The next day Jaeha woke up to the sound of a door closing. She rolled around on the bed, only to realize it was not her bed she was sleeping on but a sofa instead. With a frown, overly confused, she sat up, yawned loudly and scratched her cheek as she looked around to see exactly where she was. It took her a while to recognize the living room and when she did, she wondered why she was here instead of her bedroom. She sat motionless for a few minutes during which she recalled what had happened the night before, only to remember herself watching a random show on TV and then nothing; she concluded she had fallen asleep in the living room.

She heard heavy steps in the stairs and turned around to see her father coming down, wearing his pajamas pants and a plain white shirt and with his hair spiking in all directions. It was pretty obvious from his still puffy eyes that he had woken up a few minutes ago, probably as the same time as her.

“Hi,” he smiled upon seeing her. “Did you sleep well?”

“Like a log,” she answered with a low tired voice.

Even if a sofa was usually not the best spot to sleep on, she really had a good rest. Jinyoung joined her and let himself fall right next to her, being quick to bring her into his arms into a tight hug. She groaned and elbowed him in the side, yet he didn't let go of her.

“Mark had to leave for work,” he then spoke in a slow voice. “Emergency meeting apparently. It means we're going to have the whole day for ourselves.”

Jaeha's interest suddenly spiked up at the mention of a spare day with her father and father only. She pushed him away but only to take a better look at him.

“Really?” she asked, positively surprised.

“Hum,” he nodded. “Is there something you would like to do?”

That was really a tricky question. She had often thought about spending days with her father and what they could do if it ever happened; she had plenty of activities she wanted to do with him, such as shopping, going to the movies or going bowling, or just taking a walk in a random place or visiting a museum. She actually had answers in mind. But now that he was asking her the question, she couldn't bring herself to say one thing.

“I-I don't know,” she shrugged off. “What can we do?”

“Whatever you want.”

“Well... I don't really know,” she admitted, nose scrunching cutely as she tried to think really hard even if it happened to be hard because her mind was barely awake.

“There... there is maybe a place I'd like to take you for the day. We could go there, if you really don't have a place you'd like to go.”

“Where is it?”

“Don't you want me to keep it secret?” Jinyoung playfully asked. “It could be a surprise.”

She titled her head and frowned at him. There was a probability she might not like the place he was thinking of, but at least she would be with him which was all mattered. Plus, she suspected he wouldn't take her somewhere she wouldn't like or wouldn't have fun. And even if she didn't know the surroundings by heart, she knew there was plenty of interesting things to do. In a burst of boldness, she nodded.

“Well, let's go, then, to the place you're thinking about.”

Jinyoung smiled, visibly satisfied, and told her to hurry to get ready. Apparently, the sooner they'd get here, the most time they would have to enjoy the place.

*

“It's the sea!!” Jaeha shouted in delight, clapping her hands together like an overly excited seal which had Jinyoung laughing at her childish antics. She then grabbed the sleeve of his jacket and pulled on it with one hand while the other one was pointing at the blue sea and white-sanded beach. “It's the sea! Look!” she beamed happily.

“I know Jae,” he chuckled.

She said a lot of incoherent things, her thoughts obviously focused on the landscape in front of her, until she suddenly stopped herself and ran toward the water, dragging Jinyoung with her. The sand quickly made its way inside their shoes which was highly uncomfortable (at least to Jinyoung that was) but Jaeha didn't seem to mind at all and she even dared to dip her shoes into the water when it made its way to their level. With a light laughter, she pulled out her phone and snapped a lot of pictures of everything around her, especially of the water and of her father whom she drew closer to her so that they would both fit into the screen of her phone, along with the sea behind them.

“It's been so long since I've seen the sea,” Jaeha crouched down to touch the wet sand, playing with it until the water rose and came watch it off. “It's so amazing,” she giggled and looked up at her father who couldn't tear his eyes away from her, a fond smile stuck on his face. “I'm so happy right now, you can't even imagine how happy I am exactly.”

“I am sure I can, in fact,” he said because he was probably even happier than she was. Except the sea wasn't the reason of his happiness, but his daughter's bright smile was.

