"Isn't that my hoodie you're wearing right now?" he startles her, and as soon as they make eye contact, she gasps, drops her phone on the table, and runs towards him, and Choco suddenly wakes up to do the same.

She throws her arms around him, and he giggles at her joy, her undeniable delight. "You didn't expect to see me so soon, hm?" he hugs her back, and she does not let go at all. "I didn't. I'm so happy."

He holds her tight and presses a kiss on her head. "I'm not leaving any time soon, so be ready to see me almost every day now," he already talks about the good news, and she darts her eyes up to his. "What? What does that mean?"

"I quit," he does not beat around the bush or give suspense at all. "I can't do this anymore. I hate what this made me go through, so I quit. I'll only start computer engineering in one year to have time to be ready, so I'm staying close."

She glances at me and makes me realize that I have been smiling this whole time. "Is that real? Did you know about this?"

"You know he wouldn't lie to you about this, and yes, I knew," I do not lie about it since I was aware of this, and she hides her face in his chest. "Why didn't you tell me about this?! I was sad for nothing."

"We wanted to surprise you," he tells her but gazes down at her. "Hey," he moves one hand up to her face. "Are you crying? You better not, alright? Don't make me weak so early."

"I missed you and was so worried for you..." she sobs and makes sure he cannot see her, and my heart melts. "I missed you too," he shows some gentleness for her, caring a lot and admitting that he loves her as much as she loves him. "Now I'm gonna annoy you every damn day," he does not forget to joke so that it is not too serious, and she wipes her tears away. "I'm fine with it."

He smiles at her, and both of them break the hug, so he squats down and pampers Choco, who is excited about seeing him, with love.

I am so happy about this, I might not be showing much of my emotions, but I do feel so relieved to see him here and know that he is going to be healthier and happy.

"Are you sure it's what you wanted though? It's not because of me, right?" she makes sure he thought about it thoroughly, and he straightens up to take his coat off. "It's what I wanted. Don't worry about it. I've been thinking about it for a while."

"Okay," she shows peace of mind, expressing a lot of bliss. This makes me feel so good to see her like that. "Have you left your stuff in the car?" I ask him, noticing he has not brought anything, and he takes his shoes off. "Yeah, I'll take everything out later."

"I'm taking care of it, just sit down and stay with her," I move forth to put my shoes on and give him some free time. "I can do it, it's fine."

"It's fine for me too," I smile and open the door to not change my mind, and I head to his Mercedes.

•••

12:30 pm.

The three of us enjoying lunch together, I peek up at Joonha who is sharing his food with Choco and giving him some pieces of sausages. "How is Christmas gonna go, by the way? We haven't talked about it yet," he asks this important question. "I don't know, it depends on you. Would you want mom to be here or we do it separately, and you go to her house the day after Christmas Eve?" I let him decide, but he shrugs. "I don't know either. I wouldn't want to be away from you on that day, so I think it'd be better to celebrate it with mom, either at her house or here. It doesn't matter."

"What about you, y/n?" I do not rule her out since her opinion is important to us too. "Whatever you decide to do, I'm happy with it, so I'm okay with both options."

"Sure?" I insist in case she would not be honest, and she nods. "Yes, as long as we're all together with Choco, I'm happy."

"Alright, then I'll call Inna to know if she has plans or not," I do not go further but eat. "She'll maybe celebrate it at her husband's parents' house like they did last year," he remembers but does not seem disappointed. "Yeah, we'll see," I take a sip of wine and remember about something else. "What about your girlfriend? Do you want to invite her?"

He shakes his head. "She's gonna be with her family, so she won't come, and I don't want to be with them and not here," he does not express any sadness either, making us come first. "Didn't she tell you that she wanted to be with you?"

"She did because we talked about it, but she told me that she won't be able to come here," he explains, with mere details. "Okay then."

"And could I invite Moosaeng...?" she quietly asks as if she was doubtful, and I realize that I forgot about including him. "Oh yeah, I'm so sorry, I didn't think about talking about him, but sure, you can invite him."

