The Nanny- Bangchan

CHAPTER 12

Chan couldn't even look at the pool house. He couldn't even look in the direction of the pool house without feeling the twisting in his stomach and the pain in his heart over Aera. Too much happened in that place for him to ever disassociate her with it. It was like a symbol of them just sitting there, taunting him with its existence and memories.

Chan's brain never shut off. Every time he saw her, it replayed flashbacks of them together. But he knew it was his punishment, his repentance. It was what he deserved for everything he'd done. Like so many have said before – karma's a bitch. But yet, there were very few things on the planet that could keep him from Aera if she were to change her mind about them.

By the time they were thrown together in the front seat of the SUV on the way to amusement parks , seven days had passed since she ended things between them. Seven days since she panicked about falling asleep with him in his bedroom. Seven agonizing, marathon days.

As they sat stuck in traffic on the way to the happiest place on earth, Chan tried his best to disengage himself from reality. He tried daydreaming. He tried thinking of songs to sing in his head. He even tried thinking about what life was like before Jihye. But the second Aera moved the slightest bit in her seat next to him, he was pulled straight back to her wispy  hair, perfectly tanned skin and intoxicating scent. She made his blood itch, wanting and needing her so bad.

Chan's eyes kept flicking back and forth from the road to her long, slender, bare legs as the sun shone perfectly down on them. He wanted to reach out to them, to place his hand on her knee affectionately. If it was a week prior and they were driving around Australia. on one of their many outings while Jaehyun was off at practice, Chan wouldn't hesitate to touch her. When it was just the two of them there really was never a time they weren't touching. He longed for those days, for that relief.

"Daddy, can we listen to Stray kids?" Areum's tiny voice pulled him out of his head. Chan cringed immediately, knowing it was probably the last thing Aera wanted at the moment.

"Yeah! Can we? Please?" Jaehyun chimed in excitedly.

"Can we listen to something else?" Chan asked, looking at them through the lens of his Ray-bans in the rear-view mirror.

"Nooo!" Both of them whined.

"Daddy! I want to listen to it," Areum insisted.

It was a mistake to look back at her through the rear-view mirror, because when he did, all he saw was her bottom lip puffed out with big sad eyes. He was a sucker for that face. And he was certain that at age five, Areum knew it and used it to her advantage.

"Sorry," Chan said quietly to Aera, hoping she wouldn't be too entirely uncomfortable.

Chan shuffled through his iPod to the Stray kids mix he put together with his kids and pressed play. Almost immediately God's Menu started playing through the speakers, bringing him back to a time when he was an idol – a complete contrast to where he was today.

Chan's voice was incredible and it made Aera silently wonder why he ever left the business. She wondered if it was because of Jihye... or the kids. She supposed Jaehyun's birth came right around that time.

"Cookin' like a chef I'm a 5 star michelin "Chan heard Aera quietly singing to herself.

He almost couldn't believe his ears. He slowly turned his head toward her, trying to catch her singing again. He wanted to hear more from the girl who said she was never a fan of his band. Was she holding back on him all along? Her eyes caught his and they both smiled widely at each other.

"Are you sure you weren't a fan?" He asked her with a sideways smirk.

"If jennie ever wanted to listen to you guys, I would only let her play this song..." She said as her cheeks blushed with her words. Chan couldn't get the smile off of his face, thinking about Aera as a young girl listening to the song.