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CHAPTER 22
⸻ HONEY
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"TAEHYUNG, MY SON! How are you?" My dad taunts, stretching out his arm to my husband for a hug.

My parents had gotten back from the restaurant, all exhausted and tired. I prepared the dinner with Sara while Taehyung and Dan were playing games. We did our best although neither of us actually mastered in cooking.

"Appa! Yes, I'm good. How have you been?" he greets and grins happily.

I have never realised how close their relationship are. It is such a rare but adoring sight to look at.

"Of course, I'm great as always, son. How was your flight? Did you have a good rest?" My dad smiles as he pats his shoulder, walking towards the dining table together.

"It was good, and yes, I did have a good rest," he answers politely, still smiling.

"Both of you, stop talking and let's eat," My mom interrupts and gestures them to join us for dinner after preparing with the foods and cutlery.

•••

"So now that you both are here.. Mia, why don't you take Taehyung around in Busan tomorrow?" My mom suddenly suggests, causing me to shoot up an eyebrow.

I glance over at Taehyung and see his eyes sparkle at the suggestion.

"I thought you wanted me to go back to Seoul by tomorrow morning?"

"Why would you? He is here now. You two haven't spent time in Busan together so why not bring and show him your favourite places?" she insists and I sigh, giving into her words.

"Alright, fine. Taehyung, are you okay with that?" I question, turning my head to him.

He clears his throat as he seems excited to answer but before he could reply, my mom interrupts.

"You called your husband by his name?" she asks, her eyes widen a fraction as if she couldn't believe what she hears.

I blink rapidly. "Uh, yeah? What's wrong with that?"

"Don't you two have a nickname for each other? What about you, Taehyung? What do you call her?"

He looks surprised as he bites his lip, wondering if he should tell them. "Uh.. darling?"

I shut my eyes close in embarrassment as I take a deep breath, my cheeks flare like a flaming heat. I could feel all eyes are on me, making me feel more embarrassed.

"Noona, that isn't fair for Taehyung hyung. You should call him something like that too," Dan suddenly interferes.

"I agree with Dan. You know, eomma, after Taehyung oppa arrived, she was being ru—"

"That's enough, Sara," I fake a smile at her, sending death glares. It actually annoyed me at how observant she was being.

"Why is he the only one making effort for your marriage? Why aren't you doing the same, Mia?" My mom squints her eyes, pressing her lips into a thin line with a disappointed look.

"That's mean. I contribute a lot in our marriage, okay? I do the laundry, dishes, well sometimes if I'm not lazy, I mop the floor," I defend myself.

"I meant the name basis, my daughter. I think you're the only wife who calls her husband by his name," she fires back.

"If it means so much to you, alright then. I'll work on it," I sigh, frustrated.

My mom smiles proudly, nodding her head. "Good, good,"

The atmosphere turned silent until we finished with our dinner. All of us go our separate ways except Taehyung and I stay in the kitchen to wash the dishes. Taehyung offered to help in which gradually I let him.

"So.. have you given it a thought?" he starts off as he nudges my arm with a cocky smirk on his face. "How about baby? Honey? Taetae?"

"Why can't I just call you Taehyung? It's literally your name," I groan in annoyance.

"You can't, darling,"

"Alright fine, what do you want me to call you?"

He smirks mischievously, leaning close to my ear as his breath tickling my neck. "How about daddy?"

I widen my eyes and turn to him before smacking his shoulder. "Are you crazy?"

He laughs, bemused by my flustered reaction. "I was joking but honey sounds sweet. I would love if you call me that,"

"Honey? Mhmm, yeah okay," I nod in affirmative.

"Let me hear you say it," he softly orders.

"Why?"

"I just wanted to hear your voice calling me honey,"

I inhale a deep breath before muttering out the word emotionless. "Honey,"

"Say it with more passion. Like.. okay, I'll back hug you and you acted surprised and say honeyyyy," he explains giddily with his adorable little voice.

His hands instantaneously stop from washing the dishes to wrap it around my waist. I couldn't help but finding this little scenario to be funny and decided to play along.

"Honeyyyy," the words roll off my tongue exactly the same energy and the familiar feeling of butterflies swarming in my stomach.

He giggles cutely and presses a soft kiss on my cheek. "That's more like it,"

•••

T A E H Y U N G' S  P O V

"Drive safe, son," Mr. Lee hands me his car keys while patting my shoulder. I nod and glance over at my wife laughing with her mother.

