𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐎𝐧𝐞-𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐬

Shopping With Nari

(Settings:
After... well, everything)

Giving Nari and I his (black) bankcard because he had to go on a business trip, pleases Nari more than anything.

"I want this!" She lies another toy down in the bag. I just follow along with the girl, unsure because after all, this is a lot compared to my old relationship. "And this. Oeh, and this! This!"

"Are you sure—"

"Minnie said I could buy anything I wanted, so I will." Enthusiastically, the girl plops another thing in the bag. "Hey, can we get ice cream?"

"Oh, sure." I cringe when she pays for all the toys, but remind myself Minho would be happy to see all this, and stick them in a bag. "What do you want?"

"Strawberry! And chocolate. Or— eh... lemon! Ohh, what's that blue one? Can't I get all of them? I've never had four scoops before. No one allows me to."

"I'm not sure if that's a good idea, love," I warn. "You might get sick. And Minho's coming home tonight already, so we better be at our bests when he does."

"Pleaseee?" The big doe eyes get revealed, followed by the hands below the chin. "I promise I'll always behave."

"You said that last time."

"I kept my promise," she pouts. Her arms cross over her tiny body.

"You made Minho go through the seven stages of grief."

"All I did was ask for a niece!"

"You put notes everywhere in our house, and then continued begging in his ear so long that he was about to lose his temper if it weren't for Thomas and his dog to show up," I say.

I swear, if Thomas would only ask anything like that in Minho's ear, he'd be dead in a second. Nari, in fact... she could commit a crime and the worst punishment he'd give her is not allowing her to play with her Barbies for like... five minutes.

"I promise I'll never ever do it again," she says. Ugh, the big eyes, and the dimples, and the cute nose! "But—"

"Fine," I agree, almost throwing my hands in the air. "You can get four scoops. But if you get sick, don't blame me."

She sticks out her tongue. "You'll blame yourself anyways. I won't even have to do it for you."

Sigh.

But, truth.

We order her ice cream. It takes her until the ice has melted to finish three scoops, and when she's trying to empty the cup, she doesn't look too well.

Shouldn't have never agreed.

But I wanted it to become a fun day for her! "Let's stop eating," I decide.

"But it's so good," she murmurs. "Yet a little... much."

"Exactly." I pull the bowl away. "Come on, I'll carry you to the car."

She nods. After a while, we've arrived at home.

Well, not Nari's home. This is my house, and Minho's. Which we (cough, he) bought after the wedding.

It certainly is a big one, but doesn't echo or anything. I wanted it to be a bit cozy. Not a too fancy thing. He agreed, but after all, we still have three more bedrooms than we need.

But alright, we also have plenty friends.

"Quinn?" She peeps.

I turn my head to find her sitting on the backseat, face even pale. We drive over a bump in the road, and I can basically see my life flash in front of my eyes.

She's gonna throw up. Awesome!

***

Reminding myself that he won't get angry is hard. Especially when it comes to Nari, because Minho would do a lot for his little sister. So I try not to panic as I scrub the vomit off the seats, and I also try not to scrub like a psychopath because I know he will be home in a few minutes, and I try to stop my brain from making an apology speech I'll immediately tell him, but it's hard.

I stop cleaning when I hear the sound of his car cracking things on the ground; he has arrived. Was only gone for three days, but I've missed him.

Yet my mood is a little ruined because I still have to remind myself that he won't get angry, and that reminding gives me memories, and that for sure ruins my mood.

While Nari is, hopefully, sleeping, tucked in a thousand blankets, I run over to him the second he comes out of the car, wrapping my arms around him with such force that he nearly falls over.

"Hi there," he says, and I can hear the smile. "Missed me, I see."

"Mhm."

"I mean, I don't blame you. And I missed you too." He cups my face. Kisses me. And even after almost two years, it still gives me butterflies. "Now what's with the look?"

"What?"

He still has his hands on my cheeks, holding me close. "Let's see... nose scrunched, worried eyes, slight frown... what happened?"

I lower my head, only for him to lift it back up. "I'm so sor—" a hand slams on my mouth.

"We talked about this, princess. No apologizing before the actual thing is explained."

I nod. "Right. So, well, Nari and I went shopping and she wanted four scoops and I knew it wasn't a good idea but she started begging so I—"

"Slowly, please."

"Right," I sigh. My eyes close for a second. When I open them, he's still got the genuine smile. "She got four scoops of ice cream, and is now sick in her bed. She threw up in the car, and it's not completely clean yet and I'm sorry that I got her those four scoops—"

"Don't be," he interrupts, chuckling. "This is like the tiniest problem in the world, Quinn. She has to learn she's responsible for her actions so this was a good lesson to never eat that much again, and you for sure don't have to apologize. I gave you that card, after all."

I knew this would happen. But every time it actually does, it sends a strange comfort over me. "Alright. Okay. You're right."

He grins. "Aren't I always?"