"Did you hear that?" he said. "He said he's not coming."
Kim Dokja didn't have to ask who it was because he heard Han Sooyoung's voice yell out from the other end, screaming, "Catch that bastard and keep him there. We're coming."
And the call ended.
Kim Dokja sighed in his head as he watched his plans fall away before his eyes. He wanted to finish everything today, and spend the Sunday tomorrow in peace, relaxing about before another busy week at work.
Han Sooyoung's complaints reached his ears before the woman came into view.
". . .Dumbass stairs, three damn floors? Crazy. . ."
"Stop whining," Yoo Joonghyuk scoffed when Han Sooyoung finally came into view.
The first thing Kim Dokja noticed was that she was dressed a little better that day.
"Good morning, Dokja-ssi," Yoo Sangah popped up behind her and when he saw Lee Seolhwa's brilliant smile, Kim Dokja started worrying about a lot more than just his lost free time.
"What's all this about?" he said slowly, considering jumping out of the window and running. He'd jumped out of a third-floor window before, he'd probably survive this time too.
A foreboding chill ran up his spine and Kim Dokja seriously calculated if he would make it to the window in time without getting caught.
"Hey, the hell?" Han Sooyoung sneered as Yoo Joonghyuk closed the front door after Lee Seolhwa got inside. "You? Working on a Saturday?"
"It's not like I want to do it," Kim Dokja sighed.
"Are they making you work on the weekends as well, Dokja-ssi?" Yoo Sangah said, concerned.
"No, it's something personal...in a way," Kim Dokja said, gesturing towards his sofa, asking them to sit down if they wanted to and he made his way to the kitchen.
"Who wants snacks?" he called.
"Me!"
"Me, Ahjussi!"
"Me too, Hyung!"
The kids skipped along after him, and he took out the cream bread he had purchased for the kids' next visit, their favourite flavours and handed them around, chocolate for Gilyoung, strawberry for Mia and sweet red bean for Yoosung.
"Anyone else wants snacks?" he called.
"We want you to get your butt here," Han Sooyoung called back. "We have to get you ready fast."
"Do you want something to drink with that too?" Kim Dokja asked the kids, opening his refrigerator and pointing at the pack of flavoured banana milk he had bought a few days ago.
He didn't drink it often, but on his trip to the supermarket to buy some groceries after the older Yoo Joonghyuk said he had bad dietary habits, he saw a carton of it and thought of the kids. Since he could buy stuff like that now, without being too conscious about saving money to have food the next day, he bought it.
Taking the pack out of the fridge, he ripped the plastic holding it all together and handed it out to the kids. He gathered the remaining three in his hand, crumpled up the plastic and chucked it into the trash before going back into the living room.
He passed the banana milk to the three women, Yoo Joonghyuk didn't like drinking that thing anyway.
"I told you," Kim Dokja said, eyes on Han Sooyoung who stabbed her little straw into the tiny bottle. "I have work."
"What personal stuff, Dokja-ssi?" Yoo Sangah asked.
Kim Dokja felt like sighing even by thinking of it.
"Well, there's this jerk at work, so I'm trying a takedown," he said, feeling a little embarrassed because of all the eyes on him; everyone was looking at him, including the kids.
"What?" Han Sooyoung said harshly. "What's that even supposed to mean?"
"I mean, he's just pulling rank, pushing everyone around and it was getting on my nerves, so," Kim Dokja shrugged.
"Getting on your nerves," Yoo Sangah repeated the words to herself, as though trying to decipher a hidden meaning.
"Is this some bad team member of yours?" Lee Seolhwa asked.
"What exactly do you mean by takedown?" Han Sooyoung said. "I know you're a doormat. You usually just let everyone walk over you 'cause you don't want to deal with conflict."
"I'm not," Kim Dokja said indignantly.
"What's got into you now?" Han Sooyoung continued, ignoring him. "Takedown as in pride? Or fired."
"I wish fired, but it'll mostly be a suspension," Kim Dokja sighed.
"And how are you going to do that?"
"This and that," Kim Dokja waved it away. "Now, tell me, what do you want me to get ready for?"
