When Sehun was ten, he thought he met the love of his life in the form of a little blonde with cute pigtails. She had a permanent flush with freckles sprayed on her face, and she’d always looked artfully beautiful. When he spoke to her, he realized his brain was ten steps ahead of her.

But it wasn’t just her. It was his entire class of peers. When he went off on random tangents that he’d overheard from his dad, his friends, two rowdy boys who were definitely more interested in playing tag with girls but would ironically run away in the fear of catching cooties, blinked at him.

To say the least, he spent another seven years trying to find his match. It was futile. His girlfriends were mostly interested in his ual prowess and his wealthy, at the moment, very single dad. It’s weird to admit, but it wasn’t something that he was bitter over. It never drove a rift between him and his dad. The two were as close as always, and at that time, they could incorporate e jokes into their daily routine.

His dad thought better of it, and he did his best to raise Sehun. He never blamed his dad for not being able to teach him things about girls. First of all, he had plenty of education from Hub and also his four-year-long ual conquest in high school. He liked to think that he had a knack of sorting through girls.

Sehun is an atypical . The one who hid behind amiable smiles and easy wittiness. He knows he’s got a trust fund in store, so honestly, the boy had nothing to lose.

So, he did whatever he wanted. In high school, he partied until he’d woken up after several blackouts. He’d play with girls like they were accessible. It was as easy as exchanging a few lines with hidden messages. All he had to do was lie through his teeth and maybe purchase them something excessive.

Up until the second semester of his senior year in high school, Sehun didn’t have an interest in living past twenty-one. To his dad’s dismay, he was more likely to die from alcohol poisoning and drug overdose. Maybe catch an STD or two along the way. He didn’t really care. After all, his own mother ed off before he could even form an opinion about her. He tried his best to not let it show in front of his dad.

He didn’t want to depress his dad, but Sehun had serious mommy issues. It was like even at the comfortable age of seventeen, he could feel that he wasn’t meant for that life. The domestic kind where you settled down with a trophy wife and several kids. He didn’t think he was destined for love. It had a lot to do with the fact that his mother practically disowned him, but it was also in the way that the love chemistry in his body was whack. If he were to do a science experiment on himself, he’d find unbalanced equations and broken DNA chains.

So maybe he was being a little dramatic, but it didn’t help that his choices were limited to girls who weren’t capable of thinking about anything but themselves. It went for both the smart girls and the gorgeous girls. Both sets had their downsides. With the smart girls, they had their share of deadly silent exchanges, and also most of them had that dominatrix quality going on in the background. It’s hot, sure, but Sehun wasn’t sure he wanted to spend his life appeasing to them. And the really, pretty girls knew they were a catch. He had to do the chasing. It was also fun, but Sehun couldn’t see himself having to deal with attention-stealing succubi on a daily basis.

There was only so much that he could pretend to be interested in after the first date.

So, there it is. The story of his life. Sehun would be alone with minor side chicks until the day he died. Or so he thought.

Until he met his three best friends. Haeeun, Kyungsoo, and Jongin. He was eternally grateful that it was so easy being with them. He kept the faking to a minimum until he realized that he didn’t need to anymore. The three just accepted him.

He was ecstatic to finally be apart of something that felt more intimate than any other friendships he’s ever had so far. To say the least, he felt like a little boy who was invited to his first birthday party when Kyungsoo let him join the all exclusive movie nights.

That’s when he met the little girl who forever changed his life. First, she barreled straight into him and gave him an injury that would forever be ingrained in his mind. In the beginning, he was pretty amused by her lack of interest in him. Sehun was usually great with kids, but in fact, it was like she had an aversion toward him.

Do Kyungha, Kyungsoo’s very tiny little sister, had a killer mouth and was often frank with him about everything. She was extremely smart, scarily so at the age of four. She could out speak kids four times her age, and that was impressive in itself.

Then again, it really wasn’t a challenge because his peers were more interested in the aspect of joining fraternities to spend four years hovering on the edge of death by intoxication.

