“Appa.” Haerim frowned as they walked through the busy streets that afternoon. Hongki had picked her up from school after he'd gotten off work and the two of them were going to go to the grocery store and take a cab home.

“What is it, Haerim?” he asked her, looking down at her for only a second before looking back up so that they could cross the road. It wasn't the normal path they took to the store.

“Why aren't we going to the store Ahjushi sings at?” She asked him.

Hongki's expression froze in shock. He quickly shook it off, though, and looked at her with a small smile on his face. He'd been getting a lot better at that expression lately, though the smile never fully reached his eyes.

“We don't need to go to that store anymore, Haerim.” Hongki told her. “That store sold really cheap things that we could afford, but Appa has more money now and we can afford to shop at the regular store and get lots of good food, okay?”

Haerim nodded, but the pout stayed on her face. “Are you sure it's not just because you don't want to see Ahjushi?”

A blush came to Hongki's features and he looked away, clearing his throat. There was no point in lying to the girl. “Maybe just a little bit..” he responded as he picked her up and sat her inside of the shopping cart. She smiled as she sat down and buckled herself in, still small enough to fit in the front part of it like that.

“I don't understand it, Appa.” Haerim said, another pout coming onto her cute, round little face. “I was sure I was right..”

“It's okay, Haerim.” Hongki said, ruffling her curly hair. She'd made him wake up early and spend one and a half hours that morning curling it all. He didn't mind, but he did tell her that he would never do it again. It took more work than he ever thought it would to do a girl's hair. He just brushed his and sometimes put a straightener to it.

“I really thought he liked you back, Appa..” she continued to pout. “How could he choose Minhwan Oppa over Appa? It's obvious Appa is the better choice.”

Hongki chuckled softly. “Let's just not talk about this anymore, alright?”

Haerim nodded and turned to look at all the food on the aisles. It had been so long since she'd had anything like what she was looking at now, and Hongki spoiled her with what he bought. There was chocolate cereal and pancakes and beef and nearly everything that he'd wanted to eat and hadn't been able to afford to for so long unless Jonghun had paid for it.

He filled the buggy with food and pushed it into the line to pay for it. Haerim even talked him into letting her get one of the candy bars on display right by the register as he finished paying for all the food.

“Thank you, Oppa!” Haerim called, waving to the old man that was working the cash register before Hongki took the groceries and walked with her outside the store.

They hailed a cab and got inside with the groceries, heading back to their apartment. The cab driver drove right past the store where Jonghun sat outside playing his guitar. Just like every other day, that's exactly where he was. With the windows rolled down, Hongki could tell that he was playing that song, the one he'd gotten Hongki to sing. Sarangun Hajimayo.

Hongki paused for a moment and looked out the window at him, watching him and knowing that Jonghun would never know that he was there. After the taxi had continued to move again and rounded the corner, Hongki turned to Haerim and asked her something.

“Why do you call everyone but Jonghyun 'Oppa'?” he asked her with a curious expression. “He's the only person I've ever heard you call 'Ahjushi'”

Haerim giggled and shrugged her shoulders. “I don't know, Appa. I just like calling him that, is all.”

Hongki gave another chuckle and ruffled the girl's hair.

They made it back to the apartment rather quickly and after Hongki paid the taxi driver, they carried all the groceries up to the apartment.

“What should we make for dinner, Appa?” Haerim asked as they put away all of the groceries.

Haerim put away the things that went in the bottom of the pantry while Hongki put away the things that went high up.

“I've got no idea.” he responded. “What do you want to eat?”

Haerim hummed as she thought about it for a moment. “That chicken stuff that Jonghun Ahjushi always used to have..”

Hongki frowned at the mention of the name. “I don't know if I know how to make that, Haerim. Why don't you choose something a little easier?”

She shrugged. “We could just eat the ramen..”

Hongki turned and looked at her with a confused sort of expression. “We've got all this nice food and all you want to eat is the ramen?”

Kneeling down to her level on the floor, he took his daughters hands into his own. “Haerim, sweetie, what's bothering you? You're not normally this compliant.”

Haerim gave a shrug of her shoulders, her smile fading away to match the sad expression of her father.

“When Appa is sad, so am I..” she told him. “I don't want Appa to be sad.”

Hongki gave a soft sigh and looked his daughter right in her eyes. “Haerim, you know I love you, right?”

His daughter nodded and he continued. “You're my precious angel. You make me happy, I don't need some man to do that for me when I have such an amazing, cute daughter like you in my life. So don't be sad, okay? Cause as long as Appa has you, I'll be fine.”

Haerim smiled and kissed Hongki on the cheek. “I love you too, Appa.”