umbrella { sunjay }

16.

jongseong felt the sensation of multiple small pokes on his cheek, interrupting his slumber.

his eyelids fluttered open slowly, only to be met with a tiny face with big brown eyes staring directly in his face.

"why are you hugging my dad?" the little girl's head tilted to the side as she continued to stare at the man.

jay couldn't process that he was being asked a question so he squinted his eyes to hear the girl better. "huh?"

the girl pointed downwards and spoke again. "why are you and daddy hugging?" 

following her little finger, jay looked down to see a sleeping kim sunoo who looked comfortable on his chest.

"uh, we fell asleep." jongseong didn't even remember falling asleep last night. but apparently the two had been sleeping in each other's arms.

eunjoo accepted that response with a shrug and grabbed the controller off the coffee table, then happily jumped onto the couch.

"what time is it, eunjoo-ah?" jay stretched as much as he could without disturbing the younger on his chest.

"i don't know, i can't count time." she continued to watch the cartoon.

"right..." he patted his pant pocket to discover his phone. with a yawn, he read the time as 10:50am. the two had gone to sleep pretty late, around two a.m. so it wasn't a shocker that they had overslept into the morning.

"oh man."

suddenly the one on his chest began to stir and jay released his arm from around the younger. sunoo groaned before sitting up slowly to look at jay. 

"mm, what time is it?" sunoo rubbed the sleep from his eyes and let them adjust to the sunlight that brightened up the living room.

"almost eleven. i have to go, thank you so much for last night sunoo. i'll repay you next time." jay abruptly stood to his feet and grabbed his things in a rush. 

"no worries." sunoo gave a droopy smile from being half conscious and waved him off.

"bye eunjoo!" jay called out before shutting the door behind him.

sunoo turned his head to find his daughter sitting peacefully on the sofa next to him. "when did you wake up baby?" he got up from his sitting position and engulfed the girl into his arms as he laid on the couch.

"did mr. park stay the night?" she played in her dad's overgrown locks.

"mhm." sunoo eyes closed once again since he was still tired.

"you guys had ice cream? i want ice cream!" her little voice became excited at the sight of melted ice cream that sat on the coffee table.

"maybe later, joo. do you wanna see grandpa and grandma today?" sunoo decided it was really time to go back to see his family. it had been too long and his conversation with jay the previous night reminded him how much he needed to spend time with the people in his life.

"yes! yes!" she cheered and squirmed around in her father's arms. a hearty laugh escaped sunoo's throat at the excitement of his daughter.

"i think while we're there, we can go see your mommy too." he kissed her cheek.

"yay! let's go right now!"

❀

"shit." jay had completely forgotten to send an email to his students about his absences for the next two days. he had planned to take today and tomorrow off, since they're the last days before heera goes back home with heeseung.

as he walked through the streets as fast as he could, he worried if heera had thought he went to work when he told her he wouldn't. he also worried if his students had already came to class when there was no need.

after closing the door and removing his coat and shoes, he turned around to find sena and heera sitting at the table, eating breakfast in silence.

"uncle!" heera leaped from her seat and ran to hug jay. it kind of hurt to know she may have been disappointed when she had woken up to him no where in sight.

"what the hell jay!" interrupting the wholesome moment, sena also raised from her seat; in anger.

"hey! heera is here!" jay quickly stood up straight from the hug. 

she had crossed the line now. they had made an agreement to never fight or use profanity in front of heera. his mood had quickly soured.

"where have you been?!" sena disregarded what the male had said and walked closer. if it was possible, flames would be shooting from all around her.

"you need to calm down." 

jay refused to bring these things in front of a child. these were adult matters and should only be handled as such.

he felt heera hide behind his legs. she was not used to hearing people yell or argue like this so she was a little shaken up. 

feeling her shrink behind him broke his heart.

"i need to calm down?" sena blinked in unbelief.

"yes. i will not engage in an argument when my niece is right here and is clearly upset because of how you're acting. so yes, you do need to calm down, park sena." his eyes were sharp and threatening. he was in full protection mode.

"you're unbelievable jongseong. you were the one who left at ten at night and didn't come back until thirteen hours later. and now, you want me to 'calm down'." she scoffed harshly. what else could she feel at the moment?

jay exhaled and closed his eyes for a moment. he was not going to raise his voice or further this conversation while heera was still in the same room.

"let's go talk." he stated sternly before turning around and propping himself on one knee to be eyelevel with heera.

"i'll be back, okay princess? i'm sorry you had to see aunty so upset, hm?" he patted the girl's head gently. 

"okay..." her eyes held worry and confusion on what's going on. she was smart but this was too much for a four year old to process.

"be good and finish breakfast." he gave her a small peck on the forehead before standing up and walking into his old bedroom without a word to sena who still stood there.

"well? are you going to explain why you suddenly disappeared?" she questioned as soon as the door closed behind her.

❀