~Minho's POV~

"The main song's production is completed, video is filmed, we are basically prepared for the release. How is the rest of the album going?" Mr. Kim, the man responsible for all the team in charge of production, video, graphic design and so on asked bluntly.

We were all seated around the table in the meeting room, and the air felt tense.

"The cover is still in-progress..." the designer spoke, but cowered noticing Mr. Kim's burning gaze.

"The album release is less than two months away. Are you aware of that?" He asked harshly, and the designer just nodded.

"Whatever. Make sure to finish at least 20 sketches by Monday."

"But it's Saturday-"

"Did I stutter?" Mr. Kim raised his voice, and the designer just shut up. "Okay, now that the design is out of the way – how is production going? Mr. Choi?"

"Yes. We still have some of it to do. We've recorded almost all vocals by now, we just need a few backing vocals, and then putting them together. It's essentially a puzzle at this point."

"It needs to get done in maximum 3 weeks from now."

"We are trying. You gave us 10 songs, though. That's a lot."

"You are a good producer, you can manage." Mr. Kim shrugged. I was annoyed, but there was no arguing with him, unfortunately. After all, he summoned this meeting at 3 PM on a Saturday.

I just nodded as well and left the meeting, going to my studio and opening up the audio files, checking one more time exactly what we had already, or if there was anything else we needed to record before getting started on the overall production. Having everything ready in just 3 weeks meant coming to the studio every day and working almost non-stop. I could already feel the stress burning up my throat, anxiety rising from my stomach like acid and burning my insides.

After about two hours of work, an unknown number called my phone, delivering some horrible news that pulled me out of my trance.

My mother collapsed while taking care of Nari and was now in the hospital.

The words didn't seem the register well in my head; the only thing I knew was that I jumped from my desk and somehow got in my car and drove as quickly as possible.

Nari was a crying mess when I got there, and mom was sleeping.

"Baby, what happened?" I hugged Nari tightly and let her explain how grandma suddenly started feeling dizzy, and then fell while making lunch for her. Nari panicked, but remembered how I taught her to use the phone and dial the emergency number.

Indeed, my mom was looking pale, and I knew she's been feeling sick the past few weeks, but she offered to watch over Nari as graciously as ever while I went to work, and even assured me she was feeling well enough to take care of her.

Apparently not.

What the fuck was I even supposed to do now? Obviously, getting a babysitter, because I couldn't take Nari to work, and I had to go back to the office no matter what.

Fuck, I also booked Flame tonight. I cursed in my head and quickly opened my phone and cancelled the appointment. The app didn't let me add any reasons for cancelling, which annoyed me to no end, because I didn't want her to think I didn't want to see her anymore.

After speaking with the doctor and finding out that mom should get better after having proper rest for a while, and should just take it easy, I grabbed Nari and started walking with her towards the exit.

"Daddy." Nari shook my hand, still crying. I went on one knee and hugged her. "Is grandma going to be okay?"

"Of course, she just needs to sleep for a little bit, that's all." I caressed her hair and spoke gently.

"What if... she will die?" She cried harder, making me frown. "That's what happened to Nam-gil's grandma!"

"Who is that?"

"The boy who sits behind me! I told you about him!!! His grandma went to sleep and never woke up!"

"Baby, that's not going to happen." I hugged her and tried to reassure her again. "Grandma's fine. She's just a bit worn out, but she'll be fine, okay?"

"... okay. Are we going home, daddy?"

"Oh, baby... daddy has to get back to work for now... since grandma is sick, we will have to get a babysitter-"

"NO!" Nari shouted, making everyone around us turn their attention to us. "I WANT YOU!!! NOT A BABYSITTER!"

"I know, but please hear me out. We're going to stay together the whole day tomorrow-"

"NO!" She shouted again, and pulled away from me forcefully, starting to run away.

~

~Jieun's POV~

Raining again, huh...?

It feels like the sky's been crying for weeks with no end in sight. The air was humid and cold, and each time I would go outside I felt like I had to tighten the coat around my body tighter and tighter.

Even if it was raining so much, the world didn't seem to halt for even a minute. People were running busily from place to place, crowding themselves to shelter away from the rain at the bus stop, or jumping from cab to cab to get somewhere.

