"oh jeez, do we have everything?"

"yes."

"plates? utensils?"

"yep."

"shit, did i close the fridge?"

"soojin," frankie finally stated, grabbing the panicking girl by the shoulders, and giving her a shake. "everything is perfect."

slowly letting the words to sink in, soojin allowed her muscles to relax. on anhe's birthdays, the three qian's always went over to taerin and johnny's place to celebrate there with joong and taeyong.

this was a party.

soojin has no experience with children's parties. she'd invited anhe's classmates, along with their close friends and co-workers, but that did nothing to calm her raging heartbeat. she was out of her element, and that much was very obvious.

"is there alcohol? did we say no alcohol? who made that rule?"

frankie smiled, "you did, babe."

"fuck, i'm gonna kill myself."

the patio door opened and soojin felt herself go ridged. the apartment owner allowed kun permission to use the rooftop patio for their party, and soojin, taerin, and frankie spent the last few hours decorating and preparing for guests.

after a tense moment of staring, johnny threw his arms up and hollered, "let's get this party started!"

"john," frankie deadpanned, "there are only three of us here. and none of us is the birthday girl."

the door opened again, and in came jaehyun and renjun, followed by jungwoo. soojin's co-worker had a gift in his hands, positioning it to one arm so he could wave at his boss. "soobae! shotaro, sungchan, eunseok, and minah are on their way."

he walked over to the females as they searched for a place to keep presents, while johnny and jaehyun were dramatically sobbing into each other's arms at the reunion.

"it's been so long, bro!"

"too long, bro, too long."

jungwoo narrowed his eyes, "didn't you two hang out last week?"

"... too long, bro!"

—

it didn't take more than 45 minutes for everyone to arrive. anhe was gleefully running around with her friends as kun and jeno chased after them, pretending to be "freeze monsters". she screamed in laughter when kun caught her, sweeping her off her feet and kissing her cheek.

soojin's entire chest filled with warmth at the sight. the adults had splintered off, breaking into smaller groups to drink or eat or catch up, soojin wasn't quite sure. she bit back a huge grin when she turned just in time to catch jaehyun placing a sweet peck on renjun's shoulder, the smaller of the two instantly flushing pink at the affection.

sungchan and eunseok were teasing jungwoo with doyoung and taeyong, though they were too far away for soojin to hear. she continued scanning the crowd, her smile continuing to grow until her gaze fell on the trio she was most excited to see.

taeil, bada, and little sooae were laughing near the entrance with haechan and siyoon, the former knelt on the ground and moved his hands in soft gestures, making shapes that soojin quickly realized was sign language when sooae let out a sudden laugh.

a look of pure, unfiltered happiness spread across bada's face, and soojin couldn't stop herself from gesturing anhe to her side and making their way toward the small group.

"hey!" she greeted kindly with a wave. haechan brushed himself off as he stood, going for the jump-hug that would have tackled the ravenette if not for his partner's hand on her back.

"are you trying to kill me? on my daughter's birthday?" soojin scolded in a playful tone, gently shoving the boy's shoulder. haechan quickly faked a look of offense. "um, of course not! i'm killing you to keep you away from my taeil and bada."

"oh, really?"

"yeah, really." the two hugged again, and soojin even got to ruffle the boy's growing hair. "i'm glad you could make it."

"i knew you were obsessed with me. this thing with kun is a cover-up, right?"

"damn, you see right through me."

before the pair could continue their banter, soojin felt a tug on the bottom of her shirt and looked over to find her daughter looking up at her with big eyes. "mama? can i..?"

catching on instantly, soojin gave anhe a gentle nudge with her thigh and shot two thumbs up to give her some extra encouragement. "wanna show miss moon what you practiced?" her question was met with a very eager nod from anhe.

soojin smiled at bada's confused expression and took a step back for anhe to stand in front of sooae. she waved, looked back at her mom for confirmation, then began to sign out the letters of her name. "i'm anhe! a-n-h-e. anhe! we can be friends if you want!"

sooae looked back at her mom, who was hiding her shocked, and frankly emotional, smile, before turning back toward anhe with a smile. she nodded her head, and anhe carefully reached out for her hand. "come with me." anhe moved her lips exaggeratedly and tried to act out each word, which only made sooae let out another adorable laugh and follow the birthday girl as they went to find the nakamoto twins.

"soojin, i..." bada trailed off, sharing a look with taeil before throwing her arms around the younger. "you didn't have to do that."

"i didn't! once i told anhe about sooae, she wanted to be that girl's best friend. she's tired of the boys, you know."

the two laughed, bada sniffling lightly, and pulled away. "i seriously do love our reunions so much."

"me too. now, while they go and tire themselves out, i think mark brought expensive wine."

—

everyone cleared out before dark, but the friends soojin met on a funky dating app stayed behind with her to clean, catch up, and finish off the bottle of wine mark and erin brought.

