ROUND 01: ONE GOOD TURN (DESERVES ANOTHER) (PROMPT #109)
Title: One Good Turn (Deserves Another)
Pairing: fem!Sehun/Xiumin
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 4,528 w.
Warnings: Past members, breastfeeding.
Summary: Sehun offers Minseok a place to stay, Minseok offers to help Sehun with her baby.
Prompt #: 109
A/N: I spun this prompt a little different, but I hope OP enjoys it all the same! Special thanks to J for sparking the xiuhun love within me that inspired me to take this prompt, to E for being my hype(wo)man and also to my own mother who helped with some of the psychosocial aspects of infant development. And thanks to the mods for hosting this fantastic exchange! The title can be taken in multiple ways which are probably relevant.
Kim Minseok likes his job. He had just been promoted to Head of Accounting, which came with a nicely increased paycheque and a fancy new office all to himself. No more sharing cubicle space.
Minseok likes his office, can see across the Guangzhou skyline when he turns around in his seat and faces the floor-to-ceiling length windows lining one side of his office wall. Minseok likes his job for many reasons, one of them being the fact that he doesn’t have to worry much about language barriers or misunderstandings because he’s surrounded by Korean-speaking staff. Working in a Korean multinational organization has its benefits.
Minseok likes Guangzhou, likes the busyness of the streets and likes learning the hybrid Mandarin-Cantonese language. He likes to think that after two years in China, he’s gotten quite good at the language. He can hold conversations with the old ladies at his neighbourhood supermarket now; can thank them when they comment slyly on how handsome he looks in his suit and blush when they ask when he’s going to get a girlfriend. They remind him of his mother.
All in all, he thinks his life is going good and steady.
A knock in his office door causes Minseok to start, jostling him out of his thoughts. He focuses on the man at the door: Kim Junmyun, CEO of ProTech and his boss. He immediately straightens in his seat, even makes to stand up before relaxing somewhat when Junmyun waves him off.
Junmyun smiles kindly, “Minseok-ssi! It’s getting close to clocking out time and some of us are going to the hospital. Coming?”
There are many reasons as to why Kim Junmyun, at such a young age, is the CEO of such a successful company. One of the reasons, which Minseok has to give him credit for, is the fact that the man is a business genius. But another reason why Minseok likes him so much is because he’s not the type of CEO who works from behind the scenes. Junmyun is the kind of man who makes sure to learn about his employees, refers to people by their names, and asks all the right questions about the relatives, personal lives and personal goals of his workers.
Sehun, Junmyun’s PA has been on maternity leave for a month and has just delivered a baby boy. Junmyun’s been walking around the office all morning beaming as if he’s the father, even though Minseok knows he definitely isn’t and that the father of the child is in fact back in Beijing where he will stay. It’s not a secret how Sehun’s one night stand isn’t really all that interested in playing dad.
It doesn’t matter though because Sehun is surrounded by people who care for her and support her. Even though Minseok hasn’t known Sehun for very long, he does know that she doesn’t have any family here in China besides the makeshift one she’s managed to create out of her work friends. And just like the rest of the office, Minseok has grown fond of what they had dubbed “The Bump” and dammit, he had also been invested in the gender. He owes a couple of people some money.
Minseok has never really been a fan of hospitals, since most of his visits have been due to dire circumstances. Though, he has to admit; he can’t help but feel the immense love and warmth of the paediatric ward. Instead of being surrounded by the usual hospital doom and gloom, there’s lots of colour-paintings from children lining the walls alongside informative cartoon posters.
There’s a children’s show on loop in what looks like a play pen in the corner and he can see colouring books and broken crayons. This area seems like a nice environment, but it does little to ease Minseok’s jitters.
He accidentally gets a nose full of the flowers in his arms-Peruvian Lilies, good for births apparently-and ends up sending his sneeze off to the side, unable to cover his lower face. He ignores the slight glare of the nurse at reception, feeling his face flush. As he nears the counter, he gets a curious eyebrow raise and sweat forms on his forehead.
“Um, I’m here for Oh? Oh Sehun?” he licks his lips, clutching the flowers like a lifeline. “She just had a baby boy-”
He doesn’t get to finish before the nurse’s lips twitch upwards on one side and she’s responding, “Down the corridor and turn left, room number 1-2-2-6.”
He thanks her and makes his way towards the room, looking outside the clear windows and noting how the sun is setting. It’s a beautiful sight, enough to make his mind a little blank with awe, but probably cannot stump him the way the sight of his work colleagues surrounding a beaming Sehun with a blue bundle in her arms does.
Everyone greets him enthusiastically as he enters, someone taking the flowers from his hands, but Minseok just mumbles his greetings and doesn’t really take his eyes off of Sehun-who hasn’t even looked up at him yet. Only when he nears does she look up at him, unspeakable happiness shining in her eyes which scrunch up as she throws him a lovely eye smile. Minseok notes that she looks amazing for someone who just gave birth less than 24 hours ago.
“Hi,” she whispers, and Minseok somehow manages to hear her over the happy chatter surrounding them.
“Hello,” he replies, moving closer as Sehun beckons him only to see a slightly reddish-yellow face when she pulls the blanket down a little. There’s a thick patch of black hair on the baby’s head and his lips are pulled down in a slight pout. He looks like Sehun.
“He’s beautiful,” Minseok says. The child’s face looks a little swollen and there are a few scratch lines on his cheeks, which Minseok believes are due to his long fingernails. Minseok observes this when he strokes his finger across the baby’s open palm and startles when the boy grasps at his finger. He’s strong.
