Every day after that was a new adventure, how was Ara's body going to react when he smiled at her this time? Was it going to go into overdrive again and prevent her fingers from working? Or was she going to lose her breath and have a heart attack?

She had somehow figured out that Eunji's mother was absent in both their lives, just by asking vague questions but she didn't know if she was just temporarily not there or permanently. The family picture that Eunji had to draw that consisted of just Jimin and her was another indication.

"Ara? Ara!" a small voice brought her back to reality and she looked down to see Eunji tugging at her long skirt.

"Yes?" she crouched down to be at eye level with her.

"Do you like my drawing?" she held up a piece of paper on which she had drawn a girl with long hair who was wearing a black shirt and a long orange skirt.

"It's gorgeous Eunji! Is it you?"

"No," she scrunched her nose, shaking her head, "it's you!"

"Really?" Ara grinned, touched that she put so much detail into it, because she realised that, yes, that was what she was wearing, and on her ears were earrings that mimicked her own. "Wow I look so much prettier here," she teased and Eunji laughed.

"No! You look prettier in real life!"

"Do I?"

She nodded excitedly, "I'm going to go and draw daddy now." And then she ran off. Leaving Ara to stare down at the paper in her hand, one which had a girl on the right, clouds that looked like they could double as sheep if you just stuck four legs under them, and of course the sun drawn into the top left corner.

She knew she was going to cherish it.

--

The weekend finally rolled around and Ara was asked to visit the library and find some books for the preschool because they were lacking in them. The librarian was helpful, naming a few books to her, which she took note off, and then she started leading her to the children's section. It was her first time in that library, which was quite large and she was glad the librarian had offered to show her around without her having to ask.

"Daddy! Can we get this one! Please! Brooke was telling me Princess Amelia comes back in this one!" a familiar voice spoke and Ara looked onward to see a little girl running along the bookshelf to an older man who was holding a few picture books. She couldn't help the smile that appeared on her lips, the librarian's voice now turned inaudible as she watched him look through picture book after picture book, picking some out for his daughter.

"Was that helpful?" Ara heard the librarian say, breaking her trance, "I hope you got to think of something you would like to take back to your school."

"Huh? Oh, yeah, thank you," her words came out in a rush and when she turned around she saw Jimin looking over his shoulder. When their eyes met he sent her a small smile.

Ara felt her cheeks burn up, looking away to the librarian and nodding when she said she was going to get back to her desk. Taking a deep breath, she let her gaze fall back on Jimin. She couldn't pretend she hadn't seen him and walk away now.

His eyes were still fixed on her, watching as she slowly walked over to them.

"Daddy! What abo-" Eunji's voice cut off when she followed Jimin's gaze, eyes widening when she saw Ara.

"Ara?" this took her out of her daze and she looked down to see Eunji toddle over to her. "Ara!"

"Hey little one," she grinned, reaching down and pulling her into her arms, carrying her.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, waving the books she was holding in either hand excitedly.

"I'm actually here looking for books for school," Ara poked her nose, to which she giggled.

"Daddy ran out of bedtime stories so that's why we're here," she pointed to Jimin, who laughed.

"Yeah, because you always seem to get an energy boost when we're about to sleep," he said, walking over and joining the two of them.

"Oh! Ara! Since you're here, can I ask you something?" she asked suddenly and she nodded.

"Of course!"

"Can I ask you why all the kids in these stories have dragons but daddy won't even let me meet one?"

Ara looked over at Jimin, who was staring at his child, shaking his head slowly.

"Why didn't you just tell her?" she asked, looking at him and he raised an eyebrow.

"Tell her what?"

"That the dragons only visit little human girls on their tenth birthday."

"Huh? Oh, well, I didn't know the exact date, I'm a boy, you see so I never met a dragon," he faked a pout, making Ara's heart skip, but she kept her composure.

"Really?" Eunji chirped, "so that means," she pulled out her fingers, counting on them, "four, five, six... seven more years!"

"You're right," she grinned, "In seven years you'll finally be able to meet a dragon! What would you call it?"

"Hmm... I haven't really thought of a name for the dragon," she tilted her head, thinking, "Maybe Coco! Yeah Coco!"

"Cocoa? Like the chocolate?"

She giggled, shaking her head, "No, silly, like Coco Chanel."

"How do you know what Coco Chanel is?" her smile was broadening, just seeing how excited she looked talking about the dragon.

"Daddy," she pointed at Jimin.

