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I stopped shrinking myself to fit the people I've outgrown.
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Dec 1, 2026
Amy's POV

MinJun and I were ready to go to school and work respectively, and although I slept very late last night, or more like early this morning, I didn't feel an ounce of fatigue or tiredness. Deciding to check on Taehyung before we left, I peeped through the half-open door and saw that he was sleeping like a baby, as always hugging a pillow tight and his mouth slightly parted, his fluffy hair all over his forehead.

He must have slept late too since it is a new place.

Not wanting to disturb his sleep, I softly closed the door to his room and left him his breakfast and lunch on the dining table along with a spare set of house keys. Out of habit, I also left him a note next to his phone.

Not a love-note, but just a note about the food.

We locked the house and left. It was a chilly day, and as always I dropped MinJun at school before heading to work. I was eager to talk to Jay and tell her about everything that happened yesterday, the actual feeling of Taehyung having barreled his way back into my life yet to fully sink into my mind.

As soon as I got to work, I was informed of all the meetings lined up for the day. Sighing, I texted Jay to let her know that I wanted to talk to her about something that finally happened in my uneventful life.

Me:
Jay... I have something really important to tell you

Me:
Right now busy at work.

Me:
Will call you at lunch

Putting aside my phone on vibration, I went about my work. A couple of meetings later, I checked my scheduler and saw that there was just one more holiday scheduling meeting that was pending, and it was post-lunch. So, I headed to the cafeteria to have lunch and talk to Jay at the same time.

I checked my phone after almost three hours and noticed that there were two texts and a missed call from Taehyung and a text from Jay.

I opened Taehyung's chat first.

Tae:
Amy... I woke up and had breakfast just now 😁
Sent at 11 am

Tae:
Shall I pick up MinJun from school today?
Sent at 11:10 am

Me:
You can't.

Me:
As per the school records, Jay and I are the only authorized persons to pick him up from school.

Me:
Sorry

I closed the chat and called Jay, and she answered the call immediately.

"Jay," my voice was unusually enthusiastic.

"Amy, sorry I sound horrible. I'm feeling sick," she coughed, her voice was hoarse.

"Ah, my... Is it the baby? Or is it something you ate?" I asked her worriedly.

"The baby, I guess..." she said weakly, clearing her throat to get rid of the hoarseness.

A breath of relief left my lungs.
"Then you'll be fine, babe. Can we talk now?" I asked, and Jay hummed in response.

"Yeah, babe... what's this important thing you wanted to talk about?" She asked curiously, her voice suddenly sounding a lot better.

"It's about Taehyung," I lowered my voice.

"Huh?" She huffed nonchalantly.

"He came to the hospital yesterday," I said, and Jay coughed a few times.

"Huh? Was he sick or something?" She asked, sounding more alert this time.

"No... he came to meet me. He apologized," I let out in a meek voice, preparing myself to be bashed by Jay for what I had to tell her next.

"HE WHAT...?? What brought him to his senses after all these years?" She scoffed in a much louder tone.

"He got a DNA re-profiling done on his own. The results were a 100% match to MinJun. So he believes now," I said calmly, feeling as if I had crossed half the distance of the daunting marathon of explaining my stand to my best friend.

"Wahhh! What an asshole!" She sulked and complained, cursing lowly under her breath which didn't go unnoticed by me.

"He moved in with us yesterday," I informed her, squeezing my eyes shut in anticipation of the cuss words that might follow.

"Ehh? Excuse me?" She coughed and choked.

Luckily, she didn't curse, and my eyes opened.
"Yeah, Jay... he is with us now" I said, sounding more calm.

"Babe..." Jay sighed in defeat and disappointment. "Did you forgive him just like that? I can't believe this. I really thought you wouldn't do it," she sulked, and I was happy that she wasn't at least scolding me for doing this since she was the only person who knew everything that I had been through and stuck by my side like glue at all times—right from the horrible mess that I was when we broke up with a baby inside me, and the terrible postpartum depression that I went through, to all my days and nights of endless crying and so much misery and heartbreak—Jay was with me through all of it, and if she didn't approve of my decision now, I wouldn't hesitate to even rethink my decision.

However, I tried to explain the reasons for my action, which she already knew, of course.
"Jay, I love him. I have always loved him even when he hurt me, and I missed him so bad. But that is not why I let him stay with us. More than me, MinJun deserves to grow up with his father. I really don't want him to miss out when his father is right here. I know how hard it is not to have your parents around when they're actually around and alive. I did this only for MinJun. And I want Taehyung to truly see what he has been missing all these years..." I sighed. "Of course, the moment I saw him, my heart melted, and I really couldn't think otherwise," my voice dropped.

There was a long pause, the silence of which was deafening and scary, after which she spoke more calmly.
"Babe, I totally get it. I know how much you love Taehyung and MinJun, and I can understand why you decided to do this," Jay said, and I literally felt as if my parents had approved of my boyfriend.

She means so much more to me than my own parents.

