Chapter Text
Park Chanyeol sighs as he tries not to let the frown stay on his face for too long because that is a very bad example of his kids and unbecoming of him – a thirty-year-old grown man – but it is starting to become a problem. Despite his initial reaction of feeling overly irate at the stunts his twins have pulled yet again with their latest nanny – Victoria had one of the highest reviews as a Nanny and everyone that recommended her, more often than not, showered with a lot of compliments and with the countless of praises she received, Chanyeol had a lot of faith in her but alas, even with her long list of achievements, she still could not manage to tame his extremely rowdy twins; Chanyeol is only slightly apologetic to see her quit – Chanyeol still could not really bring himself to scold them. His twins are after all only seven years old; Chanyeol knows he should not be using their ages as an excuse but he does it anyways. It’s hard to break out of this particular habit. He will most likely need to save all of that anger, disappointment, frustration, etcetera for much later where he can vent them out to his dearest mother. God Bless her for being understanding.
His current problem stands before him, holding each other’s hands and wearing rather similar expressions: the older twin is looking very smug while the younger twin is smirking at him. Devils, the two of them are. Who even taught them to do these kind of expressions honestly.
“Care to explain to me why you thought doing all of this,” Chanyeol waves to their once pristine kitchen and feels one of his eyebrows twitching – attempting to get those stains off would be really difficult, “was a very good idea?” His twins simply smiled in response, the older one snickering and the younger of the two giggling in to the former’s shoulders. Chanyeol almost feels very incensed but he also has the urge to laugh. He then briefly wonders who they take after – certainly not him, that’s for sure. Must have been his ex-wife. “Baekhyun, Jongdae.” He calls his sons to attention and the two little rascals look at him with an almost innocent like expressions.
“You cannot and should not do these things anymore – Daddy – Daddy does not have the time to keep running back to the house every single time the two of you decide to do something like this.” Although in hindsight, this wasn’t exactly the worst thing his boys have done. There was once upon a time where Baekhyun pretended to fall down from the stairs and played dead and Jongdae broke his arm. That day had been seriously chaotic but that was a different story for a different day. Chanyeol also has had this same conversation with his twins a couple of times now (twelve time in fact, but who’s counting? Certainly not Park Chanyeol).
Baekhyun harrumphs and crosses his arms which prompted Jongdae to do the exact same thing and Chanyeol almost lets out a squeal at how adorable the twins look right at that moment. If only the situation wasn’t so dire, Chanyeol would have whipped out his camera and take photos of them to add to his growing collection of his ‘Photos of my boys’. “You never have time for us anyways.” Baekhyun grumbles but it is loud enough for Chanyeol to hear and the remaining anger immediately dissipates from him. Chanyeol suddenly feels very sorry, guilty and sad. Jongdae nods his head in agreement, repeating his brother’s words firmly.
Chanyeol sighs before kneeling in front of his twins, using his hands to draw the twins closer to him. “Just promise me that you would not do these things ever again, please? My boys are very smart and nice, aren’t they? They will listen to Daddy right?” Chanyeol tries to placate them – he also tries his hardest not to let his voice waver because he does not want the boys to know just how much it had cut him deeply to hear from his twins’ mouths about how he never has time for them, also implying that Chanyeol favours his work his own family. When none of the twins answered, Chanyeol swallows the lump in his throat and drops his hands from their arms. “Okay, no watching the TVs for the night and I am taking all of your electronics with me, indefinitely.” Chanyeol tells them and the gasps that the twins let out almost made him lose his resolve but Chanyeol still needed to punish them somehow lest they think destroying the kitchen is a very good idea.
Chanyeol stands up and takes out his phone. “Please just try not to make any more mess than what you have already done.” Chanyeol has resigned to the fact that his sons are not willing to listen to him anymore, at least not tonight and he really needs help, pronto. So he decides to call the only person he could think of what would not run at the sight of his boys: his mum.
