Kim Dokja and Han Sooyoung had been babysitting Yoo Mia since they first met her when she was barely five years old. Every time Yoo Joonghyuk was forced to go somewhere for work leaving his sister behind, they would take over. And soon, it extended to take care of her so that Yoo Joonghyuk could have a break.
Yoo Joonghyuk would never ask anyone to help regarding things like this and Kim Dokja was the one who started it.
He happened to see Yoo Joonghyuk take on one too many burdens and work himself to the bone. It was a stressful time for Yoo Joonghyuk, he had tournaments coming up, he had videos to edit and stream quotas to fill. And even though he was extremely busy, he took Mia to school every day. His relationship with Lee Seolhwa had been straining because they both had very busy schedules and they barely even saw each other.
So Kim Dokja had to step in.
He did consider though, to just let it happen and swoop in when it was the right time.
Then he decided none of them deserved that. Kim Dokja, with wicked thoughts like this, didn't deserve it. Yoo Joonghyuk and Lee Seolhwa didn't deserve it either.
They were his friends and they deserved to be happy. Even if he secretly despised it. As long as that little bit was a secret, none of it would matter.
Kim Dokja got Han Sooyoung's help, roped in the other two, arranged and sent them off for a little break, let them have a nice date and said he would look after Mia in the time they were gone.
And he did it many times over the years. Yoo Joonghyuk and Lee Seolhwa were both similar in the ways that they would keep everything to themselves until the stress got to them and exploded in the end. Yoo Joonghyuk was the kind to keep all his worries to himself because they were his to deal with, and Lee Seolhwa was the kind to keep things to herself because she didn't want to burden anyone else with it.
They usually were there for each other, but sometimes life wasn't too kind and didn't leave them with a lot of energy to go save each other. They both had their things to deal with. At times like this, they needed some external intervention and that's where Kim Dokja came in as their friend.
He felt he owed them that much at least.
For all the times that they had been for him, this was the least he could do as their friend.
That brought him to the issue at hand.
"What do you mean you won't be able to do it?" Han Sooyoung shot at him through the phone.
Han Sooyoung's surprise was natural. Kim Dokja never slinked out on babysitting duties. But here he was, perhaps for the first time ever, saying he wouldn't be able to do it.
"You're busy that day?" Kim Dokja asked.
"What about you?" Han Sooyoung said in return.
"I'm busy," Kim Dokja answered.
"With what?"
"With a lot," Kim Dokja gave a soft scoff.
"What? Why? Have you been sacrificing your sleep and running on caffeine and energy drinks to meet deadlines like me?"
"Yeah," he said promptly. "And I have to go to Yoo Joonghyuk's in the morning."
"Exactly, so you can babysit Mia, no?"
"Not our Yoo Joonghyuk," Kim Dokja told her. "The other Yoo Joonghyuk."
"Ah, your Joonghyuk-ssi guy."
Kim Dokja rolled his eyes but said nothing.
"Why?" Han Sooyoung asked.
"It's his birthday too."
"Goddamnit. Right, I forgot you said that," Han Sooyoung groaned. "Fine! I'll do it. Sonuvabitch."
Yoo Joonghyuk's birthday was coming up. Both the Yoo Joonghyuks'.
And Kim Dokja didn't know what to get them.
He'd never realised how hard planning could get when two of his friends, who weren't mutual friends had their birthdays on the same day. It was worse when the day happened to be a holiday. He couldn't split himself into two and send one with each one, could he?
He decided he'd spend the evening with Yoo Joonghyuk and his friends and he'd meet with the older Yoo Joonghyuk in the morning, since the younger Yoo Joonghyuk was going on a date with Lee Seolhwa in the morning. And their friends had rescheduled their biweekly dinner to the third so that they could manage two things at once.
Yoo Joonghyuk wasn't exactly pleased about inviting a lot of people over to celebrate his birthday though. And funnily enough, his older cousin didn't have any people to invite.
The dilemma about the gifts remained.
"I heard Yoosung and Gilyoung are going to be there," Han Sooyoung was saying.
"Yeah, sleepover, I heard. I'll see them in the evening anyway."
Han Sooyoung sighed heavily.
"Haaaah, whatever," she grumbled. "I'll do it. I'm their auntie anyway. I mean, they're grown up, why does that nitpicky asshole even want someone to babysit?"
"It's his birthday," Kim Dokja said. "And you know how Mia gets. She'll try to do something for him and might hurt herself."
"True," Han Sooyoung huffed.
