Two-year-old Daehyun stared at the clock impatiently. His Mummy was finally coming home after spending a week in the hospital! He sure was glad that she was coming back. Her stomach had increased drastically over the past few months and Daehyun had become pretty concerned. He was worried that if she kept expanding, one day she might not even manage to walk through the doorways. Perhaps the hospital people de-fattened her, so she wouldn’t have that trouble in the future. Also, on the phone, Daddy had said that they would bring a surprise back home for him. Daehyun hoped it was cheesecake. It was usually cheesecake. The excitement of the surprise made Daehyun all jittery again.

Right on cue, the doorbell rang. Daehyun waddled as fast as he could to the door, but the noonas beat him to it. They opened the door to reveal a beaming Mummy and a stoic Daddy, who was carrying something in his arms. Mummy held her arms open for Daehyun, who immediately jumped into her arms.

“Mummy, you’re skinny!” he cried happily. “You’re okay now?”

“Yes, sweetie, I’m okay now,” Mummy pinched his nose lightly. “Ready for your surprise?”

Daehyun nodded his head excitedly as Mummy put him back on the ground.

“Okay, close your eyes!”

Daehyun complied delightedly.

Please be cheesecake, please be cheesecake, please be-

“Surprise!” Mummy shoved a surprisingly heavy bundle into his arms.

Daehyun stumbled under the weight and opened his eyes eagerly. He had envisioned a giant box of cheesecake, topped with his favourite strawberries and chocolate. What stared back at him was not cheesecake at all. It was a tiny, pink thing, wrapped in a baby blue blanket.

His dream of delicious cheesecake slowly crumbled into nothingness.

Daehyun burst into tears as the thing wrapped its pudgy arms around his neck, gurgling happily.

---

It was now two months after that thing moved into the house. Daehyun had spent most of his time hiding in his room to avoid interaction with that lump. Mummy and Daddy had christened her Dari, which meant ‘bridge’, but to Daehyun, it meant ‘bridge (to hell)’.

He absolutely hated the thing! Not only was she taking up valuable oxygen in the house, she was also taking away Mummy’s attention from him. Mummy no longer came in to tuck him in or read him bedtime stories or feed him cheesecake. All she did now was spend time in the Crib Room with that baby and sing nursery songs to her. Daehyun wanted Mummy to sing him songs too!

Daddy had transformed too. He used to be this big, tall wall of manliness and always brought Daehyun to play baseball or go fishing at least once a week. But now, it seemed like that big, tall wall was knocked down and remade with pink jello. He never brought Daehyun out to play anymore, instead choosing to spend every waking moment with Dari.

Daehyun wiped away his angry tears at the unfairness of life. Mummy’s and Daddy’s friends ignored him now, instead choosing to fawn over that stupid baby. None of the maids paid him any more heed, because apparently, babies were supposed to be first priority. It was obvious no one loved Daehyun anymore.

Daehyun shoved his head under the pillow, a strangled sob escaping his throat. Oh, if only she’d just disappear one day!

---

“Da-ri!” Mummy cooed. The baby squealed and clapped her hands together happily.

Daddy had already melted into a puddle of goo as Mummy took pictures of the baby. Daehyun rolled his eyes at the stupid baby. For some reason, they decided that it would be a great idea to buy the baby animal pajamas. She was now dressed as a brown bear. Everyone said she looked adorable, but frankly, in Daehyun’s opinion, she looked horrid.

Mummy had forced him to come out and watch the baby. It just made him even more frustrated to see his parents interact with Dari and completely ignore him.

The baby sat on her bum and belched loudly before giggling. Daddy was rolling all over the floor, crying about how cute Dari was. Daehyun glared at Dari. He could be cute too!

 “Dari, go to your oppa!” Mummy cooed before flashing a look at Daehyun.

She started to crawl towards him. Daehyun blanched. Did he really have to touch the kid? It was bad enough already having to breathe the same air as her, but to physically touch her sounded appalling. Dari crawled all the way up to his feet before sitting down and cocking her head. She stared at him with big, clear brown eyes framed by long brown eyelashes. Daehyun in turn, glared at her. She smiled toothlessly and reached out a tiny hand to tap him on the knee. She raised her arms up in the air, as if expecting Daehyun to carry her.

“Widdle Dawi wants oppa to cawwy her?” Mummy baby-talked before sending him a stern look that obviously screamed you-better-carry-the-baby-or-else.

Daehyun gave in reluctantly. No one, not even the President of Korea, dared to make his Mummy angry. He hooked his fingers under her armpits before settling her onto his knee.