"Oh, daddy wears Coco Chanel?" Ara asked and he shook his head.

"No! She just came across a magazine we had at home, I don-"

"Hmm, okay," she pretended not to believe him and he widened his eyes in defence.

"Really-"

Ara waved it off and looked at the book on the top of Jimin's pile, "Your choice is pretty... unique."

"These are for her," he defended himself again, making both her and Eunji laugh.

"Your dad secretly likes princess stories, doesn't he?" she whispered to Eunji and she nodded.

"I think he likes them more than me," she wriggled out of her grip and ran to the table to sit and read her book.

"I do not," he insisted, "I am yet to find a story where the princess doesn't need a man to save him, because she's strong enough on her own."

Ara shook her head, "You're not going to find one, I'm always on the lookout for a book that doesn't teach little girls to rely on men to save them."

"That's exactly the message our daughters need, that in life you need a man."

"How about," she walked over to the shelf and pulled out a book, "this one had a girl as the hero."

He raised an eyebrow and took it into his hands, "I like that."

Ara grinned, looking around, "I should probably get back to work."

"Okay, see you around," he gave her one of his warm smiles.

"Bye Eunji," she waved at her and she beamed back, she saw Jimin's smile in it and it made her heart melt.

"Bye Ara!"

--

It was finally Ara's day off of work at the school and she decided to use it to catch up on some errands and do some groceries. After posting a few of the letters she had to send to her University (they had asked her to write a testimonial about how amazing they were) as well as some cards for her family's birthdays, she headed to the grocery store.

First on her list was bread, milk, cheese, and after all the normal, boring food, she thought it might be fun to bake a cake for school, the other teachers had been super nice and welcoming and the little kids were a delight. Turning into the baking aisle, she scanned the shelves for some food colouring, deciding on baking her signature red velvet cupcakes.

"Ara?" a now familiar voice called and she turned around, immediately meeting his warm eyes.

"Jimin, hi," her voice was rushed, breath knocked out right from under her. He was dressed in a white button up shirt, just loosely tucked into his black jeans, coupled with a pair of black combat boots. His russet brown hair just messily styled into a middle parting and his eyes the normal chocolate abyss she lost herself in time and time again.

He then did something which didn't ever fail to make her heart flutter; he smiled. His whole face was pulled upward, his eyes shrinking but never lost its glisten.

"Making a cake?" he asked, looking over at her basket.

"You as well?" she asked, looking at his.

"Yeah, well I'm going to attempt it, it's Eunji's birthday on Sunday and she said she really wanted me to make one."

"Is it? Really?" she was surprised, she hadn't seen her name in the birthday book for the week.

"Yeah," he grinned, "The last time I made a cake was in seventh grade for my mom's birthday, God knows that didn't go well."

Ara laughed, "Let me guess, you burnt it."

"If you're talking about the baking paper, the tray and the cake, then yes."

"That's an achievement," she nodded, and he returned it.

"I pride myself on it for sure."

"Do you want some help?"

"Huh?"

"I mean, unless you trust yourself not to burn the oven this time."

He chuckled to himself, to which she just stopped and stared. How could one make even chuckling look majestic?

"I would love that," he said, a genuine smile on his face.

"Should we buy the right ingredients to start with then?" she asked, reaching over and taking the bag of sugar he had inside and putting it back on the shelf, "We need caster sugar."

"Isn't sugar still sugar though?"

"No, apparently there's a difference. I don't know what the difference is, but they're different."

"Alrighty then," he turned to the shelves, taking his phone out, "It says here that I need-"

"What type of cake are you making?"

"Eunji's favourite is red velvet."

"That's perfect!" Ara exclaimed, "That's my specialty."

"Okay so I'm guessing I won't burn the house with you helping."

"Definitely not."

--

While they were shopping for extra milk, extra cream, extra sugar Jimin went on to tell Ara about how he was setting up the birthday party. This was the first year Eunji was having friends over and he wanted to make it 'a night to remember'. After teasing him for his cheesiness, telling him she's only turning three, he shrugged and said he still wanted her to have an amazing day.

Ara woke up the next morning an hour earlier than normal, rushing to the bathroom straight away, determined to make herself look as nice as possible. She had agreed to spend the day at his place, baking with him while Eunji was on a play date and she was really excited. It was going to be her first time seeing him out of school and not coincidentally.

