You woke up a while later, not being able to remember much but a hazy encounter with your ex and the voice of the doctor muffled by the loud ambulance's siren that was still ringing in your ears the moment you opened your eyes again.

Your room was empty, and the only other sounds in it were your breathing and the beeping of an EKG monitor you were apparently connected to. There was a dull pain in your abdomen that turned sharp when you tried to move, making you slightly grimace, but other than that, nothing felt out of place.

The fog in your brain was quick to dissipate, though, and soon, panic began taking over you. Your eyes searched around the room briefly for any familiarity, which you were unable to find. It was just a hospital room.

You continued looking around until you saw your target: the remote control that would summon a nurse, you hoped.

It was just within your reach on a nightstand next to the hospital bed, and you had to stretch your arm to get to it, which amplified the pain in your abdomen. Still, you were successful, and found the button you needed to press, and soon enough, a nurse came with haste.

"Good afternoon!" She chirped. She had too much energy, and – wait, did she say afternoon?

That's weird. You thought. The last thing you remembered was the clock indicating 8PM.

Has another day already passed?

"How are you feeling?"

"I'm..." You started but found it hard to keep going for some reason, and your hand instinctively reached towards your stomach, and once again, nothing felt out of place. It didn't seem any deflated.

Maybe you've dreamed of your water breaking, and you just passed out due to the shock of having your ex abuse you once again.

"Oh, don't worry, dear. Your baby girl is healthy, even if she came a bit early!" The nurse approached you and patted your shoulder, and you looked at her with a stunned expression, your lips in a thin line.

"I'm sorry, but... what?" Was all you could muster.

"She's still in the NICU, but don't you worry. She's with her father. I'll go and call him over, and the doctor." The nurse smiled again, but her words didn't relax you one bit.

They had the opposite effect, and as you watched her get out of your room, your heart rate spiked.

Is Dan here? You wondered, and you immediately clenched your fists, your breathing becoming ragged as your insides were filled with anxiety, and you felt yourself on the verge of throwing up. You closed your eyes shut and wished you could disappear temporarily, just until Dan would leave.

He found you, and now he's out to get you and your baby girl, and you'll never escape him, and in a few moments, he's going to walk through that door and-

"Dal-Rae?" You heard a comforting voice instead, and opening your eyes, you were met with the softest brown eyes and with a pair of brows slightly furrowed in concern.

"Minho..."

The moment you said his name, he practically ran the short way from the door to your bed, immediately coming next to you and grabbing your hands.

"How are you? Are you okay? Does anything hurt?"

You shook your head, but your eyes wouldn't listen to you, and tears started falling down your cheeks uncontrolled.

"I'm okay... but... how is my baby, Minho?"

"She's... it's a baby girl just as you thought. Dal-Rae, and she's perfect." Minho smiled kindly, grabbing her hand and squeezing tight.

"Really?" You smiled weakly.

"She's the most beautiful girl. You won't be able to take your eyes off her once you see her."

"Is she healthy?"

"Mhm. She is. She's good to go home next week. And I think that so are you." He smiled again reassuringly. "The doctor should come any minute now and confirm."

And it was as Minho has said. You had enough time to exchange two more words, and the doctor came into the room to check on your condition. Despite the difficult birth, as you needed to have an emergency C-section, and despite losing a lot of blood, you were recovering well.

When the doctor finally left you and Minho alone, you summoned up your courage to ask the question that's been bothering you.

"What happened to Dan?"

"Well... the police came and took him to the station, Changbin gave a statement... Dan asked us to settle for a sum of money, but I... I'm sorry, Dal-Rae, he hit you. Again. I couldn't... I couldn't let it go, so I decided to press charges and sue him."

"Oh." You let his words sink in for a few moments, while Minho observed you carefully. "Will he... go to prison?"

"I hope so. He's been detained for now, and my lawyer said he's optimistic about putting this guy away for a good few years since it's not the first time he's laid his hands on you. You might have to give out a statement in court, though..."

"I... I took pictures every time he would hit me..." You choked out, and Minho's eyes grew large.

"That would be really helpful, Dal-Rae! But... let's not think about that right now. You should just focus on your baby and on getting better." He smiled reassuringly and squeezed your hand again.

"Okay..." You nodded.

"So, should we go see her?" Minho smiled kindly, his eyes only growing softer every time he would blink.

You nodded and stood up with Minho's help. Even though walking felt weird and slightly painful, you pushed through after your doctor's recommendations and walked with Minho to see your baby in the NICU.

She was indeed the most beautiful thing you've ever laid your eyes on, and you couldn't believe you were the one who created it. The nurse also accompanied you and told you everything you needed to know about her and guided you in the room to let you hold her.