Even if it was Saturday, it was no different. I was no different. Everyone had their own errands, and my errand for the day was to buy some apple pastries – grandma's favourites – and go to visit her in the hospital.

I felt bad for not visiting her as often as I would've liked. The doctor scolded me, too. He articulated so many times how important it was for cancer patients to not deal with the battle alone, but more than once per week felt too painful for me as well. It's not like I didn't want to come more often.

I just... couldn't.

~

"Hey grandma! Looking good!" I winked as I entered the private hospital room. Charisma's money ensured a level of comfort that I would've otherwise been unable to provide for my grandma no matter how much I tried.

"Jieun, dear!" She smiled happily seeing me. She looked well, her face not as pallid.

"I brought you your favourites." I said, waving the bag of pastries around.

"Apple strudel? My granddaughter is spoiling me so much!" She smiled and patted the bed with her right hand, instructing me to come sit down.

I helped her sit up and brought her tray of food, placing the pastries on a plate and bringing her a glass of pomegranate juice – her favourite – and then I sat down on the chair next to the bed as well.

"How are you feeling, grandma?" I smiled, watching her eat the strudels happily. She had an appetite, which was a good sign.

"I'm doing so well lately; they brought out a new doc who's really sweet. You should meet him!" She winked, making me whine.

"Grandma!"

"My dear, this old lady is not important, so you shouldn't worry about me and should try to find yourself a partner."

"Grandma... please, eat and leave me alone!" I covered my cheeks.

"I just feel bad, you've been working so hard for me... you should take advantage of your youth and go on dates and meet someone!"

"Don't worry, as long as you're healthy, that's all that matters to me." I frowned.

"Jieun, dear... how much have you been working to afford this big room? You should move me to a smaller one. I don't need all this space for myself!" She looked at me with sad eyes, and that look almost made me want to throw up. Why couldn't she just accept this and let me handle everything?

"Grandma, you really don't have to worry. I want you to be taken care of as much as possible, until you can return home to live with me!" I started, then got startled by a hand on my cheek wiping my tears away.

Huh?

I haven't even realised I started crying.

"My baby..." She spoke. "I love you so much, Jieun, but you have to start living for yourself as well..."

"I will, you just have to get better!"

My grandma smiled briefly, but something about the look in her eyes made me want to cry harder. Instead of continuing to look at her and cry like a fool, I decided to tell her I have plans with some friends and left the salon in a hurry.

Just as I exited the room, a notification on my phone caught my eye.

---

1 unread notification – In the Dark

Charisma has cancelled tonight's meeting.

---

Great. This day couldn't get any better.

I chuckled bitterly. I was looking forward to meeting Charisma and feeling a little bit better about myself, but I guess I couldn't even do that.

As I was approaching the end of the corridor, a loud "NO" echoed throughout the hospital and soon enough someone bumped into me.

Looking at the child that fell on the ground in front of my legs, the familiar girl with brown hair and small figure started crying loudly.

"Nari?"

She was rubbing her eyes furiously, but after hearing her name, she raised her head and looked at me.

"Miss Park!" She cried and practically jumped on my legs, and I hugged her and tried to comfort her.

"What's wrong, hm?" I asked her, but before she got the chance to reply, her dad found the corridor.

"Nari, God, I told you not to run away from me- miss Park?" He asked perplexed, seeing me embraced with his daughter.

Nari was still crying.

"Mr. Choi." I smiled briefly.

"I'm sorry for this. Nari, come on, we really have to go."

"NO! I DON'T WANT TO!" She cried in my arms and hugged me tighter.

"Baby, please. I have to go to work, I told you so many times-"

"NO! I'm not staying with a babysitter!"

I let Nari hide herself behind my legs while pitying Mr. Choi for this situation. I knew Nari could be a bit difficult sometimes, and he was probably going through a lot – being in a hospital and trying to sort things out while having to be at work.

"Don't you like babysitters, Nari?" I asked while caressing the girl's hair and turning around to face her properly.

"No! I hate them!" She shook her head, refusing to look at her dad.

"Hmm, but what if we spend some time together, hm? We could go get some hot chocolate in the mall, maybe even an ice cream! And we could visit the art shop to get you some oil paints, and then paint something together. Wouldn't that be fun?"

