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Little taste of heaven (pt 3- final)

genre: single parent!taeyong, kindergarten teacher!y/n (fluff, angst, hurt/comfort elements?) pairing/s: Taeyong / Reader, Johnny / OC, (ft baekhyun n other nct members) word count: 26k tw: drinking, slight age gap (5 years), mentions of sex but no smut, might get a bit emotionally heavy at some points a/n: this is the final part for little taste of heaven!! this, similarly to part 2 was loosely inspired by na tae joo’s poem ‘I want to give you my most beautiful thoughts’! so yes. enjoy~~~ lmk u guys thoughts and do reblog! it would really help a lot also I rly like this gif its what I pictured him to look like for majority of the story like he just looks so clean cut and ugh. lets not get into that read this on ao3 part 1, part 2

“My child is fine, his older siblings all went through the same thing, he’ll be fine.”

You fiddled with the ring on your index finger, nodding with a polite smile, “We understand that, but considering he’s turning three this year, we want to encourage him to be more independent, and we need your help to encourage him to practice independence at home as well. Perhaps through encouraging him to eat on his own or wash his hands on his own.”

The mother of the boy who you were referring to was… a slightly more difficult parent, to say the least. Communication was hard, especially when you were already frustrated about her son’s situation. His situation being that he just wasn’t being cared for enough at home. Staring blankly at the young woman dressed in luxurious clothes sitting before you, you struggled to maintain your smile.

“Oh, that’s because we don’t allow him to touch anything at home,” she told you with a laugh, “Since it’s dirty.”

Your eyebrows raised, a hum leaving you as you nodded slowly, “...Right.”

Thankfully enough, your co-teacher had stepped in, explaining the need to engage the child more at home, to talk to him and show interest in what he’s doing.

His mother had simply laughed, “He hasn’t even said his first words yet, I don’t know how you think it’s so easy.”

You smiled, forcing out a laugh.

You knew your student was capable of talking, and you would know this because you’d heard it before. In your time spent with this class, the first time you’d arrived, all you ever heard about this particular boy was that he doesn’t talk.

But after a while, you realised all he needed was someone who was genuinely interested. He went from no words at all, to full sentences when he talked to you, you knew it was possible, so it was almost frustrating that his mother didn’t.

But you knew every parent’s situation was different, you know, Ning telling you to give her the benefit of the doubt and whatnot.

You’d let Ning take over the talking, reaching for your drink to finish what was left of it, nodding along every now and then with things your co-teacher would mention as you looked through the child’s portfolio for examples.

Glancing at the list of parents who had booked appointments with you, you almost sighed in relief when you realised this was the last parent you would have to see before you could go home.

You were tired beyond belief and wanted nothing more than to head home, take a nice shower and sleep.

Though little did you know, Taeyong was having just as tough of a time talking to Byul’s teacher.

Having rushed over after his last class, Taeyong was already feeling a headache coming on. Though, it seemed that the more Teacher Hana spoke, the worse his headache became.

Going through Byul’s portfolio was fine, and so was talking about her learning progress and development, but Teacher Hana seemed to have come into this with a certain goal in mind, and she wasn’t going to let anything stop her from reaching that goal.

“The last time we spoke, I informed you about Byul’s behaviour during class, right?”

Taeyong nodded.

“Well, recently Byul has expressed a lot of concerns regarding her mom,” she began, Taeyong staring blankly at Byul’s teacher, “We understand that your current arrangement doesn’t involve Byul’s mother, although we do understand that if you were to introduce another motherly figure into Byul’s life, this could cause some confusion for her.”

“She’s fine, though?” Taeyong murmured, eyebrows furrowing.

Byul’s teacher had simply given him her same sweet smile, nodding at him.

“As Byul’s teachers, we were…” she hummed, “concerned, about your involvement with Teacher Y/N. It’s possible that this relationship could be triggering her recent destructive behaviour, and her attitude towards her friends and teachers as well. We understand that it won’t be an issue for long in school because of Teacher Y/N’s dismissal—”

“Wait, dismissal?”

Teacher Hana smiled, nodding, “Yes. Did she not tell you? The school has a strict policy about whether teachers are allowed to… Nevermind, but the point is that even outside of school, we’re concerned that Y/N’s position as a teacher will interfere with Byul’s learning, as she’s confused on how to integrate her school life and her home life. She has clearly expressed an unwelcome attitude towards Teacher Y/N as a possible motherly figure for her, so we just wanted to inform you of these things we’ve noticed as her teachers. We hope you understand the school’s position on this.”

Nodding slowly, Taeyong felt as though he were watching himself from outside his body, not knowing where to start as his mind ran wild with thoughts and things he’d wished to ask you.

Tuning out the rest of her words, Taeyong had blinked slowly, his tongue coming out to wet his lips, “Is uh… Is Ms Jamie still in her office?”

===

taeyong 2:40pm -sorry, just finished recording a lecture, what are you doing? want to join us tonight for dinner at my mom’s place?-

You typed your reply out quickly.

2:40pm -sorry babe :( i’m at home but i’ve got to attend mass with my parents later at 5 and dinner with kun’s family afterwards, but i can meet you now for tea if you want?-

taeyong 2:41pm -its okay, you stay there. i’ll come over-

Waiting for Taeyong to come over, you’d continued working on your resignation letter, a part of you unable to focus because you had felt so unsettled about what you wished to talk to Taeyong about.

Fiddling with the ring on your index finger, you took it out, playing with it, stopping yourself before you could slip it over your ring finger, shoving it back on your index finger quickly.

You felt bad. Taeyong was probably expecting just a nice short hang-out with you by coming over but you couldn’t keep doing this. Each day that passed, the burden in your heart had felt heavier and heavier, you couldn’t continue keeping this from him.

Little did you know, you wouldn’t have to for much longer.

Ringing your doorbell, you’d opened the door to reveal a rather messy-haired Taeyong, looking as though he’d rushed out of his apartment for this. Dressed in his dress shirt (that you assumed he used to record his lecture) and a pair of jeans, pushing his glasses higher on his nose.

“Hey,” he breathed, cursing his anxious mind for rendering him a mess before you.

“Hey,” you stepped aside to let him enter, shutting the door behind him, “do you want anything to drink?”

Taeyong shook his head, his gaze wandering to the pain-relief patch you had pasted on the side of your wrist.

Seating himself on the sofa, Taeyong glanced at your laptop screen on full display, showing your google search on ‘what is another word for handover?’

Walking over with a glass of water in your non-injured hand even though Taeyong said he didn’t want water, figuring he might get thirsty later on, you noticed how Taeyong seemed a little more on edge than usual, his gaze fixed on his laptop as his leg bounced restlessly.

“Hey, is everything alright?” You took a seat next to Taeyong, reaching your hand out to touch his clasped hands.

There were many ways Taeyong had wanted to go about this conversation, but it seemed his anxiousness had gotten the better of him.

Tearing his gaze away from your laptop, Taeyong blurted, “Why didn’t you tell me you got fired?”

Your lips parted in shock, hand stilling over his. Right, he just finished seeing Teacher Hana.

“I didn’t get fired, I’m resigning.”

What were you doing? This was Taeyong you were talking to, not your mom.

Taeyong let out a small sigh, “I spoke to Ms Jamie, she basically didn’t give you a choice, you know?”

“I mean,” you murmured, “she gave me a choice between resigning and her firing me, at least.”

Taeyong frowned, wondering how you’d managed to still seem so calm.

“Yeah, how nice of her,” he muttered bitterly, “It’s always easier to explain a resignation as opposed to getting fired for dating a student’s parent, isn’t it?”

You were barely holding it together, “Okay, but what if I willingly made the choice?”

“Resigning?” The look on Taeyong’s face was confused, bordering on incredulous.

You nodded.

“Why?”

Your lips parted to speak, coming up short as you let out a small huff, “Because…because my presence there isn’t good for Byul.”

Taeyong had fallen silent at that, removing his hands from under yours and taking your hand in his, his thumb grazing over the ring he had gifted you, his gaze briefly flickering to the ring and back to you.

“It’s not like it was an easy decision for me, Taeyong. I meant to tell you about it sooner but I was just so… all over the place recently, I saw how Byul behaved around me and it just made me feel so…”

Shitty? Bad? What was the word you were looking for?

“Why didn’t you say something?” Taeyong’s gaze had softened, “we could’ve worked something out.”

“Honestly? because I was scared out of my mind. Look, I want to be honest with you, I thought about a lot of things when I was making this decision. You know, marriage and parenthood and career shit,” you brought your other hand up to pinch at your nose, already feeling your tears coming on.

“I don’t want to insert myself where I’m not wanted, you know? Me being with you, on this path to… you know, it wasn’t in line with what was right for Byul, and as a teacher that scared me, because I was never in this position before. Of course I want what’s best for my students, and I know for a fact that this was confusing for her and affecting her negatively, I was just stupid enough not to have realised that sooner—”

“Don’t say that,” Taeyong’s voice came out weaker than you expected, and you shook your head, your lower lip beginning to quiver as your chest felt tight.

“But we both know it’s true.”

“But how do you feel?” he asked, though you both knew the answer to that. Taeyong just felt like he needed to hear it right now.

You huffed.

“Are you crazy? I love you,” your voice faltered, blinking back your tears rapidly.

“Believe me, I want nothing more than to just trust you and let us work this out together but my mind won’t let me, Taeyong,” your gaze was fixed on his frown, “And I’d be lying if I said this was entirely about Byul, it’s more than that. You deserve someone that can be there a hundred percent for you and Byul but with how I am right now, I’m not in a good place mentally… I don’t think I can do that for you.”

Taeyong hadn’t made any move to speak, keeping his gaze fixed on your hands and his lips pressed in a firm line.

“It’s not fair to you either, Taeyong. You deserve someone who won’t have to second guess a life with you, who can make both you and Byul happy.”

Taeyong nodded, letting go of your hand to bring his hand to cover his mouth, letting go of his face with a defeated sigh, “Call me an idiot, but I always thought you are that ‘someone’.”

You were silent for a while, as if trying to convince yourself to stay strong in the midst of your too-quiet apartment.

“It’s not good… for Byul.”

“I know, and it’s selfish, but it’s good for me,” Taeyong had finally met your gaze, almost making you look away with how much his eyes gave away what he was feeling.

“You make me want for myself… I never do that.”

Taeyong let out a deep breath, shakier than before, “That’s what I hate the most about this… I know in the end I'll still want what’s best for Byul, but that doesn’t mean I want you any less,” he shook his head.

Your frown deepened, “I know, and I’m sorry, I never wanted to put you in a position where you would have to choose between what makes you happy and what makes Byul happy—”

“Y/N,” he met your gaze, his hand coming up to your face, wiping away the tear that you hadn’t even realised had rolled down your cheek.

“Hmm?”

“I want you to be happy too, you know?”

You couldn’t control your tears when you’d heard his words, feeling as though your heart was being pummelled and it was all your fault.

Maybe if you’d met later in life, even just a little later, things might not have had to turn out this way.

“I’m sorry, I just keep thinking of things we can do to make this better.”

You nodded, “I know.”

After what felt like ages of silence, you felt as though your stream of tears was finally ceasing.

“I’m sorry it turned out this way, Taeyong. I just… need some time to sort myself out, you know, figure out what it is that I want to do moving forward. Need time for…” you swallowed, “for Byul to feel safe again.”

Taeyong, like always, was respectful of your decision, even if it felt like he was falling apart right in front of you.

Maybe this was what his mom was trying to say, that as much as he didn’t give himself a choice in taking on parenthood, you still had a choice and he respected that.

“No, I understand. It’s important, take as much time as you need,” he sniffed.

Taeyong didn’t know what to do. He didn’t want to leave, but the longer he stayed here, the more difficult it felt for him to let go of you.

Standing up abruptly, he ran his hands through his hair with a sigh.

Taking that as a signal that he’d wanted to leave, you stood up, following behind him as he’d made his way slowly to the door, stopping just before the threshold.

Turning to face you, there was an incommunicable amount of pain you could see in his eyes.

“Maybe… maybe if we met a little later in life…” you began, immediately regretting your words and the flood of emotions they sent through your heart, “maybe things would be different.”

Taeyong knew, though, that he didn’t regret a single moment spent with you.

Pulling you into a hug, Taeyong wrapped his arms around you tightly, feeling him relax almost instantly, emotional beyond words as he held you close to him, savouring the feeling of having you close to him.

“Can we stay like this… just a little longer?” his voice was barely above a whisper, and you nodded, your arms wrapping around him.

“Of course we can,” you whispered, burying your head in his chest as your tears stained his shirt, feeling as though you had no more tears left in you.

With one hand cradling the back of your head, Taeyong felt his throat start to constrict, shutting his eyes tightly as a small whimper had left him.

You thought you were okay, you really did. Until you pulled away and before you could react Taeyong had pulled you in for one last kiss.

Every kiss felt like your first, even the last. He’d held you closely to himself, deepening the kiss with all the desperation within him to leave you with all the love he possibly could. Even with the messiness of it all, the salty taste of tears, you continued clutching tightly onto his shirt, ignoring how much your wrist was aching.

And when he pulled away, his eyes were red and bloodshot, though his gaze wasn’t like before. His gaze was hardened now as he forced his hands off of you, bidding you goodbye before clenching his jaw. He figured he had to, standing as still and rigid as he could, worried that his legs would run out of strength if he didn’t.

Without another word, he left your apartment, the echo of the door shutting louder than before, leaving you to walk back to the sofa and stare at the untouched glass of water sitting on your coffee table.

===

“Heaven,” Edward had uttered upon feeling Bella rush into his arms just before he could expose himself to the public.

Your lips parted, a sour taste in your mouth as you switched channels in annoyance.

Heaven? Please.

You bit off another chunk off your ice cream stick harshly, braving through the regret of the cold that rushed up to your brain as you huffed, switching to a cooking channel and tossing the remote aside.

At the same time, you couldn’t help but feel the lingering envy from the harmless scene in ‘New Moon’, as ridiculous as it made you feel. You were sure if Kun had seen what you’d just done, you’d never be able to live it down.

You knew you wanted that, your own little taste of heaven, even though you knew he was probably busy marking assignments right now.

As if hearing your cry for a distraction, your phone began to ring, picking up the call immediately after reading the caller id.

“Hey,” you huffed, taking in another mouthful of ice-cream.

“How’s life being unemployed?”

You rolled your eyes, “So much for a hello.”

“Seriously, though, how’s the job search been going?” You could hear the sound of a PA announcement in the background, paging for a doctor to go to a blah blah blah ward (you couldn’t hear very well).

“Like shit,” you quipped, a chuckle sounding over the phone.

“That bad? You had an interview this morning, right? How was that?”

“I mean it, Kun, it was horrible. I’ve never felt so humiliated in my life.”

“Why? Wasn’t this one of the centres that your friend Johnny recommended?” Kun pulled his phone away from his ear, searching your chat for the name of the preschool you interviewed for, swiveling around in his chair to type the name into his search engine.

You recounted the horror story to Kun, your blood boiling just at the thought of the principal’s spitefulness.

“Word travels fast, Y/N. I’m afraid you’re not an employee that fits our centre’s… ethics.”

“Word travels fast? What are you talking about?” you asked her, the woman giving you a sympathetic look.

Lowering her volume, she’d given you a knowing look, “Your relationship with that professor? I mean I can totally understand, he’s a very eligible bachelor but what a workplace nightmare, am I right?”

“So… you’re not offering me the job because of a rumour?”

“I mean, we both know it wasn’t a rumour,” she snickered, “But, no no. Not because of that. I’m not offering you the job because I think you’d do better at another centre, dear. You know, one that finds you to be a better fit with the school image.”

Kun let out a low whistle, bringing his thermos to his lips and taking a long sip.

“Yikes,” he clicked through the images of the website, leaning back in his chair, “I mean, looking at the website now, it... doesn’t even look that nice.”

“You don’t have to lie to make me feel better, Kun, the place is huge and their funding is insane.”

“Okay, fine, I lied, the place looks pretty cool.”

You groaned, slumping down onto your sofa, kicking your blanket up so you could yank it over yourself.

“Honestly, it’s been more than a month, I can’t believe they haven’t gotten over it yet.”

Kun sucked in a sharp breath, “I mean, I can’t imagine they hear about something like that everyday.”

