Travel with Me - V (aka Kim Taehyung) BTS COMPLETE

Epilogue

Epilogue

"Appa, where are my socks with the bears on them?" Her voice rang out loudly through the house.

"Your socks are in here under the window Soph," Tae called back, wiping the food off the tiny face in front of him, trying to get at least some of it in her mouth. He moved closer, pulled a face and the cute smile he got in return meant an open mouth to shovel some more food into.

Sophia came dancing into the kitchen, a ball of energy and light, her long hair tied up in what was probably the new hairstyle at school. This was especially important to nine year olds and Tae could remember a time that having his hair styled just right was a make or break of whether he was seen in public.

Marley walked into the room after her, looking a little weary but every bit as beautiful as when he'd met her. Maybe a little more sure of herself having navigated a crazy new way of living over the past five years, definitely tired from being woken in the night by the little girl in front of him who was determined to move most of the food from her mouth to wipe on the highchair between them.

"Aniyo, my little love. Eat the food for Appa, please," he finished, the pleading tone earning a smile from Marley.

"Do you want me to take over Tae," she asked, coming over and sinking down to wrap her arms around his shoulders. He rested his arms on top of hers, handing the spoon to Soo-Yin to hold while he leaned back against her. "She's probably old enough to do it herself now," he said, sighing as he took in the mess but enjoying the feeling being with Marley always brought. Their connection was just as strong, maybe even more so since their family had grown together.

"Yes, at 14 months, she should be a pro," Marley laughed, watching her smallest daughter use the spoon to trace patterns in the mess all over the highchair.

"Jajangmyeon for dinner," Sophia asked, having put on her missing socks and she slid across the floor towards them.

"Ha-chin asked for Spaghetti and that's already cooking, so we can have jajangmyeon tomorrow night," Marley replied, silencing the pouting Sophia with a look. She was nine going on 16 sometimes with the preteen attitude beginning to seep in but somehow Tae always managed to stay calm and navigate this new stage, stepping in whenever it was needed or when Marley felt like she was losing her mind.

"It's so funny to me that Sophia prefers Korean food and Ha-chin likes English food more," Tae said, just as the three year old careened into the room. His energy in the house matches his fathers energy on stage, keeping everyone on their toes. But he looked the most like Marley and Tae loved that, seeing so much of her when he looked at all of his kids. His name got shortened to Hachi when they were talking about him and now he often got Archie as well, answering to all of those names in Korean or English, depending on who they were with and what country they were in. All the children were growing up bilingual, at ease in both languages.

And now their family was almost complete, the newest baby tucked away behind her belly button, only having discovered they were having another last week. They'd talked about four or five kids years ago and he remembered Marley's surprise at the large number and now, all of the dreams of Tae's family were coming true. Sophia felt like his, Ha-Chin was a mini Marley, Soo-Yun really was a mix of them both. All of them were perfect in his eyes and his family was the thing he was most proud of. Even more than all the awards he'd received over the years.

The juggle was real and the thought of having four kids, three of them four years old and under when the newest addition was born was more than a little overwhelming and he was grateful that their schedule was much lighter now than in the first decade of their career. As each member married and started families, the new songs and concerts were not as frequent but they still all saw each other regularly, working on solo songs, units and sometimes full team projects together. The balance was hectic between work and family life but Tae knew that was probably the case for many families. It was just his work meant his trips away from home were for a much longer period of time than for others.