Jihyo feels like she has slept an entire year.

It’s kind of strange waking up on her back instead of her side after all the long, restless nights with her bulging belly. In fact, she panics for a second before coming to her senses — she’s had the baby. It’s all fine.

There’s nothing but a burst of emotion deep in her chest as she finally has a moment to let that sink into her head. She’s a mother now. 

To her right, Jongkook’s head is bowed, and he’s napping on the chair beside the bed, looking uncomfortable. He looks so peaceful, and she winces, feeling sorry for him. She did kind of curse him out and scream at him throughout the labour yesterday. It’s not entirely his fault the whole ordeal was so horrifying.

She wonders if she’ll get to see her baby again soon. Jiyoung — it’s such a pretty name. Fitting for the cutest baby she’s ever laid eyes on, but she’s definitely biased. 

Jihyo’s fiddling with the remote to raise her bed, when Jongkook wakes up, leaning over to brush a soft kiss her on her temple. 

“Hey.” She greets, smiling warmly. “You should have gone home or something.”

“And leave you alone?” He frowns, shaking his head. “Nah, I didn’t sleep very long anyway.”

“I slept like a baby.” She declares as he takes her hand carefully.

“I know.” Jongkook grins. “Speaking off... I went to see Jiyoung again.”

“Yeah?” Jihyo’s eyes light up, and she’s childishly jealous. “How is she?”

“The prettiest baby in the entire nursery.” He boasts, a smug smile on his face. “She has your eyes. Have I told you that I really wanted her to have your eyes?”

“Maybe once or twice.” She laughs, and he’s taken aback by her beauty all over again. There are dark circles under her eyes, and her hair is still in a mess from all that aggravated yelling hours ago, but she’s easily the most gorgeous woman he’s ever laid eyes on. 

“Where’s my mother?” Jihyo asks, remembering.

“She went home. So did mine, they’ll come back afterwards.” Jongkook shrugs. “Just so you know, they are already calling dibs on our child.” 

“Somin? Kwangsoo?”

“Jaesuk made them go home too. He said to give you rest, and you know how they obey him more.”

“I think I might have to send them both an apology.” She winces, squeezing her eyes shut in embarrassment. 

“I’m sure they understand.” He smirks, lifting the barrier to her bed so he can move over to hold her. She does, burrowing into his chest while he tucks her head under his chin. 

They fit like a puzzle. They always do, but it feels different now. They are parents, and this is the first time they are able to properly let that sink in without anyone else intruding. Peace after the storm, he supposes. He holds her tight, kissing the crown of her head, wondering how did he ever get so lucky.

“I love you.” Jihyo breathes, still emotional. “I wanted to tell you that but I fell asleep.”

He wonders if she can secretly read his mind, because it’s exactly what he wants to tell her every single moment. He leans in to kiss her, claiming her lips to show his own declaration.

There are no words that can describe his love for her. She’s his one true constant, and he can’t help but be totally charmed by her simple beauty. To think that they are parents to the cutest baby girl! He’s been blessed all his life with his career, and now he’s finally able to enjoy the rest with her. 

Jongkook pulls away, breathless. “You know I love you too.” 

it. He doesn’t need an elaborate plan. That’s all show biz, and he’s already gone on one knee in front of a good dozen of cameras, they don’t need anything showy for the rest of the world. She’s a simple woman, and he knows what she likes and what she doesn’t. Jihyo doesn’t ask for much even if he thinks she deserves the world.

And he’s going to make sure she gets it. 

Only one thing left to do now. He digs into his pocket, feeling her confusion when he gets up from the bed. Her little gasp is all he needs to hear as he pulls out the tiny ring box he grabbed hastily last morning when he went for filming. 

“Bear with me.” He mumbles shyly, catching her eye. She’s still sitting upright in bed, very surprised. “But I need to do this once and for all.” 

