Chapter Text
Dokja scurried to the door as he heard it ring. Every other Saturday, ‘Kim’s Company’ as they’d dubbed themselves, would meet up at one of the houses. The group consisted of Dokja, the kids, Sangha, Sooyoung, Heewon, Hyungung, and in the last year or so, Jihye– the kids’ babysitter and practically a little sister to Heewon.
It was nice having everyone back together. Funnily enough, Dokja had been the one to unite them all, which is why it was ‘his’ company. He had met Han Sooyoung at a train station, Yoo Sangah at work, Jung Heewon at the kids’ taekwondo lessons, Hyungsung during his military service, and Jihye when he hired her as a babysitter.
Over the years, the cross-relations between them grew until Dokja realized they all knew of each other to some extent. The first dinner at his house had been chaotic, but they’d kept the tradition.
Dokja owed a lot to his friends. But they also owed him some things too.
“Did you bring my Tupperware?” Dokja immediately asked as he turned to Han Sooyoung, pausing to greet Yoo Sangah with a smile. “Hi Sangah-ssi.”
Yoo Sangah smiled guiltily. “God, we totally forgot. Sorry Dokja-ssi!” She said, bowing embarrassedly. Sooyoung nudged her sharply.
“Never apologize, babe. Dokja, you have too much Tupperware to be bitching about one container. I’ll get it next week.” She said as she rolled her eyes and pushed her way past Dokja to go inside.
“Hi!” Gilyoung said excitedly. Sooyoung waved to greet him but both kids barreled past her to greet Yoo Sangah.
“That’s karma, Sooyoung,” Dokja joked, taking her jacket and hanging it up, “Next time maybe bring me my Tupperware back, okay?”
“Relax. You owe me anyway, so it cancels out.” She explained, sitting down at the table and kicking her feet onto another chair, stretching back with a content yawn.
“How do I owe you.”
“I let you pre-read the unreleased webnovel I was working on? Hello?” She asked, waving his phone in front of his face.
Dokja groaned. “That didn’t count! You offered to, because you needed a beta reader!” He argued.
Sooyoung shrugged. “You’ll be okay without one Tupperware.”
Dokja had known Sooyoung the longest– she was literally his first friend. His only comfort in those hellish years had been various webnovels. When he tried running away at 14, hopping on a train to Seoul, he’d stumbled off the train station in the early hours of the morning and hit a girl with a choppy black bob and her head buried in her phone, typing furiously. The phone had fallen, and he’d picked it up, almost gasping when he recognized the words a little too well.
He owed her a lot. Dokja owed her his own life. She’d been the only one pushing him to live , even if it was by releasing new chapters of the webnovel. When he ran away for real, she opened up her tiny studio apartment to him, and that had been the start of a real life for him.
“Sorry, Dokja-ssi. Next week, we promise..” Sangah said sheepishly. Dokja rolled his eyes at her embarrassment.
“It’s just Tupperware, Sangah, don’t worry about it.” He ignored Sooyoung’s protest and walked back to the door as the doorbell rang again.
“Ahjussi, hi.” Lee Jihye was at the door looking absolutely bored.
“Hi Jihye. Come in.”
Lee Jihye was only a teenager, but Dokja felt like he’d known her forever by this point. She lived a few floors up with her father, who was constantly traveling for work. Dokja had bumped into her a few times that first year at the grocery store, buying packs of instant ramen, cheap kimbaps, and ice cream. She had a hollow look in her eyes.
She reminded him a lot of himself at that age, especially when he saw her do her laundry alone and pick up packages, signing on clipboards nervously.
He’d approached her because he also needed a babysitter. The kids were at the age where they couldn’t be left home alone but didn’t need a daycare.
“Excuse me?” He asked politely one day in the apartment lobby. She had been coming home from school and looked at him weirdly.
“Can I help you?” She asked in that teenager fashion.
“I’m Kim Dokja, I live in this building with my kids. Would you be interested in babysitting?” He said in one breath. Jihye shrugged and asked when she needed to start.
Over the next few months, he learned a few things about her. Jihye had been living basically alone for the last year. She was about to get her black belt in taekwondo. She liked sword-fighting. Her childhood best friend had died in a tragic accident a few months ago.
