"... I say this every time I come to visit you, but I can't think of any other way to show how grateful I am to you." Donghae says aloud, over the light rustling of leaves in the wind.

                Donghae stands in the serene cemetery; surrounded by the fresh breeze and warm sunlight, in front of the memorial stone, making his usual visit.

"Thanks to you, I can smile, laugh, breathe.  I honestly don't know what I'd do, how I'd live, if it wasn't for you. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be here this moment. I wouldn't have been able to move on." He continues to say, smiling a smile of relief, fiddling with the wedding ring on his finger.

"We've only really known each other for about one month, and we didn't really understand each other in the beginning. I thought you were weird, but eventually we had some similarities right? Haha. You probably thought I was an idiot, but didn't you feel like we had a connection?" Donghae put his hands in his jean pockets after holding his ring necklace between his fingers, while smiling.

"I hope you're okay. Kim Bum, Hyungjoo, and Hyukshin are getting along well with everyone back home. Everyone feels like they're part of the family; I guess eight years does a lot, haha. I wish you could be here with us. By the way, have you seen-"

Donghae stops after feeling a small tug on his jeans. He looks down to his side to see what it is.

"Appa... Who are you talking to?" the high pitched, baby talk voice asks.

"Haha, HaeEunie, appa is talking to his friend." Donghae answers, in a gentle tone. His daughter's eyebrows knit together, confused.

"But... I don't see anyone..." she says, looking around.

"You can't see him, silly..." Donghae laughs lightly, fixing her windblown hair.

"Oh... So appa's talking to his imaginary friend?" HaeEun replies, sounding as if she had found out something obvious.

"Haha, no, I don't have any imag-"

"UMMMAAAAAA!!! APPA IS TALKING TO HIS IMAGINARY FRIEND!!!"  HaeEun yells turning away from Donghae.  Oh boy, now even my daughter will think I'm strange, he thought, a little worried. He picks HaeEun up in his arms, hearing her squeal and giggle. He nuzzles his nose to the side of her face, she giggles because of the tickle.

"Oh? I didn't know appa had imaginary friends." The nearby voice says jokingly. Donghae looks up to see Gaheun, a couple of feet away. He smiles, instantly feeling so much more grateful than before.

"Yah, you're not really going to let her believe I have an imaginary friend will you?" he asks, unable to get rid of the smile on his face as he puts HaeEun down. HaeEun happily skips to Gaheun, and hugs her legs before talking a bouquet of flowers from her.

"Hmm... I'll see how I feel." Gaheun follows, trying to hide her own smile. "HaeEun ah, put the flowers in front of this one, right here." Gaheun tells her daughter, addressing Seunghyun's memorial.

                HaeEun stumbles slightly, unable to keep her balance with the large bouquet of white flowers. She sets it down carefully in front of the stone and looks at her parents immediately after, looking to see if she had done it properly. Gaheun nods once, smiling, making HaeEun smile and giggle happily. Donghae put his hands on Gaheun's shoulders, standing behind her, following her to the next memorial over that had the name 'Park Minkyung'  engraved onto its surface.  Gaheun put the flowers in front of it, before being hugged from behind by Donghae. He kisses her temple lightly, and squeezes her in his arms, unable to keep his affection contained.  I'm so grateful, to both of you, he thought,I hope you two have found each other in heaven. I hope you two are happily together, since you're together here. Right beside each other.

"Hey... Hug me too!" HaeEun whines quietly, slightly jealous at being left alone. She tugs on both of her parents' shirts. They both crouch down, laughing at the personality of their child.
 
"HaeEun, Appa was talking to a good friend of ours." Gaheun smiles at her child. Donghae looks to the side and lets out a smile, trying to hide his expression. It's been two years since HaeEun had been born, but hearing Gaheun call him 'appa' never fails to make him feel outrageously happy. Gaheun notices this, and gently slaps his shoulder, shaking her head while smiling, a little embarrassed after seeing his reaction.

"Oh really? Where is he?" HaeEun questions, intrigued by hearing of this friend. She sees all of their other friends almost every day, so she was eager to meet this new person.

Yyou won't be able to see him, even umma and appa can't see him anymore." Donghae smiles

"Huh?!?! Then how can I talk to him?!" HaeEun exclaims, confused.  Donghae and Gaheun laugh at the look of disbelief on HaeEun’s face.

"Even though we don't see him, we can talk to him here, and he can hear us."

"Ohh... Okay." HaeEun nods, eyes wide.

"Go over there and say hi to uncle Seunghyun. You know, if it wasn’t for him,  you  wouldn't be here." Gaheun says as she taps her finger gently on HaeEun's nose.

