Chapter 90. Speculations

It seemed that Seohyun was already well adjusted to his family and despite the discomfort it caused him every time. But he didn’t want to call her out on it because Yonghwa understood that she needed this. Knowing her story, he realized that she relished the moments where she would be surrounded by his family but what he couldn’t understand was that she didn’t seem to be intimidated by them at all.

He should hand it to her.

He chuckled to himself as he pushed the door open but it trickled into a smile when he saw Euna in the middle of the matted floor. Yonghwa walked carefully but the truth was, he wanted to just pick her up and shower her with kisses and hug her tight. It was almost three days that he hadn’t seen her and he couldn’t see anything else but her— not the big room, not the toys, not the new paint.

His little girl was sprawled on the floor with her arms and legs spread on her sides. She was breathing evenly and he knew that this was what Seohyun warned him about but as he sat beside her, he noticed that tiny rubber band that tied her thin hair on top of her head had loosened. He realized how much he missed seeing this little one that he had forgotten what he intended to do.

Without even having second thoughts, Yonghwa gently detached the band from her hair. He stiffened when Euna stirred, flipping on her side facing way from him. Taking a deep breath, he continued with the task, carefully pulling away thin threads of hair that might hurt her if he would make a wrong touch. The sleeping baby whimpered, her hand flying on her head scratching irately at the discomfort. Yonghwa leaned close kissing her cheek, whispering how sorry he was then decided to scratch her head lightly for her while finally detaching the band.

He took a deep breath pocketing her hairband with the hair samples he needed for the test.

“I’m sorry,” Yonghwa whispered again as he patted her bottom coaxing her to go back to sleep and in no time, she was even breathing heavily and sighing in her sleep. He laid beside her, just contented watching her sleep. She looked bigger and longer— he chuckled touching her cheek with the tip of his forefinger, she didn’t even flinch.

The door opened quietly and Seohyun peeped in, opening in a wide smile as he grinned at her. She tiptoed in the room and sat beside the sleeping baby until she could no longer stop herself from picking Euna up and hugging her tight. Yonghwa frowned when their eyes met in time for the baby to start whimpering in her sleep.

“My baby,” Seohyun cooed kissing her awake and angry at her umma. She laughed while Euna flail and grumbled, eyes still closed, “Aigoo, Euna-yang, it’s umma!”

“What happened to not waking her?” He finally asked laughing at how she struggled to keep the baby in her arms.

She giggled, “I can’t resist…” Euna bawled at last but she showered her with kisses cooing gently, “Sweetheart, it’s umma… come on, baby, open your eyes.”

He rolled on his side watching as Seohyun sat, her legs folded while their little princess finally realized who had the audacity to wake her. Once she realized it was actually her mommy, she stopped screaming but the corner of her lips turning down and eyebrows arched close as she stared at her.

“Hey, you, I miss you…” Seohyun cooed then kissed her cheek and laughed when Euna sighed and babbled, looking both distressed and relieved, “I know, sweetheart, I’m sorry….”

“What’s with the apology?” Yonghwa asked as he sat scooting close to her and dropping a kiss at the back of the baby’s head before giving one on Seohyun’s cheek.

She giggled hugging Euna a little tighter when she wrapped her little arms around her looking at her appa, “She thought we gave her away…”

Yonghwa laughed, “Fair enough…”

Lucky for them, Euna didn’t seem to mind that her sleep was cut short, instead, she looked happy. And once she was fully awake, she started crawling around the room making her appa chase her. The moment she got tired, she fell by her umma’s feet, rolling on the floor trying to get a good bite of her teeter all the while babbling to herself. Although he had a rewarding time alone with Seohyun, the three of them together was a treat especially since their baby was getting even more amusing with her cheeriness and adorable expressions.

This time, she was lying on the floor legs kicking once in a while and constantly babbling while her umma cooed at her. Euna abruptly threw her body to the side facing him, when their eyes met, she grinned widely at him pulling her teeter off and started jabbering a combination of p’s and t’s sounds. Yonghwa laughed then nodded, “Yeah? And what did you do?”

Euna sighed then her eyebrows drew in the middle as she placed her teeter back in .

“I understand why you don’t want to talk about it anymore,” he nodded faking a sympathetic reaction while Seohyun laughed. Euna looked up to her and babbled so he addressed her, “Don’t laugh, this is a serious thing, right, sweetheart?”

As if she understood, Euna turned to him grinning and he couldn’t help but laugh at her expression. But his attention was drawn to where this pale spot was peeking from her pink gums. He crawled closer to her and she shrieked excitedly thinking her appa was going to play with her. But he tucked a finger on her chin and gently pulled her lower lip down.

“What are you doing?” Seohyun shifted alert like the mama bear that she was just in time for Euna to irately push her appa’s hand away.

He looked at her with surprise in his eyes, “She has teeth!”

Yonghwa couldn’t believe that he’d be excited about something like this. He kissed the top of her little head then prodded again amazed at that rice looking thing peeping out of her gums. Euna whined but he continued inspecting, “Let me see some more, sweetheart.”

She tried to push her appa’s arm away but when he didn’t budge, Euna suddenly pulled his hand instead and closed around it biting him hard with all her little might. Yonghwa yelped in surprise but managed to peel his hand off without hurting her. Seohyun laughed picking up the baby who now cried in anger.

“Aigoo,” she kissed Euna’s cheek just to appease her but their feisty one only calmed down after her pacifier was placed in . Cuddling her on her lap, Seohyun addressed him pointedly, “A ‘no’ means no, Appa.”

He laughed stretching a kiss on the little one who was scowling at him, “I’m sorry… it’s just fascinating. I can’t remember if I had ever seen a tooth sprouting before.”

Seohyun smiled somehow realizing his sudden excitement, “Yeah, they’re coming out.”

“You know this and you didn’t tell me?” Yonghwa fell back on the floor playfully catching Euna’s feet as she moved her leg up and down.

She laughed taking her phone out, scrolling for a second before handing it to him, “That’s the first time I noticed. Sorry, I just forgot to tell you…”

He clicked his tongue shaking his head and started going through the images in her phone. The first picture was just obviously forced to open where the little white pearl emerged. The others were a collection of her different kinds of grins. One that he loved the most was what they call her fishy grin where her lips are pulled too wide in her cheeks, closed mouth, nose crinkling and eyes almost closed. After that kind of grin, she would usually giggle in a way that she would breath through then laughter would follow bubbling right from her stomach.

Min