Neighborly [Seo Changbin + FemReader]

[1.3] Y/N

I slept fitfully after making it back to my apartment and crying until I had no energy left to stay awake. When my alarm went off to wake Yu-Jin up for school, my phone lit up with a phone call from his father. I wanted to puke at seeing his name on the screen.

Picking up the call, I croaked into the mic, "Yes?"

"Hey, let me pick up Yu-Jin today from school. There's a new music store that opened this week in my neighborhood that I want to bring him to."

I took a breath to tell him no, absolutely not, but he cut me off.

"I took today off, so I have nothing scheduled this afternoon. I missed his birthday last month, so let me make it up to him. Yeah? I promise I'll be there."

He sounded sober. My gut was telling me not to listen to his empty promises but my heart wanted our son to have an active father. Tae-Hyun had left me three years ago when Yu-Jin was only 5. My only saving grace was my widowed aunt who lived in Seoul and the fact that Yu-Jin was old enough to go to school. She'd helped pay for the divorce and let me pay her back once I got myself on my feet. When my aunt passed away last year, she left me her apartment since my cousins had places of their own. That was the only reason Yu-Jin and I have survived on our own this far, with me as a single working mom and Tae-Hyun not contributing to his son at all since he can't keep a job and spends all his earnings on his current girlfriends and vices.

"Y/N, you still there?"

I took a deep breath and immediately regretted the words that came out of my mouth, "Yes, you can pick him up. But, I swear to god, Tae, if you get his hopes up this time just to not show up again, then don't you dare ask me again. Do you hear me? I'm sick of seeing him disappointed."

"I'll be there. I promise." He said firmly. "Thank you!"

I hung up the phone and groaned. "Please... don't break his heart again."

I got out of bed and started my weekday morning routine of waking Yu-Jin up, cooking us breakfast, getting dressed for work, eating together, and getting him out the door to catch the bus. I told him about his dad picking him up when school let out, and he just nodded with a shallow smile, which made my stomach turn in knots. I walked him down to the bus stop, watched him board, and I walked back to the apartment building to finish getting ready for work before walking there.

As I was leaving for work, I stepped out of the apartment complex front doors and caught the eyes of the neighbor from above me as he was stepping into the backseat of a highly tinted managerial black car. He was dressed casually, and that looked out of place with the professional vehicle. He paused minutely before one of his eyebrows lifted in a confusing gesture. He looked me up and down and then slid full into the seat.

Was that disdain I saw? I froze in my low-heeled steps, my hands dropping to the sides of my dress skirt in defiance. I scoffed aloud, turning my head to the side and rolling my eyes as his car pulled off the curb and melted into traffic. He's got some nerve to be upset with me. I wasn't the one who called in the complaint. He can get over himself.