I know there's word count stated but i'm not changing habit

3.1k (excluding a/n)

It’s almost seven in the evening, and it’s Sana’s plan to arrive this late so shorter the time she’ll spend at Mingyu’s house. The first thing she notices when she arrives there is that, it’s a big one. Huge, like three of her house put together. She has to recheck the address, not because she believes Mingyu is poor, but because he never gives her any indication that he’s pretty privileged.

He texts her saying he sees her car and the gate opens. As she drives in, she feels a little surreal. And then nerves start to kick in. This house is intimidating. Big house usually is.

She’s parking by his car when he walks out of the door, dressing in white tshirt and pajama pants. For a second, seeing him, welcoming her, giving her a sense of relief. She has him. She can’t rely much on him, but for the time here, she just has to be.

He opens her door, prompting her to walk out. “I was so worried. Why are you so late?”

“I got lost.”

“You didn’t pick up your phone.”

“I was driving.”

He sighs. “Where’s your bag?” She points to the back, and he drags the small luggage out. And then he smiles when he drags out another bag. “You bring your pillow.”

“It’s a very good pillow. I named it Good Pillow.”

He laughs. “Come, everyone has been waiting for you. You come at the perfect time for dinner.”

“Will I be okay? Will they eat me too?”

“You will but they will eat you if you keep them waiting for longer. Come on.”

He walks ahead of her and she gives her an accusing glare at his back. “You didn’t warn me. You’re rich.”

“My grandfather was a judge, retired last year. There’s old money at the side too. They are rich. I’m not. Except for my education, I prefer them not paying for anything else.” He shifts her pillow bag to the other hand and opens the door for her to walk in. “Welcome to the Kims.”

She steps in carefully, like there will be darts shooting at her if she steps on a trap. Not two steps in, she turns back to him, causing his back to crash on the door. “You should’ve warn me.” Panic settling in as she takes a quick glance at the lavish interior. All woods, fancy arts, over the top chandelier and she can smell the scent of polish. It smells like luxury, but for her, it’s a strange house.

“Warn you what? What’s with the panic, baby bird?”

“What if they think I’m sticking on you because I’m after the money and child support? I didn’t know any of this.” Her hand flail to the general direction of the living room.

“Hey now, chill. Like I said, I’m not rich. If anyone has to give child support, it’s me, not them. And guess what, I will. Because it’s my child. I don’t think you’re after money, and I don’t even have it. So no one has the right to think so. And for your information, my family don’t think so.”

“Are you sure?”

He sighs, reaching up to hold her face in his palm. “Yes, I am. I told you, there was history here no ones in this house wants to repeat. And my Pops handled teens pregnancy cases for a few times, and it broke all of our hearts when the parents didn’t want their baby and went too far by killing them. Horrifically. We did good, Sana. We’re doing good. We’ll be okay. Do you understand?”

She chews her lip for a bit before nodding.

He smiles before leading her in.

The introduction was short and simple. The thing about short and simple is, it’s not enough of an impression.

Sana sits gingerly at the edge of her seat as four pairs of eyes are watching her. The cold ones of his grandfather, the warm ones of his grandmother, the smiley one of his mother and a pair of beautiful eyes belong to a handsome eleven year old, Mingyu’s cousin. He was said to be here with his two-year-old sister—who, by the way, sitting on her stool giving no minds to her as she stuffs her foods all over her face—because their parents are having a marital crisis so the grandparents insist to keep the children for a while.

“This is salty, Gamma.” Mingyu breaks the silence. His face scrunches as he pushes away pieces of fish fillets to the farthest side of his plate with his fork.

Now their eyes train away from her (except for the little boy) and Sana indiscreetly exhales. She starts eating again. And . . . yeah, okay, it is salty.

“Why do you think I made that? That’s rude,” The Grandmother screeches.

“You made that, Mom,” Mingyu’s mother speaks. She has this very soft voice, although she sounds a bit firm. “You should never be allowed near salts.”

