire situation.”
“Hm.”
You let out a short sigh, “Though, I am sorry for some of the things I said at that meeting, they were out of line.”
“Some? May I inquire about which ones?”
“The chew toy thing…”
“Oh, yes.”
“And the whole ‘my concern over my child’s safety not being an affront to your relationship with yours.’ That was seriously… awful of me. Just so pretentious,” you breathed out, feeling ashamed as you relived your words. But if you were to ever expect to teach your son humility and owning up to his mistakes, you had to practice it yourself. “I said I wasn’t there to comment on your parenting and then I did exactly that in the exact same breath. I’m sorry, Mr. Qian, and I hope you can believe me when I say that.”
He held your gaze steadily, “I forgive you, Ms. Y/L/N.”
“Everything else I said, though, I stand by,” you reaffirmed pointedly.
“I understand,” he nodded.
You were pretty sure the festival had officially opened, as families had begun filtering in. Some were slowing down as they passed by your table to skim their eyes over your offerings, but none had stopped so far. So you were still just stuck there with Qian Kun and the overwhelming silence that felt like it was damn near suffocating you.
“So, what do you do for a living?” You finally decided to ask. If you weren’t going to be holding a grudge against the guy, you might as well make small talk.
“I’m in sales.”
Okay, small talk was not his forte. This was going to be like pulling teeth.
“Well it seems like they put the Bake Sale table in good hands, then.”
“What about you?” At least he understood reciprocity.
“Publishing.” Yeah, you weren’t any better than him. You stumbled to add on more information, “Uh, I’m a copy editor.”
“Is that like a proof reader?”
“Pretty much, yeah.”
And at that moment, your blessed first customers walked up to your booth, a group of high school students, and you leapt at the opportunity to get out of that awkward conversation.
When your hour shift was finally over, you gleefully picked Woobin and his toys up from the playmat, took your two free ride tickets from Mr. Qian, and waved goodbye to him and the new volunteer parent who had shown up to take over your slot.
“Alright, Binnie, the Fall Festival is our oyster,” you looked it over with shining eyes. “What should we do first?”
Two hours later, and you were just finishing up your slightly late lunch. You scrolled through the delightful pictures that you’d taken of you and Woobin on the Ferris Wheel, sending a couple to your parents before tucking your phone away.
“Dessert sounds good, don’t you think?” You suggested to Woobin, and the Bake Sale popped into your mind. Those desserts that Mr. Qian made had looked really good, and you weren’t able to try any when you were working the table this morning…
“Please, Mommy?”
“You didn’t even need to ask, bubbles, Mommy wants some dessert too,” you admitted, taking his hand in yours. “I think we should go get some of those sweets that Junyi’s dad made. How does that sound? Did you see them earlier?”
There was a short line that you bumped up against at the Bake Sale table, just a couple families ahead of you. When you finally got to the front, your greeting to Mr. Qian stopped in your throat as you took in the empty spot beside him.
“Are you all by yourself, Mr. Qian?” You craned your neck to look around for signs of another parent.
He let out a tired sigh very clearly from deep within, eyes conveying a harrowed, ominous kind of exhaustion, “It seems as though the parent who signed up for the last four slots has skipped out on me. Been by myself for the past thirty minutes or so. I gave up on him about fifteen minutes ago.”
With a resolute nod, you hoisted your son up onto your hip and slid around to the other side of the table to stand beside Mr. Qian, “Binnie and I will finish the day out with you two then.”
“No, Ms. Y/L/N, you really don’t have to. I’m sure you have things to do, and I can run a preschool Bake Sale by myself.”
“Junyi! Come play with Woobin over here please!” You called after the little boy that you’d spotted toddling a little too far away from the playmat for comfort.
The man whipped around as his son came waddling back over at the sound of his name, clearly unaware that he had just wandered off. He squatted down to chastise the boy, reminding him to stay on the blanket. Junyi nodded, plopping down with his toys.
“I’m not leaving you out to dry, Kun,” you told the father frankly, sitting Woobin and his toys back down on the playmat too.
He gave you a frazzled smile, “Thanks, Y/N.”
Another couple hours passed by of you and Kun jointly running the Bake Sale table. Word had apparently spread since the first hour that you’d done with him in the morning, and the treats were extremely popular. Your line was never empty for more than a minute or two, and often times wrapped past other booths. Now you could see why Kun was so out of it when you had gotten there, he had been doing this by himself, even for just thirty minutes, with Junyi there.
The two of you fell into a symbiotic rhythm of taking orders, payment, handing out food, and keeping an eye on the two boys with you.
In a rare, brief lull between customers, you were caught off-guard when it was also quiet behind you. The telltale giggles, babbling, and nonsense conversation of Woobin and Junyi had faded out. You frowned thoughtfully as you finished rearranging the brownies in front of you, about to turn around to investigate anyway when a heart-wrenching wail pierced the still air. Immediately, you went to jerk around to comfort your crying Woobin, but were stopped in your tracks, so caught off-guard to see that it wasn’t your son sobbing. He was standing in front of Junyi, who was sat on the playmat, half-crying and half-screaming his head off.
Kun couldn’t get the cash in his hand into the register fast enough, and you rushed over to try to get Woobin to at least back up. Crowding Junyi definitely wasn’t going to help.
But you stopped as you realized that Woobin was talking to the other boy.
“Junyi, scary or boo-boo?” Woobin quietly asked him. After he didn’t get a reply, he asked again, “Scary or boo-boo?”
Junyi managed to blubber out, “Scary!”
Kun had finally arrived on the playmat while you watched on with wide, bewildered, and awestruck eyes as Woobin gave Junyi a big hug. The dad looked even more confused than you.
“What’s going on?”
You held up a finger for him to wait a moment, then turned to your son, “Binnie, do you know what happened to Junyi? Why is he having a scary cry?”
“Junyi fell down, Mommy,” he answered you dutifully.
“Okay, thank you,” you nodded to him. Looking at Kun, you explained, “Seems like Junyi just fell down. I don’t think he’s hurt, it just gave him a scare.”
“Daddy!” Junyi whimpered, and Kun gently extracted him from the other toddler’s arms to bring him into his own. Cradling his son, Kun murmured soft reassurances to him as the boy clung to his neck.
“Uh, thank you, Woobin,” he nodded to your son. “I’ve got Junyi from here.”
“You’re welcome,” Woobin replied, but you could see the moistness gathering in his eyes too. Oh, your big-hearted kid.
Both you and Kun brought your respective kids back to the table with you, sitting in the pop-up chairs with them in your laps. The two of you were quiet until Junyi’s sobs had simmered down into little hiccups, and you could feel that Woobin’s breathing had evened out into a nap.
“Okay, how did you do that?” Kun whispered at you.
“Do what?” You replied just as quietly.
“Get Woobin to do what he just did.”
“By asking him the exact same question pretty much every single time he’s cried for the past three years,” you answered honestly. “And he didn’t use to even answer me, much less ask other people that. That’s the first time he’s ever done that, actually.”
“Huh…”
Mr. Suh and Mr. Jeong came back an hour and a half later to help break down the table. It had been a pretty successful endeavor, if you did say so yourself, as there were only a handful of treats left, which you and Kun offered to a group of high schoolers who came by after break-down.
With everything packed up except the cash drawer, Kun turned to you with finality, “I’ve just got to drop this off with the front office and that’ll be it. Thanks, Y/N. You and Woobin were a big help today.”
“Of course. Sorry about that parent who skipped out on you. Who was it, anyway?”
“A… Mr. Nakamoto?” Kun read off the paper. “I’ve never heard of him.”
“I think I’ve chatted with him in the lobby a couple times. His son’s in the two-year-old class if I remember correctly?” You strained your memory, then gave up. “Oh, whatever. Maybe he just had an emergency or something.”
“That’s one way to look at it.”
“Anyway, have a goodnight, Kun, Junyi,” you nodded to the two of them, then squeezed your son’s hand. “Binnie, we’re leaving, do you want to say something to Junyi and Mr. Qian?”
Your son perked up, giving the two of them a bright smile and big wave, “Goodbye!”
“Junyi?” Kun prompted his son from where he was tucked into the father’s chest. “Tell Ms. Y/L/N and Woobin goodbye, you won’t see Woobin until Monday.”
“Bye, Woobin. Bye… Ms. Y/L/N.” Junyi said in between yawns, rubbing at his eyes. Poor guy seemed absolutely tuckered out.
“Goodnight,” Kun gave you one last nod before heading towards the school, and you and Woobin took off towards your car.
Monday morning you released Woobin’s hand to let him scamper into his classroom, giving Ms. Xu a wave of acknowledgement as you signed the morning drop-off sheet by the door. You were about to take off for work when a hand grabbed your elbow, and you hadn’t even realized that Ms. Xu had approached you, all too focused on heading to work.
“Ms. Y/N!”
“Ah, Ms. Xu, good morning,” you greeted her. “Is something the matter?”
“No, I just wanted to thank you for pitching in with the Bake Sale on Saturday. Mr. Qian informed us that he wouldn’t have been able to pull it off without your help.”
You looked around for Kun. You were only able to spot Junyi, however, coloring with Woobin at a table. Seems like he’d already come and gone. Great, now you had a reputation for being a helpful mom.
You shook off both her hand and her praise, “Oh, really Mr. Qian is exaggerating. He works in sales, did you know? Honestly didn’t need my help.”
“Well, whatever you two did, it was our most successful Bake Sale—well, any kind of fundraising event—for the preschool ever! And, we were wondering if the two of you would consider getting more involved in some parent leadership positions at the school? The preschool PTA have been trying to get a fundraising committee off the ground, and we really think that you two would do a fantastic job spearheading—”
You must have had some kind of look on your face, as Ms. Xu suddenly stopped dead in the middle of her sentence, entirely switching trains of thought. Keeping her same peppy tone and bright, hopeful smile, she said, “I am so sorry to have thrown so much at you. You must have to be getting to work. Why don’t we talk about it later when you come pick Woobin up? All of us, Mr. Qian, too. Goodbye, Ms. Y/N!”
And with that you were ushered out of the door, utterly dumbfounded at what had just happened.
That afternoon, you squared your shoulders and steeled your nerves as you approached the preschool doors. You had to keep your resolution firm: you were absolutely not going to be joining any sort of PTA, fundraising committee, or parent leadership position. The only thing that you were going to be spearheading was cracking open the bottle of wine that was waiting for you at your apartment tonight.
You were a little earlier than you usually were for pick-up, which you had done on purpose, needing to clear the air with a certain Mr. Qian Kun. Immediately homing in on the man, you made a beeline for him. He noticed you, his friendly hand falling as he seemed to notice the set of your brow.
“Good afternoon, Y—”
“Qian Kun,” you cut him off sternly. “Do you care to tell me why I was voluntold for a position spearheading a fundraising committee this morning?”
“Oh, that. Look, it came as a surprise to me too,” he tried to assuage you.
“Why the hell did my name even come out of your mouth in such a discussion in the first place?”
“Because they were praising me on how well the Bake Sale went, and I was making sure you got the credit that you deserved too. Are you upset about that? If so, I’m sorry? I guess?”
“You listen to the words coming out of my mouth: I will be a PTA mom over your dead body,” you hissed, scooching in to take the spot on the bench beside him and free up more standing space for the parents coming in.
“Okay, let’s take a step back from the threats, maybe, Y/N,” Kun suggested, holding his hands up in both a defensive and ‘are you kidding me?’ gesture. “What’s so awful about being a PTA parent in the first place?”
“Free labor for so little reward, and I don’t have the time for that. Do you?”
“We haven’t even heard their proposal; we don’t know what they’d be wanting us to do.”
“‘Spearheading a committee’ sounds like a part-time job at least.”
“Alright, well, didn’t Ms. Xu tell you that you and I held the most successful fundraising event the preschool’s ever had? And that wasn’t even with us making a concerted effort, either, that was just some random mid-grade effort Bake Sale. Imagine what we could do if we really go for it.”
“You work in sales, huh?” You deadpanned after his little pitch was finished. The one-year-old class opened for dismissal, and you leaned in towards him to continue your fervent conversation in a more hushed voice, “And can’t even realize when you’re the one being sold to! You do know that this campus has a bunch of filthy rich donors, right? They’re not hard pressed for cash, they just give the high school priority, then the middle school, primary, and the preschool gets the leftovers—if there’s even any—forcing it to have to fundraise for itself.”
“Isn’t that all the more reason to do this, then?” Kun pushed back.
“We could do a hundred Bake Sales and it wouldn’t make up the difference between the scraps the preschool gets and the millions that the high school does. No, it would be all the more reason for us to go find our own filthy rich donor who would put a stipulation on their donation for it to be used exclusively for the preschool.”
“Oh.”
“You’ve got to think bigger about this, Kun,” you knocked on his forehead with two of your knuckles as best you could in the narrow space between the two of you. “God. You said you work in sales, what do you even do?”
He rubbed at the back of his neck sheepishly, red tinging the tips of his ears, “Would you believe me if I said I’m a Director of Sales?”
“No,” you snorted.
“That’s fair.”
“So anyway, glad we’re on the same page about saying no to this.” You went to lean away from him and put some pep back into your tone, watching as the two-year-old class was dismissed next.
“What? I—” he looked around, it was only the three-year-old parents left in the lobby now. You sighed, scooting back over to sit shoulder-to-shoulder again for him to be able to continue in a hushed voice, “I thought we were going to find a donor for the preschool.”
“You want us to go in there, and say yes to leading the preschool PTA’s fundraising committee on the condition that its sole mission is to stage a coup within the financial hierarchy of the campus?”
“Okay well when you say it like that—”
“I’m in.” You grinned at him. “As long as you were being serious about the Director of Sales thing.”
“I was,” he fished out a business card from his wallet to hand to you.
Qian Kun, Director of Sales, WeiShen, Inc.
And below that was his email, office phone line, and fax number. You gave it back to him.
“Perfect. Those connections will come in handy.”