"Are you sure? Are you both fine if he and his little girls are here?" she peeks at us, and I nod, but Joonha shows even more enthusiasm about this. "Yeah. I want to see the cute babies and know how they're doing," he smiles, his mind not getting rid of the thought of having a child or sibling. "They're going to be happy to see you. I feel like you stole them from me. I was their favorite before they met you..." she fakes jealousy, but Joonha chuckles. "It's maybe because I'm a man."

"And what does that mean?" she raises her eyebrows and bites into a sausage. "That means I remind them of their father, but I'm taller, so maybe they feel safe with me and love a fatherly figure more, but even if this is not the reason why, then it's just because I'm more fun."

"It's only been two hours, and you're already mean to me," she stares at him while chewing, but he does not break eye contact and smiles. "Do you want me to go back to—"

"No," she does not even let him finish, and some satisfaction exudes from his features. "Then keep quiet," he gives a sausage to Choco, who is not leaving him. "But not too much though," he cutely adds, and I smile. "Don't worry, I won't."

•••

1:50 pm.

"I'm going in the toy section," y/n leaves us to look for more interesting stuff with Choco, so I nod, and Joonha and I stay together to shop for Christmas. I look at the different types of meat but notice Joonha texting someone.

"Is it going better with Iseul?" I hope for a positive answer, and his face expresses some vague emotions. "Yes, I'm going to visit her tomorrow and we'll spend some time together at a park. We haven't fought or argued since the last time we saw each other, so I hope this will continue that way."

"Good. It's okay to fight or argue with your loved one, it happens to every couple, but not too much. I was curious about something though, which could explain the reason why she is immature about certain stuff, has she ever dated anyone before you?" I look at him, and he shakes his head. "I'm her first one. She told me that she never dared to ask someone out because she often gets called ugly or fat by other guys, which completely destroyed her self-esteem. That's why I try to understand her when she is being very possessive or jealous, or when she needs a lot of my attention. I'm being patient because of that, but if she still acts that way in a few months and doesn't work on it or make effort, I think I'm going to have to put an end to it or take a break."

"But how do you feel about it? Do you truly love her?" I lean over and rest my forearms over the handle of the cart. "Yeah. I love her a lot, and I wouldn't want to break up with her because she means a lot to me, but I sometimes feel like she forgets to show me that I'm not the only one in love."

I breathe out heavily and glance away, thinking about what to say. "But I love her so much. She's a sweet person, she's kind to everyone, but she's very naive and lets people use her. She easily gets hurt. She kinda reminds me a lot of y/n, to be honest, unless y/n is more mature and understanding."

"And has she often made you jealous in the past?" I try to get to know more about her now that we have time to talk about this matter. "No, she never did it before."

"Well, take your time and communicate as much as possible so that she learns how a couple works. If you both love each other, both have to work for it to work, not you only, and she needs to know that, otherwise, she'll lose you because you cannot let this harm you," I give my point of view, even though I know he knows how to take care of it. "Yeah, I truly hope this will work out."

"I do too," I speak with honesty, wishing for him to finally find the good one. "How is it going with Moosaeng though? You literally forgot about this poor man earlier," he chuckles and reminds me of what I felt bad for. "Good. I just don't see him that much since y/n visits him when I'm working and that he cannot be home that much because of the girls, but I felt so bad when I heard her ask to invite him because I did not even think about it."

"I noticed that," he laughs at me. "I'm pretty sure you did it on purpose so that you won't see him close to her, I know you, dad," he grins but tells a lie. "That's not true, don't say that," I avoid this matter and step towards the fridges to look for a turkey. "Sure, you're so obvious."

"Obvious about what?" I scoff, not agreeing with this statement, and he stands next to me. "I am pretty sure, a ninety-eight percent sure, that you feel some kind of discomfort inside when you think about him giving her a kiss or hug, or calling her sweetheart like you used to do it before. Even if I don't doubt about the fact that you trust him, you're still not very comfortable with him being so close. You've always been possessive with everything you have or love, so you can't tell me that's not how you feel about them."

My smile does not fade away as the truthfulness left his mouth much more than I wish it did. I pretend to have not heard any of this and look at the turkeys. "Let's get this one," I completely ignore the matter, and he laughs, but I take it out and place it in our cart.

