•••

2 pm.

The bus driving us to the mall, I stand before my little baby while she's listening to some music with my earpods, keeping her against the wall and holding onto a bar. She lifts one of her legs up to tug on her flat thigh-high boots, but once she straightens up, I fix her white beanie. I grasp her attention instantly. I'm a bit mad at her because of the clothes she's wearing, her hoodie dress or whatever this is supposed to be called, is not enough with this weather, even if she wears something that looks like a baby onesie underneath, I don't even know what that thing is either, but that's not enough. I'm pretty sure she's cold right now.

The lollipop that she has in her mouth constantly taps into her teeth as she cannot stop moving it inside. Since she's looking at my lips, I give a little chuck on her cheek with my finger, getting her to stop the music she has in her ears. "What?"

"Stop doing that," I make a little movement upward with my head while staring at her mouth, before looking back into her eyes. "You're going to break your teeth," I use a false pretext to not let her know about the real reason of my worry.

She shakes her head and continues like a little brat. I show some more authority and approach my face from hers, taking her aback and causing her to open her eyes even more, in a cute manner. "Do not oblige me to get it out," I give her a piercing stare to make sure this will maybe simmer her down and stop.

She grins at me. "I dare you," the tip of her nose touches mine as she came closer. "Daddy," she uses the forbidden word in public, making me lose my mind for a second. "Do not say that in here, y/n."

"Then let me eat my lollipop, or I throw it at your face," she dares to respond. "You would never dare to do that."

She closes her mouth to lick it. "You're right, I wouldn't," she leans back on the wall but pushes her lollipop back and forth over her tongue, not caring about what I said. I sigh but do not give in. "Y/n," I keep my voice as low as possible but employ the perfect tone to make her understand I'm not joking anymore. "You could choke on it, stop."

She shakes her head, still looking adorable no matter how irritating she is at this right moment. I tighten my grip on the bar of the bus to control myself. I push my inner cheek with my tongue and glance away. She has no idea how worried I get because of this candy. What happened some time ago because of that same lollipop that a kid was eating next to me literally haunts my head and makes it hard to let her eat this unnecessary and unneeded snack.

"We're there," she steps aside to walk to the doors. Once they open, I get off the bus but grab y/n's wrist and take her aside to be alone together. "Y/n. I already let you leave the house with just your ridiculous hoodie on, so now, you throw that lollipop out before I seriously get mad."

"I'm not a baby anymore. You can let me eat this th—"

"Last time I tell you, y/n. Either you throw this out, or you wear my coat," I do not submit to her whim. She glares at me, and for god's sake, throws this useless lollipop out. "Are you happy?"

I take my coat off without saying anything, but she reacts almost instantly. "Do not even think about making me wear it," she points her finger at me, but I step forth and grip her arm to yank her towards me and enwrap her body with the warm clothing, making her grumble. "You're gonna be cold, Jungkook!"

I pass her arms through the sleeves and put it properly on her. This is way too large, but I don't care, at least, this will keep her even more warm. "Jungkook!" she insists out of frustration, noticing this is not getting to me.

I set my eyes on hers. "Why are you acting like a baby with me each time I tell you to listen?" I ask her, wondering if it's because of me or just something else that makes her act like that. She's been doing this since I started to work again, I'm convinced that it is about my job. "I'm not acting like a baby," she tries to show some anger with her big gestures, when the sleeves of my coat are covering her hands because of their length. "First, I just easily get hot when I wear too many layers. Second, I just wanted to eat that candy to have something in my mouth. And lastly, I don't want you to be cold, so I don't want to wear this."

"I—"

"And you said if I spit the candy out, I don't wear it," she interrupts me to finish what I thought was already over. "Are you done?" I do not express any wrath, staying calm with her. "Yes, I am."

"I'm just talking about the way you act since I started to work again. Each time I tell you to stop something, you don't listen but absolutely try to contradict me and push me to the limit as if you were purposely willing to get me upset. I thought you wanted me to find a job," I put the facts in front of her nose, but as I expected it, she doesn't comply. "I don't even do this..." she crosses her arms and goes away.

"See, you cross your arms and act like a mad kid to avoid solving the problem with words," I point it out, and she lets her arms go down. "I just don't know what to do with them."

I chuckle at this unbelievable girl but follow her. We head to the mall together, despite this little argument between us. I stick my hands in the pockets of my ripped jeans to keep them warm, denying the fact that I'm a bit cold. The little girl next to me steps in front of me and throws her arms around my body.

Jeez...How am I even supposed to be upset?

"I'm sorry...okay...?" she speaks in my chest, but this little amount of sweetness makes me hug her back and forget everything. "I get angry and act like that because you never think about yourself but me...and that annoys me..." she answers the question that remained without reply. "I get upset and tell you to listen to me because I love you and care about you more than I do for me," I plant a kiss on her forehead to not display too much affection in public. "Promise me you'll think about yourself too from now on...not just me...please."

I breathe out a bit sharply but nod. "I promise I will."

She stands on her tiptoes and presses a kiss on my neck to make up. "I love you too," she doesn't remain angry anymore, moving to the side. She's so cute.