There were quite a few people around them – after all, it was a sunny and warm day, the perfect weather to eat outside and enjoy a picnic on the beach – and they were looking at them while whispering among themselves and some were even taking pictures of them. Jinyoung had feared that would happened and had asked Jaeha if she wanted to wear a mask to hide herself, but she had sternly refused, claiming she didn't mind being photographed from afar, all that mattered was people not disturbing their father-daughter's day by monopolizing Jinyoung into sudden signing sessions. He had reassured her and said that if people were coming to him, he would gently tell them he was busy at the moment and would refuse to pay attention to them; Jaeha was the only who would have all his attention today.

He stood closer to her as a way of protecting her, and watched her as she wrote random things into the sand to photograph it.

“I'm sending a picture to dad,” she said. “To show him where I am.”

“Do you want me to take a picture of you? With the sea.”

“Can you?”

He nodded and she shot up on her two legs before posing. She did the famous 'V' sign with her hand while the other was dug into the pocket of her jacket, and she stared at her phone with adorable smile. Jinyoung had fun taking pictures of her and once he was done, he hurried her into sending all those pictures to him so that he would also have them – he already knew he would print them and they would end up in a pretty frame.

“Look where I am,” Jaeha said out loud what she typed down on her phone. “Appa took me to see the sea!”. She clicked the 'send' button then latched herself on Jinyoung, hugging him strongly. “Thank you very much!”.

He hugged her back, holding her as tight as possible and kissed her forehead.

“I take it you like my surprise.”

“I love it! A lot! Too bad I didn't take any other clothes or I would have jumped into the water already!”

“I'm glad, then. If you love it.”

And he truly was.

*

“And then do you remember, dad threw you into the water.”

“I remember.”

“And Jungkook, that idiot, he walked on my castle sand! Whoa, I can't believe he was already an idiot when we were seven. This boy definitely hasn't changed at all,” Jaeha shook her head in disbelief and stuffed with food.

“Eat slowly, your stomach is going to hurt.”

“I'm hungry,” she said with full.

There were lots of souvenir shops and restaurants all along the waterfront, but Jinyoung and Jaeha had had chosen one whose specialty was seafood to eat. He had let her order everything she wanted and because the owner had recognized him, the desserts were on the house which had completely pleased Jaeha. Jinyoung didn't even know if she realized how much she was eating as she kept talking at the same time, but to him, it was definitely too much. He would have told her to stop a long time ago if he could, but his love and need to not disappoint his daughter and not ruin their day forced him to simply watched her stuffing with every bits of food put on the table with a concerned look.

“With Yugyeom, we keep saying we want to spend a week near the sea, just the two of us, but he never has spare time because he works a lot to save money. I told him it was fine, I could pay, but he always insists on paying too so I just wait,” she sighed. “I guess one day we'll be able to travel abroad, once he will find a job.”

“You could always go to Los Angeles, Mark has houses there. And I'm sure he'll find you accommodations all around the country if you want to. And Jackson has a house in Hong Kong, you could also go there.”

“Yugyeom doesn't have time.”

“Oh... yeah, that's right...”

Jaeha quickly sipped what remained of a broth and sighed in contentment when she was done, placing the bowl into another empty one.

“Was it like this too, when you started dating dad? You know, because he did his military service and then was always in his studies...”

“Well, obviously he was busy, but so was I. I couldn't be mad at him for working hard and not often being home.”

“Oh...” she nodded. “But that was why you divorced, right? Because you were not seeing each other. You grew distant.”

“Well, partly, yes,” Jinyoung nervously scratched his cheek; he didn't feel comfortable talking about his divorce, especially not with Jaeha.

Once again she nodded, deep in thought, but their short discussion was long forgotten when the owner of the restaurant came back to them asking if they were done or if they wanted to eat anything else; Jaeha ordered a big cup of ice-cream with a lot of whipped cream and she really insisted on the 'lot'. Jinyoung watched with amusement as she shivered when she bit down on the cold ice; however the feeling only lasted a few seconds and minutes later she was already done eating.

Before leaving the place, the owner asked them if they didn't mind taking a picture with him and his wife. Jinyoung wanted to agree, he really did, but he didn't want to disappoint Jaeha in acting like the celebrity he was even just for a single photograph, however his daughter spoke first and told the owner her father would gladly do it. Yet, what she had not taken into account, was the owner asking her to be on the picture too. She was really stunned when he told her, because Jaeha was just herself, she was just Park Jinyoung's daughter, yet the nice owner insisted on her posing with them in front of the camera.

Unsure of how to do it, she stood next to her dad and copied his smile, trying not to look too awkward, and once it was done she laughed nervously.

