Chapter Text
Dongmin grumbled unpleasantly as he changed his button-up for the third time that morning, throwing the piece of clothing deep inside his closet and frantically pushing the items hanging in it to the side and out of his sight, as he tried to pick out something that looked neat enough to wear for the day. He didn’t have a specific vision of how he wanted to look, nor was it a special occasion. It was just one of those days when he wanted to put some effort into how he presents himself (not that he needed to, as anything he ever wore set on his lean frame as if he was about to walk on a runway). Either way, nothing seemed to satisfy him, as every outfit Dongmin tried out only left a bitter taste on the end of his tongue.
Glancing at the clock, he decided to go seek advice from the most important person in his life. She had to be awake.
Two shirts in his hands were delicately pressed to his chest as he softly knocked on the wooden door. “Honey.” His eyes fixed on the hardwood floor, which was glowing yellow - illuminated by the light coming from the room he was about to enter. It was a good enough indicator that Dongmin was right and the person behind the neatly white painted door already began their morning routine. With that thought, Dongmin stepped inside the room only to be greeted by a pair of coffee-like eyes. “The sleepyhead is awake, who would have thought.” A warm smile to match those soft eyes appeared on her face.
He held the two items he brought into the room up, shaking his hands a bit and causing the material to flail, sleeves of the two separate shirts intertwisting with each other. “Help me out, sweetheart.”
“Go with the white one,” her high-pitched voice offered advice like it did every other morning. Without any doubt in his head, Dongmin always took her words with a firm nod. Throwing the blue shirt on the covers of the bed he put on the white piece on top of his undershirt, buttoning up and looking around the neat room. His habits seemed to be rubbing off on her after the two years they spent together.
“What would I do without my personal stylist.” Dongmin couldn't help but coo at her while his hands were busy doing the buttons of his sleeves.
“Aren’t stylists supposed to earn money?”
His habits were definitely rubbing off on her.
“What a smart mouth you have got there, young lady.” He smiled mischievously, taking slow steps towards her small frame, arms stretched out towards the girl. Halfway to her he began wiggling his fingers at a fast pace - a wordless preview of what was about to happen to her.
The way she backed away from him and started jumping around the room while giggling lightly made his heart soar. And to think that he struggled so much with his choice two years ago that he almost backed out from what he had named the most beautiful relationship he had ever been a part of. If today’s Dongmin, the 32 year old lawyer, could travel back to that time, he would kick himself in the shin for questioning his own choices. She brought so much light and joy into his world that whenever his mind tried to go to an alternate reality where she isn’t in his life, he felt cold and numb.
Dongmin chased her carelessly around the room for a little while, threatening to tickle her until she dies or, preferably, promises to love him and him only forever. But the man is caught off guard when after about five minutes of chasing the small hurricane around the room, she got on the bed and flung her body off it and straight towards him, wrapping her arms around his neck. He had no choice but to catch her, stumbling back a couple of steps because of the unexpected action. Wrapping his arms around her, he spins in place a couple of times while smiling brightly and poking her cheek. Dongmin made sure to make a big deal about how cute the roundness and the fullness of her cheeks was. That earned him a prolonged giggle and a couple of soft, playful smacks on his cheeks which he gladly accepted.
“Want me to carry you?”
“Yes!”
“This is the last time.” A complete lie.” Or you’ll forget how to walk.”
He was three steps out the room when she yelled directly into his face. “Wait!!” Dongmin stops in his tracks. “You forgot my schoolbag, dad!” Another sentence was shouted directly into his soft features and the man couldn’t help but frown, letting her down on the ground and crossing his arms on his chest with an almost too firm expression on his face.
“Hani, what did we talk about shouting like that.”
“Sorry, dad.” She bowed, suddenly very aware of how unsatisfied her father was. The girl peered at him from behind her long eyelashes, dark eyes glimmering in the faint light of the hallway as she kicked the ground a couple of times. In all honestly, she looked like a lost puppy highly aware of it's wrongdoings.