Minseok remains frozen as the baby holds on, never taking his eyes off the way he squirms a little, his little tongue moving against closed lips. “What’s his name?” Minseok manages to ask, surprising himself at how rough his voice is.
“Yifan,” Sehun smiles, pride all over her voice.
Minseok’s surprised once more. “Chinese?”
“Well, he’s going to be living and growing up here. It only makes sense.”
Minseok nods; it’s understandable. Besides, he doesn’t really have much room to argue considering the kid-Yifan-isn’t his son.
It isn’t long before it gets late and people offer their congratulations to Sehun once again, softly saying goodbye to baby Yifan before it’s just Minseok and Sehun. Minseok finds all of Sehun and Yifan’s presents very interesting as Sehun slowly gets up to gently place Yifan in his bassinet next to her bed.
“I stand by our agreement, Minseok,” Sehun says suddenly and Minseok turns to look at her, tilting his head in question.
“I would still like you to stay with me while your house gets renovated.”
Minseok swallows but doesn’t say anything, watching in fascination as red rapidly starts blooming up Sehun’s neck. “That is if you won’t mind,” she stutters out, “with Yifan being here now and all,” and oh.
She thinks Minseok’s silence indicates that it’s an inconvenience to him to stay with her, instead of him being worried about inconveniencing her.
“No, I course I won’t mind!” he bubbles out, his chest tightening. “You’re already kind enough to let me stay with you, and I-I can’t thank you enough.” He can’t seem to find the right words to express his gratitude and just sincerely murmurs thank you again.
Sehun considers him for a moment, before nodding and yawning and that’s when Minseok realises how tired she must be. He mentally berates himself, because of course she’s tired, what, with pushing out a small human from her-
For the sake of his sanity, he doesn’t finish that thought, instead bidding Sehun good night.
Minseok, like Sehun-and most of the people who work in ProTech who haven’t married the locals-does not have any family in Guangzhou. So when it came time to do necessary renovations in his apartment, Minseok had nowhere to turn to for a place to stay.
That was until Sehun, already quite far along in her pregnancy, offered Minseok a place to stay.
“I already have a spare room,” she insisted in the break room, taking a sip of from her mug before making a face at the herbal tea she had been forced to drink instead of the usual coffee she tends to inhale.
Minseok had been stirring his own coffee-his fifth cup of the day because it’s the only thing that keeps him alive during final project week-not quite sure how to feel about encroaching on Sehun’s life like that.
While at work, everyone has good relationships with everyone else, but that was only what they were: work relationships. Everyone was good at keeping their private lives out of their jobs and Minseok was too anxious a person to cross that line with Sehun.
Sehun, who despite being one of the youngest, is always so warm and friendly to most people; uncaring and open when she does bizarre things like walk around barefoot in the office because her work shoes make her already swollen ankles sorer.
Regardless, Minseok was desperately in need of a place to stay with a rent, because having to pay nightly to stay at hotels was draining him. His bank account could survive the small dent, but Minseok wasn’t comfortable with the inconsistency of it all.
And when Sehun insisted the way she did, as if Minseok staying with her would actually benefit her instead of him, coupled with shiny brown puppy eyes, how could he have said no?
Two weeks into living with a pregnant Sehun was easy for Minseok, even if she was at home all the time due to her maternity leave. She demanded permission from Junmyun to be able to do mini projects because she had gotten so bored at home with nothing to do but watch Chinese day-time dramas. Her excuse was that there were only so many disapproving Chinese-mothers-of-sons-in-love-with-poor-girls she could take.
Thus, Minseok would come home and greet Sehun by handing her a file containing Junmyun’s monthly schedule for her to organise for the substitute PA. While she busied herself with that, Minseok would eat whatever leftovers she put in the microwave for him, before showering and retreating to his room to work on his own projects.
He would somehow find the will to sit diligently for a few hours at the desk he somehow managed to fit into his room, power-crunching numbers and scribbling over typed finance reports. He’d then go to brush his teeth and wash his face, bidding Sehun a good night if she was still awake since the baby tended to make her exhausted all the time.
Two weeks into staying with Sehun, Minseok had lain in bed wondering since when did he start referring to Sehun’s apartment as home.
Living with Sehun after Yifan was born proved to be a bit of a challenge. Minseok’s a light sleeper and has often woken up to the shrieking cries of Yifan in Sehun’s room. Sehun tries her hardest to soothe him; Minseok able to hear her murmuring and singing to him to get him back to sleep. She’s been walking around like a zombie for the past few days, only able to drink small amounts of coffee because she’s chosen to breastfeed.
Minseok found out about the breastfeeding part by accidentally walking into the apartment after an early finish at work on a warmer day to see Sehun sitting on the couch in front of the fan, her hair in a loose bun and shirt pulled down in order to nurse her son. Minseok had frozen in the doorway, flushing as Sehun’s eyes widened and she made to get up.
“I’m sorry!” she cried, “He wanted to feed and it was just so hot in my room and-”
Minseok had stopped her right there, saying he really had no problem with it and that his initial reaction was just because he was startled.
Sehun regarded him wearily before nodding, leaning back against the couch and eventually closed her eyes. Yifan had been making hitched, pleased noises as he suckled; his fingers twitching where they rested on the swell of Sehun’s breast. Minseok tore his gaze away from the sight and looked at Sehun’s face instead and that’s when he discovered the calibre of the dark circles under her eyes.
He truly felt bad for how exhausted she looked and so in true Minseok style, he decided he needed to do something.
Saving grace came three weeks later in the form of a colleague at work, who had had children of her own, overhearing Minseok softly express his concern to Junmyun about how weary Sehun was. Junmyun had asked how she and the baby were doing, and Minseok found that he couldn’t hold back his worries and they came bursting forth.
