Chapter XV: Coming Together

Jaejoong's POV: Saturday October 11th 6:00 PM

Jaejoong left the cemetery and made his way towards his motorcycle. Today was Hayi's birthday, but it was also Taeyeon's death anniversary. Jaejoong was never close to Taeyeon; they barely said more than a few words of greeting to each other during her short marriage to Jiyong. But she gave birth to his precious niece Hayi, and for that he made it a point to visit his deceased sister-in-law on the actual anniversary of her death.

Jaejoong felt it was the least he could do since both Taeyeon's parents were now dead. She had no one to visit her on the real day of her death besides the Kwon family. Jaejoong knew that his parents had visited earlier in the day. Jiyong and Hayi on the other hand, would always come the day after the actual date. This was because Jiyong wanted Hayi's birthday to be centered only on Hayi. He didn't want to bring up the pain of her mother's death on a day as precious as this. They would surely visit her tomorrow. Taeyeon was still Hayi's mother. Jiyong didn't want Hayi to forget that.

Jaejoong's long jacket swung freely behind him as he sped through the city on his bike. He had left the JYJ base approximately two hours ago, made the stop at the cemetery, and was now making his way over to Jiyong's house to see Hayi. He had completely missed her birthday party due to an investigation he was currently working on plus a few more cases the JYJ had to deal with. He figured he could still drop by the house and at least give Hayi her birthday present. Her bedtime wasn't for another hour at least.

It was almost 7:00 pm when Jaejoong finally reached the house. He parked in the front driveway and grabbed his neatly wrapped gift off his bike and walked to the back yard, as he usually does. As he rounded the corner, he saw that the lights were on in the kitchen. As he got closer, he came to a halt by the kitchen window. He could see Jiyong and Hanbin sitting at the kitchen table.

Jaejoong stepped to the side and watched from a distance.

‘Dara must be here as well.’ He thought. When he met Dara at the pancake place a while back, he never imagined running into the daughter of Yang Hyunsuk until he received the message from headquarters. Hyunsuk himself spoke with Jaejoong and requested that he take charge in protecting her.

Jaejoong watched as Jiyong and Hanbin talked. Hanbin was obviously amazed at something that Jiyong said judging from his expression. Jiyong got up and put some phonebooks on Hanbin's seat to elevate him. Jaejoong smirked; the kid was so short you could barely see his body over the table top. Hanbin laughed at something again and began to eat his food. Apparently, Hanbin was warming up to Jiyong. But where were Dara and Hayi?

As if on cue, Hayi came bouncing into the kitchen wearing her little green pajamas. She was holding Dara's hand and smiling like there was no tomorrow. Dara placed Hayi into her booster seat and took her own seat next to her.

Watching the four of them was like watching the puzzle pieces come together. Hayi's smiling face was the best picture Jaejoong could have hoped to see. He loved that little girl more than anyone else in his family. His life was in the CIA, and Hayi was the only aspect of his life that gave Jaejoong a sense of normalcy. She was the purity in his tainted life, and seeing her happy face was enough for Jaejoong to get a good night's sleep.

After watching them for another minute or two, he walked back to his bike and drove back to headquarters. Watching the four of them only made him more eager to get back to his current investigation, which was centered on a certain doctor's past.

Jiyong's POV: Sunday morning October 12

Jiyong and Hayi stood before Taeyeon's grave. There were flowers already placed on the headstone before they arrived. Jiyong knew they were from Jaejoong. He was the only one to visit Taeyeon on October 11th; just one more thing to add to his strange personality.

Hayi let go of Jiyong's hand and placed a single white rose onto the grave. She was wearing a black velvet dress and matching shoes. She then stood next to her father and watched the grave stone. This was all Hayi had to refer to as her mother. She looked up at her father, who was looking at the stone with dull eyes. He always recalled Taeyeon's last words to him before she died:

"Take care of her…Jiyong…tell her…omma will always love her…"

Jiyong looked down at his daughter. He knelt down to her level and held her little hands with his own.