“Mum, I’m sorry for disturbing you – ah, yeah, the boys did it again and this time, it took place in the kitchen.” Chanyeol almost sobs out the last part but he doesn’t. He still has some dignity left but the ends of his lips twitches just the tiniest bit when he sees how proud the twins are for being able to drive their nanny away once again. His eyebrows furrow when Baekhyun simply takes the headband from Jongdae’s head – he did not even realise Jongdae had been wearing one! – and placed it on the shelves under one of the counter. Chanyeol reckons he should probably check the shelves when he has the time because he has a feeling he knows exactly what his twins have placed there. “Yeah, I am really sorry but – of course, thank you, mum. You are the best! I’ll stay put until you get here then.” Chanyeol exchanges a few more words with his mum before ending the call. He then turns to assess the mess his twins have created: flours were thrown everywhere, even to the ceiling – some were sticking on the ceilings in lumps -, his once beautiful and clean countertops are littered with some sort of gooey substance and Chanyeol thinks he can see a pile of chocolate and strawberry syrups in the mix. He even spies more than a handful of eggshells on the ceiling and egg yolks are thrown everywhere too. Chanyeol doesn’t even want to look beyond that and he is also almost afraid to know just how much it is going to cost to get everything cleaned or replaced even.
Looking back at his twins, Chanyeol resisted the sudden temptation to congratulate them for not making any more messes for the past few minutes and gave them a small (rather pathetic) smile. “Alright, boys, let’s just take a shower first before Grandma gets here.” Chanyeol tells them as he takes off his outer coat and folds the sleeves of his shirt up to his elbows and places his phone and said coat on the sofa in the living room that is attached to the kitchen.
Baekhyun finally realizing that his daddy is not going to be scolding them anymore brightens up and looks at his brother. Jongdae grins at him. “Race you to the bathroom!” The two of them shout at the top of their lungs before they began to run. Chanyeol lets out an indignant squawk at their head start but ran after his twins. He may occasionally call his twins demons, trouble makers, menaces, etcetera, from time to time (all of them in his head, of course) but Chanyeol knows he would never trade them for anything at all. They are after all his entire life now.
“Oh, Kyungsoo – you’re back early.” Minseok says in confusion from the living room when he spies his roommate cum cousin by the doorway. Kyungsoo pulls off his shoes and chucks them to the floor before walking over to Minseok and face-planting on his cousin. Minseok lets out a loud huff but wraps his arms around Kyungsoo anyways. His younger cousin snuggles in to his arms and Minseok smiles as he begins to rub the back of Kyungsoo’s head, running his hand through Kyungsoo’s hair every now and then, lightly scratching his scalp. “What’s the matter?” Kyungsoo mumbles something and Minseok chuckles. “You know I can’t understand when you talk in to my chest, Kyungsoo.”
Kyungsoo pulls his head back from Minseok’s chest and is slightly disappointed when Minseok stops patting him but he needed to talk to his cousin without sounding extremely muffled. He stares at Minseok. “Today was my last day with the Lee.” He is almost pouting but not quite. He frowns. “Mr. Lee finally go the promotion he has been working hard for and the entire family is going to leave for Seoul in a few days.” He sighs and Minseok nods his head.
“I’m sure you can work something out, Kyungsoo.” Minseok knows just how much Kyungsoo loved the kids he had been babysitting – more often than not, after Kyungsoo comes back from work, he would have this really expression on his face and he would always tell Minseok about how much the kids bring joy to his life. “I’m really sorry though.”
Kyungsoo gives Minseok a defeated smile and finally pulls himself out of Minseok’s embrace and settled beside him instead. “On the bright side, Seoul is only an hour flight from Jeju and Mr. Lee said I can visit whenever I want to – he also said he is willing to cover the cost! Mrs. Lee also told me to always make sure to keep in touch with them as well – Taemin and Jongin were crying so much earlier when I told them that today is my last day, it made me so sad.” It saddens him that his two favourite boys would no longer be around in Jeju but at least Kyungsoo has permission to visit them in Seoul whenever he wants to. “Mrs. Lee gave me my pay for this month and some added bonuses too: she said it was because I took such great care of her kids.” He tells Minseok who simply pulls his younger cousin in a side hug.
Kyungsoo had been looking after Taemin and Jongin even since the two of them were eight years old – they are turning twelve soon – and despite being young himself – Kyungsoo is only older than the two of them by a good eight years – he still treated the two of them like they are his real brothers. Kyungsoo knows he will be sad the day they depart for Seoul but Kyungsoo also knows that they will miss him just as much as he already misses them.
“Are you going to start looking for a new job then?” Minseok questions and feels Kyungsoo nodding his head against his shoulders. “If you ever need help, tell me alright?” He tells Kyungsoo sternly and Kyungsoo simply looks at Minseok and smiling at him. “So do we want to get take out or are you going to cook dinner for us?”
Kyungsoo simply laughs.
The next morning finds the Park household in total chaos as Chanyeol rushes around the house, cursing himself for ever wanting to build such a large house, as he tries to retrieve all of his documents that he left all over the house here and there. He really needed to bring those documents in to his office today. In hindsight, Chanyeol should have done this last night but he had been too sleepy to take them all in to his home office.