"Now, hold my hand..." she cannot hold back from grabbing my hand, pulling the sleeve up to touch my skin and slide her fingers between mine. I smile at her and entangle our hands. "I thought you would be a good girl, hm? Have you already forgotten about that?" I give a soft tug on her arm, but she removes her AirPods and shakes her head, grinning. "I haven't forgotten, but I'm a good girl right now."

"Yeah, we'll see that," I tease her but walk to the doors of the mall.

30 minutes later...

"Which candles do you want?" I hold the two designs as she cannot stop clinging onto me and touching me in front of the people around us. I know she doesn't care about what people think about us, but some glances can be hard to handle.

She sticks the back of her body to the front of mine and puts her finger on the red one. "This one is the best," she picks her favorite, so I put the other one back on its spot and grab a few red ones to get them in our basket. "Do you want to buy something?" I peek at her as she's typing on her phone, but she nods without looking at me. "And what is it?"

She stops what she was doing and gets her phone in her shoulder bag, however, only a little smile is given to me. She walks away like a kid that did something wrong and hides it, so I follow her towards the section she's heading to.

I take a look at the time it is on my watch, thinking about the schedule for the rest of the day since I have to work tomorrow, and that she has to go to school for her last week before the Christmas holidays. I'm honestly so happy about this day I'm going to spend by her side, that will be the best gift for me.

I raise my head up after feeling a softness in my heart, but as soon as I catch sight of her and where she is, I figure out what the little smile meant.

"You could have told me, you know," I join her in front of the pads, but she pretends to be an innocent girl and to not have the courage to talk about this matter with me. She grabs a certain type of pads and puts it with the other items. "Is that all?" I don't keep my eyes off of her, but another question bedevils me. "Are you on your period?"

"I'm not," she understands what I'm talking about without the need to be more precise. "All right then, we need something else," I pass by her but hear her footsteps walking along mine as I'm moving up to a section I haven't seen for a while. Since it's right next to the one we were in a second ago, I reach it with a few steps and take a look at the different products.

"Pick the one you want," I rag on her and grab a box of condoms while she's facing the bottles of gel but becoming the y/n I used to see when we barely knew each other. I know she wants to do it, but given her reaction right now, I know she will be all stressed out once we'll be in the bed, about to start. "Hm? Which one do you want?" I stare at her to be playful, but she goes away. "I don't know you," her cheeks turn red, but I giggle and take a closer look at the condoms, looking for something that will give her the most pleasure.

I grab a red box. Ribbed and dotted, extra-thin? Perfect. I take this one instead of the box I already put in the basket, even if they're the most expensive ones. I then check the bottles for y/n as she disappeared somewhere else. 

I grab the prettiest bottle and then go away to look for y/n. I don't even know where she went. I take a look in the sections that I girl is more likely to be in, the beauty one, the accessories ones. She's not here. I sigh, but once I turn around, my eyes fall upon the person I was looking for.

I smile at her but stop since she's coming up to me. "What were you doing?" I put my hand in my pocket to hold back from touching her, but she's holding into sight and get it in the basket. "Simple candles."

"All right, can we get to the checkout or you want something else?" I check what we already have, thinking about the cost but not worrying. "We can go," she nods and leads the way. I follow her and we both reach the checkout without having to stand in line and wait. Only two people before us

I empty the basket to put our item down on the conveyor belt and be helped by y/n. We get everything on it, and once it's done, I place the basket where the others are and stand next to y/n.

She takes the coat off after keeping it on her for longer than I thought she would. She looks up at me with a tender gaze, and I let my disbelief exude with an amused expression but take the clothing to hold it. "Aren't you cold?" she maintains the eye contact, but her hands move to my left one. "No."

"Yes..." she contradicts my doubtless statement, wrapping her small hand around mine. "You're a little bit cold and need my warmth," she innocently finds a reason to have my hand between hers. "Ah yeah, I'm very cold."

"See," she smiles and glances away, coming closer to me and intertwining our fingers. I check how the scanning of items is going, but my baby heaves my hand up and holds it against her breasts, never letting any distance between us. "Can I skip school tomor—"

"No," I do not even let her finish her question, I smile at her. "You'll go to school and your internship tomorrow, I won't come back on this," my hand gets dragged down, and she lets go of it. "I'm scared of my exams...I'm going to fail...or my stomach is going to growl during the exam..."

"Honey..." I chuckle without meaning to mock this cute girl, but I reach out for her neck and grip it in a soft manner. "You're not going to fail. You worked well this first trimester, you study a lot, and you will get a lot of sleep tonight, so don't worry," I subtly slide this little thing through our conversation, rubbing her back to comfort her and take the stress away. She nudges me in the stomach but does not affect me.

"I'm going to sleep...like usual...not more..." she licks her red lips, not looking up into my eyes. I pass my hand over her side but give a squeeze to her waist, making her twitch and laugh quietly. I leave her alone since this is our turn to pay for our items, and she walks a bit further while I'm filling a shopping bag with the scanned articles.

In some short seconds, this is done, and I pass my card in the machine to pay. However, something catches my attention.

I turn my head in y/n's direction but notice a woman talking to her, a woman that was standing in line just next to us while we were waiting. I enter the code for my payment and hurry to retrieve my belongings, and I bow to the cashier in order to move towards y/n.