Title: Yearnings Fulfilled
Characters: Rachel Porter and Kibum Kim from U-Kiss
Requester: sailorroxy
Writer: Carrie

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Walking into the bookstore, the thought that ran through Rachel’s mind was that if anyone ever saw her picking up a book will drop his/her glasses and take a second  look at her. 

However, another thought quickly replaced the first thought, causing Rachel to pick up her pace.

She knew that if it wasn’t for Dongho, she would never take a step into a bookstore, much less hold a book.

Looking around the bookstore, Rachel felt trapped, not knowing where to go to find what she needed.

Helpless, she spun around, gazing up at the various signs that finally directed her to the section for parenting.

The large variety of books amazed Rachel.

Going back and forth between books, Rachel at last found the book that she believed will best suit her needs.

Rachel was so absorbed in the book about parenting that while she thought she was walking determinedly towards the cashier, she actually collided hard with another human being.

The impact was so strong that the stranger had to reach out his arms to steady her, pulling her into an embrace when an angry lady pushing a cart steamrolled past them.

For one brief moment, Rachel forgot about her book and stared into the stranger’s brown eyes, feeling securely safe for the first time.

At the exact same moment, the person holding Rachel felt a strong feeling of protectiveness swell within him.

Turning to the crazy lady that almost ran them over, the stranger maintained his hold on Rachel and yelled “Be careful of where you are going, ! Did you not see us standing her? You freaken need glasses and you owe us a damn apology!”

The stranger was heading towards the lady, when Rachel restrained him with a light pull, telling him that the lady wasn’t worth the trouble.

Reluctantly, the stranger returned back to Rachel and offered her a smile.

Sticking out his hands to offer a handshake, he said “Are you okay? I’m Kibum.”

With quirking up into a bright smile, Rachel replied “Hi. I’m Rachel and I’m fine. Thanks for the save.”

Unknown to them, during the whole fiasco, two men have approached.

Now one man spoke up, saying “Kibum, you shouldn’t have used all those bad words on the poor lady. It was just an accident.”

“No it wasn’t,” Kibum immediately retaliated.

Seeing that an argument was about to erupt, Rachel decided to leave.

However, it seemed as if Kibum could reach her mind and reached out a muscular arm to hold Rachel back.

“This is my dad and this is my younger brother, Eli” Kibum introduced, pointing at each man in turn.

Rushing on, Kibum asked “Rachel, won’t you at least have lunch with me as a thank you?”

Rachel shyly nodded “Of course. Nice to meet you, Mr. Kim and Eli. Won’t you join us for lunch?”

Kibum spared a glance at his family.

The pleading look was easily understood by his family as Mr. Kim responded with a quick lie “No thank you. Eli and I already have plans, which includes a devil dentist.”

Eli continued the lie with a joke, “Will you like to join us instead?”

Rachel laughed out loud. “This is my turn to tell you no thank you...”

Before Rachel could even finish with what she has to say, she was already being led away.

Anxious to get to know Rachel more, Kibum took the book Rachel was reading out of her hands and lined up to pay for the book.

When the cashier was scanning the book, Kibum took a curious look at the cover and was surprised that it was about parenting.

Immediately, Kibum thought that he should stay away from a teenage mother.

However, when Kibum’s eyes flew from the book’s title to meet Rachel’s eyes in question, Rachel knew that Kibum was already judging her.

Shoving a wad of cash at the cashier, Rachel took the book and  ran.

Kibum knew that he shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, much less use a book’s title to judge a person.

Therefore, Kibum didn’t waste another second and took off after Rachel, catching up with her right in front of a café.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Kibum pulled Rachel to a table inside the café.

Once they were seated, Kibum waved off  the waiter and apologized.

“Sorry, Rachel. I didn’t mean to judge you. I was just curious. Can you please forgive 

me?” Kibum explained.

Kibum’s sincere apology touched Rachel’s heart.