"Right, that!" Han Sooyoung perked up. "You can tell about your work thing on the way. Time to raid your closet now."
"What—Wait, tell me what this is about first!" Kim Dokja cried trying to catch Han Sooyoung who had darted out from between her girlfriend and Lee Seolhwa, rushed under Kim Dokja's outstretched arm and made it into his bedroom within seconds.
"Dokja-ssi, do you mind going on a blind date?" Yoo Sangah asked, smiling widely.
Ah, he should really start trusting his gut feeling blindly.
"Blind date?" Kim Dokja said wearily. "I don't think that's a good idea."
"It's been a year since that bitch, you dumbass," Han Sooyoung yelled from inside his room.
"Han Sooyoung!" a lot of people cried reprimandingly.
Yoosung had her hands over her ears and said, "I didn't hear anything."
"It doesn't matter," Mia kicked the floor lightly. "We know it's bad to use such language anyway."
"Kids at school use them though," Gilyoung said nonchalantly.
"Who's letting kids use such language?" Yoo Joonghyuk bristled.
"We're not kids anymore, Oppa," Mia grumbled. "We're already twelve. Everyone at school's like that."
Han Sooyoung, who had peeked her head out of the bedroom, gave a triumphant laugh, turning on the lights in the room while Yoo Joonghyuk looked like he was having a serious existential crisis as Mia's revelation.
"Just give it a go, Dokja-ssi," Lee Seolhwa said. "He's my colleague and a nice guy. Even Sooyoung-ssi knows him."
"Someone Han Sooyoung knows?"
"Only vaguely," Yoo Sangah explained. "He's her editor's cousin and she's seen her once or twice."
"He's your type," Han Sooyoung said from his room and Kim Dokja trudged towards it. Who knew what Han Sooyoung would do there?
"My type?" he said.
Han Sooyoung was standing before his closet with a deep frown. She turned her glare to him when he walked into the room. Han Sooyoung glanced back at the closet.
Kim Dokja had changed his closet's layout, in a way. And he brought a foldable organiser and hung it on the side of the closet. He suddenly had one too many clothes and he needed space to keep them all.
He put all his work suits on hangers and inside the closet, his casual wear and the stuff he wore at home were in the organiser hanging by the side of the wooden closet.
"Yeah," Han Sooyoung said slowly. He could tell she was asking for an explanation. Kim Dokja wasn't the kind to wear such clothes, she knew it too. Well, it was more he couldn't afford it and didn't have a reason to.
But since he was a team leader now, he usually wore three-piece suits. It wasn't exactly comfy, but he was starting to get used to it.
"Pretty, cute, soft voice," Han Sooyoung raised her eyebrows. "Oh, and he likes to read too."
"He likes cooking too, Dokja-ssi," he heard Lee Seolhwa say.
His type. . .His type, huh?
Well, he couldn't blame them. He had specifically chosen and been in actual relationships with people who seemed the very opposite of Yoo Joonghyuk.
Kim Dokja never had a type, he had never given it much thought. His type was Yoo Joonghyuk, though he couldn't be sure if his type was Yoo Joonghyuk because he liked Yoo Joonghyuk or if he liked Yoo Joonghyuk because he was his type.
He felt it would be very weird if he kept picking people who were similar to his best friend, so he went for the complete opposite. He even mostly went for women. Well, he did have a preference towards women, but that didn't mean it was his type.
Yoo Joonghyuk wasn't pretty. He was strikingly handsome, every feature of his was sharp and fit. Yoo Joonhgyuk wasn't cute. He was harsh, rough and edgy, Kim Dokja often found that a little cute, but that was a secret. Yoo Joonghyuk didn't have a soft voice, he had a deep baritone that sent shivers down his spine, yet was calming. Yoo Joonghyuk did not like reading either.
Ah, but he did like cooking.
Yoo Joonghyuk had probably given his approval for a blind date because of that. Yoo Joonghyuk was usually against blind dates and things like that. That jerk was a bit of a romantic, he believed everyone had someone who would come to them at the right time. Meet cutes, running into each other three times, those things were what he liked and thought were peak romance.