                HaeEun's mouth opens when she hears the news, making Donghae and Gaheun laugh again.  HaeEun is so dramatic, for a two year old.  The little girl stands up straight with her hands clasped together in front of her, as she carefully steps towards Seunghyun's memorial. She stands in front of it, staring directly at the picture, feeling a little shy. Suddenly, she began to giggle happily and quickly skips to stand right beside the cement stone and hugs it, trying to wrap her arms around the whole thing.

"HaeEun-" Gaheun stands up, about to tell HaeEun to stop, when Donghae grabs hold of her arm and smiles,

"It's okay. Just let her," He says casually, before loosening his grip to link his fingers with her's. 

Gaheun lets out a sigh, smiling, before she nods in agreement. "You know, I blame you for her weirdness." She laughs quietly as she playfully rolls her eyes.

"Mmm... Meh." Donghae shrugs, mocking Gaheun's nonsense expression. He chuckles airily, as Gaheun pushes him lightly. Donghae falls over, still chuckling.

"Thank you, uncle Seunghyun." HaeEun says happily, resting the side of her head on the memorial as she still hugged it.

"HaeEun, time to say bye, we've got to go back to see Appa's Ahjussi now." Gaheun calls gently. Her daughter's eyes light up. "Yay!"

Donghae chuckles again to himself, as he gets up and stands behind Gaheun to gently rest his forehead on top of her head while wrapping his arms around her.

"Let go... You're so annoying..." Gaheun squirms, mumbling. Donghae smiles as he exhales into her hair.

"But... You love it" he says cheerfully. Gaheun laughs, because as much as she wanted to deny it, it was true.  

                Donghae set her free from his arms, and picks up HaeEun.   Even though Donghae can be so immature... He's a really good father... Who would've thought, Gaheun thinks quietly.

"HaeEunie, who do you like better? Umma or Appa?" Donghae asks, smiling sweetly at her before looking back at Gaheun with a 'prepare to be crushed' expression. Gaheun responds by scrunching her nose at him, making him laugh.  And of course he ruins my good thought about him, Gaheun thinks, shaking her head.

"Uhh... Uhm..." HaeEun hesitates, staring at Donghae.

"It's okay HaeEun, you can say whoever you want. Nobody will get mad." Gaheun encourages, in a gentle tone.  Donghae and Gaheun stare at each other competitively, waiting to see the other person's expression when they lost. Both of them were so confident that their name was going to be called.

"Uhh... I like..." HaeEun says, deep in thought. The two parents wait in silence, not breaking their gaze.

"I like... Hyukshin oppa, Henry oppa, Hyukjae oppa, Kim Bum Oppa... I like all my oppas the most. Hehe"

"What?!" the quarreling couple ask in unison, when their name wasn't called.

HaeEun giggles, "Hahaha, umma and appa are funny! Such silly faces... Hahaha."

“Well… then I guess we both lose.” Gaheun says lightly as she grabs onto Donghae’s arm. Donghae lets out a small laugh, as they began to walk back to their car.

                “Wanna go out for a walk?” Donghae asks, grabbing Gaheun’s hand as he sits beside her. “I think HaeEun fell asleep, everyone else can watch her.”  Gaheun smiles at Donghae’s lit up expression, she nods as he pulls her off the couch and towards the front door.

                The two walked around aimlessly, under the dark sky. Donghae grabs hold of Gaheun’s hand, slowly pulling her to the oh-so familiar place. Gaheun notices where Donghae is pulling her to, and she just laughs while shaking her head. When will you ever grow up? She thinks, smiling to herself because she knew that Donghae never would.

 “Donghae. STOP IT RIGHT NOW!!!!” Gaheun manages to shout. He doesn’t respond. The only thing that can be heard is the jingling of chains. Gaheun soars through the air, grasping onto the park swing for her dear life.  She hears Donghae’s amused chuckle through the sound of the wind rushing around her.

“LEE DONGHAE. IF YOU DON’T STOP RIGHT NOW, YOU ARE IN BIG-“ Gaheun abruptly comes to a stop. She opens her eyes to see Donghae, his arms were around her, and he leans gently on her so their faces are close together. Well… this is a little too close… Gaheun thinks awkwardly as she stares at him wide eyed.

“Trouble?” Donghae asks, in a low voice, with a smirk on his face.  Gaheun releases the chains from her grip, and puts her hands on Donghae’s shoulders, pushing him away. He strengthens his hold on her, chuckling airily as he put his forehead on hers, looking right into her eyes. It’s been so long, and she still feels awkward so easily. Haha, he thinks, biting his lower lip. He loved to make her feel uncomfortable like this; he really enjoyed watching her expression, it reminded him of when they first met.

