•••

10 pm.

"I'm going to bed, I can't stay awake anymore," Joonha yawns and stretches his body after dozing off and waking up a few times on the sofa. "Sleep tight and have a good night," she tells him, with care, and I tell him the same words. "Have a good night too," he smiles and leaves, not bothering Choco who is already sleeping.

I set my eyes back on my book to continue reading but feel y/n come closer. Since I am sticking to the promise I made to myself earlier, I do not pay attention to her, but she already makes it hard by leaning towards me and resting her head on my shoulder. "What are you reading?" her soft voice triggers some weakness, but I fight against it and ignore her.

I fix my glasses on my nose, and she turns her head to look at me as I am still able to resist. Noticing that I am not responding, she does not say anything but puts her head back on my shoulder like an adorable baby, and I internally smile.

The time goes by, the movie keeps playing, and she remains quiet, which already makes me regret it.

She moves away to give me space, and I cannot even read any lines at all anymore, I only run my eyes over them.

"Are you really mad about what I said?" she quietly asks, and I lose. I bite the tip of my tongue and heavily breathe out. "I don't know. Do you think I am?" I gaze at her, and the look she gives me with her pretty eyes draws me in. "Yes..."

I cannot even hold back from smiling, so I avert my eyes from her. "I'm doing what you threatened to do."

"What? I threatened but didn't do it," she now calms down and leans towards me, and she wraps her arms around my waist and sneaks her head under my arm to rest it on my chest. "Push me away if I annoy you but not to get revenge," she mumbles in my nightshirt, and I smile but do not keep my hands on the book. I bring one down to her throat and cup it, and I rub my thumb over her jawline. "You deserve to be punished a little. I cannot be so tolerant all the time."

"But you tried to make me do something bad, this is your fault," she puts the blame on me. "Cheating to make your man win shouldn't be something bad. I'd cheat for you, I wouldn't care."

"If someone else was playing instead of Joonha, I'd have cheated, but I didn't want to do that to him," she makes a good point, loving my son way too much to even betray him for a game. "Hm, good excuse. I let it slip because of that."

"Also, you never pretended to have lost so that I'd win a game...so...I kinda wanted to take revenge for that," I feel her cheeks rise as her lips curved up, and I chuckle. "Stop. Otherwise, I make you beg for my attention."

"No, you won't," she moves her head up to the crook of my neck and presses a kiss on it, but I do not let go of her throat. "I might. I love to hear you beg for me," I close my eyes at the pleasure she gives me with soft kisses on my sensitive neck. "Especially when you try as hard as you can and make me feel so weak."

"I make you feel weak?" she only points this out and looks up at me, so I bring my eyes down to hers and slide my hand over her back. "You know you do."

"I'm glad I do," she grins and completely cuddles up against me, but I drop my book next to me and pull her in to get her on my lap. "Come here. Don't half hug me," I hold her close, and she giggles but puts her arms around my waist and completely rests her body on mine.

— Next day —

Sunday, December 10th, 2023.

9:40 am.

'YOUR P.O.V'

"Good morning," I smile at Joonha, who just woke up from a long night, and he walks up to us in a pair of sweatpants, with small eyes and messy hair. "Good mor— Wow," he clears his throat after his husky voice cracked. "Fuck, I need to drink," he coughs and joins us at the table, but before sitting down, he drops a kiss on my head.

"Do you want orange juice or a hot chocolate?" I gaze up at him, and he sits down next to me, right in front of his dad, who is on my left. "Orange juice, please," he smiles and grabs a banana, so I stand up and go get his drink.

"Did you sleep well?" Jungkook asks him. "Way too well. I haven't slept so well in days," he says good and delighting words. "Your face shows it all," he laughs at his morning one that makes him look like a baby. "Thanks, dad. I feel even more handsome."

"You are handsome. Look at me, you can only be handsome with such a dad," he exudes some arrogance to boost his confidence, and I go back to them to put the glass down in front of Joonha. "Thanks, you're the best," he swallows some of the cold juice and gets hydrated. "I knew you'd tell me that, dad, and I agree," he smiles, broadly, and we all start to eat breakfast.

"Seeing my gaming setup broke my heart though, I miss playing so much," he bites into the banana he grabbed but dive it in some whipped cream I made for him since both Jungkook and I wanted to have salty food. "Why don't you play a bit with y/n after eating?"

"Because you're gonna be alone, and I wanna spend time with you too," he sweetly responds, and I smile but check Jungkook's reaction, and I see nothing but softness. "We can play video games here if you want. You must have games we can play all together."

"I do, there's many of it, and I want to do this now, so we're gonna play after breakfast," he loves the idea and plans on not doing anything else. "Are you both going to play against me again?"

"No, this time, the Jeon's will play against her," Joonha gives me a teasing look, but I do not show any bother. "I'm fine with it. I'll beat you both, so no problem."

"Sure. I bet that you'll be crawling into my team after one match," he underestimates me as if I was bad, but I remind him of something very important. "What if you lost all your skills at every game after two years? Uh? Maybe you're not as good as you used to be."

"I'd never lose my skills," he shakes his head, rebuffing this possibility while munching on his banana. "I'm way too good for that."

"We'll see," I smile and cannot wait to be sharing some time like we used to do before. I miss just sitting down next to him and watching him play video games, rage, and have fun with his friends.

•••

8:40 pm.