“She’s doing really well on her own, but she’s so tired,” Minseok says, fingering at the dog eared corner of one of his reports. His notes were scribbled all over in red pen. Sehun had once told him, when she saw his work lying on the dining room table at home, that red pen has been psychologically proven to not help with constructive feedback. The memory warms him.
“Does Yifan give her trouble in the night?” Junmyun inquires, leaning against Minseok’s office doorway.
“Yifan’s easy to soothe, but he gets up quite often during the night and Sehun having to keep breaking her sleep is really taking a toll on her. I can see it.”
It’s then that the PR team leader walks in: Mrs Min.
She hands Junmyun her completed project, which he accepts, saying his goodbyes to both of them and sending his regards to Sehun through Minseok before scurrying off like the busy man he is.
“You could help her, you know,” Mrs Min says.
Minseok, surprised by this information, latches onto it. “How?” he finds himself asking before he can help himself. His fingers clench the blue pen in his hand.
“Sehun could use the breast pump I gave her as a gift, and you could offer to sometimes feed Yifan in the night to help her get some more sleep.”
Minseok does not know what to do with that type information besides blush, so he settles for thanking Mrs Min and assuring her that he’ll do what he can to help Sehun.
Minseok was initially apprehensive about approaching Sehun with what he’d learned from Mrs Min that afternoon, since it’s probably overstepping boundaries. He had just about convinced himself to think of something else to help Sehun, when he walks in to see the woman in question fast asleep on the couch, a squirming Yifan in his baby carrier by her feet.
Minseok can see that Yifan’s going red in the face; getting more and more agitated the longer he’s left in the carrier, so Minseok rushes to put his briefcase and paperwork down before crouching down in front of the carrier. He eases Yifan out with much more gentleness than he knew he was capable of, mimicking what he’s seen Sehun do for the past four weeks and making sure to support her precious baby’s head.
He brings Yifan to his chest as he stands, bouncing ever so lightly and supporting Yifan with an arm under his little bottom, uncaring of the fact that the baby is drooling on his suit-clad shoulder. Yifan snuffles, making little noises which Minseok hushes, stroking he baby’s back while humming. Eventually Yifan quietens and Minseok’s smiles, feeling warm with accomplishment.
“All you wanted was a little TLC, huh?” he asks, bringing Yifan out in front of him and away from his shoulder, not really expecting an answer but getting rewarded by a yawn for his efforts. “Oooh,” he copies, his mouth making a circle as Yifan finishes up his yawn and Minseok can’t help but smile down at the baby, “someone’s tired.”
It’s in that moment that Sehun wakes, panicking when she doesn’t see or hear her baby before her gaze focuses on Yifan in Minseok’s arms.
“Oh my god,” she breathes out, sagging against the couch, her hand over her heart and Minseok feels slightly bad for scaring her like that, but also happy that he managed to soothe Yifan without having to wake her up. Maybe he can do this for her.
Yifan content in his arms gives him the strength he needs to ask, “I was wondering if you’d like me to help you out with Yifan.”
Sehun gives him a wide-eyed look, standing up slowly. “Oh, Minseok, no. You already to do much with regards to housework and rent-”
But Minseok isn’t having any of it-he wants to do this-and so he makes sure he feels resolute and firmly says, “You’re always tired and looking after a baby by yourself is not easy. Let me help you. I want to help you.” He flushes because he didn’t want to come off as forceful, but it’s already out there now and he can’t take it back.
Sehun takes Yifan from him and Minseok quickly stamps down the unhappy feeling that wells in his chest as Yifan’s removed from his arms. It must show on his face because Sehun just laughs at him outright.
“I need to change him,” she says simply in response to Minseok’s confused look and walks off to her room, leaving Minseok behind to scratch at the back of his head embarrassedly. He’s about to turn around and grab his stuff, slightly disappointed, before Sehun turns around. “Aren’t you coming?”
Minseok’s pretty sure he’s doing his best impression of a gaping fish. “Huh?” he asks intelligently.
“Well, if you’re gonna help me, you first need to know how to change a diaper,” she remarks, not skipping a beat. There’s a twinkle in her eye and Minseok can’t help but grin at that, putting his things down and following her into her room-a place he’s only really been in once when Sehun gave him the apartment tour.
He watches as Sehun puts Yifan on the changing table attached to his crib, making various baby noises at him before bringing his feet to her mouth for kisses. Minseok feels like he’s intruding when he watches the way Sehun and her son bond; the amount of love she has for Yifan could probably light up the room.
The reverie isn’t broken until Sehun opens Yifan’s diaper and Minseok feels as if his nose hairs have been singed with the smell that assaults them. He fights to keep a straight face, but he’s pretty sure his eye is twitching.
“You get used to it after some point,” Sehun says without looking up, her nose crinkling still as she expertly cleans and changes Yifan. The baby doesn’t make any noise, but his arms flail about and Minseok gauges that it’s possibly due to the cold air hitting his lower body. Minseok finds himself seized (again) by how tiny he is.
Sehun coos at Yifan as she lifts him, pressing a kiss to his forehead before depositing him in Minseok’s arms as she goes to wash her hands and dispose the waste. Minseok noses at Yifan’s temple, taking in that baby smell and finding that he really likes the scent; makes him feel both content and protective.
“So, you think you can handle changing his diaper?” Sehun asks from behind him, laughter evident in her tone. Minseok turns to face her, noticing that she looks much more lively just from the small power nap she had before, and Minseok’s need to help her multiplies.
