| 15 (1/2)

. . fifteen . .  The days start to repeat the same formula: Donghae wakes up first, and wakes up Hyukjae before he heads to work if it’s not too early. They eat porridge, cereals or scrambled eggs for breakfast. After that they either draw, watch tv, go feed the ducks or play at the playground, where Hyukjae keeps trying to listen to the women and Jaemin builds sandcastles. They come home, and Hyukjae reheats yesterday’s leftovers. Jaemin likes to watch Paw Patrol and build the Legos Donghae brought. Meanwhile, Hyukjae tries his best to do something useful; laundry, dishes, maybe vacuum. But often he just ends up slacking beside his daughter, watching the kids’ shows with her. He makes up some snacks, which is usually cereal, or some chopped fruit, or a sandwich. She doesn’t like ham, only cheese. Hyukjae doesn’t really have a lot of imagination to make up new ideas. They often take a nap in the afternoon, before Donghae returns and cooks them something. Hyukjae’s not very good at that either; so far he’s only managed to get banned from the kitchen altogether. Sometimes after dinner, one or the other bathes the girl. She could sit in the tub for hours, playing with plastic ducks or blowing bubbles if someone doesn’t put a timeline. Donghae studies. They watch some more tv, or draw. After some supper, Jaemin brushes her teeth and she’s fast to fall asleep. Donghae keeps studying for a while, before he heads to take a shower. Hyukjae stares at the ceiling or his phone, before he falls asleep.

His interactions with Donghae are a little vague and they mainly revolve around the same things over and over again. They bicker and argue, but Hyukjae keeps thinking Donghae is still keeping his distance, for whatever reason he’s yet to figure out.

But one thing he’s quite confident about: Donghae and Jaemin are getting along better every day. She’s still shy, but Hyukjae has noticed the change, even how slow it is. And Donghae is good with the kid, he doesn’t push her too hard, and often remembers to encourage Jaemin better than he does. Donghae gets surprised every day by her progress.

“Dongha-ii.”

“Dong-hae,” the nurse corrects softly, as he puts a Lego on top of another. The red and yellow bricks are starting to look something relative to a house.

“Ha-ii,” Jaemin chimes again.

For almost ten minutes the two have debated how Donghae’s name should be said. Jaemin doesn’t quite get it yet.

Hyukjae snorts to himself, finding the focused look on her daughter’s face rather adorable as her brows keep furrowing in concentration. The man watches the two with a smile. Donghae is sitting on the floor with Jaemin, and the Legos spread all over between them.

Hyukjae checks the time from his phone, the numbers showing 9:55am. It’s Donghae’s first day off from work after four days, and he wonders if Donghae would stay or leave. Because he really doesn’t need to stay; Hyukjae can’t force the younger to spend every day with them, but Donghae does seem like he’s in no hurry to get out. His whole presence confuses him, to tell the truth. Even if the other has apologized to him, it’s impossible to figure out if Donghae wants to be friends again or not. He’s there, but is Hyukjae stupid enough to think they could actually be friends again?

“It’s with an E, not I,” Donghae replies, still smiling; there is a lot more patience with the girl than he has with Hyukjae. His back leaning against the couch, he waits.

“Eee,” the girl huffs, and the letter itself is said correctly. “Donghai.”

“Donghae,” Hyukjae putts in to the conversation from the couch.

Jaemin stares at her father, mind obviously bubbling with something.

“Why no daddy, too?” she finally asks, eyes bright and innocent, lips on a pout.

Donghae boggles on the floor, and Hyukjae stares at the kid. They stare at each other for a good minute, both confused, for different reasons, Hyukjae mostly just thrown off guard.

The younger man takes a deep, rather nosy inhale. “Because—“

“If you call Donghae daddy too, how I’m supposed to know when you’re talking to me?” Hyukjae talks over, but he contemplates what Donghae was going to say. He can’t really see his face from the couch.

“Oh,” Jaemin mumbles, putting few blocks to their Lego house.

Donghae stands up from the floor, and Hyukjae’s eyes follow him closely. “Where are you going?”

“Bathroom,” Donghae notes, a little breathless, scratching his neck as he exits the living room without looking Hyukjae in the eye.

Is it something he said, again?

He turns towards his daughter. “One more time, okay? Donghae.”

“Donghae.”

