Epilogue.

The little kid tilts her head up, looking at Chanyeol with her puppy eyes then pouts, “Daddy, are you really leaving?”

Meanwhile the lady purses her lips together, raising an eyebrow and does a shoulder bump to her husband on the left then shifts her gaze to the other guy who steals a glance at them before answering Hyun Joo’s question. “Yes, sweetie,” he beams then ruffles the little girl’s hair lovingly. “I’ll be back soon and bring a lot of presents for you twins. Don’t worry, okay?”

Joonie hums while nodding quietly then asks, “For how long? You’ll be back after two seasons, right?”

This time, the tall guy laughs then squats down to wrap both of the children in his arms. He squeezes his eyes shut while hugging them tight, expressing his love towards both of the Hyuns – but the mom could not stand to watch it anymore because out of nowhere, she is the one who is getting emotional. And so she step forwards, lightly clapping her hands two times as she instructs, “Okay, kids. Daddy have a flight to catch and a business to take care of, you two should stop acting like Daddy is migrating to somewhere else.”

“I think you are the one who is acting like it though. You are about to cry, aren’t you?” Baekhyun teases, making his wife hisses towards him thus leaving both of the men in laughter.

Chanyeol gets up and offers that lady his arms to run into and she glance towards Baekhyun – earning a nod of approval – before going and share a tight hug with Chanyeol.

“It’s only a few months’ things, isn’t it? For your company…stuff, right?”

“Yup.”

“Not more than that?”

“Absolutely.”

However, her heart still feels heavy. She feels like Chanyeol is going to leave for good, though the man already made it clear that he would stay there in Boston for only six months, at most. “Then why am I like this?”

Chanyeol cracks up and pulls away for a bit just to laugh harder when he sees the lady’s face gets redder as she hold back her tears. “Mr. Baekhyun, why is your wife like this?”

Upon that, the latter hears his man’s chuckles as Baekhyun steps closer towards them. “Definitely no idea why, must be something that runs in blood. Am I right, Hyun Joo baby?” Baekhyun looks down, straight to his daughter whose fingers tug on Chanyeol’s jacket. Those two daughter and mom are acting clingy, being two emotional balls that resemble each other completely, almost like carbon copy of one another.

The tall guy agrees immediately, then hug his friend’s shoulder and pat it lightly. “It wouldn’t feel long at all, trust me. Plus, you got your husband right here,” Chanyeol directing his eyes to the other man who calmly watches them together with a smile on the face. However that peaceful moment breaks with Joonie’s blurt, “Daddy, bring a new aunty for us, please!”, which instantly cracks the laughter, bringing in Chanyeol’s fluster.

“So that more people would pamper you two, am I right?” Baekhyun squints, making the boy smiles sheepishly.

And then it is time for latter to step in, offering a handshake with the former. “Mr. Baekhyun, now that you’re here, don’t you think it’s time for the kids to start calling me ‘Uncle’?”

The other shrugs, “Well, I don’t think I can argue with them, you’ve treated the twins so well all this time. And for that, I owe you so much, really.”

“No, you don’t have to feel that way. I’m glad that I could be a help to your family all this while,” Chanyeol speaks, sincerely. Though he had grown himself some feelings for the lady, that doesn’t change his intention of assisting their family for the past years. It was genuinely meant to aid as a friend, as a human being. The only hope in Chanyeol’s heart now is for the family to continue to be happy, blessed with each other’s presence as for he doesn’t think his heart could stand seeing tears from any of those people anymore. His heart aches together with them this whole time. “As much as I want to say ‘take care of your family’, I would like to go with ‘please take care of your health’ more.” The taller gives a friendly hug towards Baekhyun as he breathes, “They are always rooting for you, sir. Me too.”

Baekhyun couldn’t help but to feel touched upon hearing those words and so he lightly nods. “Thank you, I will. Always.”

“B?”

The man turns his head away from the television screen, shifting his attention to his wife who is currently standing by the island counter in the kitchen together with a ladle in her hand. “Yes, baby?”

“That screen has turned black since a while ago, what were you staring at?”