“Come again!” the owner told them with his bright smile. “You'll always be welcomed here!”

Jinyoung thanked them, paid, and then they left.

“Don't you ever get tired of taking pictures with your fans?” curious Jaeha asked as they were walking on the shore, just enjoying the landscape now that their stomachs were full.

“It depends,” Jinyoung shrugged off. “Sometimes I'm in the mood for it and I don't mind, and there are times I just want to be alone and wish I didn't have to care about my reputation so I could actually tell people I don't want to take photos with them.”

“Was it like this in Los Angeles too? Did people recognize you?”

“Some did, but definitely less than in Korea. In a way that was more enjoyable, Mark and I could go out on a date without people bothering us and I felt like a simple citizen back then, not a famous actor.”

“Is it important for you to feel like a non-celebrity sometimes?”

“Of course,” Jinyoung eagerly nodded. “There are days I just want to live my life freely without any obligations most celebrities have... such as taking pictures with my fans or giving them autographs when I go out to enjoy a simple walk.”

“Were there times you regretted becoming famous?” Jaeha inquired again.

“Honestly?” he answered with a chocked laugh and she nodded. “Yes, there are times I tell myself I wish I wasn't famous and was living a peaceful life. But then I remember I love my job a lot and that I'm lucky I've succeeded in the acting field because many try and fail.”

Jinyoung expected Jaeha's next question but it did not immediately come. Instead, he watched how she opened as if she was about to speak but kept silent, and then furrowed her brows as if she was looking for the way to formulate her question. He smiled, thinking she was absolutely adorable when being all serious, but his smile vanished when words finally left her lips.

“Have you ever regretted going to Los Angeles, ten years ago?”

He suddenly froze and even stopped walking. Jaeha did two other steps and then stopped too, turning around to face him and she closely watched his joyful expression morphed into something more conflicted. She kind of expected this reaction after all, she had just asked him a difficult question he probably did not expect. Plus, she was kind of asking this out of the blue, at a very random moment in their conversation. Yet, she had had this question in mind for many weeks, even months or years. In fact, she had kept thinking about this question from the moment he had left her. She needed answers, and now that it was just the two of them seemed to be the perfect moment for that.

It probably took two minutes before Jinyoung finally managed to utter a word. But he first cleared his throat, which made Jaeha's breath hitch, and he sighed.

“I absolutely did not regret leaving,” he admitted, making sure his voice was not shivering or breaking – he wanted to make sure Jaeha would believe him. “But I regretted leaving you behind. I still regret it, honestly.”

They stared at each other for another awkward two minutes without saying a word, Jinyoung not daring to say much for Jaeha to properly assimilate his answer and to not make a fuss right here – that was clearly not something he wanted. The day had gone wonderfully well for it to be all ruined by a simple question and his answer.

“I wish you had not left me behind too,” she said with a sad smile, but not an angry one. “I wish you had stayed with me. Even if you and dad had divorced, I didn't care, I just wanted to have both of you around.”

He didn't answer because he didn't know what to say. Instead, he moved forward to take her in his arms and kissed her forehead.

“Always remember I did not leave because I didn't love you anymore or didn't want to be with you, alright?” he asked her. “I have always loved you and always will, because you are my only daughter and that will never changed. I love you, Jae.”

She didn't answer, and somehow he didn't want her too; if she wasn't ready to tell him she loved him back, he didn't want her to force herself to do it. Her sincerity mattered a lot, there was no way he'd be pleased with her lies.

“Should we go shopping for souvenirs now?” he asked with a soft laugh.

“Let's go,” Jaeha said after she pulled away.

“Then we'll try and find another restaurant to eat tonight and we'll watch the sunset, what do you say about this?”

“It's fine!”

That was for sure going to be a good day, Jinyoung did not have doubt anymore.

Sorry for the delay of this A/N, but here it is!

I was supposed to update the story earlier but I was caught up in the World Cup, even if I don't like football I watched it and had a great time - especially when France won because, well, that's my country, but big congratulations to all the countries which took part in the competition! That was really intense and fun. 

But anyway, back to the story. Here's a chapter dedicated to Jinyoung and Jaeha. It's not much, but I had fun writing it and I hope you will like it. As always, please leave a comment to tell me what you think about it. Thank you for subscribing and for upvoting, means a lot to me. 

I'll be posting the 30th chapter on the 5h of Agust, so until then, take good care of you!

xx

Mae