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‘One of you is the father, try living with her for three months and see which one she likes best. Don’t do something lame like DNA testing alright? That’s my will~’
The note in his hands shook. Baek Saheon really couldn’t believe what he’s seeing.
See, it all started with a funeral. A funeral for a girl who sleeps around way too often as a way to ‘live her life to the fullest’ when she knows she’s going to die young anyways. And a reunion between two past partners of hers.
Kim Soleum’s face is as blank as it has been years ago when Saheon finds him inside his girlfriend’s apartment, ex-girlfriend anyway. He’d been confused why at first. He and this woman dated for a week like, seven years ago, why bother inviting him to her funeral? Then her mother came, face impasse and with a way too calm voice shatters his reality.
“This is Han Yoonseol.” She introduces the little girl who’s holding onto her skirt. “One of you is her father.”
“...?” Saheon points to himself.
“And him.” The old woman sends a glance towards Soleum, who stood beside Saheon with his unreadable blank face.
“Yoonseol, this is Baek Saheon.” She kneels, pointing at the dumbfounded man before shifting her fingers to the left. “And that is Kim Soleum.”
Yooseol has brown eyes. Neither of them has them, Yoonseo’s mother did. Reality took its sweet time to sink in.
“As stated in her will, I will entrust her to you.” With her sharp gaze, she looks down at Yoonseol. “Pick which one you liked within three months.”
…so here they are.
Yoonseol enrolled in an elementary school closer to Saheon’s apartment, so for that reason alone they’re staring at his place.
“Ugh, what…” Saheon rubs his temple, still reeling at the sudden change of reality. He was a normal college adult just about yesterday, it felt like a faraway dream.
Yoonseol is sitting prettily on his couch, kicking her legs and not minding one bit of an adult beside her having a crisis. Her eyes follow Soleum who wanders around the place in curiosity.
“I’ll make dinner.” The silent man – Kim Soleum, she remembers – finally spoke. His voice is deeper than Saheon-oppa.
Yoonseol’s eyes twinkled. She decides Saheon-oppa can have his sweet time after waiting for ten minutes to see if he’ll stop curling like that, but she’ll follow Soleum-oppa instead to see what he’ll make.
“What are we having?” She asks, fiddling with her fingers.
Kim Soleum would scream what the hell, he did not hear her enter the kitchen. He turns to her with a look. “Don’t do that.”
Yoonseol blinks her brown eyes widely at him. “Why?”
“I’m holding a knife.”
She doesn’t seem to know what’s the problem with that. Soleum is terribly convinced she’s Saheon’s daughter. Maybe psychotic tendencies are genetic. He decides to not think about what the hell just happened how did he suddenly gain a possible daughter and focuses on chopping carrots instead.
Saheon came to the kitchen when the smell of curry hit his nose from the living room. He squints, not quite taking the sight of Kim Soleum of all people stirring curry from a pot while Yoonseol stares at the food while she’s propped by his hip.
Isn’t it super obvious that she’s Soleum’s? Her eerie gaze and tendency to stare is enough proof.
Strangely, Kim Soleum doesn’t share the same opinion.
“Saheon-oppa, my teacher made a mistake today.” Is what she says suddenly in their walk back home that was formerly silent. She doesn’t need to be picked up, but Soleum comments on their late-night unprompted midnight-snack meeting that she seemed lonely coming home alone, so now they decided to do it on a schedule.
Saheon does not like to talk. Yoonseol doesn’t need him to respond to continue. “I thought I studied wrong, but it seemed unlikely because Soleum-oppa was the one who taught me that, but apparently she’s wrong.”
The man besides her inwardly scoffs. Great, she got his genius. What else can he list in his power point on why Yoonseol is so obviously Soleum’s?
“Soleum-oppa is very smart.” She nods to herself. Her tiny hands are holding into Saheon’s larger ones, she squeezed his fingers to make him look down at her. “Oppa, you’re in college too, are you as smart as Soleum-oppa?”
Saheon grimaced. “...no, Soleum-ssi is always top ranked. I’ve never seen him lose his position to someone else.”
The little girl hums, eyes on the road as if contemplating hard about life. When she looked up, Saheon saw a determined glint in her eyes. “I want to be smart like Solem-oppa too.”
Saheon responds with a careless agreement, but she seemed happy nonetheless.
It’s Friday, and Soleum is the one who picks her up this time.
“My, I’ve been so curious, are you and the other one her big brother? A big age gap isn’t it?” She’s Yoonseol’s homeroom teacher, greeting him with a bright smile.
Soleum, freshly out of his last class, slightly flusters at her question. Well, not quite. What else can he say anyway in response to that? He’s a possible candidate for Yoonseol's father, but they’re not quite sure?
“No, teacher is silly.” The one who answers is the little girl who barges into his life so suddenly. She looks up to her teacher with a smile. “Soleum-oppa and Saheon-oppa are my fathers.”
“...?” Soleum could practically hear the gear in her homeroom teacher’s head turning. He held Yoonseol’s hand and bolted out of there quickly, better run before she reboots completely.
“Don’t… say that.” He exhales, not quite sure how to react. Is she wrong? Not really. But is she right? Also not quite.
Yoonseol frowns in the way he knew she copied from Saheon. “Am I wrong?”
“Just– incomplete information.” What sort of daughter calls their father oppa?
“Ah.” She seemed to understand. “I see. Incomplete information is vague, so it causes a lot of misunderstanding. I won’t say that again then.”
“Smart girl.” Soleum practically sighs in relief.
Yoonseol doesn’t beam, but her eyes squint at the corners just like Saheon’s. Though instead of a genuine smile she’s doing right now, it’s more likely he’s scheming.
…ah, isn’t it so obvious she’s Saheon’s?
It was late afternoon. Saheon is melting against his couch, head burning from the amount of chemical equations he shoved into his brain just about earlier, while Soleum is putting chips into his mouth, eyes staring at the television but his ears are on loop of his professor’s teaching since the past few minutes.
Yoonseol, the one who’s actually watching the television, suddenly spoke up. “A classmate says it’s odd that I call both of you with the oppa suffix.”
The dazed layer over Soleum’s eyes cleared for a bit. He glances at Saheon who seems to snap back into reality as well.
Is this because of the parent-teacher conference that happened last week? An awkward conference where the homeroom teacher stares at the two males in confusion alongside a polite, customer-service smile?
Said two males silently waited for her to continue. She did. “Is it wrong?”
“...” Saheon lightly pressed his hand against his head. Soleum took pity on the other and responded. “Well, people would be in the opinion that we’re your fathers.”
Yoonseol looks behind, now facing them instead of the television. Her eyes are curious.
Soleum does not know how to say this. “...it’s not typical for fathers to be called like that.”
She frowns. Looking at them with an unreadable look. “I see. Should I not call you that, then?”
“It’s up to you.” Saheon’s unexpected rough voice chimes. Soleum wonders if he should go and get some painkillers for him.
Her eyes widen just a bit, as if she doesn’t know that.
Both Saheon and Soleum paused when she said, finally. “...can I call you appa and papa, then?”