How giddy this one woman feels about a date.
How excited she feels about something that she'd been so skeptical to even think about prior to this.
Even now as she looks at herself in the mirror, fully dressed and ready to go, she's nervous.
She completely blanked on hairstyles that she could be so she settled for putting her straightened hair into a ponytail with a middle part. It's simple and she thinks that it looks okay.
But not 'first date' okay.
"I don't know, Onyx. Maybe I overestimated myself. Why did I agree to this?"
Harper looks at the baby sitting up as he sucks his pacifier. He looks up at his mother with his big brown eyes at the sound of her voice. He smiles at her and she giggles as she picks him up.
"We'll be okay though, right? Huh? You like Yoongi, right?"
Onyx coos at his mother in response and she kisses his cheeks.
"Yeah, we'll be okay." She smiles at him.
She fixes the velour textured material of Onyx's dark grey sweatsuit. She makes sure the clip holding his pacifier is secured before grabbing his diaper bag and her phone. She opens the bedroom door and steps out into the hallway.
The first thing that Harper smells is breakfast. Sausages, eggs, French toast sticks. It's a surprising scent that she hadn't really expected.
"Good morning." She announces her presence as she walks into the living room. She doesn't want to startle him as he's clearly in his own little world.
He looks up as he reaches into the fridge and smiles.
"Good morning. I made breakfast." He grabs the applesauce out of the fridge and holds it up. "And I have a snack for Onyx."
"Oh.. you didn't have to." She grabs the formula from the counter and a clean bottle from the diaper bag. "I don't usually eat in the mornings."
Yoongi opens the container of applesauce and dishes some into a small bowl.
"Just lunch?"
"Well, when Onyx gets his second bottle of the day is usually when I eat." Harper pours six ounces of distilled water into the bottle before putting the cap back on it. "And my lunch hour at work."
Yoongi does the math in his head. She wakes up around 8:30, 9 o'clock with Onyx. After sleeping through the night, he'll probably drink a six ounce bottle, as being demonstrated now. Then, with the six ounce, he won't need to eat again until around noon.
So Harper's first meal of the day isn't until three hours after she's been up. Her lunch hour at work is really a dinner hour and doesn't happen until about nine or 10, depending on how busy the floor is.
So her meals are nine and... 12 hours apart...?
Yoongi watches her skeptically as she pours three ounces of formula into the bottles and shakes it up.
"I'll feed him." He says. "You can eat."
"I don't really have an appetite in the mornings."
"Just a little. Please?" Yoongi requests. "We'll be out and about walking a lot. I want to make sure you'll be okay through that. I bought some water bottles for us to take as well."
He didn't say anything about it yesterday, but he noticed that it didn't take her very long before she needed to take a seat at the Nutcracker village.
He doesn't know if she got dizzy or what happened. But while his parents took pictures in the photo booth, she took a seat.
She was breathing kind of heavy in and out through her nose and her blinking was kind of slow. She didn't seem to feel any better until two minutes of sitting with her back against the bench.
That concerned him but it also wasn't his first time noticing it. When they went to the Elmo show, he noticed it then as well.
Onyx's eyes focus on the bottle as his mother holds it. He grabs at it with his small hands and Harper looks from Yoongi to him.
Realizing that he doesn't want to wait, she starts feeding him.
"I'll feed him first and then eat a little." She says softly. "Thank you."
"You're more than welcome." Yoongi replies.
He grabs the plate that he made for her and cuts her pancake up into bite sized pieces. He does the same for the sausage before bringing both of their plates to the coffee table.
Harper cradles Onyx as she feeds him. Touching his soft curls, she watches as he drinks his bottle down. He takes small breaks every several gulps but finishes all of it.
Harper burps him over her shoulder and he puts his fingers into his mouth. He coos with his head on her shoulder and it's music to her ears. Her favorite sound in the world, she loves it when he does this.
When he burps, he spits up a little and Harper wipes his mouth with a burp cloth.
Yoongi waits as she sets him on the floor to play with Jewel. She puts his pacifier in his mouth and he spits it back out.
Jewel comes trotting over and sniffs the baby's neck and face. Onyx smiles and Jewel purrs against him. He squeezes himself into the space between the baby's legs and curls up there.