“Not helping, Kun.”

You sighed, running a hand through your hair, “But, whatever. Honestly, I’m really considering just going overseas for my masters.”

You heard Kun hum.

“I mean, why not? Pretty sure you can check out their scholarships, see if you can apply for the January intake.”

“Yeah, why not, right? I don’t know, maybe I’ll check later tonight. You’re coming for mass later, right?”

Kun let out an affirmative hum, “Remember to mentally prepare yourself, I’m also pretty sure your mom’s not finished with her list of comments about Taeyong.”

Scoffing, you wanted to deny it but eventually grunted in defeat, knowing Kun was right.

“Fine, anyway, I should probably go get ready now.”

“Yeah, go, go. I’ll pick you up at four thirty.”

===

You’d taken a seat next to Kun for dinner, eyeing your mother curiously after she’d flashed you a warm smile.

Lowering your volume and turning to Kun, you muttered, “You saw that, right?”

Kun stifled his giggles, “Pretty sure it’s because she saw you crying when you were praying just now. Heard her telling my mom she thinks the Lord helped you to reach an epiphany about the problems in your ‘doomed-to-begin-with’relationship.”

“Seriously?”

Kun nodded, reaching over for the bottle of wine to pour some for himself and for you.

Sighing, you brought your glass to your lips.

“Whatever, as long as she’s happy,” you murmured.

Your mom wasn’t entirely wrong, you were moved, definitely, but not over what she was thinking. You were desperate,frankly, asking the God you were so used to hearing about to help you in your pathetic state of mind, to be so kind as to send down some guardian angels to guide you as you tried so hard to enter your next stage of life. You didn’t think it would happen so easily, but you figured it was worth a shot.

You were currently in the stage of grief where love songs were the last thing you’d wanted to listen to and you avoided taking the train at certain times of the day so you wouldn’t be surrounded by couples on their way to work and school. You guessed it was easier now that you were unemployed, you’d only left the house for groceries or regular appointments with people anyway.

And it seemed, this stage of grief was lasting awfully long.

“It’s so nice to have us all here like this, isn’t it?” your mom had commented, the brightest of smiles on her face as you mustered a patronising smile.

Kun’s mom nodded, humming in agreement, “Yeah, yeah, definitely! Y/N, you’ve been looking a lot better these days, as well.”

Kun’s eyebrows raised while you managed a huff of laughter.

“Really?” I feel like absolute shit, though.

“Yes, you do! How’s the job search been going?”

You hummed, Kun interjecting smoothly, “Actually, Y/N’s been considering going overseas for her masters… on a scholarship,” he added pointedly, knowing your mom would be elated to hear that.

“I mean, yeah, I haven’t applied yet but yeah I was thinking of that,” you glanced at your dad, gauging his reaction.

He’d simply given you a nod, the smallest of smiles on his face.

“That’s great news, honey. Where are you planning on going?”

“I mean, I have a few options, I’m really just researching right now. But I’ll definitely update you guys, don’t worry.”

Your mother had simply smiled, her tone pointed and laced with satisfaction.

“Things are falling into place now, don’t you think, honey? It was a blessing for you to break up with that boy, he was practically promising you the moon.”

Kun’s mother was nice enough to defend you, murmuring something about the blessing to have experienced love in that way, but your jaw clenched, nodding slowly, your mom managing to successfully turn your mood sour with minimal effort.

You’d managed to keep your mouth shut for the rest of the dinner, though her words had lingered in your mind bitterly, not knowing if the metallic taste in your mouth was imagined or whether you’d actually bit the skin of your lip too hard.

Once the dinner was over, your dad and Kun’s parents had gone to the living room with their drinks, Kun announcing that he was going to the washroom, leaving you and your mom alone in the kitchen.

Picking up the dishes, you’d put them together a little too harshly, your mom sending you a glare.

“Don’t destroy my plates.”

You couldn’t bite your tongue fast enough this time.

“Promising me the moon, mom? What the hell is that supposed to mean?” you spoke, exasperated.

Unfazed, your mom had carried on washing the dishes.

“Language,” she’d warned.

“Whatever you think Taeyong said, he didn’t ‘promise me the moon’ if that’s what you’re thinking.”

She’d huffed, letting the dish go in the sink and hearing it thud, turning to look at you, her gaze full of contempt.

“He didn’t? Are you sure? All of that marriage talk, that ‘we can be one happy family’ bullshit he fed you. That was promising you the moon. Look at you, honey. One simple comment about him and that’s all it took for your mood to go sour for the entire evening. Looks like he’s got a bigger hold on you than I thought,” she shrugged.

You didn’t have the energy for this, frankly.

Neither did Taeyong.

Johnny had been friends with Taeyong for almost a decade now, and in that time, he knew that Taeyong had grown to be someone who was always very controlled in his behaviour. He did things intentionally. Every decision he’d made, he was sure of it, confident in his decisions.

So, as a friend, it was natural for him to feel concerned for Taeyong.

Taeyong had seemed as though he’d reverted back to how life was before he’d met you, going about his usual routine with Byul, coming back home and convincing himself that his bed had always felt this empty. Forcing himself to Byul’s bedroom door fully instead of leaving it a crack open like how you always did.

So now, in Johnny’s apartment, the first time Taeyong had managed to find a hole in his schedule to meet Johnny for drinks, as Taeyong listened to Johnny talking about his girlfriend, he had only one thought on his mind, and that was that he didn’t have the energy to put on a brave front any longer.

“But yeah, anyway, I was- Hey, dude, might wanna slow down,” Johnny warned, the way Taeyong was downing his drink making Johnny feel like he was back in college again, well other than the fact that Taeyong’s alcohol tolerance was nowhere close to what it was in college, and if he kept it up he’d be passed out in half an hour.

Taeyong had simply grunted, setting his bottle of soju down on the table, supporting his head with his hand on the coffee table, turning his gaze to the television that was playing ‘500 days of summer’, which of course, had made Taeyong turn his head to face the other direction just as quickly.

Taeyong heard the television louder than anything, even Johnny.

“Someday, someone will walk into your life and make you realise why it never worked out with anyone else.”

Taeyong didn’t have the energy for this.

Turning his head so his forehead rested on his arm, he felt everything hit him without a warning. His eyes scrunching shut as his mouth felt dry and his eyes had begun to well up with tears that stung him, his hand shaking as he felt his heart pounding as though it were right next to his ear.

“Can you change the channel, please?” Taeyong mustered weakly, a small sniffle leaving him as Johnny heard the shaky sigh that had left his friend.

Turning to the television, Johnny realised what was happening. Taeyong’s month-worth of bottled up emotions was finally making itself known.

“You shouldn’t bottle it up, you know? Let it out,” Johnny frowned, “If you’re mad, say you’re mad. If you miss her, say you miss her. If you feel like shit, say you feel like shit.”

Taeyong was crying even harder now, his shoulders shaking as his pitiful sobs had left him.

“Fine,” he lifted his head off the table, sniffing.

“I miss her, I’m upset at her for telling you about the things her the other teachers and parents said to her for dating me because you told me and now i’m pissed at them for hurting her,” the words felt foreign on his lips, having thought about them endlessly but never voicing it out until now, “I’m frustrated because Byul asked me where she went the other day and I told her Y/N went on a holiday. I hate that she was right about Byul needing time away from her...” Taeyong stopped himself short, his chest feeling too tight to continue, letting his vision blur as he stared straight at the colours that made up Johnny’s figure.

“But God,” he groaned, his forehead creasing as he frowned, “I miss the feeling of sleeping in on a weekend and I would wake up to the feeling of her hands in my hair and just see her using her laptop on my bed doing work even though she wanted to sleep in but she couldn’t because she was used to waking up early. I miss… the way she would hold me and ask me how my day was, distracting her when she was doing work on the sofa, the look on her face when I ask her for another kiss and—” Taeyong choked on his breath, his hands coming up to rub at his eyes harshly.

“How she was always so afraid that she would lose the good things she had going for her, but she never let me feel any of that fear. No, all I felt was… was love.”

Taeyong frowned, swallowing even though it made his throat sting, wiping his tears to look at Johnny whose expression was thoughtful.

“Maybe if you guys met when you were a little older,” Johnny murmured, making Taeyong sigh, remembering the words you’d told him before he’d left your house.

When Taeyong hadn’t answered, Johnny continued.

“I don’t know, like, maybe it’s like what they say… about how sometimes you meet the right person but… at the wrong time.”

Taeyong took a deep breath and let it out. Like Johnny said, Taeyong was always sure of his decisions. And call him crazy, but he was sure that you were the person he’d wanted to build the rest of his life with.

“I told her this before, and I guess it would be good for you to hear now,” Johnny began, Taeyong’s sniffles filling the silence of the room, only realising now that Johnny had turned the television off.

“I told her that what the both of you had was too good to give up… and if the both of you haven’t given up yet… who knows how things will work out in the future, you know, in the name of love.”

Taeyong would’ve thought he’d be sick of hearing that phrase, especially at a time like this, but strangely, as Johnny had implied, it comforted him to some extent.

Nodding slowly, Taeyong picked his drink up, holding it out as Johnny had smiled, picking up his can of beer to clink it against Taeyong’s glass.

A deep sigh left Taeyong, glancing down at the ring on his index finger, giving Johnny a small nod of acceptance.

“Till then, I guess.”

===

Perhaps, time had healed the both of you more than you’d expected.

For Taeyong, he’d gone back to his previous ‘my first priority is Byul’ mindset, frankly, not giving himself any room to worry about anything else other than whether Byul was happy and healthy.

He’d found out through Johnny that you were going overseas for your masters (or more accurately, that you were already overseas and starting your academic term), hoping that you were alright- knowing how scared you must’ve been to jump into a new environment like that, which surprised him even more that you’d done it.

On the bright side, Taeyong had been taking care of himself more (which had definitely gained him more attention from his current cohort of students), exploring his creative freedom through painting and mindless doodling whenever things got too quiet while Byul was napping and the sofa felt too big.

You, on the other hand, had been trying to adjust to your new schedule, new environment and new people you met. It was alright, you guessed, nothing you couldn’t handle, you always told yourself.

But of course, everyone had bad days, days where nothing seemed to be going right and even the rough feeling of your deskchair’s armrest was enough to make you frustrated. Days like today.

On the phone with one of the friends you’d made in school, a girl in your class, you took in a deep calming breath as you asked her what she was calling you for.

“Hey, I think I used your phone to record the class last week, do you mind sending me the audio?”

You fished your car keys from your bag, preparing yourself for the long drive you had back to campus from your part-time job, cursing how far the school was from the heart of the city.

“Yeah, sure, just give me a minute, I’ll send it to you now.”

Hanging up the phone call, you shifted in the front seat of your car, you’d scrolled through your apps, pulling up voice memos. One was titled ‘Voice Recording 2’ but the other was weird, titled ‘July 1st’. Clicking the one titled ‘Voice Recording 2’ first, you heard your professor’s voice sound through the sound system of your car, quickly sending that one out to your classmate.

Maybe the other one was recorded by accident, you figured. Your curiosity got the better of you as you clicked on the recording, immediate regret filled you at the sound of Taeyong’s hushed laughter.

“Hi to you whenever you find this recording,” Taeyong’s voice had filled your rental car and you felt frozen in place, “In case you didn’t realise from the title, it’s my birthday when i’m recording this… we just had dinner at the beach, and you’re asleep in the car next to me because the drive was too long and too comfy,” a huff of laughter followed.

“You look very cute when you sleep so deeply like this, I don’t know if that sound you’re making counts as snoring… but I don’t get to see that side of you often because you always wake up before I do. Anyway, I just wanted to leave this here, I hope you find it eventually so you can hear me tell you that I’m very thankful for everything you’ve been to me so far, and... “ he giggled, “this is a little embarrassing to be saying like this but… I love you.”

“When you do find this recording, though, congratulations! Because you get to redeem a kiss from me, not that you ever need to ask, of course. If you’re finding this on a good day, I’m happy for you, and if you find this on a bad day, I hope it cheers you up… even if it’s just by a little bit.”

You heard him sigh, hearing shuffling over the recording, “Alright, I’m gonna wake you up now, so goodbye future Y/N,” he giggled, “Don’t ever let Johnny listen to this, by the way, he’d totally make fun of me… I hope you know how much of a gift you are to me. Bye for now.”

You don’t know when you had started crying, your hands clutching the steering wheel tightly as you let the recording replay itself, your heart feeling weaker than ever as you sat in your car, almost being able to imagine Taeyong sitting in the driver's seat of his car and recording this.

How cruel it was, for you to have only found this now, yet how thankful you were for it, for the love that you were hiding deep in your heart had simply glowed.

===

“Yo, dude you look good!” Mark let out a drawn-out sound of admiration when he’d shown up at the café he was supposed to meet Taeyong and Donghyuck at.

Pressing his lips into a firm line, Taeyong dismissed Mark and Donghyuck’s endless praises, scanning the menu as a distraction even though they’d already had their drinks on the table.

“Where’s Johnny? He said he couldn’t come, right?” Mark asked, earning a nod from Donghyuck.

“Yeah, said he had lunch with his girlfriend’s parents or something,” Donghyuck filled Mark in on what Taeyong had said before he arrived.

Shifting in his seat to cross his legs, Taeyong smiled, “So, how’ve you guys been? You applied for a job right?”

Donghyuck nodded, “Yeah, but I'm waiting to start my masters. But I’m interning at the police force right now, one of their divisions that look after the welfare of the force and stuff.”

An impressed hum leaving him, Taeyong nodded, “Nice, nice. Mark, you're doing social work, right?”

Mark grinned, nodding.

“How are you guys liking it so far?”

Taeyong had let them each tell him about their jobs, how they were doing, Mark slipping in something about one of his colleagues seeing Taeyong on his instagram and begging for his contact.

Taeyong giggled, “You’re joking, right?”

Donghyuck’s lips parted, exasperated.

“Why do you always act like we’re clowning you when we tell you people think you’re hot, you must’ve heard it a thousand times already.”

“Yeah, dude, seriously, you’re probably considered one of those eligible bachelors or something,” Mark added, Donghyuck pretending to hurl.

Taeyong huffed, dismissing the boys with a wave, “I’m sorry, I’ll have to politely decline.”

Bringing his drink up to his lips to take a sip, shaking it in his hand to stir the drink, Donghyuck let out an exasperated groan.

“You’re really not gonna date anymore?”

Nudging him harshly, Mark glared at Donghyuck, lowering his voice to murmur, “Dude, are you kidding? Everyone knows he’s still in love with Y/N.”

“You know I can still hear you, right?” Taeyong cut in, earning a sheepish smile from Mark, “But to answer your question, no I don’t plan on dating… Just, isn’t a priority for me.”

Donghyuck did a once-over at Taeyong’s getup. He was wearing a black cardigan buttoned up and revealing a bit of his chest, together with a pair of jeans, a pretty silver ring on his finger and small silver rings adorning his ears. He looked good, it was just a shame that he was too attractive for his own good.

Sighing, Donghyuck shook his head, “I pity the girls who have yet to hear that.”

Mark snickered at the way Taeyong’s lips had parted, rushing to defend himself.

“C’mon, you say that like there’s a lot of them.” Taeyong adjusted his top, oblivious to the girl who wouldn’t stop staring at him as she took a seat next to their table, frustrating Donghyuck with his nonchalance.

Mark sucked in a sharp breath, “Well, that’s because there is. Do you have any idea how many people would be showing up with love offerings if they didn’t know about Y/N?”

Taeyong giggled, seemingly flattered by the idea that people found him attractive,“Love offerings.”

Pausing, realisation had struck Taeyong, he frowned at Donghyuck, “they know about Y/N?”

Donghyuck snickered, “‘they know?’” he imitated Taeyong’s tone, “of course they know, they’re not blind, you know? God, you’re like the most oblivious person i’ve ever met, other than Mark—”

“Wait, what?”

“— I mean, they know you guys broke up too, so they think you’re available. But obviously they don’t know you’re like this.”

Taeyong was amused to say the least, nodding along with Donghyuck, “Like what, exactly?”

“A lovestruck fool.”

Mark hummed, raising a hand to speak, “In Taeyong’s defence, Y/N was really nice. We follow each other on Instagram and she still asks me how I’m doing every now and then.”