The door to the three-year-old classroom swung open just then, and you got to your feet.
“Alright, Mr. Qian, ready to go start the cutest coup the world has ever seen?” You offered your hand to him.
He stood up alongside you, giving your hand a firm shake, “Yes, absolutely, Ms. Y/L/N. They’ll never know what hit them.”
While Mrs. Chen and Ms. Xu were definitely caught off-guard by your idea, after getting over their initial shock, they were surprisingly on-board with it. They requested that you two bring in a more formal proposal to the next preschool PTA meeting— next Wednesday. That gave you nine days.
“So how did you know all that, about the donors and distribution structure of the funds?” Kun asked as you walked out into the empty preschool lobby.
“I did my research before picking a preschool for Woobin. It’s all there on the Internet if you dig deep enough, and are somewhat adept at reading through the legal bull—” You cut yourself off, looking down at the two toddlers with you. Kun pushed the front door open for you, and you quietly thanked him as you led Woobin through it before resuming your train of thought, “It’s obviously not in any of the advertising stuff for prospective parents, but for prospective donors, investors; the corporate materials.”
The four of you stopped in front of the building, where the small parking lot was.
“So then why did you enroll him here, even knowing about how they treat the preschool with the donations?”
“The high school is the best in the area, and the easiest way to guarantee admission is to graduate in from their middle school. Easiest way to get into the middle school is to graduate in from the primary school.”
“And the easiest way into the primary school is through the preschool,” the dad surmised.
“Bingo. I’m keeping Binnie’s options open,” you squeezed your son’s hand affectionately. “He doesn’t have to go there, but I’m making sure he can if he wants.”
Kun’s eyebrows shot up, “Wow. That’s some really forward thinking.”
You tilted your head curiously, “So why’d you choose to send Junyi here?”
“It was the closest to my place.”
“Practical, that’s more than fair.”
“Speaking of, Junyi and I should get going, we have to pick up a couple things from the store for dinner tonight and buddy already looks like he’s not going to last the two block walk there.” He looked down at his son, who was very quiet, glassy eyes fixed on his feet.
You nodded in understanding, “Of course, Binnie and I have a wine night planned.”
“I’m sorry, a what?”
“Oh, Binnie gets grape juice and I have red wine in matching cups. He likes to feel included.”
“Does he get a matching kiddie charcuterie board too?” Kun chuckled to himself as he hoisted Junyi up onto his hip.
“No, he just takes what he wants off of mine.”
He gave you a blank stare, “I can’t tell if you’re pulling my leg or not.”
“Look, he insists on trying whatever I have, and he ends up liking a lot of it,” you shrugged. “He’s the only 3-year-old I know who asks for tapenade as a snack.”
“You’re being serious?” He checked again.
“Yes,” you laughed. Then, before you knew it, the next words coming out of your mouth were, “You know, you and Junyi should join Binnie and I for a charcuterie night. I’ll prepare actual kid-friendly stuff, too, for Junyi.”
Kun’s head jerked back just the slightest, and he blinked a couple times before asking, “Uh, just you and Woobin?”
“Yeah, is— Would that, uh, be a problem?” The offer had felt perfectly normal and natural for you to make in the moment, but his reaction was making you second guess and stammer. You rushed to tack on, “We can— It’ll be for the fundraising committee, you know.”
“Right, right, of course.” His voice was filled with shaky relief.
“Of course,” you echoed, offering a strained smile.
“As long as that’s not a problem for—for you.”
“Why would it be a problem for me? I invited you.”
“I don’t— That sounds great, thank you, Y/N.”
Desperately wanting to get out of the plane crash that you had inadvertently taken this conversation into, you readjusted your purse on your shoulder decidedly, “Of course. Uhm, well, we won’t hold you two up from the store anymore, it looks like Junyi’s about to fall asleep on you right now. We’ll see you tomorrow.”
Kun looked down at Junyi’s head that had been resting against his chest, the boy’s eyes beginning to flutter shut, “Oh, God, there he goes. Bye, Y/N, Woobin!”
And the man was around the corner before Woobin could even lift his little hand to wave.
“So what’s the big deal, Y/N?”
“Well because I feel stupid now, Sooyoung,” you ranted to your friend over the phone that night as you washed up the dishes from dinner. “It felt like I was maybe finally getting my first like, parent friend, you know? And then he got all weird as soon as I invited him to hang out. I wasn’t being weird, was I? It was practically a playdate invite!”
Woobin had been put to bed a few minutes ago, and you were recounting the horrible nosedive that your conversation with Kun had taken, needing to know that you weren’t crazy.
“Y/N…” Sooyoung’s voice was patient as it came through your speakers. “Now, I can only guess, because I am, as we know, not a parent friend. But… is he married?”
“Huh?” The plate in your hand nearly slipped out of your soapy grip.
“Wedding ring, seen one?”
You wracked your brain, trying to remember if you’d ever really looked at Kun’s hands that closely, “Uh, not that I can remember?”
“Okay. You ever met the mom?”
“No, it’s always Kun who picks Junyi up.”
“Has a mom or another parent or partner ever been mentioned at all?”
“Sooyoung, the point,” you requested sternly, having a sneaking suspicion as to what it was.
“I’m just saying, maybe he got all weird because he thought you were flirting.”
“Oh my God,” you sighed and ran a hand through your hair before realizing that it was still soapy. “God damn it!”
“Y/N?”
You grabbed some paper towels to clean the suds off your head, “Yeah, still here, sorry.”
“Anyway… is he cute?”
“SooSoo, I don’t even think I could flirt on purpose at this point,” you chuckled cynically, going back to your chore. “That muscle’s long shriveled up. I just need to time skip to being married with two kids, I think.”
Your friend laughed along with you, “Fair. But, that doesn’t sound like a no. Kinda sounds like avoiding the question, actually.”
“Sooyoung.”
“Ooh, you gonna send me to my room?” She taunted you, and you could hear her pout through the phone. “Put me in time out?”
“You’d like that, you little freak,” you snickered, picking up your next dish.
That Saturday afternoon you and Woobin had welcomed Kun and Junyi into your apartment with giddy nerves. Woobin was excited, and you were excited for him. This would be pretty much his first playdate with a kid that he wasn’t related to. And you had all the nerves, as this was your first time having a parent friend over, too. Not to mention that Sooyoung’s words were still bouncing around in the back of your head. When Kun held out a bottle of red wine to you with his left hand, you looked extra hard at his fingers— yep, no ring.
“Oh, Kun, you didn’t have to,” you took it from him gladly, ushering the two of them further into your home.
“You’re hosting and making us a charcuterie board. I figured wine was appropriate,” he explained.
“Well, thank you. This is perfect.”
Woobin was right where you’d left him in the living room on his playmat among his toys.
“Binnie,” you said, waiting until he looked up at you before continuing, “Mr. Qian and Junyi are here, so we’re going to eat now, remember?”
He nodded, immediately standing up and beginning to shovel toys off to one side of his mat. You helped him slide the mat to the corner of the room.
“Uh, we’re just going to eat around the coffee table, if that’s alright,” you explained, gesturing to the cleared table in the middle of the living room.
“Yeah, of course,” Kun nodded.
“Great, great. Dining table kind of has a partially built LEGO set on it right now,” you chuckled as you set the wine bottle down. “I’m going to grab everything from the kitchen, be back in a second.”
“Oh, I’ll help.”
“No, that’s okay, I’ve already got a little helper,” you held a hand out expectantly towards your son. Woobin immediately grabbed your hand, looking up at you. You gave Kun a quick smile, “Be back in a sec.”
In the kitchen, you handed Woobin his spill-proof cup, then another for Junyi. You fit two wine glasses by the stems and a corkscrew in one hand, and grabbed the charcuterie board with the other. Gently nudging your toddler ahead of you, the two of you headed back out to the living room, where your guests were waiting.
Kun and Junyi had sat down on one side of the table, and you gently placed the food down in front of them, then one wine glass in front of Kun. You looked to your son, who handed the correct cup to Junyi.
“It’s just water,” you informed the dad. “We have juice too, if he can have it. I never know about allergies and the like so I didn’t want to assume.”
“Juice?” Woobin looked up at you with wide eyes.
“Yours is already grape juice, Binnie,” you informed him with a head pat.
Kun rubbed his son’s back, “Water’s fine for him, he had a juice box this morning. Thanks.”
You and Woobin sat opposite from the father and son, Woobin immediately clambering into your lap. As you went to uncork the wine, Kun looked over the board in front of you all. You had made sure to prepare some kid-friendly options in one corner in addition to your usual refined spread.
“This all looks fantastic, Y/N. Thank you, seriously,” Kun smiled, and you swore that was the first time you’d noticed a deep dimple appear on both of his cheeks.
You poured first for him, then yourself, “Of course. Thank you two for coming over, Woobin and I were both excited to host for someone. Right, Binnie?”
“What, Mommy?” Woobin looked up at you with a scrunched nose.
“‘Host.’” You repeated the unfamiliar word for him, then clarified your question, “Are you excited to have Junyi and Mr. Qian over?”
“Oh! Yes!” He nodded his head so fast you could feel the rest of his little body shake in your lap. “Can I show Junyi my room, Mommy?”
“After you two eat some, okay?”
“Okay!”
“Did you hear that, Junyi? After you eat, you and Woobin can play.” Kun gently prodded his son, then looked up at you apologetically when all the child did was yawn. “Sorry, he just woke up from a nap before coming over.”
“That’s okay,” you giggled, cutting off a piece of cheese and pressing it onto a cracker, then making another serving of the same cheese and cracker. You handed one to Woobin, keeping the other for yourself.
Woobin eagerly took a bite of the cheese and cracker you’d given him, washing it down with his grape juice.
Kun offered a bear-shaped cookie out to Junyi, who shook his head. The dad sighed, and pointed at a banana slice, then blueberry, then cheddar cheese slice that you’d cut into small star shapes. They all got head shakes.
“Are you hungry at all, buddy?”
“Yes!”
“Then what do you want? Ms. Y/L/N made sure to put out all that food just for you. I don’t think you want what Daddy is eating, buddy. It’s grown-up food.”
You chewed on the inside of your cheek, unsure of if you should speak up. It seemed like they both needed help, but you weren’t one to try to interject your own parenting if it wasn’t asked for.
Junyi squirmed in his dad’s arms for a moment before mumbling, “But Woobin’s eating it…”
Meanwhile Woobin had in fact helped himself to a kalamata olive, pre-pitted, happily munching away.
Kun seemed at a loss, rubbing at his brow, and you finally decided to jump in.
“Junyi, you can try some, too,” you told him encouragingly, leaning forward and reaching over the board. “Do you want to try the cheese Woobin was eating or the olive he just had? Or both?”
“Cheese, please.”
You cut off a small piece of the gouda, “Here you go.”
He took it in his small hands, “Thank you!”
“You’re welcome.”
You watched in amusement as Junyi ate the cheese, his features lighting up.
“Did you like it?”
“Yes! Can I try the olive?”
“Hey…” Kun’s voice held a slight warning as he pinched his son’s side.
“Can I try the olive please?”
“Thank you.” The dad patted the boy’s head before reaching around him for the glass of wine on the table.
You handed him an olive, both you and Kun watching with interest as he popped it into his mouth whole. Junyi’s face immediately screwed up in disgust. Without missing a beat, Kun held up a cupped palm with another short sigh, letting his son spit the food back out. Trying to hold back your giggles, you handed the dad a napkin.
“Thanks,” he accepted it, depositing the olive into the paper, and wiping his hand off.
After some more broadening of Junyi’s horizons—to mixed results—the board was mostly clear, and the kids had declared themselves full.
“Can I show Junyi my room now?” Woobin asked excitedly.
“Sure, Binnie. You two can go play,” you nodded, and he immediately scrambled off your lap. You held out a hand for him to use to balance himself as you kept talking, “Mr. Qian and I have some work to do, so we’ll be in here if you need us, okay?”
“Okay!” Both toddlers said in unison.
“Hey, look here,” Kun stopped his son before he could leave the room. The father waited until the boy was looking him in the eye before continuing, “Remember what we talked about before coming over? All week?”
Junyi nodded fervently.
“Good. Go have fun, buddy,” he ruffled his son's hair.
You watched the two of them speedwalk out excitedly, Woobin explaining the house rule of not being allowed to run because it’s not safe as they went.
Then it was just you and Kun. Sooyoung’s words echoed in the back of your mind.
“Alright, let me grab my laptop, then we can get to work,” you declared, getting to your feet.
A few hours later and the two of you had made good progress, only interrupted by the kids a few times here and there, mostly them wanting to show off toys or coloring pages, or Junyi had wandered in at one point seemingly just to make sure Kun was still there.
You had been adding something to your word document of notes when you realized that your house had been eerily quiet for too long. Fingertips hovering over the keys, you exchanged a suspicious look with Kun.
“Too quiet?” He asked knowingly.
“Yeah…” You frowned, setting your computer aside to get up.
Both of you treaded through your home until you got to Woobin’s bedroom. The door was open, and you were alarmed for a moment when you didn’t see either boy anywhere on the floor playing. Until you recognized two lumps under the covers of his toddler bed, Woobin and Junyi looking like they were going to sleep for the next hundred years or so.
“Oh, god, I am so sorry,” Kun shook his head, seeming about to go in there and grab his son.
You were between him and the room, however, and quickly turned the lights off and shut the door. “It’s okay, Kun. They just tuckered themselves out. That’s good.”
Latching onto his elbow, you pulled him back towards the living room, catching a glance at the time on the microwave as you went through the kitchen.
“Damn, it’s not even Binnie’s normal bedtime yet,” you chuckled.
You didn’t let go of Kun until you had pulled him back down onto the couch, and then held his (second) glass of wine back out to him pointedly. He had a fond smile as he took it from you, and you happily accepted your victory as you picked yours back up too. You left your laptop on the coffee table, shifting to entirely face Kun as you raised your glass to your lips.
