•••

2:10 pm.

"Are you ready?" Hajoon can barely stay still, impatient to leave and go to the appointment as I walked away from Hyejoon after playing with him and the kitten. "I am," I grab my bag and put my jacket on, but Hyejoon leaves Bubble once he notices that I and his brother are leaving. He walks up to us, eating his snack, he peeks up at his father who is standing near me, and sets his eyes on me. "Where are we going?"

Jungkook pays attention to him and takes him in his arms. "Mommy and Hajoon are both going to a tattoo artist to pierce his ears, baby, but we stay here."

His reaction does not seem to express any happiness about it. He pouts and stops eating, and he focuses on me. "Can I go too?" he stretches his arms out to me, so Jungkook gives him to me, and I hold him. His arms encircle my neck right away, and he cuddles his head up in the crook of my neck. "No, you can't go there. This is a place where only grown-ups can be, honey," I answer him.

"But I want to hug you," he does not agree with this, not liking to see me leave. This is actually breaking my heart. "I'll come back quickly and hug you as much as I can, I promise," I press a kiss on his cheek, but he does not let go or move. "What if you don't come back?" some grief pass through his baby voice that is hard to not succumb to.

"I will come back. Why wouldn't I? I keep my promise," I rub his back and do my best to reassure him and get rid of his worries. "But I want to stay with you..."

"Daddy is here to hug you while I'm gone, don't worry,"
I rub his back, but he remains silent. I smile, not knowing what to do in this situation, I look at Jungkook and ask for his help.

"Come on, baby boy," he steps towards us and places his hands on his sides. "She will come back with Hajoon in less than two hours. We can draw something for them while waiting if you want," he tries to convince him to accept this, but he does not move from an inch, so Jungkook comes even closer and leans in to peck his cheek. "She'll be back in a short time, honey. I promise. She lives with us now. Okay, baby?"

He nods, but his pouty lips turn down even more, and he lifts one hand up to his face to rub his eyes, and the sad expression on his face breaks my heart. He is holding back from crying, and I have never seen that in my life, this hurts me so much.

"My baby boy," Jungkook smiles at him and strokes his chubby cheek. "Daddy loves you, you know that. Right?"

"I love you too," his small voice quivers, and he hides his face in the crook of his neck. I am going to cry too. "Are you sure we can't take him with us...?" I cannot handle this, my emotions having the upper hand. "No, don't worry about it," he comes up to me and holds my jawline to kiss my lips. "It's just because he's been spending all his time with you, and he's very attached to you," he smiles, not seeming as affected as I am. "Have fun with Hajoon."

"Okay...Let me kiss him one more time," I stand on my tiptoes, and he leans towards me, holding his baby's head. This cute one looks at me with his teary eyes, and he gives me a kiss on the lips to copy his father's action. "I love you. Make sure to hug daddy a lot," I run my fingers through his hair. "I love you too," he nods but puts his face back where it was as if he did not want us to see him.

I rub his back and step back against my will. "See you," Jungkook holds him tight, and I smile back at him before turning around. "I'd like to not be late, you know..."

"Yes, I'm sorry," I step forward as he opened the door for me, and I go out. "See you later. I love you both," Jungkook makes sure to tell it to us, and we answer with the same words, then Hajoon closes the door.

We both go towards the car, and since he has his driving license and that I do not, Hajoon unlocks the doors and gets inside the car with me.

"Is it the first time you drive?" I ask him, hoping for him to be comfortable with it. "No. I already used his car multiple times, he knows I'm careful."

"Good," I express some relief since I was worried, and he chuckles. "Are you scared?" he puts his seatbelt on as I did, and I do not deny it. "Kinda. I feel way more at ease with your dad."

"He already got into a crash though," he peeks at the reflection in the rearview mirror to leave the driveway. "He did? When? Was it bad?" I cannot help but feel concerned, and he shakes his head. "No, but I was with him when that happened, I was around fourteen. His ex-wife was arguing with him for whatever reason, and he must have been distracted because he was mad, and he didn't see that a car didn't respect the signs but went forth when he turned. Luckily, none of them were fast, so it was a bit painful but nothing important. He was worried sick though."

"I'm not even surprised, I would have been too. I'd have felt so horrible and guilty for putting my child in danger," I understand why this caused him to feel that way, but Hajoon does not seem to remember it as a traumatic event at all. "He cried for a whole week because I had a small injury on my leg, even though it was not even painful."

"You mean the world to him, of course, he's going to be badly affected by it," I tell him what is evident, and he grins. "I know."

I do not say anything more to make sure he focuses on the road and nothing else.

'JUNGKOOK'S P.O.V'

"Why are you crying like that, my baby?" I rub his back, sitting on the sofa with him and remaining in front of a cartoon that he does not even want to watch. No answer comes from him, he sucks on his pacifier and keeps his head on my chest, sniveling but aching my heart.

I do not annoy him but keep quiet, and I comb his hair, brushing them back with my fingers to soothe him. Feeling like doing something in front of him will catch his attention, I stand up with him in my arms, and I head to the furniture where I keep some stuff for him. I get his pencils out and a coloring book, and I go back on the sofa. I open these two items, and before starting, I take a look at the drawings that he left blank. As soon as I stumble upon a bunny holding a heart, with 'Love' written above him, I pick this one and do not look at anything else.

I grab a red pencil and start with the heart, and it only takes a few seconds to grasp his attention and take him away from his sadness. He gazes down at what I am doing, so I do not stop but fill the heart with red. His big eyes remain fixed on the drawing, and I succeed as wanted.

He wipes his tears away and calms down, so I drop a kiss on the crown of his head and keep my skin near his fluffy hair while giving some more color to this drawing that he will give to y/n.

