That day was an unforgettable Christmas for Taecyeon and Yoona, as well as Yoorim. She asked Santa for her parents to be together, and he wish was granted. They drove back home as a family.

The snow was still falling and had covered the whole Seoul city in white. It was the 26^th of December and Yoona had a plan to bake a cake for Taecyeon’s birthday on the 27^th with Yoorim.

“Yoorim ah, do you know day is it tomorrow?” Yoona asked

“I don’t know…Is it go back to school day?”

“No silly girl, you still have a week left for your break.”

“Then what is it tomorrow, umma?”

“It’s appa’s birthday!”

“Really?”

“So let’s bake a cake for him, alright?”

“Let’s bake a cake!” Yoorim excited

“What flavor do you like, Yoorim?”

“Appa likes chocolate, let’s do chocolate!”

“Okay, put on your apron and go to the kitchen with me”

Yoona and Yoorim spent the night to bake a cake for Taecyeon. They planned to surprise Taecyeon tomorrow by visit him without him knowing. They talked about how would he react and they laughed. The plan was perfect until Yoona received a call.

“Hello?” Yoona answered

“Hi Yoona. It’s Khun”

“Hi Khun, what made you call so late?”

“I just want to remind you about our date tomorrow.” he said

“It’s tomorrow??” Yoona panicked

“Yes Yoona, it’s tomorrow since I’m going the day after. What’s wrong? You can’t make it?”

“Oh, no…don’t worry. I’ll…I’ll be there.”

“Great. Then see you tomorrow! My driver will come and pick you up.”

“S-see you…” Yoona sadly hang up the phone. She looked over at Yoorim who was also looking at her with a confused expression.

“Umma, aren’t we going over to appa’s house tomorrow for his birthday?”

“Yoorim ah…I think we have to postponed the plan…Let’s do it the day after…is it okay?”

“But appa’s birthday is tomorrow not the day after!”

“Yoorim ah, umma can’t go tomorrow.”

“Umma why!!!” Yoorim pouted

“You need to go to bed now. It’s late. We will go to appa the day later, he will understand.”

“But what about the cake!”

 “The cake will be fine. I’ll put it in the refrigerator.”

Angry at Yoona’s decision, Yoorim got up and walked to her room.

“Sorry for making you disappointed, Yoorim.” Yoona said as she watched Yoorim walked away.

The clock ticked away and Yoorim was still awake by 1 in the morning.  Unhappy that she couldn’t celebrate Taecyeon’s birthday tomorrow, she got out of her bed and went to her study table to grab her favorite toy, a stuffed version of Maeumi.

“You know, it’s appa’s birthday tomorrow” she talked to the toy

“But umma said we can’t celebrate it until the day after…I’m really unhappy about that. Appa probably wants to celebrate it with us tomorrow too…The cake looks really good and I want him to taste it as soon as possible!” she paused then thought of an idea…

“How about I’m going over to him right now?” she asked her toy

“You didn’t answer…that’s mean yes?” she got excited

“Okay Maeumi, let’s go!”

Yoorim grabbed her coat, put on her shoes, and tiptoed out of her room, of course not forget to grab Maeumi along. She got to the kitchen and carefully packed the cake in its box and wrapped it around with a cloth.

“We need to be careful, as well as not making any sound” she whispered to Maeumi.

Yoorim slowly tiptoed to the door and finally she was successfully out of the house. Looked up at the tall dark sky, she was quite afraid.

“It’s so dark, Maeumi. No one is out here on the street.” she said, “But it stopped snowing, I’m glad!”

Yoorim started to walk. She followed her memory to find the way to Taecyeon’s house. The way out from their house to the main street was steep and dark, but she held tight onto the cake and Maeumi as she braved herself and walked through the darkness.

“Maeumi look! We reached the main road! See it wasn’t that hard!” Yoorim looked around to see which way she could go. She saw the hospital’s light board from the far right and decided to turn right.

“Let’s go this way!”

She turned to the right and walked as fast as she could. The snow started to fall again while Yoorim fought against the cold. Her little hand could barely hold onto the cake.

“It’s so cold Maeumi. I forgot to bring my mittens. Aren’t you cold?” she asked.

