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Jeongguk had never known that Hoseok was kind of good at playing with a baby. Though the latter's obnoxious sound effects were testing his patience, he had no choice but to tune the sounds off or he would be the one who had to entertain Hyun. Hoseok and Jeongguk had no group discussion today so they decided to kill time by planning their last semester because they could foresee a packed schedule ahead, and that also meant there's almost no chance for them to go out and gamble all night long.

Time sure flew so fast that Jeongguk didn't realise that he only had two weeks left before the last semester of his final year started. All he wanted was to graduate so that he could show his parents that a person who never stayed at home at night could graduate too. To show his sister that he could do more than just gambling. Jeongguk had planned to work as a freelance photographer instead of being bounded by a certain company, wanted to do what he actually wanted to do instead of following instructions and doing what's told. Different from Hoseok—that friend once told him that he wanted to continue dancing, maybe attending a class so that he could be a professional dancer in the future. Jeongguk couldn't comprehend why Hoseok majored in art and film when he liked dancing better than anything but the question had never slipped out of his mouth.

With worries circulating their mind yet so little effort done, Jeongguk and Hoseok sat on the floor, staring at their own feet rather blankly as they tried to imagine what would happen once classes started again. However, university wasn't Jeongguk's biggest concern now. His biggest concern was Hyun.

Once the break ended, Jeongguk would have to attend class as early as 8 in the morning and if he happened to have a group discussion, that would make him go home at 8PM and that would be the earliest. Leaving Hyun alone in the apartment was not an option, and to get a new babysitter would just create another financial problem. Jeongguk threw his head back and sighed, his internal self was screaming to get himself out of this parenthood, didn't think he could survive until the next month. The problem became twice complicated upon realising that Jaehwa was a student too and she would've to attend her classes and stop babysitting.


So now, where should he leave Hyun at? Who should he leave Hyun to? Jeongguk had no single idea.


Hoseok's groan snapped Jeongguk out of his thoughts, saw that his friend was tired of playing with the baby when he chose to lay down afterwards. Hyun seemed like he was on the verge of sleeping too, but it was evident that the boy was forcing himself to keep his eyes open, didn't want to lose the chance being entertained by people, happy to have all Hoseok's focus on him. Jeongguk swallowed hard as he contemplated whether to ask for Hoseok's help or solve everything on his own. He had burdened his friend for so many times these days, not when Hoseok had nothing to do with Jeongguk's deal with Jimin.


Jeongguk wasn't sure if he was tipsy when he accepted the deal, wasn't sure if he was sober enough to save his 700,000KRW by choosing parenting instead though he himself knew nothing regarding that matter. Maybe, just maybe, his economy as a student was the reason why he couldn't bear losing such amount of money.

"Hoseok, do you have any idea where should I leave Hyun at when I have class?" Eyes still staring at his feet, Jeongguk muttered under his breath.

"You have to leave him to someone for like a week and a half, right?" Jeongguk nodded lazily before he buried his face in his palms. "Umm... skip the class?"

Jeongguk's head snapped to Hoseok before he snickered, was so close to throwing the latter a death glare when Hoseok laughed, remarking that he was joking. "It's my fucking last semester." Jeongguk hissed, annoyed. "I need to graduate."

"I was kidding." Hoseok laughed. "Umm, have you asked the babysitter if she can come to babysit? I mean, okay I know she's a student too but who knows her schedule is open? You can ask her to come over like usual at times when you have class." Shrugging his shoulders, Hoseok pouted out of habit. "I don't know. It's just a suggestion though."

For the nth time, Jeongguk sighed. "Well, that's one of the plans, but what about when she has class too? Of course I can't leave Hyun alone." Jeongguk averted his gaze to the little boy sitting on the floor, his small fingers nibbling Jeongguk's game controller out of curiosity. "He's starting to crawl now. I was taking a shower yesterday but when I got out, Hyun was already on the edge of the bed. If I leave him alone, I can foresee him crawling around the house. And as you can see now," Jeongguk paused, waiting for Hoseok to turn around to look at Hyun. "He is currently in a phase where he literally gets curious over everything. He will nibble and put everything into his mouth to see if it's edible or not."

Hoseok's mouth hang upon hearing what Jeongguk just said. He didn't have to utter anything for Jeongguk to get what he meant, knew how his friend was shocked to hear that coming from his very own mouth. For some reason, he felt like a real father now. All thanks to living under the same roof with Hyun, Jeongguk had been waking up to surprises. And when he said surprises, they were all about finding out Hyun doing something new such as waking up to the little boy already sitting on the bed, or just like what he told Hoseok just now, getting out of shower to see Hyun already on the edge of the bed, eager to head towards the bathroom upon realising that Jeongguk was no longer lying next to him.

"The babysitter bought me a parenting book." Jeongguk blurted. "Because she said I suck at parenting."

"Did you tell her the truth?" Hoseok quirked an eyebrow. Jeongguk heard him cussing under his breath when he shook his head, probably done of him for letting the girl see him as a notorious fuck boy who would bang into anyone without considering the consequences. "You are the epitome dumb, Jeongguk. So you are telling me that she still has no idea that Hyun is not your son?"

Jeongguk shook his head again, face plastered with almost no emotion.

"Why should I tell her though. It's not like-"

"Then it would make sense as to why you are so fucking dumb when it comes to parenting! Because your mission is to keep Hyun alive, not to show him the love he supposes to receive from a father!" Hoseok hollered out of nowhere, causing Hyun to shudder before turning his torso to look at the two frustrated males.

"Hoseok." Jeongguk breathed, didn't want to raise his voice because he knew where it would lead to, didn't want to get into a fight when he needed Hoseok the most at the moment. "If you were in my shoes, you wouldn't have the heart to just keep him alive. Though he made my life 1000 times more miserable that it already is, it's actually nice to have someone waiting for you to come home. It feels nice to talk to someone though all Hyun will do as a response is smiling at you. You would reach the stage where you wanted to enjoy this temporary parenthood while it lasts, and as much as I hate myself for saying this, I have to admit that... I think I have reached that stage."




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a/n:
sorry if the plot is moving extremely slow!
if you have been reading my books, you'll know how much i love to focus on the character development. this book is a bit different from my previous works-i'm trying to focus on jeonggukXhyun first before jeonggukXjaehwa.

so please be informed that act 2 is mainly about jeongguk and hyun! :)

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