“Daddy’s so silly.” Baekhyun tells Jongdae and munches on his bananas. He had decided to forgo eating his banana with cereal, like what Jongdae is currently doing at the moment, because Baekhyun does not want to deal with soggy cereals and looking for his bananas among the soggy cereals.
Jongdae snorts, almost snorting out milk out of his nose and Baekhyun laughs but their laughter is cut short when their Grandma walks in to the kitchen, showered and dressed nicely. “Granny!” Baekhyun screeches in delight and Jongdae would have greeted his grandma in the same way but his mouth is currently full of cereal and bananas so all he does is wave his hands wildly, almost smacking his brother in the process with the spoon he had been using.
Mrs. Park laughs merrily and walks over to her grandsons, hugging them one by one and placing kisses on top of their heads. “Where’s your daddy, boys?” She asks, after looking around the kitchen and no Park Chanyeol in sight. He hasn’t even touched the food she had made for him earlier.
Jongdae finally swallows the food he has in his mouth. “Daddy’s running around trying to get his documents, I think.” He tells his Grandma and beams at her when she smiles at him, ruffling his hair. He likes it when his grandma plays with his hair. “Are you going to send us to school, Granny?” He asks excitedly. It’s always fun whenever Grandma takes them to school – she makes everything so much fun!
“Are you? Are you?” Baekhyun shouts and Mrs. Park laughs as she nods her head.
“Baekhyun, honey, please use your inside voice, alright?” She reprimands him softly and Baekhyun blushes slightly and nods his head. Only last night his Grandma had told him to start using his inside voice whenever he is at home and he can’t believe he had already forgotten the promise he made with his Grandma. “Alright then, finish your breakfast first and Grandma’s going to go look for your daddy first.” Mrs. Park pats their heads softly. “After that we can all go to school together, alright?”
“Okay!” The boys chirp happily and hurriedly tries their breakfast – they didn’t even realise when their grandma had gone to look for their daddy.
“Honestly, love, I asked around last night and even asked a few of my other friends who use babysitting services and as soon as I get in contact with them and they find out who they are supposed to look after, they immediately rejected the offer. Even when I told them I will give them a raise in pay.” Mrs. Park sighs as she helps straightens her son’s crooked tie and Chanyeol frowns.
“My boys aren’t that bad.” Chanyeol pouts at his mum and his mum simply smiles in return as she also fixes his collar, brushing off the non-existent dusts from his shoulders. His mum has always been meticulous. “They are just very rowdy at times – they have too much energy.” Chanyeol tells his mum once his mum steps back to assess his attire.
Mrs. Park nods her head. “Of course, I absolutely understand, love; Baekhyun and Jongdae were just like you and your sister when the two of you were little – sans the mischievousness. You were rather docile when you were younger – Yoora had been the mischievous one.” Mrs. Park laughs good-naturedly. “But don’t you worry yourself, alright? I’ll definitely keep my eye out for any potential babysitters.” Mrs. Park tells him and Chanyeol nods his head. “Make sure you say goodbye to your kids before you leave and tell them you love them, alright?”
Chanyeol places a kiss on his mum’s cheek. “Thank you, mum.” He brings his coat and his briefcase to the kitchen where his sons are waiting for his mum, all ready with their school bags. “Alright, boys; don’t cause too much trouble for your grandma and have fun in school, okay?” Chanyeol kneels in front of his boys who nod their heads. “I love you.”
Jongdae is the first one to throw himself at his daddy. “Love you too, daddy! Have a great day at work okay!” Jongdae shouts his ear off and Chanyeol guffaws as he wraps his arms around his son. Jongdae kisses his daddy’s cheek before pulling himself away.
Baekhyun looks at Chanyeol before pretending to sigh and strolls in to his daddy’s embrace. Chanyeol cackles at Baekhyun’s behaviour and places a kiss on his son’s cheek. “Don’t cause too much trouble, alright? Love you, squirt.”
Baekhyun pulls himself out of his daddy’s embrace. “Hey, just because I’m short, it doesn’t mean you can call me squirt!” Baekhyun says indignantly and Chanyeol is torn between apologizing and laughing so he simply pushes his son lightly towards his brother.
“Alright, see you boys later and mum, thank you! See you later too, love you!” Chanyeol calls out and before his mum even has the chance to reply, he rushes out of the house. He actually already had to leave ten minutes ago but the very little time he has with his kids are always precious – Chanyeol doesn’t really mind coming late for work if he can be with his kids for a bit.