"I knew it, jeez. Why don't you talk about it with her?!" he acts like he knows better, and I walk forward. "This is the type of thing that you have to keep to yourself because you know it's unreasonable. They've always been that close, none of them love each other as more than a daughter or dad, so I'm not going to say anything about it because he's just like a dad to her."

"Then why are you jealous?" he smirks and makes me want to quieten him. "I'm not jealous."

"I can't believe you're the man who taught me not to lie because it's bad," he does not cease stating facts. "Anyway, let's look for her."

"Yeah, liar," he manages to make me smile against my will, but I do not talk about this anymore. I walk away and check every aisle to find y/n, and once I catch sight of her, I head towards her. Since she has her back turned to us and that Choco is paying attention to the toys on the shelf, I get right behind her and give a squeeze to her waist, and she jumps against my body, getting me to smile. "Hey, don't do that!"

"I'm sorry," I press a kiss on her ear and look down at what she is holding. "What are you doing?"

"I'm trying to get him a new toy, but I don't know which one to take," she hesitates, and Joonha comes closer to help, but I receive a text, so I get my phone out and check who it is.

Inna.

< Hey, I'm doing fine, how about you? No, unfortunately, I won't be home because Dohwan and I will celebrate Christmas Eve with his family, but we'll definitely come and visit you the day after ]

[ I'm doing fine too. It's fine, don't worry. I'm just getting everything ready. Alright then, hope you'll have a good time there >

< Thank you, hope you will too ]

I put my phone back in my pocket and look up at Joonha. "Your mom won't be here for Christmas Eve, she'll visit us the day after," I warn him. "Oh, okay. What about Moosaeng though?" he gazes at her. "He told me he'll be there. He was happy about it because if I didn't ask, he would have been alone with the girls."

"That's sad as fuck," he raises his eyebrows. "We should invite him for the New Year too," he suggests to do and sets his eyes on me, but I do not react the way he wants me to. I feel some pity for this man. "Yes. We'll invite him. I told him he can come whenever he wants already."

"I'll buy some gifts for them, they deserve it," he already plans on spending money on the daughters, and I feel proud of him for being such a good and considerate person.

•••

3:40 pm.

I sit down on a bench while Joonha is playing with Choco in the snow, and y/n joins me, the four of us enjoying some time together at a park. I smile at how much Choco seems to have a good time, and I peek at my favorite woman, who is by my side. "Tell me if you're too cold, okay?" I reach out for her hand and intertwine our fingers, and she nods but looks into my eyes. "I don't want to go back home right away, so I'll stand it as much as I can."

"I'll cuddle you, no need to worry about that," I smile and see her lips form the same shape. "Oh, then I'm suddenly very cold."

"What a coincidence," I fall for her cuteness and pull her closer, and I wrap one arm around her to rub her side and feel her snuggle up against me to hug. "Do you think it's really going to make him happy?" she asks in a soft voice, and I drift my hand up to her hair. "About what?"

"The surprise," she tells me, and I smile, instantly. "Of course, it will. You'll probably see him cry from happiness for the first time. He'll cry like I did, he won't be able to control his emotions either," I comb her hair, delicately, eager to see his reaction. "He has no idea, right?"

"How could he? He barely saw you these last two months, and none of us said anything to anyone, so he doesn't know," I gaze down at her to put her hair properly. She does not say anything anymore but embraces me, and I drop a kiss on her forehead, feeling incredibly eager, overwhelmed with many emotions. From day one, since I got to know about this, I feel more sensitive, more emotional, and even more protective of her.

"I love you," she closes her eyes, and my lips curve up. "I love you too," I hold her jawline and stroke her cheek, but she quietly laughs. "Your heart's beating faster," she raises her eyes up to gaze into mine, and I realize it is, indeed, beating much faster. "That's because of you."

"Well, I'm sorry, but I don't feel bad," she giggles, and I cannot help but do so.

I am so lucky to have them both. They make me feel loved, happy, and worth it. Meeting her has changed our life, she brought so much joy to both of us, she offered us what we did not even know we needed, and I feel so grateful. I cannot wait to meet the new member of our family, share this wonderful experience with her, and raise our child, finally.

The end.