Dongmin tried to keep his composure, but she seemed to get to him every time. Her puppy-like stare made him turn into mush and all he could do was exhale loudly trough his nose. To say that he was wrapped around her little finger was an understatement. Truthfully, Dongmin completely submitted to her ever command, doing whatever she asked him to, buying her whatever she wanted, quickly forgiving her for any behavior. Around a year ago, Hani made a couple of childish ‘unicorn’ and ‘butterfly’ pins with some fabric and the bedazzler he bought her. Those pins were his birthday present that year and Dongmin sure as hell wore those pins for good two or three months to every trial and meeting he had, showing them off to whoever he met. It earned him a couple of weird looks, but he didn't care. Because those few pins were the most beautiful pins he had ever seen in his entire life.
“Go eat breakfast, I made waffles.” Seconds later she was out of his view, only a faint sound of pitter-patter across the wooden floor could be heard. “Drink the juice too, dad made it himself!” he yelled after the girl before turning back to her room to get her bag.
Moments later he was sitting next to his daughter at the table, munching on the waffles that filled the whole open room with a deliciously sweet smell. They made small conversation about her day, upcoming tests and what she learned so far in the piano lessons Dongmin signer her up for. He did that without really talking the activity over with Hani first, so when he told her about her new hobby, he first received a temper tantrum and a lot of tears. Luckily, he only had to beg (read as bribe) her to go the first few times, as after her fifth lesson she seemed to have endorsed it and enjoying slowly mastering the instrument that Dongmin himself played when he was younger.
Hani also took up dancing around two weeks ago.
“Will you need a ride to the dance studio tonight? Because dad has some work to do that might drag on, so I can ask uncle Jinwoo to take you.” Dongmin turned to the small light of his life next to him, pouring her some juice and shoving the glass into her hands. “Don’t just munch, sweetheart. You have to drink, too.” he added quickly before the girl could speak up.
“No, dad. I told you last time, uncle Minhyuk told me he’ll take me.”
Dongmin almost laughed at that, his eyes taking the shape of crescents as a smile took up half of his face and he gave his daughter a knowing look. Hani seemed to have a small crush on one of his best friends ever since Minhyuk was introduced to her. It was sort of cute, but the way she jumped at every occasion she could to get his attention and how the girl pretty much stayed glued to the younger man, hanging on his neck whenever he came over to catch up made him a little bit jealous of his friend. That was when Dongmin decided that there shan’t be any men around his little girl for at least ten more years.
A few weeks ago Minhyuk told Dongmin that he’s teaching a kid’s dance class in the studio he worked in and Hani overheard (while eavesdropping, of course). Dongmin couldn't have been prepared for what happened next no matter how many books on parenting he read. Hani followed her father around the apartment every day for almost a week, whining, crying, making up songs and even beats (using Dongmin's favorite sauce pan and a wooden spoon as instruments) about how much she wanted to join uncle “Rocky’s” dance class. By now Dongmin didn't remember anymore why he caved in - was it that his patience ran out or was he just a complete sucker for his daughter? Most likely a mixture of both.
“Okay. But if anything happens, ask your homeroom teacher to call me,” it wasn’t that Dongmin didn’t trust his younger friend. It was just that Minhyuk would sometimes most likely lose his own head if it weren’t attached to his body. “I’ll come and pick you up after, but if I’m late don’t go anywhere and ask uncle Minhyuk to stay with you until I come, alright?”
She only nodded, diligently drinking her juice while carelessly waddling her legs under the table. Dongmin could only smile, gently patting her head before standing up to collect the dishes.
Yet again, Lee Dongmin was late to pick up his daughter from dance practice.
He really wanted to blame it on the meeting with some prosecutors, who seemed to familiarize way too quickly for his liking and really wanted to drag Dongmin and a couple of his colleagues out for a drink to ‘discuss the case further’. Luckily, he managed to talk them out of it, revealing that he has some important duties to attend to and needs to be sober. The meeting dragged on either way and before Dongmin knew it, it was 8 pm; he had to be at the studio an hour ago.
