strings & bullets┃hajeongwoo (under revision)

〚 ch: seventeen 〛

"officer, your husband's outside with your son." officer lee lightly tapped his shoulder.

jeongwoo looked at the officer, confused. for the record, he has a son but no husband.

"what husband?" he asked, his brow furrowed.

the officer also looked at him, puzzled, as if he didn't know about his husband.

"your husband of course? they brought you lunch"

damn, it's probably haruto and jio. jeongwoo sighed and uttered a thanks before heading outside. he marched down the stairs and saw haruto and jio laughing about something. he then noticed that haruto was holding a paper bag. as jeongwoo approached, their gazes met and they both smiled.

"jio said we should bring you lunch" haruto scratched his ear. the baby smiled at his papa and opened his arms, wanting jeongwoo to carry him.

"papa, please carry!" jeongwoo gently carried jio to his arms and kissed his cheeks.

"how's your day, baby?" he asked jio as he wiped the baby's forehead with his handkerchief. he was sweating since the weather's hot

"just fine love," haruto murmured as he cocked his head to the side.

but, to his dismay, jeongwoo didn't hear what he said and continued talking to jio without looking at him.

haruto wrinkled his nose and looked down, watching his shoes as he murmured under his breath, "psh, he's always like that."

"did you say anything?" when he heard jeongwoo's voice, he quickly lifted his head, his eyes widening. he blinked several times before smiling, but it was a smirk to jeongwoo.

jeongwoo stared at him still, he won't deny it, haruto is attractive.

"nothing" he said as he tucked his hand into his pocket and fixed his gaze on jeongwoo's eyes with his left eyebrow raised and as the corner of his lips tugged. he then realized he had an effect on him when jeongwoo looked away after seconds of their eye contact

and jio was there, his brows furrowed as he looked back and forth between his papa and haruto. what were they doing? haruto was smiling while looking down, and his papa was looking to the side so he couldn't see him.

he then suddenly thought of something. jio clapped his tiny hands that made jeongwoo and haruto face him.

he smiled widely when he caught both of their attention, "ice cream?"

 

and of course, jeongwoo wished to accompany them, but he is unable to do so due to his work obligations. he was about to say yes when one of his coworkers abruptly summoned him to a meeting.

haruto is having trouble calming jio down, he's been crying for several minutes now because jeongwoo said he couldn't come with them. he kept rubbing the baby's back and whispering soothing words.

"it's okay, jio. papa is just busy, he'll go get ice cream with you after he finishes work" haruto said softly.

just then, jio looked at him with tears in his eyes and his lips pursed. the baby is adorable that haruto can't help but laugh and pinch his nose. the baby's face crumpled, and he began crying again, louder this time, as he snuggled his head in haruto's shoulder. haruto laughed even more as he made his way to the ice cream parlor.

he stopped in a corner to calm jio down, they wouldn't be able to go inside if he'll kept on crying like this.

haruto sat on the bench "what flavor do you want jio? we can buy some for papa too" he told him.

"stop crying baby. look, that guard from the shop is staring at you. if you don't stop now he'll come get you"

the baby quickly turned his head and stared at the guard, who was dozing off to sleep.

"get me?" he asked, and haruto nodded.

"then papa won't have ice cream?" the baby asked, his eyes innocent.

haruto then wondered why his papa won't have ice cream, he cocked his head to the side and pursed his lips.

"why jio?"

"because he'll take me away, and baby won't be able to buy papa ice cream." haruto then realized what the baby meant to say and nodded eagerly, proving to the baby that he was correct.

the baby sighed and suddenly hiccupped, haruto laughed at this again. he finds everything about the baby amusing, just like his papa.

jio wiped his tears with both of his palms and raised his hands, smiling widely "let's buy chocolate ice cream for papa!"

they eventually stopped to relax on the family park after buying ice cream. the ice cream? jet's just say jio even ate the ice cream he bought for his papa.

he was admiring the view and breathing in the fresh air when jio tugged on his hand. he turned to jio and noticed the baby was staring at a family making a kite. haruto smiled, he bent his knees to match their height.

"do you want something like that jio?" he asked. the baby turned to him, silently nodding his head.

he then realized they don't have any materials to make one, he doesn't know where to get it. he sighed and made jio face him

"maybe tomorrow? or with your papa, we don't have any materials to make one jio" he said softly, he doesn't want the baby to feel sad.

to his surprise, the baby nodded and smiled.

"can we go to the playground?"

haruto laughed, he nodded and was about to carry jio when he suddenly ran, leaving haruto frozen on the spot.

"daddy, chase me if you can!" the baby clapped his hands as he giggled and run, and away from haruto. haruto smiled and ignored what the baby just called him, maybe the baby should get used to it. he then chased the baby and made faces, which caused the baby to giggle even more and speed up his pace.

"jio slow down, be careful please!"

haruto and the baby spent the entire afternoon at the park. they laughed and ran together across the vast field, they spent an hour playing on the playground. one of the kids let jio borrow their kite and the baby was very happy, the cold wind hit their faces as they ran, and it was refreshing. their hearts were full of joy, especially haruto's. he's never felt happier, and he's glad he ran into jeongwoo again. they are a blessing to him, jeongwoo and jio.

they were both exhausted as they sat on the bench. he placed jio on his lap as he wiped jio's sweat, after he was done, he put a clean towel on his back.

"did you have fun today jio?" he asked, smiling.

the baby turned to face him and laughed, exclaiming, "yess!!" and raising his hands. the baby is still brimming with energy.

haruto was about to say something when his eyes caught a woman looking at jio. the woman approached them slowly, her eyes welling up with tears as she looked at jio.

"jio?"

cc.