Confused, the man pivots back glancing at the screen then tilts upwards to the air humidifier before flinching off the couch. “What just happened? We already paid this month’s bills, right?”

The lady shakes her head and walks towards the sink as she softly chuckles, “It’s just due to the power outage they’ve remind us a week ago, Byun. Did you forget?”

“Oh, yes. I forgot about that,” he scratches the back of his head while sheepishly beams. Once again, the man turns to the kitchen’s direction but this time kneeling on the couch, craning his neck to check out what his wife is doing over there. “Are you done with the soup?”

“Yup.” She waves a spoon at his husband. “Do you want to try some?”

To be honest Baekhyun have been waiting for that invitation ever since the smell of that mushroom soup spreads, filling the whole condominium unit. It has been a while since the family moved here to the house that the man bought for his wife and children, about five or six months after he was discharged from the hospital. Now it feels like everything is back to their place, with his health is improving according to the follow-up checkups that he has been attending. Baekhyun has also finds that his mind is healing thanks to the endless support from his beloved wife and little children, together with the support group that his wife suggested him to join.

And so Baekhyun jumps off where he was sitting at, striding towards the lady at the kitchen with a grin on his face.

“Can I have a bowl of it instead of only a spoonful?”

The lady jokingly clucks her tongue while reaching out for what her husband cutely asked for while the man loyally waits besides her like a puppy, never taking his gaze away from her.

“You better tell me that it tastes good, okay?”, she playfully threatens then continues, “You’ve been eating a lot lately, honey.”

“Isn’t that good? I think my appetite is coming back, I keep on craving things.”

“I’m always glad to see that, or to cook for you. But you’ve been wanting to munch up almost everything, even the food that you seldom have before.” Then the lady shrugs before putting down the filled bowl to the table and joins her husband for his food-tasting session, “Well as long as you’re still staying away from the cucumber, it can be considered very normal, isn’t it?”

She looks up, shifting her gaze to Baekhyun however the man seems to not giving any attention to her small inside jokes, as for those sparkly eyes are pinning on the soup in front of him.

The lady is deadpanned by that sight she is having meanwhile Baekhyun himself, is currently filling with mixed feels, he has no idea why he is getting emotional over a bowl of mushroom soup right at this moment.

“Are you that happy, Byun?”

“Yes!”

“Then eat well, after this we can go out to pick the kids up from school,” she instructs and ruffles Baekhyun’s hair lovingly.

Now that the lady could experience touching those soft strands once again, she is more than grateful. Only God knows how emotional she gets everyday – either seeing Baekhyun sleeping soundly or cackling and chortling with the twins.

For the first two months after the last treatment, they had an agreement with the consultants for Baekhyun to avoid being in public, especially since his white blood counts had not reached the safe levels.

Thus Baekhyun have been exercising with her once in two days, thanks to the treadmill and yoga mat that they have at home. And also every weekend, the routine would change a bit – since the kids are at home – to aerobic dance exercise, just for them to have some fun while staying fit.

Of course there are days that the man would grow tired only after 10 minutes of working out so they would change the routine into light exercises for a few days after – until Baekhyun could adapt once more.

And now almost a year have passed, the season is changing again from winter to spring which brings back all the memories since a year ago.

“It’s very warm even it’s still snowing out there,” Baekhyun suddenly speaks up, making his wife blinks at him a few times, clueless.

“The boiler has been turned off too, Byun. Power outrage…no electricity, remember? You're supposed to feel really cold right now.”

“Yes, but still…”

“Are you sure it’s not because of the hot soup you’re having right now?”

Upon that, Baekhyun raises up his spoon and hisses to his wife, earning giggles from her. “I’m trying to be sentimental here, miss, please. Don’t ruin it.”

“Okay, okay,” she finishes her chuckles and clears . “Well…what were you thinking earlier? You zoned out for a pretty while.”

“I did?”

The lady bobs her head immediately and hums as an answer meanwhile that husband of hers raises an eyebrow as he tried to remember.

“I don’t know? Maybe it’s not even a thing, like, I was simply daydreaming or something?”

