a few months later

"Good morning," Jimin's mumble was quiet when Ara woke up to see him staring at her, propped up on his elbow, resting his head in the palm of his hand.

"Jimin!" she gasped, sitting up in bed, "What about Eunji?"

He smiled softly, chuckling as he leaned in closer to her, "Relax, she's been at Min Hee's place since yesterday, she's taking Eunji to see her parents, my auntie and uncle."

Ara furrowed her eyebrows, "Why didn't you tell me that sooner! If I had known, I would have taken yo-"

"Huh?" he smirked, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her back to lie down on the bed, "You would have what?"

"Hmm, nothing," she grinned and nuzzled her nose with his, "I love you."

"Yeah," he nodded, kissing her again, while hugging her back tighter, "I love you more than you can imagine."

"I know," she pulled back and looked him in the eye, pinching his cheek, "You're the cutest."

"Really? The cutest? Are you sure? I mean, have you seen my daughter?" his smile was cheesy, as he traced his thumb across her bottom lip and down her jaw.

"Oh you got me there," she shook her head and pulled him closer, and bringing his lips on hers again.

--

"So you, literally, don't have to look after Eunji all of today either?"

"Mhm," he nodded, sitting at Ara's kitchen bench, watching as she slowly mixed an egg in a bowl along with other ingredients to make an omelette.

"I'm stuck with you? All day?"

"Okay," he stood up, full displeasure showing on his face, "Offence taken."

She shrugged, "I mean, what would we do? Eunji was my favourite part of this relationship."

"You're totally forgetting we're the same age, just because I'm a dad," he crossed his arms over his chest, with a pout, "I can be fun."

She giggled, and honestly she often did forget his age. But sometimes it wasn't because she assumed he was older, it was the opposite. Even now, standing with his golden oversized hoodie, the one he left at Ara's place too many times to count that it just became another addition to her closet which she wore when she missed him. Paired with black skinny jeans and hair that wasn't styled but through which his fingers had been run a few times, hanging over his forehead, he sure reminded her of the boys during her high school times.

Looking back down to slip the omelette onto the plate as it was done being fried, before turning the stove off and walking over to him.

"Well then," she tilted her head at him, "Mr Fun, what will we be doing today?"

"Okay, you see, I hadn't thought that far yet," he walked past her and sat at the bench again, "Is this for me?"

"It's for us, doofus," she sat on the stool next to him and cut a piece for him, picking it up with the fork and feeding it to him, "What's it taste like?"

"Mmm," he turned to her and wrapped his arms around his waist, pulling her closer, "Heaven?"

"Gross," she leaned back, "Grease ball, I can't believe I didn't notice how bad your breath stinks."

"Excuse you," he said defensively, "I was kissing you all morning, maybe it's your breath that stinks."

Her mouth opened, "How could you just! Say that?"

Grinning, he tilted his head to look at her, "Why? You like it?"

"Oh my gosh, Jimin, just hurry up and eat so you can get changed."

"Get changed? Why would I get changed?"

"So we can go out! We're not gonna stay home all day, that's so boring."

"Why not?" he whined, "I just wanna stay home with you Ara."

"Too bad," she stuffed another piece of the omelette into his mouth, "We're going out."

--

"When you said 'out', this was what you meant?" he asked, as the two of them walked through the entrance of his gallery, arm in arm.

"Do you have a better idea?"

"Well any idea is better than work."

"Hmm, true," she nodded, "But have you ever been able to just come in to observe the pieces-"

"Ara, I've seen all the pieces in the gallery, nothing comes in unless I approve it first-"

"The people-"

"Huh?"

"How people react to the pieces, the exhibitions, or to just enjoy the gallery without having so many things to do?"

She thought back to all the times he would complain over the phone about how he was so busy at work and how he had so many minute tasks that he had to complete every day that it became just too much.

"No," he admitted, "Never been able to do that."

"Well that's why we're here," they walked up to the reception desk, "Now do your thing and get us in."