Donghyuck narrowed his eyes at Mark, “You sure she’s not just doing that to get updates on him?” Donghyuck gestured to Taeyong.

“Again, I’m right here,” Taeyong deadpanned.

“I mean, no offence dude,” Mark turned to Taeyong, “but we don’t actually talk about him, like… okay look.”

Fishing out his phone, Mark opened his Instagram app, going to his direct messages to show his chat with you.

Taeyong didn’t bother hiding his curiosity, leaning over to read the chat on Mark’s phone laid out on the table between him and Donghyuck.

“Oh, that’s lame,” Donghyuck remarked.

Ignoring Donghyuck’s comment, Taeyong scrolled down the chat, a scoff leaving him as he looked at Mark.

“You asked her for help with your little cousin? Dude, why didn’t you just ask me? I have a child,” Taeyong was almost offended, but he had to admit, he found it nice that Mark could depend on you as an older sister of sorts.

“I don’t know, I was panicking when that happened, she was the first person I thought of that would have the answers.”

“Fine, forgiven,” Taeyong huffed, Mark taking the phone away just as Taeyong saw the chat mentioning something about when she would finish her masters.

“But, since you follow her on Instagram, does she seem like she’s dating anyone new?” Donghyuck prodded.

Mark hummed, shaking his head, “Nope. I don’t think she meets people a lot… the only guy I think she’s close to is this guy Kun when he video calls her. But I’m pretty sure Kun’s fruity…”

Her hospital friend.

Taeyong wasn’t jealous, of course. Taeyong was lying, of course.

Donghyuck let out a cackle, clapping his hands together, “Well, there you have it, then. She’s just as hopeless as you. You guys are absolutely infuriating.”

Mark couldn’t help himself from giggling as well, his expression turning more serious as he looked at Taeyong.

“But for real, though, you guys haven’t talked at all since… then?”

Taeyong nodded.

“Not a single word. I don’t actually hear anything about how she’s doing… I mean, other than what you guys are telling me now,” he brought his drink up to his lips, the bitter taste of his coffee snapping him out of his curiosity, “I guess… I guess I preferred to keep it that way, you know, so I could focus more on what I had to do.”

“...Which is?” Donghyuck furrowed his eyebrows.

“Take care of Byul,” Taeyong mustered a nonchalant shrug, “work.”

Donghyuck grunted, sighing exasperatedly, “Forgot you have no social life.”

“I do have a social life, for your information.”

Mark added smoothly, “Byul’s playdates don’t count.”

Taeyong couldn’t help but wonder whether Donghyuck was right, whether your life was similar to his in the sense where you didn’t give yourself much time for getting out there and dating because you were so busy, or because you just simply didn’t want to.

If anyone had asked you that question, you were sure you would’ve laughed. At this point, where you were in the deep end of research for your thesis, the most socialisation you were getting at this point were the all-too-frequent phone calls from your mom.

“Hi, honey, how are things?”

You hummed, letting your eyes shut and your head rest against the neck pillow you’d clipped around the headrest of your chair. “The same, honestly, nothing much has changed here.”

“Kun said he spoke to you that day... you’ve been contacting him quite a bit these days, haven’t you? Are you sure you’re not seeing him, honey?”

You snorted, knowing very well that Kun was not interested in the slightest bit.

“Yeah, I’m not exactly a fan of long-distance relationships. That, and I don’t like Kun that way.”

“M’sure you could use the support, you know, since you’re so far away from home.”

“He can still be my friend and support me, you know,” you told her pointedly.

“Anyway, I’m fine. Things are a little stressful I guess, but that’s nothing out of the ordinary… I’m almost in the last stretch, anyway,” you yawned, enjoying the little bit of shut-eye you were getting.

“Don’t you feel glad you made the decision to leave? Now you can focus fully on your work with nothing here to distract you.”

You forced your eyes open, glaring at your phone. She always couldn’t leave Taeyong out of it, could she?

“Other than you, of course,” you quipped back, hearing her scoff.

“Don’t be rude.”

“Am I wrong?” You hummed when you were met with silence. “Anyway, mom, sorry. I appreciate your concern, but I'm really fine here. I’m just… doing what I need to do.”

It wasn’t like you were lying, you did feel a lot better than you did months before. You were taking care of yourself, you were healing, you were making progress, slowly but surely. You honestly just wanted to finish your masters as quickly as possible and go back home.

You heard your phone beep, signalling another incoming call, a smile on your face when you saw that it was Johnny asking to facetime.

“Sorry, mom, I have to go. Talk to you next time.”

“Alright, honey, bye.”

Hanging up the call, you’d answered Johnny, laughing when you’d heard the long drawn out ‘hey’ he’d practically yelled into the phone.

“Well, you sure sound happy,” you spun yourself slowly in your swivel chair.

“Because I am. I have good news.”

“What happened?”

“Guess.”

You hummed, Johnny seeming too excited to entertain you for long.

“Nevermind, you’re taking too long to guess. She said yes!”

It took you a few seconds to process what he said. Who was ‘she’? What was she saying yes to? What good news was Johnny referring to that required a ‘yes’?

And then it hit you. He finally proposed.

Straightening up in your seat, you’d accidentally kneed your desk, pain shooting through you as you yelped, clutching your knee, “Oh my God, congrats! Good for you, you lucky bitch!”

His chuckles resounded through your dorm room.

“I know! I mean, I expected it but that doesn’t make it any less exciting,” he gushed.

“So, what’s the plan now?” You could imagine it already, Johnny was definitely the type to have a destination wedding, willing to pull out all the stops to make it as dreamlike as possible.

You could practically hear Johnny’s grin.

“Well, we wanted to have a destination wedding—”

“Called it,” you quipped, Johnny’s laughter bubbling out of him.

“—of course, right? Anyway, get this. We were thinking of... Italy.”

You gasped, “You’re shitting me…”

“I wish I was, even saying it feels like a dream. I told you, right? How her family has some connections there and they’re so excited about the wedding they said they’d sponsor the accommodation and everything.”

Hearing Johnny ramble on and on about the location, you couldn’t help but let your excitement take over you, the prospect of going back home becoming something you looked forward to even more with the knowledge that it would mean you were closer to attending Johnny’s wedding.

“This is the best news I’ve heard in a long time, I’m really happy for you,” you sighed, breathless with excitement.

“Thanks, it means a lot to me that you get to share this experience with me… even until now I still feel like I’m dreaming.”

You really did feel happy for Johnny, but you couldn’t deny the part of you that felt almost… as if you were longing for something you couldn’t quite place. Maybe it was because it was almost two years since you’d broken up with Taeyong, you felt different from back then.

Maybe it was all part of your healing process, but you felt as though nowadays, your first reaction to something good happening wasn’t really to push it away in fear that you would lose it and be met with disappointment. Instead, you embraced it graciously, understanding that it was something to be joyful about, and to relish in it instead of living in constant fear of its disappearance. So that when it really was time for it to leave, you could bid it goodbye with no regrets.

A part of you wanted to test your theory, but you dismissed the temptation quickly. You figured you’d cross that bridge when you got there.

For now, you figured you would just be thankful for what you had, the little blessings you were presented with everyday that kept you thankful even when there seemed like there was nothing to be thankful for. Perhaps this was your previous prayers being answered. You’d asked for God to send down his angels to guide you along the way, so you figured the least you could do was be patient for them to show up.

What you didn’t expect, though, was for them to show up in the form of Taeyong’s mom.

The soft clacking of the wheels of your luggage on the marble tiled floors echoed behind you, the scent of the airport being so unmistakably home-like that it’d brought you immense comfort. Tugging your coat closer to yourself, you’d sighed, letting your gaze wander to observe the people around you as you made your way to the taxi stand.

You saw a couple reuniting to your right, exchanging a passionate kiss without even bothering to wait for their partner to walk past the barrier railing.

A few paces away from them were a mother and her three children, watching a specific luggage collection belt in anticipation as they waited for their family member to come into view, the youngest of the children erupting in squeals as they spotted who you assumed was their father waving at them from the belt.

On the other side, you saw an elderly woman with the happiest of smiles on her face as a young woman had jogged towards her with her duffel bag slung over her shoulder, hugging the elderly woman tightly.

Pressing your lips into a firm line, you kept walking, keeping your gaze straight even as you passed a young man carrying his toddler, pointing towards the glass as he cooed, “Look! There’s mommy!”

Figuring you didn’t have any food at home, you’d stopped by the supermarket to get your groceries before heading home, lugging your bags along with you for a little longer, telling yourself you weren’t that tired and that you could afford to spare half an hour longer for you to get your groceries and travel home.

You had to admit, it took you a while to get used to the new layout of the supermarket, seeming completely different from how it used to be. So it was safe to say that you had to waste a little more time walking past the same aisle more than twice before you found what you were looking for in that very aisle.

Standing in the bread aisle, you were seriously contemplating whether or not to purchase a bag of bagels when you were interrupted.

“Sorry, excuse me,” the woman had spoken, a soft and gentle voice. Turning to quickly remove your luggage from her way, you’d glanced at the woman, recognition in the woman’s gaze.

“Y/N?” she smiled, letting go of the handles of her trolley almost immediately.

Your eyes widened, greeting Taeyong’s mom quickly. She’d surprised you when she’d made her way to where you were standing, enveloping you in a hug, something about her gesture making you feel warm, and very loved, wondering for a moment if this was how those people at the airport had felt.

“Oh dear, I’ve missed you! You look great, dear, even more beautiful than I remember,” she smiled, “Did you just come back?”

You nodded, “I missed you too. You look even more beautiful than I do, aunty. But yeah, I just came from the airport actually.”

She let out a dismayed sound, “Oh, gosh, why didn’t you say anything!”

You huffed, not being able to keep from smiling, “Surprise?”

Walking with her, she’d glanced at what was in your basket.

“I’m finished with my shopping, do you have any more things you need to get? I can give you a ride back when you’re done.”

You gasped, shaking your head, “No, no please, I mean, I’m done but it’s fine, I don’t want to trouble you or anything—”

“Please, darling, I insist.”

You shut your mouth quickly, nodding, a small smile lingering on your face as you walked with her.

“Are you back temporarily or…”

You shook your head, reaching the self check-out point with her and helping her to bag her groceries.

“Nope, I’d say it’s pretty permanent,” you laughed, hearing her hum.

“Good, good. So, are you going back to work at the college kindergarten?”

You shook your head, frowning slightly, “Taeyong didn’t tell you?”

She gave you a small smile, shaking her head.

“He… told me about you two breaking up but he didn’t mention anything about the school…”

Before you could explain, her lips parted in realisation, her hand coming up to her mouth, “Oh, gosh, I’m really sorry. I’m making you uncomfortable, aren’t I? I’m so so—”

“No, no, really it’s fine. I’m not uncomfortable, it’s really alright. I mean, you deserve an explanation, I know how abrupt it must’ve felt.”

She nodded, listening patiently to you as you paid for your items.

“I actually… got fired from my old job,” you told her, her frown deepening, “I mean, it was my fault, honestly. They had a strict policy on teachers not being allowed to date a student’s parent and all, and I could see how Byul was affected by my presence in her life… I just… didn’t want to make it worse.”

Done with bagging your groceries, you carried the bags in your hands, helping Taeyong’s mom with some of her bags as well as she led you to the carpark.

Humming thoughtfully, she let out a small sigh, “I can’t imagine it was an easy decision to make.”

You shook your head, “Definitely not… but you know, if it meant that Byul would benefit, that was all the reassurance I needed.”

Nodding, she’d unlocked her car, letting you put your groceries inside her trunk. You helped her to shut the door of her trunk before getting in the front seat.

“So, have you thought about where you want to work next?” she asked after buckling herself into the driver’s seat, earning a sigh from you.

You watched as she pulled out of the lot smoothly, a delicate nature to her actions that were stronger than they looked, her fingers tapping a beat to a silent song on the steering wheel as she drove.

Pursing your lips, you shrugged, “I mean, it’s tough to find one that pays as well as the old one, but I’ve tried interviewing for a few, they… they won’t take me because of... what happened.”

Clucking her tongue in distaste, Taeyong’s mom had huffed, “That’s horrible of them. They didn’t even consider that you were a capable teacher.”

You huffed, “I mean, yeah, it was humiliating if I’m being honest, but… yeah I guess that ruled out most of the places for me.”

Stopping at a traffic light, she turned to you, “You’re still staying at the same apartment, right?”

After receiving a nod from you, she continued, “Actually… I used to work at this kindergarten, it’s a private kindergarten, a nice school. They’re a Catholic school. I had a very nice experience there, the principal is a lovely woman. Maybe you could consider applying for a job there?”

Telling you the name of the school, you’d wasted no time once you were home, your grocery bags haphazardly laid out on your countertop as you rushed to get your computer, sending your resume and cover letter to the preschool.

Still jittery with anticipation after sending out your email, you tried using the time to pack your groceries to calm yourself down.

Figuring the school wouldn’t have gotten back to you so soon, you took a shower, unpacked your things and continued to settle down. Strangely, you’d felt calmer than ever, not anxious like how you were with your previous applications. Maybe that was because you trusted Taeyong’s mom, trusted her opinion. And you had a good feeling about this preschool, better than any of the ones from before.

And it seemed these feelings were justified, because later on when you were winding down in the evening, you heard the chime of your email app, the first line already enough to put a smile on your face.

Thank you for your application, Y/N. We’d love to meet you for an interview tomorrow at…..

You guessed you had your angel to thank for that.

===

And it seemed that your blessings were not over yet, for you received another one in the form of your new co-teacher, a language teacher named Ten.

He’d been an enormous help in getting you acquainted with the centre, filling you in on the children in your class as well as his own little profiling of the teachers in the centre (which, admittedly, was very entertaining).

You were surprised at how well the two of you had clicked, conversation flowing naturally and candidly. Ten was like a breath of fresh air, a little reminder that it was okay for you to make mistakes as you got used to the momentum of working again because he was here to support you.

Introducing you to another senior teacher, Jaehyun, who had been friends with Ten since college, you were surprised at the number of male teachers at this preschool considering your previous one had none. But that's besides the point, what you were getting at was that the three of you had grown rather comfortable with each other overtime, their presence adding to the warmth you’d felt while working here.

Attached to a class of toddlers again, a group of ten two year olds, you were enjoying your work, to say the least. Since it was almost the end of January, you learnt that the classes were already beginning preparations for their Spring concert for their parents.

You enjoyed the way things were run at this centre, the principal living up to Taeyong’s mom’s praises about her. She believed in letting you take charge more as a way to help you integrate yourself into the team, so this week, your new task was serving breakfast, something you never realised you’d missed this much.

However, as you were carrying the container full of spoons from the lower deck of the trolley to the top deck, you’d felt a sharp pain in your wrist that almost made you drop the container.

You didn’t think you’d have to go through this again. Maybe you should really ask Kun about those steroid injections.

Wincing, you rolled your hand back gently as you stood by the breakfast cart, watching your class happily eating and greeting the children that were arriving at school now.

“What’s for breakfast today?” You looked up to see Ten strolling towards you, temperature gun in his hand, holding it up to your forehead to take your temperature for the fun of it.

“The little buns with the different fillings in them,” you told him, seeing his eyes light up.

“Nice,” he shoved the temperature gun into your hands, fishing a plastic glove from the packet on the trolley and scooping a few chocolate-filled buns into the glove, turning the glove inside out to use it as a bag.

At the sight of your stare, he simply shrugged, “Trust me, the kids could do with a little less chocolate in them.”

Taking the temperature gun back from you, Ten glanced at your hand that was massaging your arm.

“What’s wrong with your hand?”

You shook your head, “Nah, it’s just this thing that’s been bothering me for a while now. I’m trying to remember the massage that Taeyong did for me-”

“Taeyong? Who’s that?” Ten’s voice came out muffled over his mouthful of bread.

You’d cursed mentally, not realising you’d said his name.

“My uh…” you felt as though you were buffering.

“Boyfriend?” he smirked.

“Ex.”

Ten hummed, “Not that I don’t care about your hand, but why’d you break up?”

You thought of a brief way to explain it without needing to go into detail.

“Just… wasn’t the right time for both of us.”

Your words seemed to have struck a chord with Ten, who gestured with his bread towards you, “I hear that.”