"why don't we do this more?" jungwoo suddenly asked, sounding sincere. "for real. we've all been too busy with work and life and such; we need to get away. just the eleven of us."

frankie raised her glass. "cheers to that. a short vacation, though. i'd miss my wife too much."

"same." johnny and taeil said in unison, facing each other and pretending to lean in for a kiss before jaehyun smacked them both on the backs of the head.

"ow!" johnny shot a pouted look at his "bro". "as if you wouldn't be texting renjun every ten minutes to make sure he's still alive and well." even in the darkness soojin could see how red the tips of jaehyun's ears were getting. "shut up, bro."

checking the time on her phone, soojin smiled as she stood. "i've gotta go tuck my girl in. be right back, so don't go anywhere!" before they could respond, the woman was already dashing off to her apartment.

it didn't take long to reach her apartment, but when soojin pushed the door open, she stilled and took careful steps to make a little sound as possible. kun and anhe were in the living room, kun holding their daughter against his chest, her head resting on her shoulder and arms hanging loose around his shoulder.

anhe silently ran her hand along a certain spot beneath kun's shirt, and soojin held her breath when she realized where exactly that spot was. the bullet wound. her little fingers picked at the scar, and it was obvious that the little bump filled her with wonder. soojin watched as she twisted her head so that it was now in the crook of kun's neck. "does it hurt?"

kun shook his head and lightly brushed a hair behind anhe's ear. "not anymore."

"did it hurt a lot?" she asked, innocent curiosity sparkling in her eyes.

kun let out a soft chuckle, "just a little, but your mom says i was very brave."

"what happened?"

"well, i was protecting mommy. but you don't have to worry about that, my little lovely."

soojin watched anhe push herself up so that she could face her dad and drop her gaze, a pout forming on her lips. "i'm sorry..."

"why? it wasn't your fault at all, and i would do it again if anyone ever tried to hurt you or mommy."

"but you said it hurt!" the four-year-old cried, confusion overtaking her tone. kun could only stare down lovingly at her. "it did, but i would do anything to keep you safe. remember that, okay?"

with a small sigh, anhe smiled. "okay... i love you."

"i love you too, lovebug."

soojin continued standing in the hallway as kun tucked anhe into bed, keeping the good night's short since she was already falling asleep. when he walked out of her bedroom, his eyes instantly found his wife. the smile on his lips melted quick at her expression.

turning away from her husband, soojin tried desperately to wipe to small tears slipping down her cheeks. she hadn't meant to let them fall, but thinking back at anhe's pout broke her heart.

instantly concerned, kun reached soojin in three steps, carefully cupping her face in both of his hands as he examined her for any injury. "what's wrong? what happened?"

soojin shook her head wordlessly, sniffling once before leaning into his chest and hugging him. "do you think she'll be okay when she grows up? anhe?"

"why do you ask?" kun said as he pulled away to get a look at his wife's thoughtful face.

she shrugged. "i don't know. i just wonder if she'll be... if she'll still be our sweet girl."

kun let out a gentle laugh, emotion prickling the backs of his eyes. "i think you have nothing to worry about. whatever happens, happens; and we'll do our best to be the parents she deserves, alright?"

"alright." soojin repeated after taking a deep breath. she then looked up at kun through her lashes and pushed her lips out slightly, signaling for a kiss.

of course, kun didn't hesitate to provide one, smiling against his wife's mouth. "you know i love you, right?"

"of course i do. you know i love you, right?"

kun smiled and kissed her again. "i do."

releasing a little sigh, soojin turned her head in the direction of their daughter's room. "we did good with her, didn't we?" it wasn't phrased much as a question, but kun still nodded confidently and covered soojin's cheek in delicate little kisses. "we did."

wrapping her arms back around kun, soojin found herself burying her face in his neck. "i love you."

"you said that already."

"what, so you aren't gonna say it back?"

kun rolled his eyes playfully, a half-smirk creeping at his lips. "i love you too."

and they stayed there for too long, long enough for soojin to forget her friends were upstairs, long enough for prickles of numbness to run up and down her legs. but she didn't care. how could she when the love of her life was holding her like she was the more important thing in the world?

"i love you, kun." she whispered into his hair once more. kun tightened his grip around his wife's waist and nuzzled his face into her shoulder.

"i love you, soojin."

•
it's always them :')

tbh this book kinda became a filler for what happened between kink hotline and the third book i'm planning! it's more of a spin-off than a sequel, but idk. i liked getting to relive the characters, even if it was for a short, spontaneous time, and i hope you did too?

THAT SAID. i'm excited for the new year! literally crossing my fingers, screaming, sobbing, hoping i have the third book ready for then 🤞

anyway, i know it was all over the place, but thank you guys for supporting bad influence! hopefully you guys liked it? idk but I LOVE YOU so please stay healthy my loves 💕