"What?"

"Tell them you're the curator so we can go in," she whispered and he shook his head.

"Uhm, no, that's not happening, you've got to pay for tickets if you're making this happen."

Her jaw dropped, "Jimin!"

He just shook his head and shrugged, "Should we just get going then?"

"Two tickets please," she said to the receptionist, glaring at Jimin.

--

"The artist of this painting wouldn't let us hang their art here," Jimin explained when they were on the second level.

"What? Why? It's gorgeous."

"He hadn't shown anyone the last addition of this four-part series, and he wasn't planning on doing so. But we had hung the other three up in our gallery for every annual exhibition and this year's would have felt so incomplete without it," he sighed, "It took so much to convince him to let us do it."

Ara grinned at Jimin, patting his head, "I'm proud of you, honey."

"It really wasn't much though, he ju-"

"I don't mean just for that," she stopped walking, tugging on his arm that he, too, stopped and turned to her, "I mean for everything."

"For everything?"

"You're doing this all alone, working almost seven days a week every week, looking after Eunji, all this you're doing by yourself, and you never complain, not ever. I'm so proud of you."

"It's not-"

"Stop trying to discredit yourself," she took his hands in hers, "You go through so much at work and yet manage to put on a smile for your daughter, you manage to pick her up from school and cook her food, you manage to watch TV with her on weekends and take her out to have fun, all while I know you're just dying to have a break. I'm so proud of you for pushing through, I know it's so hard for you."

He smiled, tears threatening to fall from his eyes, he leaned in to give her a hug.

"And I've only been able to go through it all with your help. I love you, Ara, thank you so much."

"I love you more sweetheart," she whispered into his hoodie.

--

"And we went to the beach! The water was so cold! But it was okay because grandma had a warm shower so it warmed me right up!" Eunji was glowing after her trip out with Min Hee and Jimin couldn't stop grinning at the happy kid in front of him.

"What about the food? Is grandma a good cook?"

"Grandpa cooked for me!" she chirped, "And his japchae was delicious! Daddy, you need to learn from him because I want to eat that for the rest of my life!"

"Woah, easy there tiger," he tickled her stomach, "What about my food then, huh? Are you saying I'm a bad cook?"

They were both lying down on the bed, but she was in a fit of giggles as he kept tickling her.

"No! Daddy, you're a great cook! Stop tickling me!" she managed to say as she was laughing, "Please!"

He chuckled, finally stopping and hugging her to pull her closer to him, wrapping his arms around her, he brushed his forehead against hers.

"Well I'm glad you're back, baby, I've missed you."

"I missed you too, daddy!" she cheered.

"Really? Because it sounded like you had a great time without me."

"Well," her eyes shot up, as if she was thinking, "We did, but if would have been a lot better with you there!"

"Hmm, I'm sure," he smiled, staring into his daughter's eyes.

And then Ara's words were echoing through his mind

You're doing this all alone, working almost seven days a week every week, looking after Eunji, all this you're doing by yourself.

In that moment he wanted to ask Ara, he wanted to tell Ara, he didn't want to do this alone anymore.

He wanted Ara to be a part of it all.

But that decision wasn't just his to be made anymore and he knew that.

"Hey, baby," he said to Eunji now, and she blinked up at him, her large eyes that he adored so much.

"Yes daddy?"

"What do you think of Ara?"

"I love her! She's the best teacher in the whole world!"

"Baby, I don't mean as a teacher. What if Ara became more than just your teacher? What if..."

"What are you trying to say, daddy?"

"I want to ask her to marry me, love."

"What?"

"We get along together, don't we? And you guys do too, right?"

"Do I have to give up my bedroom?" she asked, in the most genuine tone and the most serious expression. So solemn that it made Jimin burst out laughing.

"No, honey, no of course not."

"Then yay!" she cheered, "I was waiting for you to ask her, what took you so long, gosh daddy."