"I'll text you once I'm back at the dorm, alright?" he puts his beanie and hood on, wearing one of the expensive hoodies his mother bought him. "Yes," I pretend to be okay with it so that he does not feel even worse, but he looks deep into my eyes and smiles. "I'll be back soon. Alright? Don't even think I'm gonna give you a long break without annoying you," he wraps his arms around me to hold me tight, and I hug him back.

"Here's the food for a few days," Jungkook comes with the bag full of home-cooked food in Tupperware, and Joonha grabs it with one hand. "Thank you, dad. I'll eat everything and try not to empty it in two days."

"That'd be great to keep it so that you have a good meal every day of the week," he chuckles, but I enjoy the last seconds in Joonha's embrace, who can only hug me with one arm. "I'll do my best," he smiles. "Come on, I gotta go. I love you both," he kisses my temple for the last time and strokes my cheek. "We love you too," I tell him, and he steps back. "And I love my big baby boy as well," he pets him to never forget his favorite, and he drops a kiss on his head. "Tell us how it went with Iseul when you can."

"I will," he assures us, and he peeks at me. "I know you're gonna miss me, but enjoy the peace while it lasts," he attempts to make me feel less sad about his departure, and I nod but hide my emotions inside. "See you, little brat," he squeezes the tip of my nose. "And see you, grandpa," he waves at his dad and opens the door, but Jungkook tongue his inner cheek. "I'm going to kill you, so you better run."

"Bye bye!" he flees away and hurries to get in his car, and we both step out but hold Choco near us to make sure he does not run towards him. I swallow the heaviness in my throat, and I watch Joonha drive backwards to leave the garage. Once the car is in front of us, he rolls the window down and waves at us. "See you!"

Jungkook answers for us both, we both wave back at him, and he drives away.

I go back inside the house and fight against my own mind to not cry again. I am tired of always doing this and causing Jungkook to have to cheer me up and stand my sensitivity.

It is just that Joonha has helped me so much back when I was going through hell, he was always there, he never let me down, always defended me, believed me, he would always brighten up my mood, and I always relied on him when I was not close enough to Jungkook, so it is hard to see him go and not be near.

As if he knew that I am having a hard time, Jungkook comes closer and back hugs me. He presses his lips on my ear to give me several kisses, and I smile. "Let's draw together," he turns me around, so I jump in his arms, and he carries me. "Draw what?"

"Choco, and we'll give it to Joonha for Christmas so that he can have him near all the time," he manages to make my smile not fade away, and he brings me to the room, which used to be my bedroom but turned into a drawing one where all the art we both have done is kept, with paintings, drawings, and all the tools needed.

"Do you think this is a good idea?" he asks me and enters the room, and I nod. "Yes, I love it," I go back on the floor once he puts me down, and I follow what he is doing. "Do you have pictures of you when you were a baby or child?" 

"I do, why?" he opens the sketchbook and sits down but directs his body towards mine to make me understand I can get on his lap, so I do not think twice before doing it. "What if we draw you when you were a baby, and draw Joonha when he was a baby to compare you both and see the resemblance?"

"Aw, that's actually a great idea. I'd love to do that too," he smiles and shows delight, and I kiss him. "We'll do that when the Choco painting is done."

"Yes, let's do one thing at a time," he agrees, and makes us start with the sketches first.

— Two weeks later —

Wednesday, December 20th, 2023.

10 am.

'JUNGKOOK'S P.O.V'

"Jungkook," y/n calls my name as I am reading a book on the sofa. Not hearing what I want her to call me, I playfully ignore her. "Jungkook," she tells my name again, so I wait for her to try for the third time.

"Daddy," she guesses the right word, and I turn my head but smile at her, who is sitting at the table. "Yes, baby?"

She scoffs but gestures me to move towards her. "Come here, please. I need your opinion."

I close my book and stand up, and I walk towards her. I get right behind her and lean over to lay one hand over the table, and on the back of her chair. "What do you think about this?" she shows me her drawing. "It's gorgeous. I love the eyes a lot," I tell her the truth about. "Really?"

"Yes, your drawings are always amazing, baby," I gaze down at her, and she smiles. "Thank you, I'm happy you think so." 

I pat the back of her head and bend over to press a kiss temple. "Stop doubting so much, you're amazing."

"But I always find flaws everywhere, it's not as good as I'd want it to be," she does not have the confidence I wish she would have. "You find flaws because you're the one drawing it. My best students always tell me the same, yet, they do such amazing work."

She does not say anything, so I take another look at her drawing while holding the side of her throat to caress it, but the sound of a car parking in front of the house warns me about what y/n does not know about.

She does not even react as if she was too deep into her activity to believe this is someone other than the neighbors, but I slide my hand away from her skin and put it on the back of her chair while impatiently waiting for her to see him and know what is happening.

I keep quiet about it, making sure this remains a surprise until the end, and without expecting it, I see Joonha's picture pop up on her phone screen to show that he is calling her. She picks up right away, and I peek at the front door.

"Hello?" she smiles and puts her pencil down. "Yes, why?" she seems confused, but Joonha knocks on the door, so I take care of walking up to it while hearing her talk to him. "I did eat with your dad, what about you?"

I open the door to see my son, and we smile at each other, but I step back and let him in. "Isn't that my hoodie you're wearing right now?" he startles her, and as soon as they make eye contact, she gasps, drops her phone on the table, and runs towards him, and Choco suddenly wakes up to do the same.