Through his tiny muse, he’d find several opportunities to get her riled up. He wasn’t sick in the head or anything. He definitely wasn’t attracted to a four-year-old, but he’d felt a certain triumph in finding someone who could be his match. It didn’t matter if that brain belonged to a petite entity.

Sehun didn’t really think much about her after leaving for DC. He’d see her around the holidays when he’d flown back to visit and she was always still that tiny, feisty girl. She was someone he was attuned to. He was comfortable with the distance that she’d forcibly put between them and his stubbornness of teasing her way too frequently.

Then, she turned sixteen and after the brief years of seeing her one or two times, he couldn’t believe that the once tiny girl grew to a towering height. She was almost too pretty to be real when he’d seen her sprawled on the floor with her all too familiar glare. Except it wasn’t familiar. She felt different, and it was like seeing her for the first time.

So, he couldn’t help himself with resorting to the same childish teasing he’d always given her. What made him even more amused was the fact that her reactions hadn’t changed. Sehun still flustered her, and he grew to really adore her glares.

In the beginning, it felt innocent. He was someone who thought of her as a little sister. It was easy in the beginning because she was always so tiny and cute, but it stopped becoming easy after their encounter at Kyungsoo and Jongin’s wedding.

It got increasingly harder for Sehun to keep PG thoughts. He deluded himself into thinking that once he got into a routine, he’d grow bored and familiar with their dynamic. He was so utterly wrong. Because every time she’d flashed her rare smile that she’d only show to him personally once in a blue moon, he’d feel his entire insides dissolved into a pile of mush.

He’d then feel worse the day after for having those erse thoughts because, Christ, she was only sixteen. It didn’t matter if she was so much more intelligent than her age. She was a minor, and he was a full-grown adult. Though he didn’t feel like one with her. He felt like everything around her. A reliable adult, a little boy, and the pinnacle of awkward boners.

It only got worse when she kissed him because he knew then that it was over. His self-control, the voice in his head telling him to stop before he was confined in a jail cell, and when he kissed her back, everything felt right when in fact, it was the wrongest thing he’d ever done. He laid hands on a ing child and she was also conveniently his best friend’s little sister.

Sehun self-promoted himself from to major scum of the earth. That didn’t change the fact that he went with it. But he did cut it out with the kissing, but everything else? Their late-night conversations, the familiar weight of her on his lap—he’d allowed himself only that. But it wasn’t enough, and in the end, he ruined it. She walked out of his life, and for four years, he subjected himself to a devious woman. The type of woman who controlled everything and then she controlled him, and the worst of it? He let her because he was so tired of missing Kyungha all the time.

He thought that that was the best he’d get in his life, and maybe he deserved a suffocating life with a woman that he tried his best to love after all he’s done to wrong other people. Sehun also realized that he would never escape from the excruciating shame of hurting the only precious thing he had in his life.

But she came back. In his hospital at that. She’d grown even taller and even more tantalizing. Do Kyungha is everything that was bad for him, but he indulged himself anyway, and then, he finally came to the grating awareness that he’d been in love with her for a long time.

And no. Not when she was four or whatever other numbers you’re thinking. erts.

He’d made jokes with his dad, but he hadn’t meant to actually live them through. He could only be eternally grateful for the fates ing her back into his life at the comfortable age of twenty.

When Kyungha kissed him that day and told her that she wouldn’t lie to him anymore, he knew that she was the one. His match. The one he’d been looking for his entire life. The fates didn’t make it so easy for him, and he’d almost given up toward the end, but she changed that.

She’s done that since the beginning, so Sehun didn’t know why his expectations had been so low. She’d shown him that he could have that life his mother swore him off of. She also taught him that it was okay to be vulnerable around the person you loved because if they’d truly loved you, they would stay planted. Kyungha promised him forever, and honestly, he was sold the day she smiled at him after he shoddily fixed her dress.

