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Tay hummed along as he picked up a red button up shirt and squinted his eyes, trying to visualise in his head how it would look paired up with the tie that he and Alex got for Wang for his birthday. Tankhun was throwing a birthday party for Dr. Wang in a couple of days and Tay was in the store with Alex and the twins, doing some last minute shopping. There just wasn’t any kind of shirt that he could find that would look remotely good with the tie that Alex got for Wang.
It wasn’t like Alex’s style was bad. The tie was perfect for someone like Wang, it was just that Tay didn’t know how to style it with anything else. It clashed with anything that he could possibly think of and he just let out a frustrated groan because the red button up shirt wasn’t the answer as well and he slowly started massaging his temples.
No, it wasn’t going to work.
It almost seemed helpless. But if there was anyone that could make it work, it was him. At least that was what Alex said and he just chuckled softly. Thinking of Alex… where was he and the twins? Tay looked around the store, crossing his arms on top of his chest. It was way too silent in there, so where were they? Tay smiled fondly and then he just shook his head.
Isra and Nam were still as wild as they were in the past, but as they were growing up, they were slowly starting to mature as well – just enough for Alex to finally stop worrying so much. Isra and Nam were eleven already and Tay chewed on his lower lip happily, sighing happily as he narrowed his eyes and decided to continue his search.
Tay hoped that perhaps Alex and the twins were going to have more luck than him.
As he ventured out to the other side of the store, a shirt managed to catch his attention, but he needed to take a closer look at it, not really paying attention to his surroundings as he was completely absorbed in what he was doing – finding the perfect shirt to go with that… loud tie. So, Tay didn’t really notice that someone else was reaching for the shirt at the same time as him and he narrowed his eyes when he felt someone tugging on the other side of the shirt.
“Excuse me, but I was first-” started Tay, his eyes travelling up and his eyes widened when he saw the last person that he would think of meeting in the middle of- “ Time?! ” slipped out of Tay’s mouth, raising his voice just enough to catch the attention of people around them and his jaw almost hit the floor.
Oh, it’s been years since he had last seen Time in person.
“Tay,” said Time, not really sure what to say back to Tay, who was silently staring back at him, pressing his lips together and he rubbed the back of his neck, looking around in the hopes that either Alex or the twins were close, but it was quite an awkward situation. He and Tay were the only ones standing in the aisle and he cursed under his breath.
“Funny running into you here,” said Tay, his laughter giving out just how uncomfortable he was and he quickly let go of the shirt. Suddenly, he didn’t think it was that appealing anymore. He handed it to Time, who released it before. “Here, you can have it,” said Tay and Time looked perplexed.
“Nah,” said Time, shaking his head. “I don’t-”
“Well, whatever,” said Tay and slowly turned around. “I’ll, um, just head that way and-”
“Wait, hold on,” said Time and Tay sighed.
What did he want now?
It wasn’t that it hurt Tay running into Time. Not really. He felt absolutely nothing. Well, it was awkward and he wasn’t in the mood to be dealing with him – perhaps Time changed, but Tay still wanted to get away. It was never a good sign running into an ex. Especially Time. Tay was about to get suspicious, but then he realised how stupid that was and he just shook his head.
“What do you want, Time?” asked Tay and slowly turned around. “I’m in a hurry, kind of.”
“Nothing, I just,” said Time and then his voice trailed off. “How have you been?” asked Time and Tay narrowed his eyes. Time’s question almost seemed sincere.
“Fine,” said Tay. “Why?”
“I can’t ask?” asked Time.
“I suppose you can,” said Tay and then slowly stepped back, placing his hands on top of his sides. Out of sheer politeness, he decided to- “And you?”
“Well, I’ve been… around,” said Time and Tay arched his brow.
“ Around? ”
“Yeah… um, travelling,” said Time. “I went to the States, travelled around Europe, Korea-”
“Seems you’ve got it all figured out then, huh?” asked Tay. “Travelling the world with nothing holding you back, huh?” asked Tay, Time’s eyes glancing down and he slowly nodded. There was something in his eyes that Tay couldn’t really put his finger on when he said the words nothing holding you back. It was almost as if-
“Yep, flying solo,” said Time and Tay understood it.
