... And Other Ships

Jungkook: Single Parent

Jungkook didn't have a clue what he was doing. 

His ex dumped their year-old daughter, Jinhee on his doorstep at two in the morning four years ago. She had done it without uttering a single word; she just handed Jinhee off and left, never to be heard from again. He was so angry with her - he never showed it, but for the past four years, he's held nothing but hatred for that ghastly woman in his heart. 

Sure, he had absolutely no clue how to raise his daughter, but apparently, he was doing a very good job at it. 

Jinhee wasn't particularly difficult to take care of; when she was a baby, she usually only woke up once or twice in the night. When she kept on crying after being changed and fed, Jungkook assumed that she just missed her mother. About a month before her second birthday, - which was also Jungkook's birthday - Jinhee stopped missing her mother. 

Throughout the past four years, Jungkook figured out a system to his strange way of parenting, which had altered as his baby girl started to grow up. 

Today was a school day; the first day of kindergarten, to be exact. Jinhee always got up before Jungkook did, which wasn't really an issue. She knew how to brush her teeth and get dressed - before bed, Jungkook would always help her pick out an outfit for the next day and set it on her dresser. The only issue was she didn't know how to do her hair. 

She tiptoed into her father's room, hair brush and ponytail-holders in hand. Jungkook was facing her; his mouth hung open, one hand flung over the bed lazily. She hated to wake him up, but it was now or never. 

"Daddy," she whispered, shaking his arm gently, "Daddy, wake up. Wake up." 

Jungkook opened his eyes, rubbing the sleep out of them as he let out a yawn. "'Morning, baby girl," he whispered, reaching a hand out to pinch her cheek lightly. Jinhee giggled and held up her hands. "Can you please do my hair?" she asked as sweetly as she could. The father hummed and sat up, pulling his shirt back down after he stretched. "How about we make breakfast first?" 

Every year, all the way up until Jinhee went off to college, Jungkook made her a special first-day-of-school breakfast. It consisted of eggs - done any way she liked - with bacon, grapefruit slices, juice of her choice, and a chocolate-chip muffin. And every year until Jinhee learned how to do her hair by herself, Jungkook would stand behind her while she ate and put her silky black hair up into a ponytail. 

He always tried new hairstyles on her, and by the time she was twelve, he had mastered French, Dutch, and fishtail braids, as well as different types of buns - he didn't even know what a sock-bun was until he watched a tutorial on YouTube. 

By the time Jinhee had her vel-cro Sketchers on, the bus was pulling down their street. "Alright, have a good day, baby girl. I love you," Jungkook said as he helped her adjust her plain-white bookbag. "Bye, Daddy! I love you, too!" she cheered as she gave him a hug, kissing his cheek before she had to go. 

He hated watching her go, but he knew she would be back at the end of the day. 

-------

"Dad?" Jinhee asked, stepping into the living room cautiously. Jungkook looked up from his place at the piano, taking his hands off the keys as he locked eyes with his fifteen-year-old daughter. "Hey, Jin. What's up?" he asked her, beckoning her over to sit on the bench with him. 

Over the years, their bond had weakened, but it was simply because Jinhee was a teenager. She needed space, and Jungkook respected that. Still, they always reserved Friday nights for family night; they usually ended up watching horror movies and eating takeout. 

Jinhee took a seat next to her father, resting her head on his shoulder. "You dyed your hair a lot, right?" she asked, earning a light chuckle. "Yeah. Me and Uncle Tae and Uncle Jimin and Uncle Yoongi dyed our hair a bunch. Once, Uncle Jin dyed Uncle Jimin's hair blue. And I made fun of Uncle Tae by dying half my head pink, like his was," Jungkook explained, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. 

"Why, do you want to dye your hair?" She nodded, taking a portion of her long, thick hair and twisting it between her fingers. "I don't want to dye all of it, but I do want to dye my hair purple," she explained with a stutter, shrugging her shoulders. "Uncle Tae's son, Noah, bought me purple dye and bleach to go with it. It's in my room." 

Jungkook smiled down at his daughter and helped her up from the bench. "Go get the dye, and meet me in the bathroom, okay? I'll kill me if I get bleach all over the floor." Jinhee laughed and nodded, disappearing into her room before heading into the bathroom. 

It took almost two hours, but by the time dinner rolled around, Jinhee's black hair faded into purple, all thanks to Jungkook. 

-------

"Okay, so this is liquid foundation," Jungkook explained, holding up the bottle of makeup that matched Jinhee's skin tone perfectly. "You put a dot of it on your forehead, cheeks, nose, and chin, then use a beauty blender - or as I used to call it, the makeup-egg - and lightly blend it out." 

He did as he explained, having his now-sixteen-year-old daughter close her eyes as he worked the makeup onto her face. 

As much as he really hated it, Jungkook taught Jinhee how to do her makeup. He remembered when he really liked wearing it; he got made fun of senior year of high school, but his closest friends supported him. But with his daughter, he understood that she didn't feel pretty in her own skin, hence why she wanted to wear makeup so badly. 

Once the foundation was all blended, Jungkook adding in a few tips here and there, he had Jinhee look at her reflection. "That's how it looks blended out, okay? If you don't look like this, you did it wrong." She nodded, then watched as her father took a fluffy brush with powder and lightly dusted a miniscule amount onto her face. 

"Listen, when you do makeup, you don't have to cake it on like most girls, okay? And since you have eyebrows like Uncle Tae, you don't need to fill them in. And your eyelashes are so long and pretty. Putting on mascara and falsies will make them fall out, so please don't do that," Jungkook said, contouring Jinhee's face with bronzer and highlight. 

Once he was completely done, he handed her glasses back to her so that she could see what he did. A smile broke out across Jinhee's face as she gazed into her bathroom mirror. "Woah, it looks like I just have a really good skincare routine," she chuckled, letting her very-short hair out of her headband. "I like it!" 

Jungkook patted her back with a proud smile. "That's how it's supposed to look when you put on makeup. Most people just cake it on and they look fake. You aren't fake, baby girl." Jinhee turned to her father, her eyes shining with adoration and appreciation. 

"Thank you, Dad. I know I don't really say it anymore, but I do love you. You're the best." 

She hugged him tightly, careful not to get makeup on his black t-shirt. Jungkook hugged her back, tucking her black hair behind one ear. "I love you too, Jinhee." 

You mean the world to me, my daughter.