Cue to the present and Sehun never once took his life for granted ever again. He didn’t think his life with her would be easy, but he sure as hell would fight every second to be with her.

“Is she mad at you again?” Haeeun asks, eying him with the familiar judge-y expression that makes him feels like he’s under serious persecution. Sometimes, he wonders how Baekhyun could be sane around her.

Sehun tries not to show animosity because everyone seems to take Kyungha’s side these days. Not that he could blame them. He was, as embarrassing as it was to admit, a mistress to her. “I need a drink,” he decrees and proceeds to wave to the bartender.

Haeeun grabs his arms, tugging it down harshly. “No, you dense moron. What you need is to go back home and make sure she’s okay.”

He squints his eyes at her. “You think I haven’t tried? I’m not a teenage boy, Hae.”

She rolls her eyes and lets go of him like he’s a fool. “From the way that you think you can solve your problems with downing shots, I’d beg to differ.”

Out of the three of his friends, Haeeun had been the most clever and she was also very right most of the time. He sighs and ditches his defensiveness. “I just miss her.”

“You literally live with her,” his friend deadpans.

He scowls. “No, stupid. You know that’s not what I meant. She’s just been so fiery lately. I feel like I’m skirting on a thin sheet of ice. I love her, don’t get me wrong, but I’m just at a loss.”

Haeeun chuckles, patting his on his back. “Dude, it’s the pregnancy hormones. You know what you signed up for.”

Sehun rakes a hand through his hair in exasperation. “Easy for you to say. You’re not the one living through it. Besides, Baekhyun’s the one that gets the end of the stick.”

She flashes her dimples at him, her eyes growing misty at the mention of her husband. Normally, people would roll their eyes at this, but Sehun would never. He understood her because that’s how he feels about his beautiful lover. “My first pregnancy wasn’t easy on either of us. It goes both ways, Sehunnie. I couldn’t control my anger and you know my fatal flaw—it’s stubbornness. Baekhyun almost flaked on me, and I wanted to let him. In some way, I was counting down the days that he would just up and leave.”

“He wouldn’t do that. Anyone could see from a mile away that he’s infatuated with you,” Sehun notes.

She snorts. “You’re right, but at the time, it didn’t feel that way. I felt like I was constantly testing his patience, but the moral of the story is: if you love them, stick around. Baekhyun never left, and because of that, I learned from my first pregnancy and the second time around, we were more equipped to deal with the problems. I’m not going to promise you that it’ll get easier, but you just need to show her that you’ll be there. Offer her security. Most importantly, these symptoms aren’t the worst of it. You’ll be in for a treat with post-pregnancy depression.”

Sehun groans, “ me.”

Haeeun’s eyes twinkle with mischief. “It’s time for you to go home, Sehunnie. I bet Kyungha would love to.”

Sehun didn’t stop thinking about Haeeun’s word of advice. It wasn’t that he doubted the longevity of their relationship. Maybe he’d come into this with naivety and he was having the worst wake up call of the century. Hell, he wasn’t even old enough to have a mid-life crisis yet.

When he got home, Kyungha was sitting on the vintage armchair that she painstakingly followed the bidding for at a random auction from one of their dates. Of course, Sehun was so in love with her, he didn’t mind lugging home seventy-five pounds of velvet material.

She was curled on her side, one hand under her the curve of her baby bump and the other resting on the chair. Her eyes were closed and her breathing was steady which indicated she was asleep.

Feeling a tinge of guilt, he immediately crouches down in front of her. He gently gathers her hair away from her face, pulling it back. She stirs, cracking one eye open. To his surprise, Kyungha smiles sleepily at him and stretches out her arms to wrap them around his neck. Her smell makes his stomach lurch and he feels a million pricks in his heart. God. He really did love her so ing much.

“Hey,” she murmurs.

Sehun slides an arm around her back pulling her in and he uses his other hand to cup the back of her head. “Hey, sweetheart. What are you doing still up?”