Rushing to leave, the concerned father completely forgot half of his files and his coat in the office; he ended up huffing and puffing, trying to ignore the heavy drops of rain falling directly on his white button up as he ran to his car. The dance studio was located further away in the city, about fifteen minutes by car, twenty if you all the lights are red, thirty during rush hour. That Dongmin had marked in his head during the first two weeks Hani had been attending Minhyuk's classes.
Time is precious, too, he kept repeating.
By the time he parked and rushed to the dance studio, Dongmin was petrified to see that all the lights in the building were off. He tried opening the door, but he couldn't pry it open no matter how hard he tried - locked. What was worse, there was no indication of any presence around: no voices, no footsteps. The only sound was the heavy drops of rain hitting the pavement.
Getting anxious and his paranoid mind playing with him, he took out his phone and dialed Minhyuk’s number. He pressed the device to his ear with his shoulder, playing with his car keys in his shaking hands as he took steps back to the vehicle, ready to go to Minhyuk’s apartment where his friend probably took his daughter when he realized that her father might take a while to come. But just before he could get into the car, his eyes caught a very familiar blue coat. Blinking a few times, Dongmin slowly ended the call that was never answered, throwing the phone inside his car and squinting, trying to make out what the heavy rain made blurry. It was definitely Hani. Her back was turned and she was taking slow steps away from where Dongmin was standing. What concerned him, though, was the fact that she was holding onto someone’s hand. And that someone definitely looked too tall to be Minhyuk, as he never had to bend his body that much to accustom to Hani’s height.
Alarms started blaring in Dongmin’s head and before he knew it he was running towards them, yelling a rude ‘ya’ at the top of his lungs, which caused the pair to stop and turn around.
The man with Hani seemed to be confused for a few moments, until the girl let go of his hand and waved her hands happily at the person nearing them. “Hi, daddy!” she held her hands towards the man dressed too little for the pouring rain. Even though her coat was completely covered in rain drops, the lean man took her into his arms, wrapping a protective arm around her.
“Are you alright? Are you hurt?” Dongmin was in panic mode, looking all over his daughter. “Did this man do anything to you?” then he turned towards the strange man that was just taking his daughter somewhere. He didn’t look like he was a threat. If he were dangerous, the man would have ran away as soon as Dongmin shouted out to them. Nevertheless, the lawyer was alarmed and he took a few steps towards the unfamiliar presence just so he could observe the other better.
The first thing that caught Dongmin’s attention were the chunky black framed glasses that seemed to cover half of the man’s face. His hair looked brown, fringe tossed and laying messily across his forehead, a hat covered the rest of his head that, Dongmin imagined, was lacking neat styling just as much as the front of it did. He was wearing a heavy leather jacket over a baggy grey hoodie and what looked like black sweatpants with some black boots. A sports bag hung on one of his shoulders, so Dongmin assumed that the man might have been someone from the dance studio. The messy man’s shoulders were broad and he seemed to have some muscle on him. That Dongmin noted in his mind with a ‘he could kill me with a flick on my forehead’.
“Who the h-” Dongmin bit on his tongue, peeking at his daughter before turning his attention to the unknown man. “Who are you and where were you taking my daughter?”
The man grabbed onto the strap of his sports bag, awkwardly pacing in place and showing his other hand deep into the pocket of his sweats. “I was ju-“
“Where’s Minhyuk?” another question was shot towards the stranger before he could even answer Dongmin.
“I am his assistant. Sort of. When Minhyuk can’t come in, I teach the kid class.”
“You teach the kid’s class?”
“Yes.”
“So Minhyuk wasn’t even here today?”
“Correct.”
For a moment Dongmin stared into space. He looked like he was calculating something, as you could practically smell his brain frying and see the figures and formulas he saw in front of his eyes. His heart almost stopped beating for a few moments as he tried to peace the pieces he got from the seven second conversation with the stranger. The small amount of information he got from the man seemed to drain any colour from Dongmin's face, leaving him as pale as a piece of paper. Minhyuk was not there. The thought only made him backtrack to breakfast, when Hani said that he was supposed to pick her up along the way and take her to dance practice. Which could only mean that..