Kun took a sip.
You took a sip.
“Do you want to ask me something, Y/N?” Kun scratched the back of his neck.
“Mm, sorry,” you apologized with a chuckle. “I zoned out on your face there, didn’t I?”
“Yeah, a bit,” he laughed.
“I was thinking, though.”
“What about?”
“You’re a Director of Sales…”
“Supposedly.”
“Supposedly,” you repeatedly humorously before moving on with your question. “Do you think we’ve got a good chance at getting a donor for the preschool? If our proposal is approved by the PTA on Wednesday, of course.”
You had expected some kind of business musings, or serious answer from Kun, but instead you watched with concern as his brow furrowed, his fingers drummed along his knee, and he suddenly became fidgety, shifting around in his seat. He stayed quiet, once again scratching at the back of his neck, squinting one eye closed, then the other.
“Kun?” You said his name hesitantly.
“Sorry,” he shot you a familiar, frazzled smile that reminded you of when he was getting overwhelmed at the Bake Sale booth by himself. “I uhm, I don’t know.”
“That’s okay,” you reassured him. “I was just curious, it’s not life or death that you know everything all the time.”
He didn’t even seem to hear you as he stood up, setting his wine glass down on the table. The dad began pacing back and forth in front of your couch, his hands laced together behind his neck.
“I’m good at my job.”
You would’ve sworn he wasn’t talking to you, except his wide, stressed eyes snapped up to you after he said that.
“I’m not your boss. You don’t need to convince me, Kun,” you said slowly.
“I know, just— with all this, it’s stuff that I should be good at, it’s right up my alley. But it’s for Junyi, and I want to be the best dad I can be for him that I just end up jumping into doing things without actually thinking about them first because other people are telling me that’s what I need to do to be a good dad. I know how to be a good Director of Sales. I don’t know how to be a good dad.”
“You don’t need to know everything,” you reiterated strongly, hoping he actually listened this time. “I don’t know all the secrets for being a good mom. I just know how to be Woobin’s mom. You don’t need to know all the secrets to being the best dad ever. The only thing you need to worry about is being Junyi’s dad. Does that seem a bit more manageable?”
Kun’s pacing slowed to a stop in front of you, “Well, I guess.”
“So, the next time somebody is trying to sell you on some ‘Dad Thing,’ stop, breathe, and think: Is this what I, Qian Kun, as Junyi’s dad, need to do, to be?”
“Okay…” he looked at you skeptically, closing his eyes for a moment. You watched as his shoulders rose and fell with a deep breath.
“…Are you doing it right now?”
“Well how else am I supposed to decide if this is a good thing to do or not?”
You let out a hearty laugh, “No, that’s perfect, Kun, go ahead.”
He closed his eyes again, and you watched with fond amusement as his eyebrows quirked up and down with his thoughts. You took another sip of your wine before he had finished, and he opened his eyes once more, giving you a firm nod, “Okay, yes, I think that’s a thing that Junyi would need me to do.”
“Great,” you smiled at him, tilting your wine glass out to him.
He picked his back up and clinked it to yours in a little cheers. You tipped the remainder of your drink back in one go.
“Oh, that was good,” you declared. “Thanks, Kun.”
“Of course, Y/N. Thank you for inviting us.”
“Like I said, Binnie and I were both really excited to host,” you took your empty glass into the kitchen to start cleaning up. “I don’t know if this is bad, but he hasn’t really had a lot of play dates that weren’t like his cousins or something.”
“Junyi neither,” Kun admitted.
“It’s hard, isn’t it?” You asked, starting to stack the plates. “Kid, and work, and family, and friends, and everything else. And then you’re supposed to be in charge of your kid’s social life too?”
You’d turned your back on him to bring the plates into the kitchen, expecting to hear his response to your question, but you were just met with silence. After depositing the dishes in the kitchen, you walked back out to the living room, alarmed to see that Kun had taken to pacing again.
Keeping a calm demeanor yourself, you kept going about your task, grabbing the charcuterie board, the last thing that needed to be tidied up. You had just started back towards the kitchen when Kun broke his silence.
“Junyi’s mother left us.”
You were so glad you had your back to Kun so he couldn’t see your rueful wince. Oh, you were so going to regret this.
Relaxing your features into a more sympathetic frown, you turned around to face him, “I’m very sorry to hear that, Kun.”
This was going to be a lot, you could sense it, so you set the charcuterie board back down on your breakfast bar.
“So just know that however hard it is for you and Woobin’s dad, it’s like ten times harder for me, and that’s why I’m always—”
You had stopped listening to him, however, your brain turning to white noise after the phrase ‘Woobin’s dad.’
“Wait, do you think I’m married?” You blurted out over him.
“Well, no, I can see that you don’t have a ring,” Kun gestured down to your hands. “But a boyfriend or another significant other. I’m doing this solo and—”
“I’m a single parent too!”
“What?” He seemed dumbfounded.
You couldn’t tell if you wanted to laugh or cry more at how ridiculous this was.
“Woobin’s dad was a one-night stand! I can’t remember the guy’s name, or what he looks like. Couldn’t find him if I wanted to. I don’t have a partner now, either. What on Earth made you think I was anything other than a single mom? You’re in my home!” You gestured around wildly to where there were multiple pictures of your family, of you and Woobin, but none of you, Woobin, and any man that could reasonably be considered his father.
“Well you’re just— you’ve got— at the meeting— you’re so put together,” Kun stammered out, his voice getting smaller and smaller. He ran a hand through his hair, “You’re not falling apart at the seams like I am.”
“Kun.” You grabbed him by the shoulders, stopping his frenzied pacing. “Look me in the eye.”
It wasn’t really like he had a choice, you were now holding his face just a couple inches from yours, but he still followed your command.
“Good,” you praised him, keeping your voice soothing. “I want you to take three deep breaths with me.”
He followed along as you inhaled, exhaled, inhaled, exhaled, inhaled, and finally exhaled again together.
“Alright, thank you,” your voice was still sweet and calm as you ran your hands back down to his shoulders. “Now… why the fuck do you think I am more put together than you, Qian Kun?”
“Everything,” he breathed out, hanging his head.
“God, Kun,” you sighed, seizing him by the wrist. “Come on.”
You led him into your dining room, where there was in fact a half-built LEGO set on your dining room table. But that wasn’t your goal. On the bookshelf in there, you grabbed a specific picture frame, and took it and Kun back to the living room.
Sitting down side-by-side with Kun on the couch, you held the picture out in front of the two of you. It was of you and Woobin just over three years ago now, the first night you came home from the hospital. Your mother had taken it. He was swaddled in his baby blue blanket, all chubby cheeks, and you looked dead tired, but an excited sparkle was still in your eyes as you grinned down at your son.
“Look, Kun. I used to feel like that too. All the time. Almost every day when I was pregnant,” you relayed to him.
“But not anymore?” He questioned hesitantly.
“Sometimes. But not like before. Because I realized that I’m not doing this by myself.”
“What do you mean?”
“I may be a single mom, but I’m not alone, I have Binnie. And isn’t that the whole point? To be there for them? To make sure they know they’re not doing it alone either?”
Kun was quiet, his eyes still focused on the picture.
You continued, “I’m lucky enough to have my parents as a good support system, and some friends I can call up in case of emergency too. But I remember when I found out I was going to have Woobin, and I decided to keep him, I was scared of doing it by myself. Terrified, might be a better word.”
“When I came home from the hospital with him, my mom stayed with us for the first couple weeks.” You tapped the frame. “And the first night after she left, when it really was just the two of us, I was expecting this overwhelming sense of loneliness, and instead I just felt… full. I know I had all those birthing hormones in me, oxytocin and whatnot, but I looked down at him and I realized I wasn’t alone, and I wasn’t ever going to be in all this because I have Binnie.”
“I’ve never thought about it like that,” Kun finally spoke again.
Thinking about your cousin’s approach to parenting, you guessed, “You’ve always thought about him as the adversary?”
“Not exactly. Junyi’s more like a tiny roommate that I have to dress and feed and keep from accidentally dying.”
“I’d love to see pizza and beer night at your place.” You joked, laughing when you managed to get a small smile out of Kun again. “Does Junyi get his in a sippy?”
“You jest, but I have poured myself two fingers of whiskey into a Winnie the Pooh sippy cup before because it was the only clean drinking vessel we had.” He rubbed at his temples, then clarified, “With the lid off.”
“Desperate times call for desperate measures.” You patted his back, reaching across him to set the frame down on the side table by another one that was displayed there.
“Thanks, Y/N.” Kun’s eyes followed you as you sat back down, suddenly much closer than you remembered being before. Or were you just more aware of your proximity?
He patted your knee. “Seriously, that made me feel a lot better.”
“Of—” You cleared your throat to get rid of the squeak that was now in your voice. “Of course.”
Your skin tingled. Holy shit, you’d only had two glasses of wine spread across several hours, there was no way you should even be remotely buzzed. Kun was still looking at you. Were his eyes always this dark, this inviting?
God, he really was handsome. You’d always known that, thought that, since the moment you saw him in the lobby of the preschool. But something about now, having him in your home, so close, alone, you felt like you couldn’t take your eyes off of him. He wet his lips seemingly instinctually, and for a moment your brain short-circuited.
“Daddy?” A small voice made both you and Kun jump in your seats. You bit your tongue in surprise, hissing in pain as you and the dad simultaneously scooted away from each other. Junyi was standing at the threshold of the living room, rubbing one of his eyes sleepily.
“Hey, buddy.” Kun waved his son over with a smile. “Is everything okay?”
Junyi walked over, stopping in front of his dad, a small pout on his face. “I woke up and didn’t see you...”
“Oh, buddy,” Kun rubbed the toddler’s back. “Sounds like it’s about time for us to go home, huh?”
You smiled at the both of them, hoping they couldn’t see how frazzled you felt through it. “Of course, it’s late. I think we’re uh, we’re all tired. Junyi, is Woobin awake?”
The boy shook his head no.
“Okay, thank you.” You stood up, grabbing the wine glasses as Kun picked his son up.
You sent them off with a quick goodbye at your front door, and let out a deep sigh of relief once you’d closed it behind them. There weren’t many dishes to take care of in the kitchen, but you still took your time scrubbing at them, then tiptoed down the hall to check in on your son. He was in fact sound asleep, and you quietly went to retire in your own room for the night.
Except once you were in your own bed, sleep didn’t find you easy. You still saw Kun whether your eyes were open or closed, and you could feel the ghost of his warm hand on your skin. You rolled over into the center of the empty expanse of your bed, burying your face in your pillow, and let out a groan. You so needed to get laid. That’s all this was, you had set aside your own needs for your family’s and as soon as you saw one attractive guy, you couldn’t function. There were more important things to focus on with Kun, like the fundraising.
And so you went to sleep with thoughts of spreadsheets, Kun’s dark eyes, numbers, Kun’s warm hands on you, fundraising pitches, and Qian Kun running through your mind.
The fundraising pitch was a hit. Yours and Kun’s PTA committee was approved at the very same meeting, and you two were made co-directors effective immediately.
Afterwards, you, Kun, Woobin, and Junyi all walked out together, and while Kun seemed to be basking in the exhilaration of success, you were shell-shocked with a harrowing realization.
“Y/N?” Kun gently touched your arm, voice tinged with concern.
You looked up at him, horrified. “I’m a PTA mom now, aren’t I?”
He seemed to be holding back his laughter as he patted your shoulder. “I think you are. My condolences. Please don’t kill me.”
“Unfortunately, I don’t think I can dispose of my co-director so easily now.”
He was grinning at you. “Ah, didn’t realize that title came with such high protections.”
You rolled your eyes, but found your mood lifting anyway. “Yeah, yeah. Anyway, you mentioned that you had something exciting, but only if we got approval?”
“Right!” Kun let go of Junyi’s hand to reach into the interior pocket of his suit jacket. He retrieved a crisp cream envelope, about the size of his hand. His name was embossed on the front of it in gold lettering.
You looked at him with an eyebrow raised. “You got a wedding invite?”
“Close.” He opened the envelope, holding out the contents to you. You set Woobin down, murmuring a quiet request for him to stay by you all so you could take the card in both your hands. The front of the card had an unfamiliar crest on it, and you opened it to read the inside.
‘The United Publishing Society is honored to invite Mr. Qian Kun and a guest to their 89th Annual Benefactor Gala’
And below that was the date, time, location, and dress code. Black tie formal.
“A fancy networking event?” You questioned, handing it back to him.
“No,” he shook his head very seriously. “These are all the old industry bigwigs who want to get together without all that schmoozy networking and ladder-climbing stuff going on. You and I are probably going to be the youngest ones there by a couple decades.”
“Wait you and me?”
“Yep. ‘Mr. Qian Kun and a guest.’” He recited off the invite. “You’re my guest.”
“Uhm...”
“I happen to know that one of the guys attending is also on the board of a non-profit that donates exclusively to children’s causes. Building pediatric cancer centers, juvenile intervention centers, the whole nine. I think he’ll be our best bet for a donor.”
You narrowed your eyes suspiciously. “But you just said they want to get together without networking and all that kind of stuff. Why would we be any different?”
“It’s a charity gala, they’re already there to write checks anyway. We’re not going to be asking him for a job.”
It’s not you were exactly overflowing with any options. “When was that again?”
“What do we think?” You did a spin for your small audience of Woobin and Sooyoung. “Good enough for black tie formal?”
Tonight was the night of the gala Kun was taking you along to, and you sort of felt like you were going to throw up. And pass out. In that order. First of all, you had never been to a gala, you couldn’t remember if you had ever gone to something with a black tie formal dress code (you literally had to go out and buy this outfit), not to mention that you felt awful for having to ask your friend to babysit. But unfortunately your parents were out of town and all of your normal babysitters were busy. Sooyoung had already let you (jokingly) know that this was under duress, and that you owed her—despite turning down the money you offered her.