Slowly, she dipped her head in a slight nod, which caused Kibum’s face to split up into a bright smile.

With a snap of his fingers, Kibum brought the waiter to come take their orders.

Throughout the meal, they talked about random things from the world news to school to favorites, straying from touchy-feely subjects.

Rachel’s attempt to pay for the meal failed as Kibum had more muscles to pull the bill toward his way.

Chuckling at his success, Kibum bunched up his muscles and pointed as he said “Look at your lady-like muscles. It can’t beat these manly muscles?”

Rachel bunched up her arms too and said “Who says you’re a man?”

Both erupted into loud laughter , when Kibum said “Oh, so you think I’m the woman and you’re the man now. Is that a challenge?”

Since their conversation has provoked a few curiously wandering eyes, Kibum asked “Shall we leave?”

Rachel nodded in agreement; so Kibum reached over to take her hand and left.

At the entrance to the store, Kibum realized what he has done, but he enjoyed the contact for another second before letting go.

Uncertainly, Kibum took out his phone to ask “Can I have your number?”

Rachel flushed a tomato red as she shyly took the phone to punch in her cell phone number.

Kibum wanted to take Rachel home, but she refused him flatly and ran off.

While Rachel went off for one direction, Kibum took off for the other.

During the drive home, Kibum was confused as to why Rachel acted the way she did.

However, the memory of the dinner brought a grin to his face.

He couldn’t believe how gentlemanly he acted, which totally contrasted with his normal personality.

Rachel’s mind was running through similar thoughts.

Instead of approaching the collision with bad words and demanding an apology from each other, they were friendly for once, even acting apologetic.

Their thoughts followed them all the way home.

Despite the cold way Rachel left him, Kibum still couldn’t forget the initial attraction he felt for Rachel.

Therefore, once he got home, he couldn’t help but to dial Rachel’s number.

Rachel immediately picked up her phone, glancing at the caller’s name.

Seeing Kibum’s name, Rachel was shocked and debated not to answer, but what her heart and mind wanted were two entirely different things.

Rachel hurried into her room and locked the door, shyly answering with a “Hello.”

“Hi” Kibum replied.

A long pregnant silence followed after that until Kibum could no longer stand the suspense; for he is never one to waste any time.

“Did you get home safely?” Kibum questioned.

“Yea” Rachel replied before reluctantly adding on “How about you?”

“I’m good” Kibum briefed.

Rushing on before he could lose his courage, Kibum wanted to know “Are you free this coming Saturday?”

Rachel almost said yes, but then she remembered that she had a prior date set up.

Reluctantly, Rachel replied “Sorry. I can’t. I have a date set up already.”

“Oh,” was all Kibum could say in reply.

Finally, realizing that the phone call was unnecessarily dragging on, Kibum said “I’m sorry then. I guess I should have known you’ll have a boyfriend already.”

Not liking the way Kibum was talking to her with hidden messages in his tone, Rachel snapped “What I do on my own free time does not concern you! We have just barely met. And although we went out for a meal that you may consider as a date, I didn’t see it as one.”

With that, Rachel hung up on Kibum.

Kibum couldn’t believe that for the first time in his life, someone dared to hang up on him.

He was especially displeased that the first time he had to experience a rejection, it had to be from someone who was actually able to tug on his heartstrings.

Staring down at his phone with a frown, Kibum vowed at that moment to never act nice towards Rachel or another girl ever again.

The next day, Rachel woke up bright and early, eager to spend the day shopping with Dongho and Kiseop.

Once she got herself ready, Rachel rushed into Kiseop’s room to shake him awake, yelling “Wake up! Wake up! No more time to shop if you don’t wake up right now!”

“Shush,” Kiseop replied.

Rising slowly out of the bed, Kiseop told Rachel “Quit acting like you’re still a child. Quiet or you’ll wake the baby up.”

Glad that Kiseop has finally awaken, Rachel left the room to enter Dongho’s.