“Why is the light board still so far away?  Is this the right way?”

Meanwhile, Yoona woke up at home and went to Yoorim’s room to check on her, like she always did. Just this time, she found out that Yoorim wasn’t in her bed.

“Where did she go?” Yoona wondered. She headed over to the bathroom.

“Yoorim ah, are you in the bathroom?” Yoona asked

No one answered. Yoona opened the door and nobody was inside.

Yoona went to Taeyeon’s room to look for Yoorim, but she wasn’t there either.

“What’s wrong?” Taeyeon asked

“Yoorim, she disappeared!!” Yoona answered in panic

“Where could she have gone?” Taeyeon worried

“I don’t know, I went to check on her and she wasn’t in her room, or anywhere in the house!”

“What did you guys do earlier?” Taeyeon asked

“We bake a cake for Taecyeon…because it’s his birthday tomorrow, but later on I told Yoorim that we can’t go, I think she was mad at me” she said, “I just checked the refrigerator, the cake is gone…so I think she took the cake to Taecyeon’s house”

“Call Taecyeon.” Taeyeon suggested

Yoona got out her phone and dialed Taecyeon’s number. It was around 1:30 in the morning.

“He-hello?” Taecyeon answered in a half-awake tone

“Oppa! Yoorim is missing!!” cried Yoona

“W-WHAT?” Taecyeon sprung out of his bed

“I can’t find her anywhere. Can you come over right now?”

“I’ll come right over.”

“Tried to look around on the way here if you see her. I think she’s going to your house.”

Taecyeon reached within 10 minutes. He didn’t see any little girl wandered around the street. Yoona and Taeyeon were all ready to go out to search for Yoorim. Taeyeon suggested Taecyeon and Yoona to search around the main street while Taeyeon herself will search around the neighbor. Yoona opposed the idea and said it will be dangerous for Taeyeon to search alone in the neighbor. She asked Taeyeon to stay home and promise to bring Yoorim back safe and sound.

“Then call me when you have any news okay?” Taeyeon worried

“Grab the umbrella Yoona, its snowing outside.” said Taecyeon

“What is she doing out there? I’m so worried…she probably doesn’t dress warm enough”

They got out of the house and started the search. Under the umbrella, they went around the neighbor to search just incase she was still around, but no sign of Yoorim. They went to the main street and headed off to the way to Taecyeon’s house. 

“Yoorim ah~~” they called out

“I’m so fail at parenting…” Yoona sobbed as they walked

“No, you’re doing a good job. Don’t be too hard on yourself.” Taecyeon held Yoona’s hand tightly.

“What if she can’t be found?” cried Yoona

“She will. We will find her. Now let’s go faster. I think she’s waiting for us somewhere on the way.”

---

“There is the playground!” Yoorim said to Maeumi

“But I’m so cold, Maeumi. I don’t know where to go next…” she said

Yoorim looked around, she saw her mom’s bakery and the playground, but she didn’t know where to go next. Then she started to cry.

“Maeumi, was it wrong to go without telling umma?” she cried

“Someone is coming!” Yoorim said after she heard footsteps. Looked for a place to hide, she ran to the playground and planned to hide under the stairs next to the slide. While running, she tripped over a rock, the cake dropped of her hand.

“Oh no my cake!!” she cried, but because the footsteps were getting closer so she hurried get up and went under the stairs.

“Maeumi, my cake is ruined!!” cried Yoorim.

“I don’t know what is coming but I can feel it walking this way” She cried harder but was too scared to let out any sound.

“I want umma and appa” she sobbed

Yoorim could hear the footsteps near her. She closed her eyes, scared. Then suddenly she felt her hands being . She opened her eyes and realized it was just only a dog.

“Maeumi, it was just a dog!” she smiled.

“Doggie, why are you out here at this time?” she asked the dog

“You must come home, mommy and daddy must be so worry about you.” she said to the dog, “Don’t be like me…” she sobbed again.

“I want to come home too, but I’m scare…” she caressed the dog

“Wish that you could bring my mommy and daddy to me…” she said

---

“Still no sign of her…” cried Yoona

“We’re reaching your bakery soon. Do you think she’s there?” Taecyeon tried to comfort Yoona

“I hope she’s there, since we often walk to the bakery together. I hope she remember the way…but she’s still too small…”

“Yoona, this dog has been looking at us…” Taecyeon said as he looked at the dog, “And now he’s barking!”

