umbrella { sunjay }

7.

"daddy! can we go get ice cream?" the two energetic girls raced into the kitchen to interrupt the adults conversation. 

sunoo would never turn down an ice cream run, but he wasn't sure if jongseong was on the same page so he looked up and raised an eyebrow to the man in question. 

jay saw no reason why they couldn't have a sweet treat so he shrugged with a small smile.

before they knew it, the four of them were walking in the late august weather to the nearest ice cream parlor. a calming breeze cooling down the heat that radiated from the bright sun.

heera and eunjoo skipped in pure joy a little ahead of the two men. today just kept getting better for the little ones. and the older ones couldn't complain either.

"i never asked how old you were." jay began a conversation as they watched the girls hold hands as they galloped across the pavement. 

"i'm twenty four. how old are you?" sunoo angled his head to face the slightly taller man besides him.

"twenty five." jay nodded to no one in particular. "eunjoo is four right?" jay questioned as the two heard the high pitched giggles coming from in front of them.

"she sure is. time flies by... it feels like she was just born yesterday." the two shared a light chuckle amongst themselves.  

"so, you had her at twenty?" there was a lack of judgement in his tone, only curiosity. he would never judge someone elses situation.

"technically, i was nineteen when she was born. a month later i turned twenty, though." sunoo knew it was only natural to ask these kinds of questions since he was so young with a daughter. 

"that's pretty young. was it difficult for you?" all of jongseong's questions held a sense of care. he knew young parents had it slightly harder than older parents since they were still growing up as well. 

"at first, it was the hardest thing i had ever done. raising a newborn baby all by myself with no one to lean on, was never in my ideal life. but as time progressed, it became the easiest thing i have ever done. of course there's still those days where i feel like i just want to give up. but it feels natural for me to be a father now. she is the center of everything i do in life." now, it was jay's turn to look towards the latter. 

jay admired sunoo's words. it was nice to hear someone admit that they too had their struggles in life. 

"this may be an intrusion, so don't answer if you feel uncomfortable. but, where's eunjoo's mother? sorry for asking such a personal question, i'm just curious." jongseong mentally scolded himself for letting his words slip without much thought.

sunoo chuckled at the panic that jongseong had on his face. "she passed away during child birth. and don't worry it doesn't offend me." sunoo chose not to elaborate on his past since he did just meet jay today. so he chose the simple answer.

"i'm so sorry to hear that. i shouldn't have said anything, i apologize." jay bowed in shame. if he had known she was no longer on this planet, he would have never spoke.

"it's okay." sunoo gave a soft grin to show jongseong he wasn't upset. 

"hey, girls! we're here!" sunoo's aura changed and he became excited as he announced to the kids that they had made it to the ice cream shop.

jongseong decided to just keep his mouth shut while he opened the door for the three of them. he still felt a little shitty for what he said so he wanted to pay for everyone's ice cream as an apology.

"heera, eunjoo, what would you two like?" sunoo asked with lots of enthusiasm. if anyone was more excited about the treat than the girls, it would be kim sunoo.

"bubblegum!" heera jumped up and down as she stared at the variety of ice cream flavors that sat in the glass freezer on display. 

"birthday cake, please!" eunjoo followed up with the same amount of buzz as the other.

the four ice cream flavors were scooped into the waffle cones, with sunoo having mint chocolate and jay having simple vanilla. 

as they walked towards the cash register, the cashier announced their total and before sunoo could even attempt to grab his wallet, the treats had already been paid for.

"you didn't have to do that." sunoo stated matter-of-factly as they all walked to the park bench. heera and eunjoo sat in between the two males as their feet happily kicked the air. the frozen dairy melted all around their mouths with every bite, leaving them with ice cream goatees.

"i wanted to. i still feel bad about what i asked earlier. i know you said it was fine but it was insensitive." jay made sure he held eye contact, indicating his seriousness.

sunoo just shook his head and stayed silent. he wasn't offended by questions about eunji. she was never a secret from the world that was only spoken of by the 'chosen ones'. she was eunjoo's mom, yes. but she was also someone that was alive at some point and was a major part of sunoo's life. 

"okay, i'll ask you a question then. are you married? i see a ring on your finger." he asked while continuing to bite the cone part of his dessert.

"yes, for one year." was all jongseong intended to say. there was nothing else to say about his marriage.

"he's married to my auntie sena. but she doesn't like me very much." 

suddenly a little voice spoke up. sunoo's eyebrows raised in surprise of the blunt honesty that heera just spilled. kids never fail to catch you off guard.

"is that so?" sunoo tried to stifle a snort as he glanced up to see jay's eyes blown wide and ears red in embarrassment. 

"uh- it's not that she doesn't like you heera... she- just doesn't like kids that much in general." jongseong attempted to defend his wife but sunoo couldn't help to snicker silently. 

"ah, i see. and i assume you are the same?" sunoo asked mindlessly as he grabbed a napkin from his cover-up pocket and wiped both of the girl's faces and hands after they finished eating.

"of course not. i love kids." jay stated surely as he collected every ones trash and threw it away in the nearest bin. finally, they stood up from the bench and began making their way back to sunoo's home, where jay had parked his vehicle.

"that's nice, we have that in common." sunoo stated while holding onto eunjoo's tiny hand in his larger one.

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