“Daerim-ah, stay close,” said Siwon extending his large hand out to his daughter who had run ahead of him.

Her ponytail swayed as she glanced back over her shoulder, smiling when she saw him waiting for her.

“Sorry Wonnie appa,” she said innocently as she grasped his hand with both of hers.

It was a late evening in January and Siwon had found himself being talked into bringing Daerim to the Time Square Mall, the largest in Korea. Daerim had been begging him to take her out so that she could find a birthday present for her Kyu appa, and when she discovered the size of this particular mall, she had insisted that he take her there.

“So aegi-yah, what do you want to get Kyu appa for his birthday?” Siwon asked as Daerim began swinging his arm as she looked around at all of foreign brands surrounding them.

There were so many of them with their big gold lettering spelling out names that she had never heard of and displaying mannequins with rich brown leather handbags, giant grasshopper sized sunglasses, and beautiful thick sweaters and scarves in any color imaginable.

“Hmmm, I don’t know,” said Daerim shyly as she watched couples pass by them, linked arm and arm, large shopping bags dangling from their hands.

“Well do you see anything that you like? Or something you think he’d like?” asked Siwon looking down at her.

Daerim pouted, they had already been walking around for twenty minutes and she was feeling overwhelmed by the stress of just even picking a store to begin with.

“Well I have an idea, how about we get a snack and then think about it some more?” asked Siwon glancing at his watch to see how long it had been since lunch.

Daerim bounced on her toes with a smile, “Can we have ice cream?!”

“Sure, we can get ice cream,” Siwon nodded with a laugh as they made their way from the department store and towards the restaurants in the connecting building.

After deciding on an ice cream shop near the top floor, they began to make the slow climb up on the escalators.

By the time they had only reached the second floor Daerim was already completely dumbfounded by the size of the building and the different floors with countless shops with everything you could ever imagine. Siwon had to guide her around the corner to the next set of escalators because she was too distracted with trying to take in every color, name, and face that she saw.

But before they could step onto the moving stairs, Siwon heard his name called out.

For a moment he had that strike of fear, that their sweet afternoon out together would be sabotaged by one autograph turning to one hundred. But as he turned around cautiously, he spotted the source of the voice in the crowd.

A handsome, thin man with a bright smile was making his way over to them. Daerim glanced up at Siwon who smiled as the man approached them.

“Wow, Eugene, I don’t believe this, it’s so good to see you!” Siwon said, his face breaking into a large grin as they embraced in a hug.

“You too! How have you been?!” asked Eugene as they broke apart.

“Great actually. I just got back from a photo shoot in Malaysia a few days ago, so I’ve just been relaxing for a bit.”

“Wow Choi Siwon relaxing? I didn’t think that word was in your vocabulary,” chuckled Eugene.

Siwon smiled as he smacked Eugene’s arm. “How about you? How’s your family?”

“Everyone is good, I actually just came back from visiting with them. I’m here now just picking something up for my girlfriend.”

“Oh right, Hyun Ju?” asked Siwon.

Eugene cringed at the name. “No, that was over weeks ago. Ga Young. She’s twenty four, an actress. And it’s her first birthday we’re celebrating together, so the pressure is on.”

Siwon shook his head with a small smile. He had never known Eugene to keep the same girlfriend for longer than a few months and so it didn’t surprise him now that a new one was in the picture.

“But wait, what are you doing all the way out here?” asked Eugene with a small frown.

“My daughter and I are trying to find a present for Kyu, it’s his birthday this weekend” said Siwon placing his hand on Daerim’s back.

At the sound of her name Daerim moved slightly behind Siwon’s back, her fingers fiddling nervously with one of the pockets on Siwon’s wool coat.

“Hi Daerim-ah, do you remember me? I’m old friends with your appa. I think the last time I saw you, you hadn’t mastered walking yet,” Eugene chuckled with a warm smile as he caught Daerim staring at him.

Daerim slowly shook her head before hiding more of herself behind Siwon.