"Have you held her already?" You asked Minho as the nurse placed her steadily in your arms, and Minho nodded calmly, his expression turning slightly worried.

"Mhm. I did. I'm sorry, I-"

"Why are you apologising, Minho?" You cut him off with a slight chuckle. "I can only be grateful to you. Thank you so much for everything. I mean it wholeheartedly when I say that I couldn't have done any of it without you."

"What?" Minho chuckled back. "Dal-Rae, you're not giving yourself enough credit. You could've done it all without me. Look at you, you left that horrible situation you were in when you were the most vulnerable and you gave birth to her, all on your own. You did it."

"I really, really love you." You confessed once again in a whisper, your eyes swelling up with tears as you looked at the man who's been supporting you through all your hardships for the past few months. Then, you averted your gaze and looked at your baby girl, holding onto her tight, and smiling as tears stained your now bright red cheeks.

Minho moved in front of you and his thumbs gently grazed your face, wiping the tears away.

"I love you too. Both of you." He then hugged you, making sure to not accidentally squish Amelia in the process.

"We are so, so lucky to have you." You smiled sincerely as Minho drew back and looked at Amelia as well, his eyes so full of love, you couldn't believe it.

"We still need to register the birth, but I wanted to wait until you woke up..." Minho spoke, his voice drifting off towards the end of the sentence.

"Okay..."

"Do you... uhm..." Minho hesitated. "Do you still want me to be on the birth certificate?"

"Minho, what kind of question is that?" You frowned. "There's no one else I'd ever want to be her father."

"Dal-Rae..." He looked at you, his eyes now being completely engulfed by tears. "Thank you for giving me a chance to raise her next to you."

"You're crazy." You mumbled to yourself and shook your head. "I'm the one who should be thanking you, Minho."

"I-"

"Oh my God, she opened her eyes! Hi, baby." You exclaimed softly, not wanting to startle her, smiling at your baby.

"Look, she's smiling back." Minho joined.

"That's a reflex smile, actually." You chuckled.

"What's that?"

"Well, she's too young to actually be smiling. We can expect a real smile from her in a couple months, but this feels good enough honestly." You clarified and brought your face closer to Amelia, putting your cheek against her.

"You two are so damn cute. Almost as cute as my cats!"

"Minho..." You chuckled and shook your head again, this time in disbelief.

"What? Sorry, my three babies were here first." He shrugged and then chuckled as well.

"Speaking of, do you think they'll accept her? I'm a bit worried."

"They surely will, don't worry. Oh, let's sit down, you must be tired from the surgery."

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea."

You continued talking to Minho and admiring Amelia, and a while later, the nurse came back to the room to check on her and to introduce you to the wonders of breastfeeding.

~

It took you and Amelia about a week and a half to get used to one another, and by the time that happened, both of you were ready to go home.

During the days you were at the hospital, Minho would of course come and visit you and bring you some home cooked meals, but he's also worked hard to surprise you by decorating and setting up the baby's room.

"Oh, wow." You exclaimed as soon as he brought you to the room. "This is so beautiful! Oh my God, those flowers painted on the walls are so cute!"

"I'm sorry, the room is still not ready for her to sleep in, but we have a co-sleeping bed in my bedroom anyway, so..." Minho pouted.

"Not ready? But this looks amazing already. What else could we possibly do in this room?" You asked confused.

"Well, I was meaning to surprise you by painting the nursery, but since Amelia came a bit earlier than expected... I had to do it all in a rush... there wasn't enough time to air it properly and the instructions say that you should wait about 2-3 days before all the fumes have dissipated. I painted it four days ago, but I think it'd be safer to wait another 3 at least, just for good measure." He explained.

"Oh, okay. You did a great job, by the way! I'm impressed!"

"What, did you think I'd do a bad job?" He chuckled. "Just kidding. I actually haven't done it all by myself."

"Oh?"

"Yeah... Chris dropped by and helped with pretty much everything, Changbin as well. He painted most of the walls. Oh, and Hyunjin painted those flowers..."

"Really?" Your eyes swelled up with tears. "That's so sweet of them..."

Minho smiled and hugged you tightly.

"Until I'm certain this room is safe enough for our baby to sleep in, let's just use the co-sleeping bed, yeah?"

"Okay. Then, let's go get Amelia from downstairs and see if the cats like her..."

This was the part you've been the most nervous about. The cats were sweethearts, but still, animals could be unpredictable. What if they'd hate Amelia and randomly attack her?

You didn't voice any of these thoughts to Minho, but were on edge the whole time watching him bring the baby carrier upstairs.

As soon as he came through the door, the cats circled him as he put the carrier down and spoke softly to them, introducing them to your baby.

