umbrella { sunjay }

5.

"you're being unfair." sena finally returned her tone to a normal volume and her eyes held a glint in them that felt like a bullet shot into him. 

jay sighed and massaged his temples. "i'm sorry, okay? i understand you don't like kids but could you help me out? i'm sorry i agreed without your permission. i know i shouldn't have done that. heera really likes you and i missed her. can we just compromise?" jongseong could see how the two of them constantly hurt one another and that in itself wasn't fair for either of them.

"just- can you watch her until i come home from work? i'll come home as fast as i can and then you won't have to do anything else for the remainder of the day. that's all i'm asking." 

when the couple first decided to began a life together, they agreed on many things. how they wanted to spend their days, their favorite hobbies, their favorite music genres, you name it. however, one thing they could never meet eye to eye with, was children.

jongseong adored children. they always got along well and he found them to be pure and adorable. his love for them only grew from the first day he held heera. 

jay's dream was to have a family and become a dad. even if he had to adopt, even if the child wasn't his by blood. he would love them all the same.

sena, was the opposite. she had a heart but she just could never understand the gravitation to having a family. marriage was one thing, having children was another. 

being the man that he was, jay decided to let his dream go when he knew of sena's preferences. never in a million years would he pressure his loved one into doing anything she didn't want or was uncomfortable with. 

he was so in love that he just agreed to keep their family, a family of two. 

as time crept in, a hallow feeling lingered within him. he felt like something or someone was missing. of course he had given up his dream but the feeling of longing still remained. 

"do what you want. you're going to do it anyway." sena shrugged her shoulders before disappearing into their shared bedroom.

this wasn't what he wanted. 

he wanted a happy and loving family. not this.

❀ 6:05pm

just on time, the doorbell rung as soon as jay took out the fresh batch of chocolate chip cookies from the oven to let them set. 

"coming!" he called before removing the kitchen towel from his shoulder and placing it down on the counter top. 

when he opened the front entrance, he was immediately engulfed into a bone crushing hug. "uncle jay!" heera screamed in excitement as she held onto his leg, squeezing him as tight as she could. 

"hey, princess! where have you been?" jongseong bent down to scoop the little girl into his arms, tickling her until she had to gasp for air from laughing so hard. 

when their reunion was finished, he turned his head to see his best friend and his wife beaming with the brightest smiles. they loved knowing heera would be in good hands and safe.

"i'm starting to believe she loves her uncle more than her own dad!" heeseung pretended to be offended as he hugged jongseong. heera nodded in agreement, indicating that she in fact loved her uncle more than her father.

"hey!" heeseung playfully scolded the girl and she bursted into a big fit of laughter. seemingly catching the giggle monster (is what they called it).

"how are you, jay?" yeona was next in line to receive a warm hug from her friend who still had heera in his arms. yeona was always kind and gentle to everyone. she was a natural motherly figure without even trying.

"i'm doing okay. even better now!" he turned to pinch his niece's cheek after the hug ended.

"where's my sister-in-law?" heeseung questioned as they all walked into the kitchen where an entire feast sat, waiting to be devoured. 

"she-" before jongseong could continue his sentence, the sound of their bed room door opening was echoed through the home. emerging, a beautiful sena.

"she's right there." jay responded in a monotoned voice and diverted his attention from the woman before taking the seat out for heera to sit at the dinning room table. 

❀ 

the next day arrived just as the one before. sunoo sat at the breakfast table with eunjoo as the two of them ate in silence. 

today, eunjoo had her ballet class and was over the moon with excitement. her pink leotard and tutu was the first thing she put on this morning before doing anything else. 

her ballet classes were every other day and it was the most exciting part of her weeks. seeing eunjoo enjoy herself and make new friends was more than enough to make sunoo happy. as long as she was happy, he was ecstatic.  

"daddy? when can we go visit mommy?" the girl kicked her feet as she asked mindlessly. sunoo had told her that she did have a mom, but it was hard for him to say any more than that. 

but now that she's getting older, he figured it was finally time to try to explain it to her to his best ability. before, he promised the little girl they could visit her mom soon but he never went into detail.

"hm. maybe we can see her sometime next week. why do you ask, baby?" sunoo set down his utensils and gave her, his undivided attention.  

"because, my friends always talk about their mommies and i want to go see mine." she finally looked into sunoo's eyes and it was like seeing eunji again for the first time. she had sunoo's eyes, but every other feature belonged to her late mother.

"you know, you can't see her in person. remember when i told you she had passed away?" one thing sunoo told himself was that he would be completely honest with his daughter about her mother. she deserved to know, after all.

eunjoo nodded, showing she understood. "why did she die?" the little girl was far too young to comprehend the weight of her words. all she knew was to ask questions and retain the information given.

"well, when you were in her belly, she became very, very sick. and she was not healthy. so, when you were born at the hospital, her body was super tired from having you. and then, she held you in her arms and gave you a big hug before she passed away." he could see the frown that formed on his favorite girl's face.

"that's sad." she commented with sad puppy eyes. 

"but you know something?" sunoo didn't want her to be upset. that was furthest from his goals.

"what?" eunjoo looked up with the same droopy expression. 

"she loves you so, so much. and when you were in her belly, she would sing you songs and read you books and talk to you all day long." he reached across the table to gently poke her chubby cheek.

finally eunjoo's expression changed into a proud smile, her dimple coming out from hiding. "i love her too." she giggled happily. she was satisfied knowing her mom loved her, even if she couldn't see her. 

now, she was ready for the day.

❀

heera and eunjoo are cuties