Mia was prideful just like her older brother and she was very likely to use the opportunity without her brother to try and do something special for him. And suddenly a lot of things became dangerous. The kitchen was a red zone, fire hazards, sharp objects, choking hazards, the list was endless. It didn't help that Yoo Joonghyuk's love language had always been food and making food and Yoo Mia was very likely to imitate it. She might try to cook something for him behind his back for his birthday and end up getting hurt.
Yoo Joonghyuk said it was Kim Dokja and Han Sooyoung's presence during her childhood that influenced this mischievous behaviour.
They said it just made her more interesting and saved her from becoming boring and broody like her brother. Of course, Yoo Joonghyuk threatened to beat the shit out of them for that, but he did that often and the threat had lost its previous effect on them.
"Yoo Joonghyuk changed his plans for me, you know, I can't bail," Kim Dokja said. "As much as I love the kids, I already made plans."
"Oh ho," Han Sooyoung said cheekily. "Changed his plans for you, huh?"
"Yeah, originally I was supposed to go over in the evening, but I can't just leave you guys, can I? So he said we could do it in the morning."
"Do what?" Han Sooyoung snickered. "Do it?"
"Hanging out!" Kim Dokja cried indignantly. "Stop saying bullshit."
"Maybe you should do it," Han Sooyoung said. "Give him a nice birthday present. I bet he'll love it."
"Will you stop that?" Kim Dokja said, annoyed. "It's not like that. Stop bringing it up every damn time."
"Dude, come on," Han Sooyoung drawled exasperatedly. "Open your eyes and fucking look properly for once. You act differently around this guy."
"I act normally. What are you saying?"
"And he's clearly got a thing for you. You should shoot your shot," Han Sooyoung continued. "It's been a while, hasn't it? What? Like two years now? Or something like that? And we still haven't met him."
"He's busy," Kim Dokja held in a sigh. "He has to go on business meetings often and he's got a shit ton of work to do. I'll ask him though, to check if he's free to arrange a meet-up."
"You guys work together, no?" Han Sooyoung said.
"Not exactly. He ranks way higher than me—I've already told you this," said Kim Dokja.
He did tell his friends that Yoo Joonghyuk worked at N'gai Entreprises like him, but was his superior in a way and never really had any chance to see each other at work. He didn't mention that he was the CEO and the person who got him his nice fancy job though.
That would give one too many clues and he didn't want them finding out about Yoo Joonghyuk yet. He wanted to keep this little secret for as long as it was possible.
"By the way, what are you getting him? Our Yoo Joonghyuk?" Kim Dokja changed the subject. "I can't think of anything to get him."
"Kitchen knives," Han Sooyoung replied.
"Again?"
"Yeah," she giggled. "I'm going to get him that every year until he stabs me with it."
"Don't even," Kim Dokja sighed.
"Aww, poor baby, sorry, your trauma triggered?"
"You've joked about it so many times I'm desensitised to it now," Kim Dokja huffed.
"I knew my plan would work," Han Sooyoung said triumphantly. "Get him a kitchen knife set and we can annoy him together. You know what, get the same one I'm getting. I'll send you the brand name."
Kim Dokja considered it. He could imagine Yoo Joonghyuk's face when he saw the two gifts. That would be funny.
"What are you going to get your Yoo Joonghyuk though?" Han Sooyoung said.
"No idea," Kim Dokja confessed. "I've been breaking my head about it for hours now."
"Get him chocolates."
"Why? I don't even know if he likes chocolates. He can probably afford better chocolates than I could ever buy him."
"Tsk, you tasteless fellow, it's the thought that matters," Han Sooyoung chided. ". . .Get flowers then."
"Flowers? I'm not congratulating him for anything though."
"Go jump off a cliff, you fucking loser," Han Sooyoung snarled patronisingly. "You said he didn't celebrate his birthday a lot. It's a nice, sweet gesture. How would you feel if someone got you flowers for your birthday?"
"I'd find it suspicious," Kim Dokja said honestly.
"You're hopeless."
But he was telling the truth. If Han Sooyoung or one of his friends turned up at his door with flowers, he would be very suspicious. Who knew what kind of prank it was going to be.
. . .Supposing that it wasn't a prank, he would probably be very confused about the flowers, but it would be a pleasant sort of confusion rather than something distressing.
Was that a good idea though? Kim Dokja had never received flowers in his life, he wouldn't know.
There wasn't a lot he could get Yoo Joonghyuk, so it had to be something meaningful. Anything Kim Dokja could buy, Yoo Joonghyuk could easily do so as well. But what would be considered meaningful?
"The kids will be going to middle school soon, no?" Kim Dokja muttered.
"You worry more than their parents do," Han Sooyoung gave a long, shuddering sigh. "Hey, they'll be fine. Do you just go around looking for things to worry about?"