He decides to bite the bullet. “Mrs Min mentioned that she gave you a breast pump?” he ends up blurting, and then feels his face get hot. Sehun’s face is a mirror of his own and she ducks her head, refusing to meet Minseok’s eyes-which in all realness, is totally fine with Minseok because right now he wishes the earth would swallow him up.
Sehun swallows, “I-uh, yeah. I have one.”
Yifan squirms in Minseok’s arms and he bounces lightly to quieten him, smiling to himself when it works.
“Well, I told Mrs Min I wanted to help you since you’ve been so tired lately. She suggested having a few spare bottles of breast milk so that I can feed Yifan if you need time to yourself or need to sleep, or whatever.”
Sehun’s staring at him with a weird look on her face; a look Minseok hasn’t seen from her before. Which makes sense, considering Minseok’s never really been close enough to Sehun to learn the meanings behind her various expressions. He has, however, found himself picking up on things-the way people who live together inevitably do.
Minseok now knows that Sehun compulsively licks her lips-a habit she’s tried to control while at the office. She seems to have an oral fixation or something. He also knows that she can’t function properly in the morning without coffee, and that she needs at least five minutes of lying around in nothing but her towel after a shower.
Minseok knows that Sehun used to dance, had met Yifan’s father at a hip hop dance class in Beijing-but that is the most he’s gotten from her about her kid’s father aside from his name: Han…or something.
He doesn’t ask.
Sehun’s voice pulls him from his thoughts. “Would you really be willing to do this?” she questions, her voice barely a whisper. She’s moved closer.
“If it means you won’t concuss yourself by falling off to sleep while standing, then yes, I most definitely am willing to help,” Minseok finishes while handing her Yifan and waiting patiently as Sehun regards him. His heart is thudding in his chest because in all honesty, he doesn’t really know what he’s doing or even why he’s offering to take on such a responsibility, but all he knows is that it feels like the right thing to do.
Finally, after what seems like hours Sehun responds, “I-yes. Please. Thank you.”
“You’re always welcome,” Minseok replies and doesn’t think too much about what he meant.
Minseok rises from the bed to a sitting position, blinking blearily at the digital clock on his bedside table. The red digits glaring at him say it’s 4:27AM and the distressed sounds from the baby monitor in his room indicate that Yifan’s crying is rapidly escalating in volume. Sehun hasn’t woken to see to him, but it’s not her shift anyway.
Minseok gets up, taking a moment to adjust his sleep shirt and pants before padding towards Sehun’s room. There, he pushes the slightly ajar door open and walks over to Yifan’s crib. The six week old baby is looking quite angry, his gums visible and eyes tightly squeezed shut while hot tears leak through. He’s squirming; the blanket wrapped around him all mussed and lets out little cries that stab at Minseok’s heart.
He swiftly picks Yifan up, smelling him to see if he needs a diaper change and upon finding he doesn’t, mentally calculates Yifan’s feeding timetable which tells him it’s Yifan’s feeding time.
“Okay, okay,” he says to the baby as he turns the kitchen light on, making his way towards what he’s labelled the milk microwave-bottle warmer, Sehun had emphasised. He makes quick work of it: efficiently putting the water in before placing the prepared bottle of milk into the warmer. While he waits for the timer to go off, he rocks Yifan, managing to get his cries reduced to small whimpers.
The light on the bottle warmer goes off and Minseok gets the bottle out, biting his tongue when he burns his fingers a little. He decides to let the bottle cool for a moment and grabs a dishcloth. Yifan starts fussing again and so Minseok picks the bottle up, expertly working the cap off with one hand before checking the temperature of the milk on his wrist.
Deeming the milk warm enough, Minseok takes a seat on the couch and places the plastic teat on Yifan’s lips, watching as the baby greedily latches on.
“There you go,” he breathes out, leaning his head back against the sofa and ignoring the way his eyes burn. Yifan makes those adorable hitched noises he usually makes as he suckles and Minseok can’t help but smile down at him. “Slow down!” he softly laughs at Yifan, only laughing harder when he is, unsurprisingly, ignored by the hungry baby.
Minseok may be imagining it, but the more time he spends with Yifan, the more he feels like he’s forming an attachment to him, like an invisible thread tying him to Yifan that makes him want to watch this boy grow and be there to pick him up when he falls. He tries to keep these thoughts to the back of his mind, though.
It doesn’t take Yifan that long to polish off his milk and Minseok puts the bottle to one side, carefully sitting Yifan up on his knee so the baby’s back is to his front. He gets a hand around Yifan to support his chest and neck like Sehun taught him, before gently rubbing circles on the baby’s delicate back to urge him to burp.
When Yifan does burp, he follows it up with a little bit of milk that Minseok uses the dishcloth to wipe. Baby spit-up doesn’t really gross him out anymore-not with what he’s seen (and smelt)(and felt) Yifan produce in his diaper.
It takes another fifteen minutes to rock Yifan to sleep, and then Minseok carries him back to Sehun’s room, stopping only to place the bottle in the sink to clean later and put the dishcloth in the laundry hamper.
Minseok tucks Yifan into his crib, makes sure he’s covered enough but not congested and that’s when Sehun stirs, cracking an eye open, surveying Minseok in the light of the night light. Minseok doesn’t say anything because Sehun still looks mostly asleep, but he does see her smile a little dopily.
“Thank you,” she slurs out and Minseok whisper-tells her not to worry about it. It’s no big deal.
It’s only when Minseok’s facing the door, does he hear the rustling of Sehun turning over in the sheets, muttering something about how they seem like they’re married.
The words hit him like a punch in the gut, causes his mouth to dry with the sudden feeling of want. Images float through his head; of him and Sehun, watching Yifan grow tall-taller than both of them-together; the word ‘family’ blaring bright and neon in the front part of his mind and Minseok-
Minseok swallows, walks out, and decides not to dwell on it too much.