Every time one of their friends brought up a blind date or asked Kim Dokja to go see someone, Yoo Joonghyuk would frown and grunt his disapproval. And Kim Dokja, like a pathetic, starving mess, would drink in that disapproval, store it in his heart like a feather between the pages of an old book, put it along with the other memories stuffed in the library in his heart.
Yoo Joonghyuk didn't mean anything by that, Kim Dokja knew that much. He knew his disapproval was nothing more than looking out for a friend, but even so, Kim Dokja's dumb heart beat every time it happened.
"What you're looking for is here," Kim Dokja pointed at the organiser. "I keep my work stuff inside. It's hard to wash all of that if it gets dirty."
"Right," Han Sooyoung said, closing the closet door.
"You've got a lot to explain," she whispered and went to dig through his organiser.
"There's nothing to explain," Kim Dokja sighed. "Why're you even doing this? Did I say I want to go on a date?"
"You didn't, that's exactly the problem," Han Sooyoung huffed. "You didn't even ask me to go to the club."
"Clubbing? At this age?" Kim Dokja droned.
"Or the bar," Han Sooyoung ignored him. "We could gone, picked up someone."
"You have a girlfriend," Kim Dokja pointed out dully.
"We would have come together, duffer. And you could have found someone, we'd make sure no one spikes your drink, airhead," Han Sooyoung scoffed. "It's been a year and you haven't even tried seeing another person. I swear to god, Kim Dokja, if you're still stuck on some—"
"Sooyoung-ah," Kim Dokja said to calm her. "I'm not stuck on anyone. You know I move on easily."
Han Sooyoung sneered at him.
"You've really given up on it then?" she said. "Never going to try again?"
"Yeah," Kim Dokja leaned against the wall.
He'd given up ages ago. He wasn't trying to find a perfect romance, he never wanted romance. But he just had to go and fall for Yoo Joonghyuk, then be oblivious about the whole thing, and then regret it when it had all gone to shit.
He was trying to get his mind off things. He was trying to find excuses to avoid seeing the person he was in love with being happy with someone else.
He was just trying to hide just how pathetic he was.
He would have usually bounced back soon. Or that's what it seemed like to everyone. He fell in love easily, he moved on easily. It couldn't be farther from the truth, but no one needed to know that.
Come to think of it, he hadn't gone to find someone in a long time. It sure was a long relationship with Min Jiwon, and no wonder his friends were worried when he didn't go back to being the normal they knew after his usual sulking and hiding period after breakups were done.
It had just slipped his mind. He got busy with the other Yoo Joonghyuk and Uriel, and work came up and he forgot about that bit. He didn't think about it at all, actually. He was a lot less miserable about Yoo Joonghyuk's engagement than he would have been because something else distracted him.
Haaah, why did he have to think about it now?
Damn it.
Han Sooyoung flung a pair of jeans onto the bed, then a cream shirt.
"No," Kim Dokja said.
"Shut up, you're fashion sense is shit," Han Sooyoung huffed.
"I'm not wearing that," Kim Dokja said just as stubbornly.
"What? You're going to wear that white office shirt of yours again?" Han Sooyoung scolded. "Is that the only thing you have? Why do you keep wearing that every damn time? Switch your wardrobe around for a bit, man. You have nice stuff, wear it, no."
He had the so-called nice stuff only because his friends had found ways to sneak it in, as birthday gifts and Christmas presents.
"Sangah, come here and help," Han Sooyoung called. "This idiot's being an idiot."
Yoo Sangah was there within seconds.
"What's wrong with that one? Nothing, no?"
"I think you'll look very cute in that, Dokja-ssi," Yoo Sangah said, agreeing with her girlfriend's words.
"Do a fashion show!" Mia said from the door, sipping on her banana milk.
"We do have the time," Lee Seolhwa chuckled.
"You sure came planned, huh?" Kim Dokja said weakly.
"Hyung," Gilyoung said encouragingly. "Hyung, I think you're nice as you are."
"Yeah, yeah," Yoosung nodded along. "Ahjussi is very handsome as you are."