Ten took another mouthful of bread, sighing wistfully, “I knew a guy named Taeyong once. We were friends in college. If my sources are correct, his mom used to work as a cook here, but that was before I started working here, obviously.”

You froze. Taeyong’s mom used to work here.

“... Lee Taeyong?” you dared to ask, the way Ten’s eyes had widened making your heart stop.

Nodding, Ten made as if to speak, almost choking on his bread, coughing and patting at his chest before finally swallowing his bread and heaving a loud sigh.

“Oh my God, no fucking way—”

“Ten, there are kids here!” you gasped, smacking his arm with your good hand.

He dismissed you with a shake of his head, “Doesn’t matter, they didn’t hear me. But, dude, your ex is Taeyong?”

You nodded slowly, “I’m confused, is that a good reaction or a bad reaction?”

“Good! Like really good! God, I can’t wait to tell Jaehyun. I mean, sorry about your breakup and whatever but dude, we haven’t heard a word about him since he graduated. It’s been like… what? Seven years?”

“Yeah, I don’t think he kept in contact with any of his college friends… other than Johnny.”

Ten hummed, “Understandable, he was closest to Johnny.”

His gaze darted to you, his expression serious and his hands clutching onto your arms firmly.

“Is he still hot?”

You rolled your eyes, folding your arms as you ignored him. Turning back to look at him after a while and see him still looking at you like that, eliciting a scoff from you.

“... well yeah, he is,” you blurted out quickly, making Ten snicker, finishing the last mouthful of his bread and tossing the glove into the trash can.

“Did you guys date seriously? Or was it just like a… you know,” he let out a whistle, making you gasp.

“I mean, I would think it was pretty serious.”

“How long has it been since you guys broke up?”

You hummed, glancing at the time. It was almost time for you to keep the breakfast cart.

Turning back to Ten, you answered, “About two-ish years?”

Ten sucked in a sharp breath, folding his arms and leaning against the wall, “That’s a long time ago.”

“Whatever, but he… he’s a nice guy.”

Ten hummed in agreement.

“So, have you dated anyone since then? You were saying that day that you went overseas for your masters right? Any… foreign romances?”

You rolled your eyes, shaking your head, “Nope. Haven’t dated anyone since.”

“Wait,” Ten’s lips parted, “Like.. at all?”

You laughed, “What do you think I mean? Of course, I mean at all.”

Ten grimaced, “Well… why not?”

You sighed, rubbing at the flesh at your thumb as you shrugged, letting your gaze monitor your children who were slowly standing up and keeping their bowls into a big bucket at the side of their classroom closest to you.

“Dunno,” you sighed, “just… never really found someone else that I was interested in.”

Poor excuse, you know, but it wasn’t like you could say you didn’t think you were capable of loving anyone as much as you loved Taeyong. Ten would probably laugh in your face.

Ten seemed to have read your mind, giggling, “That, or you’re still hung up over your ex.”

You frowned, glaring at him.

“Am not,” you lied.

Before waiting for his reply, you started pushing the cart to the far end of the preschool near the kitchen so the cook could come and bring it back.

Ten had simply followed behind you, like the little figure on your shoulder telling you things you didn’t want to hear.

“Then fine, tell me what kind of guy you’re into and I’ll hook you up with a blind date.”

You bit your lip, shaking your head, “I don’t know.”

“What do you mean you don’t know?” Ten laughed, grabbing your hand and leading you back to your classroom, sitting you down on one of the tiny chairs.

“Means I really don’t know,” you huffed, laughing at the ridiculous nature of the situation you were in, some of your toddlers laughing at Ten’s animated demeanour.

“Look, it’s gonna sound stupid, but I just want someone that makes me feel secure, that I can be happy with and just… live knowing I love them and am loved by them.”

“I’d love to make fun of you, but I get it. It’s not stupid.”

“Like… you know that one scene in twilight—”

“Are you seriously comparing your love life to a twilight scene?”

“Shut up, just listen. Like, that one scene where Edward is in like… Rome? I don’t know, but whatever, he was trying to get himself killed and he was gonna show himself to the public and Bella runs over and she runs into his arms and the first thing he says is… ‘heaven’. It’s like… as if he thought her in his arms was literally what it would feel like to die and go to heaven.”

Glancing up at Ten, you watched his smile grow, his hand coming up to cover his mouth as he nodded slowly.

“I like that… you want…” he thought hard for another way to express what he interpreted from your rambling, “a love that feels like your own little taste of heaven.”

You nodded. That was exactly it.

Ten hummed, “Okay, we’ll continue this discussion later. Can you sing the songs today? My mouth is kind of dry from all that chocolate.”

===

Kun and you had just finished eating lunch, walking around the mall to use your rare relaxation time before you’d both have to go back to work, unconsciously walking towards a baby and parenting items store.

“I mean, now that you’re back home, have you seen him since?” Kun asked, earning a shake of the head from you.

“I don’t know, a part of me is kind of hoping that I don’t see him, but… I kind of wish I did… you know, coincidentally bump into him somewhere.”

Kun laughed, shaking his head, “Honestly, the more I hear you talk about him the more I don’t understand why you guys broke up.”

You huffed, your hand reaching out to grab one of the soft-toy bunnies on display, your fingers smoothing over the lovely texture of the bunny, almost thinking it would be a good present for Byul.

Drawing yourself back to your reality, you clicked your tongue in annoyance.

“I told you a million times already, it was for Byul’s sake.”

Kun rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, congratulations. You think Byul’s gonna thank you for that?” Kun took the bunny from your hands, using his other hand to grasp the bunny by its arms, flailing it around, “‘Wow, thanks Teacher Y/N, I love knowing that I was the reason behind my dad’s failed love life’.”

Reaching a hand out to hit him, you winced at the pain that had followed.

“See? Karma,” Kun tossed the bunny back on the display, making you glare at him, clutching your wrist in pain.

“It actually hurts, you know.”

Kun nodded, “Yeah, that’s why I brought you here—”

“We literally walked here together.”

“—I wanted to see if they sold this paraffin wax machine thing that you could use for your wrist.”

You let out a disgruntled sound, “Whatever that is, it sounds like it costs a bomb.”

Kun dismissed your worries with a wave, leading you to the shelf that had various boxes of contraptions, his gaze landing on the very one he was just talking about.

“Great, it’s here.”

Your lips parted, glancing between the picture of the machine on the box and Kun.

“Looks complicated.”

Kun opened his mouth to speak but shook his head, “Forget it, if I tell you now, you won’t remember it by the evening, I’ll just send you a video tutorial.”

Huffing, you didn’t bother fighting with Kun to pay for the machine, figuring you could just repay him another time with something else, but you were thankful nonetheless for Kun’s generosity.

Walking out of the store, Kun helped you to carry the wax machine, gesturing to the ice cream shop nearby, “Wanna get ice cream?”

Nodding, you felt your phone buzz with a text.

Ten 1:10pm -image attached- 1:10pm -what do you think about him? his name is Baekhyun, he’s only 8 years older, rly funny, really smart even though he has himbo energy 1:10pm - he has his own fashion brand n all that shit-

“Who’s that?” Kun asked, earning a shake of the head from you.

“Nah, nothing, it’s just my co-worker Ten, he’s been trying to set me up on a blind date… keeps saying I need to get back into the dating scene and see how I feel.”

Kun hummed, “I mean, you are turning twenty-five this year.”

You grimaced, “Yeah, yeah I get it, time is ticking,” your tone was more resigned than anything, making Kun laugh.

“I have a colleague you could try going on a date with, he’s like… a senior resident now so he’s pretty busy but I guess it could sort of work since you’re busy a lot too.”

You shrugged, “I mean, I’m open to trying but I don’t necessarily have very high hopes.”

And it seems your low hopes were more or less proven correct.

The date was nothing short of a nightmare.

Sure, he was good-looking, and you let it slide when he’d asked you to foot the bill for lunch. But afterwards, he’d brought you to the flower garden you’d gone to with Taeyong and Byul, the difference being that he’d complained about the garden not being properly decorated the entire time, complained of how cold it was outdoors and how gross the pond looked.

If that wasn’t enough, the conversation was dismal as well. He’d dropped the ‘did it hurt when you fell from heaven?’ line not more than five minutes into the date, and when he’d asked you what your plans for the future was, he’d visibly grimaced when you mentioned that you’d like to find someone you loved and get married and start a family.

“Oh, no it’s just that I’m not really looking for anything serious.” He had explained.

Not to mention, his first question after you told him you worked as a preschool teacher was: ‘did you really need to get a masters for that?’

Upset from the horrid date, you’d let him leave first since he was so eager to get back to his apartment to watch the baseball game playing on television tonight.

Figuring you’d wanted to enjoy the ambience of the park a little longer, you walked around aimlessly, not thinking much of where you were going and simply letting your legs lead you wherever your subconscious wanted to go.

You weren’t exactly sure what to feel when you’d ended up at the other side of the large pond, standing in front of the many rock stacks, your gaze searching for the little splash of paint on one of the rocks.

True enough, you’d spotted it, but it was different this time.

The last time you’d seen it, there had only been 4 rocks stacked up. This time, there was an additional rock stacked on top.

You wondered what he wished for.

The cherry on top was that your date hadn’t offered to send you home even though he lived just in the next street from you, which was why you were currently on a bus squeezing between the college students and working adults that were on their way home.

Getting an incoming call from Kun, you’d sighed.

“What?” you answered.

“I just saw your text rant, I’m guessing the resident is a no-go?”

You groaned, “I said I wanted heaven, Kun. That date was straight out of hell.”

The sound of Kun’s laughter had only served to mock you.

“You did this on purpose, didn’t you?”

Letting out a hesitant hum, Kun fought to stop his laughter.

“I swear it wasn’t on purpose, I wasn’t trying to sabotage your date or anything.”

You huffed, “Whatever, if this is what I'm gonna encounter in the ‘dating scene’ now, I don’t want it.”

Kun huffed, “Okay, I’d love to hear more, but I gotta go, talk to you later.”

“Fine, bye.”

“Bye,” Kun had hung up, leaving you to shove your phone into your bag, sighing as you rolled your shoulders back, watching the people on the bus stop come onto the bus and fill the space more.

One of them stood out in particular, though. A boy with a bright red cap on his head, headphones covering his ears, black shirt and khaki pants that reminded you of the outfit you remembered seeing Mark wear in his instagram post (did all young people dress like this these days?), laptop in hand and a black backpack on his shoulders. Watching the boy make his way to the standing area right in front of where you were seated, you almost flinched when the boy looked up abruptly, turning to you.

Eyes widening, you couldn’t help the smile on your face from turning into a grin, the boy mirroring your expression.

“Y/N!” he beamed, removing his headphones and hanging them around his neck.

“Good to see you, dude!” he gushed, stumbling slightly when the bus had jerked, holding onto the railing between the both of you.

“How’s things been? How long have you been back?” he asked.

“Almost a month? I’ve been pretty good, actually, adjusting into my new job,” you told him, earning a delighted hum from him.

“Nice, nice,” he hummed, “I’m glad to hear that.”

“Yeah, I do feel a lot better now. Are you still doing social work?”

Mark nodded, “Yeah, I’m just coming from work actually. You too?” he glanced at his watch, “It’s pretty late.”

Shaking your head, you sighed at the dreadful memory of your day’s events.

“Nope, just came back from a date actually.”

“Date?”

Mark’s lips parted. Maybe he was a little too confident when he told Taeyong you weren’t dating.

Only noticing your get-up now, Mark found that you were dressed up a little more today, a change from the usual attire you wore to work.

“Bad date,” you corrected.

Mark sucked in a sharp breath, trying his best to hide how relieved he felt, though he wasn’t doing very well in containing the way he’d visibly relaxed.

“Yikes,” he let out a low whistle, making you shrug.

“It’s fine, I’m not really sure if I’m ready for all that, anyway.”

“Really?” Mark didn’t mean to sound so happy about that, he just couldn’t help it, he was hoping that Johnny was right about you and Taeyong finding your way back to each other again.

You shrugged, “Yeah, maybe it’s for the better, you know. Gives me more time to focus on my job.”

Humming, Mark smiled.

“Does Johnny know you’re back?”

Your eyebrows raised, nodding, “Yeah, he does! I’m actually supposed to meet him tomorrow so he can pass me the invite for his wedding and stuff.”

“Cool, cool,” Mark glanced out of the window, a disappointed sound leaving him, “Shit, I didn’t think the bus would be that fast. I’ve got to go now, see you around?”

Waving, you smiled.

“See you around, Mark.”

It felt good, seeing Mark again. Somehow, it reminded you of how much things have changed over the years, but at the same time, there was the same familiarity of your youth you found in people like him.

Slowly but surely, you guessed. You knew you didn’t have the courage to actually go out and find Taeyong, but you knew that there would be no going back if you’d met him again. Especially if he was just as respectful, just as kind, just as affectionate, just as unashamed with his love.

Just as much the little bit of heaven you were longing for.

===

“Wait, Ten? Ten as in… lots of piercings, kind of looks like a cat, tattoos Ten?”

You nodded, “Him and Jung Jaehyun, they’re your friends right?”

Johnny’s eyes widened, eyebrows furrowing as his eyes narrowed, sipping his smoothie from his straw extra slowly.

“Okay, on one hand, they’re very nice people. But on the other hand, they’re kind of questionable so I’m kind of curious how you know them.”

You huffed, “Well, remember I told you I’ve been working at this Catholic preschool? They’re working there too.”

Realisation flickered in Johnny’s eyes, his lips parting, “Ohh, you’re working at that preschool. I kept thinking you were applying for the one further uptown.”

You shook your head.

Johnny was still processing his newfound information, ‘ooh’s and ‘ahh’s leaving his lips, as he nodded slowly.

“I didn’t know you applied there, I thought you said you wanted to work in a government-subsidised one?”

You shrugged, “I mean, that was what I wanted, but after I kept getting rejected I was pretty desperate, and Taeyong’s mom told me about this one so I figured why not, you know? But I don’t regret it, I’m having a lot more fun at this school.”

“Taeyong’s mom? You still keep in contact with her?”

You shook your head, “No, I just bumped into her when I came back, but it was nice… to feel like she still cared about how I was doing.”

Johnny leaned back in his seat, looking at you with a hint of knowingness to his gaze.

“You miss him, don’t you?”

Your tongue peeked out just slightly from your lips before you’d taken your lip between your teeth and let it go, pursing them and pressing them into a firm line.

“He was never mine to keep,” you turned your head, looking elsewhere as you pretended to be fascinated with the frame of the painting on the wall, “you and I both know that.”

Johnny knew you well enough to know what you were doing right now.

“Do you really, though?” he prompted, leaning forward just slightly even though you were desperately avoiding his eyes.

You nodded. “Yes, I do.”

“It’s a small world, Y/N,” he began, adjusting his necklace, “you can’t avoid him forever. What are you gonna do if you see him again?”

You huffed, finally meeting his gaze and keeping your stare as strong as you could.

“Don’t ask me questions I haven’t figured out the answers to.”

Rolling his eyes, Johnny gave you a sarcastic smile, “what a great teacher you are, is that what you tell your kids too?”

“Shut up, Johnny. It’s your fault for asking me a stupid question. What do you think?” your tone was exasperated, “of course I miss him.”

“Good, ‘cause he and Byul miss you too.”

“What does—” you stopped yourself short, knowing exactly why he’d chosen to mention Byul.

“I hate you,” you told him, annoyed that he’d put the thought in your head.

Johnny had simply smiled, giving you an innocent shrug.

“You’ll thank me later, trust me. It’s like I said, what exists between the two of you is… something you both need.”

You felt something within your heart begin to surface, hiding how you felt with a scoff.

“You’re gonna say that thing again, aren’t you?”

Johnny’s eyebrows raised, a dreamy smile on his face, “What?”

“That things will all work out in the name of love,” you huffed.

Johnny grinned.

“Honestly, I wasn’t. But the fact that you’re saying it is already something.”

Huffing, you ignored the fact that you truly were feeling hopeful, a part of you trying desperately to ignore those feelings, the passing thought of how you wanted things to work out with you and Byul.

“Whatever.”

===

Italy was absolutely beautiful in the springtime. In particular, the place Johnny was having his wedding.

A valley midway Florence and Rome, it didn’t take you very long to get there, though you were sure you would’ve reached a lot sooner if Ten didn’t keep requesting your driver to drive even slower just so he could ‘bask in the sights and sounds’.