Solo. Alone. Ah, how tables have turned.
“Suppose that’s good, no?” asked Tay. “Can’t really have the time to settle down if you’re travelling, huh?”
Time was silent for a few moments, almost if he was trapped somewhere in his mind before he forced himself to speak up.
“Oh, uh, yeah, for sure,” said Time. “What have you been up to? Seems like life’s treating you right. You look good,” said Time and Tay was about to respond, but then he heard someone running towards him and he smiled fondly.
And there it was, the beloved chaos that he loved was back.
“Dad, dad, we found the perfect shirt,’’ happily announced Isra and Time’s eyes widened when he heard that word.
Dad.
Tay was… a father now?
“Yes, yes, take a look!” said Nam, who was now standing next to his sister. As lively as ever, the twins were happy to help out and Tay chuckled when he saw Alex slowly walking after the two troublemakers, shaking his head.
“I said slow down,” said Alex and shook his head.
“Dad, it’s not our fault you can’t keep up,” said Nam.
“Yeah, you’re old,” said Isra and laughed when she saw the look on Alex’s face.
“Don’t be mean to your father,” said Tay, scolding them with a smile on his face and Nam sighed.
“We’re sorry,” said Isra and Tay just shook his head and then he glanced at the shirt, humming along. Well, it wasn’t a bad choice at all. He rubbed the back of his neck and then he glanced at Alex, completely forgetting about Time, who was still standing there behind them.
“Did they pick this out themselves?” asked Tay, impressed.
“Yes, dad,” chirped Isra.
“I’m impressed,” said Tay and Alex smiled.
“I think it would go with that tie perfectly as well,” said Alex and Tay smiled, happy with the find. Finally, they had the complete present.
Nam was the first one who noticed someone standing behind Tay and he narrowed his eyes. He nudged his sister and she glanced at him.
“Who’s that?” asked Nam.
“No idea,” said Isra back. “Hey, who are you?” asked Isra and Alex clicked with his tongue.
“Isra, we don’t-” he started, but then he glanced up and when he saw Time, the corners of his lips dangerously twitched and he tensed up. “Oh. You.”
“Who?” asked Isra.
“Time,” grumbled Alex and Tay sighed along.
“Oh. The evil ex,” said Nam loudly and Isra didn’t hesitate standing in front of Tay and she narrowed her eyes.
“Tay is our dad now,” said Isra protectively.
“Yes, he married our dad,” jumped Nam in and Tay laughed softly.
“Yeah, so leave dad alone,” said Isra.
“Don’t worry, dad, we’ll protect you,’’ said Nam and Tay’s cheeks hurt from smiling so much. Alex sighed in relief when he saw that Tay was smiling and he nodded.
“There will be no need for any of that, we just bumped into each other that’s all,” said Tay and he awkwardly smiled at Time, slowly moving closer to Alex. The look on Time’s face was rather bitter. Jealousy, perhaps? Of Tay’s happiness? “Ah. Well,” said Tay. “It was, um, interesting bumping into you, but we really have to get going,” he said and Time finally snapped back to reality and he slowly nodded.
“Uh, sure,” said Time. “It was nice seeing you again. I’m glad you’re… happy now,” said Time and Tay pressed his lips together.
“Mn,” said Tay and after a few extra awkward moments, he, Alex and the twins finally walked away. Alex was very aware that Time’s eyes kept wandering over to them while they were waiting in line to pay for the shirt and he wrapped an arm around Tay, who was chatting with the twins.
Time looked miserable. As he should have. He seemed to have realised just what he lost, but it was too late now. Alex narrowed his eyes when Nam was tugging on his shirt and he looked down, finally forgetting about Time as well.
“Yes?”
“Can we bring our new game to the mansion? We want to show it to Paris, Sarai and Venice too!” said Nam and Alex chuckled and nodded.
“Of course,” he said and Nam happily grinned, going back to making more plans with his sister.
“Why are you so gloomy?” asked Tankhun, pouting when he saw that Wang wasn’t having fun. At least it looked like he wasn’t having fun.