She huffs in disappointment, not knowing whether those words are true or not, “Oh, by the way…I have something to show you.”

Baekhyun is puzzled as he watches his wife dashes into their room out of sudden, even more confused when the lady comes over again with an envelope in her hand as she fans it around him.

“What’s that?”

“The official invitation~ We are the first guest being invited~”, she sings playfully while taking the card out, making her husband thinks for a second before the man let out a loud gasp, covering his widened mouth with both of his hands.

“Minseok hyung?”

The lady lifts her head up, narrowing her eyes to Baekhyun who seems very unnecessarily flabbergasted.

“Aren’t your company is the one who is going to sponsor the bridal outfit, so you should have known about this long beforehand, right? Then why are you even surprised?”

“No? I don’t think Minseok has made any reservation or booking with our company.”

“Then where will he be getting his outf–”

Both of them had their eyes widened as they turn to each other, exchanging their look of disbelief then gasp in unison, "No way." 

“Kim Minseok you traitor!”

I joke while we burst to the room, leaving Minseok in temporary confusion as he shifts his gaze to me and Baekhyun who stands by my side with his arms crossed. The doctor takes off his glasses and leans against his chair think for a while before catching the idea of the situation, immediately cracking a laugh and raises his hands up – surrendering.

“I had no choice, kids!”

This time, Baekhyun whines, “Hyung, you’ve promised me before~”

Looking at my husband’s childish act, I purse my lips together to hold myself from laughing as I need to stay in the character.

“How dare you betray your lifetime friends like this…,” I show a pout in the end of my lines, making the oldest roll his eyes and granting both me and Baekhyun a gentle knock on the forehead since we haven’t stop messing around with him.

“Do you two really have to do this to this extend?” Minseok asks uninterestedly, at the same time smiling out of amusement for us barging into his office just because we found out he made a reservation with LoEY Designs, and not ‘By B’.

Baekhyun clears his throat awkwardly then takes a seat, “Sorry, this person right here is the one who planned the sketch.”

I gape at the man who is directing his finger to point at me.

“Excuse me? You're the one who arranged our scripts.”

“Guys?”

“Sorry,” both of us immediately apologized just like toddlers who made mistake before I fake a cough. “So…?”

“It was my fault for not telling you two earlier,” the doctor admits then directs his gaze to Baekhyun. “Especially you Baek, I know you have been very excited all this time. Ever since you started your own brand. I would love too, if I could wear something embroidered with my best buddy’s own cloth brand on my wedding. But Chanyeol couldn’t attend the wedding, so he insisted to take part in this, since he feels sorry towards Ye Eun.”

“Aw, that’s okay.”

I back away slightly then Baekhyun supports, “You know we were just messing around, right?”

“Of course. I’d almost think that you two have been spending so much time watching drama series at home, then I realize, perhaps you guys have been attending too many kindergarten talent shows.”

Minseok's jokes shoots with sarcasm, earning an eye-roll from me. But I wouldn’t deny both of those assumption, for the past months – since Baekhyun only comes to his office twice or thrice in a week meanwhile I have been working from home – both of us waste our time in front of the television, sometimes fight over the remote control or bickers over which character of the drama is attractive.

However most of our television hours are filled with my tears watching over a melodrama TV series and Baekhyun’s sigh as he quietly passes down a box of tissues for me to blow my nose.

“So how you’re doing? Both of you? Baekhyun?”

I change my posture to sitting up straight, noticing that Minseok has also shifts his 'character' only with a slight difference in his gaze towards us. Baekhyun grabs my hand and steals a glance before answering, “I’ve been feeling very well these days.” That husband of mine grins, “Nowadays she brings me jogging out in the park every morning, feeding me with only healthy meals.” For a moment, he turns and squints, "Sometimes too strictly, like a personal trainer."

"Well, that sounds good then."

"I know I'm doing a great job assisting him." I wiggle my brow at my husband, receiving his eyes roll.

“Then how about your bowels? Bladder?”

“Absolutely fine. This one right here,” Baekhyun pats his belly then make a ‘perfect’ gesture,