twelve years later...

"papa, daddy's home!" aecha screamed out to hongjoong when she heard the front door open, the little girl sprinting to attack her father with hugs and kisses.

"hi cha cha." seonghwa said as he rubbed his daughter's back lovingly, smiling before leaning down and giving the girl a quick kiss on the cheek.

"seongie, you're home!" hongjoong cheered as he ran up to seonghwa and planted a kiss on his cheek, their son in his arms.

"yep, i'm home!" seonghwa smiled before making grabby hands for their baby, "give me baby haneul, i missed him so much!" seonghwa said before grabbing the baby and holding him in his arms, attacking the boy's chubby cheeks with tons of kisses.

"how was work today?" hongjoong asked as he grabbed onto his daughter's hand.

"it was great, actually. i swear, those kids are too precious for this world." seonghwa answered as he turned around and shut the front door of their house, walking inside the home and straight for the bathroom to clean up from his long day at work.

in the past twelve years of seonghwa and hongjoong's relationship, many things have happened between the two of them. after becoming boyfriends, they decided to go very public with their relationship; seonghwa showing hongjoong off at every school event, family gathering, and public outing they ever went to.

the two boys were practically attached at the hip; if you were looking for hongjoong, you would find seonghwa as well and vice versa.

after graduating high school, seonghwa decided to attend medical school. he never planned on becoming a doctor, but after meeting hongjoong, his perspective of live changed completely.

seonghwa decided to become a pediatrician, but more specifically, a developmental pediatrician doctor. developmental pediatricians are experts in the management of autistic spectrum disorders, developmental delays, learning disabilities, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorders and even more for children in need. his goal in life was to help treat people with learning and behavior issues; people just like his precious hongjoong.

hongjoong ended up never attending college, the rigorous school work that came along with it being way too much for him to handle. instead, he ended up getting a job at his favorite ice cream parlor. he worked there for a few years, making good friends with many of his coworkers and customers. he always had a blast, making sure to tell seonghwa about all the fun experiences he had while working each and every day.

hongjoong ended up quitting after seonghwa proposed to him. after five years of dating, seonghwa knew it was time to put a ring on his perfect boyfriend's finger.

only a year later, hongjoong and seonghwa ended up getting married. their wedding was at a beautiful hall, the room lit up with thousands of dollars worth of fairy lights and jewels. hongjoong chose jongho as his best man and seonghwa chose san, not forgetting to add wooyoung, yeosang, yunho and mingi in their wedding party.

seonghwa let hongjoong choose the wedding color and hongjoong decided on red, feeling like the color was the only appropriate one to use. after all these years, the boy was still obsessed with strawberry's. at their wedding party, the two boys danced all night long with their friends and family surrounding them. it was truly the definition of a fairytale wedding.

they ended up going to fiji for their honeymoon, seonghwa choosing the destination for the two of them. they were able to relax on the beautiful beaches of the island for a whole two weeks, traveling around and visiting some breathtaking sites that they'd never get to see any other time of their lives.

as soon as they came back from their honeymoon, the boys were finally able to move into their first house together. they'd been house hunting for over a year before their wedding, and after much debate, they finally decided on a beautiful house right on the water. the house was rather large for the two of them, but seonghwa's job paid so well that it didn't financially hurt them in the slightest.

after a few years of working and living just the two of them, the boys decided it was finally time for them to adopt their first child. they went to many different adoption agencies and finally decided on their daughter. the girl was only two months old when they found her, so small and sweet. she was absolutely beautiful, and as soon as the married couple landed their eyes on her, they knew she was the one.

they were finally able to bring the girl home after two months of filing paperwork. the two decided on naming her aecha, the name meaning 'loving daughter'. they believed it fit her perfectly, and they were both so excited to raise her together.

hongjoong stayed home with the baby while seonghwa was out at work, but he couldn't do it without the help of others. his mother would come by almost every day, helping hongjoong by making the baby's bottle, feeding her, or even changing her diaper occasionally. due to hongjoong's condition, even though he was around twenty five, it was still very hard for him to take care of a newborn baby all by himself.

besides his mother, hongjoong would also occasionally get help from his brother and yeosang. the two were newly weds by the time aecha was brought into the park family, and they thought helping hongjoong out with aecha would be great practice for when the two of them decided to adopt their own children.