Everyone had already arrived at the mansion and everyone was having fun – Wang had already unwrapped all of the presents and he loved every single one of them. His favourite was the tie from Tay and Alex, which he was already proudly wearing.
“Have I done something wrong?” asked Tankhun with a little pout and Wang smiled, shaking his head.
“No,” said Wang and smiled when Tankhun sat down next to him. Wang wrapped his arms around him and pulled him closer, resting his chin on top of Tankhun’s shoulder and he sighed. “I just feel old,” said Wang and Tankhun playfully hit his shoulder.
“There is no such thing!” said Tankhun.
“I’m the oldest one in this room,” complained Wang. “I need to find a fountain of youth,” he said and Tankhun chuckled.
“You don’t look a day over twenty,” said Tankhun and gently touched Wang’s cheeks.
“Funny.”
“I mean it,” said Tankhun and his eyes scanned the room. The ones that he first found were Arm and Pol, who were standing by the side, chatting to Pete and Porsche. “Arm, Pol, come over here,” said Tankhun happily and the two of them glanced at each other, but Pol then nodded and Arm sighed, slowly going over to Tankhun.
“Yes?” asked Arm.
Arm and Pol were still working for the main family, but their position had changed as years passed. Now the two of them were in charge of training the younger bodyguards. And they also didn’t consider Tankhun as their boss anymore. No, Tankhun and the rest of the family were their friends now. Almost a family at that point.
“Can you please tell my lovely husband that he doesn’t look old?” asked Tankhun and Arm chuckled.
“That’s your concern?” asked Arm and Wang sighed.
“I’m the oldest one in the room,” said Wang.
“Don’t worry,” chimed Vegas into the conversation. “Compared to my cousins, you look like a young man,” said Vegas with a happy smile on his face and Tankhun scowled at him. That was a jab at him.
“You know, Vegas, you’re not too youthful anymore as well,” said Tankhun and Vegas shrugged.
“Still – I’m younger than you, ” said Vegas happily and Tankhun gave him an unamused look.
“Forties are coming sooner than you’d think,” snapped Tankhun back.
“I still have four years to go, which can’t be said the same for you,” said Vegas.
“They already got me,” said Wang.
“No, no, I didn’t mean it like that. You know, the forties are the new twenties,” said Tankhun.
“Thanks,” said Wang and laughed, sighing along. He realised that he was just being too sensitive, so he just clasped his hands together and decided to stop feeling sorry for himself. Tankhun prepared such a lovely party and he decided to finally start having fun. “Thank you for throwing such a lovely party for me,” said Wang and Tankhun just happily kissed him back as a response.
“Your tie looks really cool,” said Sarai happily and Wang gave her a little smile when she saw the girl stepping over to him. As she said that, both Nam and Isra smiled proudly.
“Your new glasses look pretty cool as well,” said Wang and Sarai happily smiled up at the doctor and nodded. About three or two years ago, Saria started wearing glasses, which she hated – she was afraid that she couldn’t be a princess with the glasses, but both Kinn and Porsche told her that she was going to be the princess of the family no matter what. Glasses or not.
Glasses only made her cooler.
And after Porsche and Kinn made her see that, she slowly started accepting that she had to wear glasses now – she always made sure to buy the prettiest and sparkliest of the bunch when she was shopping for new ones with her parents.
“Yes, I like them too,” said Nam and nodded in agreement. “They’re cool,” said Nam and as soon as Nam said that, Sarai perked up and slowly turned around. Paris narrowed her eyes when she heard Sarai giggling and she blinked a few times.
“Thank you,” said Sarai shyly and quickly ran over to Kinn and Porsche to tell them the good news. Not only did Dr. Wang think that her new glasses were cool, Nam also thought that they were cool!
“Pa,” whispered Sarai, tugging onto Porsche’s sleeve and he happily looked down.
“Mn?”
“Everyone likes my new glasses,” she happily announced and Porsche chuckled, leaning closer.
“Of course they do,” said Porsche. “What did I tell you?”
“Nam also said they’re cool,” said Sarai and giggled again. Porsche laughed softly, while he glanced at Pete, who also sent him a wink back. Kinn, on the other hand, wasn’t too impressed with that giggle. It was always about Nam. Kinn was… suspicious.