“That’s it… I’m not leaving… Y/N, send a text to the staff chat group right now I’m resigning and migrating here,” Ten spoke, his head almost out of the car as he sighed loudly, the wind blowing his hair into disarray.

“This place is really beautiful,” Jaehyun murmured slowly, concentrating on getting a good shot of the pretty sunset on his camera.

Sighing, you let your mind rest as you watched the endless field passing beside you, going up the hill as you spotted the villa Johnny and his fiancé had rented for the three and a half days you would be here.

“I heard there’s a pool, can we hit that first?” Ten asked, making you grunt in dismay.

“We have to get ready for the welcome party,” you reminded him, seeing his mouth form an ‘o’ shape in realisation.

Groaning, Ten sighed, “I wanna congratulate the bride and groom but I'm really not in the mood to socialise today.”

Jaehyun rolled his eyes, “You see, that’s what you say now, but we all know you’re gonna get plastered later.”

“Okay fine, then I guess we could go for the welcome party, we congratulate them, then we go hang out at the pool, how’s that?”

Ten shrugged, “Fine with me.”

Upon reaching the villa, you marveled at the colours of the flowers that lined the stone walls of the entrance, a large black gate that opened to lead you down a stretch of road, the driver stopping between two gigantic walls lined with bushes, concealing the rest of the estate that you were yet to see.

With your bags, the three of you followed one of the staff as they led you up the path, past bushes that had been trimmed into different forms that were symmetrical to each other.

“Woah,” Jaehyun let out a low whistle, a small smile on his face as he marveled at his surroundings, “I really respect whoever maintains the garden here, it’s insane.”

“I feel like I'm in ‘Meet The Robinsons’,” Ten breathed.

Continuing up the path, you walked through a small field with a large fountain in the middle of the garden. Even the water looked like it was magical. Clear and shimmering as it flowed in the fountain.Trust Johnny and his fiancé to have picked a place as jaw-dropping as this.

Finally reaching the residency area of the villa, you decided to share a room, Ten and Jaehyun would share one of the beds and you would have the other to yourself.

But once you’d reached your rooms, Ten had splayed himself on the little recliner next to one of the beds, and Jaehyun had soon done the same on the floor, both busy with their phones.

Ten sighed, shutting his eyes as he let out a groan, “God knows we need this break… I think I can speak for Y/N and I when I say we’ve been extra tired lately trying to create a ‘High School Musical’ out of our bunch of two year olds.”

“Completely agree,” you chipped in from the bathroom, hearing Jaehyun’s laugh get interrupted by his loud sneeze.

Coming out of the bathroom, you’d shut the door behind you, walking over to the window to admire the view, a small “bless you” leaving you.

“You’d better not be falling sick, or you’re sleeping on this chair tonight,” Ten warned, pointing at the cushioned chair he was currently curled up on, making Jaehyun dismiss him with a lazy wave.

“Yeah, yeah, I won’t. I think I’m just exhausted. I’m gonna try to squeeze in a nap before the welcome party,” he glanced at the time on his phone, “Y/N can you wake me up at seven?”

You nodded, “Yeah, sure thing.”

“Hey, why didn’t you ask me to wake you up?”

“‘Cause you’ll probably be asleep too, idiot.”

Ten gave Jaehyun a sheepish smile, “Right.”

“I think I’ll go explore the area a little first, call me if anything.”

Hearing their hums and grunts of acknowledgement, you’d taken your spare room key and set off on your way. Walking through the warmly lit corridors of the building, you walked aimlessly past the library and the dining room, eventually finding yourself at a balcony of sorts. It overlooked the swimming pool below, and had an extremely beautiful view of the entire villa from where you stood.

Resting your forearms on the railing, you sighed, taking in all the beauty of the colours in the sky to the expanse of nature, to the faint sound of the water flowing in the fountain.

Ten was right, you did need this break more than you realised.

Fishing your phone out, you snapped a picture of your view and sent it to Kun, who had replied simply.

Kun 6:32pm - enjoy yourself, don’t drink too much. update me if there’s any cute guys-

With the smallest of smiles lingering on your face, you shoved your phone back into your pocket, looking out and trying to see what was the furthest thing you could make out in the distance.

Though you couldn’t do that for very long, distracted by the sound of a distinctive sound of laughter your brain could only associate with Mark.

Looking around you, you frowned. There wasn’t anyone else here. Looking again over the railing, your eyes widened when you saw none other than Mark, jogging to the far side of the swimming pool, a young girl following behind him.

You should’ve known who that young girl was. The laughter that escaped her was the same infectious laughter you were so used to hearing at a point in your life.

Looking a little taller now, less of her baby fat remaining, Byul’s hair was longer now, wet and sticking to her shoulders as she stalked after Mark, trying to get him to join her in the swimming pool.

A gasp left you at the sound of Taeyong’s voice calling out for her to be careful, unsure why you’d crouched down to hide yourself from view, a hand on your chest as you tried to calm yourself down, to stop your throat from feeling as though it were closing in on itself.

Would he look the same as before? The way he did his hair, the way he dressed. Would he act like he didn’t know you? To spare you from having to explain your past relationship to others.

Would he even want to see you?

Dismissing your spiral of thoughts, you briskly walked back into the building. Your head was spinning as you tried to find your way back to your hotel room, fumbling around for your hotel room key as you shoved the door open, almost stumbling into the room and shutting it behind you, supporting yourself against the door as Jaehyun stared at you from his position on the floor.

“I know I said I wanted you to wake me up but you didn’t have to run here…”

Your eyes were wide, shaking your head at Jaehyun as you tried to compose yourself, straightening up and mustering a small smile, “I’m… I’m gonna take a shower.”

===

It was safe to say that the party was no less stressful.

You weren’t sure if it was because there were a considerable amount of Johnny’s friends from his college here, but the welcome party had slowly started to feel like a college party that you were desperate to get out of.

Ten was certainly not holding back, seeming to have lost his filter the more buzzed he was, calling you over to where a group of them were gathered around a few of the lounge chairs at the swimming pool.

“Have you guys seen Johnny?” you asked with a small frown, you didn’t even get to congratulate him yet.

One of the girls in the group had shook their heads at you, “He left a while ago with Taeyong and Yuta, said he had some last minute stuff to settle about the venue.”

Nodding, you tried to conceal your disappointment as you sat next to Jaehyun, him scooting aside to give you more sitting space.

“Guys this is Y/N, Y/N meet… everyone.”

“You’re not from our college right? I don’t think I’ve seen you before,” one of the girls sitting across from you had spoken, introducing herself, her name sounding vaguely familiar.

You shook your head, “Hey, your name sounds really familiar, are you friends with Kun?”

Her eyes had lit up, nodding profusely, “Yeah! Yeah I am! You know Kun too?”

You nodded, feeling a little more comfort in knowing that there was someone at least vaguely familiar here (even if it was through a mutual friend).

“So, what were you guys talking about?” you asked, Jaehyun turning to you with a small giggle leaving him, his cheeks already rosy.

“We were playing truth or dare, but not really much of dare ‘cause we’re lazy.”

“Oh, alright, great,” you hummed. You didn’t plan on drinking much tonight, simply wanting to spend as little energy as possible before heading to bed.

Jaehyun snickered, “Prepare yourself, though, you’re playing with them.”

You almost thought Jaehyun was exaggerating, until you realised maybe Jaehyun was right. The scale of the questions they were asking were not what you were expecting.

You heard the sound of laughter coming from behind you, turning to see a man walking towards the group of you with a beaming smile on his face, laughing at something someone had said to him as he walked past them, spotting you and tilting his head at you, his eyebrows raising slightly, making you look away quickly in your panic.

Following your line of sight, one of the girls in the group had squealed at the sight of the guy.

“Guys! Baekhyun’s here,” she announced, everybody welcoming the boy excitedly as he took a seat next to you on the grass, grabbing the bottle of whiskey from the centre of the circle and filling his cup.

Ten gave you a pointed look, “Y/N, meet Baekhyun,” he grinned, and that was when you realised he was the guy Ten was telling you about.

“Nice to meet you,” the boy had turned to you, giving you a small nod.

“What are they doing?” he’d asked you, one of the things you first noticed was how young he looked, his puppy like eyes that were slightly downturned at the corners and the way he looked so happy came as a pleasant surprise to you.

You huffed, taking a small sip from your cup, “Truth or… truth?”

Giggling, Baekhyun nodded, “I see, so, bride or groom?”

“Groom,” you answered quickly, “We were colleagues… ish. I mean I’m friends with the bride too, it's just that I know Johnny more.”

Humming, Baekhyun’s eyebrows raised, “Oh, so you’re a professor too?”

You shook your head, “Nope, preschool teacher.”

His smile had almost brightened, taking a sip from his drink and nodding slowly, tucking his legs up to his chest and resting his arms on his knees.

“Nice, that’s cute. Lucky kids,” he poorly stifled his smile, enjoying the look of confusion on your face, “they’ve got a beautiful teacher.”

Huffing, you couldn’t help yourself from rolling your eyes, “What about you? Bride or groom?”

Baekhyun huffed, “Both?”

Momentarily distracted by the laughter in the group, you heard Ten shouting something about how Kun’s friend had the highest body count among anyone else in the group.

“What about you? What do you do?” you asked, shifting in your seat as you tried to tune out the noise from the rest of the guests.

Baekhyun smiled, “I run my own fashion label,” he told you, “been doing it for a few years, actually.”

“Cool,” you hummed.

Taking a sip from your drink, you recalled what Ten said about Baekhyun being quite a bit older than you, almost laughing at the thought of how your mother would react.

Momentarily distracted by Jaehyun’s laughter making him lean back and almost shove you off of your seat, you turned to see what the group was reacting to, hearing one of the girls groan.

“Come on, don’t be a chicken, just answer it. We might not even know who they are, anyway.”

“What was the question?” you turned to Jaehyun to ask, seeing him rubbing at his chest, the redness of his ears obvious in this lighting.

“Best sex,” Jaehyun told you, looking on in curiosity for her answer.

“Honestly? I said this before and the answer still stands,” Kun’s friend had spoken, glancing around, “He left already, right?”

“Spit it out already, I need to pee,” someone had prompted.

Bringing your glass to your lips, you sighed.

“Definitely Lee Taeyong.”

Eyes widening, you’d almost choked on your drink, unfortunately attracting the attention of the group, who looked at you with suspicion in their eyes.

“Y/N looks like she knows something.”

Ten was far too drunk to have a filter, rolling his eyes as he grinned at you, “Of course she does, she dated Taeyong.”

The people in the group had looked considerably more shocked now, Baekhyun’s gaze curious as he watched your reaction.

“So, do you agree?”

Your lips parted, shrugging. You wouldn’t know, you’d never done anything of the sort during your relationship with Taeyong.

“We’ll take her silence as a yes.”

Sucking in a sharp breath, you mustered a weak laugh, “Please don’t.”

Jaehyun tilted his cup in your direction, a look that read ‘I told you so’ on his face, “Too late.”

“Baekhyun, it's your turn.”

Laughing, the boy nodded, using his hands to make an inviting gesture, “Okay, hit me.”

“... Okay, pick a person in the room you think is the most attractive.”

“Lee Taeyong,” Baekhyun answered quickly, shaking his head, “Okay, no I’m kidding…”

Scanning the people around you, Baekhyun hummed thoughtfully.

“Can it be anyone in the room?” he asked, earning nods and ‘yeah’s from the group.

“Okay,” he nodded, turning back to face the girl who had asked the question, “I pick Y/N.”

Your eyes widened, averting your gaze as you stared into your cup, the cheers and whistles erupting from the group making your head start to throb, letting out a nervous huff of laughter.

“Fat chance, you’ve got Taeyong to compete with,” Jaehyun let out a small burp.

You were sure you probably looked horrified now.

You huffed, standing up abruptly, “I’m a little tired, I think I’m gonna call it an early night.”

Ignoring the disappointed hums you’d received, you bid goodbye to Ten and Jaehyun, making your way back to your hotel room as you massage your temples, your headache absolutely frustrating you.

Glancing at the time, you saw that it was only 9, which was considerably early especially since you’d been sleeping pretty late the past few days doing work. But then, you guessed that could’ve been why you were extra tired now.

Washing your face before you’d changed into more comfortable clothes, you’d wasted no time before getting into bed, your eyelids heavy and aiding you into falling into your slumber.

That was, until you were woken up by the sound of the phone ringing.

Groggily opening your eyes, you winced at the brightness of your phone, your hand coming up to rub at your eyes as you picked up the phone, not bothering to see who was calling before you did so.

“Hmm?”

“Y/N!” you heard Mark’s panicked voice over the phone, “Shit, uh, it’s Byul. She’s running a fever and she won’t stop crying and I don’t know how shit works here I don’t know if she needs medicine or to see a doctor or what I don’t know what to do and I didn’t know who else to call but—”

You frowned, already getting out of the bed, casting a glance at the other bed to see Jaehyun and Ten there, sprawled over each other still in the clothes they’d worn to the welcome party, reaching for your cardigan as you wrapped it around yourself.

“Where are you guys?”

“We’re in the other house, I forgot what it was called but it’s the one that starts with a ‘B’.”

“Okay, okay, I’ll be right there.”

Grabbing your hotel room key, you’d left immediately, practically running over to the only house you remembered seeing on the brochure that started with a B, knocking on the door and seeing it open not long after, Mark staring at you with wide eyes.

“Did you fly here?” He marveled, shutting the door behind you as he led you to the bedroom, pushing the door open a little wider as you saw Byul lying on the bed, sweating, a wince etched on her features and tears on her cheeks.

You didn’t know what came over you at the moment, any hesitance from before disappearing as you approached her confidently, crouching next to the bed as you touched the back of your hand to her forehead, almost pulling it away in shock from how warm she felt.

Opening her eyes slowly, stared at you wordlessly, before she’d brought a hand to grasp yours tightly, refusing to let go.

“Is there a pail here?” you turned to ask Mark, who had to tear his gaze away from Byul and your interlocked hands, seeing him nod at you.

“Can you help me fill that with cold water, and hand me a small towel?”

Mark did as you instructed, while you brought your hand up to push Byul’s hair away from her face, her gaze still observing you silently.

“Am I gonna die?” she murmured weakly, managing to elicit a huff of laughter from you.

Shaking your head at her, you smiled, your thumb rubbing the back of her hand soothingly as you urged her to sit up slowly.

“No, honey, you’re not gonna die. Why do you think that?” Mark had returned with the small pail of water and the cloth, setting it on the bedside table.

“Because he looks scared…” she pointed at Mark, making you laugh.

Letting go of her hand, you told Mark he could wait outside, turning to Byul and asking, “You have a high fever now, can I help to wipe you with this towel so your fever can get better?”

Byul nodded, watching silently as you wrung the towel, cradling her head gently as you wiped her face and neck gently.

“Byul, can I take off your dress so I can wipe you with the towel?”

She nodded, moving to remove her long sleeved pajama dress so you could help to wipe her down, the girl seeming to have felt slightly better after the second time you’d wiped her down.

“Can I ask you something?”

You nodded, “Of course, you can ask me anything.”

Byul averted her gaze to look at her hands.

“Are you angry at me?”

You hand stilled on her leg, resuming your actions though a frown had lingered on your features, “No, of course not, why would I be angry at you?”

Byul fiddled with her fingers, “Because… because I said I didn’t want you to be my mom?... I didn’t mean that…”

At your lack of a response, she’d continued, her gaze lifting from her hands to look at your face, “I just didn’t want you and daddy to have another baby because my friend told me you and daddy wouldn’t wanna play with me after that. I thought you and daddy wouldn’t love me anymore.”

Your eyebrows lifted, her words making your heart ache.

“No… no, not at all Byul,” you felt your face get warmer, blinking back your tears as you swallowed.

“Your daddy and I will never stop loving you… even if there’s another baby… we would still love you, so much… and the baby too.”

Byul frowned, her eyebrows knitting as she pursed her lips, “Then why didn’t you call us? Daddy said it was because you went far away to study but why did you forget to bring your phone when you went far away?”

Your lips parted, shaking your head, “I’m sorry, honey… it was my fault… I thought you didn’t want to speak to me, but I was wrong.”

