Chapter 40: 31-1

Ben walks between us, each hand held by one of ours as we walk into the hotel. When we get into the elevator he tries to press all the buttons, but Jaewook captures those sneaky hands with his own. He picks him up to distract him. It's quite late now, and the effort spent on taking care of this loud ball of energy has exhausted me. I don't know how my dad and Erika do it. The elevator opens and I eagerly head to the hotel room and knock. "Jaewook hyung, monkey?" "Monkey?" Jaewook asks curiously before realizing he's referring to the stuffed monkey we bought him. The door opens to my father as I rummage through the bag and hand him the monkey. "Hi dad," I walk in, momentarily forgetting about the man that's holding his son. My father's gaze on him reminds me. "Oh, uh, this is my boyfriend Jaewook." "Boyfriend," Ben repeats. "Nice to meet you," my father extends a hand and Jaewook stares for a moment before extending his own. "Nice to meet you too sir." He lets Ben down, but the boy turns back to him and lifts his arms up. "Hyung!" He whines while making grabby hands. My dad's eyebrows raise. "It's time to go to bed," Erika says as she appears from another room. The toddler immediately refuses and grabs onto Jaewook's leg. Jaewook looks wide-eyed at the small human, clearly unsure of what to do. Erika looks nervous, as she usually does around unfamiliar people, so I try to convince the little guy. "What if Jaewook tucks you in?" I propose. "Okay," he easily replies. "Can you go wash your face and brush your teeth first?" He nods his head and follows his mother to the bathroom with the monkey in hand. "Sorry," I say to Jaewook. He's already had to take the toddler to the Men's bathroom after Ben refused to let me take him to the Women's room. Now he has to even put him to bed. "It's okay," he says with a smile. "So," my father reminds us that he's still here. "Ben really likes you huh? He usually doesn't like strange men." "It took convincing but after a while, he stuck to him like glue," I respond. "I see," my father's eyes haven't left Jaewook's face. There's a strange look in his eye, like he's trying to find something. His head tilts and his eyebrows cross. "Have we met before?" Jaewook looks at a loss for words as he shakes his head. "Hmm, maybe you just look like someone from a crowd," he says to himself as he walks away. "Well come in." Jaewook slides his shoes off and awkwardly looks around the hotel suite. "Relax, my father isn't your typical background check dad. Breathe." I put a hand on his back and he lightly laughs, releasing some of the tension he's carrying. "Do you want a beer?" My father asks as he opens a drink fridge. "Oh, no I don't drink sir." "Oh," he looks at him confused for a second before nodding and taking out one can for himself. "Hyung!" A shout is heard from another room. I grab Jaewook's hand and head towards it. There's a hotel crib in the bedroom, its rails halfway down just to provide security without too much confinement. Ben stands in front of it, his mother adjusting his pyjamas. Erika smiles and steps back with a gesturing hand, not knowing what to say to the nervous guy. Ben raises his arms, which signals to Jaewook what he should do. He lifts up the toddler and places him in the big crib. He begins to softly talk to him, asking if he's comfy and if his blanket is warm enough. Ben just nods, no more words as his eyelids grow heavy. After saying goodnight, Jaewook is able to silently back away. He turns to me with a sweet smile, one where only his upper teeth show. "See, that wasn't too bad." "I guess not," he says. He unexpectedly pulls me into a hug in the dimly lit hallway. His hand lightly holds the back of my head against him as he embraces me. Then he kisses my head before pulling away. "Today was really nice, it was special. Thank you." I look up at him, watching his eyes sparkle even without the aid of light. I can feel it now, that he's been more stressed out than usual. He was so quiet at the beginning of the day, and as much as Ben intimidated him, I knew that was only half of it. Feeling his anxiety now, I lay against him again and sigh. "I love you, you know that right?" "Of course," he says against my hair. "Just making sure." I pull back and smile, my hands now in his. Then we begin walking back to the main room. "Oh," Jaewook looks down at his phone. "Shit." He knows I don't like it when he swears, so he usually refrains from doing so. Something must be up for it to fall out by mistake. "What is it?" "It's almost 7:30—I have to go to work actually," he nervously laughs. "What?!" I whisper yell. "Yeah, I started a job a few days ago. It's just evening shifts for now but hopefully I can work more eventually." "Where?" "It's this coffee shop in Hongdae that's open until midnight."