Mrs. Park simply shakes her head at her son’s declaration and finally walks in to the kitchen, holding her car keys. “Okay, boys, let’s get you going to school.”
“I’m glad we are able to meet up like this.” Mrs. Park says as she grins at her long-time friend, Mrs. Lee. “It’s been a while since we met right?” Mrs. Park asks as she scans the menu briefly. “When are you leaving again?” She recalls her husband telling her that Mrs. Lee’s husband had just recently gotten a promotion and the entire family would be moving out to Seoul in a few days. “Husband dearest mentioned it sometime last night but he too wasn’t quite sure.”
Mrs. Lee chuckles. “Oh, we will be leaving this Friday sometime around 4.” She tells her older friend as she too begins to scan the menu.
Mrs. Park smiles. “Congratulations are in order then; it’s my treat today so order anything you want.” Mrs. Park tells her friend and Mrs. Lee, having known Mrs. Park for the longest time knows better than to decline the offer, nods her head.
“Baekhyun and Jongdae have certainly grew up a lot since the last time I saw them.” She tells Mrs. Park as she glances to look at her own sons playing around with Baekhyun and Jongdae. “Do you take care of them all the time?”
Mrs. Park shakes her head. “Not all the time – just sometimes and as of yesterday, I am their Nanny temporarily.” She laughs but sighs afterwards. “Those kids are wonderful and lovely but this is already the thirteenth time they have managed to scare away their babysitter and now, whenever I try to look for someone that would be willing to give the young boys a chance, everyone just seems to run away from them.” Mrs. Park rubs her forehead.
Mrs. Lee rubs her friend’s back. “I wish I could help you…” Mrs. Lee trails off before looking at her friend once more. “Do you have any specific requirements, for the babysitter you are looking for?” She asks and Mrs. Park looks at her before shaking her head.
“At this point, we just want someone who is able to spend a lot of time with the boys – rather than a babysitter, I am thinking of just hiring someone to live with my grandsons and their dad – of course, in a separate house – do you have someone in mind?” Mrs. Park looks at her friend with hope and Mrs. Lee nods her head slowly.
“I think I have the perfect person but you should work out the details with him.” Mrs. Lee takes out her phone. “My sons’ old nanny – Kyungsoo – would definitely be a good candidate. If I am not mistaken, he is turning nineteen soon and is currently waiting for his graduation so he has a lot free time in between. If you do not mind that is, I can give you his number.”
“At this point, I will take whatever I can get and if you think Kyungsoo would be very good for the boys, then who am I to disagree?” Mrs. Park exclaims, feeling happier than she had been earlier that day. “Your Taemin and Jongin are nice boys too and I am sure Kyungsoo is a wonderful man as well.”
Mrs. Lee grins. “Of course; here let me show you some of the photos the boys took of Kyungsoo – they absolutely adore him.” Mrs. Lee is about to show the photos to Mrs. Park when the two of them are greeted with four voices.
“Grandma, Mum, we are hungry!”
Mrs. Lee and Mrs. Park share a look with each other before laughing. Mrs. Lee quickly sends Kyungsoo’s contact number to Mrs. Park before putting away her phone. “Okay, what do you want to eat? It’s Mrs. Park’s treat today.”
“I’ll have the chefs whip something up for us – are your boys allergic to anything?” Mrs. Park asks as she helps Baekhyun and Jongdae to their seats. The boys settled quickly and began to drink their water. When Mrs. Lee shook her head, Mrs. Park smiles and turns to her grandsons. “Okay, boys, Grandma is going to get food for all of us.”
“Hi, hyung.” Kyungsoo flops down beside his cousin who is diligently typing away on his laptop. “Are you working on your manuscript?” He asks as he makes himself comfortable. Minseok hums in reply before pausing and turning to look at his cousin, tilting his head a little bit to the side.
“I thought you had plans with Sehun today?” Minseok asks – he remembered this because Kyungsoo had mentioned it earlier that morning about how he was going to meet with his best friend for a while. “Did the plan fall through?”
Kyungsoo shakes his head. “Nah, it didn’t. We hung out and stuff but it was cut short because Sehun had to go home since his mother needed help with some business proposals.” Sehun is the only heir to the OH! Clothing brand company and Kyungsoo knows how busy he has been lately, what with his mother grooming him to be the next successor.
Minseok nods his head before turning back to his work. He just needs a few more thousand words before he will be satisfied enough to stop. He thinks it will also please Yixing, his editor, with the progress he has made with his story. “Do you want anything specific to eat tonight?”
