ALWAYS

XVI

“I want to have a little sister… but appa said it’s impossible since my real omma is now dead… I asked for ‘omma’ to give me a little sister… she laughed at me telling she would give me one someday… I can’t wait for that day to come…”

Those words from the little girl were still fresh in his memory… made his inside turned upside down… how could an innocent child easily stir his feelings…

Expecting for the little girl to be disappointed in the end… he’s hoping that may her young mind forget that wish as time pass by.

His thoughts then got interrupted when he heard the door opened…

Again… he chose to lock himself inside his office… waiting for the night to come to finally have a reason to go out… after what happened earlier with ‘her’ niece, he came to a realization that he shouldn’t make himself too attached on the little girl… for seeing Soojin always reminds him of nothing but his wife.

And yet… now… here ‘she’ is again…

As if no matter what he does to stay away… something would still pull her towards him…

“What do you want…? Can’t you see I’m busy…?” He told her with his always cold voice.
“Uhmm… sorry for bothering you… Soojin and I will just go to the university’s fair… I’m wondering if you would want to join us…”

She thought of asking him for the whole day… even though she knows what his answer would be… she still tried her chance.

He looked up… she gasped as upon seeing his infuriated expression that all said the incoming rejection from him.

“Are you kidding me…? Join you..? I’m done babysitting your niece… and you of all people should know first who I want to be with… just keep your booty away from my sight…”

Just as she thought… but maybe she just wanted to be insulted again… maybe it became her routine to be daggered by his painful words… maybe it wouldn’t complete her day of not being tortured by his cold treatment…

But no… since yesterday… and especially this morning… something’s been pushing her to see him again… hoping she would be ale to see another side of him.

Her shoulders slumped in defeat… the same feeling of her heart being ripped apart struck her… and again… she could feel the moist forming inside her orbs.

“Mi-… mianhe… I… I should go… sorry for bothering you again…”

She stuttered… quickly turned around… hiding her pathetic looking face from the man who brought her pain again…

As soon as he heard the door closed… he collapsed his upper frame on his desk… his face turned to the side… gazing at the closed door… mouth half opened trying to gasped a fistful of air to breath…

Clutching once again on his aching chest… trying to interpret yet again the confusing and painful feeling that’s been bothering him for days.


Her niece sure enjoyed the fair… running around and dragging her from booth to booth… good thing Jennie was there to help her control the little girl’s energetic self…

The fair was wonderful… colorful lights surrounded the field… there were so much booths with different activities in it… and later there would be a fireworks display to end the school’s celebration.

Everything that happened earlier at ‘his’ office were now completely out of her system… focusing her time together with her niece was the best resort not to remind herself the pain that almost ruined her day.

Jennie was too fond by the little girl’s adorableness… even compared Rosé to her niece that she too should act like the little girl… too much waste of her beauty… Rosé just blushed and shrugged off her friend’s teasing.

“Omma… I’m thirsty…”

The little girl tugged her pants as they were walking towards another booth… she

looked down and brought the kid up to her arms…

“Oh… Soojin-ah… do you want to come with me…? I’ll buy us and your omma some drinks and food…”

Her friend got Soojin from her… the two went with the little girl still on her hyped energy…

She smiled to herself as she watched Soojin waved at her from the booth where they’re buying… and just then someone caught her attention.

Past the direction where her friend and her niece were… she saw ‘him’… in his most casual clothes… wearing just a shirt and baggy pants… with a red beanie on his head… he looked more of his young age…

Despite the crowd surrounding the event… her eyes still caught his figure… there she saw his smile once again… totally forgetting where that smile is being given to… she just admired it… memorizing every movements of his lips… not missing and forgetting every detail of his smile…

Not until someone woke her up from her so called ‘site-seeing’ “Yo…”
She heard a familiar voice coming behind her… there she finally managed to blink her eyes… there she finally realized where those smiles were for… there she saw her husband happily being with his lover…

She slowly looked back… almost forgetting the man who called for her…

And there she saw her him again… too bad the sun already set out… for she really wants to see his unique beauty whenever the sun highlights his physique…

But seeing him tonight doesn’t lessen that beauty… seeing him too in his most causal clothes brought up his tough image… thankful that at least the colorful lights still helped her see his weird yet soft aura…

“Hi…”

She smiled towards him… and she saw how his tiny eyes went into slits as he gave her back a warm smile…

Silence… she’s now used to his silence… he’s not really a talker… and maybe she would be surprised once he will suddenly talk more than one sentence or two…

“Are you here just by yourself…?”

And as usual she broke the silence between them first.

“I believe you were just looking awhile ago where my friends are…”

She raised a brow… he sometimes has this stinger side of him… but maybe that’s what she liked about him… for even his words were full of sarcasm… still could bring her some happiness.

