You sat on the bench in the park that faced the pond and stared ripples on the water surface. This was your favourite place in the park and you had been coming here ever since you found it while you were talking a walk when you were still pregnant.

Minhyuk, who e just a little over a month ago, was now in his baby pram beside you, smiling and looking at the ducks in the pond swim by. He kept pointing to them and giggling to himself like it was the funniest thing he had ever seen. “Those are ducks, Minnie.” You told him softly. He looked at you when you spoke but just smiled cutely before turning his attention back to the ducks swimming by.

You absentmindedly fiddled with the ring on your necklace. Once again, you were faced with really important decisions to make. You were already approaching the end of your masters programme, with your final exams as well as thesis submission deadline happening in the next two months, and you had to decide whether or not to take up a doctoral program. Your student advisor as well as professor had already advised you on the various scholarships that you were eligible for. Initially, you were sceptical about doing your PhD at UCLA because you didn’t want to stay away from your mom for so long. But your professor had encouraged you to pursue it because he thought that you had the passion to see it through and that it was crucial in your intended career path.

You hadn’t spoken to Kibum or any of the SHINee members about this yet because one, you didn’t want them to have to worry about you since they were already so busy and two, you hadn’t spoken to them in a while.

Ever since they made their debut as SHINee at the end of May, it had been so much easier to find information about them online, about what they were doing and about where they were. But you still relied heavily on Taemin to provide you with information about how they were holding up. You knew that the hectic schedules and the pressure to always be at their best would be immensely tiring for them so you still wouldn’t help but worry about their health.

In the end, you called your mom as well as Soojin to get their opinions. While your mom remained as supportive of you as always, Soojin felt a little sad at the possibility of not seeing you for another four to five years but told you at the end not to bother about her and to make a decision that you would not regret.

That sounded easy enough to do. You were up for the challenge but somehow, somewhere deep down inside, you felt a tinge of sadness for having to stay away from the people you cared about. On top of that, you also feared that you wouldn’t be able to keep the balance in your life. As things were right now, you were already struggling to divide your attention between Minhyuk, school and your internship. You really didn’t know if you would be able to cope with an even bigger workload.

And it wasn’t to say that Minhyuk was a demanding baby. In fact, he was everything but that; he was, literally, an angel. You always looked forward to seeing him again after a long day because he was always able to cheer you up with his bubbly giggles and infectious smiles.

“Umma~” Minhyuk’s voice snapped you out of your thoughts. You looked at him and saw his reaching out his hands to you.

You smiled. “You want me to carry you?” You asked out of habit before lifting him out of his pram and walking closer towards the pond to point out the ducks and swans to Minhyuk.

There wasn’t a day that went by that were weren’t amazed as you watched him grow and pick up new things. He had first learnt how to say “mommy” and “daddy” a few months back but it took a little longer for him to learn “umma” and “appa” since he didn’t hear them being spoken as often. After you noticed that, you had a short discussion with Joanne and decided that when you were alone with him, you would speak to him in Korean and then when Joanne was with him, she would speak to him in English. The both of you agreed to work together so that Minhyuk could pick up both languages at the same time.

The sun had already began to set by the time you and Minhyuk arrived back home. You put Minhyuk in his high chair while you went to prepare some pumpkin and carrot porridge for him.

“Food!” He exclaimed cheerfully when you came back to him with his baby bowl.

“Yes! Yummy food! Is Minnie hungry?” You asked.

Minhyuk seemed to understand as he pointed to his mouth and opened it while smiling.

One year later…

“Minnie, baby boy. Be good ok? Umma will see you later.” You said as you kissed the top of his head while he was in his high chair having his breakfast.

“Ok. Bye, umma.” He let go of his fork and waved to you.

“Bye bye!” You waved back.

“I’ll be back around 3 in the afternoon. See you later!” You informed Joanne, who gave you a smile and nod, before you ran out the door.

You were now into your first semester of your doctoral studies at UCLA. Your life now was nothing short of a marathon. You found yourself rushing everywhere and trying to complete everything in the shortest possible time. The only thing that you would never rush or compromise on was the time you spent with Minhyuk. He would always be your number one priority.

In the past year alone, he had learnt how to talk, walk, feed himself with a fork and spoon, throw and kick a ball (or any of his toys), and he could understand almost everything you said to him now. He rarely ever threw temper tantrums and only got upset once when he couldn’t find his favourite blue-coloured dog plushie that Kibum had given to him. He had become extremely attached to the plushie about seven months back and ever since then, he couldn’t fall asleep without hugging it.

You were about to complete you research work for the day when you phone suddenly started to vibrate in your pocket. You took you phone out and saw that it was an unknown number. You ignored it and decided to focus on your work but when the caller called again for the third time, you decided to answer it.

“Hello?”

“Hi, is this Ms. Lee ------?” The lady on the line asked.

“Yes, speaking...”

You gasped when she spoke again. Your phone slipped out of your grasp and fell with a soft thud onto the carpeted floor. You began crying without even caring that you were at your workplace.

=================

Finally! The story progresses :) Haha. 

I had actually intended for this to be posted yesterday on Valentine's Day but because the ending turned out a little... shocking? I decided to wait till today to post it. Didn't want to dampen anyone's mood. Haha.

Anyway, I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day!! Single or happily in a relationship, everyone deserves to enjoy Valentine's Day :)

I shall proceed to spam all of you with lovely SHINee pics... now :D

Ok, one last one :) This is me fave!