"Okay, girls! Screen time is over," Mingi exclaimed as he walked into the living room, promptly turned their living room television off despite all the complaints from his daughters, roars of plaints and whines following. However, the youngest one, Eunji, seemed rather excited for screen time to be over since she started to clap her hands and reach out for Mingi to grab her. The sunshine in her eyes glistened as the roses bloomed on her pale skin, chubby hands grasping for the hold of her father. Mingi bent over and picked Eunji up, arms immediately wrapping around her father's neck and resting her head on his shoulder, small pigtails tickling his skin. She was by far the most obedient of the three, but she also had this unconditional love for her father that left her unable to disregard his authority. She looked just like Mingi too, small eyes and thick lips, pointed nose and maybe that's what aided in her affinity to her father. She looked just like him while the other two daughters perfectly mirrored Jongho, round eyes, round nose, round cheeks. Eunji was like a little puppy, blindly following Mingi as her superior, but he would never lead her astray. His love for her was too great to do so, "It's time to go on a walk," he announced, adjusting Eunji in his arms as he walked towards the foyer where everyone's shoes sat on a shelf. Eunji chanted a relentless mantra of 'Pink!" referring to her pink, jelly shoes that she refused to leave the house without. 

"But Daddy!" whined Eunae, tone something she had learned from Jongho when he whined at Mingi, "I want one more movie! I was at school all day," she sprawled out, arms spread wide and invading Eunhye's personal space, the second oldest and the one with the most patience of them all. 

As a six-year-old, the hardest thing she had to do during the day was read and play. First grade was a joy ride and she had no pressing responsibilities to attend to after school. She had already watched a movie today, there was no room for another, not when there were so many other options to occupy her time with, such as spending the last few hours before bedtime with her entire family outside where they could focus on each other rather than on made-up cartoon characters. Jongho wanted to limit exposure to imaginary situations and stories based on the likeness of young children and preferred real-life interaction with people. Screen time was limited so their children would have to play with each other and so far it proved to work with their social skills, but that had no shortage of complaints from the oldest daughter. Eunae liked to challenge the authority of both her parents even when it was unnecessary. She was more acquiescent towards Jongho, but he wasn't here right now. It was up to Mingi to wrangle their daughters and prepare them to leave the house while Jongho readied the dog and water bottles for the family to drink if needed. It was still hot in late summer, heated enough to leave the five of them sweating within five minutes. 

"Well, instead of rotting your brain, you can spend the rest of your day with your sisters, Mommy, and Daddy. I'm sorry we're being so horrible and unfair," he joked, smiling and praising Eunhye as she hopped off the couch and ran towards Mingi and Eunji, ready to put her shoes on as well. She was an efficient shoe lacer now and could do so within seconds without help. She had earned three M&Ms from the candy jar the first time she did so without Jongho's help, "You'll like it once you're outside," another groan from his eldest indicated that she was heading over now, but not without stomping her feet and mumbling under her breath, “You always do, right?” again, no answer. Just mumbling. 

Scrapes of excited claws against hardwood entered the room, "Hwan's ready," Jongho happily announced as he entered the room with their one-year-old, fluffy standard poodle on a leash, tall enough to nose perfectly at Jongho's round belly, pregnant with their only son and last child. It had been the luck of the draw since they had been trying for one since they had their second daughter, and now their little boy was growing strong and healthy and that was all they could ask for. Although technically, he was their second son since they had Hwan, he was their first human baby as opposed to a fur baby, "He's our excited little boy," Jongho cooed with a raised voice, open-mouthed smile as per habit. Hwan yipped in excitement, nosing at and Eunhye who had scrambled to touch and pet their puppy. She was Hwan's biggest fan and Hwan was her biggest fan, "He needs to get all his zoomies out or he'll run around the house all night." 

When all their daughters were finished getting ready, Mingi straightened up once his shoes were on and spoke in his best dad voice, "Should we use the stroller today?" he turned to face his youngest daughter since she was the reason they used the stroller right now, "What do you think, Jiji? Do you want the stroller tonight or no stroller?" options were a favorite in this house when offered, but Jongho was the biggest enforcer. Mingi was a fan of his children doing as he asked since he never asked for anything too difficult, but he was attempting to improve at doing so. They all responded better faced with options rather than being told what to do directly. A perfect example being earlier when Eunae complained at Mingi's request. 

Choices were a learning technique and it was more for Eunji's benefit as she processed decision making and making good choices. Being given choices excited her since it was her deciding for herself rather than her parents. It delivered a sense of independence that she would need as one of the younger children, "No! I walk with Unnies!" she shouted, reaching out and hugging onto Eunae who hugged back with enthusiasm. Her mood had improved greatly and she was now excited to leave the house. 

"Okay, no stroller then," Jongho chirped as he handed water flasks to all of his daughters, covered in pictures of butterflies and princesses or whatever the individual daughters decorated their bottles with before he walked to the front door. It was more of a waddle as the round ligament pain affected his movement and limited the speed he could travel, being seven months pregnant. Walking in the evening had become routine to alleviate the pain and it also makes their son very happy when Jongho moves around for half an hour. Jongho was sure it rocked him to sleep and the constant movement was pleasant for him. There were only benefits to walking and it was even better when it was with his entire family when he had someone to talk to, "But you have to promise that you'll walk the whole time and won't ask for Daddy to hold you when you get too tired," it was often how the night ended and they were waiting for the day she could walk on her own without whining to be held, "You're a big girl and big girls can walk on their own. Promise me, please." 

"I promise!" she exclaimed, stamping her little feet as the internal excitement increased, "Jiji promises!" well, a promise was a promise. 

"I'll hold you to that, little lady," Jongho nodded with a chubby-cheeked smile as he handed the leash to Mingi, now occupying his empty hands with the house keys and the hand of Eunae who was ready to go, "Let's go!" the opening of the front door was like releasing the floodgates as children and dogs bolted from the house. Eunae had dropped her mother’s hand in favor of running to grab the dandelion she had spotted and in the excitement, Eunji followed resulting in Hwan sprinting to run with his sisters. Eunhye had been the only one to stay still, holding tight to Mingi’s hand even when her father was being dragged by their pet. 

Mingi had hold of the leash and he made sure he had a firm grip on the handheld portion so their pet didn’t pummel his daughters or run too far away, Jongho closing the front door behind them. Mingi braced himself, grunt leaving his lips, “Hwan, calm down, buddy!” obedient as ever, the poodle looked back at Mingi and stuck his tongue out, lolling to the side before turning back to interact with Eunae who was now blowing the seeds off the single dandelion she had plucked from the grass. Eunji poked at the seeds that flew by, giggling in delight as they passed her like summer's snow. One clung to her fringe and stuck out like a stray antenna, short-lived as Eunae reached out and removed it from her hair with excited noises, parting it askew and revealing more of her forehead to the evening sun. 

The sky was a lemon yellow, radiant orange, darkening to crimson the further it extended past the horizon line of the Korean mountains in the distance. Everyone held the same orange in their eyes and it gleamed among the tanned skin of every member. Being outside was the best part of their day, especially when the sky was so pretty and so warm. It was better than staying under a roof that blocked nature's natural beauty that Jongho adored so much. These evening walks weren't just for his body and succoring in the way it was still stretching even on his fourth baby, but it was also for his need to admire his surroundings and how they have blessed him and his family. If Jongho could spend the day doing anything he wanted, he would choose to go to the mountains and camp and eat fruit all day with all of his children, their puppy, and Mingi. And even taking a walk around their suburban neighborhood after a day full of running after his children was just as good, and he finalized that it wouldn't be right without the