"Do you like this color?" I peek at him, and he nods, so I stop and hand him the pencil. "Can you help me?" I hold it near his hand, and he reaches out for it and takes it between his tiny fingers, so I change my position to sit in a corner of the sofa and put my feet over the cushions, I bend my legs so that he can have a surface to keep the book still, and he sits down on my lower abdomen, facing my legs. I smile at how adorable it is, and I grab a pink pencil to draw with him and focus on the bunny while hugging him.

The meowing of Bubble takes my eyes off of the drawing, and I look on my left but catch her trying to jump on the sofa. I smile but take her with my hand to lift her up and bring her between my body and the back of the sofa on my right. "Here you are, my little baby," I pet her, then I go back to the drawing.

However, she does not agree with this, she comes closer and pushes her face against my hand to ask for some more caresses, so I give it to her, unable to refuse or resist. She instantly shows that she loves it by purring, and she lies down on her back to wrap her paws around my fingers and hug it, and she closes her eyes while I am pampering her with love and attention.

"Why are you so needy like that? Uh?" I pull my hand away and lay it on my stomach to see what she is going to do. Her eyes open right away, and she rolls on her side to run away on the sofa like a crazy kitten but quickly comes back and tries to jump on my arm but fails and ends back on the cushions. I uncontrollably giggle at the sight of this but feel Hyejoon move onto me.

He keeps the book and pencil in his hands but turns around, he puts the book down on my chest and leans forth to draw without ever taking his pacifier out. This type of soft and calm moment makes me realize how lucky I am. I am truly living an amazing life.

•••

6:30 pm.

"Hyejoon, what the— What did you do?" I come back from the bathroom but hurry to walk up to him, noticing something on his face. I squat down to be at his level, but he gazes up at me, not understanding why I am not happy about this.

"What did you put on your lips, honey?" I rub my thumb over them but realize the redness is getting smeared. "I wanted to do like mommy," his last word jolts my heart.

Did he just call y/n mommy for the first time?

"Do like mommy?" I forget the reaction I had a second ago, the softness that this word caused remaining in my chest. "Yes. Red lips," he points his finger on his plump ones. "What did you use?"

He walks away and heads to a small mirror that he put on the floor for sure, and he grabs an item to come back towards me with it. "Mommy said I can use it to have red lips like her," he hands it to me, and I open this lipstick to check the inside, wondering if she really made a mistake and allowed him to use this type of toxic product.

I smell it to check if this is different from usual makeup but notice that the color and shape are not like a normal one. "Do you know why she let you use this one?"

"She said it's okay because it's for babies," he answers me, repeating the words she told him. "Okay," I close it but put it on the table next to us, not giving it back to him before knowing if this is indeed all right for him to wear this.

"And what did daddy ask you to do, bad boy?" I pick him up in my arms and hold him with one, smiling at the fact that he is still in his diaper only and looking adorable. "I don't know."

"You don't know?" I comb his fluffy hair back as he is playing with his fingers in his mouth. "Daddy told you to put your pajamas on."

"Nah," he refuses to acknowledge this and shakes his head, giggling and looking at me. "Yes," I contradict him and give a squeeze to his chubby cheek. "Daddy said so."

He makes some cute noises and denies the truth, so I bring him to the sofa and take hold of his bunny onesie. "Why are you lying? Hm?" I poke his waist, knowing this always makes him laugh, and he twitches in my arms but giggles in one of the most contagious ways, putting a smile on my face. "Do you like to show your belly button?" I tickle his belly, and he squirms on my lap, turning around to hide it against me.

Since he wants to play, I heave him up and give some raspberry kisses to his belly, but his genuine laughter full of amusement echoes through the house, and in short seconds, it gets interrupted by the sound of the front door opening.

I stop and look in that direction, and he does the same pretty quickly. He goes up on his feet and wraps his arms around my neck. "Mommy is back," I whisper and stand up, seeing how happy he is. I head towards the door but already see my son and woman step inside, so I put Hyejoon down, and he runs towards her without waiting.

The smile this brings to her face melts my heart, and she takes him in his arms right away, the delight radiating from his face at the sight of her being here again as promised. "I missed you," she hugs him and presses a kiss on his cheek, and we make eye contact to both smile at each other, then I take a look at Hajoon to check his new piercing.

"So, how did it go?" I ask, knowing that he went shopping with her afterward. He takes his shoes off but keeps his jacket on. "It went well, I bought a bubble tea, and that was the best I've ever drunk," he tells me, but I cannot help being curious. He does not have any bag, nothing. "Didn't you buy anything?"

"No," he shakes his head but smiles, looking strange. He ruffles his messy hair, and he gazes at y/n who is having a conversation with my joyful little boy. What is he hiding from me?

I step closer to him and check his ears. He did do the piercing. "This looks good. I like it."

"You do? It was a bit painful, not gonna lie," he moves towards the fridge without ever taking his jacket off, so I follow him, feeling like something is going on. "Are you cold?"

"No," he takes his favorite drink out and sips on it, but I stand where I am and slide my hands in my pockets. "You're hiding something. I feel it. Did you buy something too expensive?"

"I didn't," he shakes his head and grins, so I look at y/n to get an answer. "What did he do?" I hope for her to tell me the truth, but she shrugs. "I don't know anything," she lies as well. "Hey, I want to know what I happening right now," I focus on my oldest son again, and he peeks at her, before putting his drink down.

He walks back to the front door and takes his denim jacket off, he puts it in the cabinet it has to be in, but once he turns around, my eyes come across something unusual on his forearm. He walks back towards me, and he shows me the inner part of his arm. "I didn't want to tell you, I wanted it to be a surprise."