The ride to Seoul had been awfully long. She had not been fully awake due to being suddenly awoken by a call from her father in the middle of the night and being fully conscious of her tired state made her being extra-careful on the road, which meant she had spent three hours driving with the maximum level of concentration and the moment she reached her destination and turned off the engine, she felt like collapsing from the fatigue. Her shoulders and neck were tensed and painful and her eyes were burning. She truly hated driving at night but the situation had not given her much choice.

When her dad had called to tell her the baby was there, she had wanted to go and meet him in person. Him, her little brother.

Apparently the receptionist had known she was coming since she only had to say she was coming to see Choi Youngjae for the nice lady behind the counter to tell her her dad was waiting for her at the third floor, in one of the bedrooms. Jaeha didn’t hesitate and took the lift, not feeling strong enough to climb the many stairs and dragged her feet through the dim-lit corridors of the hospital. Everything was so silent it made her so uncomfortable, even more than she already was.

She stopped for a few seconds behind the closed door of the room in which she expected to find her dad, Youngjae and the new addition to their family. She was feeling really weird, her heart was strangely beating really fast and her hands were shaking though she couldn’t pinpoint why. She kept telling herself it was nothing, just a baby, but this tiny voice at the back of her head kept reminding her it was her brother. She was a big sister now.

She gently knocked on the door and barely three seconds later Jaebum opened it. He had dark circles and his hair was messy, but he was smiling so brightly it was almost too blinding for Jaeha’s droppy eyes. He didn’t say a word and simply forced her into a bone-crushing hug.

“I’m so glad you’re here,” he said after a while, kissing her cheek fondly. Had he been that excited when she was born too?

She didn’t say anything and looked above his shoulder when he finally let go off her. The sun was slowly rising and the orange sky was slightly visible through the thin drawn curtains. It was certainly enough light for Jaeha to see Youngjae lying asleep on the bed, but more than that she didn’t miss the bassinet right next to the bed.

“Come see him,” Jaebum whispered in her ears and wrapped his arm around her waist, bringing her closer. There, looking so tiny, was the baby, wrapped in a yellow cover, wearing a blue beany. His eyes were closed, he was not moving, and he looked so peaceful it was almost like he was a doll and not a real being.

“It’s your brother,” Jaebum told her once again, this time in person and not over a phone call. “Seonjae. Im Seonjae.”

“Oh so in the end you managed to find him a name,” she cracked a joke but she kept her straight, so Jaebum took her seriously.

“Of course we have. It was Youngjae who found it. ‘Seon’ which means to announce, and ‘Jae’, by now you know what it means.”

“Yeah, wealth and fortune. Something like that.”

“Exactly. He came to us to gift us with a fortune of love.”

She crunched her nose at his explanations and shook her head. She always thought meanings behind names were ridiculous.

“He looks so tiny,” she changed subject.

“He is, tinier than you were in fact. But he is healthy nonetheless.”

“Great.”

She kept staring at the baby for a while until he suddenly shifted in his sleep. She immediately stepped back.

“Do you want to take him?” Jaebum offered and she shook her head.

“No, I’m too tired to hold anything at the moment. I’ll probably drop him. I’ll see about that later.”

He seemed to understand and didn’t insist. Instead he handed her his wallet.

“Go buy whatever you want for breakfast, okay?”

She threw one last glance at her brother (how odd it was to think that) and she left the building to go to the nearest coffee shop which had just opened a few minutes ago. She ordered three coffees and some freshly baked croissants and hurried back into the hospital which seemed to be a bit more lively at that time. Youngjae was up this time and when he saw her, just like her dad, he smiled brightly. He couldn’t move nor sit down at the moment because of the fresh scar but when she came to him and asked him if he was alright, he took her hand and tightly held onto it.

“I’m fine. I believe I’ve never ever been better, to be honest.”

He looked even more exhausted than her dad in her eyes but somehow she felt like she understood why his smile was so bright too. Their baby boy had made it safety into this world, they were probably both relieved and more than happy to have become parents. When Seonjae woke up with a loud cry (how come a baby that small could be so loud already? He had that from Youngjae, definitely) Jaeha watched her dad take him against his chest and he sat down next to Youngjae on the bed. She didn’t know why but they looked so good she felt the need to take a picture to capture this moment and it was exactly what she did. Their first family picture.