The bright eyed, eleven month old baby boy grasped onto the rails of the crib to stand at attention for his mommy.

“Good boy” Rachel cooed to the baby, who replied with a ton of babble and something sounding like ‘mama’ that made Rachel’s heart soar.

After getting a quick breakfast, Kiseop, Dongho, and Rachel piled up into the minivan, enjoying the air conditioner as they sped towards the market.

Dongho bounced up and down in the shopping cart as they walked down each aisle.

Rachel reached out for several bags of coffee, when Kiseop placed out a restraining hand.

“No more coffee, young lady. Too much coffee will make you stunt your growth and caffeine is no good for your body, particularly a female,” Kiseop lectured Rachel.

Despite Kiseop’s good intentions, Rachel ignored his advice and instead, flippantly returned his lecture with a rib “Yes, yes, mom. I know you act like a mother hen Kiseop, but I’m not your chick. Besides I’m only one year younger than you. Too old to be your daughter; so stop acting like my mother.”

Kiseop gave Rachel a light shove “I wouldn’t want a daughter like you. If I ever have a daughter, she will be pretty and obedient.”

“Pretty?” Rachel gasped “Are you saying I’m not pretty?”

“Yes” Kiseop nodded.

Rachel chased Kiseop around.

Seeing a group form, Rachel and Kiseop ducked their head and pushed Dongho to the next aisle.

As Rachel continued to walk with Kiseop and Dongho, someone tapped Rachel from behind.

Rachel spun around at once.

She was immediately ready to yell at the person who dared touch her.

However, all words froze on her lips when she realized that it was Kibum.

“Kibum…” Rachel stuttered over his name full of uncertainty.

Livid with rage, Kibum demanded “Is that your husband/boyfriend and your son?”

Rachel didn’t respond.

“Damn it! Give me a response!” Kibum shook Rachel.

“Hey!” Kiseop yelled.

“Get your hands off of her!” Kiseop cut in, removing Kibum’s hands from Rachel’s shoulders.

 Without a backward glance at Kibum, Kiseop spun Rachel around to lead Dongho and Rachel to the cash register than out of the door.

Although Rachel is normally one to rarely show emotions, tears streamed down her face.

Kiseop continuously asked Rachel if she is alright, but she just ignored him and went into her room without a word.

On the other hand, Kibum was mad as hell.

Curse words flow out of his mouth as he stomped out of the store without his cart.

As the days passed by, Kibum’s and Rachel’s mood turned from bad to worse to unbearable.

One day, when Kibum was jogging around the neighborhood, he spotted a small crowd.

Walking over to the commotion, Kibum saw Rachel for the first time in a very long time.

Even though Kibum wanted to leave at the sight of Rachel, he stuck around.  

Rachel was holding Dongho tightly in her arms, when she adamantly said “No” to a couple that was around the same age as her.

Kibum noted that Kiseop’s arms were on Rachel’s shoulder again, causing him to fist his hands.

Slowly, inch by inch, Kibum got within range to discover what was going on.

“But we’re Dongho’s true parents” the couple argued.

“I have legal custody over Dongho. You guys signed them over, remember?” Rachel reasoned.

“But you’re a single, adoptive parent while we’re his biological parents” the couple emphasized on ‘adoptive’ and ‘biological.’

“At least, while you guys could just leave Dongho for me to raise, I gave up a prospective boyfriend for the baby’s sake, fearing that Dongho will start getting used to having him around then if things didn’t work out. Dongho will once again feel abandoned. Besides, I even don’t smoke and cuss as often, especially in front of Dongho.” Rachel explained.

Then Rachel ducked down her head with tears clinging precariously close on her eyelashes and threatening to spill over porcelain cheeks.

Seeing Rachel in such deep melancholy made Kibum’s heart twist.

This time, instead of Kiseop, it was Soohyun who placed a protective arm around Rachel, drawing her close into his embrace.

Kibum was mesmerized by the pain he saw in Rachel’s eyes.

