“Appa, can I keep this puppy?”

He didn’t really hear what his daughter asked because he was still busy questioning the appearance of a white little puppy in his house. All he could see was only the puppy’s pleading eyes at him, all he could hear was only—

“Woof!”

“Eomma! Polar bear!” Kim Sunggyu, the big momma baby, yelped and jumped because of surprised. He hid himself behind his wife, earning chuckles from both of his wife and his daughter.

Kim Sunggyu, seriously—polar bear?

“Appa, my teacher said that polar bear is only living in North Pole!”

“Oppayah, come on! It’s only a puppy, not a polar bear!”

“P-puppy?” Like a child, he peeked out from his wife’s back and didn’t loosen his grip on her shoulder. He then facepalmed himself when he realized what kind of creature he was freaking about.

“A-hahahahaa…,” his plain laugh obviously couldn’t hide his embarrassment. How come the Kim Sunggyu, a mature man, a head of Kim’s family, and a director of a big company in South Korea, was afraid of a little puppy? He even has had three big dog in his parents’ house that he lived with them for years before.

“Sorry, I’m just… surprised,” he coughed. Well, he was not lying. Kim Sunggyu was such a freak when someone or something surprised him. “Whose puppy is this?” he bent down to look closer at the little white dog.

“It is Hyo’s!” she exclaimed while eventually hugged the puppy after her mother put her down on her feet.

“Eh? Sure—but,” he stretched out his hand to give a brief pat on the puppy’s head, awkwardly. “We have to send it back again tomorrow, okay?”

“I want to keep it forever, appa.”

“No, Hyo. We aren’t ready to keep any pet in our unit, bunny.”

“But I can keep it. We have befriended, appa…. We’ve been playing together all day long.”

“Hm hm, since you’ve played well with it, you have to send it back tomorrow. Right, bunny?”

“No, I want to keep it,” she tightened her embrace around the puppy.

“Bunny-yah, you have to listen to appa. We cannot keep any pet here. Who will look for it if appa goes to work and you go to school?”

“There’s eomma.”

“But your eomma has other works to do, Hyo. She has to take care of you too. Having a puppy in our house will be too much, sweetheart.”

Hearing her name being mentioned, Eunji squatted down beside her daughter, waiting for any right time for her to interrupt between this father’ and daughter’s arguing.

“W-we can leave it in harabeoji’s house…? Ne, appa?” she started showing aegyo to win her father’s permission.

However, even though Hyosung looked so cute at that moment, Sunggyu would never grant her current wish. “No, Hyo. Harabeoji and Halmoni are too old to keep another puppy and their house is too far, Hyo. We can’t depend on them to help us looking for this puppy.”

“Then I’ll bring it everywhere with me.”

“That’s impossible, Hyo. I still won’t allow you to keep any pet here.”

“Why not? Is appa still afraid of this puppy?”

“Appa isn’t afraid of the puppy, bunny. I’ve said ‘no’, so it means ‘no’. Listen well to appa, Hyo-yah,” he started to frown and emphasizing his words more firmly. He felt his wife’s hand squeezed his arms slightly.

“No, I want to keep this puppy!” Hyo was still being stubborn and didn’t want to listen to her father’s prohibition.

“I said ‘NO’, bunny.”

“But Appa!”

“Kim Hyosung, listen to your father! You aren’t allowed to keep this puppy in our house!!” Sunggyu couldn’t help but to raise his voice toward his daughter. Right after, he realized that he was scaring his daughter when she started sniffling, tears lined her eyes and she ended up bawling out loud.

And that was the most hurtful thing Sunggyu has ever seen in his life—seeing his beloved daughter crying because of him.

“Ssshh, Hyo-yah. Sssssshh,” Eunji eventually pulled her into her embrace and tried to soothe her while Sunggyu strode away to their room. The puppy in Hyo’s arms was also whining as if it felt hurt as well. “Shh, bunny-ah. Stop crying, you make the puppy cries as well.”

“Eomma, appa is bad…,” Hyosung kept whining and Eunji noticed that her husband was halting his way before slamming the door behind him. He must heard that.

***

“Is she okay?” was his first question when Eunji made her way to their room right after putting Hyo to sleep after her long cries.

She gave a small nod before sitting beside him on the edge of their bed. She tucked her hand to be lacing with his hand and squeezed it slightly to reassure him.

He sighed in relief and put his other hand on top of hers, sandwiching her hand and trying to feel her warmth better. “I’m such a bad father, aren’t I?”

She didn’t answer his question but shifted closer to him and leaned her head on his shoulder. She looked up at his reddened eyes, inspecting his tired face. She was sure that her husband was crying just before. He was always being so emotional when anything came up to their daughter. He would blame himself over and over for making his Hyo crying. Eunji knew him too well that he just did it because he loved their daughter too much.

“I know you did it for her best, oppa,” her other hand came up to trail his trace of tears on his cheek.

“But I made her crying…,” he lowered his head and murmured so deeply.

“Maybe you can just let her to get her wish just for this time, oppa,” she carefully said her thoughts while till leaning her body closer to him and wrapped her arms around him so that her head now was pressed against hi