Sooyoung wolf-whistled at you, and you gave her a pointed look. Not the example you wanted to set for your son. Woobin looked up from his toys at the sound, and clapped for you.
“You look great, Y/N!” Your friend reassured you, and you were thankful that she reigned her mouth in around your kid. Typically, you would’ve gotten a much more explicit compliment from her. “Should be good for black tie. I mean, it’s not like you have any other option, right?”
“Right...” You groaned, turning back towards your room. “Hold on, let me put the shoes on so you can see those.”
You were sitting on your bed pulling your shoes on when you heard your doorbell ring. Your stomach dropped as you looked over at the time on your bedside clock. Shit, Kun was early. You should’ve anticipated that from the last time he was here.
“Soo! Can you get the door? I’m still putting my shoes on!” You yelled out through the apartment.
“Yep!” She called back.
You could vaguely hear the muffled voices of Sooyoung and Kun—and even Woobin at one point—but you were too focused on tugging your goddamn shoes on to care much about what they were saying. Just as you were finally standing up and straightening out your outfit, Sooyoung speedwalked into your bedroom, Woobin in her arms.
She had a smile filled with devilish delight on her face as she leaned in to whisper conspiratorially to you, “That is Kun?”
“Huh? Yeah? Unless you let some strange man into my home that I don’t know,” you replied, bewildered. “Should I have asked you to ID him?”
“I take back everything I said, you stay out as long as you want tonight. All night even,” she suggested, gesturing wildly with one hand as the other kept your toddler propped up on her hip. She pinched his cheek fondly. “BinBin and I can have a sleepover, right, buddy?”
Your son’s face lit up with delight at the prospect. “Sleepover?!”
Well aware of what your friend was implying, you did your best to regulate your outer emotions and intonation as you addressed your kid. You kept your tone kind but firm, “No, Binnie, I’m sorry.” Focusing your gaze on your friend, you added pointedly, “Nobody’s having a sleepover tonight.”
“Y/N, come on. You’ve never denied yourself the finer things in life since becoming a mom. Why are you insisting on starting now?” Sooyoung sighed.
“If you’ll excuse me, I have a gala to attend. For the fundraising committee I’m on.”
Walking through your apartment, you grabbed your purse from your dining room and finally found Kun in the foyer just a few steps from the front door. He was looking at a photo you had up on the wall, his back to you, so all you could see was his brown hair and dark suit.
“Hi, Kun!” You hoped you didn’t sound out of breath as you entered the room. Judging by the sound of footsteps behind you, Sooyoung had followed you in to see you off for the night.
Kun turned around at his name, hands clasped behind his back. He was dressed rather handsomely for the night in a tux with his hair neatly parted away from his face. But it was the starstruck smile on his face that made your skin warm up as he stopped in his tracks, just looking at you.
“Kun? You good?” You coughed awkwardly, well aware of your spectators.
“Sorry, sorry. Hello, Y/N.” He blinked and shook his head, stepping forward all the way to stand in front of you.
“You’ve already met my friend Sooyoung. She’s watching Woobin tonight for me.” You gestured to the two of them.
“So you two can take as long as you need!” She piped up oh-so-helpfully.
You turned to look at her with wide, pointed eyes.
“You know, chatting people up for your fundraising, or whatever,” she tacked on innocently.
“Thank you, SooSoo. I’ll see you later.” You pecked your son on the forehead. “Goodnight, Binnie. Remember, Mommy will be back late so Aunt SooSoo is going to put you to bed, and you and me are going to eat breakfast together, okay?”
“But Aunt SooSoo said I was having a sleepover with her?”
“Aunt SooSoo was just joking, baby. I’m sorry, no sleepovers tonight,” you informed him with a heavy heart. Sooyoung set him down, and he toddled off towards the living room. Your friend went to follow him, and you grabbed her elbow to lean in to hiss in her ear, “I hope you’re happy, you owe Binnie a sleepover now.”
“And he’ll get one,” she whispered back. “As soon as you have one of your own.”
You shot her one final glare that she just retaliated with a wink, before letting her go and striding back over to Kun, who was waiting patiently by the front door.
“Everything okay?” He asked, concern on his features.
“Yeah, just making sure she knows Binnie's bedtime and to not give him any more juice.” You offered him a reassuring smile. “All good.”
“Good. You ready, then?”
“As I’ll ever be, I guess.”
You so were not ready, it turned out. Just a few minutes after arriving, milling around and taking in the grandeur of the ballroom with Kun, you were starting to feel dizzy. Kun had already seen a couple of people that he must have known, flashing them a charismatic smile and exchanging passing greetings. You, meanwhile, felt like a weight was pressing on your chest, and inhaled deeply through your nose to try to calm down.
“Woah, are you okay, Y/N?” Kun leaned in to ask you quietly.
“Yeah, fine,” you lied through your teeth. “Why?”
“You’ve got a death grip on my arm that you didn’t have thirty seconds ago.” He patted your hand that was on his upper arm.
Looking down, you saw that his suit jacket was crumpled in your fingers, and you consciously tried to loosen your grip, but couldn’t make yourself do it. Instead, you just stared at your locked hand.
“I’m a copy editor, Kun, I don’t really go to galas on the daily, so pardon me for being a little out of my element here,” you retorted, the words cutting through the air much harsher than you had intended. Taking another deep inhale and exhale, you added a whispered, “Sorry, sorry.”
“Come on, let’s get some air, hm?”
The gala had an outdoor area devoid of other guests, presumably due to the chilly nighttime air. Kun sat you down on a stone bench outside of the main courtyard area, out of sight from the large windows of the ballroom.
The pressure on your chest was gone, and with you breathing easier, the cynical, nervous thoughts could finally take center stage in your brain.
“God, this isn’t going to work! Why did we even come out here?” You cracked your knuckles anxiously. “How do we even ask for money without just sounding like children? ‘It’s not fair!’”
“If we find the right donor—and don’t use that tone of voice—that argument is actually going to be what resonates with them,” Kun responded calmly, standing in front of you with his hands in the pockets of his slacks. “Someone that cares about the kids, not about investing in an institution or whatever, will be moved by the fact that the preschool is being neglected financially.”
You chewed on the bottom of your lip. “Well damn, when you put it like that, I may just believe that you’re a Director of Sales, Qian Kun.”
“I thought the business card had convinced you.”
“Anybody can order a business card that says whatever they want.”
“That would’ve been extensive planning on my part.”
“Hey, you could’ve had it on hand to pick up women. There’s guys that do that.”
He seemed genuinely put-off and bewildered. “Wait really? That’s… That is just… loser behavior.”
“Though the fax number did point to it being real,” you continued, finally cracking a smile. “Dudes doing pick-up probably think it makes them look dorky.”
“What? People aren’t sexting via fax these days?” Kun joked, a grin tugging at his lips.
You were laughing too hard—and thus trying to quiet down your laughter—to respond to him, giving him the perfect leeway to continue. “What would you even call that? Saxing? Sexing?”
You were dizzy again, but this time it was light-headedness from laughing too hard, quite literally slapping your knee as you tried to calm yourself down.
Kun was chuckling as well, sliding in to sit next to you. “I take offense at the sentiment that fax machines are lame, by the way. I’ll have you know that’s my personal fax line on my business card. Not everyone gets their own.”
Finally having enough wits about you to form sentences again, you sat up straight to look him in the eye as you clarified, “Hey, I was saying that loser dudes who make fake business cards think that fax machines are lame. I think men with fax machines are sexy, especially personal fax lines.”
You went to nudge his shoulder teasingly, caught off-guard as you realized just how close he was to you. Even closer than the night on your couch, his dark eyes settling on your face, unabashedly drinking you in. Your breath hitched in your throat as you were suddenly surrounded by the intoxicating smell of his cologne. The cold air made the hair on your bare arms stand up—or maybe it was something else—and you found yourself pressing forward even closer towards Kun’s warmth.
“Y/N,” he murmured your name quietly. “Are you cold? We can go back inside.”
“No, just…” you took a deep breath, scooting in even closer to him, until you were pressed up side-to-side. “Stay right here? You’re warm.”
He uncertainly wrapped his arm around you. “Sure, sure. Of course.”
“And… Can I ask you something?”
“Anything, yeah.”
“I wasn’t crazy, right? On the couch the other night… Did you want to kiss me, too?”
“You-You wanted to kiss me?”
“I’m uh, a bit rusty at this kind of thing,” you admitted, your skin burning. “But I’m not completely imagining that there’s… something here, right, Kun?”
“You wanted to kiss me?” He repeated like a broken record.
You lightly snapped your fingers in front of his face. “Kun? My question? Or have I officially lost it, and this is like… going to make everything awkward for the fundraising committee?”
“No, no, I-I do—did want to kiss you. I thought I was making you uncomfortable,” he stumbled over his words sheepishly. “I’m uhm… also pretty rusty with this stuff.”
“You do want to kiss me? Or you did want to kiss me, past tense?” You clarified.
“Both! Uhm, I did, that night on the couch, and I still do, now…” He confessed weakly.
“Is there any reason that you shouldn’t? Like, is there somebody…?”
“No, there isn’t. Not at all.” Kun gulped. “What about you?”
“Nope, nobody, and Qian Kun, if you continue to talk about kissing me without actually doing anything, I might actually lose my mind,” you whispered, feeling hot, embarrassed, desperate tears pricking at the edges of your eyes.
“God, sorry.” He cupped your cheek, turning your head and tilting your chin to be able to perfectly slot his lips with yours. The arm that was already wrapped around you just pulled you closer to him, as one of your hands grabbed the lapel of his suit jacket. You let out an embarrassing whimper as soon as his mouth meshed with yours, and he murmured another hushed ‘sorry’ against your lips. If he hadn’t just told you that he was rusty, you wouldn’t have had any idea as your head spun, your heart beat out of your chest wildly like a cartoon, and you were definitely crying tears of relief into what you were seriously considering quite possibly your best kiss ever.
It was your turn to mutter an apology as your tears turned the kiss salty, but as you pulled back to do just that, you saw the glistening of Kun’s eyes in the champagne tinted light filtering out from the ballroom, turning his tears golden as they slipped down his cheeks. Instead, you just pressed your forehead to his in silent understanding, looping your arm around his neck to hold him even closer, if that was possible.
PART II: you got my heartbeat to play to your time
Spotting Kun in the lobby of the preschool, you immediately lit up and rushed to sit down beside him on one of the benches. He offered you a tired smile and peck on the cheek in greeting, scooting to make room for you.
“Brr, it’s fucking freezing out there,” you shuddered, grabbing his hand to press it against the cold tip of your nose. “That’s just from the 30-second walk from the parking lot to here! Are you two going to survive the walk home? You sure you don’t want me to drive you? Well, I don’t have another carseat for Junyi, but he could sit on your lap in the backseat, I think? Better than freezing to death, right?”
“We’ll be okay, Y/N,” Kun reassured you, patting your leg before resting his hand there. “Thank you though, love.”
The subject of the cold suddenly made you remember something else, and you perked up, “Oh, Woobin and I were at the store yesterday and he needed new gloves, and I saw that bun’s were getting a little worn out when we went out last weekend too—”
“Whose?” Kun asked, furrowing his brows.
“Junyi’s. Look.” You held up the pair that matched Woobin’s, save for the pattern, which had little bunnies on them instead of whales. “Aren’t they adorable? God, I just love their tiny hands. I’ll return them if this is weird and I overstepped a line though. I tried to call you to see if this was okay, but the store was just a dead zone, and I couldn’t get a signal.”
A sheepish smile punctuated the end of your nervous rambling. You and Kun hadn’t been dating for very long, just a few months, and you were still getting a feel for boundaries when it came to your relationship with each other and each other’s kids. You’d just started spending the night at each other’s houses with both kids there—already a big step, in your opinion. Taking the initiative on buying Junyi a new pair of gloves had seemed perfectly natural when the thought came to you, but you didn’t want it to feel like you were rushing things to Kun, or taking a place that wasn’t yours to take—and hadn’t been offered to you—in Junyi’s life.
“Oh, no, Y/N, these are perfect, thank you.” He accepted them, a genuine, grateful smile on his face as he tucked them away in his jacket pocket, then squeezed both of your hands. “Junyi will love them. He did need new gloves; I just hadn’t made it out to the store yet.”
“Then what is making you make that face?”
“Since when has Junyi been a bunny?”
“Were you not intentionally buying him a bunch of bunny-patterned stuff?” You questioned, tilting your head.
“Huh?”
“His backpack, his stuffie that he brings to school, his pajamas that he wore at my place last weekend, and I’ve seen him in like at least three different bunny t-shirts. I thought the theming was intentional.”
Kun took a long, slow blink. “Oh… it was not.”
“Kun… are bunnies your favorite animal?” You teased.
“No! I think…?”
“God, long day at work?” You surmised, stroking the back of his head soothingly.
He leaned into your touch, letting out a disgruntled groan, “Long week. Scratch that, long month.”
“Mm, anything I can do to help?”
“Unless you can clone me, or stop time…”
“Okay, new question: Anything I can do to make you more comfortable? Even just something small?”
“Can you and Woobin come over tonight? I know we weren’t planning on it, but—”
“Yes, Kun, we can come over tonight,” you agreed, using your free hand to grab one of his.
“Thank you,” he sighed, squeezing your hand back.
The door to the boys’ classroom opened then, and you nudged Kun’s shoulder with yours. He nodded, the two of you standing up together. As soon as you stepped foot into the classroom, your shins were knocked into by one small body, then another.
“Oh, hey bun! Hey bubbles!” You greeted the kids, wobbling a bit as they had each latched onto one of your legs.
Kun, who had caught you by the elbow to steady you, was looking at the three of you with that same tired but heartfelt smile, “Guys, am I just chopped liver?”
Junyi squinted up at his dad curiously, “What’s liver?”
“Yeah, what’s liver, Mr. Kun?” Woobin echoed.