Pairing: fem!Sehun/Xiumin
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 4,528 w.
Warnings: Past members, breastfeeding.
Summary: Sehun offers Minseok a place to stay, Minseok offers to help Sehun with her baby.
Prompt #: 109
A/N: I spun this prompt a little different, but I hope OP enjoys it all the same! Special thanks to J for sparking the xiuhun love within me that inspired me to take this prompt, to E for being my hype(wo)man and also to my own mother who helped with some of the psychosocial aspects of infant development. And thanks to the mods for hosting this fantastic exchange! The title can be taken in multiple ways which are probably relevant.
Kim Minseok likes his job. He had just been promoted to Head of Accounting, which came with a nicely increased paycheque and a fancy new office all to himself. No more sharing cubicle space.
Minseok likes his office, can see across the Guangzhou skyline when he turns around in his seat and faces the floor-to-ceiling length windows lining one side of his office wall. Minseok likes his job for many reasons, one of them being the fact that he doesn’t have to worry much about language barriers or misunderstandings because he’s surrounded by Korean-speaking staff. Working in a Korean multinational organization has its benefits.
Minseok likes Guangzhou, likes the busyness of the streets and likes learning the hybrid Mandarin-Cantonese language. He likes to think that after two years in China, he’s gotten quite good at the language. He can hold conversations with the old ladies at his neighbourhood supermarket now; can thank them when they comment slyly on how handsome he looks in his suit and blush when they ask when he’s going to get a girlfriend. They remind him of his mother.
All in all, he thinks his life is going good and steady.
A knock in his office door causes Minseok to start, jostling him out of his thoughts. He focuses on the man at the door: Kim Junmyun, CEO of ProTech and his boss. He immediately straightens in his seat, even makes to stand up before relaxing somewhat when Junmyun waves him off.
Junmyun smiles kindly, “Minseok-ssi! It’s getting close to clocking out time and some of us are going to the hospital. Coming?”
There are many reasons as to why Kim Junmyun, at such a young age, is the CEO of such a successful company. One of the reasons, which Minseok has to give him credit for, is the fact that the man is a business genius. But another reason why Minseok likes him so much is because he’s not the type of CEO who works from behind the scenes. Junmyun is the kind of man who makes sure to learn about his employees, refers to people by their names, and asks all the right questions about the relatives, personal lives and personal goals of his workers.
Sehun, Junmyun’s PA has been on maternity leave for a month and has just delivered a baby boy. Junmyun’s been walking around the office all morning beaming as if he’s the father, even though Minseok knows he definitely isn’t and that the father of the child is in fact back in Beijing where he will stay. It’s not a secret how Sehun’s one night stand isn’t really all that interested in playing dad.
It doesn’t matter though because Sehun is surrounded by people who care for her and support her. Even though Minseok hasn’t known Sehun for very long, he does know that she doesn’t have any family here in China besides the makeshift one she’s managed to create out of her work friends. And just like the rest of the office, Minseok has grown fond of what they had dubbed “The Bump” and dammit, he had also been invested in the gender. He owes a couple of people some money.
Minseok has never really been a fan of hospitals, since most of his visits have been due to dire circumstances. Though, he has to admit; he can’t help but feel the immense love and warmth of the paediatric ward. Instead of being surrounded by the usual hospital doom and gloom, there’s lots of colour-paintings from children lining the walls alongside informative cartoon posters.
There’s a children’s show on loop in what looks like a play pen in the corner and he can see colouring books and broken crayons. This area seems like a nice environment, but it does little to ease Minseok’s jitters.
He accidentally gets a nose full of the flowers in his arms-Peruvian Lilies, good for births apparently-and ends up sending his sneeze off to the side, unable to cover his lower face. He ignores the slight glare of the nurse at reception, feeling his face flush. As he nears the counter, he gets a curious eyebrow raise and sweat forms on his forehead.
“Um, I’m here for Oh? Oh Sehun?” he licks his lips, clutching the flowers like a lifeline. “She just had a baby boy-”
He doesn’t get to finish before the nurse’s lips twitch upwards on one side and she’s responding, “Down the corridor and turn left, room number 1-2-2-6.”
He thanks her and makes his way towards the room, looking outside the clear windows and noting how the sun is setting. It’s a beautiful sight, enough to make his mind a little blank with awe, but probably cannot stump him the way the sight of his work colleagues surrounding a beaming Sehun with a blue bundle in her arms does.
Everyone greets him enthusiastically as he enters, someone taking the flowers from his hands, but Minseok just mumbles his greetings and doesn’t really take his eyes off of Sehun-who hasn’t even looked up at him yet. Only when he nears does she look up at him, unspeakable happiness shining in her eyes which scrunch up as she throws him a lovely eye smile. Minseok notes that she looks amazing for someone who just gave birth less than 24 hours ago.
“Hi,” she whispers, and Minseok somehow manages to hear her over the happy chatter surrounding them.
“Hello,” he replies, moving closer as Sehun beckons him only to see a slightly reddish-yellow face when she pulls the blanket down a little. There’s a thick patch of black hair on the baby’s head and his lips are pulled down in a slight pout. He looks like Sehun.
“He’s beautiful,” Minseok says. The child’s face looks a little swollen and there are a few scratch lines on his cheeks, which Minseok believes are due to his long fingernails. Minseok observes this when he strokes his finger across the baby’s open palm and startles when the boy grasps at his finger. He’s strong.
Minseok remains frozen as the baby holds on, never taking his eyes off the way he squirms a little, his little tongue moving against closed lips. “What’s his name?” Minseok manages to ask, surprising himself at how rough his voice is.
