🎶: 'Some Nights' by Taeyeon
A/N: the live performance is highly recommended if you can access it from above :)
"See you tonight Juju; have a good day," Taehyun smiled as he dropped him off.
Juhyeok nodded.
"See you Dad."
"I'll cook us some delicious bulgogi for dinner, with your favorite seasoning, I promise."
"Yay!"
Taehyun gave one last loving look before driving off.
Juhyeok watched his car disappear into the traffic, but his wistfulness was interrupted once again by none other than Yerim greeting him happily.
"Heya!"
"Oh, hi Noona."
"Come on, let's go inside before we're late!"
"Oh, right!"
Ignoring his thoughts, Juhyeok ran inside the building with Yerim right at his side, and thankfully, neither of them were marked as tardy.
"Aww man, it's raining," Yerim sulked when the bell rang for recess.
"Looks like the sky wasn't done last night," Jinsong commented, who just exited the second first grade classroom.
"Yeah, it was pouring like crazy. I could barely sleep!"
"I saw the light in your room."
"How?" Juhyeok inquired.
"We're neighbors."
"You are?!"
Yerim sighed.
"Unfortunately."
"Hey, at least family get-togethers are much easier; we just walk over the lawn!"
"Uh huh, as if you didn't trample over my proudly planted flowers."
"That was one time!"
"Shush!"
Juhyeok giggled quietly, and chewed on his sandwich. Ever since that one time where he overlooked his to-do list, Taehyun never forgot to pack a snack for Juhyeok. Sometimes, it was even his first task in the morning, before either showering or preparing breakfast.
"I'll go play some soccer in the gym. Wanna come along Juhyeok?" Jinsong asked.
"No thanks, maybe another time."
"Alright, suit yourself."
"Mhm."
Jinsong walked away, and Yerim stretched her limbs after smacking her lips, satisfied with her little fruit salad snack.
"I'm gonna draw. Wanna join me?"
"Mmm..."
Suddenly, Juhyeok felt a weird urge to go somewhere.
Actually, he knew where.
"... I was thinking of going to the library."
"The library?"
"Yeah."
"Oh. Should I come with you?"
"No need. Have fun drawing; I'll see you for Korean class."
Yerim nodded.
"Okay, see you then!"
Juhyeok exited the classroom after asking Miss Bae for permission to leave, and made his way towards the school's book haven. He entered the room, and was immediately greeted by the nostalgic and musty smell of paper and binding.
"Oh, hello."
Juhyeok glanced up to see a pretty young lady sorting a few books, seemingly brand new, into the book shelves. She wore a plaid two piece skirt, had her hair styled in a bun, and looked incredibly sweet.
"How can I help you?"
"Umm..."
Juhyeok fumbled with his words.
"I would uh... umm... what would you suggest uh—"
"Miss Choi," the librarian smiled.
"Oh, you also have Choi as your surname!"
"I assume you've met my colleague here."
"I have!"
"Arin, whom are you talking to—"
Soobin appeared from the other side of the library, and when his view fell on Juhyeok, the little boy let out a happy gasp.
"Hello Mr Choi!"
"Why, hello there Juhyeok. Nice to see you again, without detention this time."
Juhyeok giggled, and Arin (whom he automatically assumed is Miss Choi) glanced at Soobin with a raised eyebrow.
"Is this the kid you were talking about the other day?"
"Mhm."
"You talked about me?!" Juhyeok exclaimed.
"He dud; no one has ever done a detention task so willingly before. And he gushed over how adorable and well-mannered you are," Arin remarked in a laughing manner.
"Arin."
"It's true!"
Soobin exhaled and shook his head playfully, before beckoning for Juhyeok to follow him.
"Come on, let's find you a book while you're here."
"Okay! Bye Miss Choi!"
Arin giggled hearing Juhyeok's enthusiasm.
"Bye bye."
Juhyeok gave one last smile before walking off with Soobin, and Arin just watched them disappear into the bookshelves.
"He's truly whipped for the kid."
"I hope you don't mind my colleague too much; she happens to enjoy teasing me," Soobin commented once they were alone.
"Hmm? Oh, no I don't mind, at all! She was really kind to me too."
"As expected of her."
Soobin said that with a smile, which reminded Juhyeok of Taehyun when he would talk about his mother, on the few times he wasn't so sad about her.
Is he perhaps dating Miss Choi? Juhyeok, you're six, romance is for adults, yuck.
"What book would you like to read?" Soobin asked.
