umbrella { sunjay }

8.

song recommendation: homesick -wave to earth

that night, the darkness of the night encapsulated every inch of sunoo's apartment. the only source of light was the illumination caused by sunoo's computer screen. 

eunjoo laid half asleep beside him as he completed the final paragraph of an important email he was sending out for his job. suddenly eunjoo's sleepy voice traveled to his ears.

"daddy?" she called out to her father that typed away at his keyboard in silence. 

"i'm right here, honey." he replied, not taking his attention away from his laptop. this was the time he got most of his work done. other than little time frames throughout the day as eunjoo took a nap or was watching a movie. he tried to stay away from working when it was just the two of them spending time together.

"i had a lot of fun today." sunoo could tell the little girl was speaking with her eyes closed. it was a habit she had when she was sleepy but also wanted to stay up and continue to talk to her dad. 

"me too. what was your favorite part?" knowing that talking to her and continuing their conversation would make her fall asleep faster, he just entertained her mumbling.

"hmm, maybe when we went out for ice cream." she spoke with a little slur, indicating she was almost fully unconscious.

"oh, i think that was my favorite part as well." he smiled to himself as he wrote the finishing touches of his email and closed his laptop quietly. now, eunjoo had gone silent and he assumed she had already drifted off to dreamland.

setting down his laptop onto the bedside table, he turned his body around to face his baby and snuggled up closer to her.

"i really like heera and mr. park." eunjoo surprised sunoo when she spoke again. causing him to silently giggle at her cuteness and rake his hands through her light brown hair.

"i'm glad to hear that, my love." he closed his eyes and the both of them drifted off to sleep with sunoo's arms wrapped around eunjoo's small body, protecting her, even in their sleep.

❀

after tucking heera into the guest bed, jay grabbed the spare pillows and blankets from the hall closet and made his way into the living room to sleep on the sofa. luckily for him, the couch was very soft and big enough to fit his entire body and then some.

the last time he had slept in his own bed was around two months ago.

jongseong and sena had gotten into a major argument that resulted in him making the guest bedroom his new room. even though they were on better terms and able to talk to one another (barely), they continued to sleep separately.

jay hated it though. not only did he hate the fact that he couldn't sleep in the comfort of his own bed, he hated being away from the one he loved.

as much as jongseong would deny it like the next guy, he was a big lover. every single love language was his own to speak. 

he loved being close and being able to hold onto the ones he cared about in his arms. physically feeling someone's presence gave him a warmth that was incomparable to even the sun's scorching rays. 

he loved doing things for people, knowing it would make them happy. even if it was as small as peeling the tough rind, off an orange.

he loved giving surprise gifts to others. he would purposely remember things that his loved ones would mention in passing, just so he could unexpectedly show up with it in hand.

when there was nothing to do or jay was busy doing something, he enjoyed company. he enjoyed sitting in pure silence and just embracing one another's presence, even if no one said anything for the past two hours. he loved them just being there.

if his loved ones was going through a rough time, jay would be the first one to jump in and share words of encouragement. or he would just remind them of how much he cares and appreciate them, without needing a reason. he was very sentimental in that sense.

all of these acts of care was meant to be for his wife, for sena.

when he chose to marry her, he promised her that they would get through anything they struggled with, together. the couple was meant to be a team and now they can't even have normal discussions without getting upset.

there was no one to blame. the two of them just wanted totally different things from life.

❀ 9:00am

"why do you and uncle jay not love each other?" heera innocently asked as she happily ate her breakfast cereal. it was now morning time and jongseong had left around dawn for work so it was just sena and heera left in the home.

sena was completely caught off guard by the unwarranted question. she cleared her throat before answering the four year old. 

"of course we love each other." she didn't elaborate any further, and continued to eat her food. it wasn't common for her to entertain conversation with the girl. her responses tended to be blunt and short.

hearing this answer, heera looked up from her rainbow colored food and quirked an eyebrow. "are you sure? my dad and mom love each other and they sleep in the same bed." 

heera was used to seeing love and affection on the daily. heeseung and yeona were infatuated with one another and it was obvious to everyone, including their daughter.

this is why it's such a culture shock whenever she visits her uncle's house and sees the distance between the couple. they weren't so subtle and heera was easy to pick up on it. especially when she woke up in the middle of the night to use the potty, only to find park jongseong passed out on the living room sofa.

"i'm sure. and anyway, don't worry about those things." sena stood up from her seat at the dining area and collected her plate to set it in the seat. ending the 'conversation'.

it was hard for sena not to show her dislike for children. she didn't want to be mean to her husband's niece, nor any child for that manner. it wasn't their fault she couldn't stand being around them.

this is why she tried to keep interactions to a minimum. it was better for both parties. 

all of their insulting questions, their loud voices, the messes, the annoying noises they made, their chronic unawareness, all of those things caused sena to reject the thought of ever having children of her own. 

it was just not something she wanted.

❀

sorry for all the cheesy endearments, my family is big on them so i wanted to incorporate that into my work. it's sweet to me.🤗