Nari detached herself from me and I wiped off her tears, while she nodded in approval.

"Miss Park, you don't have to-" Mr. Choi started, but I cut him off, while Nari was still agreeing with me.

"We should make sure to go fast, then! I heard the ice-cream shop closes at 8!"

"Oh no! Let's hurry!" Nari grabbed my hand and started dragging me.

"Could you go to that vending machine and get us two chocolate bars first, though?" I asked her and handed her some cash, and she went happily.

"Miss Park, I really don't know what to say... My mother was looking after her when she passed out, and..." Mr. Choi spoke.

"Don't worry. You must be busy, so you should go finish up work and I'll take care of her, okay?"

"You have no idea how grateful I am for everything you've been doing for us. I will text you my address and door code, so you can go there with Nari when you're done shopping, and let me know how much money you're spending today. Actually wait, I'm going to-" He reached for his wallet, but I placed my hand on his and stopped him.

"Don't worry. We'll figure it out later."

"Thank you so much." He said again, before Nari returned with three chocolate bars.

"This is for you," she handed one to me, "this is for me, and this..." she hesitantly handed it to Mr. Choi, who went on one of his knees and hugged her tightly.

"Daddy is so sorry. I promise you we'll spend the whole day together tomorrow, and you can have fun with Miss Park today, yes?"

"Okay, daddy."

"I love you, princess." He kissed the top of her head gently.

"I love you too, daddy."

~

I took Nari to the mall just as promised, and after grabbing a small ice cream, we headed towards one of the playgrounds inside so she could play for a bit before heading home.

"Did you like the ice-cream?" I asked her and smiled. We were holding hands and walking leisurely through the mall, while I was trying to remember where the playground was located exactly.

"Yes, it was so- JIHO!" She shouted all of a sudden, startling me, and jerked her hand away from mine, starting to run towards another little girl.

"Nari, please don't run away like that!" I scolded her for a bit, and she pouted.

"I'm sorry, Miss Park."

"Now, who is your friend?" I smiled gently, when a couple approached us. A woman seemingly my age started speaking.

"Oh, if this is not Nari! And you must be... her babysitter?" She tilted her head and looked at the man on her left unsure.

"No! She is not my babysitter! She is my teacher!" Nari articulated every word and crossed her arms in front of her chest.

So cute.

"Yes, I'm Jieun, nice to meet you. Are you... uhm..."

"Oh, we are Nari's Godparents." The man chuckled. "I'm Jinki, and this is my wife, Ye-Jun. It's nice to meet you, Jieun."

We shook hands.

"We were just heading to the playground, would you like to come so the girls can play together?"

"We were actually going there ourselves!" Ye-Jun spoke.

"Oh, is that so?" I chuckled. "The more the merrier, let's go together."

We headed towards the play area and let the girls have fun while we sat on a bench outside the playground and observed them.

"So, Jieun... I was so shocked to see you with Nari, she usually hates being away from her grandma or Minho." Ye-Jun said, and hearing Mr. Choi's name spoken casually like that brought a chill down my spine, for some reason.

"From what he told me, her grandma collapsed and was brought to the hospital, and he has work..."

"Oh right, there's an album release in like two months, I think." Jinki added to my explanation, and Ye-Jun nodded.

"An album release...?" I tilted my head.

"Yeah, he is a producer. Makes songs, basically. If you ever listen to the radio, or watch shows or whatever, chances are you've heard something he made. He's really good." Jinki chuckled.

"Is that so?" I smiled. I knew nothing about Mr. Choi, after all. I didn't even know exactly what producer meant on his business card, but he was apparently well-known and popular in the industry.

"I'm so sorry to hear about his mom, though. Is she okay?" Ye-Jun asked, worried.

"I think she will be, after she gets some rest..."

"That's a relief." Ye-Jun replied.

"I'm gonna go grab something to drink, would you girls like something?" Jinki stood up and headed towards a nearby coffee shop.

"I'm really glad to see Nari with someone else, honestly. It's been so tough on Minho to take care of Nari all on his own, and he never accepts our help. He doesn't want to inconvenience us." Ye-Jun frowned.

