“Seohyun,” he mentioned her name as he nudged her softly to wake her.

“Mommy, wakey wakey.” Soojin stood up from her seat and got the permission from her dad to unbuckle her seatbelt and softly tapped on her mom’s face.

Slowly, she started to wake up from her deep slumber during that short car ride, but she was able to get all the rest that she needed to be able to spend time with them. She stretched her arms, then opened her eyes gently to allow her vision to adjust.

The little girl placed a kiss on her mom’s temple as she saw her slowly flutter her eyes open.

Seohyun smiled at the gesture and pretended to go back to sleep. “Can mommy get one more to help me wake up?”

Her little arms wrapped around her mother’s neck and hugged her tight before placing a kiss on her cheek. She couldn’t help but smile when she felt her mom’s arms wrap around her and grabbing her, placing her on her mother’s lap.

Kyuhyun could only smile at the scene right before his eyes, and he couldn’t take his eyes off either. He didn’t want to miss a single moment of it.

“I hope you don’t grow up too fast, sweetie,” Seohyun said as she kissed her daughter’s cheek.

Soojin sat on her mother’s lap and held the woman’s face in her hands. “Mommy, can we go outside now?”

Both Kyuhyun and Seohyun chuckled at the little girl. Someone was definitely hungry, they thought. Seohyun nodded and made her seat upright before unbuckling her seatbelt and fixing her hair. She made sure to take off her white coat that gave away her profession and wore a coat to keep her warm from on this spring night.

“This little girl said she wanted to eat pizza,” he said to the woman as if waiting to get an approval from the doctor.

“Seems fine to me.”

Soojin jumped in excitement as she held hands with her mom after hearing that her wish will be granted. She reached for her dad’s hand and the three of them walked to the restaurant.

“Do you want to eat here or do you just want to have it for take out so—“

He was cut off by the sound of a phone ringing. She instantly took her phone out and picked up after seeing the caller ID. After  picking up she wasn’t even able to say a word. “Is there no one available at the moment?”

The father-daughter pair just looked at each other, an apologetic look appeared on the man’s face, while the girl just gave him a small smile. Kyuhyun picked up his daughter and they both watched Seohyun talking on the phone. She just looked at them with an apologetic look on her face, and they already knew what it meant. He placed his hand on her back and directed her steps around so they can go back to his car and the adults just quickly walked back to the vehicle.

“I’ll be on my way.” With that, the phone call ended and they soon found themselves inside the car after quickly getting the little girl settled in her seat. “I’m so—“

“Hey, it’s okay.”

“It’s okay, mommy.”

Her eyes only lined with tears upon hearing the two speak in unison because of guilt, exhaustion, and frustration, but she knew how important her job meant and they knew as well. Saving lives is the most important duty that one could ever do.

“Let’s not waste any time now,” he said as he drove a little faster to get to the hospital.

 

It wasn’t even that late in the evening when she finished her duty earlier (which was the usual time that she would get off from work on Fridays) and when they were supposed to get dinner, but even if Soojin kept trying to hold it out for hours and wait for her mom, she suddenly asked her dad if she could get pizza from the nearby convenience store.

Kyuhyun could only chuckle and explain that there was no Italian food in there. However, there was a bakery just three buildings down from the hospital and told his daughter that she could get her pizza there.

“Daddy, can we go there?”

“Alright, let’s take a night adventure. Do you want daddy to carry you?”

“Yes please!”

Without any hesitation, he brought his daughter up to his arms and kept her warm as he walked to the bakery. As soon as they got there, he placed the little girl down and the smell just made her even hungrier. He made her choose what she wanted and placed what she wanted on the tray. “Don’t get too much, okay, we’ll still be eating after this.”

“Okay, daddy.” The little girl sighed because all the baked goods just made her want to get everything. “Daddy, next Friday, can we go here after school? I want to try everything!”

He laughed at her curiosity and kissed her hair instead of ruffling it, since her mom just fixed it earlier. “Sure, we can do that.” Kyuhyun grabbed the last three stocks of the pizza bread that were available and grabbed another bun just in case. They paid for everything and went on a table to let the girl eat what she was waiting for the whole day.