"Your omma, wanted me to tell you something before she died," said Jiyong as he took a glance at the grave. "She wanted me to tell you that she would always love you Hayi." He said as he looked into her precious hazelnut eyes. "You were her beloved daughter, afterall.”

Hayi nodded her head and looked at her mother's grave. "I love my omma too." She said in her happy little voice.

Jiyong sighed. There she was, putting on her brave face. Jiyong mentally cursed the cruelty of life. It's just wrong for an angel like Hayi to go through her first five years of life without her mother.

Jiyong stood up with Hayi in his arms. He kissed her forehead and turned to face Taeyeon's grave once more. He'll always remember Taeyeon as the mother of his child. She gave him Hayi, and he'll see to it that she's never forgotten in his daughter's life.

"Say goodbye to omma." He said. Hayi waved her little hand at the grave with a smile on her face.

"Bye omma," said Hayi. Jiyong began walking back to the entrance. As they made their way back, they failed to notice a pair of dark eyes that had been watching them for a while.

A figured emerged from the back of a large tree that was keeping him from view. Once he saw that the two people were out of sight, he turned and faced the grave they visited. Pain and rage seared through his veins as he read the etchings of the grave.

Kwon-Kim Taeyeon

Beloved Daughter, Wife, Mother and Friend

The figure remained standing before her grave. This wasn't supposed to happen. She was supposed to be alive. She wasn't supposed to die so damn young. But he knew that she was dead long before this. He turned and faced the direction where the two Kwons' had left. His eyes narrowed at the thought of that bastard. He was the reason why Taeyeon was dead…and he'll pay for that dearly.

Dara's POV: SMC

It was Monday morning and Dara was currently in the nurse's station on the second floor of the hospital. Chaerin was there and together, they had been discussing the patients that they both had to attend to. Dara was a little tired, seeing as how Youngbae and IU came over to her house on Sunday for dinner. Dara exhausted herself with cooking dinner and staying up late cleaning the dishes afterwards.

"Let's schedule the patient in room 812 for physical therapy as soon as possible, preferably tomorrow," said Dara as she examined the patient's chart.

"I'll send the order to Seungri," said Chaerin. The two continued to go over other patients for a few more minutes before Dara's pager went off. She checked the screen and saw that the NICU called her.

"I'll see you later Chaerin." She said before she made her way to the elevator. She pushed the button and waited for any of the eight elevators to open. As she waited, she checked her phone for any messages. The elevator gave the "ding" and the doors opened. She stepped in and went up to the 7th floor.

When she got to the NICU, she punched in the code on the side of the door and they slid open to allow her entrance. The NICU was a completely different area of the hospital. Rather than hospital beds and the average get up, it was a moderately dark place with very subtle lighting. There were around thirty little cribs and incubators and about half of them contained a neonate (newborn) that was in critical condition. Overall, the place was very quiet with all the nurses and personnel talking in hushed tones as not to disturb the babies.

Dara walked in and saw Youngbae in there. He was standing by a crib with a clipboard in his hands and busy writing something down. Dara walked over to him.

"Hey Youngbae, what's going on here?" She asked as she checked the baby's stats. The baby boy was hooked up to a heart monitor and several other machines. Youngbae looked up from his charts and greeted her.

"I saw that you were the attending physician for this baby so I paged you," he said. "I've done a preliminary report and I need your input on a possible surgery."

"Hmm," she said as she looked over the incubator. "He's still not strong enough to be placed under any anesthesia," she said as she reached into the armhole for the incubator to hold the tiny baby's hand. "But I would give him another week. By then, if his condition has improved, I can clear him for surgery." She said as she watched the baby. This child was oxygen deprived at birth. Youngbae was needed for brain damage consultation since it was his area of expertise.

"Alright," he said. He looked down at the baby, whose tiny hand was clasped around Dara's finger. It was a depressing sight to see a child hooked up to so many machines. Youngbae's worst fear was for something like that to happen to his own unborn child, let alone IU.