after two years, hongjoong and seonghwa knew that they needed to adopt another baby. they always talked about having two children, and they felt that aecha was the perfect age for a sibling.

they travelled back to the same adoption agency that they got aecha from to find another child for the family. they knew they wanted a boy this time around, so they made sure to make that clear to the agency.

after learning about some of the baby boy's they had at the agency, they knew that their son was the one they needed. the boy was eight months old and was sadly diagnosed with fetal alcohol syndrome a few months after birth. he had a few developmental delays and some growth problems, problems that most adoptive parents didn't want to deal with.

that was the complete opposite for hongjoong and seonghwa. the differences about this child made him more desirable for the young couple. they knew that he was the one they needed as their son.

after some more months and endless amounts of paperwork, they were finally able to bring haneul home. aecha was overly joyed to have a baby brother, not caring in the slightest that he was a bit different from her.

and through everything, seonghwa kept his promise of never breaking hongjoong's heart. never even once.

"so, what's for dinner? i'm starving!" seonghwa asked after he ran to the bathroom and washed up after work, changing from his work attire to simple plaid pajamas.

"i bought us some pasta! i hope that's ok with you, seongie." hongjoong answered back as he laid on the couch, feeding haneul his bottle of milk as aecha sat beside him and watched blue's clues.

"that's more than ok, hun. is it ready now?" seonghwa asked and hongjoong nodded his head up and down.

"yep! the kids and i picked it up a few minutes before you got home. i just put it in the oven to keep warm. do you mind setting up the table while i finish feeding haneul?" hongjoong asked and seonghwa agreed, obeying hongjoong's commands and walking towards the kitchen to get the food out of the oven.

seonghwa took out the tray of pasta and quickly walked towards the dining room table to set down the hot food. he then walked to the cabinets and took out four plates, one for each member of his family. seonghwa then spread them across the table, putting one plate in front of each seat. he also got some cups, forks, and napkins for each family member and placed them beside their respective plate.

seonghwa smiled widely before walking back into the living room to call his family, "ok, dinner's ready!" seonghwa called out. aecha shrieked and jumped up high, rushing into the dining room with hungry eyes.

"ok baby hannie, pasta time!" hongjoong cheered as he placed haneul's empty bottle on the coffee table and carried the boy into the dining room. he placed the baby in his high chair, the chair sitting beside hongjoong's so he could feed his son. seonghwa sat on the other side of the table beside his daughter, across from his husband.

"how much pasta do you want, cha cha?" seonghwa asked his daughter, calling her by his favorite nickname for the girl.

"a lot, daddy! i'm so so hungry!" aecha replied loudly, bouncing in her seat from the overwhelming excitement she felt. seonghwa chuckled at the girl's adorable behavior and put a big scoop of the penne onto the girl's plate, knowing a lot of food for the little girl was more like a small afternoon snack for the adult.

"how much do you want, my love?" seonghwa asked hongjoong kindly. even though they had been married for a few years already, a small blush still grew on hongjoong's cheeks, the boy still unable to control how flustered he got around the older. 

"not too much, about the same as you gave aecha." hongjoong said and seonghwa started placing a ton of food on the boy's plate, completely ignoring what hongjoong said.

"you're getting too skinny, you need to eat more." seonghwa said sternly and hongjoong stuck his tongue out at the boy.

"you know i'm on a diet!" hongjoong fired back and seonghwa shook his head.

"a diet doesn't mean starve yourself, babe. you still need to eat. i can guarantee this is the only thing you've eaten all day, right?" seonghwa said and hongjoong looked down into his lap, defeated.

"maybe..." hongjoong mumbled out with a chuckle. seonghwa just shook his head in disappointment.

"i swear, i'll force feed you in your sleep if i have to." seonghwa said as he pointed a finger in his husband's face.

"blah blah blah." hongjoong mocked the boy as he took a bite of his food.

"i'm the doctor here, i'd know." seonghwa obnoxiously said his famous line and hongjoong laughed as he rolled his eyes.

"i swear, i can't stand when you say that!" hongjoong screamed out and seonghwa laughed in response.