Despite the image of Rachel with two other men, Kibum still wished that Rachel was under his protection, his arms, his love, his heart.

Kibum knew that he should not intrude on the private affair anymore, but he seemed to be rooted to the spot with his heart’s desire differing from his mind’s.

Right in front of his eyes, Kibum watched as the two men by Rachel’s sides defended her.

The couple insisted “But still… he is our son and we just want to spend time with him…”

“You guys can spend time with him...” Kiseop agreed.

“…when Rachel is there to supervise.” Soohyun clarified.

Instant rage appeared on the couple’s face as they yelled “Who are you guys to talk?”

Together as one, Kiseop and Soohyn responded without a single moment of hesitation “We are her family!”

“No, you guys are most definitely not her family. Soohyun, you are a former delinquent and have no family at all; so how can you ever put in your opinion about what a family should be like?  And Kiseop, you are the heir to a large corporation but you chose to abandon your family to become a chef; so what does that tell us about your values toward a family? At best, you guys are only her adoptive brothers, not her true family.” the mother of Dongho berated.

“Family doesn’t depend on blood relations” Kiseop and Soohyun steadfastly yelled out.

Then more slowly, Soohyun explained “I may be an orphan and a bad boy in the past, but now I have changed for the better and have a loving and caring adoptive family who will support me in whatever I want to do. In return, I back up all of my family members in exactly the same way, giving them each my 100% support. So don’t you dare mess with anyone in my family, biological or adoptive. Besides, my parents loved me enough to give me up for the chance to be adopted or fostered. You should follow my parents’ example and give Dongho a chance. Look at how happy he is with Rachel.”

Kiseop continued on “I need a family who respects my decisions. Since my father couldn’t live with my choice of becoming a chef, instead of heir apparent then he doesn’t really know me. It’s not that I didn’t value my family, my father didn’t value me as a son and see me for who I really am. If you think what I did was wrong, then you are only proving to be parents who are controlling and would want Dongho to do exactly as he’s told. However, life doesn’t always work out that way and Dongho will come to resent you for dictating his life.”

All color drained from the couple’s faces as Kiseop and Soohyun made them realize that their opinions were really degrading people who were once their friends.

On shaky feet, the ashamed couple turned to leave Rachel alone.

However, Rachel saw their longing looks and took the initiative to approach the couple, bringing Dongho along.

Smiling, Rachel allowed the couple to hold Dongho and told them that they could visit Dongho anytime they want to.

The couple agreed, admitting that Dongho is best left in the care of Rachel.

The couple returned back to Soohyun’s and Kiseop’s side with Rachel and Dongho, uttering “Sorry. We just missed Dongho so much...”

Soohyun and Kiseop nodded in understanding because they understood the importance of family.

The group headed home in happiness, while Kibum stood there alone in melancholy.

Instead of going home, Kibum headed out toward a bar to drown his sorrow.

One drink turned into another then another until finally, Kibum lost count of how many drinks he had and ended up being drunk and slouched over the counter.

The bartender took pity on Kibum; so he took Kibum’s phone out to press the button for the first person on Kibum’s speed dial.

Rachel was in the process of helping Dongho’s parents feed him for the first time when she heard her cell phone ring out

“We are young and we are strong
Through strength in self we become
Something more than they can be
I raise my heart and sing!

That I wont believe this lie
I know there's something more inside
Darkness is all you see
This is our Sweet Blasphemy”

(Sweet Blasphemy –Black Veil Brides http://www.lyricsmania.com/sweet_blasphemy_lyrics_black_veil_brides.html)

Immediately, Rachel reached over to pick up her phone.

Seeing Kibum’s name as the caller, Rachel at first wanted to ignore the call but then she remembered feeling his presence during the meeting with Dongho’s parents today.

Rachel knew that she really missed him and just the thought of hearing his voice again made her tremble.

On the other hand, Rachel was curious as to why Kibum will call her at this time; so despite the hesitation, Rachel finally answered the call.