You watched in awe how the cats immediately seemed to accept Amelia, sniffing her and purring loudly, and all of your concerns melted away.

~

Life with a newborn was tough, especially with you still recovering from your C-section, but Minho made it all so much easier.

In the first weeks, he decided to open the restaurant for shorter periods of time, since obviously, you weren't able to help him, and he also didn't want to leave all the childcare to you. He wanted to be an involved parent and give you breaks as often as possible.

The first person you were comfortable with seeing the baby after you got used to being back home was Jisung.

He came to visit and was more than excited to meet Amelia, hold her, and take on the role of Godfather you've promised him before the birth. Since he was away to Uni during the week, he couldn't come as often as he'd like, but still, he made the effort to come visit every Sunday and spend a few hours with you, Minho and Amelia, telling you all about his adventures as a new student, complaining about his professors and getting increasingly shy about one of his classmates he had a big crush on.

You were truly grateful for Jisung, for whenever he'd come, it was like a breath of fresh air. He would come with his guitar and sing for Amelia to quiet her down when she'd get fussy, and he'd make everyone laugh with his carefree attitude, which you knew by now that it was a simple façade, as he was funnily anxious about the smallest things.

~

Three months after the birth, Minho came to the nursery somewhat worried.

"What's wrong?" You asked, immediately growing concerned.

"Nothing's wrong, but... uhm... Olivia and Chris are here, and they'd like to see you. Should I tell them it's a bad time?" Minho fidgeted.

You weren't sure what this was about, but you still haven't gotten the chance to talk to Chris and thank him for helping Minho with the nursery.

"It's not a bad time, don't worry. Should I come downstairs, or do they also want to see the baby?" You smiled sweetly, and Minho's face grew relaxed.

"I'll send them up."

You nodded and waited, and although you were expecting to see both Chris and Olivia, you were surprised to only see her.

"Hello, Olivia. It's good to see you." You smiled and spoke quietly, as Amelia was sleeping in her crib right next to your chair and you didn't want to risk waking her up. "Don't just stay there. Come in."

"Hi, Dal-Rae..." She hesitated a bit, but ultimately came into the room and swooned over your baby. "She's so cute, she looks just like you!"

"Thank you. She really is adorable." You smiled, watching your daughter with content.

"Listen..." Olivia took in a big breath, but before she could continue, you invited her to sit down.

She accepted the invitation and sat down in a chair in front of you, next to the crib, and looked at Amelia some more. She didn't seem too relaxed, in fact, her nerves were eating away at her, and you wondered what this could be about.

After a little while, she spoke.

"I just wanted to apologise for how I've treated you. It wasn't fair of me to be so cold towards you when you've been nothing but friendly." She looked at you, and the pain in her eyes told you she was sincere.

"It's okay." You smiled and nodded softly.

"No, it's really not. I'm extremely sorry about everything. I don't want to make up excuses for my behaviour, but... I just wanted to look out for Minho. I know how hurt he's been before and how long it took him to get back on track, and... I ended up hurting you in the process. I'm really sorry." She continued apologising, and her words were genuine, laced with pain.

You felt she still had something to say, so you let her keep going.

"But now, seeing how happy Minho is, and how excited he is to speak about you and Amelia, I just... I realised I've been wrong about you. You don't have to forgive me, but... if you could, I'd really, really love it for us to become friends and hang out in the future, and get our kids to play together."

As she's said this, she instinctively placed her right hand on her stomach, rubbing it softly.

"Oh, my!" Your eyes widened. "Are you pregnant?"

"I am..." She smiled. "Chris doesn't know about it yet. In fact, you're the first person I'm telling..."

"That's amazing, Olivia! Congratulations!" You leaned over and hugged her, and to your surprise, she started crying.

"I'm so, so sorry, Dal-Rae. Really!" She apologised again and hugged you back, and although you haven't spoken much until now, you could tell she was a great person who just happened to have a leap of judgement about you.

"I would love it if our kids grew up together. I'm sure Minho would be so happy about that, too. I forgive you, so stop apologising already." You chuckled and drew back, grabbing her hands.

"Thank you." Olivia smiled sweetly. "Thank you so much."

You two continued talking as she asked you about a million questions about Amelia. You figured out that this was just who she was, an extremely curious person who would stop at nothing when it came to personal information.

When an hour had passed and you were still talking, you realised that maybe you could really find a friend in Olivia, should you spend more time together from now on. You were willing to give this friendship a chance.

Sometime later, Chris also came into the room, moment when Olivia got up and left, claiming she still has to eat one of Minho's recipes before they're going home.

You and Chris were now alone in the room, which felt awkward and tense at first, but as he sat down and started speaking, you relaxed in your chair and decided to also give him a chance. He didn't spend too much time apologising compared to his wife, but still did it as well.

