"Izzy, if you don't hurry up and get ready for bed, I won't let you stay up to say good night to Tae Tae when he calls." I fold my arms in front of my chest as I watch her take her dear sweet time picking up the toys in her room.

With a sudden burst of energy, she scrambles to throw all of her things into her toy chest and place her stuffed animals in their rightful spot. Rushing past me, she heads across the hallway to her bathroom and pulls out her step stool from under the sink, and reaches for her toothbrush in an attempt to try to brush her teeth herself.

Shaking my head with a smile, I assist her with adding the toothpaste and observe as she tries her best to brush just like she's been taught, "You know, you could do what I ask just because mommy asks you to without me bribing you with Tae Tae."

Izzy spits into the sink and looks up at me with curious eyes, "What's bribing mean?"

"Bribing means to offer something in hopes they will do what you want or need them to do," I explain the best I can.

"Sorry, mommy. I'll try to do things just because you said so." She forces a smile to show me her freshly brushed teeth and I chuckle and kiss her forehead.

Tapping her bottom, I nod towards her bedroom to have her climb under her blanket as I follow behind, watching her run and jump on her bed with a bounce as she pulls back the Disney princess bedspread. 

For the rest of my day and all throughout the evening, I haven't been able to concentrate or feel as happy as I would like to. After my run-in with Miles, my anxiety seems to be on edge. I don't particularly like the fact that he showed up without at least a phone call or even a message through social media first and I especially don't like the fact that this happened as soon as Taehyung is away on a business trip.

It may just be a coincidence but I feel like I'd be ignorant to let my guard down.

Every time I look at my daughter or hear her voice, I wonder if it would even be in her best interest to have Miles around now. In a perfect world, the two of them would get along and she could get to know her dad but something in the back of my mind struggles with that scenario.

What if she hates him or resents him for not being around? Would the fact of him coming back into her life cause more harm than good? As a mother, it's my duty to protect her as much as I can but I also don't want to hold her back from getting to know her father either.

In a way, I wish that she was older and was able to make the decision on her own. To be able to come to me and state whether or not she even wanted to give him the time of day.

My brain scans over the memories of my relationship with Miles and although I was warned of his cheating that I stupidly ignored and he was always so arrogant, it doesn't erase the fact that he's the one I ended up having a baby with.

Still, something inside of my gut tells me to be cautious.

My phone begins to ring just as Izzy is finishing up brushing out her baby doll's hair and she sits up on her knees to glance over at my phone screen, letting out an excited little noise at the sight of Taehyung's name.

Pressing accept, I smile when I see his face looking back at us and my worries seem to temporarily melt away when I hear him happily say, "it's my girls!"

Grabbing the phone from my hand, Izzy takes over the conversation as she readjusts herself to press her back to the wall and begins blabbering at a mile a minute about her day. It's almost as if she hadn't seen him in weeks when it's only been a couple of days at this point but listening to the two of them converse as if they're two best friends catching up is music to my ears.

Their relationship means everything to me and I can only hope that they'll always have this type of bond. Smiling as I watch her start to talk about what all she did during her sleepover the other night, I think about how content she is with Taehyung in her life and how much she obviously loves him.

She hasn't missed out on anything because he's always been there and let's face it, he's been a better father to her than Miles ever would have been.

"Okay, sweetie. Time for bed now." I hold out my hand and raise my brow when she refuses to give me the phone.

"I'll talk to you soon, baby girl. I'll call tomorrow after school to talk to you only, okay?" Taehyung chimes in.

"Promise?" She looks back down at the phone with a pout.

"Promise!"

With a nod of her head, she kisses the screen and reluctantly hands the phone over to me. Telling Taehyung to wait for a moment while I tuck her in, I lean down and kiss her chubby cheeks multiple times before handing her favorite stuffed animal to her and turning off her light.

Walking into my bedroom, I shut the door and turn on some soft music to drown out the conversation I'm about to try to have with Taehyung. The last thing I'd want is for Izzy to overhear me talking about how I saw her father. I can only imagine the number of questions she'd throw at me that I'm definitely not prepared to answer.

"Ooh, are we setting a mood?" Taehyung flirts as he hears the R&B music in the background and watches me crawl onto my bed.

Giggling, I fix the pillow behind me and smile at the intrigue in his intense brown eyes, "No, I just don't want Izzy to hear our conversation."

"Is everything okay?" He immediately questions with his mood shifting, already able to sense something on my mind.

Not wanting to go into the heavier topic right away, needing to make there was enough time for Izzy to fall asleep, I give a tight-lipped smile and nod my head, "First, tell me about your day."

After a second of squinting his eyes at me, trying to read my thoughts without my permission, he proceeds to inform me all about how boring the brunch was and how he and Chasity snuck away from the hotel grounds to go eat at Shake Shack. I giggle at the face he made when he tried to describe how horrible the food at the brunch had tasted and the way he gagged a bit when he started talking about certain ones.