"Sorry... on his own?"

"Yes, ever since Ellie died..." She frowned. "Ellie was his wife, and my best friend."

"I'm sorry about your loss." I touched her shoulder with sympathy.

"It's been many years, but her loss is still felt by all of us. I always felt bad for Nari, growing up without a mother... Ellie died giving birth to her."

"Oh..."

"Minho's been blaming himself so much. She never wanted children, but when she got pregnant, he was so happy... she couldn't bring herself to terminate. I was also pregnant with Jiho at that time, so..." A few tears made their way on Ye-Jun's cheeks, and I felt bad for getting to this conversation and making her talk about it, since it still brought so much pain.

"Life is so unfair to us sometimes, isn't it?" I looked at the playground absent-mindedly. Nari saw us and smiled brightly, waving at me. I waved back.

"Mhm. After Ellie's death... he covered himself in work, and Nari... she never had someone to call mom. She grew up around babysitters, and..."

"That's why she hates them."

"Exactly. It's really shocking to see her here with... someone new. I'm really sorry, Jieun, I'm probably overwhelming you with so much information."

"No, not at all." I put my hand on hers and squeezed. "Thank you for telling me, it's easier now to understand Nari. I also grew up without a mom."

"The world really is cruel." She started crying harder.

"Woah, what happened?" Jinki ran towards us alarmed and I took the drinks from his hands so he could comfort his wife.

"I was just telling Jieun about Ellie and how sad it is for Nari to grow up without her." She explained briefly, and Jinki hugged her tightly.

"Darling, what if Jiho sees you crying, hm?"

"But it's so sad!" She continued crying, and Jinki threw me a compassionate look and mouthed a quick "I'm sorry."

I waved my hand around and smiled compassionately.

"I'm really sorry." Ye-Jun sniffled. "I'm pregnant and my hormones are all over the place. Minho doesn't know yet, so please don't tell him."

"Sure, of course. That's amazing, Jiho is going to have a younger sibling."

"Yeah, we didn't exactly expect it 8 years after Jiho, but..." Jinki smiled and held his wife's hand tighter.

"That's certainly- sorry." I started, but got interrupted by my phone ringing. "Hello, Mr. Choi."

"Hi, Miss Park, just checking in. Is everything alright?"

"Yes, everything's fine over here. We are currently at the mall."

"Oh, is Nari playing with other kids?"

"Yes, we actually ran into her Godparents, and she's been playing with Jiho for 2 hours now."

"Must be fun as heck." He chuckled. "Are Ye-Jun and Jinki with you as well?"

"Yeah, they're here. They said hi."

"Poor you, Ye-Jun is a lot to take in for a first meeting. You're a heroine." He chuckled again. "Anyways, please send me your bank details so I can wire you some money for dinner and whatever else you've spent on Nari today."

"Oh, but-"

"No buts. Listen, I gotta get back to work and I'll try to hurry tonight, okay? I'm waiting for your details, send me a text. Bye~"

"Okay." I chuckled. "Good luck at work."

After I ended the call, I looked at Jinki and Ye-Jun, who were throwing me a curious look.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing, just..." Ye-Jun started, then looked at her husband, unsure.

"Why are you so formal with him?" Jinki asked amused. "Mr. Choi. It's so... weird to hear someone call Minho that."

"Oh, I mean... he's Nari's father, and we aren't exactly friends or anything..." I scratched my nape.

"Still, you told us to call you Jieun, and were on a first-name basis with us." Ye-Jun pointed out.

"That's different." I quickly retorted. "I met you two in other circumstances."

"You're cute." Ye-Jun laughed and pinched my cheek.

"I think it's time to get our kids, hm?" Jinki chuckled, and made a hand signal towards Jiho, who happily ran towards us holding Nari's hand.

Jiho then let go of Nari and ran quickly towards Ye-Jun and shouted "Mama!", jumping in her arms. For a split second, Nari didn't know what to do. She watched the scene with downhearted eyes, and she reminded me of myself so much, of how many times I would watch my friends jump in their parents' arms and shouting "Dad!" or "Mom!" and how sad that would make me feel.