Kyungsoo shakes his head. “Nothing much –
His sentence gets cut off when his phone begins to ring and Kyungsoo takes out his phone from his bag, furrowing his eyebrows as he stares at the unknown number flashing on his screen before he cautiously answers the call. “Hello – yes, this is Kyungsoo speaking.”
Minseok pauses his typing to look at his cousin and mouths ‘who is it’. Kyungsoo shrugs his shoulders as he continues to listen to the caller. He isn’t as cautious as he had been earlier, a little bit more relaxed now.
“Oh? Oh! Yes, of course!” Kyungsoo sits up straighter and grins at Minseok – who is still very confused by the quick change in Kyungsoo’s moods, whoever is calling must have brought good news. “Yes, I don’t have classes tomorrow and will be free as well so any time is a good time for me. Alright, yes, I will be there bright and early. Okay, thank you… Thank you, Mrs. Park! I’ll look forward to meeting you.” Kyungsoo ends the call and looks at Minseok.
“I think I just got hired, full-time with at least 1,000,000KRW as early payment, hyung.” Kyungsoo says dumbfounded at the prospect that he now has a job and his future boss is willing to give him a thousand dollars in advance for him to work. Opening his own daycare center has always been one of his dreams if he manages to save at least of that money for however long he is needed, Kyungsoo knows he will most likely be able to achieve his dream and make it a reality very quickly.
Minseok frowns but nods his head. “Are you this isn’t too weird? 1,000,000KRW seems a bit sketchy…” Minseok is only concerned for his younger cousin’s safety. After Kyungsoo’s parents moved to the States because of their businesses and dreams of expanding said businesses, Kyungsoo has been living with Minseok for two years – close to three years now – and Kyungsoo is practically his little brother so Minseok has the rights to worry and be concerned too.
Kyungsoo shakes his head. “She told me that Mrs. Lee recommended me to her – she also explained how she had talked with Taemin and Jonginnie as well.” The phone in his hand buzzes. “Bless her; she just texted me the address to her house too.” Kyungsoo tells Minseok and showed the message to Minseok. “Just in case you are worried, I am going to leave this address with you too.”
Minseok smiles and quickly jots down the address for future use. The frown disappears from his face. He has met Mrs. Lee a couple of times now and knows how nice she is. So if Mrs. Lee thinks Kyungsoo is the right one for this job, then who is he to stop his younger cousin from doing what he wants and loves to do? “Alright then; just make sure to keep me updated okay?” Minseok tells his cousin who grins at him, nodding his head.
“I am going to cook dinner for us – this is a cause for celebration, hyung!”
Minseok simply laughs in reply.
“How did it go, mum?” Chanyeol asks after placing a kiss on his mum’s cheek. Mrs. Park shakes her head and Chanyeol’s shoulders drop, letting out a disappointed sigh. “I’m really sorry about this, mum…” Chanyeol furrows his eyebrows and Mrs. Park simply shakes her head, patting her son’s shoulder.
“I love spending time with the kids, don’t worry.” Mrs. Park tells him and Chanyeol smiles half-heartedly at his mum. “Actually, I hired someone last night – I know I should have talked to you about this but I figured I should just do it anyways.” She says casually and Chanyeol chokes on his saliva, coughing loudly causing Mrs. Park to laugh quietly to herself at her son’s antics.
“You did?” Chanyeol bellows before he apologizes when his mum gives him a sharp look. He repeats his question once more and Mrs. Park nods her head. “Who did you hire? Have you done a background check on her? Or him? When were you going to tell me you hired someone, mum?” Chanyeol bombarded his mum with questions. He really doesn’t want to bother his mum any more than he already does and his mum also had her own restaurants to manage and Chanyeol feels guilty for throwing everything at his mum.
Mrs. Park pats her son’s back this time. “Slow down there, love and take a deep breath.” She quietly laughs to herself as she continues to rub Chanyeol’s back. “I met up with Mrs. Lee yesterday and she recommended Taemin’s and Jongin’s nanny to me – he sounds like such a wonderful person and I even talked to him last night too. I trust Mrs. Lee’s judgment so I didn’t bother to do a background check – do you do this often with your previous nannies and babysitters as well? – and I was going to tell you about it when I know for sure he is the right one for the kids.” Mrs. Park answers all of his questions in one go and Chanyeol looks at his mum.