She nodded, “Yeah, you’re wrong. I missed you… daddy missed you too. He told me.”

You laughed in spite of the warmth in your eyes, the sting of the tears that welled up in your eyes as you wiped Byul’s face, using your hands to tuck her hair into a small ponytail.

“I’m sorry, honey,” you murmured, cursing mentally at how shaky your voice sounded.

Byul was ever as honest, shaking her head at you.

“It’s okay… because you’re here already. I want you to stay here,” she told you firmly, making you smile.

After what was almost two hours of tending to Byul and making sure she was okay, you took her temperature again, seeing that her temperature had gone down immensely, a sigh of relief leaving you.

“Are you feeling better?”

She nodded.

“I have to go soon, honey… back to my room.”

She frowned, “You’re not sleeping here?”

You shook your head, “No, I’m not. My room is in another building, baby.”

“But I don’t want you to leave.”

You laughed, “Why not? You don’t want to go to sleep?”

“I want you to stay here and sleep in my bed with me… because I love you.”

You heard it before, the l bomb from the kids you taught. But something about it coming from Byul rendered you speechless.

You were at a loss for words. This girl was going to be the death of you, for sure.

Byul frowned, wracking her brain for ways to make you stay just a little longer, turning to you abruptly to grab your wrist.

“Can you tie my hair? Like elsa?”

You gave her the response you usually gave to the children in your class that requested for you to braid their hair, “I can, honey, but you’ll have to sit still for a long time, are you okay with that?”

She nodded, a firm ‘yes’ leaving her.

So you did as she’d requested, brushing through her soft and smooth hair with your fingers as you tied it into a loose braid, trying not to laugh at the way she was slowly falling asleep as you tied her hair.

Once you were done, she was practically asleep against your body, you’d carefully put her clothes back on, laying her down in her bed and stepping out of the room slowly, leaving the door open just slightly for Byul.

Stopping at the sofa of the living room, you pressed your lips firmly into a line, finally letting yourself feel the emotions you’d tried hard to ignore during your exchange with Byul.

You didn’t know what you were scared of in the past, but you knew now that you were here, and you wanted nothing more than to stay. You weren’t scared. You were here, and you were ready, and the thought itself was enough to bring tears to your eyes again.

Your hand covering your mouth, you tried to stifle your sniffling, wiping your tears away with the back of your hand.

“Hey, everything okay?” Mark had spoken softly, his voice echoing throughout the otherwise silent living house.

Quickly composing yourself, you got up from the sofa, nodding, “No, yeah, just a little tired.”

Mark made his way over to you, knowing you were lying but choosing not to comment on it.

“Sorry, again, for calling you at like… ass o’clock. I just, you know, felt like she needed you.”

You nodded, your lip quivering as you nodded at Mark, avoiding his gaze as you blinked harshly.

“I’ll uh… I’ll get going now,” you turned, making your way towards the door.

“Y/N,” Mark called softly, stopping you before you could leave.

“Yeah?”

“I won’t tell Taeyong you were here if you don’t want me to.”

You nodded, “Thanks Mark.”

===

“Oh my God, why is he talking to her?” Taeyong’s frown was deep, his gaze piercing as he looked your way, sitting a few tables away from him and sitting between Jaehyun and Ten.

Mark followed Taeyong’s gaze, huffing, waving a hand in dismissal.

“Dude, it’s fine, it’s just Jaehyun.”

Taeyong’s eyes widened, Byul laughing at her father’s expression, the girl’s fever having fully disappeared by the afternoon, back to her energetic self by the evening.

“Are you kidding me? It's Jaehyun! He loves kids!”

Mark’s giggles bubbled out from him freely, his hand hitting Taeyong’s thigh, “Dude, are you scared? Think you can’t compete with Jaehyun?”

Mark’s words had reminded Taeyong of his current situation, his expression returning to a neutral one as he shook his head, feigning nonchalance with his shrug.

“Compete? Please. Who said anything about competing?”

A flicker of realisation washed over Mark’s eyes, his smile falling, “Okay, but for real, though. I heard Baekhyun’s interested in her.”

Taeyong frowned, seeing Baekhyun (who was unfortunately seated next to Ten) telling you something that made you laugh.

Taeyong pursed his lips, shrugging, “Whatever. Between him and Jaehyun… it doesn’t matter ‘cause they’re both not her type. I still win.”

“You literally just said it wasn’t a competition.”

“That’s because it’s not,” Taeyong retorted.

“Okay, but you gotta admit, Baekhyun kinda is—”

Taeyong glared at Mark, “Are you on my side or not, Mark?”

Mark giggled, “Your side, your side. I swear.”

Huffing, Taeyong took another sip of his wine, turning to Byul to ask if she was enjoying her food, not expecting her to be busy staring at Y/N as well.

You and me both, Byul. Taeyong sighed.

At your table, you were distracted enough by Baekhyun and the speeches the bridesmaids were giving that you didn’t feel as tempted to look in Taeyong’s direction.

Which surprised you, because everything around you had to do with love, and it was making you stare at the table displays with an inexplicable longing inside of you, wondering how different your experience of Johnny’s wedding would have been if you and Taeyong were still dating.

What had sent you over the edge was when Johnny had stepped up to give a speech.

“I always tell my friends this,” he gave you a pointed look, “and they’re probably sick of hearing it, but I’m a sucker for the whole red string of fate thing, you know… this idea that things will work out in the name of love...the concept of your person. And I truly believe that that was what had brought us together,” he looked at his fiancé with nothing but love in his eyes.

“A huge thank you to Lucas, she likes to joke that you were the ‘red string’ ‘cause you kept telling her to give me a chance,” he laughed, “I still remember asking you to bring her to one of our stupid mixers and you definitely delivered but… seriously, though, thank you for that,” he smiled, turning back to face his soon-to-be wife, “My love, I’m certain that a life with you will be as beautiful, if not more, as i’ve always been certain it will be.”

You frowned, embarrassed that Johnny’s words were moving you to tears, looking up at the ceiling and blinking harshly to suppress your urge to cry.

“To my lovely guests, I’m happy to be sharing this experience with you guys, but for now, let’s enjoy the rest of our time in this beautiful place.”

People had continued to eat their dinner, the dj taking over after a while and playing music for people to dance, many of the guests getting up from their seats to mingle with the people from other tables.

Without thinking, you glanced at Taeyong’s table, making eye contact with him and feeling almost frozen in place, tearing your gaze away as you chose to look at the people dancing.

Byul didn’t seem to have gotten the unspoken memo, getting up off her chair with a thud as her feet landed on the floor.

“I’m gonna go say hi to Ms Y/N,” she announced, running off before Taeyong could stop her, watching in horror as she’d bounded over to your table, enveloping you in a hug.

About to intervene, Mark saw Taeyong shake his head, “It’s okay, I’ll go.”

A hint of a smile on Mark’s face, he nodded, ushering Taeyong away.

You’d almost gotten knocked off your chair by the force that Byul hugged you with, your arms wrapping around her instinctively, Ten and Jaehyun cooing at the young girl.

“Byul, this is Uncle Ten and Uncle Jaehyun.”

Byul had giggled, holding both her hands up to Ten, “Ten,” she giggled.

“Are they your friends?” she asked, grinning at you.

You nodded, “Yes, they are, honey.”

“Do you want to go to my table? My daddy and Uncle Mark are there,” she patted your shoulder urgently, pointing at the direction of her table.

You fumbled for an answer, gaze darting up and your eyes widening when you felt Ten kick your shoe a little too late, signalling Taeyong’s presence at your table.

“Hey,” you breathed, Taeyong shifting his weight awkwardly with his glass in his hands and a lump in his throat.

The silence was almost suffocating, your mind running wild with the million things you’d wanted to say, hating how the one you’d wanted to say the most was a pathetic ‘I miss you’.

Seeming to have sensed the tension between you and Taeyong, Jaehyun had cleared his throat, “Uh… Byul, do you wanna go see the desserts with Uncle Ten and I?”

Nodding, she turned to Taeyong, “Can I go, daddy?”

As if snapping out of his thoughts, Taeyong turned to Byul to nod, letting the three of them leave the table, leaving you and Taeyong in your own world.

“Do you uh…” Taeyong gestured to the garden, “wanna go somewhere a little quieter?”

Without another word, you followed behind Taeyong as you left the dinner area, walking through the field and past the large fountain, leading you down a set of cobblestone stairs until you’d ended up at a more secluded area, entering a little cave of sorts that was carved into the wall, a little resting area with benches lining the sides of the walls and a fountain in the middle.

The fountain wasn’t flowing with water, which made it seem quieter than it actually was. Made of stone, it’s stem was sculpted to look like there were two cherubs holding up the sturdy bowl, a little cupid perched in the middle of the bowl, his arrow pointed right at Taeyong.

Leaning against the fountain, you relaxed knowing that it was sturdy enough to support your weight, your gaze flitting around the room as you tried not to stare at Taeyong.

His jacket had been left upstairs and the sleeves of his dress shirt rolled up past his elbows, he leant against the wall of the cave facing you, his glass still in his hand as he let his gaze linger on the little stone arrow aimed at him.

Now that he was right in front of you, you’d given up on avoiding him, letting yourself observe him in the silence as he felt your gaze all over him, waiting for it to meet his eyes with an anticipation that made his heart pound.

He looked healthier, stronger almost. More confident too, you observed, in the way he carried himself.

Letting your gaze flicker to his hands, you noticed that he was still wearing the matching ring he’d given you, something about it telling you more than any words ever could.

“Your glass is empty,” you blurted, Taeyong’s gaze calmly shifting to look at his glass, a small huff leaving him as he’d leant down to place it carefully on the bench, straightening up and shoving his hands in his pockets, something in him almost desperate to reach out and hold you.

A small sigh left his lips. Taeyong held your gaze, “You look beautiful.”

Something about it reminded you of all the times where you’d felt like everything would slow down, when it became obvious that the boy staring at you was so filled with love that it seemed unreal. It was so expected of him, to be looking at you as though you were everything he wanted.

“I know what you’re going to say and I don’t like it already,” you murmured, though there was no menace behind your tone.

A hint of a smirk played on Taeyong's lips.

“I wasn’t going to say anything,” he spoke, his voice just as soft.

“... good.”

“I missed you,” he blurted, completely disregarding your previous words.

You huffed, “I told you not to say anything.”

He had the audacity to look sheepish, making you avert your gaze. You knew that the longer he was here, the quicker your resolve was dissolving. Then again, you thought, maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing.

“Sorry… if there was one thing I needed to get off my chest tonight, it was that.”

Your hands fiddled with the fabric of your dress, Taeyong taking the liberty to fill the silence.

“How’ve you been?”

You nodded, “Good… I’m working at a new preschool… a Catholic one… with Ten and Jaehyun.”

Taeyong’s eyebrows jerked slightly at the mention of Jaehyun, composing himself quickly.

“Are you uh and Jaehyun uh…”

“What if we are?”

You didn’t know why you said that, maybe it was your feeble attempt to make him feel as flustered as you felt under his gaze.

“I mean… I don’t know. Good for you, I guess…” Taeyong shrugged, “He’s a good kisser.”

You couldn’t stop the laugh that escaped you.

“You think I'd date him just because he’s a good kisser?”

Taeyong shrugged, “I was just hoping you wouldn’t even have a reason to date him.”

You gave in, your soft spot for him getting the better of you.

“Good. ‘Cause I’m not.”

He had smiled at that, shaking his head at you.

“Thanks, by the way, for helping Mark with Byul last night,” he spoke, observing your reaction carefully.

Your eyes widened, “Mark told you?”

Byul shook his head, “Byul did.”

“She… she wouldn’t stop talking about you the entire day… she misses you, a lot.”

You nodded, “I do too.”

“You do?” he looked shocked, but you saw how his shoulders relaxed.

You nodded.

“Can I be honest with you?” he asked, pushing himself off the wall slowly so he could take a step towards you.

Nodding dumbly at him, he took that as his cue to continue, “My feelings for you haven’t changed… and there’s no point lying about it because it tortured me.”

“I thought about you all the time… wondered how you were doing. It’s embarrassing how many times I contemplated just sending you a text to ask how you were but I didn’t because I knew you needed your space… I just kind of drove myself crazy wondering if, you know, you were thinking of me too,” he huffed in spite of himself.

You nodded along with his words.

“I did,” you told him quickly, “more than you think.”

Taking another step towards you, Taeyong had a teasing smile on his face.

“What did you think about?” he prompted gently, your brain practically yelling for him to come closer, wanting nothing more than to hold him.

“I… I thought about you, wondered if you were having trouble taking care of Byul. I thought about whether you would be working too hard and forgetting to take care of yourself… I thought about-” your breath hitched when you’d felt how close he was to you, his hands on either side of your body, resting against the fountain as he nodded, prompting you to continue.

“I thought about how much I missed you…and missed doing work with you even though we couldn’t ever get much work done before getting distracted by each other... How I missed your touch,” you stopped yourself at the feeling of his hand that had touched the side of your face gently, brushing your hair back with soft touches against your face.

Taeyong hummed, smiling, enjoying how you were reacting.

“Keep going, don’t mind me.”

You rolled your eyes at him, trying to brave through the feeling of his other hand that had rested on your waist gently, rubbing it through your dress in a slow and intoxicating manner that made you squirm.

“I thought about how much I missed your… your kisses.”

“Did you?”

You pressed your lips into a firm line, “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”

He had simply nodded, playfulness in his gaze and the smile he gave you.

“A lot,” he admitted, scrunching his nose slightly.

“Anyway, you were saying? You missed my kisses?” he prompted, leaning closer to you so his breath ghosted over your ears, spreading to your neck, Taeyong pressing a soft kiss to your neck.

“These kisses?”

You nodded, his actions knocking the words from your mouth.

“What about…” he pressed another soft kiss to your cheek, “these kisses?”

You nodded again, watching Taeyong pull away slightly, the look in his eyes making your knees week, his gaze flickering from yours to your lips.

Bending down, his hands wrapped around your thighs, “Jump,” he whispered, and you did as he told, feeling him carry you to perch you on the bowl of the fountain so you were eye-level with him, your legs spread slightly as he stood between them.

“What about… this kiss?” he’d cupped your face with one of his hands, pressing a soft kiss to your lips, your eyes shutting, a confused hum leaving you when he’d pulled away.

You should’ve known what he was doing. After all, he was Taeyong.

“Can you—” you were frustrated at this point, his hand that was on your cheek using his thumb to caress your cheek.

“Can I...?” he taunted, his thumb just barely grazing over your lower lip.

“Kiss me more,” you hated how breathless you sounded, hoping he would take pity on you and put an end to your misery.

Taeyong grinned, “If you insist.”

Leaning forward, he’d pressed his lips against yours, less gentle than before, but all the emotion he felt conveyed in the way he’d deepened the kiss, his other hand going from your thigh to your hip, holding you steady.

Moving from your hip to your back, he pressed his hand against your back so your chest was flush against him, drawing a sigh from you as you let your hands get lost in his hair, one of your hands touching his jaw.

Your head was absolutely spinning, nothing feeling real to you other than the burning touches Taeyong was leaving on you, the kisses he’d begun to trail down your jaw and to your neck, his gaze landing on the shiny ring that had peeked out from the collar of your dress, Taeyong smiling against your skin.

“You’re still wearing the ring,” he brought his face back up so it was level with yours, seeing you nod.

“Couldn’t bring myself to take it off.”

Taeyong smiled, his hands coming up to cradle your face in his hands, pressing a long kiss to your lips and pulling away with a sigh.

“Do you think Byul is looking for me?”

You glanced at your watch, not realising how much time had passed, grimacing slightly, looking to Taeyong to decide.

Shaking his head, Taeyong huffed.

“No,” he breathed, “five more minutes.”

He pressed another kiss to your lips, giggles bubbling from the both of you as you were both enveloped in a dazed happiness, “Maybe ten.”

===

Though neither of you had addressed what happened that night at the fountain after that, it was more than clear to the both of you that something in your dynamic had shifted once again. Though, you supposed, for the better this time.

Maybe it was Johnny’s unwavering belief that had allowed this to happen, but things did seem to be looking up for the three of you.

Byul was much more open to the idea of you coming back into their lives now, especially after the reassurance she’d received from you that night, even going to the extent of telling Taeyong that it felt like you were an angel sent to help her fever subside.

