3 months old

It was just a couple weeks before Daerim’s baek-il celebration and Kyuhyun and Siwon had decided to take her to get her photograph taken.

They had planned to take her to a small private studio that worked specifically with children and that was owned by a photographer they personally knew. When they arrived, the photographer had already set up at beautiful scene that was light and simple. A soft white blanket graced the table and there were teddy bears nestled close to a short stool.

But despite the fact that today was supposed to be happy and full of smiles, Kyuhyun looked apprehensive as they walked through the front door. Upon waking up that morning, Daerim had been in a bad mood and wasn’t feeling very social, even towards Siwon. Kyuhyun was the only one she would allow to touch her and she clung to his chest, her fingers grasping as tightly as they could to his shirt.

Hearing footsteps in the front of the studio, the photographer, a small woman with long dark hair came from the back to greet them.

“Hi! How are you?!” she said enthusiastically as she walked up to them.

“Hello Ye Jin-ssi, I’m sorry that we’re a little late,” said Kyuhyun apologetically.

“It’s no problem at all. I made sure that you all were my only clients for the entire morning, because I know how important this is,” she said with a warm smile.

“Well, that’s reassuring.  Actually, the reason we were late Ye Jin-ssi is because Daerim-ah hasn’t been in the best mood all morning,” said Siwon the back of Daerim’s head as she looked around the room, still holding tightly to Kyuhyun.

As Kyuhyun tried to readjust her in his arms, she started whimpering, thinking he was going to set her down.

“Oh no, sweetheart, it’s okay,” cooed Ye Jin when she saw Daerim’s face begin to contort, moments away from unleashing tears.

“I don’t know if today’s the best day for this, but I feel terrible because I know that so many people are eager to book time with you,” said Kyuhyun a little hopelessly. “She’s been feeling really clingy all morning, which isn’t like her, so I don’t even know if she’d sit long enough.”

“Don’t worry, I’m confident that we’ll be able to get something that will make everyone happy. We just have to follow through with my methods and I promise we’ll have a happy baby soon enough.”

Kyuhyun and Siwon nodded with optimistic smiles, hopeful that Ye Jin was right.

“All right, let’s get started!” said Ye Jin with a soft clap.

Instead of going straight to the table that she had set up, Ye Jin instructed the couple to follow her to another part of her studio that had a large soft beige rug. After removing their shoes, all three of them and Daerim sat down on the rug.

“Now, I’ve photographed the two of you together, but this is the first time that I’ve photographed your daughter, so I hope you’ll understand that things will go a little differently,” said Ye Jin sitting crossed legged.

Kyuhyun and Siwon looked at each other and then back to Ye Jin, assuming they understood well enough.

“What is that you’d like us to do?” asked Kyuhyun as Daerim grew restless in his arms.

“Well, throughout my career I’ve found that it’s always best to make sure that the baby is really happy before I even pick up my camera,” started Ye Jin.

Siwon and Kyuhyun looked at Daerim uneasily as she began to fuss.

“Don’t feel bad, please! This is nothing, I promise. I’ve had babies throwing the worst tantrums the moment they walked through the door and then twenty minutes later, they were full of smiles,” Ye Jin said reassuringly.

“I pray it works for her then,” said Siwon again her back.

“You’d be surprised with how little it takes. So since she’d rather not have you put her down, what I’ll have you do Kyuhyun-ssi is lie on your back so that she can lie on her tummy, on top of you,” said Ye Jin scooting back.

“Uh…o-okay,” said Kyuhyun sharing a glance with Siwon.

“Just trust me,” said Ye Jin with a laugh.

Kyuhyun shrugged and followed her instructions, laying back on the soft carpet and moving Daerim slightly so that she was now on her tummy.

It was clear from the moment his body touched the carpet that Daerim was not pleased. It was now that the tears really began to fall from her eyes and she began to wail.

“Here, Siwon-ssi, I’ll give you these. She’s still very young, but I think it’ll do the trick, no problem,” said Ye Jin.

Siwon’s eyebrows furrowed as he took the bottle Ye Jin handed him.

“Really? You think this will work?” he asked with a smirk, now that he knew what he was holding.

“It’s the simple things that usually get the biggest results,” said Ye Jin with a nod.

“Okay,” said Siwon taking the lid off.

After taking out the wand that lay inside, Siwon proceeded to blow a steady stream of bubbles in the air.

For a few moments, Daerim hardly even noticed them.

“Shhh, it’s alright aegi-yah, I’m not going anywhere,” cooed Kyuhyun as he her hair with his fingertips. “Look at Wonnie appa, he’s blowing bubbles for you.”

Siwon continued to blow more and more bubbles until they were surrounded by a cloud of them, slowly cascading to the ground.