It didn't take her a while to get to his place, seeing as he literally lived right across from her. That's when she realised it was pretty weird they hadn't run into each other more often, not living that far away from each other.

She had picked a brown dress shirt and some black pants, hoping that it wouldn't look too fancy or too casual. Her makeup was light because her friends had advised her not to overdo it, just because you can doesn't mean you should.

Ringing the doorbell, she bit her lip as she waited for him to open the door. When the door opened, however, he was standing there in a loose striped shirt and some faded jeans, but with the hand free from holding the door handle he was wiping the back of his head with a towel. That was when Ara realised he was fresh from the shower. And man did he look good.

"Come in," he smiled at her, one of common courtesy, but with everything going on she couldn't calm her beating heart.

"Dropped Eunji off?" she asked, looking around, trying her hardest not to watch as he rubbed his towel against his hair, how did it look so perfect even when it was this wet?

"Yep, we're safe here," he joked and rushed over to quickly tidy up some of the toys lying on the living room floor.

"What are you thinking of icing on the top?" putting her bag onto the couch, Ara walked around to wash her hands at the kitchen sink.

"A tiara," he disappeared into a room before coming back out again a short while after, absent a towel. "It's meant to be princess-themed."

"Such an original idea," she looked through the cupboard for a mixing bowl before Jimin pulled one out and placed it on the bench. "Thank you."

"She'd been asking for a princess party since she could speak," he shrugged, "thought it was only fair."

Ara nodded, covering the smile she seemed to always be wearing around him.

"Should we get started?"

"Okay, what do you want me to do?"

"Oh, so I'm going to be the main baker?"

"Well, I mean, there's always the option of me baking... and burning the house."

She laughed, "Pass the butter."

--

"I didn't know baking was this messy," he said, blowing some of the flour from his hand off, and when Ara turned around to look at him, it sprayed over her face.

"Oops."

That was when she did the same, puffing off some flour into his face and he fell back, coughing as he waved the air in front of him.

"Oops," she raised her shoulders innocently and he shook his head, biting his lip.

"Looks like the kitchen's about to get messier," he said before grabbing a small pinch of it again, sprinkling it over her head.

"You did not just-"

"And what are you-"

Before he could finish, she took another handful and slowly scattered it over his head, "You alright there?"

He was motionless, staring back at her with dead eyes, but it didn't faze her. "You have something there," pointing at his face and he nodded, smudging a bit onto her cheek.

"You too."

He didn't seem to realise the trance he had just put her in, however, she stood there immobile just after his touch alone.

But it did hit him, a bit late. He cleared his throat, turning back to the bench, "We should probably finish the cake."

--

Jimin had mastered icing by the time they were finishing the last row of the tiara.

"Wow I'm a natural."

"Eh, could have been better."

"What are you on about, it's amazing."

"Okay, okay for a first attempt, it's pretty good."

"See, it's amazing."

"Hmm, yeah, yeah," she laughed, looking at the time. "When did you say Eunji was coming back?"

"4."

"We should probably hide this massive thing then," she grabbed the cake by the platform and lifted it.

"Let's put it on the highest shelf, she can't reach so she won't be able to see it."

Right and I can totally reach it, she thought, looking up. As she struggled to lift it, she regretted picking up the cake in the first place.

Why didn't you just let Jimin do it?

Before she could turn around and pass it to him to put it up, however, she felt a set of strong hands cover her and push it upwards. It took her a while to realise that it was him pressed against her back, and his breath on her neck. She could feel his heat radiating off on her and this made her hold her breath, like an idiot, even after he had let go, putting the cake on the shelf.

Ara slowly turned around, which, of course, was a terrible idea. For as soon as she did, she was faced with his chest.

Right in front of her face.

Looking up, she saw him up close, his eyes, his nose, and his lips in all their glory. He truly was a work of art, she had to admit.

"Uhm," she timidly mumbled, waiting for him to look down and once he did, he jumped back.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't-"

She let out an awkward laugh, "It's okay, I should probably get going, Eunji's going to be here soon, I'm guessing."

"No, it's-" but the doorbell ringing cut him off.

"See, she's here," she started to walk to the door, "Now how are we going to explain the reason I'm here?"

Grabbing onto the doorbell, Ara twisted and opened it. "Eun-"

She stopped talking when she realised the girl standing at the doorstep with running mascara, messy hair and ripped clothes, wasn't actually Eunji.

"Okay tell her-" Jimin also froze when his eyes lay on the woman in front of her. "Seolhyun?"