Unexpectedly In Love With You

three

Daera buried her hands into the pockets of her coat as she walked through the hallway, greeting the nurses and other doctors. Her eyes widened when she saw a kid running towards her, "Aunty Daera!"

"Jiah-yah!" She smiled and squatted to hug the child. She picked her up and moved a few strands of hair from her face, "What are you doing here?"

"Grandpa picked me up from school today and there's no one home to take care of me so he brought me here."

"Where's grandpa?" Daera asked, looking around. Jiah pouted, "He has a meeting to attend."

She smiled, "Looks like you're going to spend the rest of the day with Aunty Daera."

"Actually, Uncle Sunghoon was babysitting me," Jiah said, earning her by surprise. "What–"

Sunghoon walked towards them and sighed, "Jiah, I told you not to run like that. You could get lost!"

Jiah told Daera to put her down before running towards him. He picked her up and hit her arm playfully. Jiah giggled, "But I saw Aunty Daera so I thought it's okay to go to her."

Daera sighed, "Still, it's dangerous to run off like that. You're lucky that it was just me."

"How about we all eat ice cream together?" Jiah cheered happily. Daera cleared her throat, "I'm sure Uncle Sunghoon can take you there by himself. I'm fine."

"Aunty Daera is busy," he lied. Jiah pouted and was about to cry but they immediately calmed her down, "Okay! Okay! We'll go!"

•

Sunghoon drove them to the ice cream shop nearby. Daera got out of the car and held Jiah's hand, walking towards the shop. "Go find a table. I'll order some ice cream," he said.

He went to the counter to order. Jiah held Daera's hand as she led her to a table near the corner. She sat across the older lady and let her short legs sway back and forth.

"Mom said that when a girl and a boy fight a lot, they'll end up falling for each other," the kid said out of the blue. Daera coughed in surprise, "What?"

"That's how mom and dad got together, right?"

"Yeah...but–"

"Will you and Uncle Sunghoon get together?"

Daera scratched the back of her neck awkwardly, didn't know the answer to the question. "Mom said you fight a lot with Uncle Sunghoon that you both couldn't go on for a day without killing each other," Jiah continued.

Sunghoon came and carried a tray with three bowls of ice cream. Daera eyed the chocolate ice cream and was about to take it but he snatched it from her, giving it to Jiah, "Your favourite."

She smiled at the child and was about to take the cookies and cream flavoured ice cream but he slapped her hand away, "Mine."

She glared at him and eyed the vanilla ice cream with raisins topping, "You know I hate raisins, right?"

"Really? Too bad," he scoffed, already feeding himself. "Since when are you the 'cookies and cream' type of guy? You know that is my favourite flavour. I thought you like coffee flavoured ice cream," she glared.

"Well, people change, Daera," he smirked, amused with her reaction, "Just move the raisins away."

"It's no use. Whether you move it or not, the taste is still there."

She stood up and decided to buy the ice cream herself. He watched her from behind and chuckled in amusement. She frowned when she remembered she left her purse at the hospital. She walked back to the table and cleared her throat, "Can I borrow a few dollars from you?"

He gave her his money and she went back to the counter to pay for her ice cream. She walked back and sat down before eating her ice cream.

"I'll pay you back," she said. He sighed, "You don't have to."

"No. That would mean that I'm in debt to you. I don't want to do anything stupid to pay for the debt. So I'll just pay you back."

He leaned back against the seat and smirked, "Okay."