“Hello?” Rachel greeted.

“Hello” the caller replied. “I am the bartender at Smoky Bar and Grill. I think your friend is here drunk. Can you pick him up?”

“Sure” Rachel answered. “Can you give me the directions?”

The bartender gave her the address before they disconnected the call.

Once Rachel arrived at the bar, she was shocked by the amount of smoke that was swirling around in the air.

Coughing her way through, Rachel searched for any hints of Kibum.

At long last, Rachel spied Kibum at the counter, where the bartender was keeping watch over Kibum.

When Rachel approached the counter, the bartender offered her a drink to which she declined graciously by pointing at Kibum.

The bartender understood at once.

Handing Rachel Kibum’s phone, the bartender helped to raise Kibum up to hunch over Rachel’s shoulders for support.

From Kibum’s driver license, Rachel was able to easily find out the address to deliver Kibum safely home.

It was a struggle to help Kibum into the house but once they were in, Rachel left Kibum to fall onto the couch.

Rachel disappeared into the bathroom to get Kibum a wet towel when a phone rang.

Without thinking, Rachel picked up the call. “Hello?”

It wasn’t until Rachel heard Mr. Kim’s voice saying “Happy Birthday, Kibum!” without a preamble, when she realized that she answered a call that wasn’t intended for her.

Mr. Kim noticed the difference between Kibum’s usual greeting of “Kibum” and Rachel’s friendlier and uncertain greeting of “Hello”.

“Hi, Rachel.” Mr. Kim acknowledged. “Sorry I didn’t know it was you at first. Is Kibum there?”

Rachel did not know how Mr. Kim would react to knowing that Kibum was drinking, much less drunk; so Rachel just said “Kibum can’t come to the phone at the moment. Can I take a message?”

Being a father who believes that his children should have their freedom, Mr. Kim didn’t question Rachel about Kibum’s whereabouts.

Instead, Mr. Kim replied “Sure. Just tell him Happy Birthday from Eli and me.”

“Okay” Rachel responded, eager to end the call as soon as possible.

When they were saying their goodbyes, Mr. Kim added “I’m glad that Kibum is spending his birthday with you. Every since his mom died when he was eight, all he cared about was acting like a gang leader and a prankster but after he met you, he has seriously started to change for the better. He is smoking less, cussing less, and being less bossy and not acting on as many pranks as he could think of. It’s great that he’s expanding his relationships past his best friends and roommates Kevin and Alexander, Eli, and me. Thank you, Rachel.”

Rachel didn’t know how to react; so she chose to remain quiet until it was proper to say goodbye.

By the time Rachel has ended the call, Kibum has started to become less drunk.

Rachel got the wet towel and swiped at Kibum’s forehead, hoping to awaken him.

However, what Rachel did awaken was more than she bargained for.

Kibum held onto the wrist that continued to cleanse his forehead repeatedly.

Yanking, Kibum pulled Rachel to lie above him, letting her feel how aroused he was.

The next day, Rachel woke up well before dawn to gather up all of her stuff and make herself presentable before returning home.

By the time Kibum woke up, reaching for Rachel, she was long gone.

Kibum awoke feeling as if he had just had the best dream in the whole entire world.

In the dream, Kibum got to make love with the woman who has his heart wrapped around her fingers.

However, the blood stain on his bed sheet indicated that there was indeed a woman by his side last night.

Confused, Kibum stripped his bedding to wash.

School took up Kibum’s and Rachel’s time for the next month but it wasn’t enough to make them forget about each other.

Rachel knew that her period was late but she procrastinated, not wanting to take the pregnancy test.

A mixed feeling of wanting to and not wanting to know warred inside Rachel’s mind though not wanting to confirm the news was slightly favored.

In order to make her heart feel a tiny bit better about not being able to get Kibum’s heart, she decided to wait until Thanksgiving to find out whether she’ll have a tiny part of Kibum forever with her.

