It was a sunny afternoon and there was no more clients booked for the day, thus the law firm was rather peaceful. The only sound that could be heard was Aecha’s bubbly voice reading out loud letters of the English alphabet. Bongcha was sitting on the sofa, one arm wrapped around Aecha as the little girl snuggled close into her aunt’s chest while kicking her legs in the air.

“Isn’t it a bit too early for her to be learning the English alphabet?” Kyungsoo raised his eyebrows as he leaned against the doorframe. “Does she even know the Korean alphabet yet?”

“Better to start early with these things,” Bongcha hummed before planting a soft kiss on Aecha’s forehead. “Plus, Dumpling is a smart girl, aren’t you sweetie?”

“Yes I am!” Aecha chirped as she turned towards Kyungsoo. “I’m already 5 years old, I’m a big girl now.”

Kyungsoo’s mouth stretched into the shape of a heart as he let out a loud chuckle. Aecha was proudly holding up her right hand, showing four fingers. Crouching down in front of the sofa, Kyungsoo poked Aecha’s tiny thumb and proceeded to stretch it out so that all her fingers were now extended outwards.

“That is five.”

“Are you sure? This a all of my fingers.” Aecha frowned as she lifted her head to look at Bongcha. “That’s a lot of fingers auntie Bongbong.”

“Is she questioning my ability to count?” Kyungsoo gasped, staring wide-eyed at Bongcha.

Bongcha shrugged her shoulders, though she could not hide the smirk that had made its way on her face.

“Aecha, I’m a lawyer, I am a smart person.”

“My daddy is a doctor so he is smart as well,” Aecha replied. “But he still asks auntie Bongbong for answers because she knows everything.”

Kyungsoo gaped at the small girl, unsure of what argument to come up with, feeling at a loss that he — a licensed and established attorney — was unable to come up with a response against the comment of a five-year old kindergartener. Fortunately, Junmyeon arrived in that moment, saving Kyungsoo from further embarrassment.

“Daddy’s here my sweet sweet Dumpling!” Junmyeon announced in a sing-sing voice.

“Dumplings are savoury,” Bongcha deadpanned as she helped Aecha put on her coat.

“That would just sound weird,” Junmyeon huffed. “Aecha my savoury savoury Dumpling.”

“Auntie Bongbong is right Daddy.” Aecha tugged on Junmyeon’s jacket. “Dumplings are savoury.”

Junmyeon lowered himself to be at Aecha’s height and softly ruffled her hair.

“Why do you always side with auntie Bongbong? You should be on my side.”

“Because auntie Bongbong is always right,” Kyungsoo offered in response.

Aecha immediately twirled around, lifting two thumbs up for Kyungsoo.

“Uncle Soo is right. Which means he is more right than daddy so he is smarter than daddy.”

“That’s it, we are out of here,” Junmyeon announced, lifting Aecha up and holding her in his arms while giving both Kyungsoo and Bongcha the stinky eye. “Dumpling you’ve been spending too much time with them. You need more time with daddy.”

“Bye auntie Bongbong, bye uncle Soo!” Aecha waved cheerfully as Junmyeon made his way out.

Bongcha returned to her desk while Kyungsoo glanced at the clock on the wall while scratching his chin.

“You got any dinner plans?”

Looking up from her computer, Bongcha shook her head in response.

“Let’s go for gamjatang, I just need to reply to a couple of emails and we can head off.”

“You’re paying right?” Bongcha quipped as Kyungsoo entered his office.

“Don’t I always?”

・・・

“This place still has the best gamjatang,” Kyungsoo hummed in satisfaction, taking a mouthful of potatoes.

Bongcha nodded in agreement, carefully sliding the meat off of the bones and putting it in a separate plate, silently sliding it towards Kyungsoo. The male gives her a look, somewhat torn between amusement and confusion.

“Force of habit,” Bongcha chuckled.

“It’s great that you are showing mother