“Yifan,” Sehun smiles, pride all over her voice.
Minseok’s surprised once more. “Chinese?”
“Well, he’s going to be living and growing up here. It only makes sense.”
Minseok nods; it’s understandable. Besides, he doesn’t really have much room to argue considering the kid-Yifan-isn’t his son.
It isn’t long before it gets late and people offer their congratulations to Sehun once again, softly saying goodbye to baby Yifan before it’s just Minseok and Sehun. Minseok finds all of Sehun and Yifan’s presents very interesting as Sehun slowly gets up to gently place Yifan in his bassinet next to her bed.
“I stand by our agreement, Minseok,” Sehun says suddenly and Minseok turns to look at her, tilting his head in question.
“I would still like you to stay with me while your house gets renovated.”
Minseok swallows but doesn’t say anything, watching in fascination as red rapidly starts blooming up Sehun’s neck. “That is if you won’t mind,” she stutters out, “with Yifan being here now and all,” and oh.
She thinks Minseok’s silence indicates that it’s an inconvenience to him to stay with her, instead of him being worried about inconveniencing her.
“No, I course I won’t mind!” he bubbles out, his chest tightening. “You’re already kind enough to let me stay with you, and I-I can’t thank you enough.” He can’t seem to find the right words to express his gratitude and just sincerely murmurs thank you again.
Sehun considers him for a moment, before nodding and yawning and that’s when Minseok realises how tired she must be. He mentally berates himself, because of course she’s tired, what, with pushing out a small human from her-
For the sake of his sanity, he doesn’t finish that thought, instead bidding Sehun good night.
Minseok, like Sehun-and most of the people who work in ProTech who haven’t married the locals-does not have any family in Guangzhou. So when it came time to do necessary renovations in his apartment, Minseok had nowhere to turn to for a place to stay.
That was until Sehun, already quite far along in her pregnancy, offered Minseok a place to stay.
“I already have a spare room,” she insisted in the break room, taking a sip of from her mug before making a face at the herbal tea she had been forced to drink instead of the usual coffee she tends to inhale.
Minseok had been stirring his own coffee-his fifth cup of the day because it’s the only thing that keeps him alive during final project week-not quite sure how to feel about encroaching on Sehun’s life like that.
While at work, everyone has good relationships with everyone else, but that was only what they were: work relationships. Everyone was good at keeping their private lives out of their jobs and Minseok was too anxious a person to cross that line with Sehun.
Sehun, who despite being one of the youngest, is always so warm and friendly to most people; uncaring and open when she does bizarre things like walk around barefoot in the office because her work shoes make her already swollen ankles sorer.
Regardless, Minseok was desperately in need of a place to stay with a rent, because having to pay nightly to stay at hotels was draining him. His bank account could survive the small dent, but Minseok wasn’t comfortable with the inconsistency of it all.
And when Sehun insisted the way she did, as if Minseok staying with her would actually benefit her instead of him, coupled with shiny brown puppy eyes, how could he have said no?
Two weeks into living with a pregnant Sehun was easy for Minseok, even if she was at home all the time due to her maternity leave. She demanded permission from Junmyun to be able to do mini projects because she had gotten so bored at home with nothing to do but watch Chinese day-time dramas. Her excuse was that there were only so many disapproving Chinese-mothers-of-sons-in-love-with-poor-girls she could take.
Thus, Minseok would come home and greet Sehun by handing her a file containing Junmyun’s monthly schedule for her to organise for the substitute PA. While she busied herself with that, Minseok would eat whatever leftovers she put in the microwave for him, before showering and retreating to his room to work on his own projects.
He would somehow find the will to sit diligently for a few hours at the desk he somehow managed to fit into his room, power-crunching numbers and scribbling over typed finance reports. He’d then go to brush his teeth and wash his face, bidding Sehun a good night if she was still awake since the baby tended to make her exhausted all the time.
Two weeks into staying with Sehun, Minseok had lain in bed wondering since when did he start referring to Sehun’s apartment as home.
Living with Sehun after Yifan was born proved to be a bit of a challenge. Minseok’s a light sleeper and has often woken up to the shrieking cries of Yifan in Sehun’s room. Sehun tries her hardest to soothe him; Minseok able to hear her murmuring and singing to him to get him back to sleep. She’s been walking around like a zombie for the past few days, only able to drink small amounts of coffee because she’s chosen to breastfeed.
Minseok found out about the breastfeeding part by accidentally walking into the apartment after an early finish at work on a warmer day to see Sehun sitting on the couch in front of the fan, her hair in a loose bun and shirt pulled down in order to nurse her son. Minseok had frozen in the doorway, flushing as Sehun’s eyes widened and she made to get up.
“I’m sorry!” she cried, “He wanted to feed and it was just so hot in my room and-”
Minseok had stopped her right there, saying he really had no problem with it and that his initial reaction was just because he was startled.
Sehun regarded him wearily before nodding, leaning back against the couch and eventually closed her eyes. Yifan had been making hitched, pleased noises as he suckled; his fingers twitching where they rested on the swell of Sehun’s breast. Minseok tore his gaze away from the sight and looked at Sehun’s face instead and that’s when he discovered the calibre of the dark circles under her eyes.
He truly felt bad for how exhausted she looked and so in true Minseok style, he decided he needed to do something.
Saving grace came three weeks later in the form of a colleague at work, who had had children of her own, overhearing Minseok softly express his concern to Junmyun about how weary Sehun was. Junmyun had asked how she and the baby were doing, and Minseok found that he couldn’t hold back his worries and they came bursting forth.