“He means he wants a hug too, boys,” you explained. “And he’s been working really hard, so I think he should get a really big one.”
They immediately detached themselves from you to throw their little arms around Kun’s legs instead.
“You should ask for one next time, Mr. Kun!”
“Yeah, Daddy! Instead of talkin’ about liver and stuff.”
“Yeah, Mr. Kun, just ask for one next time,” you repeated teasingly.
Kun looked at the two kids with that same fond, resigned smile. “Right, my bad, boys. I will just ask for one when I need one next time.”
As the kids hug-attacked Kun, you went over to their forgotten cubbies to pick up their respective whale and bunny backpacks, giving Ms. Xu and Mrs. Chen friendly waves of acknowledgement. When you returned, Kun had managed to get a kid under each arm, both toddlers giggling as they were held like sacks of potatoes.
“Are you carrying them out like that?” You asked with a tilted head.
“Maybe,” Kun joked. “It’s a good arm workout.”
“Yeah, for all three of you,” you referred to how the boys were clinging onto his forearms against gravity as well.
“Mm, the idea of buff three-year-olds terrifies me,” he declared, lowering the kids. “Alright, time to let go, guys.”
You reached into Junyi’s backpack to secure the little tiny puffer jacket that was inside, “It’s a bit chilly out, bun-bun, and you and your dad are walking home, so come on, you’re putting your coat on.”
“Okay,” he stuck his arms out for you to help put it on him.
“Oh,” Kun pulled the new pair of gloves out of his own pocket, showing them off to his son. “Look, buddy. Ms. Y/N got you a new pair of gloves.”
“Oh wow, thank you!” He beamed up at you.
“You’re welcome,” you grinned back, kneeling down in front of him to zip up the jacket for him. “Woobin has a pair just like it but with whales, so you two can match next time he wears his.”
Woobin looked down at his bare hands with a thoughtful frown. “Where are my gloves, Mommy?”
“They’re probably in your backpack, baby. You and I are driving home so you don’t have to put them on if you don’t want to, because your hands won’t be getting cold outside like Junyi’s.”
“Oh. I want to put them on, please.”
“Here, I’ll get them,” Kun unzipped the backpack that was on your shoulder and began rooting through it.
“Thank you.” You murmured. As he got the gloves and helped Woobin put them on, you went over the plans for the rest of the night with your son, “We’re going to go home and get a few things, and then we’re going to Mr. Kun and Junyi’s house for a sleepover, okay?”
“Okay!”
Kun had finished tugging on the gloves then, “There you go, Bin.”
“Thank you, Mr. Kun!” Woobin chirped, then reached out for the other toddler. “Junyi, we match!”
“We match!” Junyi giggled back, grabbing Woobin's whale-patterned hand with his own bunny-patterned one.
You stood up, covering your mouth in delight as you whispered to Kun, “I’m literally going to cry.”
“Way ahead of you,” he whispered back, and when you looked over, you did in fact see a single tear rolling down one of his cheeks.
“Oh, oh my God, Kun.” You wiped it away with your thumb. “What’s—”
“Talk later?”
“Okay, yeah,” you nodded, looking around at the fact that you were still very much in the boys’ classroom, and had other things to do. “Right, of course. Talk later.”
Kun reached up to grab your hand that had wiped the tear away, squeezing it and offering you a smile. He dried his eyes with the sleeve of his other hand, then called for the kids, “Come on, boys. We’ve got to go. You’ll see each other in just a bit.”
Getting Woobin packed up to spend the night at Kun and Junyi’s was easy, and so was getting the two of them fed once you were there. The difficult part was getting even a single second of semi-private time with Kun to actually talk. The two boys wanted to include both of you in every single thing they did tonight, which was typically endearing, but the exhaustion that plagued Kun’s features the while time still concerned you. It wasn’t until they were finally asleep in Junyi’s room, and you and Kun had cleaned up from dinner, that you finally had an opportunity.
He pulled you over to the couch, and you sat down, expecting one of your normal grown-up, mature, face-to-face talks to happen now. You’d had a few already, about your expectations when you started dating, about the first time you spent the night at the other’s house like this, whenever there was any need to clear the air. Both you and Kun agreed that you were both at the point in your life where you couldn’t deal with the kind of tip-toeing uncertainty of young relationships, you needed something serious, with open, honest communication, especially around the kids.
But instead, Kun practically collapsed on top of you, wrapping his arms around your waist and burying his face in your middle. You cradled his head close to you, running a hand through his hair and stroking a thumb over his cheekbone.
“What’s wrong, Kun?” You murmured. “You seem… drained.”
“I am,” he admitted plainly, defeat in his tone. “Just absolutely… fucking dead.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, love,” you replied quietly.
“But you were such a big help today, thank you.”
“I don’t know how bringing another toddler into your home helped with that, but okay,” you said skeptically, still playing with his hair.
“Having a second set of hands to help with dinnertime, and play time, and bathtime, and bedtime…” His chest heaved with another big sigh. “And just having you around… makes everything easier.”
He reached up to grab one of your hands, lacing his fingers with yours. The grip he had made you think he wasn’t planning on letting go anytime soon. “I don’t want you to leave, Y/N.”
“Kun, I’ll stay for as long as you need me to,” you promised. “A couple nights, a week, whatever you need. Life is hard, especially trying to do everything on your own. Tomorrow’s Saturday, so how about you take the boys out and I’ll tidy up around here, okay?”
“Forever?”
“What?”
“Will you stay forever?”
You stared down at your interlocked hands, the one in his hair stilling. “Are you asking…”
“You said you’d stay however long I need you to. I always need you with me, Y/N. Will you two move in with us?” Kun asked, placing a couple of long kisses to your hand. “Or we can get a new place. I just… can’t imagine having to do this without you. Both of you. All four of us.”
You hummed, your hand resuming its ministrations in his locks. “We’ll probably need a new place… but yes, Kun. We’ll move in with you.”
He quickly kissed his way up your arm to your neck and face, until he was hovering above you, a breathless smile on his features. “Really?”
“I’ll need to talk to Binnie…” You warned. “And like I just said, we’ll probably need to look for a new place, since the boys are used to having their own rooms and we can afford it combined. It won’t be instantaneous, but yes… we can start planning it.”
Then Kun was showering your face in kisses, and you giggled, cupping his face fondly.
“I love you, I love you, I love you.”
“I love you too, Kun,” you pulled him into a soft peck, before his raining kisses started going even lower, below your jaw, your neck, your collarbones. When his hand slipped under your shirt, you looked at him suspiciously. “Hey… I thought you were absolutely fucking dead?”
“Mysterious second wind,” his words were muffled against your skin, but you could feel the sly smirk on his lips.
“Alright, well do you think this second wind can at least be moved into your bedroom?”
“Y/N, five weeks?!” Kun exclaimed, making you immediately slap a hand over his mouth and look over your shoulder at the two freshly-washed four-year-old boys sitting down to enjoy their post-bathtime show.
“Keep your voice down!” You chastised him in a harsh whisper. The living room was open to the kitchen in your new place, where you and Kun were huddled having your fervent back and forth at the moment. You’d just so very casually dropped the fact that your period had been five weeks late, at perhaps not the most opportune time, washing the dishes, but really you hadn’t meant for it to be a huge deal.
After you took your hand off his mouth, he replied back much more quietly, “Sorry, I’m not upset with you, love, I’m surprised. Why haven’t you taken a test?”
“With work and both the boys’ birthdays, then them starting VPK, I just haven’t had time to go get one.”
“Let’s go get one now then.”
“What, a family trip to the corner store to buy a pregnancy test?” You snorted at the idea, holding a dry plate out to Kun to put away.
He didn’t take the plate, staring at you as he repeated, “Family?”
“You know what I meant…” You whined, putting the dish down on the counter and covering your face in embarrassment. That was the first time either of you had referred to the four of you as one family unit.
He wrapped his arms around you, letting you bury your face in his chest. “I don’t think you even know what you meant, lovey.”
“Ugh, you’re right.” Your brain was way too scrambled at the moment, preoccupied with trying extremely hard to not think about what being late could possibly mean, what a test could possibly say.
“I’m serious, come on. We’ll buy the boys some ice cream, they’ll be none the wiser.”
“Fine, I need to put some real pants on,” you pushed off his chest, gesturing to the dingy sleep shorts were you in. “Can you—”
“Get the boys’ shoes on. On it.” He nodded firmly.
“Thank you, my love.”
“Kun, I can’t pee with you grinning at me like that. It’s weird.”
With Woobin and Junyi preoccupied with their character popsicles and a movie in the living room, you and Kun were in the small hallway bathroom closest to the living room. It also happened to be the boys’ shared bathroom, the walls covered in vinyl, removable stickers of cartoon characters smiling down at you as unnervingly as Kun was currently. It was far too many eyes for what you were doing, peeing on a drugstore pregnancy test.
“Sorry, sorry,” your boyfriend apologized, diverting his eyes and covering his mouth, though he was clearly still beaming into his hand.
Finally done with that part of the test, you set it atop the box that was sitting on the bathroom counter, washing your hands and dropping back down onto the toilet seat.
“And now we wait,” you declared with a heavy chest.
“Okay.” Kun nodded resolutely, allowing his eyes to return to you now that you’d spoken again, still absolutely glittering in the harsh fluorescents.
“Now would be a good time to talk, about if that’s a plus. You’re still grinning like a maniac, so I have a guess as to what you’re about to say.”
He sighed almost dreamily as he looked up at you, resting his cheek in his hand. “You’re just… the most beautiful woman in the world to me, right now. And I love you, so much.”
“This, me sitting on the toilet in our tiny hallway bathroom, having just peed on a stick in front of you,” you pointed between the two of you, “is one of the least romantic situations I think we’ve ever been in. But, I love you too, you weirdo.”
“That wasn’t my answer, by the way. You go first, you’d be the one carrying any baby of ours, after all.”
“After Woobin, I told myself that if I had another, I’d do it…” You trailed off as you fumbled around for the right word.
“Right?” Kun supplemented hesitantly.
“No, no, I don’t think Woobin was wrong. That’s one thesaurus entry away from ‘mistake,’ as cheesy as that might sound. But, I told myself that I’d do my next one different. I’d be married to someone, we’d have planned the pregnancy over multiple conversations, talked about kids before we even got married in the first place, I’d have talked to Binnie about it, made sure he had the emotional space for a little sibling, too.”
“And we haven’t even talked about getting married…” He breathed out in realization.
You narrowed your eyes. “Qian Kun, do you think for even a second, that I would be with you if I didn’t think that I could marry you one day? After everything you’ve learned about me? After that whole toilet bowl confessional I just gave literally ten seconds ago? Consider this the marriage talk warning. It’s coming, and when it does, I expect you to bring notes.”
“Good point, I’m sorry for doubting you, lovey. I eagerly await the marriage talks, and I’ll make sure to do my research ahead of time.”
“Good.”
“So that’s how you want to do it. What about if that test is positive? Right now?” He returned you to the present, his voice gentle, as you were reminded of the very real, very possible, tangible now that you were being faced with.
You let your head drop forward into your hands as you tried to pick apart the tangled ball that was your thoughts and feelings. Thinking back to when you were doing this by yourself the first time in your workplace bathroom, when you found out you were pregnant with Binnie… you distantly remembered how you felt when you saw that double line, that positive result. There was definitely anxiety, yes, but more than that you remembered an excitement bubbling up and overflowing on top of that the longer that it registered.
This time, you weren’t feeling any of that. Not because you didn’t love the idea of having a child with Kun, but… it just wouldn’t be the right time. The two of you had only recently moved in together, you were still getting used to enmeshing your two—or, four—separate lives into one, you hadn’t even been together for a year, Woobin and Junyi hadn’t been consulted whatsoever, not to mention they had just started VPK and would be going into primary school next year; Kun had just gotten a promotion at work, yes, but you had your eye on your own possible promotion, too. It just… wasn’t right. Swallowing the lump in your throat, you finally looked up at Kun sitting across from you in the narrow space of the hallway bathroom. You could feel the tears gathering in your eyes, his image immediately swimming in your vision.
“Oh, hey, come here, lovey,” he gently ushered you down from your perch on the toilet seat cover onto the ground with him. He settled you in between his legs, wrapping his arms around you, “Sad cry or scary cry?”
You had the urge to smack his arm for treating you like one of the kids, but unfortunately, it was a really good communication tool.
“Goddamn,” you wept against his shirt, clinging onto him. “I don’t know, Kun. I don’t fucking know. It’s not a happy cry, though. And I don’t think that any kid should be brought into the world if their mom isn’t happy at the thought of them.”
He rubbed a hand up and down your back, not faltering for a moment as you spoke. When you were done, he started, “Look, Y/N. I’ll admit, the idea of having a baby with you kind of sent me to the stratosphere there for a second. But, I think that a baby is something that needs to be two enthusiastic yeses, or it’s a no. And you…” he pulled your face out of the crook of his neck to be able to look you in the eye. “Are clearly not enthusiastic nor a yes. So I’m not either. Okay?”
You sniffled, “Okay.”
“Okay,” he repeated, wiping at your tears. “Now, I think it’s been plenty of time. Are you ready to look at the test?”
“Yeah, yeah.”
Kun stretched his arm out, fumbling along the top of the bathroom counter until he had secured the test in his hand. You turned in his arms, fully leaned against him, your back to his chest as he flipped the stick over for you two to read the results together.
Negative.
And you were crying again, but this time you knew that they were tears of relief.
“Oh, thank God,” you whispered, holding a hand over your mouth. “Oh… oh my God.”
“There we go,” Kun murmured, holding you to him by an arm slung over your waist. “Now, call me crazy, but I think we just manifested that negative pregnancy test result.”
You let out a choked laugh, “Would it be manifesting a negative or un-manifesting a positive?”
“Good question.”
He held a foot out until he could reach the step opener of the trash can, tossing the test into it. You sat there with him for who knows how much longer, until the cold of the tile finally seeped through your clothes, and your joints were aching from being curled up on your bathroom floor for so long.