“You really like being alone eh..?”

He asked her… his hands both inside his pockets

“No… why would I come here alone…? Of course I’m with someone…”

She defended… but he just shrugged… looking to where her husband is… maybe rubbing it to her face as to who she’s calling her companion… she followed his gaze but quickly looked back at him… can’t bear to look at the intertwined hands of the lovers…

She cleared her throat to gain his attention back… he just looked at her at the side of his eyes… still his face turned sideways.

“Why are you here…? Aren’t you supposed to be with your friends…?” He then turned to her still wearing a blank face.
“Can’t I wander around and leave my friends for a while…? I told you once that they are old enough to manage themselves… I just found you and wouldn’t be a courtesy to greet an acquaintance of mine…?”

Her eyes widen… as far as she can remember… that was the longest statement she heard from him… and instead of being disappointed to yet another of sarcasm from him… she can’t help not to hide the slowly curving smile on her lips.

He raised an eyebrow wondering on her sudden reaction… thinking if the woman in front of him is slowly losing her mind because of always being alone…

And just then… their weird moment got interrupted as two figures came on the scene…

“Omma…! Jennie bought lots for Soojin… she almost forgot buying something for omma…”

The little girl yelled and reached for Rosé to be carried by her… Jennie needed to take a call so she let Taehyung to carry their foods first.

He stiffened for a bit upon hearing the kid calling Rosé her omma…

Felt his insides skipped when he noticed the little girl totally looked lie her… and when Rosé noticed the uneasy expression painted on his face… she quickly told him what’s her relationship with the little girl.

“She’s my niece…”

And that’s when Taehyung finally broke his gaze towards the kid… looked at Rosé and relieved hearing her words… thinking why he should be bothered…? For sooner or later maybe she would have a child of her own… especially that now she’s tied with someone.

“Are you another friend of omma…?”

The little girl asked him looking at him with its round big eyes… “Yes…
He answered earning a smile from Rosé… she watched how Taehyung would react towards her niece’s charms…

“Are you a friend of uncle Jungkook too…? And appa…? And Jennie…?”

The girl asked him again… he looked at Rosé doesn’t know how not to complicate explaining things to the little girl’s mind.

Rosé chuckled and kissed the side of the little girl’s head… Soojin turned to her. “Baby… he’s uncle Taehyung… uncle Jungkook and omma’s friend…”
She explained… he just watched how Rosé talked to her niece… the two really looked the same… both beautiful and adorable…

The little girl pouted.

“But not appa’s and Jennie’s friends…?”

Rosé chuckled again… supported the weight of the kid with her arm for her other hand to reach her cheek and pinch it a bit.

“We can let appa meet uncle Taehyung so they can be friends neh…”

Soojin finally nodded… how her innocence could bring confusion to the adults….

The little girl turned to Taehyung again and flashed her sweet smile… the other guy just smiled back at her… feeling awkward for he too never had any experience with a kid.

And just then Jennie went back to them with a bothered face. “What’s wrong…?”
Rosé asked… her friend sighed deeply. “I need to go home now… mianhe…”
Her shoulders were both slumped heavily… and her lips were pouting “Family matters…”
Sadness could be felt from her voice… Rosé immediately felt concerned about her friend… while the other two both kept quiet…

“Oh… Jennie… sure you can go… don’t worry… if I could help you just call me neh…?”

Her friend just nodded and let out a weak smile… she can’t help but to wonder what her friend’s problem is.

“Jennie… Soojin will play with you next time okay…”

Her friend looked up and finally let out a big smile… she reached for the kid’s cheek and caressed it a bit.

“Sure baby… we’ll play next time…”

And soon after she left… leaving the three standing at the middle of the fair… she turned to Taehyung and saw the foods he’s carrying on his arms…

“Oh… mianhe… Jennie made you to carry those… let me-…”

“I can manage… plus you’re carrying your niece…do you think how you can carry all of these…?”

He cut her off… she pouted… she really doesn’t want to be a bother… “Maybe Soojin and I will just go home…”
She muttered… the little girl’s eyes widen in protest… Taehyung saw it and can’t help but to chuckle a bit…

He grabbed Rosé’s arm with his free hand and dragged her to a bench… putting down the foods between them and pulling the little girl on his lap.

“Soojin-ah… do you want to go home already…?”

Rosé just watch the two… she saw how her niece pouted and shook her head… she saw how Taehyung smiled towards her kid… really can’t help but to feel warm inside her… she then got startled when he turned to her.

“I guess we could stay here for a while…”

She said making the little girl cheered in happiness… she looked back at Taehyung who’s now holding her niece on its tiny waist supporting as Soojin jumped on his lap…

“Eat these foods first… you still haven’t had your dinner right…?it’s not good to skip meals…”

Suddenly Taehyung said out of the blue… she stared at him who’s still busily playing and feeding her niece… raising a brow for his sudden concern.

