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“Biyoo-yah, don’t run,” Kim Dokja chides.
Biyoo, as usual, doesn’t listen to him. “Appa, appa! Look!” She holds a flower in her hand, a little dandelion plucked from its stem. It’s beautiful, no matter how mundane. She runs back towards him, presenting it to him.
“It’s a gift for you, appa!” She grins wide, her baby teeth showing. They glimmer in the sunlight like little stars hand-picked from the sky. Her eyes crinkle, her face a symbol of utter joy.
Kim Dokja accepts it with two hands. He places it into his own hair, tucked right by his ear. “Thank you, Biyoo-yah.” He ruffles her black locks and picks her up, swinging her little legs around in the air. She laughs and laughs, happiness coming out unbidden. Twirling her around in a little circle, she laughs even harder.
Placing her back down onto the ground, she clings desperately onto Kim Dokja’s leg as if she didn’t want to let go. As if her letting go would cause Kim Dokja to disappear entirely. But he would never leave her. He’s her father, after all.
“Where is papa?” Biyoo’s eyes glimmer, those same eyes that Yoo Joonghyuk loved so dearly in himself. “Is he back yet?”
“Soon, Biyoo-yah, soon.” Kim Dokja turns his head around, taking in the entirety of the street. Today was a weekend, so it was natural that it was exceptionally busy. Traffic roamed, cars honking, traffic lights glowing under the sun. The cafe that Yoo Joonghyuk had walked into looks completely packed still, the glass windows showing entire swathes of people waiting for their coffee.
A tall, familiar figure emerges from the store’s doorway. Holding one of those cup holders, Kim Dokja can see three cups placed within. One for each of them. He holds a small bag, likely filled with baked goods. Despite himself, Kim Dokja beams, unable to hide his utter joy at seeing Yoo Joonghyuk.
Even being apart for a few seconds is rough for him. He’s felt this way ever since his pregnancy. Yoo Joonghyuk had stuck by his side, despite his insistence on him not having to, and Kim Dokja was truly grateful for such. He’d been afraid of imposing on him—of interrupting his busy schedule, but Yoo Joonghyuk seemed to think of it as anything but.
It appeared that Yoo Joonghyuk had severe separation anxiety, but Kim Dokja couldn’t blame him. He developed it too. Perhaps he’s had it ever since they’d first met.
“Dokja,” Yoo Joonghyuk breathes out a sigh. With how he looks, you’d think that he’d gone through an arduous journey just to look for him—rather than a simple trip to the cafe. Yoo Joonghyuk places the cup holder onto a bench nearby, taking out the cups.
He gives one to Kim Dokja. His regular coffee, just how he likes it. Kim Dokja sips it slow, and sputters.
“Ah,” he mumbles. The coffee burned his tongue, its temperature just a smidge too hot.
Yoo Joonghyuk’s head whips back. “Dokja!”
“Appa, are you okay?” Biyoo’s expectant eyes glance directly into his. They practically glow with concern, and he can’t resist the urge to ruffle her hair again.
She blinks as he does so, turning her head in confusion. Her lips turn downwards in a pout, her brow furrowing.
Ah. She is so damn cute. No matter how much time he spent with her, he couldn’t get enough of it.
“Appa is okay,” he says, smiling. “See?” He turns his palm and smiles. “Appa is completely fine.”
Something hugs him from behind. Without having to turn around, Kim Dokja already knows who it is, the pheromones overwhelming. He breathes it in like he breathes oxygen, the smell of coffee filling his lungs.
“You’re okay?” Yoo Joonghyuk asks, his breath fanning out against his ear.
“Yeah.” Kim Dokja’s heart feels full. “Look.”
He presses the tip of his tongue through his lips, showing it to Yoo Joonghyuk. “See? It’s just a little burn.”
Yoo Joonghyuk furrows his brow too. It’s a mirror image of Biyoo in front of him.
Like father, like daughter, he supposes.
“Papa…” Biyoo moves, clinging onto Yoo Joonghyuk’s leg instead now. “Appa is okay, right…?”
“Mmm.” Yoo Joonghyuk releases a sound of approval. “He is.”
She’s picked up by Yoo Joonghyuk too now, her laughs coming out again. She hugs him with her little arms, stretching it across as much of Yoo Joonghyuk as she could. She can’t reach completely around him, but she clings around his neck, grinning. “I missed you, papa.”
“I missed you too, Biyoo-yah.”
Kim Dokja sighs. A sight like this is truly beautiful.
Yoo Joonghyuk drops her down soon enough, but not without Biyoo whining. “Can you pick me up, papa? Please?”
“After you drink your hot chocolate.”
“Hot chocolate?” A grin adorns her face again. She runs over to the bench where Kim Dokja’s sitting, glancing at him.
“Appa, where is it?” She makes grabby motions with her hands, though she patiently stands there, not touching anything yet. Kim Dokja puts down his own coffee and picks out the cup with the hot chocolate. He pops open the tab to the lid, checking the temperature. The taste of chocolate coats his mouth, a cloying flavor. It’s not too hot.
“Here, Biyoo-yah.” His tone is just as sweet as the chocolate is as he passes the cup towards her. “Remember, don’t drink it too quickly.”
She grabs it with both hands, her smile somehow growing even wider.
“Thank you appa!” She nods her head thrice in understanding.
To think he’d be able to live like this after so long. If someone had told him he’d have a life like this, he’d think they were lying. How could he believe such a fact? Really, how could he?
Having a family of his own, having someone to come back home to… such was a far-away dream in his childhood. Even his closest relatives despised his existence, and his presence at school was another story. He’d thought manifesting as an omega was the worst thing to happen to him, but…
With Yoo Joonghyuk, it seems like that wasn’t true at all.