[park]

Crescent
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Hwayoung squeals as she goes for another round of the slide with Byul holding on to her, before they splash into the water where Yunho is waiting, not having enough time to even catch his daughter. Hwayoung pulls Byul with her again, wanting to go onto the slide for another round.

"Hwayoung, you're making Byul tired-"

"I'm not tired, let her be," Byul says, already out of the water as Hwayoung pulls her out urgently, with them hiking up the steps to go to the beginning of the slide again.

There is no one else at the slide because apparently the child finds joy even in the simplest water attraction, while others are more interested in other areas of the water park, and not the slide which looked like it was abandoned before Hwayoung decided to use it.

Yunho looks up to the top, spotting the pair as Hwayoung eagerly sits on the slide, waiting for Byul to hold her from behind. He chuckles as he sees them sliding down, Hwayoung putting out her arms, squealing like it's her first time on the slide when it must have been at least 20 times. He catches them as they splash into the water, taking Hwayoung out of the water and places her on his shoulders.

"Come on, let's go try something else. How many times did you go on the slide?"

Hwayoung places a hand on top of her dad's head, her tiny fingers counting down as her face scrunches up in concentration. "Was it 20?"

"Smart girl," he praises her as they wade through the water.

Byul follows by his side as they go through a tunnel, plunging them into semi-darkness. Hwayoung is amused by the fact that their voices echo in the short tunnel that she starts singing, rocking her body back and forth as she belts out the lyrics to the song her dad liked to sing to her.

"The sun is blue, the star is purple, flowers are dancing with music on the side," she chants and tugs at Yunho's hair softly. "Sing it with me, dad! Byul-ie too!"

Despite feeling melancholic at the sudden rush of memories of where the lyrics had brought him and Eunbi to, he sings along, not realizing that he has stopped walking through the water and that drops of his tears have made his cheeks wet. He hopes that none of the two notice it, as the surrounding is dark and the water might've mixed with his tears.

He's too focused on controlling the sob from coming out of his mouth that it's only when Byul's fingers dig into the skin at the crook of his elbow that he realizes she's holding on to him, looking confused.

"Sorry," she enunciates. "It's dark in here that I don't know where I'm going. I just needed a guide."

"You could've told me if you wanted to feel my muscles."

"Excuse me?"

"I'm kidding." He makes sure that he holds on firmly to Hwayoung with his left hand, and gives a crooked arm to her. "Here, you can hold on to my arm."

If this is his attempt at flirting with her, he's surely doing a great job because the heat rises up to her cheeks, but she's thankful that it's hidden underneath the shadows. They emerge into the open, and it feels that they can finally get a breath of fresh air as the walk through the tunnel while going through the water wasn't an easy task.

When he sees that they're finally out in the open, he puts Hwayoung down, letting her swim as he watches on, making sure that her arm floaties are enough to keep her head above the surface.

They spend the rest of the time as three by mostly going to the children's area, letting Hwayoung explore the place on her own as they keep an eye on her. Byul and Yunho sit at the side of the pool, getting their feet soaked in water as they watch Hwayoung enjoying herself, occasionally waving at them as she's about to go down a slide or enter into a tunnel.

Their smiles never let up as they lovingly watch Hwayoung, until she tries to get into another round of the slide and she is pushed over by a boy much bigger and older than her, cutting the line. She falls onto the platform as she braces the fall with her hands, crying immediately as she scrapes her knee.

"Oh hell no, he did not just do that to my daughter," Byul stands up, the water sloshing around her ankles as she wades furiously towards the structure, Yunho following not long after. She climbs up the structure and wipes away Hwayoung's tears as she calms her down. She picks her up, goes down to the level of the pool before her eyes scan the whole area, Hwayoung in her arms still having her breath hitched from the nonstop tears. "Now where is that boy? I need to have a talk with his mother."

With a crying Hwayoung in her arms and Yunho by her side feeling equally angry, they approach the family of four gathered by the side, the boy's mother sipping on some juice as she wears a wide-brimmed hat and sunglasses, looking unbothered at what her child did.

"Excuse me," Byul tries to use a calmer tone, not wanting to provoke anything at first, even though she feels like she'd burst as Hwayoung still hasn't stopped crying. She hands over Hwayoung to Yunho, who takes her gently before using his thumb to wipe away her tears. He pats her head to calm her down, then rubbing his palm over her scraped knee.