Kim Dokja supposed his fate was set. They had brought along the kids knowing that he wouldn't be able to refuse them. And they probably sprung the blind date thing on him out of the blue because they knew he would refuse.
He really would have refused. He didn't want to go, he didn't need to find another person to distract him, work was filling in that role and he was doing fine. If he pushed everything aside for a second, he would have nothing bothering him.
Life would be the best it ever could be for those brief moments. . .Kim Dokja saw why workaholics were the way they were.
Even with the door to his bedroom closed, he could hear the others chatting in his living room.
He stared at the oversized t-shirt that Jung Heewon had got him three years ago for Christmas. It was cute, in a way. He rarely ever wore it, he had no need to apart from when he went on first dates. And that was years ago, too.
Well, it was a first date in a way. But he wasn't trying to impress anyone this time. He didn't find a reason to.
Kim Dokja still slipped it on and straightened the shirt. It was a plain, cream-coloured shirt that fell a few inches beyond his hips and the sleeves covered his knuckles. He thought it made him look silly.
He grabbed his phone and held it up, looking at his reflection on the dark screen, running his fingers through his hair, sweeping them subtly to the side.
When he opened the door and showed it to the others, Yoo Sangah and Lee Seolhwa clapped politely. Shin Yoosung and Lee Gilyoung showered him with compliments that soon turned into a little competition. Han Sooyoung frowned, looking him up and down, scrutinizing his outfit. Yoo Joonghyuk was listening to something Mia was saying and spared him one glance, nothing more than a second, not a single change in his expression.
Ah, what a waste of time.
"I want to go back to work," Kim Dokja grumbled, trudging back into his room and closing the door, listening to whatever Han Sooyoung was saying half-heartedly.
Kim Dokja wasn't bad-looking, he knew that much. He had managed to charm plenty of people. . .A lot of mentally unstable, insecure people, sure, but the bottom line was that he wasn't utterly ugly and horrible to look at even if Han Sooyoung, Yoo Mia, Lee Jihye and Kim Namwoon liked to tease him with it.
Just because he wasn't bad, didn't mean he was good-looking. He was just average.
He didn't have a problem with average, really. He had always known that and it didn't trouble him. He wasn't begging for compliments either. . .But was a single look too much? He had worn something he wouldn't usually have, he hadn't touched that shirt in years! Even a twitch of the eyebrow would have done. He would have clung onto even that little.
Seriously, what a terrible waste of time.
"You are a pathetic man, Kim Dokja," he muttered to himself under his breath. "Get your shit together."
He took the shirt off him and folded it up neatly before putting it back into its rack on the organiser. He wasn't going to take his disappointment out on a perfectly good shirt. What good was that going to do?
He put on his usual white button-up and got kicked back inside with a harsh scolding from Han Sooyoung.
Kim Dokja found a white T-shirt and a dark blue button-up. If he left all the buttons open, and just wore it over his t-shirt, with jeans, it should be fine, no? It was a lot to put on and take off though. He didn't want to go through all that trouble.
"Do it for the kids," he tried motivating himself. "Do it to make them happy."
The kids seemed to be in on this blind date thing as well.
Instead of thinking about things that made him miserable, he would think about things that were more important. The kids, his friends, his work. . .Ah, he had to send a text to Yoo Joonghyuk, the CEO one, saying that he wouldn't be able to make it tomorrow. If he was going to be out the whole day today, he would have to catch up on work the next day.
Kim Dokja had never worked harder in his life.
No, that wasn't the right way to put it. He had worked himself to the bone all his life, but this was the first time it felt good working.
"Really?" Han Sooyoung said, still disapproving.
"I'll just go naked then," Kim Dokja snapped. "What's wrong with this now? I think it's fine."
Han Sooyoung groaned.
"That's why I said I'd wear what I usually wear. No, seriously, what's wrong with this? Sangah-ssi, Seolhwa-ssi, this is fine, isn't it?"
"Ah, that...Yes," Lee Seolhwa was avoiding his eyes.
"You look sloppy," Yoo Joonghyuk said.
"I wasn't asking you," Kim Dokja waved it away. "You've got no fashion sense anyway."
"What?" Yoo Joonghyuk growled.
