She parked her car right beside the park across the school and made sure that her car door was locked and headed for the pedestrian lane. As the green light lit up that signaled for her to cross the road, she checked the time put her hands in her coat pockets as she hurried her steps to reach the school building. It was already quiet despite being only a couple of minutes late, but she knew how much their culture valued time. The school playground was cleared and the swing was only moved lightly by the breeze that was brought by the spring. The halls were quiet and some of the personnel and teachers were already leaving. Still, she knew where she was headed despite the empty spaces that she was walking through. The sight of the person that made her enter this place helped her to put on a small smile on her face. She opened the glass door and headed inside the library and approached a table where two people were seated. The her silhouette made the girl look up and smile wide, thus making her smile even more.

“Mommy!” The five year old exclaimed as she hopped off her seat and run to her mom. Her teacher, who was seated beside her, stood up and greeted her mom with a warm smile as she greeted her.

“Thank you for accompanying her, Ms. Kim. I really didn’t mean to be late today, I’m really sorry.” The woman bowed while still holding on to her daughter that was hugging her legs. 

The teacher smiled sincerely at the woman, feeling sorry as she saw the guilt in her eyes. She knew how bad she felt, but given the nature of her work, everyone understood how it was going to be. “No worries about that, Dr. Seo. Our little Soojin here was actually excited when we told her that you might be late in picking her up today.”

She raised her eyebrows as she looked down at the little girl to ask her. “Really?”

Soojin nodded and smiled proudly. “It only means that I get to stay in the library,” she said to her mom while bringing both of her arms up and placed her hands parallel to to each other, just a bit stretched. “I get to stay here and read for this long,” she said in continuation.

Seohyun couldn’t help but chuckle at her daughter’s cuteness and love for books. She really must have inherited that trait well, she thought. She bent down to her child’s level and tucked some of her hair to her ear. “Sorry, baby. How would you like to go home and read some more with mommy?”

She held on tightly to her mom’s hand with a smile and faced her teacher to say her goodbye. The mom thanked her teacher once again before she greeted her goodbye and walked put the building with her child. She was only 20 minutes late, but the place was cleared out. She felt sorry that instead of playing with other kids while waiting for her, her daughter had to spend it with her teacher in the library. “How was my Soojin’s day?”

“We learned to count in multiples of 5 today! Can we practice it, mommy?”

“Sure, when the light turns green, with every step shall we try it?”

She nodded, and watched for the crossing sign to turn green and tugged on her mom’s hand. “Ready, go! Five, ten, fifteen, twenty,” she said as she took every step.

Seohyun was mentally counting with her child as they were holding hands in crossing the road and allowed her to show off the new skill that she learned today. She smiled proudly with every word that the little girl uttered.

“Sixty— uh oh.”

“What’s wrong, sweetie?”

“We’re already riding in the car. I’m not yet done, mommy.”

She could only chuckle at her daughter’s cuteness and pinched her cheek lightly. Instead of opening the car door for her, she redirected their steps towards the park across the school. “Okay, now where were we— sixty, and then?”

“Oh, sixty-five!” Soojin exclaimed as she got a bit of an extension to finish off her new skill, since she would only count as they were walking. When she finally finished to a hundred, her mother shortly let go of her hand and applauded the five year old.

“That was great, baby!”

“Thank you, mommy!” She smiled sweetly at her mom, then started to turn around and head back to the car.

“You don’t wanna sit on the bench for a bit,” Seohyun asked her daughter. She knew that she wanted to spend time with her daughter even if it meant just sitting with her on a park bench or walking with her along the trail with flowers that just bloomed because of the season.

“Okay,” she said as she ran to the park bench to reserve the seat for her and her mom. She was smiling as she sat and waited for her mom to sit beside her.

She kissed her daughter’s hair and the little girl just rested her head on her lap. She instinctively found her arms around the child and placed another kiss on her cheek before resting her back on the bench.

“How was your day, mommy?”