"He'll make it through Youngbae, don't worry," she reassured as she observed him. "I take care of all these babies as if they were my own." Youngbae kept staring at the child. If it weren't for those machines, that baby would be dead.

"Speaking of babies, how's IU holding up? I hope the dinner I made her last night didn't give her any morning sickness."

"She's adjusting," he said with a small smile. "Those vitamins you gave her really helped, although the lack of work is starting to get to her. You know how she is." Dara smiled.

"I do. So how are you feeling?" she asked. "I know it's not easy taking care of a pregnant woman. Have the cravings gotten to you yet?"

"Let's just say I won't be going anywhere near ketchup or tuna anytime soon."

Dara chuckled. "Did you and IU discuss any possible names yet?"

Youngbae shrugged. "We wanted to wait until we knew the gender first. Choosing a name is hard enough as it is. It's better to know what kind of name to choose first."

Dara internally snickered. ‘If only he knew.’ She thought.

Dara thought it was hilarious that IU was so dead set on keeping him in the dark. It would become pretty obvious soon enough so she had better tell him before he figures it out. IU was never really good at keeping secrets either. One way or another, she would slip up.

Dara and Youngbae talked a bit about more baby stuff before Youngbae mentioned the memo that was sent out this morning. Apparently, there was a mandatory physicians meeting regarding the Busan Conference in December. Keeping that in mind, Dara left the NICU to finish her rounds before the meeting started.

Jiyong's POV:

Jiyong had his secretary send out a memo to all of the leading physicians in every department. There was a meeting being held today to discuss the upcoming Busan Conference, which required that all the head physicians be present at the event. It was now 11:00 am and the meeting hall, which was located on the 15th floor next to Jiyong's office, was filling up with doctors. Lunch would be included later on.

Jiyong was sitting at the head of the long rectangular table that was big enough to seat twenty. IU and Youngbae were there, representing their respective departments.

"So Jiyong, I hear you're going to be helping Hanbin with his karate." IU leaning back in her chair. She couldn't exactly bend forward anymore due to her growing abdomen. She even had to get a larger sized shirt to accommodate her size.

"Did Dara tell you about it?" he asked. He noticed Youngbae's scrutinizing gaze on him but dismissed it.

"Well, not really," said IU. "Hanbin told me when Youngbae and I went to Dara's house for dinner last night. He seemed really excited about it."

"Since when did you become a trainer?" Youngbae asked.

"Since now." He answered, opening his folder and pulling out a few papers. More doctors came in and took their seats. Seunghyun was also present, seeing as how he was representing the research facility. Almost all the head physicians were present, except for Dara. Jiyong subtly scanned the surrounding area (the walls were made of glass). The meeting was about to start, so where was she?

"Looking for someone?" Youngbae asked. Jiyong blinked before shifting his gaze to the Dong, who was giving him that inquiring look of his. Jiyong would have retorted had he not spotted the object of his interest approaching the meeting hall. Youngbae noticed his attention and turned his head to see Dara walking towards them. She opened the glass door and greeted everyone.

"Hi guys," she said as she took her seat next to Seunghyun. "Looks like I made it just in time. I just got out of the delivery room. It was twins." She said looking pointedly across the table at IU. She snapped her neck in Dara's direction and emitted a warning glare. Dara just looked charmingly innocent.

"Awww, that's nice." IU ground out. Dara chuckled a bit before her gaze turned to Jiyong, who was watching her discreetly. She smiled and he smirked.

"Well," he said, reluctantly tearing his gaze off her and turning towards everyone else. "We can begin the meeting." He announced with a raised voice.

Everyone in the room quieted down and turned their attention towards him. The room was filled with physicians, who were all wearing their white coats. Jiyong was the only one wearing a black suit, which added to his superiority.

He began the meeting with the standard introductory outline of the program and what was expected from SMC. He also mentioned that many world renowned doctors and medical contributors from various parts of the country would also be present. These doctors included the legendary medicinal expert Dr. Goo Hyesun and other members from competing hospitals such Gwanju Hospital and its associates.