“Who took you to dance practice?” Dongmin’s eye’s wide, he was looking at his daughter, who seemed to be dozing off on his shoulder.
“Bnnn.” She mumbled into her father’s neck.
“Who?”
Hani’s small hand stretched out to gesture towards the stranger.
Dongmin felt anger bubbling up inside his chest, heating up the ends of his ears. He was boiling to the point where the atmosphere around him started heating up. He was angry at his daughter for easily following a stranger, he was angry at Minhyuk for not calling or texting him about not being in for the day and he was angry at the Bnnn guy for... Well... Really no legitimate reason apart for being the subject of this whole mess.
“Hani, don’t sleep.” He shook the girl in his arms slightly until her eyes fluttered open and she whined, rubbing her cheeks with the back of her palms. “Did you go with this stranger somewhere today?”
The man scoffed at what Dongmin was implying. “Ya, I know you don’t know me but do I seriously look like a per-“
“Language!” Dongmin snapped at the man, giving him an icy look before looking back at his daughter.
“That’s not even a bad word.” He murmured, kicking a few pebbles with his foot and earning something in the terms of a ‘shut up’ from the dad.
“He took me to dance practice.”
“In uncle Minhyuk’s studio?”
“Yes.”
“Hani, you followed this stranger just like that?”
“He said uncle Rocky couldn’t come so he came to pick me up.” She whined nonchalantly, her eight year old mind not mature enough to understand the weight of the situation or how much it suffocated her father. Dongmin knew it and he could only shake his head at it. He will have to have another conversation about strangers with her.
“Hani, the car is unlocked. Go and buckle up, we’re leaving soon. I need to talk to this uncle.”
Dongmin watched as his daughter made her way to the car. When the door behind her shut, he turned to the stranger, once again infuriated. If it wasn’t as dark as it was and the rain wasn’t blurring his vision, he would have probably taken a closer look at the man and the reported him to the police.
“What the hell has to be wrong with your brain that you decide to abduct a child like that?”
“I wasn’t abd-“
“Manners! I didn’t finish talking yet!” Dongmin snapped once again in a very father-like manner, something that became a habit to him ever since Hani. He wasn’t keeping his tone low or hiding his anger towards the unknown man, his anger making him look borderline crazy. “What has to go on in your brain for you to ever consider taking someone’s child somewhere. You aren’t a family friend, you don’t know my daughter nor me! What is wrong with you, seriously? Where were you even taking her?” At that, the stranger let out a long breath and Dongmin couldn’t help but laugh at that in desperation. “Seriously? You have the audacity to sigh at me right now? What is your name? I don’t want to anywhere near my daught-“
“Can you shut up for just one second!” the stranger yelled over Dongmin’s loud tone, causing him to take a few steps back, startled. He forgot that grownups bite back. “Look, I don’t know who you think I am or what I did for you to think that way about me, but I was just taking her to Minhyuk’s place because you weren’t coming and I thought that waiting there will be much nicer than in the studio.” His head tilted to gesture at the building. “Why Minhyuk didn’t tell you anything, I don’t know. Maybe he knew that you will turn psycho like this,” he let go of his bag to gesture towards Dongmin up and down. “And didn’t want to deal with it, because I sure as hell don’t. I’m way too tired for this.” He scratched the back of his neck before pulling his hat further on his head. “The point is that I only picked up Hani today because Minhyuk asked me to. I taught the class today, too, and I stayed with her for over an hour waiting for you. But you didn’t show up.”
Dongmin was speechless.
“If you don’t believe me, just call Minhyuk.” The stranger put his both hands up in the air in defeat, taking a few steps back before bowing politely towards Dongmin and turning to leave.
“If this is true he’s dead to me.” Dongmin grumbled, watching the figure become smaller with every second.
“If this isn’t true, he’s even more dead to me.”