“That’s right!” Hyukjae hollers happily. “Donghae, did you hear that!”

He doens’t get an answer, but the grins on the father’s and daughter’s faces are racing.

Donghae returns back to the living room after a minute, his face still flustered, which makes Hyukjae eye at him in confusion. Did he really say something that got to him?

“Donghae, did you hear what Jaemin just said?” he asks, frowning.

“Huh?” Donghae turns to look at him, but his eyes immediately wander somewhere else.

“Jaemin, what did you just said?”

“Donghae!” she chimes proudly, and Hyukjae observes closely Donghae’s response.

The brunet’s face turns from somber to slowly beaming, his toothy smile finally appearing. His mood change puzzles the older greatly, but at the same time, he can’t stop looking at Donghae; he’s so different with the girl, it seems he almost forgets everything around him – but with Hyukjae, he remains timid and withdrawn. And Hyukjae can’t put his finger around it.

He watches the two for a while, until the doorbell rings. The rings sound impatient, rather aggressive, and although the sound is totally different, it takes Hyukjae back to the day the girl appeared for a long second. It hasn’t been a week, yet it feels like it has been way longer than that, and at the same time, just yesterday. So many things has happened with as many changes to his daily life.

“Are you expecting someone?” Donghae asks, waking Hyukjae from his racing thoughts.

“N-no,” he mutters, eyebrows furrowed low as he stands up to get the door. He has no idea who it could be. His best guess would be Taehyung, maybe. Othan than him, there isn’t a lot of people who even knew where he lived.

Straightening his loose shirt and clearing his throat, he realizes that if the one behind his door is Taehyung, he would have a lot of explaining to do.

But when he opens the door, it’s not Taehyung.

It’s Jiah. Someone he would have least expected to see there. He stares at her for a second, the last encounter suddenly very fresh in mind. But his expression flashes from a surprised to an angry one very fast.

“What the hell are you doing here?” he hisses, stepping forward in front of the gap that would let her see into his apartment. He observes the woman, eyes very stern and hostile, looking up and down through her essence. She doesn’t seem any better than last time. Actually it’s worse. The bags under her eyes, the redness on them, her messy hair and dishevelent clothes. She has her fingers clasped together in front of her, but Hyukjae can see the tremors. And as he stares longer, he can see that she’s been crying, or something like that; everything about her screams pitiful to him, and all the emotions Hyukjae feels start boiling closer to the surface.

“H-Hyuk,” she stammers, something in the tone sounding desperate. “It’s nice to see you,” she continues, but it isn’t sincere.

“Yeah, right,” he snarls back, “You were so thrilled to see me the last time.” He points the scar on his head.

“I’m sorry about that,” she sniffles, “I just… I just thought...”

Hyukjae grits his teeth tighter, gripping to the side of the door violently.

“I wan to see the girl,” Jiah pleads, her eyes starting to glimmer.

Hyukjae sees right through her. The woman is high – again, or still, and this is probably because she’s coming down from whatever she uses. The point when the effect of the drugs have started to fade.

“As if. I thought you said you never wanted to see either of us again?” he snaps, trying to keep his voice low, but it is starting to become impossible. He takes a fast peek towards the living room at the end of the hallway, seeing Donghae peeking from the couch worriedly.

“I know, Hyuk. I… I just want to see her,” she whines, trying to take a step closer, maybe a glance inside if the girl would be there. But Hyukjae prevents him, forcing her to back off as he takes a step forward, blocking her.

“No.”

“But she’s my daughter! I have the right to see her!” She’s desperate. Desperate for something. Maybe she’s trying to convince herself that seeing Jaemin would make her feel better about herself. Just Jiah’s style to do something like that. Hyukjae remembers her doing the same back then, and now he understands what an idiot he’s been for ever falling for her lies. If she did something stupid, she would first blame Hyukjae for it, and later come crawling back for forgiveness and whatever the hell she was after.

“I said no,” he growls, pushing the door backwards, but it doesn’t shut yet.

“I want to see Jaemin! Jaemin, are you there?! Come see mommy! Mommy misses you,” she tries shouting to the apartment, but Hyukjae pushes her further away from it.

“She doesn’t want to see you!” the man hisses again. His body trembles in anger. He just wants the woman to disappear. She’s already shown that she has no real interest in the kid. “You gave your right to see her the minute you dropped her at my door! You need to leave.”