“Goo!” she cried. She sat on his knee and played with his fingers, leaning against his chest.

Daehyun groaned inwardly and tried not to gag. The baby smelled really weird and milky and she wasn’t cute at all. He patted her back awkwardly, wishing he could put her back down on the ground already.

“Say cheesecake!” Daddy called as Dari started to chew his left index finger.

Daehyun glared as the camera flashed.

“Ahh, Dari is so cute in this pic!” Daddy squealed like a girl. “Look at her gnawing away at Dae’s fingers!”

Daehyun had had enough. Dari this, Dari that. Dari everything! So Daehyun didn’t matter anymore?

He pushed the baby off his lap and onto the couch before storming off to his room, ignoring his parents’ calls and protests.

---

Daehyun tossed and turned in his bed. The incessant wailing emitting from the Crib Room was giving him a horrible migraine. He clamped the pillow over his head, but Dari’s superhuman cries could penetrate even the toughest of pillows.

He could hear Mummy and Daddy congregating outside, whispering worriedly to each other. A few of the maids also joined in the conversation. Daehyun tiredly got to his feet and padded to the door, opening it just a crack and peeking through.

“Her temperature’s 39.4 degrees C now,” A-noona told Mummy as Mummy paced the hallways. “It looks pretty serious.”

“I know that! Call Dr. Kim right now!” Mummy snapped as A-noona scurried off. Daddy was freaking out too, murmuring gibberish to himself.

Daehyun could feel a tiny prick of anxiety piercing his heart. Was something wrong?

Dari’s unending wails suddenly stopped.

The whole house rushed into the Crib Room as Daehyun sank to his knees, halfway tearing up. Was Dari okay? What was going on?

A slam of a door shook him back to his senses. He peeked through again.

Daddy was in a mad rush, carrying a small, deathly pale thing in his arms and shrugging on a coat. Mummy was nowhere to be seen.

Daehyun’s heart stopped. The small thing was his sister. She wasn’t moving, or crying, or doing anything. She just lay in Daddy’s arms, curled up, but she was white as a ghost. She looked like she was… she was dead!

Daehyun felt extraordinarily guilty. He’d wished that she disappeared so many times. Was it finally coming true? But Daehyun didn’t want her to die! All he ever wanted was for his Mummy and Daddy to love him again!

Sobbing loudly, he ran out of the room and grabbed Daddy’s legs.

“She’ll be okay if I say sorry, right?” he wailed, shaking his Daddy’s trousers as Daddy tried to get out of the house.

Daddy tried to shake him off, but Daehyun stubbornly held on.

“Oh, just bring him along!” Mummy’s exasperated voice yelled from the stairs.

Daddy, in his rush to get out, plopped Dari onto Daehyun’s arms and dragged them both out of the house and into the car, where Mr. Park was waiting.

Daehyun held onto a highly feverish Dari with all of his might as they raced to the hospital.

---

“Well, the bad news is, your daughter has contracted a serious influenza bug,” Dr. Kim read off his clipboard professionally.

Mummy stifled a sob as Daddy held onto her shoulders comfortingly. Reporters had been cordoned off to the other end of the hallway, but they continuously snapped photos and yelled out questions.

Daehyun fidgeted with his fingers guiltily, almost crying. Was he the cause of Dari’s illness?

“But the good news is that it’s not lethal,” Dr. Kim closed his clipboard matter-of-factly. “We’ll have to keep her in overnight for observation, but she’ll be good as new tomorrow. We’ll provide her with some antibiotics to ward off the fever.”

Daehyun burst into relieved sobs. The press went nuts, snapping away at Daehyun as he bawled into his hands.

“What’s wrong Dae?” Daddy knelt down to his eye-level.

“I w-wanted Dari t-to disappear because y-y-you didn’t love me anymore!” He hiccupped. “And then she got sick and it’s all my fault because I wanted her to go away!”

Mummy and Daddy gave each other concerned looks.

“Dae, sweetie, we still love you even if we have Dari now! We love both of you equally,” Mummy hugged him tightly.

“But that means you don’t love me as much now!” he cried into her shoulder.

“Well, you can’t measure love sweetie. We have more than enough to split between the both of you and still have some left over!” Mummy smiled.

Daehyun looked at her confusedly.

“Well, think of this like the bank. Daddy has so much money in the bank that if he takes out a billion won for each of you, he’ll still have more than enough left for Mummy and anyone else too!” Daddy added.

“S-s-so you still love me?” Daehyun stuttered, wiping his eyes with his shirt sleeve.

