Chapter 13 – The Date

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Lying on the bed, Minho continually stared at the same spot of the white ceiling that he had been staring at unyieldingly for practically the entire night already. He had been replaying his own actions toward Jinri over and over in his mind and each time he began to see clearer of the reason why did he carelessly act out of his stupidity.

Differently from the last time there was contain of alcohol wiped away some of their consciousness, yesterday they were totally sobber and that was one of the reasons that kept Minho totally wide awake up till now. Point was, he had definitely received a reaction from Jinri and surprisingly that was what he had been striving toward.

Turning his head to his side, Minho peered at Jinri who was soundly sleeping besides him. The night before she had come up to their room not long after he had. She was unusually quiet and had gotten herself ready for bed in no time. Well, really, what had he been expecting? Her to declare undying love for him?

Rolling on his side slowly, Minho watched Jinri's sleeping form. With her face completely relaxed, Jinri was a completed sleeping beauty but then he noticed lines around her eyes and even on her forehead, causing her to appear a bit older than she actually was. Minho sighed, had he caused that or was it because of the sudden duty of taking care of the children?

Just then, the door creaked open and Minho snapped his head towards the door to see Jaemi standing in the doorway, clutching what looked like a teddy bear. She shuffled her way towards Jinri's side of the bed and attempted to wake her up when Minho whispered, "Jaemi, come here."

Jaemi moved around the bed and her features became visible to Minho. He glanced at the clock to find that it was around six thirty in the morning.

Minho thought, why any person would want to be up so early was beyond him, but he asked his daughter anyhow. "Why are you up so early? And Jimmy is still sleeping right?"

Jaemi nodded. "Oppa is a sleepyhead. And I don't know why I got up early. But did I really wake up early?" Whispered Jaemi and then she grinned excitedly. "It's time to wake up."

"Can't you try to go back to sleep?" Asked Minho tiredly, the fact that he hadn't gotten any sleep the entire night starting to seep into his body.

Jaemi shook her head stubbornly. "Me and auntie Jinri always get up this hour!"

"Okay okay..." Replied Minho as he gave up and blew out a tired breath. "How about I get up with you today?"

The little girl nodded excitedly, her eyes shining in the darkness. Minho lazily rolled out of the bed when Jaemi started to tug at his hand.

Minho casted one last look at his sleeping wife before stumbling after the bouncing girl who was already out of the room, not down the hallway towards the stairs but to the next door.

Minho groaned. "No Jaemi! Jimmy is sleeping." But before he was able to stop her, Jaemi's screeched voice of calling her oppa up already echoed throughout the hallway.

Jinri opened her eyes slowly, blinking for a few times before she sat up with a start. She checked the time to find that it was a few minutes past nine o'clock and jumped out of bed, vaguely noticing that Minho's side of the bed was unoccupied.

Stopping in the kids' room to find that they weren't there, for some reason Jinri's heart rate began to pound with the anxiety of knowing her kids weren't in the room. Jinri quickly flew down the stairs and breathed a sigh of huge relief when she spotted Minho was in the middle between Jimmy and Jaemi. The trio were sitting cross-legged in the living room, eating sandwiches and watching cartoons.

Jimmy turned slightly and took a notice of Jinri standing behind him. "Mommy! You are up!"

Jaemi perked up immediately. "Look auntie Jinri! Daddy let us eating breakfast in the living room."

"I see that." Smiled Jinri, catching Minho's eye and raising her eyebrow in question. She normally didn't let kids to eat in the living room but of course he didn't know that detail. Minho gave her a bright, yet tired smile that seemed to melt Jinri's heart.

"Morning." Greeted Minho as she took a seat on the couch, playing with Jaemi's hair.

Jinri smiled in return. "Good morning."

"Mommy!" Asked Jimmy as he peered to look at Jinri at the other end. "What are we gonna do today?"

"I don't know, what do you think?" Responded Jinri, watching the TV absentmindedly.

"Jaemi, you think of one." Said Jimmy as he reached across Minho to playfully pull his sister's hair out of adoring which instantly earning a glare from the little girl. He stuck out his tongue to her in return.

Minho who was in the middle witnessed the whole scene and he couldn't help but let out a small laugh. Jinri noticed it and she smiled. Minho turned to her and caught her bright face was directed to him as they later exchanged each other's smile.

Jaemi sighed and squeezed her eyes shut as if she were concentrating extremely hard. "I wanna go to the park!"

"Umm...that's a good idea. Mommy, let's go to the park, can we?" Agreed Jimmy.

"Well sounds like a plan." Intervened Minho, giving his son a wink as he giggled away. Jaemi gasped excitingly and clapped her hands together.

Jinri merely raised an eyebrow at Minho. "You're not working?" Asked Jinri, skeptical about Minho's intentions. She was still confused about his actions the previous night and was just confused as a whole person now.

Minho shook his head, eyes flicking towards Jinri. "Nah, figured I could afford to take the weekend off." He gave her a small smile before turning back to talk with the kids, "Well if you want to go, you better get ready now."

Jaemi quickly scrambled up from the floor and pushed Jimmy with her before both of them excitingly took off up the stairs to their room.

Minho and Jinri following, an awkward silence settling over the two of them. At the top of the stairs, they both took the same way into their room, one after the other.

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As per usual on a Saturday, the park was littered with children of all ages. Jinri took note of the particularly warm day. It was still early February and snow still littered the ground in spots.

"Jaemi! Isn't that Hana?" Asked Jimmy, pointing to a cute little girl in a mere distance from them. He grinned at his sister.

"Omo! Hana is here too!" Exclaimed Jaemi. She then tugged Jinri's hand. "Auntie Jinri! Can I go play with