✓𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧'𝐬 𝐇𝐮𝐬𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐇𝐨𝐦𝐞 | 𝟑

31

The day Jennie was discharged from the hospital, the city had become warm.

Early in the morning, Taehyung and her mother had started to help pack. The two sisters had said they'd meet that day at the Kim family home, but seeing as how big Lisa's belly had gotten, Jungkook decided it'd be better if he accompanied her, so he went to the hospital to pick her up.

It was already twelve in the afternoon when they returned to the Kim family home. The servants had just finished preparing lunch. Since Jennie was injured and Lisa was pregnant, the dishes were particularly light and nutritious.

After lunch, Taehyung and Jungkook followed Mr Kim into the study room, leaving the three women to watch television in the living room.

Lisa, who was three months pregnant, liked to nap and was quite lazy. As she watched TV up against Jennie's shoulder, she dozed off.

When she felt her shoulder become heavier, Jennie couldn't help but turn her head. When she saw that her sister had fallen deep asleep, she immediately nudged her mother and pointed at the blanket not too far away. She whispered softly, "Give me the blanket."

As she caught the blanket, she gently pulled it over Lisa. Just when she tried to slip the covers under her arm, she coincidentally saw her sister's little bump. Her gaze involuntarily froze, and her hand subconsciously reach out to stroke Lisa's belly. A tinge of envy instantly crept into her heart. Then, like an electric shock, her hand swiftly shrank back, and her eyes darkened as she lowered them.

It was already six in the evening when Lisa woke up. Mrs Kim had prepared dinner, so everyone decided to stay for dinner before parting.

Lisa and Jungkook went back home and Taehyung drove Jennie straight to his apartment. Perhaps it was because she was tired, she had shut her eyes and didn't say a word through the whole journey.

When they reached the apartment, Taehyung opened the door and blocked Jennie's way. "First, shut your eyes."

She lifted her head in confusion and glanced over at him. "What?"

"Shut your eyes," Taehyung repeated.

Taking in how unimpressed Jennie looked, he figured he may as well go around and behind her. He raised his hands and covered her eyes, then kicked the door open. He nudged her into house after that.

"Tae, what are you doing?"

Jennie shifted her head, wanting to pry Taehyung's hands apart. He lowered his head and gently whispered "shhh" into her ear. He casually closed the door, and continued to push her onward until they stopped in the centre of the living room. Then, he slowly took his hands from Jennie's eyes.

"Tae, what the hell are you..."

As Jennie said this, she opened her eyes to find that there were a lot of fireflies flying all around her. The warm balls of glowing yellow light lit up the dark room.

With the glow of the fireflies, Jennie saw that there were light pink rose petals scattered across the apartment floor. In front of her was a mannequin with a beautiful white dress.

Originally, Mr and Mrs Kim hoped that she and Taehyung could stay over at the family home, but he told them that he'd take her to his place. At the time, she thought that it was because the two of them hadn't been intimate for a long time, and since it wasn't exactly convenient for them to do so at the family home, she didn't think much of his request. Who could have imagined that he had prepared a surprise for her here.

Fireflies... it was a dream she had had as a child. She learned from books and cartoons that these things existed in the world. When she was young, she'd used to badger her father for fireflies, but it's a shame that they were difficult to find. Since then, fireflies had been a dream of hers.

When she and Taehyung first got together, she mentioned these childhood fancies to him, but just as a joke.

She never imagined that he would make up for the dream she had never fulfilled.

Jennie stared at the fireflies dancing endlessly around her and Taehyung, a beaming smile on her face. Her head subconsciously turned towards him.

Under the glow of the numerous fireflies, Taehyung stared back at her, and gave a warm smile. Then, without any warning at all, he crouched down in front of her. He pulled a red box from his pocket, opened it, and raised it up to Jennie. "Jennie, will you marry me?"

Jennie lowered her head, and saw the dazzling diamond ring in the box. She opened her mouth, wanting to let out a "Yes", but then her mind flashed to the thought of her never being able to get pregnant. It felt like she just downed glue, her single 'yes' got stuck in her throat. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't spit it out.

Taehyung stayed steadily on one knee in front of Jennie, and waited with a warm and extremely patient expression.

She subconsciously balled her hands up into a fist. In her mind, two voices were caught in a vicious duel.

One was telling her not to bother Taehyung, and the other nodded in response to his proposal.

After struggling with the idea for a long time, she suddenly took a step back and gently shook her head at Taehyung. "Tae, I can't marry you."

Taehyung slightly furrowed his brows, a confused look coming to his face.

Tears welled up beneath Jennie's eyes, and her lips quivered wildly. "Tae, you know that I can't have babies, why do you still want to marry me?"

Recently, she'd been wanting to pretend to act stupid, like she didn't know that she could never be a mother. She thought by doing so, she could peacefully be with him, but after waking up from her afternoon nap, she couldn't sleep right. With her eyes wide open, she looked at Taehyung sleeping on the sofa, and felt unusually sombre and guilty.

"Do you even know that I'm useless right now? I will never be able to give you a family!

"I truly want to be with you forever, but I can't be selfish and bring you down. This isn't fair to you..." Jennie finally couldn't hold her tears in any longer. "So Tae, don't marry me, okay? Don't marry me..."

Taehyung put the ring away and stood up. He raised his arm, and wiped Jennie's ceaseless tears. "Jennie... What I want isn't fairness. What I want is you."

Jennie's tears fell so violently that no matter how hard he tried to wipe her them away, they never ended. Eventually, he held her face up and stared right into her eyes. "If you don't want to get married now, that's fine. We can continue to be girlfriend and boyfriend. If you don't want to ever marry because you're worried about being a nuisance, then we can be girlfriend and boyfriend forever. Besides, if you don't want to ever get married, then I don't..."

Jennie let out a wail, then hugged Taehyung's neck, as she sobbed like a child.

Taehyung took her in his arms and patted her back. With a gentle voice, he comforted her softly, "Alright, don't cry..."

The cries didn't cease in the slightest.

The fireflies tirelessly circled the two of them, their warm yellow glow flashing incessantly.

•°. 🌻 •°.