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Jihwa dialed his number and put the phone on the speaker as per everyone’s request. The whole Manyang gang was already sitting around the tables that Jaeyi and Jihoon had earlier in the day put together to accommodate the larger group. They had all arrived at Jaeyi’s shop and they were waiting for one person who was running VERY late, almost an hour late.
“He better pick up or else we will eat without him!” Jihoon whined and everyone just shushed him.
“Jihoon-ah, let’s wait a bit more! There might be traffic, you do know that he is coming from Seoul right?” Dongsik said and Jihoon grumbled a yes and slouched back down in his chair.
The group fell in silence and the only thing they could hear was the phone ringing. After 2 more rings, a woman’s voice came through and Jihwa declined the call as it would’ve taken her to the voicemail.
“Well, does that mean we can start eating now?” Jihoon asked with hopeful eyes and earned a slap on his arm.
Dongsik raised both of his hands, halting the fight that was about to start between Jihoon and Jaeyi, “Okay, okay. Let’s start grilling then.” You would think that they would be more lovey dovey with each other after being in a relationship for a year but no, they were still kids and fought on small things.
At that, the group automatically started cheering and talking loudly and the shop was once again filled with laughter and loud sizzling voices as they started grilling the meat and opening various types of alcoholic bottles.
Jaeyi got up and started passing out rice bowls and drinking cups to everyone.
30 minutes into their dinner, they heard the front door of the shop open and in came the only person who was late and was not picking up his phone. The shop once again fell into a silence as Juwon closed the door behind him and bowed deep.
“I’m so sorry I’m late! I could not find a babysitter this late at night and Hyuk was out on a date so I could not leave Ji-eun with him.” He stood up straight and then turned towards the host, Jaeyi and asked, “Is it okay if she joins us?”
“You got a girlfriend?” Dongsik blurted and Juwon looked at him for the first time in a year. They both stared at each other and Juwon took in the older man's appearance. He was still the same except he had a fresh haircut which made him look a bit younger.
Juwon felt a tug on his hand and that’s when he snapped out of his stupor and turned towards his left where he felt the tug on his hand. He looked back at Dongsik who was looking at Ji-eun with an unrecognizable gaze.
“No,” Juwon said and Dongsik looked back at him, “Ji-eun is my daughter.” He said and picked up the little girl in his arms.
There was an awkward silence in the shop before Jihwa broke it and ushered Juwon to sit beside Dongsik.
“You have a girlfriend?” Dongsik asked again after Juwon sat down beside him and little Ji-eun in his lap. He looked at him and shook his head.
“No, just Ji-eun, my daughter.”
“How…?” This time it was Jihoon who asked and Juwon looked at him with a frown.
“I thought all of you knew…?” Juwon looked at them with a frown and when everyone shook their heads, he just sighed. He looked down at Ji-eun and took her thumb out of her mouth and then wiped the spit covered thumb with a handkerchief before pocketing it.
Dongsik smiled at that because Juwon was still a clean freak and hadn’t changed a bit except for having a baby and that’s when Dongsik’s smile fell. He felt like he was betrayed because the younger had promised him that he would wait for Dongsik but turns out Juwon threw his promise out the window as soon as Dongsik was in his jail cell and went and slept with a girl. Looking at the baby, he could tell that she was around a year old as she could walk beside Juwon with support just fine.
Dongsik wanted to lash out, wanted to storm out of the shop and coop up in his room and cry his heart out but he also wanted to punish himself for believing in the younger’s promise. He wanted to punish himself for bounding the younger to his old self when Juwon could basically get anyone he wants, he has the looks and the money to snatch any girl he wanted but here Dongsik was like a moron tying Juwon with him.
Dongsik felt a hand over his own hand on his thighs and he looked over to Juwon. He tried to pull his hand away from Juwon’s who just tightened his grip and did not let go.
Juwon turned towards all the questioning gazes and he took a deep breath and squeezed Dongsik’s hand before explaining the situation.
“Lee Changjin was out drinking at a bar with some investors from Russia and the bartender was hearing them talk. She thought that Lee Changjin was very rich and was head of a very important construction company. The Russian investors declined Lee Changjin’s offer to invest in his business but the bartender could not understand what was being said so she did not know that he was a failed businessman. After getting rejected, Lee Changjin got wasted and a bartender took advantage of this. She did not know that Lee Changjin’s future was over and still thought that he would be a good solution to get her out of her own miserable life. She took advantage of Lee Changjin’s wasted self and got pregnant.” There were many gasps from people surrounding the table and Jihwa snatched her glass of soju and downed it in one go before pouring herself another cup all while cursing Lee Changjin.
“By the time everything got aired on the news, my father was already arrested and she had already given birth to Ji-eun. She heard about me on the news and came to the Munju Police station. She begged me to adopt her child as she was not able to raise her and then she blackmailed me into adopting her.”
“How can she blackmail you?” Dongsik asked with a frown on his face.