“Oh shit, the boys are all by themselves in the living room,” you mumbled, beginning to detangle yourself from Kun.
“I’ll clean up in here. You get into some pajamas and then go see them, okay? They’ve been the normal amount of quiet, I think the movie’s got them sufficiently occupied, so take your time. I’ll be right behind you.” He reassured you, standing up after you did, and keeping a hand on the small of your back as you went to wash your hands again.
The remnants of the pregnancy test packaging were on the counter, not to mention the general disarray from your breakdown, and the fact that you hadn’t tidied up from the boys’ bathtime earlier that night either. When you looked at yourself in the mirror, you could see that you weren’t in much better shape than the bathroom.
“Okay, yeah. Thank you, Kun.” Your voice wasn’t any louder than a whisper, and it didn’t need to be in the small, quiet space.
He pressed a long kiss to your temple before you left for your bedroom to change out of the clothes that you’d gone to the convenience store in. Putting on the comfiest pajamas you could find, you then shuffled out to the living room, which you were glad to see was in one piece. Tension you didn’t even realize you were carrying released from your shoulders when your eyes fell on the two kids sat on the couch, their attention glued to the screen.
You weren’t sure how long you had been standing there before Woobin finally turned his head to look at you. “Oh hi Mommy!”
“Hi, Ms. Y/N!”
“Hi, boys, can I join you?” You asked.
“Well, yeah!” Junyi said in the most ‘duh!’ tone you’d ever heard a four-year-old imitate. He patted the open space between the two of them. “We saved you a spot here.”
“Oh, thank you.” You sat down exactly where he had gestured, tucking your feet underneath you. Woobin immediately clambered onto your lap, and Junyi scooted in to snuggle into your other side.
“And when Daddy gets here, his spot is over here,” Junyi pointed to the remaining space between him and the arm of the couch. “And he can put the blanket on all of us.”
“Right, of course, bun,” you nodded, wrapping your arms around the two boys to hold them even closer to you.
Woobin touched a hand to your cheek, “Mommy, you’re crying. Sad cry, scary cry, or boo-boo cry?”
“Oh, no, baby, it's a happy cry,” you assured him, wiping at the couple of tears that had eked out again with your sleeve. “It’s because I love you all so much.”
“Happy cry,” he repeated, as if committing the term to memory.
Kun joined the three of you a few minutes later, sliding into his assigned seat and pulling a blanket over the four of you. Mindful of the child in between you two, you rested your head on his shoulder.
Against your instincts, you shut the front door quietly behind you as you came home that night. You’d gotten caught up at work with a deadline suddenly being moved up. You plopped your purse onto the kitchen table next to the huge LEGO set that you’d started with the boys last weekend as Kun got up from the couch to greet you. He was already in his pajamas, a stark contrast to the office wear you were still in.
“Hey, lovey,” he pecked your cheek, letting you snake both your arms around his waist and hold him closer. “How was work?”
You let out a low, exhausted groan into his shoulder. “Long. If I ever have to read another word again in my life, it’ll be too soon.”
“Then you’ll be very happy to hear that I already read the boys a bedtime story.”
“Shit, am I that late?” You sighed. “I know I told you I’d probably miss dinner but I didn’t mean for you to do bedtime all by yourself, too.”
“It’s okay, I know you would’ve been here if you could. The three of us managed for one night.”
“How was everything? Were they good for you?”
“Absolute angels.”
You lifted your head up to shoot him a disbelieving look. “Our sons? Are you sure you’ve got the right kids in there?”
Kun chuckled, planting a kiss on your lips this time. “You know us too well. Only convinced them to get in bed with bribery.”
“Great, what did you promise them? Extra hour of TV this weekend? Kun, please do not tell me you promised a new toy or—”
“Woah, woah, who do you think I am?” He snorted, clearly offended. “I just had to promise that you’d give them their goodnight kiss when you got home. They were very concerned about going to sleep without one.”
Relief immediately flooded your system, along with a warm fondness. “Oh, good. I’ll go hold up our end, then.”
“Before you do,” Kun held you by the waist to keep you from walking away yet. He lowered his voice, tone turning serious. “Woobin was asking for you before lights-out. Not just for his goodnight kiss, but he wouldn’t tell me what was going on. I have a feeling he might still be up when you go in.”
You nodded thoughtfully. “Okay, I’ll pop into his room second. Thanks for the heads-up.”
With a final pat on the cheek, you left Kun’s warm embrace and treaded down the hall that contained the boys’ bedrooms and shared bathroom. You slowly opened the door to Junyi’s room first. The room was pitch black save for the dwindling light from his glow-in-the-dark ceiling stars, and you crept up to his bedside. Just able to see the faint outline of him under his covers, you gently brushed away some of his hair and laid a soft kiss on his forehead.
“Night, bun-bun,” you murmured, then kissed his pudgy little cheek one more time before standing up. He didn’t stir, his breathing remained peaceful and as you ducked back out you closed the door even more quietly than you had opened it.
As soon as you pushed the door to Woobin’s room open, you knew he was awake. He was in a phase of sleeping with a night-light on, meaning that you could immediately see his eyes staring at you.
“Hi, Mommy,” he deadpanned, hands folded together over his stomach.
You entered the room, shutting the door behind you. “Hi, baby. What are you still doing up?”
He squirmed a little under the covers, refusing to meet your eyes as you came to sit on his mattress next to him. “Waiting for my goodnight kiss.”
“Oh, you could’ve gone to sleep,” you reassured him, moving his bangs out of the way of his forehead. “Mommy would’ve still come and given you your goodnight kiss.”
He was silent as you leaned down to smooch his forehead. Pulling back, you asked, “Is that all, Binnie?”
Woobin mumbled something that you couldn’t quite make out.
“I’m sorry, could you say that again for me? I couldn’t hear you.”
“I want to say something, but it’s after my bedtime…”
“Don’t worry, baby. I want to hear what you have to say. You can say it now.”
“I don’t want Junyi to be mad at me.”
“Why do you think Junyi would be mad at you?”
“You can’t tell them!” He suddenly exclaimed, pleading and desperate.
“Tell who? Junyi and Mr. Kun?” You asked, brow furrowing with confusion.
He nodded fervently, panic on his features.
“You remember our rules about sharing things?”
“If it’s about safety or respect, we all have to know,” he recited mournfully. “It’s not! I promise! I think…”
“How about you tell me, and I’ll tell you if it’s something we should tell everyone. I won’t get mad, and you and me can talk about it for as long as you want first. Does that sound okay?”
“Okay…”
“Whenever you’re ready,” you said soothingly, watching him take a few deep breaths to calm himself down.
“I-I want to call Mr. Kun ‘Daddy.’”
You couldn’t help but smile widely at him, taking your son’s hand in yours. “That’s wonderful, baby. I think it would make Mr. Kun really happy that you want to.”
“But that’s what Junyi calls him…”
“And you think it would upset Junyi if you called him the same thing?”
“Yeah,” he sniffled.
“That’s very considerate, Binnie,” you told him proudly.
“Are you going to tell them?”
“No, not if you don’t want me to,” you shook your head. “But I think that it would be a good idea for you, Junyi, and Mr. Kun to all talk about this together. When you’re ready.”
Woobin sniffled again, and you leaned over to hug your boy. He immediately threw his arms around your neck, burying his wet face in the collar of your blouse.
When you finally left his room after watching him fall asleep with your own two eyes, you found Kun reclined in your bed, bedside lamp on as he read a book.
“Is Woobin alright?” Kun flipped his book shut and set it aside.
You shimmied out of your work clothes. “Yeah, he’s okay. Just… needed Mom before bed.”
He nodded, watching as you pulled sleep clothes on and shuffled over to the bathroom. “Mm, of course. Mr. Kun wasn’t enough…” He sighed dramatically, making you lean your head back out to glare at him, toothbrush hanging out of your mouth.
“Shut up,” you grumbled after spitting your toothpaste out and flicking the bathroom light off. You plopped into bed, snuggling up to your pillow and closing your eyes. “He loves you, you know that.”
The sound of the bedside lamp clicking off rang through your room before you felt the sheets shift around and Kun scoot closer to you.
“I know, I’m just not ‘Mom,’” he mused, grabbing your hands to tug you toward him.
You obliged, rolling over to face him and rest your head on his shoulder. He kissed your forehead, still holding your hands against his chest.
“Goodnight, my love,” you breathed out, “Thank you again for handling them alone tonight.”
“Goodnight, lovey.” He rubbed soothing circles into the palm of your hand with his thumb.
As you watched Kun alternate between pushing Woobin and Junyi on the swingset, you couldn’t help but smile to yourself. It was peaceful afternoons like these that you treasured the most. You recognized a few more figures that were approaching the playground, waving to Johnny and Jaehyun in the distance as Mark and Sungchan immediately ran up to your two boys. The three dads all chatted as the four kids took off from the swingset at full speed towards the slides. You were on a bench a little further from the playset, and had no qualms about sitting and resting when you got the chance.
The playground was within walking distance of yours and Kun’s house, and right by the school, so it wasn’t a total shock to see some of your kids’ classmates there. You watched with amusement as all three of the adults perked up like meerkats towards the kids, who were now lined up at the monkey bars. Mark was first up, and must have been asking for help, as Johnny yelled out a ‘just a sec, champ!’ before gesturing between the three dads and all the kids clambering for their turn.
Apparently, Johnny and Jaehyun had decided it was their turn to help all four kids with the bars, as Kun lumbered over to plop down next to you at the picnic table.
“Thank God they showed up, I don’t know if I have it left in me to carry them back and forth across the monkey bars for the next hour,” Kun grunted, dropping his head down to rest on your shoulder.
You snickered, wrapping an arm around his shoulders as you watched all the children play. Woobin was the littlest, needing Jaehyun’s help all the way across the bars. The dad still gave him as enthusiastic of a double high-five as he gave Junyi after him, who was able to do a couple by himself after getting hoisted up there.
“Woobin wants to call you Dad, you know,” you blurted out in the quietness that had fallen between you and Kun.
Kun lifted his head up to look at you with wide eyes. “He does?”
“Yeah, he told me the other day. But he thinks Junyi will be mad at him.”
“Ohh…” He breathed out, nodding slowly.
“I would’ve said something to you, but he asked me not to tell you and Junyi at first. We had another conversation about it this morning, and he finally agreed that I could talk to you about it at least,” you explained. “I told him that you three should all talk. I think he’s really, really scared of making Junyi upset. They’re such good friends, you know?”
You looked on with fondness as the gaggle of kids around the monkey bars took off at a run away from Johnny and Jaehyun, apparently playing some kind of tag or hide and seek now. Woobin and Junyi were running off together hand-in-hand, giggling and cackling with laughter as Johnny mimicked chasing after them.
Kun ran a knuckle up and down your arm, trailing his hand down until he could lace his fingers with yours. “I know, sometimes I look at them and I think it’s like they’re… brothers.”
“Mm, yeah,” you hummed noncommittally. Finally taking your eyes off the playground, you turned to face him fully, covering his hand with both of yours. “Kun, with all this… it makes me really happy, you and Junyi make me really happy, and all four of us being together. But, I don’t— I’m not trying to replace Junyi’s mom. Despite what she did, he’s already had one, whatever memories he’s got of her. I want to be whatever he wants me to be. So, I’m perfectly content to be ‘Ms. Y/N’ for the rest of my life.”
“I asked him the other day, if he remembered his mom at all,” he admitted quietly.
“W-Why?”
“Morbid curiosity, I guess. He was so young, I wasn’t sure if he would. Funny thing was, he told me yes. So I asked what he remembered about her. And he just looked at me with the most confused expression I think I’ve ever seen him have and he goes ‘She picked me up from school today.’”
“Oh, oh my God,” you let out a choked chuckle, a lump growing in your throat.
“You picked him up from school that day, Y/N,” Kun said pointedly, poking you in the arm for emphasis.
“Yeah, I had guessed that,” you spluttered out, a wide, beaming smile on your face as you replayed those words in your mind over and over again.
“So it seems like, to me, you’re the only one with hang-ups about this, lovey.”
“I’m gonna fucking cry— no, scratch that, I already am,” you sniffled, wiping at your eyes with one of your hands.
“Sad cry, scary cry, boo-boo cry, or happy cry?” Kun asked teasingly, thumb wiping away one of your tears.
“Happy cry,” you answered, despite the fact that he definitely already knew. “So happy. I love you so much, both of you.”
“Junyi!” The distant voice of Johnny called out, chastising.
Both you and Kun snapped your heads up to look, only to see said child running at you full-speed.
“Woobin! Let your parents…” Jaehyun trailed off in defeat as a second small body hurtled towards you. “Sorry! We tried to let you guys have a moment…”
“It’s alright!” Kun called back to them as the two boys finally made it to you.
You lifted Junyi up onto the bench next to you with no hesitation, and Kun plopped Woobin onto his lap, his little legs reaching into yours. Junyi sat himself down on one of your legs, facing you with the most worried, intense gaze on his face.
“Are you okay, Ms. Y/N?!” He wiped at your wet cheeks. “What happened?”
“Nothing, hunny-bun,” you promised, holding both of his little hands and dropping loud smooches to them. “Happy tears, they’re happy tears. I’m sorry for worrying you.”
“Because you love us so much?” Woobin asked, supplying the last reason you’d given him for your happy tears.
“Yeah, always, bubbles,” you grabbed his head to be able to press a kiss to his forehead. “Always love you guys so much.”
“Why does it make you cry?”
“Because I have so much love inside me for all of you that sometimes it feels like I could just… burst!” You said with enough of a sing-song-y inflection that it made the two kids giggle, especially when you mimicked an explosion with your hands. “So instead of spontaneously exploding, it comes out as tears sometimes. Tears aren’t bad, Binnie, remember?”
“I know, Mommy,” he nodded dutifully.
Kun spoke up then, “I think we should all talk about what was making your mom so happy this time, boys.”
