butterfly ▸ vhope

Epilogue

My name is Jung Hoseok. It has been ten years since my lover and I got together and I became the happiest man on earth. My lover, Kim Taehyung, was now my legal husband of eight years. Though we said we didn't need it, we went on with it and got married in Las Vegas. During the wedding, all our relatives came and it was a joyful ceremony with even celebrities passing by the chapel to congratulate us.

The friends that we had met when we toured around the world attended our wedding. The lot of us became close friends when we met again in Singapore as we toured the Asian region. We were now as close as brothers and shared the same neighborhood.

I went on and studied another course and graduated with a degree and entered the world of business. Since then, I had opened up my own company, providing services for shipping. My company was known worldwide in less than a year after we opened and it was great with bringing in the money for our lives. Taehyung studied Psychology more in depth and opened up a clinic to help those with psychological problems. He was best known around our city and many have traveled far and wide just to get his opinion on their diagnosis from him.

Of course, things didn't just stop there. We adopted a set of fraternal twins, a boy and a girl, from a teenage mother who wan't ready to raise kids and had set them up for adoption. We settled things legally and the mother was allowed to visit the children whenever she wanted. But that was six years ago. Meaning our children were currently six years old and attending kindergarten.

"Hobie appa! Joonie oppa is stealing the control again!"

"Aw, Taera, it's okay. Come here, appa has a job for you. Can you do me a favor and call Taetae appa and Joonie for lunch? If you do so, I will have a talk with Joonie about sharing and giving way,"

"Okay, appa. Taera will call them for lunch. Can you please give me extra kimchi for my share?"

"Of course, Taera. Now go,"

I smiled and sent my six-year old daughter, Kim Taera to fetch Taehyung and her older brother, Jung Joon Ha. Our children had different last names since we couldn't decide whose last names to use, so we ended up using both. We originally wanted to go with Taehyung's last name but he insisted that it wasn't fair. And since Taehyung was quite stubborn, we went through tons of procedures before our children's names were approved.

I was thinking of our next big project at work when I felt arms wrapped around me. A kiss was placed softly on my cheek and I blushed. Ten years since we've been together and I could not get used to the fact that we were a couple. It felt strange considering just ten years ago, we were best friends and I had an unrequited crush on him. And now, we were a legally married couple in the states with children.

"Mm, I would rather eat you then bibimbap for lunch, hyung,"

"You can't eat me. If you eat me, I can't be with you until the end of time, silly,"

We held onto our promise. And during the wedding, our promise turned into our vow. So now, until death do we part, we have to hold onto that promise and live our lives together forever.

"I know, I know. I love you, Hoseokie hyung,"

"I love you too, Tae,"

Lips were softly planted on mine and I smiled into the kiss. We pulled apart quickly when we heard Taera and Joon Ha running into the dining area. They didn't need to see things like these since they were still young and innocent.

"Taetae appa, can we go to the zoo tomorrow? I want to see the lions and tigers!"

"Eh, oppa? But lions and tigers are scary! They eat other animals!"

"It's their nature, Taera. Lions and tigers eat animals so they can be strong. They're just like us. We need meat too, don't we? It gives us energy so we can breeze through the day,"

"B-But, I don't w-want for the l-lions a-and tiger to e-eat the a-animals,"

As Taehyung placed extra kimchi for Taera in her bowl, she started to bawl. Oops, guess I shouldn't have said what I said. As I was about to comfort her, Joon Ha got off from his seat and went to his sister, wrapping his arms around her and wiped her tears away. Shocked, I turned to stare at Taehyung as he did the same with me. Our gazes turned back to our children as Joon Ha comforted Taera and made her smile once more.

"We won't go to the zoo if you don't want to, Taera,"

"It's okay, oppa. If we go, you have to promise to hold my hand,"

"Of course! I don't want the lions and tigers to eat Taera!"

"Hehe.."

And I couldn't felt more happier. Taehyung who sat beside me laughed and wrapped his arm around my waist as I leaned into him and watched our children eating and making a mess.

Somehow, it all fit. Whether it be ten years ago or ten years later, I would never had expected that we would end up like this. I guess I was lucky, to have fallen in love with my best friend. Though it was until later did he realize it, he still made me smile and laugh and stayed true to his words. Since then, he never once made me cried and he didn't relapse into alcohol. He believed in faith and had hopes. Just like I did. And because of that, we were able to soar high into the clouds and build the life that we wanted.