"You don't talk properly," Kim Dokja chided. "And you won't tell what you're actually thinking anyway."
"I tell exactly what I'm thinking," Yoo Joonghyuk spat. "I just don't sugarcoat it like you want."
"I'm not listening to you," Kim Dokja said. "What do you think, Sangah-ssi?"
"I think you look good, Dokja-ssi," Yoo Sangah said. "You look younger. You should wear casual clothes like this often."
Huh? That's a little strange. While he was glad that Yoo Sangah took his side, he knew it was strange that she would stand out from the majority on something like this.
Han Sooyoung sighed. "Argh, whatever," she rolled her eyes. "This will do, for now, you punk. We need to get you new clothes, tsk."
Oh, she was jealous. Kim Dokja watched Han Sooyoung slink away from Lee Seolhwa's side that she was plastered on and latch onto her girlfriend's arm, making Yoo Sangah's eyes soften and her smile look a little more genuine.
Yoo Sangah caught Kim Dokja's knowing look and her cheeks tinged pink, looking away immediately in embarrassment.
"I'm going to change," Kim Dokja said, holding back a tired sigh. "I'm going to wear what I usually wear and if you have any complaints, that's your problem, not mine."
Kim Dokja got into the car with Yoo Joonghyuk in the driver's seat, and Lee Seolhwa in the passenger's seat. He sat with the kids in the back, they didn't want to be separated and Gilyoung and Yoosung wanted him to come along. Han Sooyoung and Yoo Sangah were going to follow them in Han Sooyoung's tacky, obnoxious sports car.
Yoosung managed to win the rock, paper, scissors game and got to sit on Kim Dokja's lap, next to the window. Since Gilyoung was feeling bad, Kim Dokja allowed him to hold his phone as they spoke to Yoo Sangah and Han Sooyoung whom they were on a call with, on speaker phone.
"It won't be too bad," Han Sooyoung was saying. "If things get worse or boring, just send a text and we'll group up again. And make it a group date so it won't be too awkward. You're just going to be walking around the place anyway."
"I wanted to go with Hyung," Gilyoung muttered, sullen and Kim Dokja patted his head gently. Gilyoung leaned into his side at the touch, pouting.
"Me too, Ahjussi, I wanted to go with you too," Yoosung said, not one to lose out in a competition and Kim Dokja put his other arm around her as well.
"I don't think this will work out, you know," Kim Dokja said. "It's going to end like it always does."
"Don't be so pessimistic, dude," Han Sooyoung's voice issued through Kim Dokja's phone in Gilyoung's hands. "Just try meeting this guy, talk a bit and see if you hit it off."
"If it fails, it fails, yeah?" she continued. "Not a big deal. We'll try again."
"What do you mean 'we'?" Kim Dokja laughed.
"Shut up," Han Sooyoung snapped. "You'll just go sulk in some corner otherwise."
"Hey, I've already told you, it doesn't matter to me anymore," Kim Dokja said. "I don't think I really care anymore."
"And then what? You're going to remain single for life?" Han Sooyoung said heatedly.
"Yeah, what's wrong with that?" Kim Dokja smiled.
"Everything's wrong with that," Yoo Mia provided. "Ahjussi, are you really going to grow old and wrinkly all lonely and sad?"
"No! Ahjussi, you can't!" Yoosung cried, distressed.
"Hyung, if you don't find anyone else, I'll marry you," Gilyoung said, just as panicked.
Kim Dokja couldn't help but laugh again. He really didn't need romance in his life if it wasn't for wanting to forget about the things that made him sad. He really wasn't dying for romantic love. Just the thought of him being lonely and sad bothered his kids so much. Really, what more did he need?
"Why would I grow old lonely and sad?" Kim Dokja said, patting Gilyoung's head. "I have all of you. I'm always happy with you."
He heard Yoo Joonghyuk sigh from the front as Han Sooyoung groaned in defeat from the other side of the phone.
"You're so cringey, Ahjussi," Mia complained, though she looked a little pleased. "But, yeah, you can have no lover. It's fine, it's because you're ugly. We're used to it now, so we'll take care of you."