The day before Thanksgiving, Mr. Kim and Eli were coming home; so Kibum went out to the airport to pick them up.

At the terminal for arrivals, Kibum spotted his father and Eli.

Waving furiously, they gave each other manly slaps on the back and a quick hug before hurrying to the car with laughter ringing in their wake.

Though despite how much Kibum smiled, he had a weakness.

When Mr. Kim asked Kibum about how his birthday was, Kibum immediately became quiet.

Mr. Kim was still warming up to the subject when he continued to ask about how Rachel was.

The mentioning of Rachel brought Kibum’s head up.

“Why are you mentioning about Rachel now?” Kibum growled.

Mr. Kim was unused to Kibum’s harsh tone being directed at him.

Not planning to hid anything for Kibum, Mr. Kim responded in explanation “I just thought something was up since Rachel picked up the phone instead of you when I called to say ‘Happy Birthday.’ Aren’t you two together?”

The mystery of who was actually with him on the night of his birthday is now solved.

Quickly parking to the side of the road, Kibum threw the keys to his dad and flagged down a taxi.

Stopping in front of Rachel’s house, Kibum jumped out of the car and hurried up the walkway to Rachel’s house.

Ever since he has met her, Kibum had known that Rachel is the one for him; so he had looked up her home address in hopes of further dates, where he could pick her up from her house.

Knocking impatiently at the door, Kibum tapped his foot in annoyance.

The loud knocking surprised Rachel, causing her to drop what she considered a bomb from  her hand onto the floor of the bathroom.

 Not wanting the loud knocking to continue and disturb Dongho’s sleep, she jumped to open the door.

“We have something to talk about,” Kibum said.

“I got nothing to say to you,” Rachel replied in hopes of shutting the door in his face as soon as possible.

In opposition to Rachel’s desires, Kibum pushed his way in.

“You were with me the night of my birthday, weren’t you?” Kibum accused.

“What birthday?” Rachel asked in reply.

“My birthday. You were the in my bed, weren’t you?” Kibum stated, more than asked.

Rachel chose to ignore Kibum’s question.

Turning around, Rachel headed toward the kitchen.

Kibum spun her around, shaking her.

“Don’t cheapen what we have.” Kibum demanded.

“And what do we have?” Rachel retaliated.

“Do you really not know? Or do you want me to spell it out to you?” Kibum asked in frustration.

Pulling at his hairs, Kibum formed an idea, making the biggest gamble of his life.

“I burned my hand, I cut my face 
Heaven knows how long it's been 
Since I've felt so out of place 
I'm wonderin' if I'll fit in

I'm gonna smile my best smile 
And I'm gonna laugh like it's going out of style 
Look into her eyes and pray that she don't see 
That learning to live again is killing me”

(Learning To Live Again -Garth Brooks http://www.cowboylyrics.com/lyrics/brooks-garth/learning-to-live-again-5042.html)

Kibum sang full heartedly.

“Do you know how much I have gone through?” Kibum asked with pain lacing through his voice.

Then not breaking in stride with his singing, Kibum continued on.

“Although loneliness has always been a friend of mine 
I'm leaving my life in your hands 
People say I'm crazy and that I am blind 
Risking it all in a glance 
And how you got me blind is still a mystery 
I can't get you out of my head 
Don't care what is written in your history 
As long as you're here with me 

I don't care who you are 
Where you're from 
What you did 
As long as you love me”

(As Long As You Love Me -Backstreet Boys http://www.lyrics007.com/Backstreet%20Boys%20Lyrics/As%20Long%20As%20You%20Love%20Me%20Lyrics.html)

Stopping right in front of Rachel, Kibum got down on his knees and presented Rachel with a necklace containing a pendant in the shape of a book.

“Will you marry me?” Kibum asked.

Tears rushed up to Rachel’s eyes, ready to pour down at any instance as she the book then the heart linked chain.

Rachel nodded her head, making Kibum the happiest man alive.