"Excuse me?" he asked, trying to look confused but the smile spreading on his lips couldn't be stopped.

I'm going to ask her to marry me.

--

"Okay, what's this urgent thing you need me to do?" Ara puffed as she walked into the entrance of Jimin's house, taking her shoes off and hanging her jacket on the coat rack, "I was in the middle of my ten hour Netflix binge."

Jimin shook his head, putting his apron back on and walking to the stove, "I need your help making the red velvet cake," he motioned to the oven, "It's not working!"

"Honey," she reached over and turned the switch on at the wall, "It wasn't even on."

"Oh," his face fell, "I'm so dumb, I've been trying to get this thing working for the past half hour."

"You're lucky I literally live across the street," she grinned, pecking his cheek as he closed the door of the oven because she thought the pout on his lips looked too cute.

But before she could take a step back, he caught her waist, not letting her get away.

"Jimin," she hissed, looking around, "Eu-"

"She's in the bath," he looked up at the ceiling, "She'll be busy for the next half hour or so?"

"Still!"

He sighed, taking the oven mit off his hand and dragging Ara from the kitchen with his hand in hers.

"Sorry for calling you all the way here when that was literally the easiest thing to do."

"It's okay, honey, I'm just across the street."

"About that," he looked down at their hands in each other's his thumbs rubbing the back of her hands.

"Yeah?" she leaned down to find his eyes, "Is everything okay?"

"Ara, I love you."

"Jimin... what-"

"Okay, shush," he surprised her by saying, "You can't say anything until I finish, alright?"

She nodded, eyebrows furrowed.

"I love you so much, you've made me a much better person, a better father. I wouldn't know where me and Eunji would be if it wasn't for you. You were able to open my heart and while I used to be afraid of falling in love, I just couldn't stop falling for you. My heart has never been happier than it is now, knowing I have a beautiful woman who loves me despite all my insecurities, all my scars, all my flaws. Ara, you said I was doing this alone, you said I was going through life alone, but I don't want to anymore. I want to do this all with you, I want to live my life with you. Ara, will you marry me?"

And there, in that living room where Ara helped Jimin make a red velvet cake for the first time, where Jimin hosted a birthday party for his daughter and all the kids proceeded to shoot Ara with their toy guns, and where Ara met his parents on Christmas, Jimin kneeled down and pulled out a small box.

Also there, where Ara, Jimin and Eunji spent countless days and nights watching all the children movies on the planet, where Ara and Jimin had shared so many of their most special nights and where Ara and Jimin had spent their most beautiful mornings, Ara burst into tears as she nodded, over and over again, throwing her arms over Jimin and showering his forehead, his cheeks, his neck and his lips with kisses.

For anyone else this would have been a hard decision. Because not only was she agreeing to be Jimin's wife, she was agreeing to be a mom.

But there was no other question she would have said yes to faster.

"Really?" he was now in tears, relief and happiness coming over in waves, "Really?"

"Of course, knucklehead, I love you so much."

That was when they heard the bathroom door click and Ara hurriedly wiped at her tears, waiting for Eunji to walk in and start talking about something she had thought up in the bath, as she usually did.

That wasn't what she did, though, instead she ran up to Ara and hugged her waist, or as high as she could, "Did daddy ask you yet? Did daddy ask you yet?"

Ara crouched down to be at eye level with her, but looked up at Jimin, a questioning expression on her face.

He just shrugged innocently.

"Did daddy ask you to be my mommy yet?" she asked, and that was when Ara started crying again, reaching out to hug Eunji.

"Yes love," she let out a small laugh when Jimin crouched down as well, watching them both in admiration, his own eyes glossy and tears ready to fall as well.

That was his whole world right there.

Right in front of him.

Hey guys! Thank you for reading this story, it was so short but long because I took so long to update, so if you've been here regardless of that, thank you so much it really means a lot!

Please go on over to my other stories if you liked this! But if not, thank you so much for reading to the end of this and I hope you all have a great day/night ahead! :)