“What…?”

He asked… she just shook her head… thinking that maybe she just found it weird again in him…

The three ate and played at the bench… the night was still young… seeing another

side of Taehyung just because of her niece made her happy… completely forgetting his cold side.

And there ‘he’ is… watching the three from afar… eyes couldn’t leave the scene of yet another happy ‘family’… taking to himself once again… suppressing the forming pain that’s been hunting him…

There ‘he’ is… finally with his lover… should be enjoying the night with her… but instead busying himself feeling bitter and envious of the scene…

There ‘he’ is… would always watch her from afar… watching her happy time… her moment with another man… blaming the pride inside of him for not letting himself    to give in to what he really wanted… for maybe in the first place, he really doesn’t know what he wants… and doesn’t even understand his own feelings…

Taking in another torture of seeing her smile from afar.


“Taehyung-sshi… I could really carry her myself…”

She tugged his shirt once again as they walked around the fair… after eating at the bench… Taehyung has been carrying her niece for quite a while now… she just walked beside them totally felt shy and bothered for making him carry her niece… reasoning out to him that he could just join his friends and just let her deal with her niece… but she never thought he would be too stubborn to ignore her and just walk with her niece who’s now sitting on his shoulders.

“Just enjoy the fair will you… you’re not here to just babysit your niece…”

He finally spoke to her… she pouted again which didn’t escape his eyes…

“Look at her… she really enjoys it even she’s just looking around the area… loosen up a bit… you worry too much…”

True… Soojin has her eyes wide open for almost the whole night… even ignoring the two… they can only hear her giggling on his shoulders… pointing at random things and then giggle again… seemed like she doesn’t know how to feel tired.

She sighed… thinking that he’s right… he watched her through the side of his eyes… letting go of one of Soojin’s hand… as he saw Rosé’s free hand dangling at her side… feeling the urge to hold it in his hand… Just an inch away… almost

touching it… he then got interrupted when suddenly the little girl yelled. “Omma… I want that teddybear…! Omma..! Omma..!”
She yelled while pointing on one stall… he pulled back his hand… totally felt defeated… he then held on Soojin’s legs afraid that the child might fall.

They quickly went to the stall… the little girl was too persuasive to let it go…


“Thank you uncle Taehyung…!”

The little girl’s cheek blushed upon getting the bear… Taehyung played almost a couple of times… Rosé watched him being so focused to hit all the toy soldiers with the pellet gun… she chuckled while holding her niece as he became frustrated and almost break the gun he’s holding when he didn’t hit the last toy soldier… but after almost half an hour of playing… he finally hit them all… wiped off the sweat and sighed in relief… he sure would never stop until he got that teddybear.

He pinched the girl’s chubby cheek as she hugged the teddybear… “Thanks…”
Rosé told him shyly… he just nodded…

And soon they were back from walking… Soojin on Taehyung’s arms while the Rosé’s carrying the teddybear…

“The fireworks will start later… let’s go find a place to stay first…”

Taehyung said as they noticed the slowly drowsing Soojin resting her head on his shoulder… Rosé reached for the child’s cheek and caressed it a bit…

“She really had a great fun…”

She chuckled… as the child finally closed its eyes… they walked towards the tree they used to hang out at…

Sat under it… Rosé got the kid from Taehyung… settling her on her lap while caressing the little girl’s hair…

“She really looks like you…”

He said as he watched the little girl sleeping peacefully. “Maybe because I was with her since she’s still a baby…” He just nodded and again silence enveloped them…
He cleared his throat… feeling awkward for the sudden silence “Do you want something to drink…? I’ll just go buy us some…”
But before she could answer… he already stood up and told her he’ll be quick… she smiled and rested her back on the tree…

After a while someone came… it was a little dark at their area… thinking it was Taehyung she didn’t bother asking who it is.

But as the figure went closer… her eyes then widen and her heart began to beat fast… she wanted to stand up… but remembered that her niece’s on her lap… just stayed seated afraid to wake up her angel… she looked up as the figure stood in front of her.

And just then the first batch of the fireworks launched on the heavens… colored it with bits of colorful fire balls… as if the stars showered the earth with it’s beauty and color… he just stood there… looking down at her… as the fireworks continued its wonders…

Their eyes locked once again… the time stilled… only the sound of the fireworks’ explosions and the beats of their hearts could be heard…once again lost in each others orbs…

While another guy from afar dropped the bottles of drinks he and the girl he’s been wanting supposed to share… watching the two under his and hers supposed to be haven… having their moment…

A bitter smile crept on his lips… his heart sunk deeply… felt his breath caught in his throat… he bowed down… picked up the bottles... and slowly he turned around… leaving behind the girl he loves together with the person that truly owns her now….