Work Text:
As a parent, Wonwoo knew that this day would have to come eventually.
“Daddy, have you ever been in love?”
The question alone had been enough for Wonwoo to apologize profusely before pausing his ongoing conference call with Pledis’ higher-ups and turn his full attention towards his daughter, whose head barely even peeked over his desk.
“Um,” he starts, not knowing exactly how to respond and cursing internally at how awkward he’s probably sounding. “I am with Papa of course.” Well, duh.
“O-oh okay,” his daughter replies but he could tell that that wasn’t the exact answer that she was looking for, tiny fingers still fidgeting on the wooden surface and eyes refusing to meet Wonwoo’s.
Yiren wasn’t one to usually open up about anything—being the older of his two daughters. Soonyoung jokes that Yiren had somehow taken Wonwoo’s quiet and reserved personality whilst Yingyue had taken Junhui’s bubbly and boisterous one. And if Yiren is anything like Wonwoo, she would have a much more comfortable time opening up to someone like Junhui as compared to someone like Wonwoo—speaking from his own personal experience—especially when it’s about crushes and feelings.
But unfortunately for the two of them, Junhui had been busy with filming all day and he guesses that this problem probably bothered his daughter enough to go to Wonwoo. The lame dad, as Soonyoung would also joke to his daughters. Soonyoung made way too many jokes at Wonwoo’s expense.
“Yiren-ah,” Wonwoo says again. “Is something wrong?”
She shakes her head. “Nothing’s wrong, daddy.”
He purses his lips at her answer. It pains him a little that he wasn’t his daughters’ first choice when it came to emotional problems. Like the other day when Yingyue came home from school and immediately jumped into Junhui’s lap and told him all about the cute flower crown she made during recess. Wonwoo had asked about it too upon entering the living room and Yingyue only paused and said to him “but daddy, you don’t like cute things you wouldn’t understand.”
Of course he likes cute things. Hence, Junhui. And the abundance of cat-themed paraphernalia in his home office. How dare she, first of all.
“You’re not lame,” Junhui had once comforted him after Yingyue and Soonyoung both guffawed at the ‘Wonwoo is the lame dad’ joke, all the while stroking his bicep. “I think you’re plenty sensitive and attentive. I wouldn’t be with you if you weren’t,” and kisses him dearly on his cheek too. “The girls just haven’t had a chance to see that side of you as much as I have.”
He lets out a deep sigh and steps out of his office chair, walking around his desk and crouches down to where Yiren is standing, meeting her eye level. “You know you can talk to daddy about anything, right? I know I’m not papa but—I’ll try my best,” offering her a sweet smile as he ruffles through her hair.
Yiren visibly warms up at his gesture, lips turned into a smile as she wraps her tiny arms around Wonwoo’s neck and he holds her close to him, cupping the back of her head. “Daddy, aren’t you in the middle of a meeting?” she says as she pulls away from him, gesturing at his abandoned desktop where they both can hear the chattering from the meeting participants.
“That can wait,” he boops her nose. “I know that if my little princess comes in here asking for me then it’s more important than some silly meeting I have with silly people I work with.”
Yiren tilts her head. “But daddy, don’t you work with Uncle Jihoon and Uncle Soonyoung? And papa too?”
Now’s his chance to get back at Soonyoung. “Well, your Uncle Soonyoung is the silliest of all the people I work with.”
She also laughs with him which delights Wonwoo a little. “Uncle Soonyoung is kind of silly.”
“Now, you wanna tell me why you asked what you just asked?” Wonwoo lifts his brow, curious. “Don’t tell me you’re also in love, Yiren-ah.”
The blush on her face alone was telling, added the embarrassed yelp of “Dad!” as she tries to pry herself away from Wonwoo but he only locks her in his arms even more, squirming. He knows Yiren only ever calls him ‘dad’ after he’s done or said something that embarrasses her.
“My little girl,” Wonwoo fake sobs dramatically as he squeezes his daughter in his arms even tighter. “Growin’ up so fast.”
Yiren only wheezes, all the while still trying to set herself free from her father’s clutches. “Dad, I’m only ten.”
He knows that. Both he and Junhui do. It’s not like he’ll be walking her down the wedding aisle the very next day or anytime soon as well. He knows that Yiren is at an age where she’s starting to have her first crush, probably on a nice classmate of hers who treats her well and makes her laugh too. But that doesn’t mean that Wonwoo didn’t dread the idea of his little girl growing up too fast for his liking but hey, that’s part of parenthood, he thinks. And he’s a little glad that he has Junhui as his partner-in-crime and partner-for-life for this entire ride.
“Wanna tell daddy who the lucky person is to have my Yiren crushing on?” he says. “I can give you a tip or two. After all, I got your wonderful papa to marry me.”
She tilts her head again. “But Uncle Soonyoung said that you tricked papa into marrying you. Daddy, I thought playing tricks on people wasn’t nice?”
He grits his teeth and swears to end Soonyoung when he sees him at work tomorrow.