I was smiling amidst the tears that were rising quickly inside my eyes.
"Jay, thank you so much for understanding. And his words seem genuine. I trust him, unlike he who didn't trust me, and I really don't think he will leave us again. He regrets his actions. I think he deserves a chance." I said what was on my mind.

Jay hummed.
"If he has realized his mistakes, then he deserves a chance. Be wary. Observe him. But don't be too cold to him, okay? Relax and just go with the flow," she shared her wise words of wisdom.

She has always been the wiser one.

"I will, Jay. Tae and MinJun played for a long time last evening, and they were so happy and cute together. Seeing them together for the first time really melted my heart..." my eyes shed happy tears as I spoke.

There had been so many painful moments in the past where I had seen simple things like a father-child duo bonding over a ball game or bicycling at the park, and ended up shedding bitter tears that stemmed from feeling extremely sad and sorry for my son who was growing up without a father.

Jay's voice cracked.
"Amy, darling...you deserve to be happy, honey. I really hope better days are here for you and MinJun. You've been through so many hard years all by yourself. I genuinely hope you both will walk together from now on," she sniffed and coughed.

"I hope so too, Jay. I missed Taehyung so much, and no one knows except you..." I let my head drop as my tears dripped down.

"I know, babe, I know..." she agreed, sniffling.

I told her about the meeting with Jimin and how Taehyung and MinJun had already met a few times before he knew the truth, and she was surprised and happy to hear it all. We spoke for a bit more, and I ended the call to find a text from Taehyung.

Tae:
☹😭

Tae:
Can I make a snack for MinJun? What does he like to eat?

Smiling at his cuteness, I typed out a reply.

Me:
Make what you know. He is not too picky

Me:
He likes hot chocolate and nurungji though :)

Tae:
Is he my clone?

Tae:
I love you Amy

Me:
I gotta go. There's a meeting now

Me:
We will be back home at 3:30

Dec 18, 2026

More than two weeks had passed since Taehyung moved in with us, and we have all adjusted quite well.

I bought Christmas gifts for Tae and MinJun and a gift for Tae's birthday—a limited edition vanilla and musk fragrance GUCCI perfume for Taehyung's birthday, a slime play set for MinJun and a knit shawl for Tae for Christmas. All the presents were neatly wrapped and tucked away inside my clothes shelf.

There was a lot of family bonding happening at home. MinJun and Taehyung got along really well, and they played for long hours without a break. MinJun was truly enjoying Taehyung's company a lot.

Every Sunday, Taehyung took MinJun out for a long drive. It was their private time which I never interfered with since I got my much deserved 'me-time' when they went out. They drove out, relaxed, played and did some shopping and returned home.

Taehyung always had a fun story to narrate to MinJun during his mealtime, or some silly trick up his sleeve that would make our son look at him as if he was some kind of a magician. It was surprising that MinJun never questioned anything about Taehyung staying with us.

Did Tae hypnotize our son?

To MinJun, mom was all about snuggles, cuddles, bedtime books, yummy food, kisses, comfort and dropping and picking him up from school.

Taehyung ahjussi was all about play, endless talking and singing, senseless stories which made perfect sense to him, long drives, yummy snacks, limitless shopping and more cuddles and kisses.

Taehyung was indeed making up for all the lost years, and I was falling deeper for this man with each passing day. But somehow, I still couldn't bring myself to become one with him.

Taehyung's POV

Almost three weeks passed by in a flash, and I realized over and again that they were my home—Amy and junior.

Today, Amy had gone to work and MinJun had gone to school as usual, and I was alone at home, bored to hell.

Amy had eased a bit since we patched up, but she still wasn't very comfortable around me. I still felt like an outsider at times, and there was some kind of tension that always prevailed between the two of us. I really had to win her back. I really had to address the elephant in the room.

I spent hours together pondering over this, and I knew that no matter how much I explained myself and apologized to her, I would still never be able to win her heart. A true apology had to be in actions and not just in words. The only way to do it was to prove that the old report was indeed manipulated.

But how will I prove that someone messed with it? I sure have the correct report now. But what happened in the past is what is holding us back now, or rather holding back Amy.

I didn't have to think much to decide on who to call to discuss the situation and the possible ways to find out who did it and why they did it; I called my safe place—Jimin.

"Jiminie, we really need to find out who messed with the old report. How do we go about it? Where to start?" I asked anxiously, not even waiting for him to greet me over the call.

"We will do it, Taehyung. Maybe we can start by finding out who all were working there at that time?" He suggested an idea that sounded brilliant.

But I was confused.
"How do we find that out?" I raised my eyebrows in doubt.

"I'll call JiWon right away. She might know how," Jimin said, and I agreed without any hesitation.

"December 3, 2020, right?" He asked, and I confirmed the date.

"I'll talk to her and call you back," he stated confidently.

"Please do," I responded, and we ended the call.

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Only seven more chapters to go!!
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But I'm actually sad that we're nearing the end of the book.
😭😭😭