12 years later

maria coughed as a cloud of dust flew in her head once she pulled the box out of the cupboard.

she carefully placed it down to sneeze a few times.

she hated ordering boxes in places that were dusty because they hadn't been cleaned for years.

"maria? are you done with the attic?"

"not yet!" she replied, making sure that the cupboard was empty before looking down at the box that had her have an allergic reaction to dust.

"call me when you're done with it! i'll help you bring the boxes down!" the same voice spoke again.

"okay, dad!"

dad.

that's what she had started to call jaesun after his wedding with her mother, 12 years ago.

and honesly, it felt so good...

the void inside her chest created by the lack of a fatherly figure in her childhood had been filled when she was turning 9, by jaesun whom her mother had married.

it had been a bit strange at first, calling someone 'dad' when they weren't your real dad, but she had gotten used to it.

she had loved every second she had been able to spend with jaesun, her new dad.

she had loved being cuddled between her two parents while the three of them watched tv.

she had loved being an only child and having both parents' attention constantly on her.

yeah, only child...

a few months after the wedding, mark and donghyuck had rent a small apartment, because mark and him wanted to have their own privacy – which wasn't possible in a house with two adults and two younger siblings. so, mark had left.

and soon after, when maria turned 10, sungchan had left for his studies to a prestigious university in japan. him and shotaro – his best friend who had now become his boyfriend – were so happy when they had received their letters.

so... from 11 years old to now, she had been living as an only child.

she had just turned 20, and as much as she wanted to stay with her parents forever, she knew that she would need to leave them alone and find herself a boyfriend to start her own family...

a boyfriend... if only she could find one... she didn't want a boyfriend. she wanted her haechan... that doll was the perfect representation of what she wanted...

she had even told mark about it: don't you think haechan would be a perfect lover if he was human?

yeah, this was what she thought. haechan would be the best boyfriend she'll ever be able to find. but he was just a doll, right? so, she would never find her haechan...

quite ironical to know that mark had found his haechan: donghyuck, a human-sized copy of her haechan.

maria pushed those thoughts away and ordered a few boxes around the attic, making sure that nothing was missing before calling for her dad.

"dad! you can come!" she yelled. "and can you bring some scotch to close the cardboard boxes, please?!"

yeah, sadly, they were moving out.

this beautiful house that held all of maria's happy memories was going to become a hollow of the past, a beautiful memory itself...

the whole district had to be renovated, and the people living there needed to move out to another part of the town. maria was devastated at the idea of leaving her home.

"here." jaesun appeared in the attic with the scotch. "i'll close the boxes and then we'll bring them down, okay?"

"mmh." maria nodded sadly.

jaesun noticed it. "come on, sweetie... don't be sad. moving out is something normal. our house is going to be even better, right?"

"yeah..." maria sighed.

"come here." jaesun opened his arms to pull maria in a hug. the girl melted into the embrace, appreciating every second of it. in fact, more than the house, these arms felt like home to her. so, even if she left the house forever, she'll still be able to be home, in her parents' embrace.

"let's finish this quick, okay?" jaesun asked as they pulled away.

"yeah, let me help." maria nodded, motivating herself.

both of them scotched the boxes close together, making sure that none of them would open in the truck if there was any problem.

"and the last one- "

"no! don't close that one!" maria stopped him before he could put the stripe of scotch on its opening.

"why? are you throwing them away?" jaesun asked looking at the collection of dolls inside the box.

"no. i'm bringing them to minhyuck."

🎀

"mark! someone's at the door!" donghyuck exclaimed, filling a baby bottle of water while holding his son onto his hip. "mark?!" he yelled again when he received no response.

"what he is doing again..." donghyuck rolled his eyes, closing the baby bottle and handing it to his son for him to drink. "i'm coming!" he declared to make the person at the door know that he had heard the bell.

donghyuck crossed the kitchen to get to the front door, and he opened it with a bright smile.

"hi, maria!" he exclaimed.

"hello..." she smiled at the beautiful boy. "am i disturbing?"

"oh, no! not at all, please come in!" donghyuck invited her inside.

"maya! maya!" the baby in donghyuck's arms exclaimed.

"it's maria, baby minhyuck. maria." donghyuck corrected him, rubbing his and the baby's nose.

"mayiya!" the baby exclaimed this time, making grabby hands towards the girl.

"better, i guess." donghyuck chuckled before looking at his sister-in-law.

"hey baby, i'm super late..." mark appearedin the living room while buttoning his shirt and doing his necktie."i really need to go to- oh? what are you doing here?" he stopped in his tracks when he saw his little sister inside their living room, with an old-looking cardboard box at her feet.

"i was just passing to say hi. and also, i found this box. there are my dolls inside, so... i think they will be more useful here than in the new house. for minhyuckie to play with when he'll be bigger." she explained, smiling brightly at the baby towards the end of the sentence.

"oh, thanks a lot, maria. this is so kind of you..." donghyuck gave her a sincere smile.

"it's normal... he'll use them more than i do..." she chuckled.

"mark, can you hold him for me?" donghyuck asked, handing their son to mark.

"of course, baby." he nodded. "minhyuckie, give a kiss to daddy?" he talked in a silly voice as soon as his son got into his arms.

"come with me, we'll put it in minhyuck's room."

maria and donghyuck both took a side of the box and lifted it together, then taking slow steps towards minhyuck's room.

donghyuck opened the door with his foot and then reached for the handle of the cupboard to open it. both adults slid the box in the cupboard, on a shelf with enough space for it to fit.

"here. perfect." donghyuck smiled, closing the cupboard. "thank you so much again? i really appreciate it."

"donghyuck, it's normal... stop being so formal with me..." maria chuckled, placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"well, still... thanks. i really mean it..."

maria didn't answer.

she stayed silent, and studied donghyuck's face carefully, just like she did when she had met him for the first time, or every other time she had met him actually.

she kind of had a fascination over this boy, and his perfect features.

"all of my dolls are inside the box..." she spoke again, her eyes never leaving donghyuck's face. "all of them except one..."

"haechan...?" dongyuck told, barely above a whisper.

"haechan..." maria nodded, her heart tightening in her chest. "it disappeared from one day to another..."

"it happens sometimes... there are things you can't explain..." donghyuck shrugged.

"yeah." maria approved, now concentrated on the mole on donghyuck's neck. haechan had the same one, and maria had always thought that it was a felt pen mark that she had accidentally done on the doll. "like the way you look so much like haechan..."

donghyuck smiled softly, lowering his head.

he wasn't stressing about that anymore.

this was 12 long years ago...

what could maria do?

how could she even guess that 12 years ago, donghyuck was in fact her haechan?

right, it was impossible...

"life is full of coincidences..." he told.

"i know..." she chuckled. "i mean, perhaps you were the model used to design that doll..."

"who knows...?" donghyuck shrugged.

"you really are a human-sized version of my haechan..." she told before turning around and leaving the room to get away from her brother-in-law.

it felt wrong. everything felt so wrong...

why couldn't she get her head off haechan? and why did she keep thinking about donghyuck?

she knew why: donghyuck was all she hoped her haechan could be... but donghyuck was mark's. and mark was her brother... this was all so wrong...

donghyuck took slow steps towards the living room, where he found his son, minhyuck cuddling into mark's chest while his husband was discussing about something with his sister.

he stayed in the corner of the room, staring lovingly at mark before glancing at maria.

"thank you for taking good care of me, maria... in fact, i am your human-sized haechan..." he mumbled, letting out barely above a whisper the words that he had managed to keep under his breath for 12 long years...