As she slowly began to take notice of what was around her, Daerim’s wails began to decrease.

Her eyes opened wide in awe as she saw the clear bubbles falling around her.

She watched Kyuhyun’s finger as it reached up slowly to pop one.

“Oh!” he gasped, faking amazement. “Aegi-yah, where’d it go?”

Daerim smiled at Kyuhyun, cooing happily as she shifted between watching him and the bubbles.

Siwon smiled as he continued to blow a steady steam of bubbles in the air. He rotated his head from side to side, puffing his cheeks out, making Daerim giggle even more when she saw that they were coming from him.

Ye Jin smiled as she slowly stood up and walked over to grab one of her cameras. She stayed silent, snapping photos of the family together as she walked around them.

Before long, Daerim was full of nothing but giggles as she played with her appas. As they continued on, Ye Jin went back over to her set and proceeded to arrange the bears and stool so that they would be ready for her.

Upon her return, she stood in front of them.

“Siwon-ssi, could you follow me over to the table and continue blowing bubbles? We’ll try and see if she’s ready now,” said Ye Jin.

Siwon nodded and then stood up, walking with Ye Jin as Kyuhyun lifted Daerim and they followed to the table.

“Okay, so what I suggest next is that we give her a bit of a break from her tummy and maybe try some sitting poses. Siwon-ssi, I’ll have you go behind the table and crouch down, using your hand to support her back. And Kyuhyun-ssi, I’ll have you stand beside me so that you can stay in her line of vision. And maybe you could try singing to her?” she said as she quickly checked her camera and the lights.

Siwon walked behind the table as Kyuhyun walked towards it with Daerim in his arms. Although they had lightened her mood, Kyuhyun was still nervous as he looked down at Daerim, who was her fist, in his arms.

“Okay aegi-yah, we’re gonna sit here next to Mr. Gom,” said Kyuhyun gently as he moved to put Daerim down.

He held his breath, hoping that she would remain calm. Siwon gently put his hand behind her back, to help support her as Kyuhyun bent over slightly so that he remained in her line of vision.

“What should I sing?” asked Kyuhyun through a gritted teeth smile as he glanced at Siwon.

“I don’t know babe, uh…oh! The gom song,” smiled Siwon picking up the bear with his other hand.

Kyuhyun rolled his eyes with a small, natural smile at the cheesy but obvious choice, before looking back at Daerim with a wide smile.

“kom sema-ri-ga

han chi-be-yi-so

appa gom

omma gom

ae-gi gom”

Kyuhyun began singing and doing hand motions, making Daerim smile again. Along with his voice, the sound of Ye Jin’s camera clicking quickly filled the room as she moved around to take advantage of this small window of time.

As Kyuhyun finished the rest of the short song, he continued it once again, smiling as Daerim reached out playfully to try and touch him. Her eyes grew just as big as they did earlier as she watched him dance to the song, her fingers raking through the soft brown fur of the bear in her lap.

But soon, she realized that Kyuhyun would only come so close to her and she grew frustrated, wanting more.

Kyuhyun tried to sing happier as he saw her start to panic and crumble at not being able to touch him.

“No, no, no aegi-yah, I’m right here, it’s okay,” he said trying to console her from afar.

But it wasn’t enough. She reached out for him, her cheeks turning pink as her eyes squinted shut, blurry with tears.

Kyuhyun’s shoulders slumped in defeat as he stepped forward and scooped her back into his arms, attempting to soothe her.

“I’m sorry Ye Jin-ssi,” he said as Siwon came from around the other side of the table.

“Don’t be. We all have days like this, I understand Daerim-ah,” she said sympathetically as Daerim nestled her face in Kyuhyun’s neck.

“Do you think you were able to get anything?” asked Siwon squinting in anticipation.

“Definitely,” said Ye Jin with a smile as she looked at the both of them. “She did great for a three and half month old. Most babies give you a small window of oportunity, so I know how to work around it. Just let me hook this up to my computer and we can sit down to look at them.”

Siwon nodded and Ye Jin walked off to her long table in the back of the studio to get things set up.

“See, it’s wasn’t so bad, was it aegi-yah?” asked Siwon kissing the top of her head as Kyuhyun still held her. “I’m sorry we put you through this, but it’s all over now, and you did so good.”

“Yeah, there were a few moments of genuine happiness, but then she just fell apart. I hope we didn’t push her too far, especially with her being so moody.

“Well, she is her Appa’s daughter, moodiness is apart of the package,” said Siwon with a smirk.

“Yah!” said Kyuhyun kicking Siwon gently with his socked foot.

“Sorry Kyu, but it’s true! Don’t worry though, I think it’s cute she’s already taking after your personality,” said Siwon kissing Kyuhyun’s temple.

