*credits to the owners of the pictures used***

XIX. Picture Us

“I must admit you were not a part of my book
But now if you open it up and take a look
You're the beginning and the end of every chapter
You're the best thing I never knew I needed…”

~Never Knew I Needed (NeYo)

“Okay, Appa?”

Haneul looked at me, one brow raised suspicious that I was not really listening. She is so much like her mother.

“And we put one cup here, and one cup over here.”

She continued softly meeting my gaze so I asked, “And then?”

“And then the teapot is here.”

Her wide eyes and pink lips smiled at me and I gave her another patronizing nod. Haneul was telling me about what she learned at the Resort’s kids’ workshop this morning. Apparently, they had baking and table setting classes. Whenever I look at her, my heart always seem to swell. After all, she proved me that love-at-first-sight is possible for it was exactly how I felt when I first laid my eyes on her.

The day Haneul was born is probably one of the magical moments I have had in my life. She was a squirming and screaming little baby but she was so beautiful that I couldn’t help but tear up when I first held her.  When she was taken by the nurse to be cleaned up, Seohyun held my hand tight as if knowing that I never want our baby girl out of my sight from the moment she was born.

I thanked her—I thanked my wife repeatedly and apologized that she had to go through that and with all the speeches I did, she just laughed because I was being silly and sentimental. I guess it just happens to you, when something so overwhelming unfold before your eyes you couldn’t help but be sappy.

A few hours after my wife had rested, Haneul was finally given to us but only for a few hours since they had to run some tests. I held our little baby in my arms as I sat on the bed beside my pale yet beautiful damsel. That was when we started discussing about what to name her.  But then again, it turned out to be another silly bickering.

“So we’re going to name her Nari…”

It wasn’t a question and her voice was authoritative again so I found myself grinning as I spoke, “You remembered.”

“I think I remembered almost everything.”

The way her eyes glittered told me how confident she was. However, one of the perks of her being ‘unpregnant’ was the renewal of my right to impose authority. I grinned widely with my own thoughts, alas, I declared, “But she’s not a Nari.”

“Jung Yonghwa,” my damsel looked at me that said she meant business and even crossed her arms on her chest to prove the point, “She’s your daughter.”

“And I don’t have any other daughter—for now,” she grunted and raised a brow at me when I laughed so I explained, “Damsel, she looks more like me than you so she’s not a Nari.”

“Really now? Are we starting that her-forehead-eyes-nose-everything-about-her-looks-like-mine argument?”

“I love you. No questions asked. However, she’s the tiny little girl version of me, wanna see my baby pic?”

I waited. Seohyun looked at me and to the baby girl in my arms. Her shoulders finally drooped in resignation and she sighed, “Fine, you win. This time— don’t laugh,” she raised a finger at me so I bit my lips, “So what should we name this little girl then?”

“Haneul. Heaven, you gave me heaven, damsel,” my thumb caressed our baby’s tiny arm as I smiled at Seohyun, “Sky… she’s our little sky…”

“Hmmm… Jung Haneul.” Seohyun placed a hand on my shoulder and she gently kneaded my tired muscles. Her gaze met mine and I saw the tears glistening on her eyes, “Our little sky…  I like that.”

I leaned closer and kissed her lips and whispered, “I know you would.” My wife leaned closer to me and let Haneul’s hand wrapped on her forefinger. She kissed my shoulder as I laid my lips on her forehead then she looked up at me with a little frown.

“But Nari’s really nice. I’ve been calling her that when she was inside me.”

“That was why I didn’t say anything when you were talking to her. I said I would wait till I see her before I decide if she’s a Nari.”

“You are so obsessed by that name, are you sure your first love wasn’t a Nari?”

“Hmmmm… if I remembered correctly, my first love was a Joohyun. Funny, you have the same name, Seo Joohyun…” I said in a contemplative tone but elbowed her playfully when she rolled her eyes. I had to assure her, “The next one would be our Nari.”

That made her straighten on her seat as she glared at me, “Excuse me? FYI, I just got out of the delivery room six hours ago?”

“And I’m not telling you to go back there again. Next time… so, you get better fast for us to have our Nari.”

“Ahhh… seriously…”

“I love you too.”

“But Umma said she looks like me when I was a baby!”

“Just you wait, my mother is on her way and you won’t hear the end of it.”

“Appa, Appa! See? Okay?”

My reverie was halted when my almost-six-year-old wide-eyed princess put her palm under my chin and directed me towards the miniature china tea set arranged carefully on the picnic blanket I set up.

“Okay, honey,” I smiled and dropped a kiss on the crown of her head.

Haneul may have looked like me when she was an infant but she is looking more and more like her mom. From the soft waves of her long hair that she always wears down to that smile she was wearing. Her dark brown eyes grow big and twinkle brightly every time she was saying or telling something that captures her interest, but they disappear every time she smiles. She's tall for her age but a bit lanky. My sister-in-law commented that Haneul's bone structure is the same as her mom's. She is also very graceful and so lady-like.

At a very young age, she is very smart and inquisitive. Sometimes, she just leaves me tongue-tied with her observations and questions like why there’s no pink on the rainbow and why there are unicorns on storybooks when they don’t really exist. Her curious nature and thirst for answers make her so close to her mother. They never ran out of things to talk about and they love doing things together from baking to reading in park. Lately, she grew fond of tinkering with my old guitar so her mom decided to let her join a guitar class. Although she is the youngest in the class, her teacher has nothing more but praises to tell us on her progress.

However, I don’t know if I should consider her cleverness a good thing since she’s becoming sassier as she grows up. She is a shy sweet girl most of the time but when she’s in her bad mood or if you ask things that she doesn’t like to do, for sure you will get a brazen and or straightforward remark. She cannot really do that to her mother but to me I just find it adorable most of the time that I couldn't do anything much about it.

One time, I told her that I would enroll her on a swimming class so she won’t be scared of the water when we go swimming. Haneul brushed me off saying that she cannot do swimming lessons because she would get wet and walked away with her chin held high. My wife just bit her lips as she stifled a laugh and all I could do was to sigh out loud.

Then there was that morning I woke up to her screams. I found my wife crouching over Haneul who was crying on the floor wearing her little robe. Seohyun was trying to get her ready for daycare but she was crying because they couldn’t find her Tuesday and insisted that she couldn’t go out with her ‘other day’ since they weren’t Tuesday. Her mom told her to wear those without the days written on them but she didn’t want to because they were only for special days. In the end, we managed to let her wear Monday and Wednesday together. Despite her insistence that Monday-plus-Wednesday isn’t Tuesday at all.

“Nari!”

I turned behind me when Haneul stood. A smile escaped my lips seeing my beautiful wife and our youngest coming towards us. Our