"Papa!" cute, wavy auburn hair bounced around the little girl's shoulder as she ran to Eugene. "Hannah missed Papa..."
Hannah, who didn't know her father was going to be kidnapped to a faraway manor, was sulking when Aunt Sophie picked her up instead of her Papa. Even though she recovered once she played with Tobias, she sulked again when the sun set and her Papa still wasn't there.
The thing was, Eugene used to find the time to call the emergency phone he gave Hannah when he had to work until the evening. Two to five minutes of video call, and Hannah would be perfectly cheery when he came home later in the day. This time, however, Eugene couldn't do it.
He was busy going around and felt so tense about Arthur finding out about Hannah due to his slip-up that he couldn't even bring his phone out. Hannah was pouting when she knew her father no longer used the picture they had taken together in the amusement park as wallpaper, so Eugene didn't dare change it again. Unless he was absolutely alone, he wouldn't take his phone out.
And, well...unfortunately, he was never alone during the whole tour.
And then, he had to ask Arthur to drop him off at his publishing company to mislead the alpha before taking a bus home. Tobias and Sophie were also there, as well as the nanny and Sophie's home assistant.
Apparently, Sophie took the chance to do a thorough cleaning of Eugene's apartment. It wasn't the first time, so Eugene didn't mind it.
Anyone with a child at home would never reject a free cleaning.
"I'm sorry, Hana," Eugene welcomed the little girl to his arms and picked her up in apology, kissing her cheek for extra points. "I'm not going to work late this often after this."
"Really?"
"Yeah, maybe one or two," Eugene made a solemn, serious face to tell Hannah that it wasn't an empty promise.
Hannah threw her arms up in celebration. "Yaay! Oh, what is this?"
Of course, kids always knew where the treats were.
"Cute cakes," Eugene placed the bag of madeleines on Hannah's lap. "Do you want some? Should I warm it up for you?"
"Cakes?" Hannah exclaimed.
"Cakes?" Tobias lifted his head from the coloring book, eyes sparkling.
Kids also never had enough treats, no matter how many they had eaten.
"Hannah wants to try it now," the impatient little miss opened the bag without warning, but she still looked at her father for permission.
Eugene put his daughter down on the rug with the excited Tobia--who immediately peeked into the bag in Hannah's hands. "Have you eaten your dinner?"
"Yes!" the children replied quickly with a set of eager nods.
Eugene glanced at Sophie and the nanny, who was stifling their laughs while nodding in confirmation. The house assistant voluntarily slid to the kitchen to make warm milk and laughed freely.
Chuckling to himself, he took the bag from Hannah's hand and poured the contents over the plate that the nanny gave him.
"Chocolate!" the cocoa enthusiast Hannah immediately squealed. Phew--he had to take the girl to a dentist sometime soon.
"Alright, then. Chocolate for you," Eugene let Hannah take one and shifted to the patiently waiting cherub. "Do you want the white one or the green one, Toby?"
"Green," Toby decided after contemplating for ten seconds. "Uncle, it looks like frogs!"
"Is that so?" Eugene chuckled. "I hope it doesn't taste like one."
As the children had their delicious dessert, Sophie crept behind Eugene and whispered over his shoulder. "That doesn't seem to be store-bought."
Eugene pursed his lips. "It's not."
Sophie gave him a side eye, which he tried his best to ignore. He knew it was weird having a cordial relationship and even ate the food prepared by the man he was hiding stuff from. But wouldn't it be worse if he acted cold for something that wasn't Arthur's fault?
Like how it was before their talk at the mall.
"What?" Eugene took the vanilla madeleine and ate it, shrugging. "You want some?"
"Nope," Sophie smirked, squinting her eyes suggestively. "Can't take them away from your daughter."
Eugene rolled his eyes and pushed Sophie's face away from his shoulder. Sophie giggled, but not before giving the madeleines her endorsement. "I know it's good, though."
Which Hannah seemed to agree with.
"Papa! This is good!"
Eugene pursed his lips. "Better than the cookies we baked?"
"...umm..." Hannah fidgeted, eyes darting around in panic. She didn't want to hurt her father's feelings, but she was also told not to lie!
Sophie laughed at the poor girl's adorable dilemma. "You can be honest, Hannah."
"Y-yes?" Hannah said with a guilty grin, hiding behind Aunt Sophie while taking another madeleine--this time the green one.
Eugene chuckled at his cheeky daughter and pulled the plate toward him. "Since they're so good, I should eat the other flavors too~"
"W-wait, Papa!" Hannah shot out behind Sophie and grabbed the other side of the plate. "N-not the chocolate one, please?"
"Nuh-uh," Eugene feigned pettiness and laughed in his head. "Papa loves chocolate, you know."
"Papa!"
Hannah whined and traded the green madeleine for the chocolate one in a hurry. She peeked at her father through thick lashes, as if trying to cook something in her pretty little head.
"T-then...if Papa buy it again next time for Hannah..." the girl said with the face she made when she wanted to ask her father for a SparklySeeker t-shirt two weeks ago. "Hannah will let go..."