"It's fine, Chris," you chuckled, "I've already spoken to Olivia about this."

"I needed to apologise as well, to get a weight off my chest." He explained with a soft smile.

"By the way, I really wanted to thank you for helping Minho out with this room. He couldn't have done it without you. You're a good friend." You smiled back.

"I would do it anytime in a heartbeat. Minho is my best friend, but don't tell the others I said that." He placed his index finger against his lips, to indicate a secret, which made you laugh.

"Your secret is safe with me." You whispered and winked.

"So... speaking of Minho. A few months ago, I told him about a possible accountant job for you, I'm not sure if he's told you anything about it."

"Oh, yeah. He did, actually. However... I don't think I'm ready to start working yet." You confessed, all those feelings of burdening Minho long behind you, after he's reassured you a million times that you're not taking advantage of him.

"Yeah, I didn't think you'd be ready so soon. I assume the apartment is out of the question?"

"Yeah, it is." You smiled.

"I think you are great for Minho, Dal-Rae. I'm sorry I insinuated you should move out. And about the job, it's at one of my friend's company, and he owes me a favour, so, whenever you're ready, be it in a year or two when Amelia starts going to kindergarten, that's a secure position waiting for you. It's a remote job, so you can also help Minho out with the restaurant."

"That sounds great. Thank you for looking out for me, Chris." You smiled, understanding the meaning behind his words. He didn't want to chase you away from Minho anymore. Instead, he was thinking of more ways to help you two, which you were truly grateful for.

"I'm sorry we took so long to come and visit..." Chris rubbed his nape. "But with everything going on, I figured you needed some more time to adjust. Besides, you've also been quite busy with going to court, haven't you?"

"Yeah..."

"Changbin and Minho told me all about it. How are you feeling, though? I'm sure it must've been hard to confront your ex."

"It was, but... I'm glad he's away and won't be able to hurt me again." You smiled, glad that everything was finally over between you and Dan. He would be away in prison for a few years, so you decided not to worry about him anymore. You were ready to leave that life behind.

"I'm also glad." Chris patted your shoulders a few times, then stood up. "Thanks for seeing us, Dal-Rae, and I'll see you and Minho at dinner next week? What do you think?"

"Sure, sounds great." You stood up as well and to your surprise, he took you into a tight hug.

~

Chris and Olivia left sometime later, and when Minho closed up the restaurant, he came directly upstairs to talk to you.

"Hey, long day? Do you need any help with the dishes?" You asked, standing up and hugging him.

"No, don't worry about it, I'll just do them tomorrow morning." He smiled, pecking your lips.

"You know, I was thinking we should get a dishwasher. It'd save you so much time."

"That would be a great idea, actually." Minho agreed with you, pinching your cheeks. "So, how was your day? You had a lot of company today."

"I did, yeah." You chuckled. "It was... good, actually. I enjoyed spending time with Chris and Olivia. And – shocker – I think I made some friends today!"

"I'm really happy you decided to talk to them..." He spoke, and he had the softest expression you've ever seen, his eyes holding so much love to you, you nearly wanted to cry.

"Me too. They're great people. I'm so glad they are your friends."

"How was Amelia today? Fussy?"

"No, surprisingly." You glanced over to her crib. You've just fed her an hour ago, so she was long gone in dreamland.

"That's good. I can't wait to spend some more time with her tomorrow."

"Until then, should we maybe... have a shower and go to bed?" You asked, your voice indicating something not entirely innocent.

"Yeah, sure." Minho didn't seem to catch on.

"I mean... together." You clarified again, and watched as his expression turned from relaxed to immediately shocked.

"Wait, what? Really? You want to-"

"Yep." You smirked, cutting him off. "Doctor said I'm in the clear, and I've never been more excited to lay my hands on someone else."

"Fuck, let's do it." He grabbed you and spun you around, kissing you repeatedly.

"Not in front of our child, please." You managed to get out in-between the kisses with a chuckle that Minho reciprocated.

You weren't sure what life had in store for you two, but you knew that more than anything, you were a great team, deeply in love with each other, and would do anything for your little family.

~

~THE END~

(A/N) Thank you so much for reading 'A Chance of Fate'!

With this chapter, we have concluded this story on a happy note.

I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it, and as always, I'm looking forward to your thoughts!

You can expect a new story announcement soon (probably tomorrow!) - this time, a Bang Chan Fanfic based in an alternate universe where Chan is Emperor. I am so excited to begin posting this story as well, as I've been working on it for ages and I'm proud to say it's the best story I've ever written so far.

See you in the next adventure, and until then, stay healthy!

Love,

Storm