The dog barked at them and he walked to Yoorim’s direction. Taecyeon and Yoona decided to follow the dog since they were going the same way.

The dog ran off as soon as they reached the playground. Had a feeling that Yoorim was around, they spread out and called for her name.

“Yoorim ah!!” they called out, “Yoorim ah where are you? Umma and appa are here!!”

Yoorim fell asleep while hiding under the stairs, but she woke up as she heard the familiar voices called out her name.

“Umma and appa?”

“Yoorim ah~~” they called

“It’s umma and appa!! Maeumi, it’s umma and appa!!!” she excitedly said

She grabbed the cake, and with Maeumi on her hand, she ran out of her hiding place.

“UMMA APPA!!!” she called

“Taecyeon and Yoona both looked at the voice’s direction and they saw Yoorim running toward them. With so much relief, they ran to Yoorim and hugged her tight.

“I’m so worried about you” cried Yoona

“I’m sorry umma” cried Yoorim.

“Yoorim ah, you shouldn’t make your mom worries again.” said Taecyeon

“Appa, I just want to celebrate your birthday with you….” She sobbed

“Appa knows…Thank you, Yoorim. If you want to celebrate my birthday, we can do it right here” he smiled

“But I ruined the cake…” she cried harder

“Don’t worry. It’s the thought that counts. I bet my Yoorim put a lot of love into the cake!”

“Look, your hands are all red.” Yoona held Yoorim’s hands and blew warm breath into her balms. “Here, let me put on the mittens”

“Let’s find somewhere to sit and we’ll start the celebration!” said Taecyeon

Yoona called Taeyeon to let her know that Yoorim was found. The three of them then went to the stairs and sat on it. They opened the box to see the cake and it was slightly mashed. Yoorim took a look at the cake and pouted.

“It’s okay Yoorim. The cake is still good!” said Taecyeon

“Yes it’s still good. Now let’s sing him the happy birthday song!” said Yoona.

“But we don’t have candles” said Yoorim.

“Here, this is the candle!” Taecyeon took out his phone and the screen. “Isn’t appa smarts?” he joked, which made Yoorim smile.

“Now let’s sing!” said Yoona

“Happy birthday to you

Happy birthday to you

Happy birthday dear Yoorim’s appa

Happy birthday to you~~~”

“Appa make a wish!!”

“Hmm…I wish that Yoorim and Umma will stay by my side forever.” Then he blew the ‘candle’

“Why did you say it out loud appa? I thought you supposed to keep it as a secret…” Yoorim asked

“It’s only a secret when you hope others people won’t know about it. But when you want others to know what you wish for, you can say it out loud.” He looked at both of them and smiled.

“We will stay with you forever, appa” she sweetly said to him.

After having some cake, they headed home. Taecyeon told Yoona to go to his house since it was nearer. Yoorim fell asleep on his back, while Yoona held onto the umbrella to cover them from the snow.

“Cover for yourself too” he said

“Don’t worry about me. You have Yoorim on your back. I’m afraid she will get sick”

“Them come closer.” He put his hand around her waist and pulled her closer.

“This is better~” he smiled, “It feels good being close to both my wife and my daughter” he teased

“I said I’m not yet your wife!” she blushed

He stopped, and looked straight into her eyes…

“Alright, then my soon-to-be wife…thanks for spending this birthday in such a special way with me.”

“I’m sorry that I wont be able to make it today because I have a meeting with Khun…”

“Khun?”

“Yea, he contacted me 2 weeks ago and said that he’s coming back to America. Today is his last day in here so he wants to meet me before going. Just a meeting as friends.” she explained

“You don’t have to explain it to me. I understand. Just be careful, okay?” he then lifted up her chin and placed his lips on hers.

“You got way too many kisses out of me this month,” she said as she pulled back.

“I’m sorry then…” he pouted

“But since it’s your birthday, see this as my birthday gift.”

Yoona tiptoed to give Taecyeon a kiss.

“Happy birthday” she said.