"Kyungmin-ah, hurry up or we'll be late!"

"Yah, give me back my blanket!" I whined with half-lidded eyes. "Why are you even inside my room?"

"Your mom let me in," he simply said, continuously shaking me on the sides. "Come on, we have ten minutes before classes start."

Begrudgingly, I sat up straight, letting my feet dangle on the side of my bed. I adjusted my vision, taking in my surroundings.

"Taetae, can we skip school?" I frowned.

I heard Taehyung chuckle, and then, he crouched down in front of me. As he did, I wondered why he even bothered himself with me every morning. He could have had straight perfect attendance if it weren't for me causing him to be late at least once a week.

"Okay..." I spoke up again, my voice still a bit groggy. "How about you go first so you don't get late? I'll be sure to come by second period."

He laughed, slowly pushing my hair away from my face, and smoothing on the sides where the strands practically stuck out in different directions.

"I promise!" I assured him, raising my right hand.

"Nah," he disagreed and thumbed on the side of my mouth, making me instinctively stop him from wiping the dry drool on my face.

"Taehyung, that's gross." I playfully pushed his hand away.

He patted my head and stood up. "Now be nice to me and don't make me even more late."

"That I can't promise you," I snickered. "Seriously, just leave first. I won't—"

"No," he said with an air of finality. "Just hurry up. I'm not leaving you."

Taehyung pulled me up, then pushed me to my bathroom with force but also gentleness.

"Are you sure you don't want to go first?" I peeped outside the door, waiting for his answer.

"Aish. Stop buying time." He flicked me on the forehead and instead of complaining, a giggle escaped from my lips.

"Thanks Taetae," I mumbled before closing the bathroom door.

~*~

"I knew it!" exclaimed Nari and snapped her fingers, confidently pondering on her thoughts.

"Knew what?" Minji questioned.

"When I saw Kyungmin and Taehyung down at the lobby with those eyes of familiarity, I knew something was up," Nari mused, and I watched her get all giddy at whatever she had in mind at the moment.

"Oh you can never deceive me with those looks. I always see that on anime and movies," Nari went on with a silly grin on her face.

"Aren't you too old for your cartoons and those comic books?" Minji pointed out.

"Yah! Don't insult my babies!" Nari defended. "Besides, one can never be too old for anime, duh."

I let out a soft chuckle, shaking my head a little. To say that my morning had gone the usual way it did, would be a lie. In fact, it was nowhere near it. I didn't know how people had acquired the news, but it sure did spread fast.

Upon entering the office, Taehyung and I were greeted with enthusiastic cheers and a congratulatory banner. Some of my workmates even gave me presents, and I honestly just stood there, not knowing what to say.

"Why didn't you tell us you're childhood friends?" asked Minji.

"It's a long story. We haven't really been together for a long time," I explained and continued to type the details Minji needed for the file she had handed me.

While Minji was waiting by my cubicle for work related matters, Nari was just here to interrogate me.

"Oh, but does that mean Aeri is going to have a sibling? I hope it's a boy!"

I felt my cheeks flush. "Yah, be quiet!"

"What? Married people make babies," asserted Nari, and the she gasped. "Did you two already—"

Minji blocked Nari's mouth just in time and she shot me an 'I got this child, don't worry' expression. I thankfully smiled at her, while Nari removed Minji's hand and scrunched up her nose.

I might have appeared so calm on the outside, but in my head, Taehyung's teasing question from days ago popped into my head again.

No, don't even think about it, Kyungmin.

"Here's your file!" I cheered, taking the paper out of the printer and placed it inside Minji's folder, before handing it to her.

"Thanks. I'll deal with this one. See you later, Kyungmin-ssi!" Minji sing sang while she dragged Nari with her as they made their way back to their work post.

After the two had left, I felt the usual atmosphere inside the office back, thankfully. At least I didn't have to worry about any adjustment with work.

At 12noon, just as my shift had ended, a knock against my cubicle caught my attention. I snapped my head to the side and saw Taehyung, a hand resting on the divider, the other inside his pocket.

"Yes? Do you need anything?" I thoughtfully asked.

"I'm here to pick you up, so we could go home together." He flashed me his usual rectangular smile.

I narrowed my eyes a bit at him and asked, "Isn't it supposed to be at six?"

While I had alternate schedules: 7am-12pm on MWFs and 1pm-6pm on TThs, Taehyung had the whole weekdays from 7am-6pm, and morning schedule during Saturdays.

Today was Monday.

"I finished half of today's work and it isn't a busy day anyway." He shrugged.

"Oh." I turned back to my desk with a small smile. "So the new boss is using his power to skip?"

It didn't take long until the monitor went black, and I piled up the folders on the side of the desk.

"We're going to do something important," reasoned Taehyung.

"What? Go home?" I chuckled.

"You'll know. Just hurry." His tone hinted of impatience, and it piqued up my curiosity.

"Okay, okay." I stuffed my things inside my bag and stood up, smoothing my skirt. "Why the rush?"

After slinging my bag on my shoulder, Taehyung immediately took my hand and not a minute later, we were out of the office. All the while, Taehyung had a large grin on his face.

~*~

We arrived at Taehyung's apartment, and the first thing I noticed was the bundle of small boxes and some paper bags on the couch in the living room.

"What's this?" I questioned, and Taehyung walked past me, starting to open the boxes, pleased.

"I looked online for baby stuff—and don't even complain!" He raised his hand in the air, beating me to it. "I just couldn't help it but imagine little Aeri in those cute outfits."

Although it disappointed me that despite my multiple protests, Taehyung still did this, a bubbly feeling surged inside me.

"I'm letting you go this time, Taehyung."

"You're grinning from ear to ear, of course you are." He snorted.

Heh. Okay.

"Look! Mommy's here!" Somi-ajumma's voice echoed through the living room as she appeared with Aeri on her arms.

I reached my arms out, ready to carry Aeri when Taehyung blocked me and I retracted my arms away. He carried Aeri and lifted her up and down in the air, to which Aeri seemed to like by the way she let out small coos.

These two really got along so swimmingly.

"Go choose what you think would fit Aeri, maybe the best five," said Taehyung, still busy with Aeri.

"What for?" I titled my head to the side, scratching the tip of my nose. Sheesh, this guy hadn't told me anything since earlier, but only kept rushing me with everything.

I raised my brows at him when he turned to me, waiting expectantly for a concrete answer. His lips broke into a smile, making his eyes squint.

"We're going to have our family pictures taken."