"Why on earth would I do that?" said Kim Dokja. "I like a peaceful life with nothing to worry about."
"Yeah, yeah, right...Listen, man. I'll go there this weekend, get them some nice ice cream, let them watch that dragon movie that Yoo Joonghyuk's overprotective ass is gatekeeping because they're too young or whatever and let them have fun like normal kids, yeah? You chill out."
Kim Dokja was always grateful towards Han Sooyoung. Right from the moment he started chatting with her online when they were teenagers. Even if they were just arguing with each other about web novels and trashy plots, it was something that saved him from sinking into despair during those dark times.
"Han Sooyoung," Kim Dokja called. "Thank you."
"Argh, stop being cringey!" Han Sooyoung whined.
Kim Dokja couldn't help but scoff. Of course, she would react like that.
The fond little smile on his face took a while to disappear even after the call had ended.
Yoo Joonghyuk trusted neither Kim Dokja nor Han Sooyoung to be a good influence on the kids. They could be trusted, yes; to be a good influence, uncertain.
But if push came to shove, he preferred Han Sooyoung over Kim Dokja. Mostly because Kim Dokja had a soft spot for the kids and would fold immediately, doing anything they wanted. Han Sooyoung could be a little more strict and therefore could handle the kids and their tantrums better than Kim Dokja.
It was no wonder why the kids loved Kim Dokja.
When he told Mia the previous night that Han Sooyoung would be there to look after her in the morning, Mia's face fell. While she liked Han Sooyoung, she could push around and get her way easily with Kim Dokja.
"What about Ahjussi?" she had asked.
"He has prior arrangements," Yoo Joonghyuk told her.
"More important than me? Did you tell him that Yoosungie and Gilyoungie are coming?"
"He knows about the sleepover."
"And he's still not coming? Oppa, call him! I'm going to scold that Squid Ahjussi!"
Kim Dokja had been there from the start. He was the one who gave him the courage to go back to that shitty hell hole of his old family house and get Mia out of there. Yoo Joonghyuk wasn't sure if he could raise a toddler on his own, but Kim Dokja and Han Sooyoung said they'd better buckle up and face everything head-on.
Nothing unlucky or irreversible had ever happened because he had good people supporting him. When Mia got sick, when he had to leave for long periods of time, when he got into a minor accident on the subway, he always had good people to help him.
It did take him aback when Han Sooyoung asked him to leave some food for her for lunch that day.
"What about Kim Dokja?" he had blurted out and Han Sooyoung scoffed at him saying that all he did was follow around Kim Dokja like a wet dog.
Bullshit was what it was. Yoo Joonghyuk wasn't the strange one here.
When he informed Lee Seolhwa that Han Sooyoung would come over, even she had said, "What about Dokja-ssi? Is everything alright?"
Yoo Joonghyuk realised they had gotten a little too dependent on Kim Dokja. It was inevitable anyway, Kim Dokja was a constant in all their lives. And that rat bastard of a best friend he had liked to carry all the burdens in this world on his tiny shoulders and strut around. They might as well be around him to catch him when he eventually fell, the idiot, honestly.
It was that guy's idea too, going on birthday dates. It was slowly starting to become a tradition now.
Saturdays weren't the best though. It was too crowded outside.
"I think I should retire," Yoo Joonghyuk said as he and Lee Seolhwa walked along the sidewalk on a sunny day. They had left Yoo Joonghyuk's car a few blocks away and were taking the chance to walk the city streets. Yoo Joonghyuk had a mask in his pocket just in case, he would put it on if someone recognised him and head back into the safety of their car.
"Hmm, you think so?" Lee Seolhwa mused. "Why?"
"It's troublesome," Yoo Joonghyuk muttered. "And I want to stay at home longer."
Seolhwa squeezed his hand gently and he tightened his grip around her hand in return.
"It will be nice to come home to you waiting for me," she said softly.
Yoo Joonghyuk imagined it; him picking up Mia from school in the evening, preparing food fresh, hot meals for dinner instead of just reheating stuff from the refrigerator, welcoming Seolhwa at the door when she returned from the hospital. It sounded nice.
"It will," he said.
Maybe he should take up on that coaching offer his company had given him. Once he stopped participating in tournaments and stopped streaming, he needed some other income means. Coaching didn't sound half as bad. He already had three mentees under his wing, he could make it official and get away from the cameras.
He could do that now, he could take things easy.
Seolhwa's voice brought him out of his swirling thoughts about life.
"Is that Dokja-ssi?"
Was it a habit of his family members now? To spot Kim Dokja when they went outside? Mia sometimes squeaked out that she'd seen Kim Dokja in the crowd, now Seolhwa was doing it too.