“She’s doing really well on her own, but she’s so tired,” Minseok says, fingering at the dog eared corner of one of his reports. His notes were scribbled all over in red pen. Sehun had once told him, when she saw his work lying on the dining room table at home, that red pen has been psychologically proven to not help with constructive feedback. The memory warms him.
“Does Yifan give her trouble in the night?” Junmyun inquires, leaning against Minseok’s office doorway.
“Yifan’s easy to soothe, but he gets up quite often during the night and Sehun having to keep breaking her sleep is really taking a toll on her. I can see it.”
It’s then that the PR team leader walks in: Mrs Min.
She hands Junmyun her completed project, which he accepts, saying his goodbyes to both of them and sending his regards to Sehun through Minseok before scurrying off like the busy man he is.
“You could help her, you know,” Mrs Min says.
Minseok, surprised by this information, latches onto it. “How?” he finds himself asking before he can help himself. His fingers clench the blue pen in his hand.
“Sehun could use the breast pump I gave her as a gift, and you could offer to sometimes feed Yifan in the night to help her get some more sleep.”
Minseok does not know what to do with that type information besides blush, so he settles for thanking Mrs Min and assuring her that he’ll do what he can to help Sehun.
Minseok was initially apprehensive about approaching Sehun with what he’d learned from Mrs Min that afternoon, since it’s probably overstepping boundaries. He had just about convinced himself to think of something else to help Sehun, when he walks in to see the woman in question fast asleep on the couch, a squirming Yifan in his baby carrier by her feet.
Minseok can see that Yifan’s going red in the face; getting more and more agitated the longer he’s left in the carrier, so Minseok rushes to put his briefcase and paperwork down before crouching down in front of the carrier. He eases Yifan out with much more gentleness than he knew he was capable of, mimicking what he’s seen Sehun do for the past four weeks and making sure to support her precious baby’s head.
He brings Yifan to his chest as he stands, bouncing ever so lightly and supporting Yifan with an arm under his little bottom, uncaring of the fact that the baby is drooling on his suit-clad shoulder. Yifan snuffles, making little noises which Minseok hushes, stroking he baby’s back while humming. Eventually Yifan quietens and Minseok’s smiles, feeling warm with accomplishment.
“All you wanted was a little TLC, huh?” he asks, bringing Yifan out in front of him and away from his shoulder, not really expecting an answer but getting rewarded by a yawn for his efforts. “Oooh,” he copies, his mouth making a circle as Yifan finishes up his yawn and Minseok can’t help but smile down at the baby, “someone’s tired.”
It’s in that moment that Sehun wakes, panicking when she doesn’t see or hear her baby before her gaze focuses on Yifan in Minseok’s arms.
“Oh my god,” she breathes out, sagging against the couch, her hand over her heart and Minseok feels slightly bad for scaring her like that, but also happy that he managed to soothe Yifan without having to wake her up. Maybe he can do this for her.
Yifan content in his arms gives him the strength he needs to ask, “I was wondering if you’d like me to help you out with Yifan.”
Sehun gives him a wide-eyed look, standing up slowly. “Oh, Minseok, no. You already to do much with regards to housework and rent-”
But Minseok isn’t having any of it-he wants to do this-and so he makes sure he feels resolute and firmly says, “You’re always tired and looking after a baby by yourself is not easy. Let me help you. I want to help you.” He flushes because he didn’t want to come off as forceful, but it’s already out there now and he can’t take it back.
Sehun takes Yifan from him and Minseok quickly stamps down the unhappy feeling that wells in his chest as Yifan’s removed from his arms. It must show on his face because Sehun just laughs at him outright.
“I need to change him,” she says simply in response to Minseok’s confused look and walks off to her room, leaving Minseok behind to scratch at the back of his head embarrassedly. He’s about to turn around and grab his stuff, slightly disappointed, before Sehun turns around. “Aren’t you coming?”
Minseok’s pretty sure he’s doing his best impression of a gaping fish. “Huh?” he asks intelligently.
“Well, if you’re gonna help me, you first need to know how to change a diaper,” she remarks, not skipping a beat. There’s a twinkle in her eye and Minseok can’t help but grin at that, putting his things down and following her into her room-a place he’s only really been in once when Sehun gave him the apartment tour.
He watches as Sehun puts Yifan on the changing table attached to his crib, making various baby noises at him before bringing his feet to her mouth for kisses. Minseok feels like he’s intruding when he watches the way Sehun and her son bond; the amount of love she has for Yifan could probably light up the room.
The reverie isn’t broken until Sehun opens Yifan’s diaper and Minseok feels as if his nose hairs have been singed with the smell that assaults them. He fights to keep a straight face, but he’s pretty sure his eye is twitching.
“You get used to it after some point,” Sehun says without looking up, her nose crinkling still as she expertly cleans and changes Yifan. The baby doesn’t make any noise, but his arms flail about and Minseok gauges that it’s possibly due to the cold air hitting his lower body. Minseok finds himself seized (again) by how tiny he is.
Sehun coos at Yifan as she lifts him, pressing a kiss to his forehead before depositing him in Minseok’s arms as she goes to wash her hands and dispose the waste. Minseok noses at Yifan’s temple, taking in that baby smell and finding that he really likes the scent; makes him feel both content and protective.
“So, you think you can handle changing his diaper?” Sehun asks from behind him, laughter evident in her tone. Minseok turns to face her, noticing that she looks much more lively just from the small power nap she had before, and Minseok’s need to help her multiplies.
He decides to bite the bullet. “Mrs Min mentioned that she gave you a breast pump?” he ends up blurting, and then feels his face get hot. Sehun’s face is a mirror of his own and she ducks her head, refusing to meet Minseok’s eyes-which in all realness, is totally fine with Minseok because right now he wishes the earth would swallow him up.