The grandfather finally speaks after his long, long silence. Sana actually thought he’s mute earlier, if not for him being a judge. “You’re salty human being,” he says with ease.

There’s a silence following. Almost like everyone is deciding cumulatively and silently on what to do.

They decide on laughing. So hard and sudden, it jerks the little girl away from her food. Her hand pauses in front of . She eyes them frownily. And that’s when her eyes finally meet Sana. She frowns even harder. Then she curiously asks, “who’s you?” Like she just realizes a presence of a stranger.

This time, when they laugh, Sana laughs along.

“Your father will get by,” His mother appeases as she hands Sana the empty dirty plate.

Sana told the women about the pregnancy chronology at the kitchen while cleaning up. She insisted to help because it’s even more awkward not to help so they let her.

“We were upset too when he told us.” Gamma is wiping the counter and the plate in Sana’s hand pause mid-air for a while. “Because he’s still too young to be a father. But he told us he will be responsible, and that, for us, is a choice we’re proud of. He’s always been the responsible one. We just hope he’s really ready to be a father, though.”

Sana thinks Mingyu is more ready of a parent than her, actually.

Because of all the time he’s supposed to be panic, he gathered himself to be calm so he can be calm for her panic. He’s been great and supportive. He exceeds all her expectations, thus, manages to change her general perspective of him.

We did good, Sana. We’re doing good. We’ll be okay.

She smiles, because that’s exactly what a calm and composed father would say. “He is.”

After a quick, warm shower, she changes into a pajama. She takes her phone when she hears a warning of low battery. She plugs the charger in and in a risk of being totally random, she hits her father with a text. Since she has said all the synonyms to an apology and he’s still unresponsive, she tells him something that will never ever change.

I love you, daddy. I will always do.

Seeing it remains unread after few minutes, she sighs before leaving her phone there and walks downstairs. She falters halfway as she glances at the view that greets her.

Mingyu’s long body is lying on the sofa, his feet hanging at the armrest. His head is turning to a documentary on the tv. He has the baby girl sitting on her stomach, whilst his hand absentmindedly rubbing her back.

Her calm heart starts kicking into a faster beat. That view is weakening and it really doesn’t take much for her to finally sees his appeal to girls that she managed to dodge from the moment she met him. All he does is having a baby by his side. Just like that, it changes all. All. He changed from a Mingyu to a ing Hottie. Like that. Just exactly like that.

And that causes her dread. Because she’s not sure how is she going to dodge his appeal in the future when he’s holding their baby. She might not survive. By the time it happens, Mingyu might change to ing Hottie to ing God.

She can’t see him as a god. It’s not even because she’s atheist.

She takes slower steps down.

“Where’s everyone?” She asks taking the seat above Mingyu’s head, at the curve of the L-seat.

“Early sleeper,” he says and narrows his eyes pointedly at the baby girl he called Thing. “But the one Thing who supposed to sleep early is not.”

Thing looks up from her baby-iPad. Sensing she’s being talked about, she rolls her eyes. “Not sweep,” she argues with her lisp.

Sana grins when the two starts a staring contest.

“When are you going to sleep then?” He asks, glaring.

“Not.”

Sana laughs. For someone the size about a fourth of Mingyu, she is not backing down. With her big eyes, pouty mouth, red cheeks, pigtails; she is quite an opponent.

Mingyu gives up. He throws his head back, grunting.

There. For a moment there, Sana wants a girl. A girl can really put Mingyu wrapped around her tiny finger. It’s going to be entertaining. She’s going to recruit their girl to be on her side, and then she will put Mingyu under her thumb.

She giggles at that thought. “She’s cute.”

“I know,” Thing agrees easily, back to busying herself with her iPad.

Sana laughs even more. “She clearly spends too much time with you.” She flicks his hair. It’s unstyled. He looks good like this, completely different image than what everyone usually sees at college.

Who even thought The Playboy Basketball Star babysits a toddler on regular basis? And he’s not awkward at it.