The tears are already pouring down her colorless cheeks, and her tremors have gotten worse. Hyukjae knows that she would cause a scene when she doesn’t get her demands met.

“I’m not leaving anywhere! Jaemin!” she yells, trying to struggle her way through as she grabs Hyukjae’s shirt and arm, trying to push or pull him away from the door. “I need to see my daughter!” she screams, ripping and trashing against the male despite him fighting back. “Fuck you Hyukjae, you can’t stop me! Let me see her!”

“The hell I will!” he snarls, trying to keep his cool but it’s starting to get difficult as she keeps struggling, scratching and pushing against him. “Can’t you see who’s the problem here?!”

“Let me see her!” she keeps screaming, probably waking the whole building from its slumber. She scratches Hyukjae’s arm, and he feels the sting, but he doesn’t budge until she suddenly bites his palm, causing him to howl in pain and joggle just enough for her to slip pass by him.

“Jaemin!” she yells.

“Jiah, no!” Hyukjae manages to catch her by clasping to her jacket, pulling him back off from the entrance.

Donghae shouts his name in frighten, and Hyukjae flashes him a look, shouting at the younger man hurriedly, “Stay with her!”

He shuts the door with his foot by force, making sure she won’t get in another time. He grabs her from behind, dragging her further. “You’re not seeing her, can’t your hear! I said no! You made your damn choice! You left her all by yourself!”

Still struggling, she keeps trashing on his hold.

“Let me go! I fucking hate you! LET ME SEE HER!” Jiah screams even louder, her screeches echoing in the otherwise quiet hallways.

Hyukjae feels so frustrated and angry and betrayed and disappointed. Why is all this shit falling to his shoulders?

“You need to fucking calm down! You are high as a kite, you’re not thinking straight! You seriously think I would let you meet her like this? She must be so fucking proud of you, having an addict as a mother,” he growls deeper, like a pitbull in rage, even when he knows it might just provoke her more. But he’s not going to let go.

He doesn’t have time to think about his neighbors. The only thing Hyukjae can focus on, is protecting the girl.

“I have rights! Let go off me!” she goes on, suddenly managing to clasp her fingers around Hyukjae’s hair, tucking on it tightly.

“You need to calm the fuck down!”

But she just screams louder and louder, scratching the man with her nails, and hitting him anywhere she’s able to. And at some point, biting Hyukjae again, and causing him to jolt, she has her chance at throwing a punch at him.

It’s impossible to think straight. Everything circles so loud in Hyukjae’s head. He’s afraid she’d manage to hurt the girl if she had the chance, and he tries everything to keep her away from the door. But the battling is getting exhausting, and Hyukjae just wants it to stop, but somehow, she keeps fighting back, not giving him a way to talk her down.

He doesn’t notice, as he struggles in the middle of the hallway, when a door across his apartment opens, and a man rushes outside.

“Hey, hey! Lady!” the man shouts, hurrying to help Hyukjae who’s currently defending himself from her endless bitchfit. The man grabs her shoulder, but she keeps scratching, kicking and hitting Hyukjae with all the energy she has. It’s as if she’s gone rapid; nothing she says makes sense and it’s mostly gibberish and profanities, her mouth foaming in madness.

The man manages to pull her off Hyukjae, pushing her against the floor after she’s smacked Hyukjae’s head hardly against the floor.

A woman from the same apartment has a phone on her ear, talking with someone. Her eyes are worried and she seems scared, but who wouldn’t? Jiah is crazy, and Hyukjae’s gotten the worst of it.

Lying on the floor, head spinning from the impact and every part of his body stinging and aching in agony, Hyukjae slowly hears distant footsteps from the staircase. His neighbor keeping Jiah still against the floor with difficulties, as she never stops screaming, two blue suited police men appear. He doesn’t hear what they say, he can’t make sense of it.

“You need to calm down, M’am!” one of the police orders, as he grabs her from her armpits, freeing Hyukjae’s neighbor. “Can you hear me? You’re just making this harder for yourself if you keep resisting. Let’s calm down! You need to come to the station with us.”

The other police, a little older, bends down next to Hyukjae.

It’s when Donghae appears from Hyukjae’s apartment, holding and protecting Jaemin in his arms. She’s crying, and obviously scared. Jiah’s voice has reached most likely every apartment during the incident.