There was the arguing about lunch. Then over the toys everywhere. Whining about wanting to watch cartoons and then screaming when he changed the channel, even though she wasn't paying attention to the tv. Arguing over dinner. The huge fight over her taking a bath, especially since it wasn't a bubble bath. Then him having to hold her head and brush her teeth for her when she adamantly refused to.
So needlessly to say, when Thursday morning light streamed through the windows, he buried his head under the pillow and pretended to be asleep. No matter how much she whined or shook him, he stayed laying there as a brief moment of escape.
When he could no longer ignore her, he finally took the pillow off of his head and faced her wrath.
"Himchan!" she whined with a small pout.
"I know, I know." he huffed and closed his eyes as he groaned. "You're hungry and you want cinnamon oatmeal. Then I tell you I don't have any cinnamon and you scream at me." He took one hand and rubbed his face, already feeling a headache coming on. "All you ever do is fight, and argue, and scream."
Then he heard a sound that took him a second to recognize. When he did though, he quickly opened his eyes and stared at her in surprise.
Her eyes watered as she let out another pitiful whine. "I like cinimin oatmeal." she meekly said as a couple tears rolled down her cheeks.
His eyes widened even more. "Uh.. D-don't c-cry." he stuttered.
As always, she didn't listen to him and a sob escaped her as more tears fell.
"Hey, hey, hey." he said and hurriedly sat up. He hesitated a bit before touching her tiny shoulders with his hands. He rubbed her arms, trying to soothe her, when an idea cam to him. "How about this; you eat all your breakfast today and we'll go to the store to buy some cinnamon."
Hope shined in her eyes through the tears. "Really?"
"Really." he promised. "But you have to eat all of it. Deal?"
She eagerly nodded her head in agreement.
He blew out a small breath of relief that he wasn't getting an argument from her over the arrangement. "Okay then. You want eggs again?"
She pouted and made a disgruntled, whiney noise.
Okay maybe a little bit of an argument. "Then what do you want? Some cereal?"
She blinked her eyes a few times but then nodded. Himchan stood up and went the kitchen. He pulled out a couple of different cereals and let her decide which one. Which seemed to be an exceptionally hard decision with how long it took her. While she was busy choosing, he made himself a cup of coffee and savored the first drink. Finally he poured the one she picked in to a bowl and added some milk.

He had a bowl of cereal as well and finished before her. While she ate, he dressed and got ready for the day. Just as he entered the bathroom to fix his hair, he got a text message on his phone from Yunseo, "Are you both still alive?"
Chuckling, he sent a reply, "Ha ha. Have a great day."
"You too and good luck."
He held the phone tightly and smiled. He really was lucky to have her.
"I'm done." Micha said from the bathroom doorway.
He looked down at her and her bowl in offering. As part of the deal, all the cereal was eaten. "Good. Now go get dressed in the bedroom and get ready." he said and took the bowl from her.
She quickly ran down the small hallway and around the corner to the living room. He just made it to the kitchen when she dashed past him in a blur. He feet slapped the hardwood floor loudly and the bedroom door closed with a bang.
Rolling his eyes at the loud noises she always caused, he set the bowl in the sink. Then he went back to the bathroom. He fixed his hair, making sure every strand was perfectly in place as he heard Micha leave the bedroom and run to the living room. A dash of cologne and he smoothed out his clothes to make sure there were no wrinkles. Neat and orderly.
"Are you ready Micha?" he asked as he left the bathroom.
"Yes!" she called out.
He entered the living room and came to an abrupt halt. She was sitting on the couch, waiting for him, except she was anything but ready. Her unkempt hair showed knots and the shoes were untied. Not to mention the mis-matched outfit and the missing socks. And the dirty face. How in the world did she manage to get dirty already when all she's done so far is eat breakfast?
"You are not leaving this house looking like that." he firmly said. "Come here." He lead her to the bathroom and cleaned her face with a washcloth despite her protests. Then came the hair.
"Hold still!"
"It hurts!"
After struggling with her and her hair for 10 minutes, he was finally finished. They went back to the living room and she stood by the door.
"Don't you think you should put on an outfit that matches?" he asked her.
She glanced down at her clothes before looking up at him with her bottom lip sticking out. "But I like these ones."
He grimaced a little as he eyed her outfit again. Honestly it could be worse. Did he want to have yet another fight already this morning? "Well, you have to put on socks at least."
"I don't have any." she quickly proclaimed.
He raised his eyebrow. "Just like you didn't have a toothbrush?"
She didn't say anything as she avoided his gaze.
Sighing, he went over to her clothes bag and dug around until he found a pair of socks.
"But I don't like socks!" she whined.
"They help protect your feet from your shoes, otherwise you'll get sores on your feet. And they help stop your shoes from smelling bad." he reasoned and knelt in front of her.
She pressed her lips together and glared as she crossed her arms. Always stubborn.
"If you don't put on socks, then we are not going to the store." he said, being stubborn as well.
"Ugghhh." she scoffed and sat down. She kept her arms crossed but she did kick off her shoes.
Before she could do any other sort of protest, he quickly slipped the socks on her feet. Then he put her shoes back on before tying them. "There. Now you are ready."