Jongkook lowers, balancing himself as he finds the space to kneel on his good knee. It’s very deja vu, seeing him on the hospital floor like this, like all those months ago when she found out she was pregnant. This time, there are tears in her eyes and he’s more prepared, because right there in his left hand is an opened jewelry box, and the ring is held up securely in his right hand. 

“Oppa...” Just like before, Jihyo steps out of the bed, never mind that she’s slightly wobbly on her feet. This can’t be happening. She knew he had a proposal in mind for months, but she’s never expected this. 

“Song Jihyo... Cheon Seong Im.” He says calmly, looking up at her. Then, after a beat, he adds in cheekily. “Cheon Sooyeon.” 

“Stop.” Jihyo warns, but she’s beaming, her cheeks damp with surprised and happy tears. 

“I’ve proposed to you countless of times, but the first ever time we were here, in a different room after you fainted on set.” He frowns, like he hasn’t let that particular incident go. “The next few times, you turned me down because you thought I was joking. And the second proper time? You said you couldn’t get married with a baby bump.” 

“They say third time’s the charm, and I really hope it is the case here.” He laughs, unable to tear his eyes away from her. “There’s no one else in my life that I’d want to share this with you. They may say we did this in the wrong order, but our end is the same as every other love story out there.”

“Romeo and Juliet ended in deaths.” Jihyo says, deadpanned.

“Every other romantic fairytale love story.” Jongkook corrects, unwavering. 

“You’re very dramatic, you know?” She whispers, tears streaming down her cheeks. 

“So I’ve been told.” He smiles, watching her return it. “Jihyo... I love you. You already know that. But I love you so much I want to spend the rest of my life with you, and our daughter. I want to wake up to you every morning and I want to catch all the bugs for you.”

She rolls her eyes endearingly at that, more tears spilling.

“We’ve spent enough of our lives wandering around. If you told me a decade ago that I’d be proposing to the woman who tried to scare us in a horror production the Family Outing crew put on, I would have laughed and told you to make a better joke.”

“I just want to grow old with you.” He finishes softly, gazing up at her with eyes full of love, unable to look away. “We were pretty stupid trying to think of an agreement to work things out when we first found out about Jiyoung. But I don’t think we are now. I know exactly where I want to be, and it’s with you. Always.”

“That’s quite the speech.” Jihyo mumbles, touched beyond words. She doesn’t know what to say. He’s on the floor with his bad knee and showing her the sparkliest diamond ring she’s ever seen, never mind that they are in a maternity ward and he’s still wearing yesterday’s clothes while she’s in her hospital gown. “After all that, aren’t you going to ask me something?” 

Jongkook only chuckles, holding the ring up to her left hand. He takes it slowly, pressing his lips to her fingers and looks right into her eyes sincerely. Even after all those month, it still makes her heart flutter. 

“Song Jihyo.” He says, full of conviction and love. “Love, will you marry me?”

“I can’t believe you’re doing this in a hospital.” She breathes, blurry eyed — she can barely see him through her tears. She’s not usually so emotional, but then again she’s never really had a man propose to her in a hospital ward before.

He waits, still kneeling on one knee. “Please say yes — I can’t keep getting rejected.” 

There’s a chance she might say no again. After all, he’s proposing in this maternity ward, hours after their daughter was born.  But then Jihyo nods, bursting with excitement and adrenaline, and he nearly drops the ring altogether.

“Yes.” She laughs, and he leaps up to hug her, too delighted by her answer. “I’ll marry you, you stupid gym addict.”

“I did say that I wanted to wake up to you... I’m not sure you’ll share the same luxury though.” He jokes, kissing her anyway, and maybe it’s every bit as romantic as it could have been if he went with his original, boring plan to propose at a restaurant. 

They don’t need that, Jihyo and him. They’ve gone through enough to be like other normal couples. 

And she might agree, hitting him on the chest, half crying. “You’re an idiot. I can’t believe I agreed to marry an idiot.”