Seunghyun presented an outline of the major subjects that would be brought up at the conference as well as an outline of what each department must present.

"Millions of dollars' worth of medical research, educational and experimental studies are depending on this conference," said Seunghyun. "We have a little less than nine weeks for you to prepare your projects. Well meet up again before we leave." He closed. Jiyong had the lights turned back on.

"Now," said Jiyong. "As far as the trip goes, since we leave during the holiday season, you will each be allowed to bring a few guests with you, as compliments of the hotel where the conference will be held. We'll be staying in Busan for a maximum of three days."

He saw the lunch cart being pushed towards the conference room and dismissed the meeting for an hour break. Many of the doctors got up and walked towards the cart, leaving a few behind at the desk.

"So Seunghyun," said Dara. "Are you bringing Ino and the kids with you to Busan?"<

Seunghyun sighed. "Yeah. I'll never hear the end of it if I don't bring that troublesome woman along. Besides, her family lives near Busan. They run a flower shop there."

"I know," said Dara. "I remember her flower shop. I used to go there with her after school when we were kids. I'm glad the kids are coming too. Hanbin's going to need some company."

"Are you going to see your father?" IU asked.

"Of course I am," she said with a warm smile. "It's only been a couple of months since I moved away, but I miss my appa and I know Hanbin would love to see his harabeoji again."

"I'll bet," said IU. "What little boy wouldn't love to play with all those dogs? Okay, I'm not waiting for the food any longer." She said as she made a move to stand up. Youngbae had to assist her somewhat as the two left the table towards the food cart.

Seunghyun's cell rang at the same time. He excused himself from the table leaving Jiyong and Dara alone.

"So," she said, resting her cheek on her palm. "Planning on skipping lunch again?" Jiyong just tilted his head and sighed.

"I consider it pointless to skip lunch when you're here to pester me into it. Just another one of your many annoying attributes."

"True," said Dara proudly. "So if you're not busy today, would you and Hayi like to come over for dinner?" she asked. "The pictures from the party have been developed so you could take the copies I made." She added. Jiyong leaned back in his chair and smirked.

"Will we be making soup again?" he asked. His smirk grew wider when he saw her begin to blush at the mention of soup. They were so close that time. One more incident like that one, and who knows what'll happened. Jiyong really had to control himself, but that was something he found hard to do when he was around her.

"Not this time," she answered as she straightened in her seat. "I'm thinking, curry and rice. I was hoping you would be able to help Hanbin with his Karate. His match is this Wednesday at 2:30 and he's been begging me to ask you to come over. I'd say he's definitely warmed up to you."

"Hnn."

Dara's smile dropped and was replaced with a glare. Jiyong smirked again when he saw this. She couldn't do anything when they were in public.

"When would you like us to come?" He asked.

"How about right after work? Hanbin and Hayi should be done with karate and ballet, so you should just come over after you pick her up. She can help me make dinner. It's never too late to learn how to cook," she said. Jiyong's smirk turned into a very small smile.

"…She'd like that." He could only imagine Hayi's sweet smiling face as she helped Dara in the kitchen.

Dara noticed the softness in his voice. It was a complete contrast from his strong outward personality. Those dark brown, steely eyes of his were clouded with love and affection for his little princess. This was a side of Kwon Jiyong that not many people were lucky enough to see. The sensitivity only added to his attractiveness in Dara's opinion.

She took a moment to admire his face. Those mesmerizing eyes of his were brought out by the pale contour of the skin that surrounded them. His hair suited and framed his face perfectly. Dara's eyes traveled down to his chest. She remembered how it felt to be held so closely to him the other night. His embrace was strong and warm. She could feel his muscular build underneath his sweater. She felt so safe with his arms wrapped around her. It was a feeling that she missed greatly.

"Tell Hanbin to be ready for training as soon as he gets home," he said, snapping her out of her thoughts. "I'll bring over some equipment."