“Waiting for you,” she answers, yawning. “I was worried, and I was scared that if I went to sleep, you wouldn’t show in the morning.”

He sighs, his heart breaking a little. “I’d never do that to you.”

“I know. I just—I’m sorry for lashing out at you so often. You’re already under a lot of pressure from work. I can’t help but feel guilty all the time when I see how tired you are and on top of that, I’m so ing…needy.”

“Hey,” he prompts. Sehun pulls back a couple of inches to meet her eyes. “You know I don’t care about that. I love you, sweetheart. I’m not taking care of you solely because I feel a sense of responsibility because you’re carrying our baby. It’s because I want to, and it makes me happy when you’re safe and content, okay?”

Kyungha stares at him with a strange expression. “You’re hiding something from me.” He feels a sense of anxiety washing over him. He could always count on her for seeing through him whether he’d wanted her to or not. “Tell me.”

Sehun feels a nervous laugh fall out of him like a broken record. “I’m fine.”

She tsks. “I can’t promise your safety when I find out you’re hiding your insecurities from me because I’m a raging ball of hormones and you don’t want to burden me because you think your problems are inconsequential compared to mine.

He lets out a low whistle. Half out of fear and half out of being impressed that she’s managed to do it again. “How did you know?”

Kyungha laughs, and he feels half of his anxiety melt away. “Power of love, baby.”

Sehun makes a face. “You planning on stealing my crown of being the king of corniness?”

She winks. “Maybe I just want to be a king.”

“Of course, you do,” he says through a smile.

“So, tell me. What’s bothering you?” Kyungha cups his face with both hands, thumbing his cheeks. He tilts his head into her palm, sighing in relief.

Closing his eyes, he answers, “I’m just being pathetic is all.”

“Aren’t you always?”

He opens his eyes to frown at her, but she’s laughing cutely, so he isn’t that offended.

“I’m just messing with you, you big baby. Continue.”

Sehun sighs and when he looks into her eyes, he feels the words form. Normally, he’d never tell his fears to anybody else in this world. Habits were hard to break, but with Kyungha, she was the one person he could trust. “I’m scared of being a parent.” He waits through the nerve-wracking silence.

Kyungha blinks at him. “Oh.”

He groans in mortification, attempting to pull away from her. “. I know. I know. I’m terrible—“

She shakes her head. “That’s not what I’m thinking.”

He freezes, focusing on her eyes again. “Then what are you thinking?”

A warm smile tugs on the corner of her lips, and she kisses him sweetly. “Relieved that I’m not the only one. I’m just jealous that you handle it better than I do. All I can manage is kicking your nowadays.”

Sehun snorts. “To be fair, I’ve been equally on edge.”

“It’s shocking, though. You’re amazing with kids, Hoon. They flock to you like you’re some sort of god.”

He smiles cockily. “Who says I’m not?”

“I want a divorce.”

“We’re not married yet.”

“I hate you.”

Sehun ends up laughing and forgetting why he was so uncomfortable with the aspect of the future in the first place. “And I love you.”

She makes a face, but her eyes grow serious again. “Why are you scared? You have nothing to be worried about.”

He hums, “of course I do. I’m not perfect. I’ve always wanted kids, but we’re having kids. I feel like I have to be perfect because they’re not only mine but yours too.”

“Perfect is overrated. You told me yourself. I’m sure this kiddo in here will unconditionally love you either way.”

Sehun wrinkles his nose. “You make it sound so easy, sweetheart.”

“That’s because it is. I’m constantly scared but I know I can do it if you’re here with me. We’re forever, and it’s better that way. I’m always thankful for your presence every day and I know I haven’t been showing you much of that lately. I’m sorry.”

His heart swells because she’s so incredibly right. “Well, don’t be. You’re pregnant.”

Kyungha’s eyes glimmer with mirth. “And whose fault do you think that is?”

He chuckles adoringly, closing the distance between them. They were going to be just fine, and he had nothing to worry about.