“Well, yeah, I was the one who picked out the glasses,” said Kinn and placed his hands on top of his sides. “I don’t get why Nam gets special treatment when he gives her compliments,” grumbled Kinn and both Porsche and Pete chuckled, laughing silently. “What?”
“Nothing,” said Porsche and because he wasn’t telling Kinn why he was laughing like that, Kinn desperately looked at Pete.
“Pete, what is it?” asked Kinn and Pete shrugged.
“Nothing.”
“You two know something,” said Kinn and crossed his arms on top of his chest. “Pete, spill.”
“It’s just funny how alike you and Vegas are,” said Pete and Porsche snorted.
“Tell me about it,” said Porsche and before Kinn could get anything answered, Porsche and Pete slowly walked away, giggling as they were whispering something to each other, Kinn not impressed and he decided to ask his cousin what their husbands were up to now.
“All I’m saying is that we’re not alike. At all,” said Kinn and Vegas gave him a little nod.
“Obviously,” said Vegas. “I mean compared to me – I’m a ten, by the way,” said Vegas and Kinn rolled his eyes again.
“Of course,” said Kinn sarcastically.
“You’re like a seven and a half,” said Vegas and Kinn clicked with his tongue when he heard. “So, here’s the clear difference between the two of us,” said Vegas happily and Kinn narrowed his eyes. “So, no I don’t think we’re anything alike.”
“At least we agree on that,” said Kinn and Macau snickered when he heard that, looking at Leo, who shook his head. “What?” asked Kinn and Macau cleared his throat.
“With all due respect,’’ said Macau. “You two are very alike in many ways,” said Macau and laughed silently when he saw the look on Macau’s face. “It’s kind of funny how much the two of you resemble each-”
“What happened, anyway?” asked Leo and Pete happened to overhear what was happening and he chimed in.
“It seems Sarai is crushing on Nam and someone, ” said Pete, giving a side-eye to Kinn. “Isn’t too happy about it,” said Pete and Macau sighed along, shaking his head. He had an idea how Kinn reacted to that and if he knew his cousin enough, then he wasn’t too happy about it at all. Much like Vegas.
“She’s what?! ” asked Kinn and Pete narrowed his eyes. “She told you?”
“Um, no, but one can clearly see that-”
“Oh, no, no,” said Kinn and stood up, now in a desperate need to talk to his daughter and Vegas was now searching for Paris as well. “Are you sure?” asked Kinn and Pete laughed.
“It’s nothing serious,” said Pete and Vegas pressed his lips together. Not only did he feel protective over Paris, but he felt very protective over Sarai as well. The two girls were the pride and joy of the family, protected by their fathers and uncles.
Macau pitied anyone that would try to take the girls out on a date in the future.
“She’s too young,” mumbled Vegas and Kinn slowly nodded in agreement.
“I have to talk to her,” mumbled Kinn, already on his legs, Vegas tapping against the floor with his foot and he was soon on his legs as well, Pete trying not to laugh when he saw Vegas following Kinn and he arched his brows.
”Where are you going?” asked Pete and slowly followed his husband. Macau sighed and looked over to Leo, who was enjoying the show, sighing along.
“Oh, but they’re nothing like each other, right?” asked Macau in amusement and Leo laughed silently, pressing his lips together – the two cousins were a lot alike indeed.
Venice had a little smile on his face as he was watching over Kay crawling around the room. Sarai and Paris were busy playing video games with the twins, under the careful eye of Alex and Tay, who were making sure that the twins were well-behaved. In the meantime, Venice decided to hang out with Kay, who was crawling around and in the end he decided to pick him up, wearing a little smile on his face when he saw that Kay was curiously looking up at him.
Before it looked like he was looking for someone and Venice didn’t really have to wonder who Kay was looking for.
“Looking for uncle Kim and uncle Chay?” asked Venice and smiled when Kay cooed when he mentioned his parents and he hummed along. It was a little while since he had last seen Chay and Kim, pressing his lips together. “Let’s find your parents,” said Venice with a little smile and Kay clasped his little hands together, grabbing onto the necklace that Venice had around his neck.