Before any of them can say anything, the doorbell begins to ring. Chanyeol furrows his eyebrows and looks at his mum in confusion. He didn’t think he has any visitors – he is rarely at home for any of his colleagues to even know where he lives, not that it is hard to find – and it is certainly far too early for anyone to even be coming to his house. “That must be him.” Mrs. Park all but smiles widely and Chanyeol nearly trips as he follows after his mum when she left to open the front door.
Not so surprisingly, Baekhyun and Jongdae are already standing in front of the now opened door and Chanyeol almost had a conniption because why are his sons opening the door so carelessly like that – what if that had been a robber or a murderer or –
His mum must have had sensed his panic and nervousness because Mrs. Park simply pats Chanyeol’s arm and paused at the aisle. “I want to watch this first.” She whispers to Chanyeol and before Chanyeol could even reply and go to his sons, Mrs. Park merely tells him to be quiet and to stay put.
“Who are you?” Baekhyun asks as he stares at the man in front of him. Jongdae repeats the question and the man almost smiles before he crouches in front of them so that they can now look at him eye-to-eye. Baekhyun is kinda thankful because he is seven and he’s not that tall yet so it hurts his neck to continuously look up at someone. “Your eyes are huge.”
Jongdae snickers. “Yeah, your eyes are huge! Are you able to see everything through them?” He cackles once more and when the man does not even get mad and Jongdae is met with silence, Jongdae stops laughing and pouts when the man laughs at his actions.
“Yeah, I have been told I have huge eyes.” The man tells the two of them. “But where is your dad or Mrs. Park?” He asks, worriedly. “Are you even allowed to open the door without supervision?” He tries to look from where he was standing but to no avail, there did not seem to be anyone there and from where he was standing at the door, Kyungsoo could not really see anything much besides the amount of space the house – mansion, he corrects himself – has.
“It’s alright – I know Hapkido and Jongdae knows Taekwondo so we can kick you if you try to kidnap us!” Baekhyun tells the man proudly and gets in to stance. The man in front of him smiles, not even unnerved by his proclamation. He pouts.
“Daddy also told us to scream very loudly because we can scream very, very loudly. Do you want to hear?” Jongdae says excitedly and he is about to open his mouth to demonstrate just how loud he could scream when the man laughs once again and shakes his head.
“Baekhyun, Jongdae!” Chanyeol says sternly as he walks in to the living room. His sons take one look at the man – boy? – and ran to him. “How many times have I told the two of you to not open the door when there is someone you do not know at the door?” Chanyeol kneels down and looks at his twins who look like a puppy that just got kicked. Chanyeol sighs and pats their heads. “Just don’t do this anymore next time okay?”
“Okay.” Jongdae says and Baekhyun nods his head in agreement. “But daddy, do you know who that guy is? He has got such huge eyes – they are so big.” Jongdae points out and pointed at the man at the door. Chanyeol flushes slightly in embarrassment – his sons really have no tact at all (but what does Chanyeol expect from his sons – they are still young).
That was when his mum decided to walk in to the living room. “You must be Do Kyungsoo – come in, darling.” His mum ushers the man – Do Kyungsoo – to walk in and once he did, albeit very cautiously and somewhat awkwardly, his mum proceeds to bring him around. “You can just call me Mrs. Park and these are my wonderful family – my son, Park Chanyeol and my grandsons, Baekhyun and Jongdae. I do have to apologise for whatever they have said earlier that may have hurt you but I can assure you that Baekhyun and Jongdae do not mean any harm.” Mrs. Park tells the teenager.
Kyungsoo simply shakes his head. “It’s alright – Jongin and Taemin actually said the same thing when I first met them too. So it is all water under the bridge, Mrs. Park.” Kyungsoo tells the older lady – he has a feeling that he will fit perfectly in this house and even though he may need to work hard to win over the boys, Kyungsoo knows it will be worth it in the end. (That was how it had started with Jongin and Taemin too).
Chanyeol stands up to his full height and almost chuckles at how small the man is compared to him. The man – the teen? – did not look like he was in high school, which was good because Chanyeol does not trust a kid to take care of his kids. He quietly assesses the man: his side profile is rather striking and he looks so young and innocent. He glances at his mum and hopes his mum knows what is best.
“Good morning, Mr. Park.” Kyungsoo finally greets his boss’s son. “My name is Do Kyungsoo and I will try my best to take care of your sons.” Kyungsoo turns to look at Chanyeol and smiles at him. He is somewhat taken aback by how tall his boss’s son is and how devilishly handsome the man is. He wills himself not to blush but Kyungsoo could feel the tips of his ears turning red. He cannot possibly already be attracted to his boss’s son – that’s a definite no-no!