Perhaps Sehun counted his eggs too soon because he had another problem. “I’m sorry—what?”

Kyungha’s doctor levels a look at both of them. “You’re having twins.”

His fiancé gasps and her eyes dart between Dr. Herzberg and Sehun. “,” she curses, and then, she realizes how off-putting her reaction is, so she laughs sheepishly. “I mean—“ In the end, she resorts to burying her face in arms. “I don’t know what I mean.”

Sehun and Dr. Herzberg exchange a worrying look, and her doctor excuses himself for a moment. He reaches her in a long stride and props himself on the chair near the examination bed. “Are you okay?”

She’s still hiding her face. “I’m dying of embarrassment.”

“And why is that?”

“Because what if our kids one day ask what my reaction had been when I found out I was having twins? I’d have to lie and say, ‘oh, honey, the first word I uttered certainly hadn’t been the f-bomb.’”

Sehun laughs at his and gently tugs her up so he can sit beside her. “You’re being melodramatic, sweetheart.”

Kyungha rolls her eyes. “Am I? How can you be so calm? I’m literally freaking the hell out. It’s two times the work. What if I can’t do this?”

“You act if you’re doing this alone, and who was the one who told me that nothing had to be perfect?”

“Touché,” she deadpans. Instinctively, she leans against his shoulder, and Sehun tugs her closer with his closest arm around her neck. “What are we going to do?”

He smiles softly. “As we’ve always been doing. Going with the flow.” Kyungha wrinkles her face, so he squeezes her arm comfortingly. “If you want something concrete, we definitely need another crib and some more androgynous clothes.”

She lets out a relieved laugh. “I bet Kyungsoo’s gonna cry.”

“I bet you a twenty,” he adds knowingly.

They exchange a meaningful look with each other, and at this moment, it was a turning point. Like in history when things couldn’t be the same after a certain moment, this was what he’d felt. Sehun didn’t see this as something suffocating and binding. Not at all.

He saw this as an opportunity. It was the abundance of so many good things being given to him and he couldn’t do anything else but internally celebrate his good fortune.

Sehun was no longer the seventeen-year-old who was lost in the fast-paced world. He’d found his anchor, and now he had two more angels to protect. If you’d asked him if he wanted to go back in time and change anything, he’d never willingly do it. Not when he’s got his entire world beside him in the form of three special individuals.

“What are you hoping for in terms of gender?” He asks.

“I don’t care because I love both of them already.”

He chuckles. “I feel the same way.”

“Great minds think alike.”

“You don’t think they’d be child geniuses before they can walk, right?”

Kyungha’s eyes widen. “Oh, .”

“They’re fraternal,” Sehun explains to his friends.

Kyungsoo chokes on his water. “As in—you’re having twins?”

Kyungha nods. “A boy and a girl.”

Jongin claps enthusiastically. “This calls for a celebration. We’re going to have little Kyungha and Sehun running around!”

Everyone else groans except for the three. “What?” Sehun asks, blinking in confusion.

Haeeun glances at the two of them in concern. “It means you’re practically raising little Einsteins. That’s got to be stressful as hell.”

“You raised Taeyong,” Kyungha points out.

Taeyong pokes his head from behind Soleil. “Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means these two little kiddies will be so much easier than you, brat.”

Sehun sends her a look, and Kyungha sighs, leaning back. “Now if only she could learn a little self-control.”

His fiancé turns to him with an animated glare. “Are you picking a fight with me, Oh Sehun?”

“How could I dare, your highness? Me, a lowly subject?”

She gags, and everyone just ignores them as always. “I’m not marrying you.”

“Try again after she’s not pregnant,” Baekhyun advises.

Haeeun smiles. “Guaranteed to work.”

Sehun cracks a smug smile. “Don’t worry about it. I can try again after tonight.”

Jungkook groans, mortified by the implication. “Dude, there are children here.”

Taeyong rolls his eyes. “I thought we already established that I’m beyond this.”