Seohyun was no longer surprised with her daughter’s question. She knew that the child was too mature and inquisitive for her age. No one could deny that she was also intelligent. She wasn’t on time, thus her daughter knew that something was definitely interesting in her mom’s work day. “Well, mommy met this kid with an unusual case today. I was stuck in the meeting with a team of doctors that had to decide whether the girl or not would need to be cut up.”

“So what happens when she receives surgery?”

“It could save her life, but she will no longer be able to hear forever.”

“But what happens if she doesn’t?”

“Well, her chances of being saved is not that much, but she will not lose her ability to hear. Do you think you can help mommy?”

Soojin’s eyebrows furrowed and studied what her mother had just presented her. Being a daughter of a pediatrician made her knowledgeable about these kinds of things at a young age, thus knowing the word surgery. Sometimes her mom would really ask her for her opinion from a child’s perspective and this helps Seohyun to decide in difficult moments. “If you don’t cut her up are you sure that the life she will have will be short? There are other options, right mommy? You could do that and not allow her to lose her hearing.”

She could only nod at her child’s predicament because she was thinking the same thing. That was also her reason, she wanted to give the patient a normal chance at life. “You’re really the best, Soojin.”

“I learned from the best, mommy.” She looked up and smiled widely as she met her mom’s gaze. Soon after, she got up from her position and held out her hand for her mom to take. “Mommy, let’s go home. It’s already getting cold, you might get sick.”

She took her daughter’s hand and kissed it before she stood up and walked with her towards the car. “Have you decided which book you’ll read at home?”

“None yet, but maybe when I see my books I will.” She sat in her booster seat as her mom made sure that she was all buckled up in the backseat.

 

The door opened and the aroma of a home-cooked meal wafted into the air as he walked in. The TV was lit and making a sound, but surprisingly he found the pair asleep on the couch in their pajamas. The little girl was lying down on the couch with her mom’s lap as her pillow, while the woman slouched a bit to rest her back and head on the backrest, while her arms were still wrapped protectively around the child that was asleep on her lap. The channel was left on a movie channel that only showed animated movies and based on his assessment, the mother-daughter duo was watching a movie and fell asleep halfway. He placed his briefcase on chair in the living room and knelt on the floor to place a kiss on the little girl’s forehead, while his fingertips brushed through the back of the hand of the woman that was wrapping her in a protective hug as they slept. He looked up to observe the woman that was asleep, how she looked so angelic and the calm rising and falling of her chest. Unknowingly, a small smile formed upon his lips.

Soojin’s eyes fluttered open and saw the face of a man at her level, but his eyes were looking elsewhere. “Hi, daddy,” she said softly, with sleep still in her voice.

Kyuhyun’s eyes blinked and widened as he shifted his focus from Seohyun to meet his daughter’s sleepy gaze. “Hi, baby. Good evening,” he greeted her before smiling and placing a kiss on her forehead.

Soojin smiled as she caught her dad staring earlier at her mom. Being observant is another trait that she got as a daughter’s lawyer. Having these types of parents in these lines of professions really had its benefits. She rubbed her eyes, then freed herself from her mom’s hug and stretched her arms out for her dad.

Seohyun felt some kind of movement in her arms, which immediately woke her up. She was relieved to see that the little girl freed herself from her hold because of her dad’s presence and not because she was in danger. “You just got home?” She managed to ask him with sleepiness still in her voice before stretching and rubbing her eyes and fixing her glasses.

He nodded as he saw her look at the time on her phone. “But I’m not late, am I?”

“No,” she simply answered.

“Long day?”

“Yeah,” she replied as she got up. “Have you had dinner?”

“I was gonna ask you the same thing.”

“We haven’t.”

“Alright, then maybe we can start?”

She made her towards the kitchen, while he followed behind as he carried the little girl in his arms. “Daddy, how was your day? You know mommy had an interesting day in the hospital earlier.”

“Really?”