"Okay," she replied as her eyes traveled back up to his face. "But if I find a single cut or bruise on his little body, I'm taking that out on you…and you know what I'm talking about." She said pointing at him.

"Now…" she began as she stood up from her seat. "Let's get some food before IU eats it all." She walked towards the food cart. As she passed him, she flicked the side of his head with her finger.

Jiyong glared at her while she simply snickered.

"That was for earlier." She justified while speeding up her pace towards the cart. Jiyong resisted the urge to roll his eyes at her. She could be so juvenile at times.

‘Tch…annoying woman.’ He thought as he got up and followed her towards the cart. His mind wandered back to his personal proclamation to begin dating again. He had to step up his game. Now that he and Hayi would be spending more time with Dara and Hanbin, he had to find an answer for Dara's question the other night.

What were they doing and where was it going? That was what he needed to establish with her. In order for them to go anywhere, he had to make his intentions known.

He took a glance at her from the side of his eyes. This was the woman that life seemed to throw at him. It was as if she was the answer that was right in front of his face, yet at the same time he was still hesitant about choosing it. Yes, she's beautiful and smart and loving. She was also nosy, demanding, annoying and slightly violent…but that did nothing more than increase his attraction to her.

But she had to make her intentions clear as well. Was there potential for them? Or were they just using each other? He had to get that straight, and he wasn't going to waste any time in doing so. His daughter's happiness was on the line.

Dara's House: 5:00 pm

Dara and Hanbin had just gotten home and were currently in the kitchen. Hanbin remained in his karate uniform because Jiyong would be coming over to train with him any minute now. He sat at the counter on the stool with his sketchpad out. He was drawing what appeared to be a large black dog; probably Daesung's dog from the party.

"Are you excited about your training today?" Dara asked as she brought out some dishes from the cabinets.

"Uh huh. I'm going to break a board with my foot." He declared while swinging his legs back and forth. Dara chuckled and went over to the fridge. She pulled out a juice box and gave it to Hanbin as she placed a kiss on his cheek.

"Just don't break any fingers or toes," she said. "You've been doing so well by not getting any boo boo's lately." She heard the doorbell ring and left the kitchen to answer it.

When she opened the door, her eyes widened when she saw Jiyong, dressed in a white karate uniform, with Hayi in his arms. She looked over his appearance for a second before looking back at his face. He looked really…attractive. Oh who was she kidding; he was drop dead y.

The front of his shirt was a little loose and revealed a bit of his chiseled chest. The bright white of his clothes seemed even brighter against the darkness of his hair and eyes.

"Hi Dara-imo," said Hayi. Dara snapped out of her shameless ogling and gave a bright smile to Hayi, but not before she caught Jiyong smirking at her.

"Hi sweetie," she said as Jiyong placed Hayi down. Dara held out her hand, which Hayi gladly took and led them into the house.

"Ready to learn how to cook?" She asked. Hayi nodded her head enthusiastically. Dara led them both into the kitchen where Hanbin was.

Hanbin looked up at the three of them and stopped his drawing. He saw that Jiyong was wearing a karate uniform too, only he was wearing a really cool looking black belt.

"Ready for training?" asked Jiyong. Hanbin slid off the stool and nodded. He kept glancing at Jiyong's black belt. He looked down at his own white one and decided that he was going to train as hard as he could to get a new colored belt.

"Good. We'll train outside." He said as he made his way over to the back yard.

"Okay," said Hanbin as he followed Jiyong out. Dara smiled at their retreating forms. Once they were gone, she turned to Hayi, who was still holding her hand.

"Now let's get cooking," she said as she and Hayi went into the kitchen, where Dara had all the materials they needed out and ready.

 Meanwhile…at the Lee house:

Seungri sighed as he stepped into his house. Chaerin was still at work and wouldn't be home until late again. This past weekend had been a busy one for both Chaerin and himself. They both had to work overtime to make up for going to Hayi's birthday party, so he hadn't really seen much of her. They were both so pre-occupied, that they didn't even remem