“Of course, sweetie. How could we not love you?” the both of them chorused before cuddling him. “But now, Dari is part of our family too. We love the both of you!”

Daehyun basked in his parents’ attention. He couldn’t believe it. They’d loved him all along! But then it would mean that… Daehyun had wronged Dari. He’d blamed her for something she didn’t cause. He had to do something about it.

“Well, if you can love Dari, I can love her too!” Daehyun decided, jumping off his seat and running to the babies’ ward as his parents watched in confused fascination.

Daehyun slammed the door open. The nurses stared at him in shock and disbelief as he marched up to Dari’s bed.

“Jung Dari, I swear to God and any other person up there that I’ll love you forever!” he yelled loudly, disrupting the peaceful sleeping environment.

Seventeen other babies woke up simultaneously and bawled their faces off. The nurses gave disapproving looks as they rushed to soothe the babies.

Dari blinked her eyes open slowly and held her arms open, gurgling happily. Daehyun gathered her up and gave her the tightest bear hug he’d ever given anyone in his life, before tenderly kissing her on the top of her head.

“I love you, Jung Dari!” he whispered determinedly as the nurses tried to pull Dari away from him.

“I LOVE YOU, MY PRECIOUS DONGSAENG!” he cried as the nurses booted him out of the babies’ ward.

Daddy and Mummy gave each other baleful looks before each holding one of Daehyun’s hands and walking out of the hospital as a family of four-missing-one.

---

“Hyunnie-oppa! Hyunnie-oppa, you there?” Dari’s small hand waves in front of his face.

25-year-old Daehyun shakes himself awake as 23-year-old Dari twirls in front of a mirror. He’s been dreaming of that time again.

“How do I look?” She teases her hair, before holding up her bouquet to her face and blinking coquettishly at him.

Her ivory-coloured dress is glowing from the light of the chandelier reflecting off the thousands of Swarovski crystals sewn onto the fabric. But the one wearing it is even more glowing, her face radiating with bittersweet happiness.

“You look beautiful,” Daehyun replies sincerely. “He’s a lucky guy. If he bullies you or anything, make sure you tell me okay? I’ve always beaten his in PE!”

“Yes, yes, Hyunnie-oppa, we’ve been through this a million times already!” Dari rolls her eyes jokingly. “And do you really think he of all people would bully me?”

“Secretly I hope he would, just so I can kick his for daring to propose to you without my permission,” he mutters as Dari whacks him on the head with her bouquet.

“Don’t say that!” she laughs before straightening her hair again. “Are you really sure I look okay?”

“Yes, you look like the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen in my life,” he reassures her. “He’ll think anything you wear is beautiful anyway.”

Dari’s eyes suddenly mist over. Daehyun envelops her into a warm hug as tears spill out of her eyes.

“Thank you, oppa, for everything,” she sniffs.

“Hey, don’t cry. Today is your special day! You don’t want your makeup messed up!” he fusses gently over her before walking her out of the preparation room. “And I’m not going to be gone forever!”

But secretly, they both know that after they walk through the ornate doors of the church, nothing will be the same.

Father had passed on a year after Daehyun had entered TSU’s law programme. Things were no longer as noisy without him around, and his presence was dearly missed, but the three of them made do with each other.

A week from today, Daehyun will be flying off to America for a three-year-internship at a reputable law firm while Dari will stay in Korea to continue Father’s legacy of Ganghan Bank. Already Dari has thought of plans to improve the bank, such as expanding overseas, and a children’s fund.

“I’ll miss you,” Dari dabs the tears away from her face with a tissue. “Everything would have changed by the time you get back.”

“I’ll call often,” he grins through unshed tears. “Maybe you’ll have little Youngri babies that I can play with!”

“You’re an idiot,” she smiles back at him, eyes suspiciously bright.

The ornate wooden doors open slowly.

Daehyun takes a deep breath as Dari places her hand in the crook of his arm.

Eunhye has already silently slipped behind Dari, holding up her veil as the maid of honour. Daehyun was to be the best man, but he decided to walk Dari down the aisle instead in place of their late father, so Zelo was stepping in. It was only due to his efforts after all, that the wedding would be taking place.

The two of them walk through the doorways as the anthem music starts, stepping away from their old life to live two, separate new ones.

Thank you everyone for sharing this journey with me and Dari! I am super happy to have been able to write for all of you, and that you liked it! I started the story with a flashback, so I'm ending it with one too :-) I hope you enjoyed this story and thank you again for all the support! I love you guys and I'll see you next time! If you want to continue to chat with me, feel free to hit me up on the friends button or on my twitter @emumato! 

>w<

-Peanut