Chapter 65. Expectations

Yonghwa groaned when the sudden cold air brushed on his exposed skin. He groaned louder when he heard that particular giggle coming from the woman who had just left him fending for himself last night. But he couldn’t really blame her because he also enjoyed himself as he pleasured her.

And when he did fend for himself in the shower, he carried the memory of how she tasted, how she felt, and how she looked, and brought that along with the thought of finally getting inside her. How good it would possibly feel for him, how mind-blowing it would be to explode with her. Those thoughts led him to shatter as the cold water ran down his body.

And yes, he would probably use the same thoughts next time.

But Yonghwa was more hopeful that he didn’t need to do that again.

“What are you smiling about?”

Opening his eyes, he grinned some more seeing her in the same shirt with nothing more but probably one of her boyshorts hidden inside. He stretched and yawned without replying but when he opened his eyes, Seohyun was already in the adjacent room. He smirked since she was obviously avoiding him— maybe later, she wouldn’t be able to avoid her promise just the night before.

“Euna?!”

Yonghwa sat up— suddenly alert hearing her cry out and he rushed to the nursery and asked worriedly, “What happened?”

Seohyun just looked over her shoulder and ushered her forward, “Look at her, she’s sitting… she might be doing it on her own but I just don’t notice since I always put something to support her.”

When he walked close to the crib, Euna was indeed sitting without any support on her back. She also had her big gummy grin on as she clapped-waved her hands happily. “You scared me,” Yonghwa found himself saying but grinned when she mumbled a soft apology.

And as if to show off her new skill, Euna bounced on her bottom raising both arms and her fingers opening and closing towards them. “Aigoo,” he cooed, “You are so cute!”

Seohyun walked closer to him and smiled, “She’s growing up some more…”

He nodded and touched Euna’s hair when her attention shifted to that small fluffy stuffed giraffe near her feet. Her umma also stepped away for a second and came back with her phone on her hand. Yonghwa watched as she took a couple of shots of their little girl who looked up at them with her adorable grin every time she would call her.

Yonghwa wrapped his arm around her when she sighed a little louder, “You’re getting emotional, Umma.”

She sniffed and chuckled, “I can’t help it…”

Dropping a small kiss on her temple, he muttered, “And we’ll be here to watch her grow some more…”

He felt her stiffen after saying that and only then he realized the enormity of his words but he couldn’t take them back— and he didn’t want to take them back.

“Uhm,” Seohyun mumbled stepping away from him and grabbing the empty bottle inside Euna’s crib, “I’ll head to the kitchen. Will you watch her for me?”

“Will do, Umma,” Yonghwa replied rather casually as if he didn’t notice the sudden chill that engulfed them both, “I’ll take her downstairs once she get sick of playing here…”

“Thanks…” she replied and basically hurried out of the room.

When he heard the master bedroom’s door closed with a small click, Yonghwa took the colorful stacking rings from her toy cabinet and put them in her crib. The moment she caught sight of the toys, Euna waved her hand vigorously and took one ring putting it instantly in . As his baby chewed on her toy, Yonghwa chuckled and spoke softly, “Euna, appa’s gonna wash first, okay? I’ll be back as soon as I’m done.”

After a few minutes, he found the baby still busily playing with her toys but this time, she was lying on her crib. Yonghwa pulled the armchair closer to the crib and just watched as Euna entertained herself by playing and cooing with and at her toys. He chuckled listening to the varieties of tones and pitches she was using, the way she would pucker her lips and blow out loud as she babbled. After a while, he watched in amazement when Euna flipped on her stomach, used her arms to keep her body up then pushed herself in a sitting position.

“Ahhh, so that’s how you do it!” Yonghwa exclaimed as Euna looked up to him with her big grin as she started flapping her arms. He clapped his hands telling her what a great job she just did and she tried to mimic his clapping. Yonghwa laughed and decided to scoop her up. Kissing her cheek, he whispered, “I’m so proud of you…”

Euna giggled then placed her forefinger in and turned towards the door, “Ammaahh… mammamama…”

“You want to go to umma?” He chuckled and rubbed his nose on her hair.

She screeched then laughed out loud then continued blabbing mmahh-mmahhs. “Say ‘Appa’ first then I’ll take you downstairs.”

“Ammahhh!” Euna shrieked when he blew kisses on her neck.

He frowned at her and she laughed, “Say ‘appa’… a.. ppa… appa.”

“Ammahh,” Euna cooed now adding three more fingers in then laughed when he pouted, “Ammmaaaaahhhh!”

“Arraso!!!” Yonghwa laughed as she slapped her wet hands on his face. Taking her small towel, he wiped her little fingers on it but clicked his tongue when Euna just put her fingers back in , “You’re hopeless.”

When he was about to leave the room, Yonghwa caught sight of his blinking phone by the bedside table. He scrolled but chuckled when Euna tried to reach out for it, “No… no, the message is for Appa, not for Euna.”

As if she understood, she looked away and focused her attention on the door but whined when her appa stopped walking to look at his phone.

“Arraso, Euna-yang, we’re going out,” Yonghwa mumbled as he read the message from his friend. “Looks like we’re really going out,” he gave his baby a kiss on the cheek as he headed down the stairs.

A friend of his whom he plays basketball with a couple times related that he has a stall of local snacks in the morning market. He told him that he has a few that could be okay for babies at Euna’s age to eat so Yonghwa went to the kitchen and told Seohyun about it.

A couple of minutes later, he was pushing Euna’s stroller while Seohyun walked quietly beside him. He hadn’t seen his friend yet and decided for them to walk around for bit to see if they could find anything they would want. Yonghwa noted that she was eager to be out there as much as the curious little one in her stroller. Seohyun pointed a couple of things to him that he would casually reply to buy but she would only shake her head answering that they should look around first before buying anything.

With that, they were doing more of a leisure walk than originally intended until Seohyun exclaimed beside him after a few while, “Oh, look at those strawberries! Let’s get some!”

“What happened to ‘let’s look around first since we might find something better’?” Yonghwa muttered but chuckle