"Excuse me," she tries again when it seems that the family is still ignoring them. "Excuse me, I need to talk to you about how your kid treated mine. It's unacceptable."

"Your kid?" she scoffs. "A legitimate one? Must be a child born out of wedlock seeing how the two of you are. Tattoos all over; what do you do, sell drugs?"

"Honey, stop it," the woman's husband taps on her shoulder as he looks a bit timid, different from his wife. Their children look on innocently, including the boy who never thought he did anything wrong.

This time, Byul lets out a sharp breath as she looks at her in bewilderment. She gives a look to Yunho and he understands; he clamps his hand over Hwayoung's ear and angles his shoulder to close the other one, blocking her from listening on.

"What did you say about my child, my husband and I? We're married and why does it matter whether the child is born before or after the marriage? It doesn't change the fact that she's ours. And these tattoos," she points a finger to her, "do not define who we are. Why, look at you, old woman. You don't have any tattoos but your mouth stinks like a drain. It wouldn't be a wonder, would it? Since I know where your child got his attitude from. Your son needs to apologize to my daughter right now."

"You , you think I'm scared of you? I'll call the police if you don't stop right now. Why are you so uptight about some minor accident? Relax, they're kids. Let them be kids."

"Well yeah, they're kids and that's exactly why you have to teach them manners. It doesn't give the excuse for them to do whatever they like. Call the police but I'll make sure I'll punch you in the face first before I get taken away."

Yunho is quietly cheering Byul on, momentarily forgetting that they're not a real couple. The way Byul is defending Hwayoung sounds exactly like what a mother would do, and he's actually pretty grateful she is here.

"Honey, that's enough-" the husband keeps on pleading, but she ignores him, already feeling challenged.

"Try me , I'll make sure your get sued for messing with me."

"Yunho, Byul, is there something wrong?" a familiar voice approaches them and they turn to see Akira and Seonghwa, finished with their rounds at the water park. They're about to go back to the designated meeting place, but noticed Byul confronting a family.

"The boy pushed her when she was trying to get onto the slide, and she scraped her knee, but they don't want to apologize. Byul is trying to get things straight with them."

"Byul," Seonghwa says shortly before turning to the woman, "Mrs., what your child did was wrong and you have to teach him that he has to apologize after doing something wrong. You can't let him be, or he'll grow up with no manners."

"What are you, a bunch of gangsters who are trying to teach me on how I can raise up my kids? How disappointing."

"Excuse me, woman. You're the disappointing one here," Akira butts in as she sidesteps Yunho.

Now the three of them: Byul, Seonghwa and Akira are towering over them, over the family who is still refusing to admit their mistakes.

"Oh shut up, you look like a e yourself. I

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Comments

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Magbuull5245 #1
Chapter 70: By far the best book I have read. Laughing, crying, deep thinking. Just amazing!
jeongsclown
#2
Chapter 3: LMFAO THEY'RE SO CHAOTIC I LOVE IT
Manna-chan #3
Chapter 70: This story is amazing! You are so talented, the flow of the story, the way you managed to tell about all of them without it seeming forced or weird. I love it, thank you for making me smile, cry, smile again and cry happy tears at the end. Thank you for sharing this story with us <'333
WiltedStar
#4
Chapter 1: You're such a great writer.
Jade_Flower #5
Chapter 70: Loved it!!
TaeTae_wife
#6
Chapter 70: I so love your story! It's the fist Ateez story that I read and it's WOW!
Congratulations!!!! <3
MsPinKai
#7
Chapter 70: THANK YOU FOR MAKING ME SHED HAPPY TEARS ??? this was EVERYTHING!!!! One of the best written stories & plotline ever! ❤️❤️❤️❤️
Animeakume
#8
Chapter 70: prepared my heart for a tragic ending but tHANK GOD ??? shed happy tears instead but it’s all worth it

i love this whole story so much! defs one of my go tos for rereading <3 thank you so much for this amazing story
Animeakume
#9
Chapter 57: i cracked and bawled my eyes out when yunho and byul repeated that they said back then as trainees ??? the whole “Dont you wish everything here is an illusion” “us, being here?” “No you idiot” back and forth conversation ohmyheart
MsPinKai
#10
Chapter 51: just when I was already believing that she 's not eunbi.......OH. MY. GOD.