“There’s no reason to be shy aegi-yah, you’ve met Eugene before,” said Siwon softly as he felt behind him for Daerim who refused to budge.

“She’s usually not this shy,” he said looking back up at Eugene apologetically.

“It’s okay,” chuckled Eugene shaking his head. “So, how have things been with the rest of your family? Kyuhyun?”

“Great, we just found out Kyu’s having our second child,” smiled Siwon.

“Oh wow, that’s great, congratulations!” said Eugene patting Siwon’s shoulder. “When is the baby due?”

“Sometime this summer,” nodded Siwon.

“Ah, so you wont know the gender for a while then?” asked Eugene.

“Yeah, we still have a few months to go. But I’m confident we’ll finally have our son. I was able to call Daerim, so hopefully I’ll be right this time,” said Siwon as Daerim began playing with his fingers behind his back.

Much to her dismay, it seemed that Siwon had completely forgotten his promise of ice cream as he continued talking with Eugene. A few minutes turned into ten, which eventually turned into twenty. Daerim was beyond bored as the conversation had taken a swift turn towards business and her grandfather’s recent mission trip, two things she didn’t have much knowledge about.

As she lay her fingers against his, comparing their size and shape, she looked up at the sound of a girl laughing loudly. The owner of the laugh was standing with her friends in front of the music store, looking at the new CDs that they had just bought. As they put their items away into their purses, the began walking away and Daerim saw a poster inside the store that they had been blocking. At first she didn’t give it much thought, but a double take made her realize that she knew one face, and then two faces, and then all the faces that were there. It was her appas and samchons on an old poster for Super Junior. They were so young and their hair so wild that she hardly recognized them.

“Appa!” said Daerim excitedly as she tugged on Siwon’s hand.

“Just a second baby,” Siwon said and then he continued with his comment to Eugene.

He didn’t notice when Daerim dropped his hand.

Looking at the poster and then her appa again, Daerim thought that maybe if she was fast, she could run and get a closer look at the poster. Her appa had already been talking so long, she figured she could be back before he noticed she was gone.

“Eugene, can you do me a favor please?” asked Siwon.

“Sure, what do you need?” asked Eugene with a nod.

“Can you just watch Daerim for a few minutes while I run to the restroom?” asked Siwon wincing a bit in hesitation.

“Uh, sure, do I need to…do anything with her?” Eugene asked, not sure of what was going to be needed of him.

“No, she’s very well behaved, just keep an eye on her,” said Siwon.

“Okay,” shrugged Eugene.

“Great, baby?” called Siwon turning around.

Daerim froze at the sound of being called. Turning around she saw Siwon and she grew excited thinking they could finally leave.

“Appa needs to use the restroom quickly, so Eugene samchon is going to stay with you. I’ll only be a few minutes, okay?”

Daerim’s shoulders dropped as she glanced at Eugene but then she nodded.

“Okay, wait right here,” he said her shoulders.

“Okay, Appa,” she sighed.

“Thank you again, Eugene,” said Siwon and he hurried off in the direction of the men’s bathrooms.

Once left alone, Eugene tried to make small conversation with Daerim.

“So…how old are you?” he frowned.

“Six,” said Daerim softly.

Eugene nodded. “Are you in school yet?”

“I go to kindergarten,” said Daerim shyly.

Again Eugene nodded. “Uh…what are you going to get your appa for his birthday?”

Daerim this time shrugged before puffing out her cheeks in boredom.

Eugene was stumped, not having much experience talking with children.

At that moment though, his phone rang and he praised G-d for his timing.

“Yeoboseyo?” he asked turning slightly away.

Daerim mirrored his action and returned her focus to the music store from before. She really wanted a closer look at that poster to see how much her appas had changed. Glancing back at Eugene she could see him completely lost in his conversation now, laughing and smiling at whatever the other person was saying.

Fed up with having to wait, she decided upon her original plan. She knew she could be quick enough to beat her Wonnie appa before he returned, so when she saw a break in the crowd she ran across the floor and straight into the music store.