Junyi looked at his dad with alarm. “What? Bin and I didn’t do anything! We’re not in trouble, right?”
“I didn’t do anything!” Woobin pouted. “Junyi—”
“No, you’re not in trouble,” Kun hushed them gently. “I just said it was making your mom happy. What about you two getting in trouble would make your mom happy?”
“Oh.”
“I mean, it’s about what you two want to call us.”
You were still cradling Woobin’s head, and stroked over his hair reassuringly. “It’s okay, Binnie. Tell them what you told me.”
“I-I want to call Mr. Kun ‘Daddy,’” he mumbled, looking down intently at his lap. “But I don’t have to if it’s going to make you sad, Junyi!”
Junyi listened to Woobin, face turning entirely confused. “But he is your dad! Why wouldn’t you call him that?” He turned his bewildered look to you next. “And you’re our mom, right?!”
“Of course I am, bun-bun,” you smiled at him. “Binnie just needs to know if it’s going to make you upset for both of you to call your dad the same thing.”
“No, Bin, s’not gonna make me sad,” Junyi said strongly. “Will it make you sad if we call her the same thing?”
Woobin sniffled and looked up, finally displaying his teary eyes to everybody. He shook his head, and you felt relief blossom out through every part of you. Kun squeezed him tightly.
“Bub, sad cry, scary cry, or happy cry?” Kun asked him.
The child took several deep breaths before he finally answered. “I-I think it was scary first, but now it’s a happy cry, Daddy. Like Mommy does.”
Kun let out a strangled chuckle as he hugged Woobin even tighter to him, planting a kiss to his temple. “That’s okay, bub. Look at you, big kid with big feelings.”
“Daddy’s crying too!” Junyi gasped. “Is it happy crying, Daddy?”
“Yeah, buddy, it is,” he confirmed, cheeks noticeably damp.
Junyi felt at his own dry eyes. “Why am I not happy crying? Mommy, why am I not happy crying? ‘M happy! I am!”
“Oh, bunny, it’s okay,” you couldn’t help but laugh, rubbing his back affectionately. “You don’t have to cry to be really happy. Sometimes you’ll be really, really happy, the happiest you’ve ever been, and you won’t cry. Everybody’s different.”
“I do.”
“I do!” Sooyoung squealed.
The officiant’s remaining words were drowned out by the crowd erupting into cheers as Sooyoung was dipped into a kiss by her now-wife. You clapped from your place behind her as her maid-of-honor, your cheeks already hurting from all the smiling you’d been doing that day.
As they practically ran back down the aisle together, giddy, you were left standing at the arch, holding SooSoo’s wedding bouquet that she’d forgotten in her excitement. The music swelled again, your cue for the wedding party to file out as well. You fell in beside Ahrin’s best man, taking a more reasonable pace down the walkway. Looking into the guests that had stood up, you caught Kun’s eye from one of the middle rows, a familiar wide, overjoyed grin on his face. He was in the stratosphere again.
You met up with Kun at your table at the reception, the wedding party table. While he wasn’t in the party, he was your plus one, and your friend of course made sure he was seated with you. After the obligatory speeches—including one that you had to give—everyone could start eating. Kids were allowed at the wedding, but you wanted to make sure that you could put all your focus on making this the best day ever for your friend and didn’t want to have the boys out too late either, so they were at home with a babysitter. After the food was the couple’s first dance, and you watched fondly from your table as Sooyoung and Ahrin swayed together, clearly in their own world, exchanging words and giggles and laughs that you couldn’t hear.
Kun’s hand and yours were entwined on your lap, and when the DJ asked for the wedding party and their plus-ones to join the newlyweds, you pulled him to floor by that hand. As Kun’s other hand settled on your hip, you affectionately smoothed down the lapel of his suit jacket before resting yours on the curve where his neck met his shoulder.
“Hi, gorgeous,” he beamed at you.
“Hi, handsome,” you replied back humorously. “So, what’s on your mind?”
“You mean there could possibly be anything on my mind other than the fact that I’m dancing with the love of my life?”
“You’ve got that look on your face.”
“What look?”
“The ‘I’ve been launched into the stratosphere picturing our future together’ look,” you said frankly, but still with the same fond smirk on your lips. “So? What are you thinking about?”
His eyes widened minutely before he chuckled. “I’m having a good time with you, lovey. Is a guy not allowed to smile about that?”
“You are…”
“That’s all I was thinking about.” He pulled you closer, pressing a kiss to your cheek. “Always in the stratosphere when I’m with you.”
Despite his sweet words, you felt a twinge of disappointment in your chest, resting your cheek on his shoulder so he couldn’t see the contemplative frown on your face. The two of you were living together before Sooyoung and Ahrin had even met, you were raising two kids together right now, and had already discussed getting married—binders, spreadsheets, all your joint expectations for what you wanted out of a hypothetical future partnership like that. Why was he shying away from the subject now? Was seeing you actually at a wedding making him have second thoughts? Did it suddenly all seem too real? As if the binders and spreadsheets weren’t real enough?
Those weren’t questions to ask him now at your best friend’s wedding, so you bit your tongue, continuing to let him sway the two of you across the dance floor.
Later in the night, after your feet had gotten tired, Kun excused himself to use the restroom. You took the opportunity to catch your breath at the wedding party’s table. You’d been darting around the venue the whole time, either greeting friends of friends, dancing with people you knew, or stopping mishaps before they mis-happened. Some guests had started going home, so you felt somewhat comfortable taking a short rest.
You weren’t expecting one of the brides herself to sit down beside you, however.
“What’s wrong, Y/N?” Sooyoung asked knowingly.
You tried to perk up, slapping on a smile. “It’s nothing, SooSoo. My feet are tired. Why aren’t you with Ahrin?”
“We’re about to be together for the rest of our lives. I think she can piss by herself right now,” she replied.
“Oh, right.”
“And, it’s also my wedding, and I don’t want my best friend all sad and alone at my wedding. I know you’ve been fixing all my problems all day and all night. So will you let me help you with one of yours?”
You looked around to see if you could spot Kun anywhere, then leaned in towards her with a sigh. “Kun’s been acting weird today.”
“How?”
“We always talk about getting married pretty openly. But like, now that we’re at a wedding, it feels like he’s avoiding the topic.”
“Why haven’t you guys gotten married? You practically act like it anyway.”
“He still wants to surprise me with the proposal,” you said. “I told him no public proposals, no proposing on birthdays or holidays, and no proposing at other people’s weddings. But other than that…”
“When was that conversation? About getting married and engaged?”
You took a sip of your drink as you thought. “Mm… almost a year ago? Maybe ten months? It was a few conversations.”
“So Ahrin proposed like right after that,” she surmised. “He’s probably waiting for the right time. Making sure you weren’t too stressed with the kids, then the holidays, and being my maid-of-honor. Both of you are very thoughtful and also over-plan everything.”
“That’s true,” you sighed. “And also a bit less salient of a point coming from the poster child of U-Haul lesbians.”
Sooyoung wrapped an arm around your shoulders and rubbed your upper arm. “We’re different people in different relationships in different places in life, Y/N. You’ve got a really good guy who is head over heels for you and loves your kid as much as he loves you. Don’t forget all that in one night.”
“You’re right, SooSoo,” you leaned your head against hers. “Thank you.”
“Anytime.” She pecked your hair.
“Is everything okay?” Kun’s voice came from behind you, sounding very concerned.
“Oh, yeah, Y/N’s getting a little warm in here,” SooSoo informed him brightly, letting you go and standing back up. “Why don’t you take her outside, Kun? There’s a nice little garden walkway, I think there’s some benches out there.”
“Yeah, of course. Thanks, Sooyoung.”
Your friend gave you one last squeeze of your arm before taking back off into the crowd. Kun ushered you to your feet and guided you out of the main reception hall and into the much cooler nighttime air. Sooyoung was right, it was way less hot and stuffy out here, and there was a short walkway leading to a garden with some benches. Kun sat you down again there, rubbing your back as you stared listlessly out at the fountain in front of you. The fountain wasn’t on, the water inside of it still, and the air around you quiet and empty. In the distance, you could hear the music from the wedding venue, the thumping bass, and above you, a few stars dotted the sky next to a silver crescent moon.
“Is this better?” Kun asked you quietly.
“Yeah, thanks, Kun,” you replied shortly, still unable to shake the discomfort you felt from earlier. Despite your conversation with Sooyoung making sense in the moment, now that you were back with Kun, that uncertainty crept back into your mind.
“It was a lovely ceremony.”
“Yeah. SooSoo’s dress is beautiful on her.”
“Do you want to go home? If you’re not feeling—”
You suddenly straightened up to look Kun in the eye. “We’re going to get married, right? You do want to marry me, right, Kun?”
“Wh—” He scrambled to grab your hands in his, holding them tight. “Of course, love. Yes, of course I want to marry you, Y/N. Why would you think I didn’t?”
“I know we talk about it but… you haven’t proposed. And you’ve been acting weird tonight. And by weird, I mean normal. Like, not talking about marriage. We’ll be buying groceries, and you’ll somehow bring up us getting married, but now we’re at an actual wedding and you haven’t talked about us having one of our own at all…” The dam broke, all of your anxious rambles coming forth at once. “Nothing about if we should do this or that at ours, what flowers you might want, or even— You saw me at an altar holding a bouquet and are acting like it’s no big deal! You see our future in everything, but not today, and it’s been making me think that maybe you don’t see a future anymore.”
Oh god, you were fucking crying now. This was not how you wanted this conversation to go. Tears spilled down your cheeks, and you pushed them away with the back of your hand as you sniffled and tried to calm yourself down.
“Y/N, lovey, I am so sorry,” Kun’s voice was wavering too, and you knew he was holding back his own tears. “I do want to marry you, and I never wanted to make you think that I didn’t. You were right earlier, I’ve been in the fucking stratosphere all day, and I’ve been going crazy trying not to say every single thing that pops into my head about marrying you because I’ve got your ring and everything planned out for the proposal and it was going to be soon, I just wanted it to be a surprise for you and I didn’t want to accidentally spoil anything for you. But I never meant to hurt you, and I am so, so sorry that I did. God, I love you so much, it felt like my heart was going to give out when I saw you at the altar with a wedding bouquet, and then dancing after the first dance—”
You crushed your lips against his, letting go of one of his hands to wrap a hand around the back of his neck. He cupped your cheek softly, even as you kissed him like you hadn’t seen him in decades, and like you might never again, feverishly, past the point where you were out of oxygen and your head started spinning. Kun pulled back to pick up your left hand, bringing it up to his lips and pressing a kiss on your ring finger.
“If I had it with me, I’d put your ring on you right now,” he promised, pressing another kiss to the empty knuckle. “Hell, we could elope tonight, find a drive-thru chapel.”
“The boys might feel left out,” you chuckled, pulling his mouth back to yours.
He hummed appreciatively against your lips, adding in between kisses, “Good— point. Pick them up on the way?”
“It’s past their bedtime.” You kissed him again. “They’d be cranky if we woke them up now.”
“Foiled again by two five-year-olds’ bedtime,” he sighed dramatically, leaning his forehead against yours.
“So how were you going to do it?”
“Do what?”
“Propose to me.”
“I’m still going to?”
“Well, I feel like I just ruined your surprise.”
“Me telling you what it’s going to be, would be ruining the surprise,” he scoffed and pulled back to let you see his indignant features. “Which I’m not going to do.”
You laughed, pecking his cheek. “I’m looking forward to it, my love.”
“And I’m looking forward to marrying you, and spending the rest of my life with you,” Kun sighed dreamily, pulling you in closer and resting his head against yours again. “I meant it when I said I’m always in the stratosphere with you, you know.”
“Me too, Kun.” You looped an arm around his back and under his suit jacket.
A few beats of peaceful silence went by, neither you nor Kun speaking, just the distant sounds of the music from the wedding, your own synchronized breathing, and a far-off train horn. You looked from the fountain up at the glowing half-moon above you.
“Thank you, lovey,” Kun broke the quiet, and you shifted your gaze to him, raising a curious eyebrow.
“You’re welcome?” You replied with slight amusement. “For what, love?”
“Somebody once told me that the whole point of being a parent was letting our kids know that they’re not alone in all this,” he began, rubbing his thumb over your shoulder where his hand rested.
“Who said that?”
“You did, lovey.”
“I did? Ooh, I’m smart,” you chuckled, patting his thigh. “You picked well, Qian Kun.”
He smiled at you fondly. “I know.”
“When did I say that?”
“Before we were even dating, you had invited Junyi and me to your apartment for a charcuterie night. When we were making that pitch for the preschool fundraising committee.”
“Oh, oh, oh, right.” You nodded quickly as the memories of that came flooding back to you. “You remember me saying that?”
“Of course. You completely changed my view on parenting that night.”
“Glad it was so life-changing for you.”
“It was also the moment I knew I was going to fall in love with you.”
You couldn’t help but laugh maybe a little too hard, “Oh, Kun.”
“What’s that laugh for?” He chuckled lightly despite his obvious confusion.
“I’m just remembering how I was totally going to jump your bones that night and then Junyi walked in. Meanwhile you are just… so sweet, as always,” you admitted, stroking his cheek with the back of your fingers.
Kun’s eyes crinkled as he laughed and keeled forward a little. You let him laugh into your neck, cradling the back of his head as his shoulders continued to shake.
“I—” He coughed into his elbow as he righted himself and tried to compose himself again. His eyes were sparkling with tears from how hard he’d laughed as he looked at you now, and you affectionately touched the crinkles around his eye as a couple more giggles escaped him. Once he’d finally sobered up enough, he tried again, “You’ve also helped me realize that’s not just what being a parent is about, though. That’s what being a partner is, too. Making sure your person knows they’re not doing it alone. And I hope that’s how I make you feel, too.”
“Qian Kun, love of my life that you are—” you shook your head and grabbed his face with two hands. “Of course you do, and it’s taking everything in me not to squish your head right now because of how much I love you.”