Mingyu already smothers Thing, hugging her to his chest, and the girl’s whines and legs kicking the air in protest. Her iPad falls to the carpet and Mingyu discreetly pushes it under the sofa with his other hand.

Thing asks for it as she sits up again, hair is a mess. But they both pretend they never see it. Thing cries, keeps whining “not, not, not . . .” but she finally gives up. She lies on his chest, sulking and sobbing. He runs his hand on her back and soon, her eyes start to drop.

“You’re good at this,” Sana comments. So good her heart is melting and rioting at the same time.

“I’m good at everything.”

“Maybe.”

He tilts up his head to look at her. He looks amused. “Did you just agree with me?”

“Maybe.”

“Come closer, I need something under my head. It might be a while for me to be here with this Thing sleeping on me.”

Sana takes few seconds of hesitation before she moves and as he moves his head on her lap, he mumbles, “much better.”

“I like your hair like this.” She picks on strands, just to give her awkward hand a task. And then naturally, her other hand coming up to play. “It’s quite long, though. Longer than my finger.”

“Your finger is short.”

“My finger is not short, but even if it’s short, your hair is still longer.”

He grins at her defiance. His own hand is Thing’s head in a soothing manner. After a few moment of silence, as his eyes start to be droopy, he talks, probably to fight his sleep. “Will it be like this?”

Her mind is unfocused, but she knows exactly what he’s saying. Her finger twirls lightly on a small lock of his hair. “Maybe.”

“I like this.”

She looks down at him. He’s already smiling at her. “Me too.”

His smile widens. “You finally agree with me.”

This is starting to feel a little intimate, so she flicks his temple, just to stay in their lane. He chuckles and that causes Thing to stir a bit in her sleep, but it’s only for a fleeting time.

“Have you think of a name for Tom?” He asks.

“If Tom is a girl, I want to name her Kana. Or Dana. Maybe Lana.”

He drops his nose to the top of Thing’s hair and his body shakes as he chuckles quietly. “Right. If our baby is a boy, his name would be Minghu, or Minglu or Mingku.”

Sana palms to stifle her laugh. “We’re so full of ourselves.”

“I know, right? Tom would probably disown us by the age of five.”

She is giggling when suddenly . . . suddenly his head turns in her laps. His eyes closed and his forehead is against her stomach, breathing it in. She stiffens, her face immediately warms. This is his first contact with Tom, all without warning and he gets her taken aback by it.

“I like you two here,” he says, a little too quiet, he’s almost whispering. “Close . . . to me,” he mumbles in his half-sleep state.

His face stays buried there, even though there’s no bump yet. She gathers herself and tries to focus on the tv which now shows a rolling credit. Her hand has already stops moving, just resting there against his hair.

She takes a deep breath. Mingyu is probably not fully-conscious, but that’s how she knows he’s being honest. She doesn’t know what to feel about that. 

All she knows is, she is not going to survive if he keeps doing this.

Sana wakes up puking. As usual. Excepts that her morning sickness is waning now. She doesn’t know if it’s supposed to wane yet. Maybe her pregnancy is going to be an easy one. So far, she doesn’t have big craving and she even pee less.

She flushes the toilet and freshen up for a bit. After that, she checks on her phone. It’s almost seven in the morning, and there’s already a text from her father. Her heart leaps. He responds!

I’ll talk to you on Thursday. Take care.

It sounds unlike him, but she understands. She would take in whatever response he gave her. Better than none at all.

She walks out and she bumps on a hard chest. “Ouch.” She rubs on her forehead. When she looks up, Mingyu is standing right in front of the door.

“Sorry, baby bird. I wanted to check. I heard you puking. Are you okay now?”

“I am.”

He breathes out. “Good.”

Only then Sana realizes that he’s topless. Her eyes fixed to his chest, and then her gaze travels down to his abs. Her active hormones peaking in attention. She tries to hold herself together. But it’s hard . . . because the abs. It’s right there. She wants to eat them. And she’s not supposed to eat them. But maybe ? Is okay?

Good god, Sana. Get a grip!