For a moment, I get lost in all of the details of his day and feeling like I was there with him. Even his recollection of boring conversations with people two to even three times his age was interesting to me as he acted out certain scenarios to give me the full experience.

"Oh, and I have some interesting news for you." He wiggles his eyebrows and leans closer to the camera on his laptop.

"Yeah? What's the juicy gossip?" I wiggle my eyebrows back at him, making him chuckle at my anticipation.

"Chasity informed me that she's a lesbian."

"What?!" I sit up and rake my hand through my hair, "For real? But I thought she had a little crush on you from all of those little treats she used to leave on your desk."

"I know! That's what I said." He shakes his head with a shrug, "But apparently she was just trying to make things less awkward between us. She didn't tell anyone in the office because she wasn't sure how the older employees would react."

Frowning, I nibble on my bottom lip, "That's sad. I'm glad she felt comfortable enough opening up to you."

"I think it was the only way she could get me to open up to her more." He shrugs, "Informing me that I wasn't her type, as so she put it, definitely made me feel a bit more comfortable hanging around a woman that isn't you."

"Well, you're definitely my type." I wink dramatically making him laugh at my corniness.

"Okay, enough of the stalling. What's on your mind, baby? I know there's something going on in that beautiful brain of yours." His eyes let me know that he's serious and won't let it go until I disclose everything to him.

Taking a deep breath, I look off into the distance until meeting my eyes with his expectant ones through the screen, "Miles showed up at my job today. He said he wants to get to know Izzy."

His eyes widen as he sits back in the chair he was planted in and his hands rub over his face as if he's trying to not stress himself or me out, "What did you tell him? Why would he show up now?"

"That's what I was wondering, why now?" I shake my head and twist my mouth in confusion, "I just told him that I'd talk to you about it and let him know. He wrote down his number."

"Don't communicate with him until I get back, jagiya. I don't like the fact I'm not there in case you need me." He begs with his eyebrows knitted.

"Do you think he'd do something bad?" My voice fluctuates and my heart rate increases. Taehyung was usually the one to tell me everything was fine but the fact that he also had a bad feeling worries me.

Biting on his nail, he stares at me for a moment before shrugging his shoulders, "I don't know, Ria. I just don't trust him. Never have. You know that."

Exhaling, I nod my head in agreement. He's right. Taehyung was always leaning more toward the cautious side when it came to Miles, never really trusting him. Now that I know he's always had deeper feelings for me, I know some of it stemmed from jealousy. But at the same time, he was right when he tried to warn me about Miles cheating on me and would always mention that something seemed off about him back when we were in college and not liking how controlling he was.

This time around, I'm listening to Taehyung. He's always had my best interest at heart and now he has Izzy's as well. I've learned from the mistakes of my past and plan on stepping down to allow him to lead me as the man in my life.

"Okay, baby. I won't do anything until you're back home." I agree.

Letting out a small sigh of relief, he licks his lips, "If anything happens again concerning him while I'm gone, promise me that you'll call me right away. I don't care if I'm in a meeting or if it's three in the morning, call me."

The sternness in his voice makes me grin and although it's intimidating, it's also kind of a turn-on at how manly he's being. Seeing him take on almost a husband and father role with ease makes my heart flutter.

"Yes sir," I smirk and he chuckles and rolls his eyes.

"Why are you smiling? I'm serious, Ria!" He furrows his brow and squints his eyes.

"Mmhmm, I know you are. I promise to not contact him before you get home and will call you if anything else happens." I continue to smile, unable to wipe it off of my face the longer I look at him.

"Okay." He grins back at me, my smile becoming infectious the longer he looks at it, "I did get some good news today."

"Yeah, what's that?"

"Construction on the dance studio should be complete by the time I get back. We can go take a look at it this weekend if you want." Taehyung proudly states and I can see the excitement behind his eyes as they almost twinkle.

"I'd love to! We can bring Izzy this time, too." I lay down in the bed to get more comfortable and flip on my side, laying the phone on the pillow next to me as if he was right there.

Nodding his head, he agrees with the idea, "I hope you both like it."

"I know we will," I yawn and wipe away the wetness that pours from the corner of my eye.

"Get some sleep, gongju. I'll text you in the morning." He hums sweetly to me as my eyelids become heavier and heavier.

Yawning again, I shake my head, "But I'm not even that tired."

"You're a horrible liar." He chuckles as he rests his chin on the palm of his hand, slowly blinking as he just watches me for a moment in silence, admiring me as if I was the best view, "I love you. Sweet dreams, my queen."

"I love you, too, baby." Giving a lazy smile, I try my best to keep my eyes open as I watch him get ready to hang up.