When Johnny found out about your little incident at the fountain as well, he was more than ecstatic, giving Taeyong a variety of excuses he could use to schedule a meeting with you. But Taeyong figured he’d prefer a more authentic approach as opposed to attending morning masses at the church next to your preschool just so he could bump into you when you reported to work.

It seemed, Taeyong’s mom had been doing her little angel duties for Taeyong as well, using the opportunity when Taeyong had dropped Byul off at her house for a sleepover to give him a bag full of side dishes for you, insisting that he drop them off to you as soon as possible.

And if it was an opportunity to see you, who was he to refuse, right?

It’d been a relatively long day for you, the day that Taeyong had visited. A Friday night, you were eager to wrap up your day and watch something on the television to wind down. Your wrist had been feeling better after using the wax machine and following the hand exercises and massages Taeyong used to do for you.

Sitting on the sofa in a tired daze, you’d heard the sound of a few firm knocks at your door, standing up slowly (careful not to move your hands too much and break the wax), you saw that it was Taeyong outside.

Pressing the button at your door with your elbow, you opened the door with your elbow, Taeyong pushing the door open after spotting your hand situation.

“Hey… sorry to interrupt your uh… hand spa,” he laughed, “but my mom made some side dishes for you… so I thought I’d just drop them off.”

Your eyebrows raised in delight, nodding at him, though he hadn’t made any move to pass them to you, and you didn’t feel like letting him leave so quickly either. Guess it worked out for the both of you.

“Do you, by any chance, wanna come in for some tea?”

Taeyong was a little quick to reply, nodding and stepping into your house as you let the door shut behind him.

Quickly loading the side-dishes into your fridge, you’d thanked him, leaning against the counter.

“Sorry, I realised I’d make the tea for you but my hands are… you know,” you huffed, Taeyong dismissing you with a shake of his head.

“It’s okay,” he gave you a small smile, “what’s it for, anyway?”

“Oh, it’s just this paraffin wax thing Kun bought for me, it’s supposed to help my wrists and I guess it has been helping a bit since I started using it.”

“It’s still hurting?” he frowned.

You gave him a sheepish smile, “Yeah, a little, since I started working again. But it’s fine, it’s getting better I guess.”

“Can I…” he gestured to your wrists, “do you want me to help you?”

He was already washing his hands, as if knowing you would say yes.

You felt weird to be asking something like this of him, especially after so long of doing it for yourself. But something in you missed the feeling of his attentive gestures to you, not being able to find it in you to refuse his offer.

“Yeah… yeah, that would be nice,” you murmured, seeing him follow you to the wax bath, “I usually just like… you know, peel it off and let it melt with the rest of the wax. Cause that’s what the instructions say.”

Nodding, Taeyong had carefully peeled the wax off your hands, humming at how it came off easily, leading you to your sofa after he was done, sitting next to you and taking one of your hands, massaging it carefully, looking almost… repentant.

“If anyone saw this, they’d think I bullied you into doing this for me,” you joked, attempting to alleviate some of the tension you were feeling, seeing him huff, though his expression remained the same.

“You… you can be angry at me, you know. For all the trouble and fear I put you through… you can just let it out. You don’t have to pretend it didn’t happen, you can be angry at me.”

You frowned.

After all he’d done for you, all the love he’d poured out to you, you weren’t sure why he’d expected you to be angry. If anything, you thought it’d be the other way around, for all the pain you’d put him through.

“Ang-” you paused, a huff of exasperation leaving you, “I don’t want to be angry at you, Taeyong. How can I be angry at you?”

At his lack of a response, you’d felt something in your heart clench, frustrated that he could ever think this way, “You’ve been nothing but… love to me this whole time… how can I be angry at you when you’ve been so good to me? I should be angry at myself… for not trusting what I felt for you back then.”

Taeyong shook his head, taking your other hand to massage it like how he’d done with your other hand.

“I didn’t think about how you were feeling… you know, it never even crossed my mind that you could’ve had reservations about marriage and stuff—”

“Honestly, Taeyong? I was just scared I wouldn’t be able to support you and Byul… I mean, I was a mess back then,” you laughed in spite of yourself, “I couldn’t even be strong for myself, I didn’t think I could have been a source of support for you and Byul.”

He nodded slowly, his hands cradling your hand delicately.

“But that doesn’t matter… What matters is we’re both here now… we’re, you know, different than how we used to be. Our only option is to... move forward.”

“Move forward?”

You nodded, hoping Taeyong understood the implication of your words, dismissing the hesitance that lingered within you as you met his gaze, “Do you want to do that?”

Taeyong nodded, his lips parting and shutting as he fumbled for the words to say.

“Do you wanna come with me and Byul to the beach next weekend, then?” he finally said, the proposition putting a smile on your face.

“She keeps asking me to ask you to hang out with us,” he admitted, a hint of embarrassment in his smile.

“So is it her asking? Or you asking?” you teased, Taeyong’s smile growing.

“Both.”

You nodded.

“It’s a date, then.”

===

You realised that the beach was a place Byul enjoyed because she simply loved the water. You saw it in the way she didn’t care about getting her hands dirty, how she would bring her binoculars just in the hope that she would be able to spot a shark (despite telling her that they were definitely in a shark-free zone), the way she would squeal and giggle at the feeling of her feet in the sand but then proceed to look nothing but calm and relaxed even when she was thigh-deep in the water.

Walking back from where you were previously playing with Byul near the edge of the water, you went to sit with Taeyong nearby on the little mat he’d brought, Taeyong putting his camera down on his lap and holding up a piece of whatever food he was eating to your mouth. You’d accepted it gratefully, too tired to even ask what it contained.

“Did you have fun?” he asked, earning a long sigh from you, your hands going behind you to support your weight.

“I’m old… I’m getting old,” you sighed.

Taeyong simply rolled his eyes, taking a spare towel and draping it over your wet legs.

“Tough being a senior citizen, isn’t it? Should we just sign ourselves into a nursing home now?”

You laughed, bending over to use the towel to dry your legs, your necklace carrying your ring falling out from under the collar of your shirt, Taeyong almost immediately taking his camera from his lap and pointing it at you, the click softly sounding before he’d turned, pointing it in Byul’s direction with another soft click following.

Taeyong’s way, he figured, of filling his camera with what he loved.

Taking your phone from where it lay next to Taeyong’s leg, you went to your playlist, putting it on shuffle as you sighed, letting yourself relax where you were.

Byul’s voice had called out to you,“Aunty Y/N, look! It’s the shell you dropped!”

Taeyong laughed, turning to you with a look on his face that read pure amusement.

“Did she just call you ‘aunty’?”

“She’s been calling me that for a while now. Insisted that she didn’t want to call me Teacher or Miss anymore,” you explained.

Taeyong beamed, proud of his daughter.

Taeyong reached into the little cooler he’d brought, “Do you want ice cream?”

Nodding profusely, Taeyong took out two ice cream popsicles, one for you and one for him.

And as simple as it was, just the act of the both of you sitting on the beach, Taeyong asking you if you wanted to try his ice cream, Byul running over to the both of you when she noticed the ice cream in your hands and taking a huge bite out of Taeyong’s (or as huge as her mouth was, which wasn’t that huge).

The song that was playing, a little song you remembered to have given you more comfort during your time overseas than you ever could describe, heightened the feeling of bliss that you were feeling now.

As silly as it would’ve sounded to anyone else, what you felt in that moment was truly the comfort of knowing that you may have been young and afraid of the future, not knowing what you wanted from the world back then. But now, all you knew was that what you felt with Taeyong and Byul was love and love in it’s most genuine, playful nature.

You heard the saying many times. To live is to live in fear. But you didn’t want to live in fear. You’d felt this love strongly for yourself in this moment and you knew that you wanted to live in this love, for as long as you lived.

Turning to Taeyong as Byul had sat on top of the towel on your legs, your free hand brushing her hair behind her shoulders neatly, you smiled.

“I could get used to this,” you murmured.

Taeyong hadn’t said a word, simply doing what he always did, resting the back of his hand on the mat, his hand open in an invitation for you to place yours in his.

And when you did, it seemed there was an unspoken wish fulfilment in the midst of that for Taeyong. The wish he’d made at the flower garden that you would find your way back to each other.

“Sorry, hope you don’t mind me interrupting,” your gaze was torn away from Taeyong to look at a teenage-looking girl who held a piece of paper in her hands.

“Oh, yeah, no problem. What can we help you with?” you spoke, seeing her hand come up to scratch at her neck, sheepish.

“No, I uh, I usually come here to paint and I saw you guys here since just now and I couldn’t help but paint you guys.”

Your eyes widened, a delighted hum leaving you, “That’s so sweet of you, can we see the painting?”

She held the piece of paper out, Taeyong taking it with a nod of thanks, finding that it was the thicker kind of paper people used for watercolour painting, the picture showing you and Taeyong sitting on the mat, your hands interlocked as you both watched Byul playing in the sand.

“Can I ask, how long have you guys been together?”

Taeyong wasn’t sure how to answer her, and you stepped in quickly.

“A while,” you laughed, “why’d you ask?”

The girl shook her head, her hand coming up to cover her mouth as she averted her gaze, “Sorry, no, it’s just ‘cause you guys look really happy together… it was nice to see.”

Leaving without another word, you turned to Taeyong, who was still staring at the painting.

Turning around to take a look at the painting, Byul hummed, “Is this me?” she pointed at the little girl in the painting, playing in the water.

“Yes, it is, baby.”

Her smile grew, “Can we put this in my room?”

Taeyong turned to you, eyebrows raising in a silent question, to which you nodded.

“Of course, you can.”

“Okay, can you help me keep it? I don’t want to get it wet and ruin it.”

Having her fill of ice cream, Byul had gone back to playing in the sand, trying to make a sand sculpture of a shark.

Taeyong picked up your phone, “Can I choose the next song?”

He searched through your playlist as you gave him the go ahead, wondering if your favourite song was still the same as it was before.

Though, he noticed that you had two songs of the same name, giggling at the thought that you might have liked the song so much you didn’t realise you downloaded it twice, clicking on one of them randomly, your heart almost stopping when you realised what he had just clicked.

The sound of Taeyong’s hushed laughter played from the phone, “Hi to you whenever you find this recording,” you heard. Your hand immediately reached for your phone to pause the ‘song’.

Taeyong didn’t know what he thought was cuter, the fact that you’d saved the recording as an actual file, or the fact that you’d saved it under the name of your favourite song.

“You didn’t delete it.”

Feeling exposed from the way he was looking at you patiently, a teasing smile on his face, you shook your head.

“Yeah, I didn’t.”

Taeyong’s thumb rubbed over your knuckles gently, turning back to look at Byul, his voice now a soft murmur, “I’m glad you didn’t.”

Taeyong smiled, “Remember, you still have a kiss you haven’t redeemed.”

Flustered, you averted your gaze, shaking your head at him.

“Really? Even after that day in Italy?”

Taeyong hummed, the same playfulness you were used to receiving from him making itself known in how he’d smiled at you, “I mean, if you want, you could redeem one for every time you listened to the recording too, I wasn’t specific.”

“For a reason, clearly,” you huffed.

Neither of you brought it up after that, winding down as the three of you had slowly packed up your things and left the beach, Taeyong driving while Byul slept in the back seat.

You’d run through your mental calendar as you thought about what else you had planned in the next few weeks, realising you had Johnny’s housewarming in a few weeks before your school’s spring concert.

You wanted to go to Johnny’s housewarming together with Taeyong, instead of going separately and spending the entire evening in misery again, but you weren’t quite sure how to bring it up.

“Are you going to Johnny’s housewarming?” immediate regret had filled you the moment the words had left your mouth.

Of course he was going for Johnny’s housewarming, what were you thinking?

Turning into the street where he lived, Taeyong’s lips curved into a smile, his eyebrows raising, knowing exactly why you’d asked that (though, he had to admit, he was glad you’d brought it up). He figured he’d save you the trouble of asking this time.

“Wanna go with me?”

It was as if he’d read your mind, asking you that, but you’d nodded nonetheless.

“Then, we’ll go together,” he said simply, fiddling with the ring around his thumb absently.

Reaching his apartment, you opened your door to get out of the car. Taeyong opened Byul’s door to wake her up gently, carrying her upstairs as you helped him to bring his and Byul’s things to his apartment.

Though upon reaching the apartment, as you were taking out Byul’s spare change of clothes and whatnot, Taeyong had gone in to help Byul wash up and get ready for bed. You heard the sound of the hair dryer turning off when you were almost done. Taeyong had come out with an amused smile on his face, a hand gesturing for you to head in the direction of Byul’s room.

“Your presence has been requested by the princess.”

You gasped, exaggerating your shock, “I’d better hurry then, wouldn’t want to keep the princess waiting.”

“Careful now,” Taeyong spoke as you’d walked past him in the corridor, turning to look at him expectantly, his body leant against the wall as he looked at you with an emotion you couldn’t quite place, “looks like we’re both after your heart now.”

Flustered, you’d gone into the room in your attempt to escape, going into Byul’s room to find her already tucked in bed, dressed in her pajamas as she grinned at you.

“Your highness,” you bowed, eliciting another burst of giggles from her, making your way over to her bedside, adjusting her blanket, your hand brushing her hair away from her face.

“Do you want me to read a story to you?”

She shook her head, “Just want you to tuck me in.”

You smiled, going the extra mile to make her feel extra tucked in, leaning over to press a soft kiss to her forehead, Byul’s hand reaching out to touch your cheek.

“Can I tell you something?” she mumbled, prompted by the soft hum you gave her.

Cupping her hand around your ear, her other hand haphazardly pushing your hair away from your ear, the sensation tickling you and making you squirm.

“I want you to be my mommy,” she whispered.

You were shocked, of course, but you were glad. Your hands coming up to cup her face.

“Can I say no?” you teased.

Her expression turned pensive, narrowing her eyes at you.

“Do you want to say no?”

You grinned. “No, I don’t.”

Her grin now mirrored yours, “Good! Then you can go and tell daddy.”

You nodded, standing up and giving her another exaggerated curtsy, “If the princess insists, I’ll do it right away.”

“Goodnight, Byul.”

“Goodnight,” she smiled.

Coming out of the room, you saw Taeyong still standing outside her room, his gaze following the way you’d left her door a crack open.

“Were you eavesdropping?” you gasped, earning a small smile from him.

“So what if I was?”

You huffed, feigning dismay, “I’ll have you know, that was a private conversation between me and the princess.”

Taeyong let out a huff of laughter, his hand reaching up to run it through his hair. He wasn’t sure how fast he was supposed to move, or how slow, when it came to ‘moving forward’. If it were up to him, he’d want you to stay the night like you used to, but he wasn’t sure if you were comfortable with that.

You were simply aching for him to ask, not wanting to return to your empty apartment either, not after experiencing such life with him and Byul here.

“So, I’ll uh… I’ll get going, then…?” you finally spoke, Taeyong’s eyes widening as he straightened up, no longer leaning on the wall.

“Oh, uh, actually… it’s pretty late… do you wanna just like… ”

“Stay over?” you finished his sentence for him, his smile growing as a small giggle escaped him.

“Why are we even dancing around it at this point? We sound ridiculous,” he laughed, eliciting giggles from you as well, shaking your head.

“Customary hesitance,” you laughed.

Taeyong scrunched his nose, “To hell with that.”

You nodded, mustering your best serious expression as you tried not to laugh.

“Indeed.”

Lying in Taeyong’s bed later, it didn’t feel foreign to you, the way he’d picked up one of your hands, gently massaging your palm.

“Taeyong,” you murmured, hearing him hum.

“Since we’re… you know, ‘moving forward’, I want to be honest with my mom and dad.”

Taeyong nodded, “I know.”

“I don’t know how that’s gonna go, but I just thought you should know.”

Taeyong hummed, turning around to wrap his arm around your torso, interlocking his fingers with yours as you let yourself relax at the feeling of your back against his chest.

“I’ll be here, if you need me. You don’t have to be scared.”

You nodded.

True enough, with him here and with the knowledge that you were both more certain in what you wanted, you weren’t.

===

4:32pm -one of the kids in the older classes is so nervous i think he might puke on his costume if i tell him the performances start in 15 minutes 4:32pm -kind of wish Byul was here, think she’d like to know they’re performing her favourite song-

Taeyong laughed, typing out his reply to you quickly, taking in a deep breath and letting it out as his car pulled to a stop.