“You still don’t want to hold him?” Jaebum asked her while he rocked the crying mess.

Her answer remained the same and because she really started to feel the migraine coming, she hurriedly ate and left. She needed a moment to herself, to rest first and then to really comprehend and realize the situation she was in. She collapsed on the sofa back at the apartment yet she didn’t forget to send her father a quick message to let him know she was fine. She fell asleep immediately and woke up a few hours later, only to realize nothing was a dream, everything was way too real. She went back into her gallery and took a closer look at the picture she had taken earlier and without knowing why, she sent it to Jungkook and even to Yugyeom, whom she felt had the right to know she was a sister now since he had been there for the biggest part of the pregnancy. They both answered almost immediately, within seconds, congratulating her and her dad and Youngjae, and she promised to call her best friend later while the chat with her ex-boyfriend stopped here. She was not fully ready to take the conversation any further with him yet.

She didn’t have time to let go of her phone because notifications suddenly flooded in and one in particular caught her attention. It was from Instagram, letting her know her father had started a live. She cursed mentally upon remembering she had completely forgotten about it and now he was alone handling it. She joined the live and watched it for the biggest part before she decided to let people know she was indeed alright since most of them seemed worried about her by calling her father. It was brief, she didn’t feel like talking a lot anyway, especially since she wanted to go back to the hospital near her dad, so immediately after hanging up she sent a message to her father letting him know her brother’s name was Seonjae and that he and Youngjae were perfectly fine. She didn’t wait for his answer and instead of going back to bed as planed, she stood up, stretched for a while, had another coffee and she drove back to the hospital.

This time they were all wide awake, though the baby couldn’t open his eyes yet and was just slowly moving into his dad’s arms – their dad’s arms.

“Do you want to take him this time?” Jaebum inquired once again and she nodded.

She had never handled a baby that small before so she sat down on the nearest chair and put her bag at her feet. She was not totally clueless, she put her arms in the right position and let her dad rest Seonjae on them. At first she opened her eyes wide.

“He’s heavy,” she said, stunned.

“He is not, in fact,” Youngjae laughed. “But since you’re not used to holding babies he might be for you.”

She didn’t move for a while and silently studied his face. To her, he just looked like any other baby, she couldn’t tell if he looked more like her dad or like Youngjae. Also this time she found him relatively cute, him not crying his lungs out actually helped.

“I guess he is alright,” she didn’t really know what to say. She still didn’t realize the situation.

“Of course he is,” Jaebum said and she looked up to him, only to find out he had his phone out and was taking pictures of them with a big bright smile on his face. “My two babies together,” he couldn’t help but add and a few seconds later he had already changed his phone background picture. “I’m so happy,” he turned to Youngjae and leaned in to kiss him once again, like he had done multiple times already since Seonjae was born. He also couldn’t tell how many times he had thanked his partner for bringing their baby to this world.

“So am I,” Youngjae answered in a whisper against his lips.

Meanwhile Seonjae started shifting slightly and Jaeha, without knowing what to do, started rocking him and when his teeny tiny hand seized nothing but air, she slid a finger into his palm which couldn’t hold more than that anyway. Seeing that made her chuckle and she cooed at the sight.

“Now I know why it’s call a little brother. Look he is so small, look at his tiny fingers.”

“He is cute, right? Exactly like you when you were born,” Jaebum told her.

“You know what? I think I can handle having a baby brother that is that cute. As long as he doesn’t cry that much I’ll be fine, I think.”

Deep down she knew she was going to be alright, she just needed time to adapt to the situation. But she was going to be busy on her side with her father, shooting that reality show, and she wouldn’t be in Seoul a lot for the upcoming weeks because of that, but she imagined herself getting used to seeing a baby around at the apartment when she’d be coming back. In fact, his nursery was already waiting for him, he was just the missing piece to complete the picture. And now he was here, finally.

Hi guys! How are you?

I'm very sorry for the late update. I was busy with work during the summer but now that I've got more spare time I'm writing this story which is nearing the end! Only a few chapters are left!

But the baby brother is finally here! Yay! I had a good time writing this chapter, now I want to know what you think about it :D

Thank you for the comments, subs and upvotes! It means a lot to me. Also, the next chapter is coming soon, I'm halfway done writing it.

Until next time, take care of you!

xx

Mae