“Hmph…well you’ll have two moody babies if we don’t get a usable photo out of this. I refuse to traumatize her again until she’s at least a year old. My heart just breaks every time she cries out for me like that. I’m just glad that now she’s beginning to fall asleep. Hopefully it’ll all just be a distant memory when she wakes up again,” said Kyuhyun gently swaying her.

“It’ll be fine, I trust Ye Jin-ssi,” said Siwon Daerim’s little arm with the back of his finger as her eyes finally closed.

“Kyuhyun-ssi, Siwon-ssi, I have everything ready,” said Ye Jin beckoning them over.

They eagerly walked over to her computer, sitting down in the two chairs to her left.

As it seemed that Daerim was genuinely close to sleep, Kyuhyun looked at Siwon.

“Can you try holding her?” he asked softly.

Siwon nodded and stood up again, taking Daerim gently into his arms. She squirmed a little before settling down against his shoulder. Because he would need to move in order to lull her to sleep, he stood behind the two, looking over their shoulders at the computer as he swayed from side to side.

“Okay, so these are just some black and white test shots that I got of the three of you earlier with the bubbles,” said Ye Jin clicking through the tiny thumbnails.

“Oh! That’s beautiful!” exclaimed Kyuhyun as she stopped on the last photo in the group.

Siwon and Kyuhyun were smiling at Daerim who was laughing at the sea of bubbles she found herself in. Her arms and legs were stretched out, making it look as though she were flying on Kyuhyun’s tummy.

“That is really nice,” said Siwon peering down. “You know Kyu, we don’t really have any photos of the three of us as a family yet.”

“That’s true….,” said Kyuhyun leaning his chin on his palm. “Can we flag this one and then come back later after we look at Daerim-ah’s photos?”

“Sure,” said Ye Jin minimizing it.

She then moved on to the photos of Daerim on the table.

Much to their amazement, Ye Jin had actually taken tons of photos in the few precious moments they had.

“Oh, I really like that one—and that one—oh! And that one too! Aish!” said Kyuhyun running his hands through his hair.

Ye Jin laughed as Siwon squeezed Kyuhyun’s shoulder with his free hand.

“We agreed we’d just pick one Kyu, remember?” he chuckled.

“I know but… she’ll only be this age once and she’s just so beautiful!” he cooed as he stared at the photos that Ye Jin clicked through.

“Yes, I agree, she is very beautiful, but she’s the same amount of beautiful in that photo, and that one, and the next one after that. Not to mention, there will be so many other photos in the future to remember her by. We just need one for her invitations.”

Kyuhyun pouted at Siwon over his shoulder.

“Don’t give me that face,” said Siwon incredulously. “What did you ask me to promise you?”

“That you wouldn’t let me go overboard,” mumbled Kyuhyun. “But seriously Wonnie, how can you just choose one?!”

“There, that one,” he said pointing to the current photo on the screen.

“Wh…okay, fine, but why that one? You can’t just pick a random one to prove a point,” said Kyuhyun crossing his arms.

“I didn’t, really. Look, her eye contact is perfect here, she’s happy but her smile isn’t too big. I love her big smile, but I love her beautiful eyes as well, and I’d prefer that to be the focus. The props look perfect, you can still see her dress and the lighting is great. I say that’s the winner,” said Siwon triumphantly.

“He does have a point Kyuhyun-ssi,” said Ye Jin with a nod. “It is one of the best ones. But I want you to be happy as well, so you’ll both have to agree.”

Kyuhyun looked at the photo closely. He had to admit that Siwon had valid reasons. Daerim’s eyes looked so bright and alive and that’s the way her personality generally seemed to be, so that’s what her photo should reflect.

“Okay, I agree, it does seem like the perfect shot Wonnie,” said Kyuhyun with a nod.

“Thanks baby,” said Siwon with a dimpled grin as he squeezed Kyuhyun’s shoulder again.

“Now, I understand that this is going to be for an invitation. How many would you need?” asked Ye Jin looking at the both of them.

“Uh…I’d say at least a hundred,” said Kyuhyun as he began running off numbers in his head.

“A hundred?!” asked Siwon, his jaw slacking.

“Yes Wonnie, it’s her baek-il the entire point is to celebrate her 100 days so it’s customary to send out rice cakes to at least 100 people. We’d have to at least send them an invitation as well…better make it 150,” said Kyuhyun touching Ye Jin’s arm as she typed in the information.

Siwon exhaled as he now began counting money in his head while Kyuhyun continued discussing the invitations with Ye Jin-ssi. All the while Daerim had drifted off into a peaceful nap, unaware of the planning going on around her.

a/n: I really, REALLY apologize guys. My writer's block got the best of me, but now I have a lot of things planned, so updates should become more regular again! Thanks for reading ^^