Walking up to the building, Taeyong rolled his shoulders back, ringing the doorbell and waiting.

Soon enough, the door opened to reveal your dad, who didn’t seem all that shocked to see Taeyong.

“Come in,” he let Taeyong in, and Taeyong saw your mom’s gaze almost darken at the sight of Taeyong.

Hopefully, this wouldn’t take too long.

At your end, Ten had finally returned from wherever he’d disappeared to, holding up his cup of milk tea to you.

“Want some?”

You huffed, “No, I don’t. Anyway, aren’t you supposed to be emceeing?”

“Nope,” he grinned, “did a little trade with Jaehyun, so he’ll be emceeing and I’ll be working the camera.”

Huffing, you gathered the consent slips for the children’s participation in the concert that you’d only received today (a little late, but better late than never, you figured).

Taking your place in the front row, you’d made sure you were visible to the kids as Ten had bid you goodbye, taking his place at the camera, watching Jaehyun make his way up to the podium and starting to greet the parents.

Taeyong had arrived at the hall just before it was your class’ turn to perform, greeting Ten when he’d seen him at the camera, Ten gesturing to you.

“She’s over there,” he whispered, Taeyong nodding with a huff. Even Ten knew you were the only person he was here for.

Standing at the side of the hall, Taeyong couldn’t contain his smile as he heard the very happy sounding song start to play, your little toddlers dancing on the stage in their costumes as you did the dance along with them from where you were seated, praising them every now and then and reminding them to smile, the sight somehow being one of the most endearing things he’d seen.

Your phone buzzed once the class performance was over, seeing a text come in from Taeyong.

Taeyong 5:18pm -i don’t know which was cuter to watch, your kids or you-

Lips parting in shock, you’d turned around, scanning the room and eventually spotting Taeyong standing at the side of the hall, giving you a small wave when he’d caught your eye.

5:18pm -my class is one of the last to perform, i’ll probably be done soon-

Finishing up, you’d spent what felt like ages greeting your children goodbye as they left with their parents and families, saying goodbye to the teachers before you’d left with Taeyong, Ten giving you a knowing look before you left.

“I can give you a ride to your parents’ house,” he offered as you got into the car.

“I’d be lying if I wasn’t kind of hoping for that,” you gave him a sheepish smile, Taeyong shaking his head as he pulled out of the parking lot.

“You did well, I would never have thought that your kids had such a short time to prepare the number.”

You shot him a look, “Are you being sarcastic?”

“No, no,” he giggled, scoffing, “Can’t I compliment you?”

“Of course you can, but that sounded backhanded as hell.”

“Backhanded? It was a compliment!”

“Yeah, a backhanded compliment.”

Taeyong rolled his eyes, reaching for your hand.

“Backhanded, backhanded,” he imitated you, bringing your hand up to press a kiss to the back of your hand, “how’s that for backhanded, hmm?”

The way his eyebrows raised expectantly and his lips jut out was all it took for you to sigh. This boy was going to be the death of you, for sure.

You rolled your eyes, “Fine, I’ll give that to you since you look so proud of yourself.”

Pulling up to the pavement next to your parents’ house, you sighed, slightly reluctant to go in, but feeling a little more motivated knowing that it was gonna be an important night for you to have a genuine talk with your mother that (hopefully) wouldn’t end in her kicking you out again.

“Call you tonight?” he asked, earning a nod from you.

“I’ll update you on the verdict.”

Smiling, Taeyong nodded, already bidding you goodbye.

“Wait!” you stopped him, grabbing his face to press a quick kiss on his lips, shocking Taeyong into a fit of giggles.

“Sorry, I was feeling a bit nervous. Okay, bye, for real.”

Taeyong nodded, waving you off, “bye, for real.”

Entering your house, you were met with the sound of the television in your living room, your dad greeting you, seeing that your mom was seated on the sofa with him.

“We’re having pizza for dinner today.”

Your eyebrows raised, “that’s… different.”

“Lot’s of things are different these days,” your mom shrugged, earning a nudge from your dad, who seemed fairly amused at her behaviour.

“How was your performance, honey?” your dad asked.

“Good, good. The kids were really cute, look,” you pulled your phone out to show him a video, your parents looking on and cooing at the children.

A text from Taeyong came in.

Taeyong 5:47pm - I think you left your laptop in my car - 5:47pm -ok not think but u rly did leave ur laptop in my car-

Your eyes went wide, swiping the messages aside quickly, looking at your mom’s face to gauge her reaction.

In the absence of a reaction, not even a snarky comment, you frowned in confusion.

“You’re not saying anything?”

Your mother looked at you, eyebrows lifted expectantly, “What do you want me to say?”

“I don’t know…” you began, “Just, thought you’d be upset or something.”

Your mom shrugged, “Honey, there’s… I don’t think anything I say at this point is going to stop you, or that boy.”

“He has guts, I’ll give him that,” your dad commented, earning a frown from you.

“What... what happened? Did something happen?” you frowned, confusion written all over your features.

“He came by just now, to speak to us.”

Your lips parted in shock. Taeyong never mentioned anything about this to you.

“I want you to remember that as your mom, I still want your happiness… and if it’s with this boy…” she stopped herself, “since the both of you are so insistent on it, and... he seems very certain that he can support you, go ahead.”

“But if anything doesn’t go well, don’t come crying to me,” she added as an afterthought, your dad letting out a grunt.

“You know she doesn’t mean it, honey,” he reassured you.

“So… I can keep going? No objections?”

She sighed, “As much as I would want to… no, no objections.”

Well, that was certainly easier than you expected.

Funnily enough, that was one of the first peaceful dinners you’d had with your parents, the weight of the last lingering worry dissipating as you let yourself relax in your old house. Things were falling into place, working out in the name of love. In the name of your love for Byul and Taeyong, their love for you, your mother’s love for you. You were glad.

You couldn’t wait to tell Taeyong the good news (even though he probably knew how things would turn out already).

===

You didn’t think you could get any happier than this.

The weekly outings with Byul and Taeyong, the little activities you would do with her and him when you were at home together, watching movies with Byul and Taeyong having to entertain both Byul’s and your endless questions as if he’d directed the movie.

Though Taeyong was a little more stressed than he’d let on.

He had something planned, of course, but he was a perfectionist at heart, and he’d wanted it to be perfect, rehearsing with Byul endlessly, even in the car as they were on their way to pick you up for another beach day because of the good weather (or so you thought).

“Do you remember your cue, baby?”

Byul was practically bouncing with excitement in the back seat, her hands gripping her dress tightly as she looked out the window, as if unable to wait for Taeyong to pull up at your apartment building.

Nodding, she’d replied loudly, “it’s when you say ‘here’ right?”

Taeyong nodded. Okay, so at least she knew her cue. He didn’t think there was much else he could control, simply hoping that the weather would remain good for the evening.

Getting into the car, Byul had tried her best not to reveal the surprise to you, even at the endless opportunities you’d been unintentionally presenting her. From the way you fiddled with your ring, to the questions about why you were going to the beach at this time of the day when they’d already had dinner.

Once you’d reached the beach, you were excited to be at the receiving end of the cool breeze and watch the sunset as the sky had begun to turn pink.

Slightly more relaxed at the beautiful backdrop the universe had blessed him with, Taeyong held your hand in his, walking and pretending to find the perfect spot as Byul was practically vibrating in her anticipation.

Walking in front of the both of you, Byul listened hard for Taeyong to give his cue, hoping he wouldn’t forget any of the words they’d rehearsed just about a million times the previous few days, Byul having it practically memorized by heart by now.

“Should we sit here? I’m surprised there’s not a lot of people here now,” you asked, snapping Taeyong out of his daze.

“Sorry, what? I couldn’t hear you.”

Byul had turned almost immediately, getting down on one knee and yelling, “Daddy, now!”

Your eyes widened, bursting into laughter, leaning over to try to get Byul to stand up.

“Byul, are you okay? Did you trip on something? Let me see, is your knee alright?”

Taeyong winced, though he couldn’t help but laugh as well, figuring it was fine for her to have gotten the two words mixed up.

“No, I didn’t fall down! Daddy wants to tell you something but I have to kneel first!”

Your eyes widened, straightening up as you turned to Taeyong.

“What… hmm?” You fumbled for words, figuring this was another one of Byul’s little sudden skits.

Taeyong had blanked, trying to compose himself as he tried to recall the words he’d prepared.

“Byul,” he started, realising he’d uttered the wrong word but figuring he’d might as well go with it, “loves you a lot… and so do I.”

“Uh-huh,” Byul nodded.

In your shock, your filter was thrown out of the window, uttering the first thing on your mind.

“If I didn’t know any better I'd say you look like you’re about to propose to me,” you let out a huff of laughter.

Byul didn’t seem to understand why you were laughing, though she laughed with you.

“We are!” she confirmed (just in case you didn’t get it by now).

Your eyes widened.

Taeyong took that as his cue to get down on one knee, flustering you to no end.

“Y/N,” he started, “I know what they say about me… you know, that by promising you a happy life with me I’m ‘promising you the moon’,” your smile had only grew when you saw how Byul was silently mouthing the words along with Taeyong, seeming to have it memorized.

“... but I’m not. I didn’t promise you the moon, I was ready to give it to you, and I still am. But if the moon is too much, I’m telling you today that what I can promise you, is my love. My support, my presence, my kisses,” he let out a small giggle.

Taeyong’s gaze was unwavering, filled with all the love he had in him.

“All of it, all my love… you can have it all,” This wasn’t in his script, but he felt like he needed to say it.

If her dad was going out of script, Byul guessed she could too, a firm, “me too!” leaving her.

“So…” Taeyong began, a huff of laughter escaping him as he averted his gaze briefly, “God, I never thought I’d be saying this in my life, like ever. But… what do you say? Will you do us the… the honour of being my wife?”

“And my mom?” Byul added, a proud smile on her face that she hadn’t missed her cue.

You’d acted before you could process, crouching down and letting Taeyong cradle your face in his hands as you nodded, a breathless ‘yes’ leaving you.

His hands on your face were gentle, though he couldn’t bear to take his hands away. It was as if the entire moment felt so unreal to him that he needed some sort of reminder that it was real. And looking at you now, feeling your hands come up to cover his hands, he knew that it was very real.

So he did what he’d been wanting to do for a while now, leaning forward and pressing his lips to yours, the both of you not even being able to kiss each other properly with how much you were smiling, resulting in laughter from the both of you.

And like she always did whenever she watched movies with her Uncle Johnny, Byul had squealed, jumping up and down in excitement before she’d finally calmed down, throwing her arms around you and Taeyong, tapping his shoulder incessantly.

“My turn!!”

Byul had rushed over to you as soon as Taeyong had pulled away, peppering your face with kisses before finally letting herself ‘pass out’ on the floor, the laughter that had left you at the sight making Taeyong sigh.

“She always does that when we watch romance movies.”

After you’d all calmed down, sitting and enjoying the breeze and the last colours of the setting sun, Taeyong had jerked slightly when he realised something, eliciting giggles from Byul.

Pulling a small ring box from his pocket, a sheepish smile on his face, “I got too excited, I almost forgot to take this out.”

Opening the box, he’d revealed a beautiful ring, three interlaced bands of yellow gold, white gold, and pink gold.

“Three rings, one for you, one for daddy and one for me!” Byul explained, making your heart melt even more than it already had.

“Will you do the honours?” Taeyong told Byul, the girl picking up the ring roughly from the box with a grunt, grabbing your hand and sliding the ring onto your index finger.

“That’s the correct finger, right?”

About to correct her, you grasped her head to press a loud kiss on her forehead.

“Any finger you choose is the correct finger,” you insisted, earning a scoff from Taeyong.

“You really pamper her, you know?”

You stuck your tongue out at him, “Can’t help it, she’s too cute.” You pressed another kiss to her cheek, Byul practically beaming now.

“Me, me, you always say I’m cute too,” he stuck his cheek out at you, “kiss me more.”

You grinned.

“If you insist.”

Letting out a satisfied sigh, you nudged Taeyong, “Taeyong.”

“Hmm?”

Your smile was contagious, Taeyong feeling his expression mirror your even before you said anything.

“Guess you can finally bring the good news to your grandma.”

Grinning, Taeyong nodded, leaning over to press a soft kiss to your cheek, his eyes lingering closed just for a few seconds even after pulling away, somehow still feeling as though he were dreaming.

Byul let out a loud sigh, “Can we stay like this for a little longer before we go back?”

You glanced at Taeyong, who had nodded.

“Yeah,” he pressed a kiss to her cheek, “let’s take as long as we want.”

===

“Daddy, you have a white hair!” Byul had gasped, horrified.

“Mommy! Look at daddy’s hair!”

You feigned shock, laughing from where you were in your shared bedroom room, busy painting a little mural on the wall in the space above your headboard.

“Oh no! What should we do?”

Byul shook her head, “We have to cut it all off daddy! So the other white hairs won’t grow,” she explained, Taeyong’s eyes widening at her solution.

“Do you think daddy will look nice with no hair?” you encouraged Byul, making Taeyong’s lips part in shock.

Byul narrowed her eyes as she observed her father carefully, pushing his hair back flat against his head, taeyong sputtering.

“What are you doing, Byul?”

You gave him a look, waving him off, “Leave her be, she’s just… picturing something.”

You set your paintbrush down.

“Taeyong, come here, I wanna know what you think of this.”

Taeyong had suggested cleaning up the mess of newspapers and pieces of drawing paper that they’d used, but Byul had insisted that she still had a little creative juice left in her, wanting to see if she can make an aquarium themed art piece with the deep blue paint water left from her previous play activity.

“Careful where you aim that paintbrush, Byul, or it won’t end up on the canvas,” Taeyong reminded, standing up and dusting his shorts off, making his way over to where you were in yours and Taeyong’s room, on your knees on your bed as you observed the mural from where you knelt.

Feeling the bed dip behind you, Taeyong’s arms wrapped around you from behind. Relaxing into his touch, his hands caressed your waist before moving to your stomach, rubbing your belly with a little giggle.

“Hey, where’s Byul?”

Taeyong nodded in the direction of the living room.

“Living room,” he sighed, relaxing further into you, “she wanted to use the paint water to make something.”

Letting your head rest against his shoulder, you felt his hands move slightly lower.

“I like the stars. Maybe you can add more stars?”

You gestured to the little tattoo on his arm, the north star that he’d gotten years ago.

“Like this one?”

He nodded.

Taeyong seemed distracted, feeling your belly and bringing his hands away from your torso in a circular motion, as if sizing something.

“What are you doing?” You narrowed your eyes at his hands.

“Just… picturing something,” he smiled.

Your eyes widened when you realised what he was doing, swatting at his hand with a gasp.

“You’re crazy.”

Taeyong would never admit that your reaction had only spurred him on, loving the way it was so easy to get a rise out of you. Or maybe, a part of him really was hinting at something.

“I mean…” walking you to the door of Byul’s room, Taeyong called out, “Byul! Do you want a little sister or brother?”

Byul squealed with excitement, loving the idea of having another little friend to take care of and play with.

“How fast can they get here? Can you ask mommy now?” she’d asked, making your eyes widen as Taeyong had simply turned to you with a playful glint to his gaze.

“Yeah, mommy? How fast can they get here?” he teased, making you roll your eyes.

You shook your head.

“There’s no guarantee that it’ll be easy to conceive,” you reminded him.

Taeyong let out a huff of laughter, pressing a kiss to your neck that left your skin feeling as though it were burning, his voice soft and alluring as his lips were barely next to your ear.

“Yeah, but… at least we’ll have fun trying, right?”

You gasped, swatting at his arms, turning around to face him and feeling him pull you so you were pressed against him.

“Fine, fine, I’m kidding…”

You huffed

“Okay, not really kidding but—”

“Do you want to?” your reply had shocked him, not having expected you to go along with it so easily.

“Of course I want to.”

You heard Byul yell from the living room, “Can we deliver it A-S-A-P?”

Taeyong turned to you, the stars in his eyes just as glittery as the first time you’d seen him.

This was it. The feeling you got in his arms, in the way he looked at you; the heaven you were looking for.

Taeyong was grinning now.

“If the princess insists... who are we to refuse?”

#superm au

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