"i know, that's why i say it." seonghwa said as he put a few scoops of pasta into his own bowl and began eating.

hongjoong just giggled as he picked up a piece of pasta that didn't have too much sauce on it with his fingers. he wiped off some of the sauce with his napkin and ripped the soft piece of food in his hand in half, reaching over to his baby to feed him.

"hannie, open up!" hongjoong said with a big smile on his face. haneul was still too little to have a full bowl of pasta like the rest of them could, but hongjoong liked giving him a few pieces of his dinner when they would eat something that the baby can try.

haneul opened up and allowed hongjoong to place a soft piece of the starchy food on his tongue. the boy chewed it like he was taught and swallowed, smiling widely as he made a few cute baby noises.

"yay, he liked it!" hongjoong cheered, clapping his hands high in the air as aecha and seonghwa cooed at how cute the baby was.

"haneul, you're so cute!" aecha screamed out to her brother that was sitting across from her.

"yes he is, cha cha. and so is your papa." seonghwa said with a warm smile on his face as he reached his arm across the table, offering hongjoong his hand which the younger accepted.

"thank you, honey." hongjoong said with a smile. seonghwa blew his husband a kiss from the opposite side of the table before picking up his fork and taking another bite of his dinner, enjoying the taste of the starchy pasta in his mouth.

——

"ok seongie, aecha is asleep. how are you doing with haneul?" hongjoong quietly asked seonghwa as he skipped from his daughter's room and into his son's room.

"he's almost asleep." seonghwa whispered out as he rocked the baby back and forth in his arms, humming sweet little nothings to his son as he smiled down at the boy.

"ok, do you need my help?" hongjoong asked as he stood by the doorway.

"no, i'm ok. get into bed, i'll be right there." seonghwa said to his husband, shooing the boy off.

"ok, see you there." hongjoong smiled before turning around and walking into his shared bedroom with seonghwa. seonghwa continued rocking haneul back and forth as he watched the boy's eyes close more and more as each second passed on.

"i love you so much, hannie. do you know that?" seonghwa quietly said, more to himself than to the half asleep baby in his arms. he couldn't help but tear up a bit after continuing to stare down at his son, overly joyed with the life that he lived.

eventually, haneul's eyes shut completely and the boy was sound asleep. seonghwa carefully stood up from the rocking chair that he was in and paced the baby in his crib, not forgetting to give the boy a soft kiss on the forehead before leaving.

seonghwa walked towards the door and stopped before exiting completely, turning around one last time to say a quick 'goodnight' before entering his bedroom.

hongjoong smiled widely when he saw his husband enter the room. the boy shot up from his spot in bed, opening his arms widely after seonghwa laid down beside him. seonghwa opened his arms as well, hugging his small husband back tightly.

"i love you so much, seonghwa. i love you more than words can describe." hongjoong said against seonghwa's chest as a smile formed on his face.

"i love you to the moon and back, my beautiful boy." seonghwa replied as he leaned down and gave the top of hongjoong's head a sweet kiss, getting a mouth full of the boy's bleached hair.

hongjoong backed away from his husband and stared at him, looking straight into his eyes before leaning in and giving him a quick kiss on the lips. they both savored the moment, kissing each other deeply and lovingly before breaking apart and smiling at each other.

"goodnight my love." hongjoong said with bright red cheeks.

"goodnight my princess. i love you." seonghwa said back, kissing him one last time on the cheek.

"i love you too, my prince." hongjoong replied before turning around and allowing seonghwa to spoon him.

the married couple fell asleep quickly, embracing each other as they drifted off into dreamland. they both couldn't imagine their lives without one another, and they knew that they'd be together until the day they died.

fuckfuckfuckfUCK NO. I CANNOT, I WILL NOT—

i can't believe this book is actually over. i'm so sad oh my god.

i want to say thank you to each and every one of you for supporting me; some from the beginning, some the middle, and others not until the end. no matter when you came, i want you to all know that you mean the world to me and i wouldn't be writing if it wasn't for you. thank you guys, i honestly can't thank you enough...

i'm so sad that this book is over, but i'm not done. i'll write a new story soon, i promise❤️until then, it's been real!!!! vic out ✌🏼

-vic