“I know.” Jongkook wipes her cheek with a thumb as he cradles her face in this hands. “But you did anyway.”

“Did you really propose to me in a hospital? Some girls hate that, you know.”

“You’re not like those girls.” He grabs her left hand and slides the real ring on her finger, admiring it and how it looks so perfect there. “We did it, huh?”

“Yeah.” Jihyo tears her eyes away from the ring to meet his eyes. “In the wrong order, like you said. But we still got here.”

“I never doubted it.” He whispers, leaning in to give her a peck on her lips, but she stops him from pulling away, deepening it into a longer kiss. 

She loves how their lips seem to fit so easily as she kisses him back tenderly, pulling away only to take a good look at her fiancé.

Wow. It sounds weird in her head. But soon, he’ll be her husband. The thought of it makes her giddy with excitement, and she wonders if he can see it on her face.

He does, kissing her cheeks and wiping the happy tears away. “I love you.” He says simply, holding her close.

“I love you too.” She smiles, caressing his cheek with her hand.

They could bask in the moment — she just got engaged! — when the door to her private room flings open, and it’s not a nurse or Doctor Choi. It doesn’t deter them though, and Jihyo barely looks away from Jongkook to glare at the intruder. 

“I made a trip to the nursery first and asked the nurse for Kim Jiyoung, and can I just say? I don’t know how you two did it, but she’s the prettiest baby out there— Oh my god!” In steps in Somin, holding a bouquet of flowers and blushing at the sight of their intimacy. “I’ll just leave, and—”

Somin pauses, taking another closer look at their embrace and the opened ring box in Jongkook’s hand, and gasps loudly. She covers in shock, pointing at them, unable to form coherent sentences. 

“Did you just...” She sputters, words escaping her. 

A rare moment, for someone so talkative. Jongkook only looks down at the ring box still in his hand just as Jihyo raises her newly decorated left hand shyly, wiggling her fingers. 

“Oh my god! Unnie!” Somin squeals, forgetting all about her present (a giant frog plushie) and rushes over to meet them. “This is so romantic! Can I be at your wedding? Oh my god, am I the first to know? I can’t believe it! Oppa, you never told me anything!”

Jongkook doesn’t quite know what to say. He tries to explain, but Somin isn’t going to let him speak anyway, continuing her bombarding of questions and squealing. 

“I mean, I kind of predicted it. You always complained about how old you were getting on the show, it was only a matter of time. But I didn’t expect you to propose at a hospital!” The younger girl isn’t paying attention, still chattering on excitedly. 

In fact, she’s managed to wriggle her way in between Jongkook and Jihyo, grabbing the latter by the arm and bouncing around happily. 

“Now that I think about it, who cares? You can propose anywhere you want.” Somin pauses, still for a moment as realization dawns her. “Did you do it because you took one look at your daughter and decided that Jihyo unnie was the one? Aw, that’s so sweet!” 

“I’ve actually tried a couple of times.” Jongkook finally replies, sheepish. He’s been trying to get a word in for ages — Somin could be very chatty when she was excited. Perhaps if he drew her attention to Jihyo instead... 

“I offered to marry her so many times.” Jongkook declares, slightly pouty. “She kept turning me down!” 

Somin gasps dramatically, looking like he just told her the most scandalous thing ever. “Unnie! How could you?”

“I was very pregnant.” Jihyo retorts drily, slightly amused at Jongkook’s way of turning the attention back to her. “Somin, could you give us a moment?”

That shakes her out of it. Somin pulls apart from Jihyo and steps away hurriedly. “Oh , I’m sorry for intruding! I’ll just go get a coffee or something.”

“Somin—“ Jongkook starts, but the younger woman is already miming a zip with her hands as she clamps her lips together. 

“I won’t tell a soul!” She nods eagerly. “I promise! I haven’t told you about the be— nothing.”

Somin’s fleeing befo