Seohyun set the food for their family as her daughter narrated how her day went. “Food’s gonna get cold.” She took her seat beside Soojin and would observe if she needed any help.

“But mommy’s the best doctor, so she won’t let anything bad happen to her patient.” She smiled proudly as she took a big bite of her food and this just made her dad smile. “What about you, daddy, how was your day?”

“Oh, just the usual, sweetie.” He smiled at her and proceeded with his meal.

“No bad guys this time?”

“Yes, ma’am. They were not in sight.”

The adults were silent most of the time, while it was Soojin who updated her dad with the new skill that she learned with math earlier. This was how it was like in their household most of the time. It was quiet at the dinner table, but the only one who would make a sound was the little girl. They were thankful that she would always start the conversation or kept any discussion going because if it wasn’t for her, this house would’ve been too quiet.

 

Seohyun was tucking her daughter in bed, humming a soft lullaby, while Kyuhyun was leaning on the doorframe and watched the scene before him shortly before he made his way to the bed after he was summoned by the little girl. He sat at the opposite side from Seohyun and brushed his daughter’s hair with his fingers to help her fall asleep faster. Soojin opened her eyes for a bit and looked at her dad as if remembering something as she was in the process of falling asleep.

“Daddy, in your story do the prince and princess live happily ever after?”

“We don’t know, baby. Don’t worry because you’re going to be hearing this story in another time.”

“You better sleep now, Soojin. If you stay up late, your skin under your eyes will fall to the ground and your eyeballs will roll out.”

The little girl immediately closed her eyes and nodded. “Sorry, mommy. Good night, mommy and daddy.”

“Good night, baby,” the adults said in unison. They observed her breathing and when it was already stable enough, they quietly got up and headed for the door. Kyuhyun was the first to leave, but just before Seohyun stepped out of her room, a small voice was heard.

“Mommy.”

She stopped in her tracks and turned to look at her daughter. “Yes, sweetie?”

“Mommy, can you sleep with me again tonight?”

Kyuhyun looked back and overheard the conversation that went on, but chose to ignore it and headed straight to his room.

“Sure, baby. I will stay with you for as long as you like.” She watched him walk away before completely closing the door of their daughter’s room. She wrapped an arm around her daughter and pulled her closer to her as the night got deeper by the minute. She placed a kiss on her daughter’s hair and told her that she loved her before humming a soft tune to help her sleep. However, the sound of her heartbeat was already enough for the little girl to fall into a deep slumber in just a snap. She was thanking the heavens that Soojin had asked her to stay with her tonight, because only they know how much she needed this.

 

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Author's note: Hi everyone!! I truly apologize for being inactive for almost four years now, but everything just got busier, especially now that we're in the middle of the pandemic. HOW'S EVERYONE DOING?! I'm really sorry that you all have to wait so long for me, but trust me I didn't do it on purpose and I'd stick around here only if I had the luxury of time. Are there still people here who read about sugen/sushi or seokyu?? You guys can probably tell that I'm clueless about the new groups.

For my previous readers who have been with me since the start (I hope you guys are still here, I really missed the friendships I formed here) who knew about my health problems, YES, I'M STILL ALIVE 🤗 I couldn't say that my health has gotten better, but hey, I'm managing 😁 and yes, I'm all about saving lives now, so I really am sorry for being MIA.

As you know, the pandemic has affected most people physically, but the world's population has been affected mentally, and I won't deny the fact that I have been affected by it as well (especially when you see your mentors dying). This has helped me to go back to writing as it has always been so therapeutic for me. As you can see, I've edited the first chapter, but don't worry, you'll be surprised that a bomb will be dropped on you (who knows, maybe in a few hours, it'll come out) 😉

PLEASE PLEASE DON'T GO OUT WHEN IT'S NOT NECESSARY, CONTINUE TO WASH YOUR HANDS, ALWAYS WEAR A MASK, AND GET VACCINATED!! Vaccines work, so please docit for yourself and for your loved ones. Always stay safe and healthy and always tell your loved ones that you love them 💗