It was a present for Kit! Ever since Kit gave it to him last week, he refused to take it off, so he was happy to see that Kay took interest in the necklace and he chuckled. The pendant was shaped as a dinosaur – it was an interest that the two of them shared when they first met, so Venice thought it was very thoughtful of Kit to give him such a present.
“You like my necklace?” asked Venice and Kay tugged onto it. “It’s a present from my best friend,” he said happily and Kay cooed happily back. “Do you like dinosaurs?”
Kay giggled when he tugged onto the necklace again and Venice’s smile widened a little bit, pressing his lips together.
“Dinosaurs go roar,” said Venice and mimicked the sound of the dinosaur and Kay was amused, trying to mimic the sound that he had just made and Venice laughed, slowly carrying Kay into the other room, wondering where Kim and Chay were.
Venice didn’t have to look for them for too long.
After he stepped into the next room, he managed to find Kim and Porchay. The two of them were sitting on the couch, leaned up against each other and Venice pressed his lips together when he took a closer look at the two of them and saw that they were actually asleep. Kim was leaning against Chay, whose head was resting on top of Kim’s shoulder, both of them looking really out of it.
Kim and Porchay were tired.
Ah, it was true. Kay caught a cold and was slowly getting better, but since he was already a fussy baby, it was that much harder for Kim and Porchay now that their son was sick with a cold. Kay was pretty much healthy now, but it’s been a long week behind both Kim and Porchay. It was the first time that little Kay had gotten sick. Even if it was just a common cold, the two of them were worried.
First time parents – they just wanted the best for their son and were worried out of their minds. Luckily, Dr. Wang was there to assure them that their son was going to be just alright. And now that Kay was finally healthy, the two of them finally managed to relax. Not being stressed out made them finally calm down and it resulted in the two of them falling asleep in the middle of a party.
Venice chuckled and he decided that he would let Kim and Chay rest while they could. He had spoken to both of them and they were very stressed, so they needed to be left alone. As soon as Kay saw his parents, he started whining and fussing even more, extending his hands out, but Venice quickly spoke up.
“Shh, let them sleep,” said Venice and Kay whined because instead of taking him to Chay and Kim. “I know what we can do. It’ll be fun,” said Venice and Kay almost burst into tears. “No, no, don’t cry and listen to me,” said Venice, Kay whining, but as Venice suddenly lifted him up, he managed to calm down and he instead sighed, the tears slowly drying up and he sighed.
“Good. I have a cool idea,” said Venice and Kay curiously looked at him. “Let’s go play games with the others!” said Venice, but Kay continued to fuss around and he narrowed his eyes. “Oh, are you hungry? Don’t worry, I will make sure you will get your snack too!” he said and Kay finally managed to settle down after Venice carried him to the others and he made sure that Kay got something to eat.
That seemed to work like a charm.
The birthday party was a huge success. In the end of it all Wang saw that turning forty wasn’t the end of the world after all – not only that he got so many wonderful presents, but he got to spend the special day surrounded by so many people that he held close to his heart.
Tankhun really went all out with planning this party and Wang couldn’t be happier. And if Wang was happy, then that meant that Tankhun was happy as well.
“Thank you for today,” said Wang as he slipped under covers, Tankhun happily scooting closer to him and he chuckled. “It was the best party I could think of,” he said and Tankhun hummed along.
“I went all out,” said Tankhun and pressed a little kiss in between his eyebrows. “You deserve only the best,” he said and Wang chewed on his lower lip, wrapping his arms around Tankhun as he laid down next to him, his eyes scanning their room. Their room, yes. Wang had moved in with the main family as well.
“Thank you for everything, bunny,” said Wang and a little smile spread across Tankhun’s face as he closed his eyes and pressed himself closer to his husband. “I love you,” sighed Wang happily.
“Love you too, gorgeous,” said Tankhun back.
And it was true what other people said – getting older didn’t mean getting old . Because with Tankhun, there wasn’t even a second that he felt like he was getting old. Instead of getting old, he was getting happier and happier.