Sehun swallows, “I-uh, yeah. I have one.”
Yifan squirms in Minseok’s arms and he bounces lightly to quieten him, smiling to himself when it works.
“Well, I told Mrs Min I wanted to help you since you’ve been so tired lately. She suggested having a few spare bottles of breast milk so that I can feed Yifan if you need time to yourself or need to sleep, or whatever.”
Sehun’s staring at him with a weird look on her face; a look Minseok hasn’t seen from her before. Which makes sense, considering Minseok’s never really been close enough to Sehun to learn the meanings behind her various expressions. He has, however, found himself picking up on things-the way people who live together inevitably do.
Minseok now knows that Sehun compulsively licks her lips-a habit she’s tried to control while at the office. She seems to have an oral fixation or something. He also knows that she can’t function properly in the morning without coffee, and that she needs at least five minutes of lying around in nothing but her towel after a shower.
Minseok knows that Sehun used to dance, had met Yifan’s father at a hip hop dance class in Beijing-but that is the most he’s gotten from her about her kid’s father aside from his name: Han…or something.
He doesn’t ask.
Sehun’s voice pulls him from his thoughts. “Would you really be willing to do this?” she questions, her voice barely a whisper. She’s moved closer.
“If it means you won’t concuss yourself by falling off to sleep while standing, then yes, I most definitely am willing to help,” Minseok finishes while handing her Yifan and waiting patiently as Sehun regards him. His heart is thudding in his chest because in all honesty, he doesn’t really know what he’s doing or even why he’s offering to take on such a responsibility, but all he knows is that it feels like the right thing to do.
Finally, after what seems like hours Sehun responds, “I-yes. Please. Thank you.”
“You’re always welcome,” Minseok replies and doesn’t think too much about what he meant.
Minseok rises from the bed to a sitting position, blinking blearily at the digital clock on his bedside table. The red digits glaring at him say it’s 4:27AM and the distressed sounds from the baby monitor in his room indicate that Yifan’s crying is rapidly escalating in volume. Sehun hasn’t woken to see to him, but it’s not her shift anyway.
Minseok gets up, taking a moment to adjust his sleep shirt and pants before padding towards Sehun’s room. There, he pushes the slightly ajar door open and walks over to Yifan’s crib. The six week old baby is looking quite angry, his gums visible and eyes tightly squeezed shut while hot tears leak through. He’s squirming; the blanket wrapped around him all mussed and lets out little cries that stab at Minseok’s heart.
He swiftly picks Yifan up, smelling him to see if he needs a diaper change and upon finding he doesn’t, mentally calculates Yifan’s feeding timetable which tells him it’s Yifan’s feeding time.
“Okay, okay,” he says to the baby as he turns the kitchen light on, making his way towards what he’s labelled the milk microwave-bottle warmer, Sehun had emphasised. He makes quick work of it: efficiently putting the water in before placing the prepared bottle of milk into the warmer. While he waits for the timer to go off, he rocks Yifan, managing to get his cries reduced to small whimpers.
The light on the bottle warmer goes off and Minseok gets the bottle out, biting his tongue when he burns his fingers a little. He decides to let the bottle cool for a moment and grabs a dishcloth. Yifan starts fussing again and so Minseok picks the bottle up, expertly working the cap off with one hand before checking the temperature of the milk on his wrist.
Deeming the milk warm enough, Minseok takes a seat on the couch and places the plastic teat on Yifan’s lips, watching as the baby greedily latches on.
“There you go,” he breathes out, leaning his head back against the sofa and ignoring the way his eyes burn. Yifan makes those adorable hitched noises he usually makes as he suckles and Minseok can’t help but smile down at him. “Slow down!” he softly laughs at Yifan, only laughing harder when he is, unsurprisingly, ignored by the hungry baby.
Minseok may be imagining it, but the more time he spends with Yifan, the more he feels like he’s forming an attachment to him, like an invisible thread tying him to Yifan that makes him want to watch this boy grow and be there to pick him up when he falls. He tries to keep these thoughts to the back of his mind, though.
It doesn’t take Yifan that long to polish off his milk and Minseok puts the bottle to one side, carefully sitting Yifan up on his knee so the baby’s back is to his front. He gets a hand around Yifan to support his chest and neck like Sehun taught him, before gently rubbing circles on the baby’s delicate back to urge him to burp.
When Yifan does burp, he follows it up with a little bit of milk that Minseok uses the dishcloth to wipe. Baby spit-up doesn’t really gross him out anymore-not with what he’s seen (and smelt)(and felt) Yifan produce in his diaper.
It takes another fifteen minutes to rock Yifan to sleep, and then Minseok carries him back to Sehun’s room, stopping only to place the bottle in the sink to clean later and put the dishcloth in the laundry hamper.
Minseok tucks Yifan into his crib, makes sure he’s covered enough but not congested and that’s when Sehun stirs, cracking an eye open, surveying Minseok in the light of the night light. Minseok doesn’t say anything because Sehun still looks mostly asleep, but he does see her smile a little dopily.
“Thank you,” she slurs out and Minseok whisper-tells her not to worry about it. It’s no big deal.
It’s only when Minseok’s facing the door, does he hear the rustling of Sehun turning over in the sheets, muttering something about how they seem like they’re married.
The words hit him like a punch in the gut, causes his mouth to dry with the sudden feeling of want. Images float through his head; of him and Sehun, watching Yifan grow tall-taller than both of them-together; the word ‘family’ blaring bright and neon in the front part of his mind and Minseok-
Minseok swallows, walks out, and decides not to dwell on it too much.