When the teen turned around to face him, Chanyeol is slightly taken aback by how good-looking the man – teen – is and Chanyeol does not even know why he is so surprised because he had also acknowledged earlier how striking the teen’s side profile had been. Not only was he handsome, Kyungsoo also gave the vibe of someone who is very innocent and naïve – like Chanyeol just wants to keep Kyungsoo safe but that is very silly, Chanyeol chastises himself. How can he possibly think of something like that during a time like this? He shakes his head and clears his throat.
“Morning and uh, you can call me Chanyeol please. Mr. Park feels too much like work and it also reminds me of my dad.” Chanyeol points out and gives the smaller man a small smile when Kyungsoo nodded his head at Chanyeol’s suggestion.
“I’m Baekhyun!” Baekhyun chirps up from where he was standing causing everyone to look at him. He grinned and pulled his brother closer to him. Jongdae smiles widely and wraps his arm around his brother’s shoulders. “And this is Jongdae!”
Kyungsoo smiles warmly at the two of them; they reminded him so much of the first time he had met Taemin and Jongin. “Hello, Baekhyun and Jongdae.”
“Alright then, Chanyeol, didn’t you say you had to go to work earlier today?” Mrs. Park finally speaks up when she catches sight of the time. Chanyeol had managed to pick up all of the documents he left around the house and during that time, she also found out that Chanyeol had a very important presentation to give today.
Chanyeol gasps when he suddenly realises the time. He curses under his breath and looks at Baekhyun and Jongdae. “Alright boys,” He kneels in front of them. “Daddy will not be able to join the two of you and Grandma and even Kyungsoo-ssi here for dinner later so please try not to cause too much trouble okay? I love you.” Chanyeol quickly gives his boys a quick kiss on their cheeks and a brief hug before he rushes to his home office to grab his things, gives his mum a kiss on the cheek and nods his head curtly at Kyungsoo before rushing out of the house. He still needs to practice for his presentation!
Mrs. Park sighs before turning to look at Kyungsoo who is still standing there awkwardly looking around the house. She closes the door when she sees Chanyeol driving away and gives Kyungsoo a small smile when the teen turned to look at her. “Who is ready for some breakfast?”
“Me!”
Baekhyun and Jongdae shrieks before rushing to the kitchen and Kyungsoo smiles as he watches the twins run off. He waits for Mrs. Park and together the two of them headed to the kitchen. “I know this can be a little overwhelming at first but I can assure you, you will get used to the size of the house in a few days.” Mrs. Park tells Kyungsoo when she spies him looking at everything in a mix of skepticism and awe. Kyungsoo flushes and nods his head. “Do you have any questions?”
Kyungsoo ponders for a bit before slowly nodding his head. “You mentioned about paying me in advance – is that the amount of money I will get every single month that I work here?” Kyungsoo asks when he finally remembered the things Mrs. Park had told him in the phone.
“Regardless of what the outcome from today is, I will still pay you the stated amount and if you choose to continue to work here for as long as you want and need, that amount will still be the same.” Mrs. Park explains and Kyungsoo nods his head, feeling somewhat satisfied. Her answer had immediately saved him from having to work two to three jobs just so he can fulfill his dream. “Are you not worried about why the pay is a lot? Compared to what people normally get paid?” Mrs. Park throws a question at Kyungsoo.
Kyungsoo nods his head. “I actually am but I have never been one to quit doing something half-way through. I like seeing things through until the very end.” Kyungsoo tells Mrs. Park earnestly. “To be very honest, I was and still am a tad bit skeptical about the entire thing but I want to give it a try.”
Mrs. Park smiles before stopping at the kitchen. She had actually brought him to the kitchen using the long-winded way just because she wanted to have a feel of the teen. There is just something about Kyungsoo that Mrs. Park could not place her fingers on but she knows, deep down inside that Kyungsoo would be a very good change to the household.
“Okay, that’s all I need to know.” Mrs. Park pats Kyungsoo’s back. “First, let’s get you acquainted with what the boys like for breakfast, okay? And then we can slowly go through what the boys do all day.” Mrs. Park tells Kyungsoo and Kyungsoo nods his head.
“Can I call you bug-eye? I want to call you bug-eye.” Baekhyun asks but then demands as he all but sits on Kyungsoo’s lap. Jongdae is playing with his Grandma’s iPad and it’s not fair but Grandma had told him to share with his brother so he has no choice but to share with his brother!