This time, Eugene couldn't laugh, just staring at his daughter with parted lips and stuffed his mouth with the green madeleine before he could curse.
On the other hand, Sophie was laughing her ass off while an idea was brewing in her head.
* * *
"Are you going to work late again, Papa?" Hannah asked in front of the kindergarten's gate.
"I don't think I'll be too late," Eugene smiled. "I think I'll be back before tea time."
"Okay!" Hannah smiled widely and hugged her father's neck, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek before waving energetically. "Bye-bye, Papa!"
Eugene watched the little girl's sparkling eyes with mixed emotions. He couldn't help but sigh, knowing that Hannah was happy because she thought he would come home with another nice snack--not because he would come home sooner.
The girl had been asking him about the delicious small cakes for the past two weeks. She used to hate it when Eugene had to go work at the company, but now she was asking him when he would go, bewitched by the madeleines.
Bewitched!
The funny thing was...he had been texting and e-mailing back and forth with Arthur for the past two weeks. Mostly about work, although sometimes they would talk about other things, like food, and movies, and food, and music, and did they talk about food?
Yeah. Eugene wondered if Arthur also made a corresponding track for each of his favorite dishes.
But even though they were talking about food so much, Eugene could never bring himself to ask for a baked favor from the alpha--even as a joke. If felt like an overstep--it wasn't like they were that close. Besides, he didn't want to get closer to Arthur. He was already tensed enough, scared he would have another slip-up.
It certainly wasn't because he got jealous that Hannah preferred Arthur's dish!
...well, maybe it was. He wasn't that petty from jealousy, though. If we looked deeper into his heart, he knew he was worried that Hannah would like Arthur more when she knew her other father was such a great cook.
Eugene could fight custody all he wanted, but if Hannah found out and wanted to be with Arthur, he wouldn't be able to do anything.
Above all else, Hannah's desire was what mattered most.
Perhaps that was the real reason why he didn't want to tell Arthur the truth. Just like what he told Sophie, he didn't want to share Hannah with anyone.
Anyone.
"Hey," Arthur greeted him in the hallway, eyes trained on Eugene's employee card first before shifting to his face.
Eugene almost cursed in surprise. Why did this man always show up when he was thinking about him or Hannah? Like the fucking devil himself.
He quickly got a hold of himself and returned the greeting. "You're here for the script reading too?"
"Nah, I have no business watching the script reading," Arthur chuckled. "I heard you're coming today, so I want to drop this."
It was then that Eugene realized Arthur held a dessert box. The alpha handed it to him, who received it with a little confusion.
"I was in the mood for some cupcakes, so..." Arthur shrugged. "We were talking about frosting the other day, so I tried some of your...experimental combination out of curiosity."
Eugene blinked. "Huh..."
"Made some normal ones too for comparison, so you can tell me how they taste later."
Another treat falling into his lap just like that? Eugene raised his brow high. Just when he was worried about disappointing his daughter when he picked her up later...
What a wonderful coincidence!
"Thank you," Eugene said dazedly, holding the cake box in gratitude.
"Alright," Arthur stepped back and waved his hand. As he said, he was only there to drop the cupcakes. "Talk to you later?"
"Uhh...yeah, sure..." Eugene nodded.
What else could he say to someone who just gave him half a dozen gorgeous cupcakes? He carefully put the cake box inside the paper bag that Arthur also brought so he could carry the box more easily.
Arthur watched Eugene walk away to the conference room where the script reading would commence. A smile bloomed on his face as he recalled the subtle surprise and joy in Eugene's face.
He took out his phone and typed with a grin on his lips. [Thanks for the tip, Sis]
[No probs! Feeding him is a good way to keep you on his good side]
Arthur chuckled. He didn't know why Sophie seemed to be so eager to help him patch things with Eugene, but he would take what he could take. Well, he was also happened to be the type who could be calmed by food, so he understood the tactic.
It was just...he felt weird about constantly sending food to someone who had a partner already. He felt guilty, but also joy.
Argh--what should he do? What should he do?!
Arthur cleared his throat and took a deep breath. Well, he only tried to be on Eugene's good side; he only tried to not anger him. He wasn't exactly courting the man, was he?
He hummed and went about his business before going down to get some hot chocolate from the coffee shop next door, when he suddenly saw a man in Eugene's clothes rushing out through the lobby.
Huh? Wasn't he supposed to be in the middle of a script-reading? It couldn't be over yet.
"Eugene?" Arthur called out to make sure it wasn't the wrong person. The green eyes shifted at his voice, full of worry. "What's wrong?"
Eugene opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something--his hand was actually grasping the alpha's arm for a few seconds. But he pressed his lips hard and let go, before speaking in a slight tremble.
"I'll...call you later."
"Huh? O-okay," Arthur could only nod and watch Eugene flag a taxi down in a hurry.
Eugene Kim was taking a taxi instead of a bus? What an anomaly!
Even more of an anomaly, though, was what he said at the end.
"He'll...call me?" Arthur widened his eyes, wondering what exactly happened.