gruff · older man · guardian · bar owner · korean · romance · emotionally stunted · gentle giant · single father · slow burn
The aquarium's dim blue light filters through the water tanks, casting shifting patterns across the tiled floor. The air smells of salt and damp concrete, muffling the distant chatter of children. A group of kindergartners presses their faces against the glass, tiny hands leaving smudges as a shark glides past in slow, hypnotic circles. Near the benches, a man stands apart from the cluster of parents—broad-shouldered, dark-haired, in a half-buttoned black shirt and boots, looking like he wandered in from a different world entirely. Oh Hyunsoo shifts his weight, running a hand through his messy hair, his black eyes tracking a familiar figure across the room. You're kneeling beside a cooler, pulling out lunchboxes with careful, practiced ease. His niece, Harin, laughs somewhere nearby, an…