Making sure he had his wallet and his keys, he ushered her out of the apartment. He lead her to his car, which luckily was 4-door and he was thankful for that at this moment. He opened the back door for her and closed it when she climbed in. Then he opened the driver-side door and got in.
"Put on your seatbelt." he instructed as he put his own seatbelt on. He turned back and saw her working to fasten it.
Turning forward again, he drummed his finger on the steering wheel while he waited. And waited. And waited. And waited.
"Come on Micha." he complained as he looked in to the backseat again.
"I can't get it." she said, clearly struggling.
Instantly he saw the problem. "You have to give it more slack then that. Pull on it more."
She grabbed the belt and tugged. And tugged. And tugged. Until it wouldn't give any more.
"Not that much." he muttered as his shoulders dropped in disbelief.
She attempted to fasten the seatbelt again but she couldn't do it while making sure the belt didn't roll up.
With a groan, he opened the door and got out of the car. He opened the back door again and leaned in, fastening the seatbelt for her. The shoulder part rested uncomfortably high by her neck and her face though.
"Uh... here." he said and moved it behind her. Should she be in a carseat? No, of course not. She's not a baby. Do they make booster seats for cars?
"Not that it matters." he reminded himself. This was just temporary.
He got back in the driver's seat and put on his seatbelt. Then he drove to the grocery store.

Himchan pulled in to a parking spot and turned off the car. He got out and opened the backseat for Micha. As they started to walk to the store, he glanced down and noticed how she was walking quickly to keep up with him. He slowed his pace to match her short legs. Then he was surprised when he felt her small hand grab his.
He looked down for a second before surveying the busy parking lot and all the cars driving through it. He gripped her hand a little tighter, making sure she stayed by his side.
They reached the building and he took a shopping cart to use. "Want to sit in the basket?" he asked.
She shook her head and grabbed the side of the cart, walking beside it. Which meant he had to walk slow as they worked their way through the aisles.
"Do you always walk this slow?" he grumbled, more to himself than anything as they headed towards the peanut butter and jelly section.
She ignored him, no surprise, and then suddenly took off running.
"Hey!" he yelled before quickly lowering his voice as other people looked at him. He hurried after her as she stopped in front of the jelly.
"Why did you do that?" he questioned.
"I want this one." she said instead of answering him and held up the jar of jelly.
He raised his eyebrow before taking a deep breath and grabbing the jar. Then he promptly put it back on the shelf as he knelt down. "Not unless you stop ignoring me and answer my question."
Then he watched as she took a deep breath as well and opened widely. He quickly covered with his hand. "And don't you dare yell at me in the store." he hissed.
A noise caused him to look over as an elderly lady walked past him, carefully watching him. He sheepishly took his hand off of Micha's mouth while feeling embarrassed for the second time within a span of minutes.
He turned back to the little girl and gave her a steely look. "Do not run in the store, do not leave my side, and do not yell. The first time you throw a tantrum, we will leave and you get nothing."
She crossed her arms and glared at him.
"That is really getting old." he stated, glaring right back at her. "You want to leave the store now?"
She unfolded her arms and looked away. It was obvious that she still wanted to appear mad though with the way she was pouting but it was a start.
Hoping for a miracle that she'll behave, he grabbed the jar she had previously chosen. "You want this one?" he asked while reading the flavor on the label.
"Yes!" she enthusiastically replied.
He raised an eyebrow at her and waited.
"Please." she added before biting her bottom lip.
"That's better." he told her before standing up. He put the jar in the cart and went further down the aisle to the peanut butter. He grabbed two different jars and showed them to her. "You want this kind or the one with the little peanuts in it?"
"Hmmm." she hummed as she pondered before pointing at a jar. "This one."
He put the chosen peanut butter in to the cart and put the other one back. He also grabbed an extra loaf of bread to make sure he didn't run out before she left.
"Okay, now we need cinnamon." he thought out loud and then glanced down at her. "Anything else you want?"
She pressed her lips together before her face lit up. "Juice and chicken nuggets." she told him while bouncing a little on the balls of her feet. Then she quickly added, "Please."
This time her behavior brought a small smile to his face. "Juice and chicken nuggets. Alrighty then."
They stopped at the baking aisle and he made Micha put the extra large bottle of cinnamon back before grabbing a smaller one. Then they went to the juice aisle where he picked out some orange juice and apple juice for her.
As he put them in the cart, he spotted her looking at some cups hanging from a display hook. They were plastic with built in straws and covered in different decorations. He thought back to all the times he gave her something to drink in his glass cups and obsessively worried about her breaking them.
"Which one do you like?" he asked her.
She took a step back, almost as if she thought she was in trouble. Then she pointed to one that had butterflies and flowers on it.
He carefully took it off the hook so the other cups wouldn't fall and handed it to her. "Here."
The biggest grin he ever saw lit up her face as she took it from him and held it tightly. "Thank you!"
"You're welcome." he replied with a smile. He started pushing the cart down the aisle when he noticed she was lagging behind, too busy admiring her cup. "Hey." he said to get her attention. "At my side." Then he playfully glared at her. "Or do you want me to take the cup away?"
She shook her head and started running to catch up to him. Then she stopped real fast and speed-walked instead. Trying her best to obey his rules to keep her cup.
He turned his head to hide a chuckle as they continued through the store. It took longer than he liked but they got the chicken nuggets. Plus a few other items that she 'politely' asked for.