In a rush, Kibum rose to his feet to put the necklace around Rachel’s neck.

Wrapping his arms lovingly around Rachel’s waist, Kibum murmured lovingly in Rachel’s ears “Open the book.”

At Rachel’s confused look, Kibum added “Like a locket…”

Shaky hands flipped open the book.

Luckily, Kibum was prepared to catch the item that fell out.

Although Rachel was still berating herself over how clumsy she was, Kibum quickly took Rachel’s hands to slip the item onto her finger.

Rachel raised her left hand up to look at her ring finger, loving the diamond studded twin swans forming a heart.

However, Rachel attempted to take the ring off.

When Kibum caught sight of Rachel’s action, Kibum immediately released her, feeling deeply hurt.

“Do you not want the ring?” Kibum asked.

As the distance between separated, Rachel reached out her hand and grasped onto him.

“No. No. It is nothing like that. I just didn’t want the book to be empty of your love.” Rachel anxiously explained.

Kibum looked offended.

Reading Rachel’s mind, Kibum said “ You don’t need the ring in the book to signify my love for you. That is unless, you think you need to hide out relationship and you don’t trust me to love you…”

“…Even after I gave you my ring and heart” Kibum finished brokenly.

At that point, Kibum was ready to leave.

However, a heartbeat passed before Rachel came to her senses and rushed to envelop Kibum into a hug from behind, wrapping her arms around him and laying head on his back as tears streamed down her face, soaking his shirt.

“Never,” she declared.

Then putting on a brave front, Rachel began to sing.

“I see your [brown] eyes
Every time I close mine
You make it hard to see
Where I belong to when I'm not
Around you
It's like I'm not with me

But I never told you
What I should have said
No I never told you
I just held it in
And now I”

(“I Never Told You” –Colbie Caillat http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/colbiecaillat/inevertoldyou.html)

“And now I must say that I love you” Rachel forged on.

The declaration was all that it took for Kibum to turn around and gather Rachel close.

A smile broke free, splitting Kibum’s face as a bright idea formed in his mind.

Putting some distance between Rachel and himself, Kibum unhooked the necklace from around Rachel’s necklace to replace something into the locket.

Then without Rachel’s knowledge of the new item, Kibum gave the necklace back to her.

“I  have a better idea” he announced.

Eyes full of expectations flew up to meet Kibum’s eyes, which were dancing with laughter.

“Open up your locket” Kibum advised.

“I already did” Rachel steadfastly replied.

“Open it again” Kibum encouraged.

Uncertainly, Rachel stared at Kibum.

Seeing the playful look flickering through Kibum’s eyes, Rachel acquiesced.

Rachel met Kibum’s challenge head on, the heart shaped clasp on the book.

Tears once again rushed up to Rachel’s eyes as she gazed at the tiny twin glass baby figurines dressed in a light blue or pink.

Kibum placed a gentle hand on Rachel’s stomach and gave voice to his inner desire “I hope I’ll be able to buy you another pregnancy book soon…”

When Rachel didn’t respond at once, Kibum hesitated before adding on “That is, if you want another baby, too.”

Rachel moved into Kibum’s embrace, when, she took one of Kibum’s hands and smoothed it over her tummy, allowing him to feel the slight curve.

Wonder spread across Kibum’s face.

Rising on her tiptoes, Rachel murmured “Happy belated birthday! There is no need to hope, big boy. You’ve already did the job.”

Seeing a surprised Kibum stunned speechless, Rachel pressed a deep passionate kiss to Kibum’s lips.

Lips still locked with Rachel, Kibum shouted out “Hip, hip Hooray!” and lightly spun Rachel around. 

Kibum's shout must have woken Dongho up because Dongho immediately started crying, breaking Kibum's and Rachel's chance to be lost in a world of their own.

Once in Dongho's room, Kibum picked him up, holding him tenderly close as he reached out to pull Rachel in to complete the circle of their new found family and shut his eyes to absorb the happiness of being with the loves of his life.