It explained the empty look she had sometimes, and how she’d clench her jaw when the kids watched certain TV shows. Dokja made her stay for dinner when she didn’t have too much homework most nights, and he slowly watched the smile on her face come back.
The real Lee Jihye wasn’t half as polite as she was when he first met her. She was snarky, always had something to say, and poked fun at everyone.
“Ahjussi, did you cut your hair or something? It looks awful.” She said with a grimace on her face. “Move over. Is Heewon-unnie here yet?” She walked inside, nudging Dokja to the side and glancing around.
“Hi Jihye!” Sangah waved. “How are you?”
“Hi Sangah-unnie!” She said brightly. “I’m good, let me show you the pictures from my last taekwondo competition.”
Personally, Dokja thought Jihye was only mean to him, and sometimes Sooyoung. Jung Heewon was practically her sister, Hyunsung was Heewon’s husband so it was expected for them to get along, and Sangah had that undeniable charm to her. The kids were annoying at times, but she doted on them in her own way.
Sooyoung and her were similar enough to either bitch at each other or together at someone else– so mostly, Dokja.
But Jihye had needed someone so badly after her friend had died, and Dokja couldn’t bear to see another kid like himself slip into the spiral of anger, guilt, self-hatred, and eventual helplessness.
“Jihye!” Jung Heewon had let herself in and slipped past Dokja, greeting the girl. Hyunsung followed behind her, multiple brown bags balanced in his arms.
“Hyunsung-ssi, let me help you,” Dokja offered, but Hyunsung walked over carefully to the kitchen table and set them down. He and Heewon really were perfect for each other.
“Hi Dokja-ssi. Hope you’re okay with Chinese food.” Hyunsung said as Dokja started to take out the copious amounts of food.
Sooyoung snorted. “Okay? He’s more than ‘okay’ with anything Chinese related. Especially those bel-”
Dokja shoved a hand in the vicinity of her mouth. “Less talking, more eating. Shut up.”
The kids lazed on the couch with Hyunsung as Jihye complained about schoolwork.
“I hate how much work we have to do! Especially for stupid classes I won’t need. I’m not leaving Korea. Why do I need English Literature?” She ranted frustratedly. “No offence, Sangah-unnie.”
Sangah shook her head. “None taken.” She paused to turn to Dokja, who was busy at the counter packing up leftovers from lunch for everyone. “Dokja, do the kids want me to check their homework again?”
Dokja hummed. “I think they’re okay this week.” He stepped out to the living room. “Guys, any homework help?”
Yoosung nodded. “Not on English. I need help with math.”
Jihye beckoned her over confidently. “Give it to me. Unnie is really good at math.”
An hour later the whole Company was sitting at the table, an innocent math worksheet in the center of the table and YouTube videos playing on three different devices.
“This is insane. Kids have to do this?” Sooyoung asked, erasing her answer. Dokja rewinded a section of the video.
“Carry the four? Don’t you multiply the four?” He muttered.
“No, that’s just if the variable can be eliminated.” Sangah explained, turning back to her own paper.
The kids were playing video games with Jihye, homework forgotten. Yoosung walked over, looking at the state of five adults struggling over a fifth-grade math worksheet.
“Ahjussi, I’m going to call Mia.” She said, grabbing the phone.
“Mia?” Sooyoung asked.
“New friend in their class. They’ve been having a lot of fun together.” He explained. He left out the part about Mia’s older brother. It didn’t feel worth mentioning. Or anything, if Dokja mentioned it, he’d have to mention why he didn’t like the guy, and then start with the lemon squares, and the sink, and then they’d look him up on LinkedIn since he probably had an amazing job and find out he was Really Hot.
And then Dokja’s life would go to shit. So– he avoided talking about Mia’s family.
“Mia-yah, hi!” Yoosung said over the phone. “The first one is seven? Okay, I thought so too.” She said, drawing a smiley face on the worksheet.
Sooyoung’s head was in her hands. “Damn. I really thought it would be nine.”
Yoosung went through the questions in a similar fashion, until the worksheet was finished.
“Now the back,” Mia’s voice said faintly.
Heewon paused. “The what?”