Kyungsoo shifts slightly as he held on to the seven-year-old boy, making sure he would not slip off of his lap and hurting himself. “But I am older than you though.” Kyungsoo points out and chuckles when Baekhyun gives him a pout. “Maybe you can call me Bug-Eye hyung when you don’t feel nice but if you feel nice, you have to call me Kyungsoo hyung okay?” He tells Baekhyun who frowns but then nods his head slowly.
“Okay, Bug-eye hyung.” Baekhyun turns around and makes himself very comfortable on Kyungsoo’s lap and not a minute later, he is snoring lightly. Kyungsoo chuckles at how easily the boy fell asleep.
“Baekhyun is always like that.” Jongdae finally speaks up from beside him. “He falls asleep all the time, everywhere, anywhere!” Jongdae snickers as he glances at his twin sleeping and snoring slightly on their babysitter’s lap. “Hey, are you going to stay with us for a while?” Jongdae asks Kyungsoo who smiles at him and nods his head.
“If you let me stay with you, I will.” Kyungsoo answered smartly. Mrs. Park had given him a brief run down on the twins’ nanny situation and as much as he wants to just quit because Kyungsoo doesn’t know if he will be able to cope with two boisterous kids, Kyungsoo is not a quitter and he will not let some obstacles throw him from achieving his plans. “Besides, I think we will have a lot of fun together.”
Jongdae shrugs his shoulders before returning all of his attention to his Grandma’s iPad once again. He’s been trying to colour this dinosaur for the longest time already and he is still nowhere near being finished yet! How annoying.
Once they reached the boys’ school Kyungsoo is not surprised to see that the twins attend a private institution – Kyungsoo had always wondered how it looked like inside for he had only been outside of the gates – because of how posh their house – mansion – had been. Kyungsoo shakes Baekhyun awake and the boy whines for a minute about how he just wants to sleep and Jongdae is laughing at his brother the entire time.
Mrs. Park rounded the car and opened the door on Kyungsoo’s side, chuckling when he sees Baekhyun sitting on Kyungsoo’s lap, rubbing his eyes sleepily. “He does this thing every single time and I normally just tend to give him a few minutes so that he can wake himself up.”
Kyungsoo nods his head and once Baekhyun fully wakes up, he slowly gets out of the car and lets Baekhyun down. Jongdae jumps after him, handing the iPad to Kyungsoo and grabbing his brother’s bag along with his.
“Okay, see you two later and have fun in class okay, my darlings?” Mrs. Park bends down to give each of them a hug and a kiss and Baekhyun and Jongdae kisses their Grandma before shouting a loud goodbye to Kyungsoo. The two of them then ran inside the school.
Mrs. Park straightens herself and turns to look at Kyungsoo. “We have a lot of things we need to talk about, Kyungsoo. Do you have time or do you need to be anywhere soon?” She asks and Kyungsoo shakes his head.
“I’m absolutely fine. I am free for the entire day.” Kyungsoo tells her when the two of them went back inside the car.
When Kyungsoo had heard the entire story from Mrs. Park, instead of wanting to quit right there and then, Kyungsoo is determined to make Baekhyun and Jongdae genuinely like him. When Mrs. Park had told him that the twins have gone through thirteen nannies and babysitters within the span of five months, Kyungsoo had been surprised because the twins, despite how snarky and smug they can be, are very adorable. Kyungsoo reckons that when they grow up, they will most likely be heartthrobs. Mrs. Park laid everything out on him during that car ride.
“Honestly I know some people tend to talk bad about Chanyeol but it’s not his fault and I am not saying this just because I am his mum. Chanyeol has a very sweet and thoughtful heart behind that uncaring façade he may present every now and then. But people tend to judge him for every single thing he does and because Chanyeol is tired of being scrutinized a lot, he became the person that he is today. Close yet distant, cold but warm. Because of this, he turns to work and work becomes his number one priority and now do not get me wrong, Chanyeol loves his sons very much. The reason he works so hard is because he wants the best for his twins and as a parent myself, I understand that as well. I suppose this was all of our doings – he watched us worked hard to get where we are now so that we could provide for both Yoora and him comfortably… Oh look at me, rambling about these things.”
Mrs. Park was such a character and Kyungsoo thinks he likes her. She reminded him of his own mother who is rather flamboyant and very outspoken. But because of that, when Mrs. Park told Kyungsoo to never give up on her grandsons, that was when Kyungsoo became worked up and all the more determined to get the twins to like him. Not only will it benefit the Park household, it will also benefit him too. The boys would have a nanny and Kyungsoo have the money for his daycare.