"I'm not too sure. What would you pick?"
"Hmm... I'd pick this one."
Soobin selected a picture book that had a few illustrated squirrels on the hardcover, and handed it to him.
The little boy read the title.
"Meet My Family."
Juhyeok traced the three squirrels on the cover, and a grin crossed his face.
"Uncle Gyu calls Dad a squirrel a lot."
"Who?"
"My uncle. He stays over at our place a lot with my Uncle Kai, and they love calling my dad a squirrel because Uncle Gyu especially thinks he looks like one."
"Ah..."
So that's who the two men in Taehyun's house were.
Juhyeok glanced at the other two, one a kitten, the other a grown squirrel, probably the mother.
"I met your father yesterday," Soobin suddenly said.
That definitely caught Juhyeok off guard.
"You did?"
"Mhm, out downtown."
"Oh. Yeah, he tends to go out a lot in the evening."
Soobin frowned and raised a brow.
"Really?"
Juhyeok clamped his mouth shut.
Sh—oot, I shouldn't have said anything.
Soobin's observant mind wasn't too concerned about what Juhyeok said, rather more... how he reacted to saying something.
"Does he, Juhyeok?"
"Yeah," he squeezed out.
"How come?"
"Please... for your own sake, don't mention your mom to anyone."
The little brown haired boy shuffled his shoes against the carpeted floor, not making any eye contact out of embarrassment.
"I can't tell you."
"Why Juhyeok?"
"My dad doesn't want me to... he is really private and reserved when it comes to our personal life."
Soobin could feel himself get cold sweat all over his body when Juhyeok said that.
First the kid is nervous about what his dad will think of him getting into detention, more than anyone I've ever met, and now, he's scared of accidentally slipping out information about their personal lives?
And why is Taehyun going out a lot in the evenings? I don't know if it's just my mind playing tricks on me but... Juhyeok looked so sad when he responded about his late-night errands, almost as if he wished his father wouldn't be doing them.
Nothing's wrong at home... right?
Soobin shook his head before any other thought could surface, and glanced back at Juhyeok.
The brown haired boy was avoiding looking in his direction, and Soobin understood he wasn't ready to tell him anything.
"It's okay Juhyeok. You don't need to say anything if it makes you uncomfortable."
"Thank you... I'll get going now, recess is almost over."
Juhyeok placed the book back into the shelf, and left the library without looking back, failing to spot Soobin's worried gaze on him.
"... today, we'll play a short round of 'share and tell', how does that sound?" Miss Bae asked during the last period.
"Yaaay!!" was heard all across the room.
"I love 'share and tell'!" Yerim exclaimed.
Juhyeok only smiled.
He had been quiet the whole day ever since recess, and while Yerim noticed, she didn't ask about it, not wanting Juhyeok to feel uncomfortable.
"I've decided for today's round we'll talk about what we do on the weekends!" Miss Bae continued.
"Ooooh...."
"Juhyeok, why don't you start?"
"Umm..."
Suddenly, Juhyeok was completely stuck.
He had no idea what to come up with as a response.
What do I do on the weekends? Watching TV? Reading? Staring at the ceiling?
"Not much..." he fidgeted with his fingers. "My dad is really busy most of the time so... we don't do a lot."
"Oh."
Yerim noticed Juhyeok wanted someone to step in, so she took over the conversation.
"Well, on most weekends, I..."
Juhyeok felt so embarrassed, and it lasted all the way until the end of the period.
Everyone else does cool things like museums, amusement parks, and other things on the weekend... I'm so jealous of them... I wish I could do more stuff with Dad. But he never has time for some reason. What does Dad even look like when he's happy doing a fun activity, cuz all he does is work and go out at night only to come home miserably.
I just wanna know where he is at night... what is he doing?
Unbeknownst to him, Yubin had observed Juhyeok all lesson long, and she saw how sad and quiet he was for the remainder of the game.
I wonder what's going on?
____________________________________
A/N: 'Some Nights' is legit one of Taeyeon's best songs but like THE LIVE PERFORMANCE ON YOUTUBE?!?!? THE VIOLIN POST BRIDGE CAUGHT ME OFF GUARD SO HARD; SM you better release that live version onto Apple Music otherwise I'M THE ONE BUYING YOUR COMPANY (lmfao no I'm broke af).
Anywayyyyyyssss we finally are getting somewhere with the plot, specifically with what Juhyeok feels about Taehyun going out at night.