“You know what?...” Gaheun whispers quietly, still staring right into Donghae’s eyes.

Donghae lets out a short, breathy laugh, “What?...”

“… Your brothers are right.”

“Hmm?...” Donghae replies, lost.

“… You  do  look like a dinosaur.” Gaheun laughs as she says this, gently applying more pressure on Donghae’s forehead with her own. Donghae laughs too, Of all things to say… and at this time… That’s Gaheun, he thinks to himself.

                Gaheun uses this opportunity to her advantage, she pushes Donghae away and quickly jumps off of the swing and runs off of the woodchips and onto the pavement. She stretches, reaching her hands up to the night sky, relaxing her tensed muscles from being scared to death earlier. Wait a second… why is it so quiet?... Gaheun turns around, to look at Donghae. Still standing in the same position, he stares at Gaheun with creased brows. He takes a singles step towards her, not changing his expression. Uh oh. Gaheun thinks, what’s he up to? After a short pause, he takes another single step.

“Wha- what’s wrong with you?...”  Gaheun asks, getting a little worried for herself. Donghae sighs as he takes another step closer to her.

“Hmm… a dinosaur?” He tilts his head, stepping forward again. Oh no, evil face.

                Without waiting for him to get any closer, Gaheun runs in the opposite direction. Unfortunately, within a couple of seconds Donghae is right behind her, bear hugging her from behind. He leans his upper body on her back, making her bend over. They sway from side to side, Donghae nuzzling his face to the side of Gaheun’s face and hair, while growling like a dinosaur.  Gaheun laughs, making her whole body weak.

                The two end up sitting under a tree of the park, still laughing at their immaturity. They know that they should be heading back home now, but for some reason, neither of them wanted to. Being back at this park… was almost nostalgic, it brought them back and reminded them of the very first day they met. Donghae put his arm around Gaheun’s shoulder and sat closer to her, leaning his head on her’s.

“What?” Gaheun asks, her voice still filled with laughter.

“… Nothing.” He replies, his slightly embarrassed smile reappearing on his face. Using his free hand, he picks up Gaheun’s, admiring their matching wedding bands.

“Tell me what you’re thinking,”  Gaheun smiles, looking up at him. He looks at her, smiling as well. Truthfully, he doesn’t have anything on his mind right now. Nothing but the fact that he was really happy. He just shrugs, before he kisses her temple. Gaheun sighs happily, and looks at the matching wedding bands on their hands.

“Can you believe it?... Its already been eight years since…” Gaheun begins

“-I fell in love with you.” Donghae finishes her sentence. It wasn’t what she was going to say, but it was still true.

“Yeah… isn’t it crazy? Time really flies…” Gaheun continues, sighing at the thought.

“It is crazy…” Donghae says gently. “It’s crazy that… even though I see you every day, I still feel like I’m seeing you for the first time.”

“Aww… why do you have to say things like that? It’s so awkward…” Gaheun half complains.

“You’re the only one who thinks its awkward,” Donghae chuckles.

“Well… I’m the only other person here… duh.” Gaheun laughs, shaking her head at him.

“You know, eight years ago, when I woke up and saw you for the first time, I had a crush on you.”  Donghae half laughs, getting a little embarrassed. Gaheun bursts out laughing. “Laugh all you want, but it’s true! When I woke up, I think I stared at you for fifteen minutes before you woke up.”

“Hahaha, you creep” Gaheun elbows him playfully.

“Okay, now you.” Donghae says, still chuckling.

“Me what?”

“When did you like me?” He smiles kiddishly, waiting for an answer.

“Uhh…”

“Oh. You probably fell in love with me at first sight, right?” Donghae asks, using his elbow to nudge her. Gaheun laughs again, at his sudden eagerness.

“Hmmm… It’s got to be love at first sight. I mean, I’m such a handsome guy… and I was probably 100 times better looking than all of the other guys you’ve seen in your life. I bet you thought I had a very y voice too, huh? Huh?” He continues to joke, pretending to be self-centered. This just adds to Gaheun’s giggles.

“And after hearing my singing and know my personality, you were hooked. Completely obsessed with me, right?” he continues to jest, unable to keep a straight face any longer.

“Of course, Donghae, that’s  exactly  how I felt, haha”

“I knew it. Nobody can resist my charms… hey! Stop laughing!!!” He shakes her gently with his arm. “I’m serious!” he laughs.

“But you wanna know what you love the most about this perfect, number one man in the world?” He says dramatically continuing his earlier joke.

“Ahahahah, you- hahah, you’re so-“

“-Stupid. I know,” Donghae smiles contently, as he wraps his other arm around her, hugging her tight.