“She had experience in editing videos and stuff, she already made a whole video of her acts with Lee Changjin so that she can use the video to blackmail him. She told me that it would be no brainer for her to change some things and make it look like I took advantage of her. So I had to adopt Ji-eun. I could’ve put Ji-eun up for foster homes but she just grew up on me and now I can’t imagine life without her.” Juwon smiled and looked down at Ji-eun who was cooing at the pictures on Juwon’s phone which he had put up to distract the child.
Juwon let the group take in this information while he took out Ji-eun’s food from the baby bag that he carried around. He opened the small container and started feeding Ji-eun a concoction made out of baby food and water.
“Sorry, it’s just… it’s time for her to eat and then it will be her bedtime.” Juwon explained and smiled sheepishly before going to feed Ji-eun her food.
It was truly a very warm scene. Juwon’s big hand was wrapped around Ji-eun to support her and rub her belly, he also held a handkerchief in his hand to wipe away the mess around her face after every spoonful of baby food.
“How did you even manage to take care of her?” Jihoon asked.
“Well, I had some help from Hyuk. He used to take care of his younger cousin before the family moved to the states. He told me everything about how to take care of a baby and I have also joined a mom club.” Juwon blushed when he admitted that and everyone chuckled at that.
“That’s nice.” Jihwa said and everyone nodded. They all then went back to their previous chatters but this time Ji-eun’s little voices were also added to the adult voices. Soon, Juwon was done feeding his daughter and Jihwa was the first one who asked him to carry her. Juwon, of course, agreed and gave his daughter away to Jihwa.
Dongsik passed him a bowl of rice and dropped a few pieces of different kinds of meat on his plate and urged Juwon to eat his meal. Instead of drinking alcohol, Juwon was given mango juice and he looked at Jaeyi with a grateful gaze before returning to his food.
Soon, the food and alcohol was finished and the gang was leaving one by one. Jihwa had already left as she had work the next day and wanted to get a good sleep before facing her partner. It was only Jihoon, Jaeyi, Dongsik and Juwon left in the shop.
“You guys should leave too, Ji-eun is already asleep.” Jaeyi said and Juwon looked beside him at the makeshift bed that they had made by joining together a couple of seats and spreading some blankets that Juwon had packed for Ji-eun.
“Yeah, that would be a good idea.” Juwon said and before he could wake up Ji-eun, he was stopped by Dongsik putting a hand over his elbow.
“Would you like to take a walk with me?” He asked and Juwon looked at him, unsure.
“Ahh, I would love to, but Ji-eun is very heavy.” He said and Dongsik smiled at him.
“Don’t worry, I’ll carry her.” At this Juwon looked at Dongsik with wide eyes. Throughout the night, everyone had taken turns in carrying Ji-eun except Dongsik and Juwon had thought that the older man did not like her and that is why he was not holding his daughter.
Before Juwon can say anything, Dongsik was already reaching over to hold Ji-eun and surprisingly, he was able to pick her up and rest her against his shoulder without waking her up.
“Oh, she always wakes up whenever I pick her.” Juwon commented and Dongsik laughed.
“Well, I have experience in raising kids, I did raise Min-jeong.” Dongsik said and Juwon nodded. He quickly packed up Ji-eun’s things in his baby bag and then stood up. They walked out together not before thanking Jihoon and Jaeyi.
They walked in silence, neither wanting to break the comfortable silence and talk about the obvious topic that they wanted to talk about the whole night.
“I did wait for you.” It was Juwon who broke the silence first and Dongsik hummed in question.
“I waited for you just like you told me to. I thought you would not accept me now that I have another responsibility but I can’t give her up now.” Juwon continued and Dongsik sighed. Ji-eun stirred in his grip but he soothed her by rubbing her back slowly. Juwon looked at the interaction and he smiled at it. He wished he could take a picture of this wholesome scene.
Dongsik did not answer and they walked all the way to Dongsik’s house in silence, thankfully, Dongsik did not leave as far away from Jaeyi’s shop and the walk was short. They stopped in front of Dongsik’s home, “Hyung, I will be fine if you think I will be too much for you now that I also have a daughter that I have to take care of. I will never want to burden you, you have already suffered enough in your life and I would never bring more suffering to you.”
“So, you’re saying that if I say that I don’t want to be together with you anymore, you will be fine? You’ll just forget about me and continue on with your life?” Dongsik asked and Juwon’s breath hitched. He looked at Dongsik’s eyes and his shoulders slumped.
“If it was that easy to move on, I would’ve never waited a year for you. I spent this whole year thinking about how you would be in that prison. I asked Hyuk to plead to the officers to be lenient with you, he even appointed a guard to take care of you and make sure that you eat your meals and were far away from the aggressive prisoners.”
Juwon moved forward and held Dongsik’s hand which was not holding his daughter. He squeezed the hand and brought it up to kiss the knuckles.
“I can never just forget about you, hyung.”
“Then why did you say that I can reject you if I wanted to? You should be more selfish Juwon.”
“Well then, hyung you have to accept me as I am. I won’t let you go and I won’t let you let go of me.” Juwon said and a tear dropped on his cheeks. Dongsik pulled his hand from Juwon’s grip and held his cheek. He wiped the small trail of a lone tear.
“Stay the night, Juwon-ah?”
Juwon nodded and both of them walked inside the house together.