She blinks up, forcing her eyes away from the exposed skin. He’s still talking, but she can only catch the trails of it.

“. . . and I will come back. It’s only ten minutes away. You can stay by yourself for a while? You can just stay in your room if you’re not comfortable.”

She shakes her head, and then she nods. She looks silly, blame it on his abs. “I’m good.” That’s all she gets to say, although she’s anything but.

He walks to his room, the one opposites hers. He leaves the door open and still in dazed, Sana stares at his back. That’s one y back. Like a swimmer’s back. She swallows. Duck! She’s hungry. Like legit hungry her stomach is growling. She needs to eat. Food, she means.

But like an idiot, her feet are not getting her downstairs. Instead, she walks into his room. What is she thinking? No, she doesn’t think she’s even thinking. Only that, she’s really hungry. Hungry makes her stupid.

She takes in the room. It’s very chill. Posters on the walls, guitars and CDs besides his bed, a shelf of comic books. A very average college boy’s room. And she likes it. It even smells like him. She doesn’t know why she knows his smell, though.

He doesn’t even look surprised as he turns, finding her in his room. He already puts on his shirt, and that’s good . . . and too bad.

She looks at a bunch of photos taped messily on a side of the wall. Of him in basketball attire, holding a ball, a trophy, with his teammates. Of him and his housemates—she spots Wonwoo there. They look drunk as . Of him and few girls hanging on each side of his arms. She shakes her head. Such a playboy. And among school photos, family and random things, she spots a photo of a girl.

“Who’s this?”

She’s the one who’s alone in a photo without Mingyu with her. She must be special. And she’s pretty. Long hair, round eyes, small face. She looks luxuriously sweet.

“High school ex-girlfriend,” he answers without looking.

“She’s very pretty.”

He makes a non-committal sound as he picks up his car key, phone and wallet.

“What baby animal was she?” Probably baby unicorn, seeing as she was special.

He swings at her, making a face before his head thrown back in laughter. “What?”

“I mean, if I’m baby bird—“

“I know what you mean, baby bird. But why do you think I nicknamed everyone?”

“You don’t? Then why did you nickname me?”

He looks like he’s just thinking about this, too. “I don’t know.” He answers truthfully.

Sana doesn’t question him more, just because she spots another photo of his ex-girlfriend. This time she’s with Mingyu and another guy.

Mingyu walks right next to her, pointing at the exact photo.

“This is my high school bestfriend. They started dating after we broke up, and still dating until now.”

Sana gasps. “Wow, that sounds . . . bad.” She wants to say scandalous, but she refrains, afraid he might not recover yet. First love is hard to forget.

“Not really. I was the bad one of us three.” He gives her a self-deprecating smirk. “Come, TJ is waiting for me.” He pulls her out of the room and to downstairs.

So he’s going to send his boy cousin to school. TJ—short for Tae Joon—is waiting by the door. When he looks up at them, his annoyed expression changes to a blush.

Mingyu chuckles. “He has a crush on you.” He pulls her along to the door. “Stop staring at her, TJ. You’re a fetus.”

“Shut up.” TJ blushes furiously and he bursts out of the door before Sana even gets to wish him a Good Morning.

“I’ll see you later. Go have a breakfast.” He pats her head softly before he turns to walk out.

Sana watches as he catches up with TJ, nudging him like he’s teasing him and TJ pouts before slamming his door. She chuckles.

Man, that guy is going to make one awesome father. And he’s Tom’s father.

Her baby is lucky.

a/n : 100 subs! i can't believe this, thank youuu! 

also for those who upvoted, thank you so muchhh for thinking I deserved it!

and those who commented, guys, i LOVE IT WHEN YOU GUYS WROTE IN CAPSLOCK! it's like you're genuinely excited and IT MAKES ME EXCITED TOO! 

this story is exceeding soooo far ahead of my expectation, thank you again for the support!

thanks for reading! <3 Happy Eid to those who celebrate! Take care everyone and stay hydrated <3