Kun just laughed again, covering your hands with his and slotting your lips together.
I have more fic recs for NCT, other K-Pop groups or fanfiction tropes
Check out: NCT Fic Recs, K-Pop Group Recs or Fic Trope Recs
★ Sleepless Cinderella [Prologue] and [Kun]
By @starlightkun
11.4k, Journalist reader, Pilot Kun, interviewing him for an article, falling in love, romantic connections, slight angst, fluff, having scheduling difficulties
★ Romance is dead & Sequel
By @starlightkun
19.4k & 10.3k, part of the writer's Strawberry Sunday universe, fantasy au, college au, modern magical creatures, vampire Kun, human reader, accidental love potions, strangers to lovers, fluff, angst, blood drinking
★ The bite
By @starlightkun
25.2k, single parents au, enemies to lovers, single dad Kun, single mom reader, they both have sons in preschool, slight angst, initial dislike, flirting, slowburn, a kid biting another
★ Flopstar
By @starlightkun
18.3k, Band au, Kun is a retired band member, now a venue manager, rookie Keyboardist reader, reader was a fan of Kun's band, age gap, fluff, suggestive, WayV as Kun's coworkers, other NCT appearances throughout
★ Hold my red heart
By @starlightkun
3.4k, fake dating at the office holiday party trope, friends to lovers, reader is slightly stupid, fluff, slight angst, tipsy reader, drinking, vomiting, cursing
★ Chasing love across the receivers
By @starlightkun
9.3k, sci-fi au, co-workers in space, falling in love with one another without seeing each other, they're space traffic controllers, codenames, fluff, minor hurt/comfort, brief injury mention
Literally just go check out @starlightkun cause their works are all so good!! They have many other Kun fics as well as other NCT members, but I haven't had a chance to read them all myself yet
★ Noli timere
By @itsapapisongo
13.3k, Hogwarts au, fantasy, Hufflepuff Kun, Slytherin reader, British slang, acquaintances to friends, facing a boggart, fluff, slice of life, depicting a character having a panic attack
★ Drama love
By @radiorenjun
23.5k, college au, drama club au, Kun is president of the club, star actor reader, frenemies to lovers, tsundere Kun, teasing/playful bullying, insults, reader is a menace, fluff, slight angst, so good
★ Harvesting hearts
By @xomakara
6.4k, western au, country farming au, farmer reader, new resident Kun, instant attraction, developing feelings, other residents NCT, a crop-stealing sheep, inspired by cosy farming games, fluff
★ Blessings
By @xomakara
6.7k, established relationship, accidental pregnancy, dad!Kun, slight angst, worry, fluff, smut, watching how their relationship develops, moving in together, comfort
★ Creme caramel
By @werejusttouchingeachother
3.3k, established relationship, missing one another, being horny, photoshoots, reader makes a dessert Kun said he was craving, surprises, smut
★ The perfect match
By @gyoobies
Ten x reader x Kun, polyamory, established relationship between Ten & Kun, café au, mutual interest in one another, smut, fluff, flirting, teasing
★ Irreplaceable
By @justwritedreams
1.5k, soldier au, pilot Kun, mentions of military training exercises, fluff, action, Kun gets angry at another pilot, going on dates together, reader watches him train
★ Peacefully paired
By @cigsaftersuh
SMAU, non-idol au, reader lives in a small village, Kun moves to town, friends WayV & Mark Lee, posting online, misconceptions, Kun thinks reader & Mark are dating at first, fluff, feelings
★ Paint the lot red
By @alreadyblondenow
6.8k, vampire au, Kun is a vampire, human writer reader, reader has lost their family in a car crash, strangers to friends to lovers, major character death, depression, smut, angst, blood
★ Whenever the sun is hiding
By @alreadyblondenow
3.7k, kind of Mulan au, general Kun, warrior reader, fantasying about one another, smut, angst, mentions of a promised one back home, the ending killed me
★ Give
By @hazyhae
1.1k, established relationship, getting high together, weed use, stressed Kun, ranting to reader about things, pet names, smut, fluff
★ Day 20: Thigh riding
By @lovetaroandtaemin
1.4k, a kinktober fic, established relationship, going on their anniversary date, public teasing, smut, slight crying
★ Day 21: Aphrodisiac
By @all-about-kyu
1.7k, magic au, wizard Kun, apprentice reader, making a romance potion together, accidentally messing up the potion, aphrodisiacs, smut, aftercare, mentions of actual feelings
★ Love of my life
By @all-about-kyu
3.5k, established relationship, going through their relationship lifetime, insecurities, anxiety over their relationship, pregnancy, parenting, Ten & Xiaojun as their kids
★ Kun trying to convince you to join his many side quests !!
By @viasdreams
SMAU, established relationship, Kuns many side quests he's done, mentions of Kun jumping out of planes/piloting/doing magic, fluff, crack
★ Be alright
By @ethereal-engene
1.7k, Older brother Kun & younger sibling reader, reader's first day back at school, self deprecating thoughts, self doubt, living with WayV, seeking comfort from your sibling, fluff, comfort
★ Promise
By @iridesuhnce
4k, friends to lovers, childhood friends, slowly falling apart, reconnecting years later, promises, angst, fluff, they had a childhood fort together
★ Fireworks (I love you)
By @sunflw3r
931, non-idol au, established relationship, new years setting, celebrating Kun's birthday, watching the fireworks, implied younger reader, fluff, flirting
★ Finding gilbert
By @jaeminlore
1.2k, soulmate au, neighbours au, countdown timers to when you meet, Kun has a new kitten, reader finds the cat, fluff
★ July 26th
By @00127am
2k, roommates au, complaining about the summer heat together, sharing a bed, non-sexual intimacy, "just friends" dynamic, cuddling
★ Ace of hearts
By @injvns
SMAU, Kun practices magic, card tricks, reader finds one of Kun's cards in her book, fluff, first meeting, attraction, cute
★ Biting
By @imagesbywayv
Drabble, established relationship, slice of life, typically soft Kun, smut, biting, leaving bruises on reader
★ I'll give it to you, wonder you
By @imagesbywayv
591, established relationship, soft dom Kun, smut, praise, pet names, kind of fluffy smut, slice of life
★ Bet you like it, you love it
By @imagesbywayv
1.2k, established relationship, slice of life, playing around with power dynamics, reader wears lipstick, leaving marks on each other, lipstick stains, soft, smut, fluffy
★ 望むままに, easy come
By @imagesbywayv
3.8k, established relationship, slice of life, smut, soft dom Kun, pet names, use of Gege, praise, kind of bratty reader, a slight hint of mean Kun, talk of rewards
★ 鮮やかな姿, show me everything
By @imagesbywayv
1.18k, established relationship, dom!Kun, pet names, teasing one another, smut, Kun spoils reader constantly, unspoken dynamic
★ I'm losing sleep, is it just me?
By @imagesbywayv
1.9k, sugar daddy!Kun, sugar baby!reader, established arrangement / dynamic, catching actual feelings, the arrangement is meant to be ending soon, smut
★ Yikes, date gone wrong, hoodie thieves, exam week pickup, we should get a cat and fridge magnets
By @suhnshinehaos
SMAU, university au, NCT96z & reader as roommates [Doyoung, Ten & Kun], one-shots, reader has a shitty ex, being stood up, slight implied Ten x reader, teasing, sharing clothes, fluff, slight angst
❪ 月光 ❫ fluff kun x f!reader 548 cw ノ reader gets jealous of cookie lol, not proofread 〃 ♡ ⸝⸝⸝ i love wayv cats like they have my entire heart and when kun introduced cookie ??? sobbed HE IS SO ADORABLE AND PRETTY AND ASKDJFHDKS / 𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐀𝐋𝐎𝐆𝐔𝐄
It's almost comical how clingy Cookie can be with you when Kun is out of the house. He follows you around like a second away from you would mean the end of the world. Rubbing against your legs every chance he gets, jumping into your lap or on your desk to distract you from work; his antics are never ending. But the second Kun comes home from work, you nearly have to fight with Cookie to see who will win Kun's attention.
When your boyfriend steps through the door, adorned in straight cut jeans and a loose black button down overtop of his white shirt, he looks nothing short of three-course meal. You're subconsciously smiling yourself while soaking in the sight of him taking off his shoes. He's unaware of your staring, which somehow makes it even better. At this point, you're ready to have him join you on the couch, catch up after the long day and sneak in a few kisses while you're at it, but Cookie seems to have other plans.
He trots into the entranceway, determined like he's on a mission, and mewls up at Kun like he had abandoned him. Kun scoops him up in his arms, baby-talking to him and kissing his soft fur. You realize immediately that you had just lost… to your cat.
"I know you missed me, Cookie," Kun murmurs fondly, petting the feline and getting instant purrs as a response. You frown.
"That traitor. He makes it look like I gave him no attention all day," you announce, bringing the attention of your boyfriend back to where you wanted. He smiles at you, gorgeous dimples gracing his cheeks.
"I thought you were going to have dinner with your friends?" Kun questions, making his way to sit down with you, still holding Cookie in his arms.
"They cancelled last minute."
"They are always doing that to you lately," Kun notes, catching onto your disappointed expression. "Are you upset cause of that?"
You shake your head. "I'd rather have dinner with you anyway. But looks like you'd rather dine with Cookie." You're mostly joking, but the smallest bit of seriousness that catches in your tone makes Kun laugh.
"I'm sorry baby, you'll have to dine solo tonight. We have father-son bonding already on the schedule," he muses, his smile only growing when you scoff. Cookie's purrs only grow louder at your seeming annoyance, and you cup his face in your hands.
"Why do you always steal my boyfriend away from me, hm? You love him that much?"
The cat gives you no response, not that you were expecting one. He circles around on Kun's lap two times before flopping down to start grooming himself. You turn to your boyfriend.
"Getting jealous of the cat has got to be my new personal low," you joke, although still glowering at the grey cat who occupies the spot you wish you had right now.
"I think I like your new personal low," Kun mumbles with a smile, tilting your chin up. To him, the sight of you jealous and wanting his attention only feeds his ego and floods his chest with adoration. He presses his lips to yours to appease you, and you soon forget why you were jealous in the first place.
author's note: guess who's back from the dead! long story short i've been booked and busy, and since i started this blog purely to post if and when i have an idea and/or inspiration, i didn't want to push myself to put out just anything. i'll continue to write as motivation comes though, so please stick around 🫶
#kun
not really huge on pda. he prefers to keep intimacy for, well, intimate spaces, but still enjoys showing his affection for you to the level that says "this is my partner and i love them" without making any of the parties involved uncomfortable. that said, he prefers to do it with actions over touching, like opening the doors for you, walking on the side of the sidewalk that's closer to the street, or helping you out of your outerwear, but linking your arms or wrapping his hand around your waist is also very welcome. he's extremely observant too, so he'll move your necklace if the clasp has shifted to the front, fix your hair or head accessories, or take care of an eyelash that fell on your cheek. bonus: not exactly pda unless someone else is in the car, but he will put a hand over your thigh when he's driving.
#ten
honestly couldn't care less. not that he doesn't show pda, he does, a lot, but he never does it on purpose. he'd just casually put a hand around your shoulders when you're walking, on your thigh when you're sitting down, or place his chin on your shoulder when you're waiting in line out of habit. he'd touch your arm or shoulder when he's talking and lightly slap your arm while laughing because it feels natural to him. he's mindlessly reaching for your hand and intertwining your fingers when he's absorbed into telling a story, and give it a little squeeze when he's done and realizes it. most of those he would also do to his members or other close friends, but none of them would give him that familiar feeling in the stomach when reciprocating his affection like you do.
#winwin
not a fan, at all. not in front of strangers, not family, not the members. you'd have to take things slowly and look out for his reactions to get an idea of what he's okay with, or simply just sit him down and get it out of him. he will get shy and embarrassed, and that's the main reason for why he's not big on pda, but unless you plainly don't respect his boundaries he won't be uncomfortable to the point of getting annoyed either. he can handle a few teasing comments from his members and probably will gradually accommodate, but he still prefers when there's only one pair of eyes watching him. when it comes to holding hands, please link your pinky with his, for the sake of his heart (he also thinks it's cute).
#xiaojun
gets shy about pda but does it nevertheless. what can he say? he's whipped for you and he couldn't go an hour without a peck on your head, at the very least, and if someone happens to be in the same room at the time, then that's what the universe must have wanted. he's really just slightly less clingy in public than he is in private, and maybe will limit the amount of kisses according to who's there with you, but won't really complain about anything you initiate. will he blush all the way to the tips of his ears if anyone comments on his display of affection? yes. is he going to do it again in the span of the next thirty minutes? also yes. is he going to get over the shyness anytime soon? probably not.
#hendery
no amount of eyes can stop hendery from showering you with all the kisses and touches you deserve. he loves you and he's not afraid to show it - more than that, he might even get a slight ego boost from a stare or a teasing comment (to which he will respond with something along the lines of him being able to pull someone like you and make you embarrassed instead). he lives by the rule that if he can see you, he should be able to touch you and will sulk if you sit too far away for his liking. got past the stage where the members would tease him for pecking your lips by throwing shade back at them and now wouldn't even flinch if they walked into the room right into your make out session (which may or may not have happened).
#yangyang
he doesn't mind pda, but most of the time won't initiate it either. he's fine with more casual things like holding hands, hugging, or an occasional kiss on the cheek if that's something you're into, but he will get embarrassed and slightly uncomfortable if you do anything more without a warning, espacially in front of a bigger group of people. he has pretty strict boundaries in this matter but he's more than happy to communicate them to you and make sure he's aware of your own, as well as make sure that you don't feel pushed away. yangyang's also not a fan of showing affection in front of his members. he'll throw an arm around your shoulders when you're all watching a movie together if you've already been together for a while, but that's about it. you'll get all the cuddles and kisses in the world when you head to bed for the night though.