And then, my grandmother would stand up from her bench and place on knee on the ground, opening her arms fully and shouting my name, which would make me so happy at that moment. So, so happy, I would run in full speed in her arms and crash against her body, and she would bury me in her chest and get up with me.

What I did next felt like automatism. I haven't thought it through, and I don't know what got into me, but when I saw Nari like that, watching how loved Jiho was by her mother from the sidelines, something broke in me. It felt like I was looking at myself, the lonely, parentless child from all those years ago.

I haven't thought it through.

I just got on one knee and opened my arms, and I shouted "Nari!" and smiled, urging her to come in my arms, and she looked confused for a split second, before her whole face lit up, her lips turning upwards into the biggest smile I've ever seen, and she ran towards me in full speed and jumped into my arms, and I hugged her as tight as my grandma hugged me.

I got up with her still in my arms, and damn, was she heavy. Still, I kept her up and turned my head to her once she stopped hugging my neck.

"Should we go home and eat some dinner?" I asked her, and she nodded rapidly. "Okay then, let's say bye bye to Jiho and your Godparents."

She nodded again and I put her back on the floor, watching fondly as she hugged her best friend tightly.

I tried not to ponder on Jinki and Ye-Jun's curious looks after my questionable action just now, and simply smiled and said my goodbyes as well.

~

"So, did you have fun with Jiho?" I asked Nari, who nodded enthusiastically.

"She's my best friend!"

"I'm glad to hear. What do you want to eat at home? Do you want to order something?"

"Uhm..." Nari hesitated. "Usually,... grandma makes something for me..."

"Oh. Okay. What should we cook, then?" I smiled and caressed her cheek, and she smiled brightly and jumped in front of me.

"Potato stew!"

"Okay! Let's do that, then!" I chuckled, and we went shopping together.

After shopping, we headed to the address Mr. Choi sent me. They lived in a pretty rich neighbourhood, and their apartment was large and looked really beautiful, decorated with modern furniture. I couldn't take my sweet time exploring any of it, though, as Nari was too hungry and excited to help me cook.

We cooked and ate together, and I listened to her talk about anything and everything as kids tend to do. When we were done, I told her to brush her teeth and helped her into bed. She was already quite tired after crying in the hospital and then playing for hours with her friend, so she was almost asleep by the time her head hit the pillow.

"Miss Park, is daddy not coming home...?" She asked quietly as I tucked her in and caressed her head once more.

"He is on his way, I'm sure. But I don't think daddy wants you to wait for him. He did promise you he'll spend tomorrow with you, didn't he?"

"Yes..."

"So, be a good girl and sleep, hm?"

"Miss Park... is grandma... going to be okay...?"

"Of course she is." I smiled assuringly. "After all, she has to come back and take care of you."

"When is she getting out of the hospital?"

"Oh, baby... I don't know. But we can ask daddy tomorrow if you can go visit her, okay?"

"Okay..."

I kissed Nari's forehead and watched her fall asleep quickly, then turned off the light and exited her room as quietly as I could.

Finally alone after a long day, I made my way towards the living room and sat awkwardly on the sofa in the middle of it. I didn't exactly know what to do next. Obviously, I had to wait for Mr. Choi to come home, as I couldn't possibly leave Nari all by herself, but... now what?

I was in an unfamiliar space, I already cleaned up the mess in the kitchen, and I didn't know what to do here. I didn't even know where the remote control for the TV was and there were no bookshelves in the living room so I could at least grab a book or something, and it's not like I could snoop around.

I dimmed the lights in the room to make it more comfortable on my eyes and I took out my phone – its battery almost dead – and mindlessly browsed the internet for a while.

It was for the best that Charisma cancelled tonight, after all. I noted, after noticing how late it got. Mr. Choi didn't tell me when he was coming home, and it was already way past 10PM, my usual meeting time with Charisma.

Why did he cancel? I kept pondering on it. Maybe he was busy. Maybe something unexpected came up.

Maybe he just changed his mind and didn't want to see me anymore.

That was entirely possible.

~

(A/N) I'll be going on a trip next week, so I decided to post as many chapters as possible until then, to make up for the lack of chapters during the trip hahah

So, here we have another update.

I hope you enjoyed it!

Love,

Storm