3 Years Later

“Mommy...” Hana said to me in English, blinking her eyes in an attempt to act cute.

“Yes?” I said suspiciously. She usually didn’t use aegyo unless she was up to something.

“I wanted to know if I could go to the park with Luhan and Yixing. They invited me and I’ll be back before dinner.” She pleaded still talking in English.

“Hana! It’s five thirty!”

“I know but they just came to the door!”

“I don’t know, Hana, it’s almost dark outside.”
“But we won’t be gone long!”

“Did you finish your homework?”

“...sureee.” She said with a very forced and suspicious smile. I knew right away that she was lying to me.

“Hana Emilie Kim, don’t you dare lie to me.” I warned her in a stern voice.

“Well, I didn’t finish all of it.” She amended.

“Define ‘all’.”

“Um, I still have to do my Korean and English homework and some of my math.”

“That’s practically all of you homework!”

“I did some of the math!”

“If you finish the rest of you math homework then you can go to the park until 6:30.” I sighed.

“But by the time I finish it’ll almost be six!” She complained.

“Well, you better hurry. Next time don’t lie to me, understand?” I scolded her gently.

“Yes, Umma. I love you!” She kissed me, showing her normal personality.

“I love you too, angel.” I kissed her back making her laugh gently before skipping off to her room.

It amazed me how much she had grown and matured in the three years that passed. She went from a sweet little seven year old to a bright and beautiful ten year old. Though I was immensely proud of my daughter it still frightened me how quickly she grew up. Though I knew she was going to be grown up eventually and I was enjoying every minute and stage of her growth, I also didn’t want my baby to leave. I just wanted to stop time so she could be little forever. There were times that I wished that she was still little so I could carry her around on my hip like I used to. Jonghyun had even told me a few times that he wished that he could still crouch down and pluck her up and carry her around in his arms. But we were content with her climbing into our laps when we were sitting on the couch watching a movie. No matter how old she was she always loved to snuggle with us and we had no complaints, we loved snuggling with her, especially Jonghyun.

“Umma!” I heard Hana shout as she ran back into the kitchen where I was beginning to start cooking dinner about twenty minutes later.

“Are you all done baby?” I asked her.

“Yes, Umma, see?” She held it up for me to see.

“Good job, kiddo.” I smiled at her completed math homework. I knew she hated math since it was her hardest and least favorite subject.

“Thank you, Umma.” She smiled, proud of herself.

“Alright, go get on your jacket and then come back so I can give you my phone and kiss you goodbye.”

“Okay!” She raced back into her room.

“Yeobo, I’m home!” Jonghyun shouted about a minute later walking into the kitchen.

“Hey!” I said happily, it was always nice to have him home. He came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist and kissed me.

“How was your day?” He asked me.

“It was good. I met up with your sister today.”

“Again?! I swear she likes you more than me!”

“That’s not true!” I said. “Okay, maybe a little. But, you’re her brother and she likes you in a different way, you know that.”
“Yeah, I know. When is she coming over for dinner?”

“Tonight actually.”

“Really?” He said in surprise, letting go of my waist getting a glass of water.

“Yeah, I invited her over for dinner tonight after I met her for lunch. She misses you and Hana.”

“I miss her too.” He sighed leaning against the counter. Jonghyun and Sodam have always been close. Even when his family denied our relationship, she always accepted us, even defending us at times. She was the first to visit us when we bought the house and she even supported me when I tried to convince Jonghyun that we should adopt for the first time (yes, it took some convincing at first). When Jonghyun’s family finally accepted our relationship, Sodam was at that dinner, offering her support. They usually saw each other every week but the past two weeks were hectic for both of them so I decided to invite her.

“Appa!” Hana cried as she came back into the kitchen to say goodbye, running at him.

“Hey, baby girl!” He said just as excited, crouching down and opening his arms for her. They always did that when he got home.

“I missed you!” Hana cried at he hugged her.

“Ya! What about me?!” I said pretending to be hurt, she looked at me worried and ran to me.

“I always miss you too, Umma!” She said kissing me.

“Alright, you should go meet up with Yixing and Luhan before you lose anymore time.” I told her kissing her. “Say bye to Appa and call me when you get there okay?” I reminded her as I handed her my phone.

“I will!” She smiled and turned to Jonghyun. “Bye, Appa! I love you!”

“I love you too, sweetie!” He told her, hugging her and giving her a peck on the cheek.

“Bye!” She cried and ran to put her shoes on.

“Where’s she going?” Jonghyun asked me as the front door closed.

“She’s going to the park with Yixing and Luhan.” I told him, turning back to the food I was making.

“Will she be back in time for dinner?”

“Yeah, I told her to be back by six thirty.”

“Okay good. When did our baby get big enough to go to the park alone?” He asked, his voice had a hint of sadness in it.

“I don’t know. It scares me honestly.” I sighed.

“I know, baby, I know.” He wrapped his arms around my waist again and put his head on my shoulder.
“I don’t want her to grow up so soon.” I whispered.

“I know, but she has to eventually. You know that.”

“Yeah, I know. Can we just stop time?” I murmured.

“I wish we could.” He sighed.

******************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

A/N:

Yay we got another chapter done! Like Bre said in her note at the end of the last chapter, we weren't sure whether or not we were going to be able to update before the end of this weekend due to her mom going to visit her for her birthday (HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO BRE BY THE WAY!) (E/N: AWW thank you!). So it was a nice surprise when she told me that she was able to edit this chapter and half of the next (E/N: I was surprised too, but my mom's plane landed late and I finished getting my room in pristine condition-my mom is very organized and ALWAYS looks nice- before she came. Go me!).

So anyways, we know this chapter is short but it's better than nothing. I decided to speed up time a little so I could keep the story moving. The next chapter is going to be longer, we promise! What I will tell you about the next chapter is that Sodam will be a part of all of the whole chapter and there will be a surprise visit from someone who hasn't been in the story yet, but we've dropped hints at their introduction ;)  (E/N: Basically what she's doing right now is giving you something to think about for over the weekend lol). Have fun figuring it out!

As always, THANK YOU TO MY SUBSCRIBERS, READERS, COMMENTERS AND TO MY AMAZING EDITOR! You guys are the best!

PICTA SPAM TIME!! (2min edition) (E/N: Because we can ;p)

(Sorry to everyone who is offended by the language, Bre tried to find a clean version of this but couldn't and it's really funny.)