Ｐ𝕖є𝕜Ⓘᶰ𝑔 ίภŦσ т𝐡Ẹ ᖴยＴ𝔲𝐑𝕖 | L.K Adaptation

C9

"My Areum, do you want to go outside?"

Lisa's words made the excited child smile. The charm of the cute Areum was further doubled when the black hair, which looked just like Jungkook, was tied well on both sides with a baby pin adorned with sparkling jewels.

Jungkook's involvement in the mother and daughter's walk was an impulsive decision. There was a familiar shade of a shadow on the aide serving Jungkook at his master's idleness, but there was no surprise in his choice.

"Oh, my Areum. You're more excited than usual? Is it because dad is here? Hm?"

"Papa!"

Jungkook smiled at Lisa's words, who was raising their child skillfully, and looked down at Areum who was calling out to him. He felt his whole body melt away and patted her little head. The child, his own daughter, was lovely and left him in a daze. He didn't know if it's because of his bloodline, but just looking at her put a smile on his lips. When she called out to him with an awkward pronunciation, he felt a little emotional.

"Isn't it hard? Shall I hold her?"

"Huh? Will you? Areum, do you want to go to your father?"

"Ugh!"

"Oh dear, I still think she still likes mom better."

Suddenly, he wanted to hold her little body in his arms, so he asked her. However, Jungkook shrugged his shoulders as if he was having fun at the child's gesture of insisting on Lisa. He almost felt sad at Areum's unexpected refusal, but even that seemed to be good, and Jungkook's eyes, which were still looking at Areum, were filled with warm affection.

"Areum, do you want to walk already?"

"Yes!"

Lisa kissed her daughter, and carefully lowered the child out of her arms, as she nodded her head vigorously. Unlike when she was a baby who needed her parents' embrace, Areum had become more greedy for doing things on her own. Although she felt sad at the change, Lisa was even overwhelmed by the pride that Areum had grown this much.

"Darling, don't you need to go inside?"

"...... Sometimes I have to catch my breath too. I catch up in the evening on some important matters."

Lisa came naturally to him and took Jungkook's hand. He could feel the warmth of her hand touching him. He did not shake off the small hand that he had never held except in their childhood.

"Yeah, and weather so nice too."

A fresh breeze greeted him as he crossed the beautifully cultivated garden. Lisa's ultramarine hair fluttered in the breeze. As she wore her floppy hat, Lisa looked at the clear and blue sky. As she said, the weather was too nice to be confined to the house.

"Areum, you will fall if you do that!"

"...... she runs well."

Areum, who was clumsily chasing after the butterfly flapping in search of flowers, stretched out her hands, focused only on the creature in front of her, no matter what her parents said. But in the end, when the butterfly flew away, the child stood there, crying sadly, apparently very disappointed.

"Areum, look at this. What is this?"

Areum's weeping face disappeared only after the wind blew a couple times and showed a ladybug sitting on a grass leaf. As if she had never cried, she quickly wandered and fell into her own play.

"This!"

"It is a flower that resembles our Areum. Aww, you're so pretty."

Occasionally, when Areum pointed her finger at something, Lisa waved her hand or patted her back saying that Areum was doing well. Then the child, who got a satisfactory response, started wandering around the garden again.

"Time passes by so quickly. In a few months, it will be two years since Areum was born."

Lisa said faintly as she recalled when she carried Areum for tens months and then holding her in her arms, which she still vividly remembered.

Jungkook didn't say anything because he couldn't remember the moment. He was just looking at the little girl playing on the other side, suppressing a feeling that was hard to describe. Lisa's warmth still lingered in his left hand.

'Why am I not at all uncomfortable with this situation? As if it were a dream that I had longed for.......'

He couldn't believe that he had longed for such a normal family life. And with Lisa? It sounded like a lie, but Jungkook couldn't completely ignore the bond of family that was hidden everywhere in this strange relationship. Even if he tried to erase it, every time he did, the image of a child resembling himself came to his eyes, and Lisa's warmth came to him clearly.

It seems that he assimilated here in only short time. He even postponed his work in order to follow her on her walk.

"Lisa."

"Yes, Jungkook."

"You...... Don't you regret your marriage with me?"

Lisa looked at him at the sudden question, but he couldn't really tell what emotion was inside her.

Jungkook felt impatient in the long silence that followed, and briefly blamed himself for asking such a thing.

"Jungkook."

Jungkook struggled to capture her expression at the voice that called out to him in an infinitely sweet voice, and then made eye contact with Rachel.

Lisa didn't answer him at all, but the unwavering love in her dazzling eyes was worth more than the single word.

"Mama!"

It was the little villain who had been running around, who called them up from their own world. Fortunately, perhaps she had played as quietly as Lisa wished, and her cheeks were flushed, but not as dirty as she had feared.

"Are you done playing?"

"Uh-huh!"

As if exhausted, Areum reached out and motioned for a hug. Jungkook silently held such a child in his arms and gently tidied up the messy, fluffy hair, and she hugged him by the nape of his neck and quietly accepted his crude hand.

Jungkook gently patted her little back, which went up and down regularly. Although he didn't show much expression, his face as he cared for the child was soft and relaxed.

"Areum, would you like to go in now?"

At Lisa's words to go in, Areum shrugged. Even though her body was exhausted, she seemed greedy for a sunny outside. If they turned around like this, she would burst into tears. What to do?

"The weather is too nice to go in now."

Lisa glanced at Jungkook with a puzzled look on her face, and he shrugged his shoulders and made his way into the garden. It was because Lisa's favorite flowers were planted at the end of the flower bed, which caught his eye.

"Then let's get a little air and then go inside. Areum's nap time is coming soon....... I need to breathe too. I have been tired these days."

At Lisa's words that she was tired, Jungkook wondered if it was because of him, and sat down on the bench with a burning feeling.

'...... Are you speaking to me?'

Jungkook glanced at her, wondering if the future himself had often tired Lisa from the same thing as last night. Fortunately, he didn't feel that way, but he felt sorry for Lisa's small yawn again.

"...... That, sorry about yesterday."

"Yes?"

Jungkook shyly dyed his ears, seemingly embarrassed, and patted the sleeping child, avoiding her gaze.

"Why so suddenly. You are a very repeat offender."

"......."

At Lisa's point of teasing him, Jungkook remained silent. Like a gentle cat that climbed up the stove first. Jungkook was just like that.