It had been a week since the picnic in the park, the weather had gotten much colder and the leaves on the trees made the city sidewalks and mountain hillsides look like they were on fire. Though Hana had been in school for over a month now, she still managed to keep me busy even when she wasn’t home. I would spend my days doing laundry, cleaning the house, making tomorrow's lunch, and recently planning her birthday party. Hana’s birthday was only a few days away and she wouldn’t dare let us forget. It was cute to watch her cross off the days on the Cinderella calendar we bought her, counting down the days until her birthday. She informed us that she wanted Uncle Onew, Taemin, and Minho to be there, she wanted to have a princess cake (which we all kind of knew already), and what gifts she wanted. We told her she wasn’t going to be able to get everything on her list and she seemed perfectly fine with that. She seemed to be perfectly content knowing that her Umma, Appa, and Uncles were going to celebrate her birthday with her.

I looked at the clock after finishing folding the laundry only to realize that it was 2 o'clock and time for me to be on my way to get Hana from school. Everyday, Jonghyun dropped her off at school in the mornings on his way to work, and I picked her up after school.

“!” I said to myself when I saw the time.

I raced out the door, grabbing my keys and a jacket on my way out. Luckily I had made it to her school on time, for which I was thankful. I had never been late picking her up before and I wasn’t going to start now.

“Hi sweetie!” I said as she ran into my arms “How was school today?”

“It was good Umma! Look what I made in class today!” She proudly held up a picture she had drawn.

“Wow! That’s so good Hana!” I said

“This is Umma, this is Appa,this is Uncle Onew, this is uncle Minho, and this is Uncle Taemin!” She said proudly pointing to each individual drawing.

I easily recognized myself, she had drawn me wearing an apron and she had accurately drawn in my ear piercings. Jonghyun was standing next to me, also easily recognizable by his two piercings and colorful hair. Onew was, of course, tripping over some sort of rock type thing. Minho was by far the tallest drawing, towering of Jonghyun, he was going to love that. I nearly laughed when I saw her drawing of Taemin. She had drawn him in a crown, with a tutu around his waist and his hair in short ponytails that stuck right off the top of his head. It astounded me how much she was able to pay attention to detail.

“Is this Hana?” I asked pointing to the smallest of the drawings.

“Mmhmm.” She nodded her head.

Hana had drawn herself in her favorite pink and blue overalls with the stars on the front. Her hair was pulled up in a side ponytail with what appeared to be a bow wrapped around it. I loved that she had drawn herself in between Jonghyun and I with us both holding onto one of her hands.

Once we got home I helped her hang it on our fridge. Whenever she brought something home that she had done, it went on the fridge. Our entire fridge was covered in spelling tests, math quizzes that she had done well on, pictures she had drawn in class, macaroni art, and paintings she had made for us. I treasured every one of the things she brought home, think of them as milestone she had completed.

I stood in the kitchen watching her eat her snack marveling at how much she had  grown in the short time we had her. Sometimes when I stopped and thought about how quickly she grows I begin to feel sad. Watching her grow is a bittersweet reminder of how quickly time passes and she won’t need Jonghyun and me one day. At the same time however, I also felt excited for her. I wanted Hana to become a strong and independent girl, if she didn’t I worried about what would happen when Jonghyun and I grew old and died. Just thinking about her leaving us one day was enough to make me want to cry.

“Umma,” I felt Hana hug my waist “Why are you sad?”

I crouched down so I could be at eye level “Umma’s okay sweetie, I was just thinking about how fast you grow up.”

Just then our front door opened and Jonghyun’s voice echoed from the doorway. “Yeobo, Hana, I’m home!”

“In the kitchen!” I called back.

Jonghyun came around the corner into the kitchen and eyed me curiously as he took in the scene before him. “What’s wrong?” He asked no one in particular.

“Umma’s sad!” Hana told him matter-of-factly.

“Why’s that?” Jonghyun’s face conveyed his worry.

“Oh, I was just thinking about how quickly time has passed and how one day she’s gonna go off on her own.” I told him.

“Ahhh.”  Jonghyun nodded in understanding.

“But Umma, I don’t wanna go!” Hana said frantically.

“No, no. Umma didn’t mean now, but someday in a few years.” I reassured her.

“No!” She stomped her foot stubbornly.

“Did she really just stomp her foot?” Jonghyun mouthed at me clearly amused. I smiled in amusement and nodded. “Oh god save us all, you’re turning her into a diva…”

“I’m never gonna leave Umma and Appa. Never!” Hana continued. “When I grow up, I’m gonna move in right next door!”

I pulled Hana into a hug. How is it possible for one person to be so genuinely sweet?

“We’ll revisit that statement in ten years when you decide you hate us for one obscure reason or another.” Jonghyun chuckled. Hana just gave him a confused and troubled look. “Nevermind..”He responded to her look, I just smiled.

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A/N:

So I promised to upload at least one chapter tonight or tomorrow and here it is (I'm ahead of schedule, yay!)!!! I know it's a fluff chapter, but I wanted to focus on Key's relationship with Hana and do some more character development. The next chapter will have some 2min and Onew in it. So anyway, I'm currently working on the next chapter right now so I'm hoping to have that up within the next few days :)