Last night, I mustered the courage to explain everything after dinner. She was saddened by the news but wasn't mad, which was bizzare. She didn't do anything that I thought she would but that didn't stop me from thinking about the worst.

Bidding goodbyes to my parents in-law, I intertwine my fingers with hers.

I notice her lips curls up into a smile as she looks down at our entangled hands, resulting my lips to do the same.

After driving through the town for about half an hour to her favourite place, we have arrived at a zoo. It was such an endearing, adorable place to have a date for the first time.

"Honey, let's take a selfie!" she perks cutely and I couldn't stop myself from smiling.

"Yes, darling,"

I pull the hat on top of my head, ruffling my hair to allow my face to be more visible as we stare into the camera. Placing my hand on her waist, I drawn her body close to mine. We stand in between the stations of the monkeys and elephants as she captures the picture behind with the inhabitant animals.

"One more time," she promptly says. Without thinking, I grip her chin towards my face before leaning in to peck her soft lips.

I could hear her gasping and I chuckle when I notice a familiar red tinted blush on her cheeks. She clears her throat to hide her embarrassment before changing the subject.

"Oh my God, look at that giraffes!" she tugs my arm, pointing over to the front not far away from where we're standing. "Let's go over there,"

I trail behind her and arrive to the cage of tall looking giraffes. They were so adorable that urged me to jump and pat their heads.

"Darling, do you need a hand?" I laugh when she struggles to feed a particular giraffe that seems to not discern her action. The giraffe keeps on licking her hand, causing her to flinch and jerk away.

"Giraffe, come on!"

I couldn't stop laughing when she tiptoes her feet up in the air. I feel so sorry for her short height and I crouch, offering my back to her.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm very strong, don't worry," I flex my back muscle to prove my point. "I won't let you down,"

From my peripheral vision, I watch a little kid holding bags of carrots waddling towards me. He relentlessly wrapped his arms around my neck and pats my shoulders.

I was caught off guard, my eyes widen in surprise. Amused, I pushed myself up and helped the tiny boy to feed the giraffe instead of my wife.

"Ahjussi, higher!" The little boy chirps and I oblige, chuckling lightly.

He lets out a wholeheartedly laugh when the giraffe licks his hand after he feeds them. After a few good minutes, I bend back down and place the kid on the ground. His eyes innocently gaze into mine as he grins adorably that makes my heart clenched.

His mouth parts slightly to say something but then a woman comes running to us with worried expression.

"Daehan! There you are!" she gasps in relief, pulling and engulfing him into a hug. "I was so worried! What were you doing?"

"I'm sorry, eomma. I was just trying to feed the giraffe and ahjussi helped me," he says, tugging the sleeve of my sweater.

I smile politely to the woman when her eyes land to my figure. She gently responds back with an apologetic smile.

"I'm so sorry, did he trouble you? Daehan, what did eomma say about not talking to strangers?"

"No, ma'am. It's fine," I wave my hands dismissively.

"Thank you for helping him," she taunts, smiling apologetically before scurrying off with her son to the opposite way.

"Thank you, ahjussi!" The little boy whips his head around and waves frantically to my direction.

I grin and wave back. The fatherly trait inside of me resurrected, wanting to have children with my own pure blood.

"Hey, what's wrong?" A soft voice calls, causing me to whirl around. She notices my unusual behaviour as her temple wrinkles worriedly.

"Nothing,"

"You really love children, huh?" she frowns, squeezing my bicep in comfort.

I sigh lowly, not even trying to deny. "Yes, I wanted to know how it feels to be a father,"

"And you're about to be, aren't you? I meant with Haera's child?" she says with a hint of disappointment in her voice.

"It's not the same. I want it to be my flesh and blood," I pause before continue. "I have a lot of things planned for the future, for us, actually, and to be honest, having a family date with our children to the zoo is one of the things I wanted to recreate,"

"Oh, uh, um, our children?" she stammers, her eyes widen as her cheeks flush scarlet.

"Yes," I admit slyly, clutching her hand in mine. "But if you're not ready, I completely understand. I'll wait for you,"

She heaves out a sigh, staring longingly into my orbs. My heart almost instantly stopped when she utters the words that makes me grin happily out of excitement.

"You're right. I'm not ready yet but I wanted to have children with you too,"

•••

A/N: SO HOW WAS THIS CHAPTER??? Was it okay? Thank you so much for reading but conflicts are more to come so stay tuned. See you guys on next page! <3 LOVE YOU xx