Myungsoo wakes up to the smell of freshly baked cookies. Checking out the time and realises it’s still early, he makes a quick decision to have a breakfast first and continue to sleep later. Mom’s cook is always the best, hands down. Lazily, he gets up from his bed, washes his face and brushes his teeth, and only comes down after he fixes his messy hair.

“Morning, mom.” He says as he takes a place at the table.

“Morning, sweetheart.” His mom replies with a smile, leaning in to give a kiss on his cheek and he groans in embarrassment, but still, he smiles afterward.

“I’m 22, mom. You can stop treating me like I’m 2.” he says as he reaches out for a cookie and munches it down. He closes his eyes, liking the taste of the cookies and thinks that he doesn’t need a wife as long as his mom is around him. He can live forever with his mom and her cook.

“But you’re still a baby to me.” she winks. “Anyway, do you want me to take you around here?” she asks, taking a seat in front of him.

Myungsoo shakes his head. “No, it’s alright. I’ll be fine by myself. Oh, is there a Korean family living a few houses next to us? I heard they were talking in Korean when I walked pass them last night.” He says as he chews, earning a glare by his mom and he grins widely, showing off his teeth with bits of chocolate chips.

“Eat properly, Myungsoo. Now you see here why I’m still babying you around.” She says sternly, reaching out to wipe the stain on his lips. “There’s a lot of foreign family here. As far as I know, there’re like 8 Korean families that live in this residence. Make sure you spend some time to greet them, alright? The one that’s closest to us is the Jung. They live just across us.” Mrs. Kim explains as she stares at her son lovingly.

“Alright.” He shrugs, taking his nth cookies. Realising the stare his mom has on him, he asks. “Is there something on my face?”

His mom shakes her head softly. “I’m just wondering since when did you grow up so much. You were just so small and it feels like yesterday you were in my arms and now you’re even taller than I am and I can’t carry you around in my arms anymore.” She smiles with tears well up in her eyes.

Myungsoo softens. “I’m still your baby, mom,” he says reassuringly. “I’ll forever be.”

“Forever?”

“Forever.” he nods.

“Forever is a very big word, Myungsoo.” She says. “and it means a very, very long time too.”

He smiles. “I know, mom.” He replies. “I say it because it’s you. I don’t think I could live without you, even when I have everything else.”

He means it. He doesn’t know what he would do if his mom is not around. He doesn’t know how to find his things if there’s no Mrs. Kim to help him. He doesn’t know how to recover through breakup if his mom is not around. He doesn’t know how to move on from that certain girl that has her name starts with the last syllable of his name if there’s no Mrs. Kim beside him.

“I’ll go around town this evening. Do you need anything?” he asks.

“Nope. I’ll just have the maid to get what I want. I know you’d want to have your time alone.”

Another reason why his mom is the best. 

+

“Mom, I’ll get going to the bakery now!” Soojung says as she puts on her sneakers at the doorway.

“Alright. Don’t forget to check on the items and the stock.”

“Okay.” She smiles and gives her mom a quick kiss on the cheek before she goes out from her house. She looks up and smiles. The sky’s darker than the usual because it’s winter already and Christmas is just around the corner. Her heart aches a little at the thought of Christmas.

“Get a grip, Jung Soojung. Past is past.” She lightly slaps her cheek, taking a deep breath and finally walks to her family’s bakery. Her father once asked her to work at the company and not the bakery so that she’ll have the knowledge of how to lead a company, but she prefers working at the bakery that her mom’s working on. Business just ain’t her thing. She prefers doing simple things than complicated things.

Look at how much you’ve grown, Jung Soojung. You’re even ‘working’ now.

It’s hard, at first, to move here and leave all the good things behind. But she does pretty well even it takes her about two years to finally moving on. She was having a hard time to communicate with her mom and her sister, because time and distance broke them apart. Thanks to them for always making the first move. She thinks maybe it’s alright to have things fall apart sometimes.

Walking into the bakery, she is greeted by the working Jongin. She smiles at the sight of him pouring the coffee beans into the mixer and decides to play with him. Biting her lip to suppress herself from laughing, she tiptoes and walks very slowly. When she reaches at the counter and about to scream at him, he turns around with a bored but amused look.

“Another fail, Jung Soojung.” He says, smiling playfully to her as he reaches out to ruffle her hair. “Just stop it already, oh? I could tell whenever you come close.”

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