“Thank you, daddy!” A huge smile was seen on the girl’s face after taking a few bites.

“How I wish you’d just stay this little. It’s better this way,” he thought. “Is it good?”

She nodded enthusiastically and enjoyed every bit of the bread. She understood that she couldn’t get everything and eat it as much as she wants to because they were going to have a meal together and her mom has not eaten a single thing and she knows that a hot meal would be greatly appreciated by the doctor.

Kyuhyun wiped her face after she finished her bread, then proceeded to take a bite of his bread. However, just after taking his second bite, his phone rang. “How are you, will you need to extend?”

Soojin watched, already trying to reach for her second serving of bread,m because she already had an inkling of who was on the other end of the line.

“Alright, we’ll be right there.” He put his phone back in his pocket and helped his daughter to stand. “Let’s go, baby.” He picked up the plastic that contained the other goods and held it in his other hand, while his other hand was holding onto his daughter’s. He made sure that she was settled in place, then he drove off to wait by the hospital entrance.

“Sorry,” she said as she rode the car.

“It’s ok,” he reassured her as he drove off.

“Mommy, here. Eat first while daddy’s still driving.” She grabbed the plastic bag from her daughter’s hand and placed it on her lap.

“Eat first, Joohyun. You haven’t had anything yet.”

She only nodded the commands of the pair in the car with her. “Thank you, I will eat well.” As she was getting the other piece of pizza bread, she noticed that there was one identical bread with a few bite marks and not even half of the bread was finished. “What about you?” She turned to look at Kyuhyun.

“I’ll be fine. Just go eat your share first while I drive back to the restaurant.”

“But you clearly haven’t eaten yet as well.”

“It’s alright, just let me drive.”

She took the pieces of bread in her hands and as she was taking a bit of her bread, her other arm was extended to him, holding his bread to his face. “Eat.”

“Later.”

“I’m already holding it for you.”

“Thank you, but you can put that down.” He looked at her and hoped that she would be keeping his bread back in the plastic bag and she would just be busy with feeding herself, but she rolled her eyes at him and kept the food back in the bag.

“Whatever.”

He only sighed, not wanting to create a bigger argument, especially that Soojin can see them and he knows how tired she was and add the fact that was also hungry, so he just kept quiet.

 

Upon their arrival, the restaurant was already closed. Seohyun kept apologizing to her daughter, while Kyuhyun was looking for other similar places that were still open.

“It’s okay, mommy. I’ve already eaten what I wanted. We can can just get food from somewhere with a hot meal. Can we have fried chicken for tonight?”

The adults looked at the little girl in the backseat at the same time with what she said.

“I thought you wanted a hot meal,” said her dad.

“Fried chicken,” asked her mom in surprise. “But Soojin, don’t you want something to warm your stomach, like noodles or soup?”

He was listening attentively because this just gave away what she had in mind for dinner, but of course she would always let her daughter choose. After all, her happiness came first. “I know, I know.”

The mother-daughter pair looked at the person behind the wheel and waited for him to voice out his idea.

“Why don’t we get fried chicken for Soojin from the 24-hour place, then we’ll get you your soup from the restaurant no too far from our place?”

Seohyun nodded with the solution and with that, he drove off and went to get his daughter’s fried chicken.
 

 

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Author's note: This week will be a bit much busier compared to the others, but in my next update, I promise to post all the other chapters at once. Don't forget to hit subscribe (if there are still actually people going here on aff-- pretty aware that it wasn't like how it was before, I felt almost everyone gradually leaving as we enetered the third generation of kpop and I was one of those who disappeared as well 😅) and tell me what you guys think in the comments section below and I shall see you soon when I post the next chapters!

BTW, YOU GUYS MIGHT HAVE HEARD THAT AN ENDEMIC WILL BE DECLARED SOON. Yes, it's true, but covid is definitely here to stay, but they will only manifested as a simple flu, cough, and/or colds. After the endemic has been declared, please make sure to still isolate yourselves when you're experiencing those three because it may no longer be a simple fever (especially when you're vaccinated, they really only manifest lightly as a simple uncomfortable feeling) and wear a mask when going outside. Please always take care and stay safe!