Yoosung flipped the page over, going through the questions no one else had noticed.
“I need a drink.” Sooyoung groaned.
Mia and Yoosung chattered over the phone as Dokja watched on. Maybe it was time to get Yoosung her own phone. Dokja didn’t think she needed one, but he didn’t want her to feel left out.
“Guys, should I get Yoosung a phone?” He asked the table. After breaking up efforts to conquer the math homework, the rest of the company was sitting around the table, sipping wine and snacking on something pulled from Dokja’s pantry.
“Yes.” Jihye stated, going back to scrolling on her phone.
Sangha hummed. “It depends..I really wouldn’t know, I guess.” She laughed sheepishly.
At times, Dokja felt like he had no clue as to what he was doing. He didn’t have any other parent friends, especially single-parent friends. And Yoosung and Gilyoung deserved the world. DOkja just wasn’t sure he knew how to give it to them.
“Yoosung,” he called out, waving her closer.
Maybe he did have one parent friend– not so much a parent, more closer to a responsible adult brother, but it was the best he had.
“Yes, Ahjussi?” She asked. “Want to say hi to Mia?”
“Yeah, of course!” He took the phone. “Hi Mia-yah, how are you?”
“Good, I guess.” She said.
“Listen, I have a quick question for your brother. Can you hand him the phone quickly?” He asked.
“Yeah, okay. Give me a second.”
Sooyoung scoffed. “Brother?”
“It’s complicated.” He waved her off, putting his ear back to the phone when he heard Joonghyuk.
“What.” He grunted into the phone.
“Is that any way to greet someone who constantly drives your kid around town?” Dokja half-joked. The guy could be a little more polite. Dokja knew Joonghyuk didn’t HATE him, but it wasn’t like he LIKED him either.
Dokja also wasn't in love with him. As much as he was a great guardian towards Mia, he’d been nothing but mean towards Dokja. But they joked around fine, so Dokja was always confused why every time they started talking Joonghyuk put up this ‘mysterious unapproachable hot-guy’ behavior.
“I’m busy. What do you want?” He sighed. Loud keyboard typing was heard behind him. Joonghyuk was probably working– some crazy fancy job to pay for their beautiful house.
“I was wondering, do you think I should get Yoosung a phone?” He asked, sitting down and ignoring Sooyoung and Sangah’s confused looks. “I can hear you glaring at me. Stop.” He said to Joonghyuk.
“Did you call me just to ask that?” He muttered, still clicking away angrily.
“Yeah.”
“God, I can’t believe you. I said I was busy!” He exclaimed.
“Yeah, but you won’t hang up on me. You owe me for saving your sister. Like big-time.” Dokja explained.
“What?” Heewon asked, trying to listen in. They’d probably never seen him talk to someone else outside of them for so long.
“Fuck!” He growled into the phone.
“What? Damn, sorry.”
“No, not you. Yeah, get her a phone. Maybe as a birthday gift, or Christmas. Whatever’s first.” He said, finally paying attention to Dokja and not typing away.
“Okay. What model does Mia have? It seemed like a good one.” He asked.
“I’ll text it to you.”
“Texting…does that mean I can text you now? Are we becoming real friends?” He asked jokingly.
“Don’t push it. Is that all?” He asked. It was annoying how eager Joonghyuk seemed to be to get out of this conversation. Dokja liked talking to Joonghyuk, not that he’d ever admit it. It was different than talking to his own friends. They were amazing, of course, but Joonghyuk was in some odd way, different.
“Come on, just let me annoy you for a bit longer?” He whined.
“You already annoy me enough wherever we’re forced to meet. Is that not enough for you?” Joonghyuk snapped.
“Fine, whatever, asshole.” Dokja hung up with a smile, putting the phone down to his friends' interested glares.
“Who are you calling an asshole? And asking for parenting advice?” Heewon asked scandalously.
“It’s not like that!” Dokja argued.
“You were giggling!” Sangha pointed out.
“It REALLY isn’t like that!” Dokja shouted, embarrassed. He didn’t know he was giggling. Sangha had to be bluffing to trap him. She did that sometimes.
“Whatever you say….” Sooyoung said, munching on a lollipop. “I guess playboy Dokja is back in the game.”