Harper grabs her plate of food and stabs a piece of sausage with her fork. Looking at it, she finds it appetizing. The food smells great. She's just... not hungry.
But then again, rarely is she ever.
Licking her lips, she holds the fork to her mouth and eats the sausage. She takes small bites of each thing on her plate but none of it induces any state of hunger for her.
Yoongi fills their water bottles up while keeping an eye on Onyx. The baby is reaching for the cat's tail as it waves in the air. His big brown eyes glisten with amazement.
Yoongi whistles to get Jewel's attention. The cat looks over at him and his tail stops waving. It rests against the ground and Onyx looks at it. It's no longer interesting just lying there.
Harper looks at Yoongi who's walking over with the water bottles. She's confused as to why he whistled. He doesn't say anything about it, just sets the water on the table.
He looks at the time on his wristwatch and nods to himself.
"Should we go?" Harper asks.
"We have a few minutes. I'm just going to put the dishes in the dishwasher and then we can go. His stroller is still in the trunk, right?"
"Right. I forgot to take it out yesterday."
"It's fine. You two can get ready. I'm just going to rinse these and put them in there."
"Okay."
Yoongi grabs their plates and Harper reaches for a water bottle. She drinks from it, taking a few sips before starting to get Onyx into his car seat.
She straps him in first and puts the cozy cover over it under Jewel's attentive watch. She secures him into the seat and grabs her coat. She puts her boots on as Yoongi walks over to put his shoes on as well. He gets his boots on and they walk out into the cold together.
Harper straps the car seat into the back seat and Yoongi gets the car started. She pulls on the seat belts to make sure they're secure before getting into the passenger seat.
Yoongi uses the GPS to get their destination. He's pretty sure that he remembers how to get there from memory. But he isn't going to risk being wrong.
It's a fifteen minute drive to get there and Harper can see the plant section from outside of the building. It looks like something of a greenhouse and she's never seen one in person.
Yoongi finds a spot in the parking garage and keeps the slip in the cup colder. He and Harper get out of the car, taking Onyx and his stroller with them.
Yoongi opens each door for Harper. She doesn't touch a single one on the way into the building. They stand in line to have their tickets scanned and validated at the entrance desk.
From there, Harper sets Onyx onto the stroller instead of holding him. She doesn't like the idea of pushing him around in the cold. So she carried him until they were safely inside and warm.
"What should we see first?" Yoongi asks as he looks at the tickets. "The butterfly garden?"
"Yes, please." Harper replies. "I think that Onyx would enjoy that one."
"I was thinking the same thing." He agrees. "It's pretty quiet in there."
"You ready to see the pretty flowers, Onyx? Huh?"
He looks around at the sound of her voice and stops sucking his pacifier. He sees her and bends his back to attempt to look at her better.
"Don't look over your head at me like that. That's not good for your eyes." Harper lightly scolds.
Of course he doesn't understand so he continues to do it. Harper sighs through her nose and smiles at him.
"You gotta stop, bear."
"You can take him out if you want. The garden's in here." He points to a see-through door.
The entirety of the garden is see through, just as the outside of it is. The glass is reinforced and about two inches thick. Behind it is an array of flowers.
Yoongi opens the door for her and Harper thanks him as she pushes Onyx inside. Her walking slows soon after that as she takes in the wonders of the garden.
There's green everywhere. From big leafy plants to small ones with colorful flowers on them. Hues of red, blues, violet and yellows are everywhere. Each color has a corresponding pastel shade somewhere in the garden as well.
One or two big sprinkler systems are wired above each patch of plants. The floor of the path through the garden is large marble grey ceramic tile.
The place smells of fresh, warm water with a hint of wet soil.
"Wow." Harper says in amazement.
She walks further into the garden, following the path. They watch as butterflies in shades of orange and reds breeze past them.
Yoongi looks around as if this is his first time ever seeing butterflies. It isn't but it's been quite a while. Truth be told, he can't remember the last time that he's seen one in person.
He and Harper walk around to the many garden plots, showing Onyx the flowers and insects that inhabit it.
Onyx looks, but more so for the colors than anything else. He's never seen living butterflies before so he's curious yet very skeptical. He's only ever seen them on his rattles, wrist bands and play mat toys.
Harper takes pictures of the scenery, wanting to have physical proof of this outing to put in Onyx's baby book.
Yoongi takes a few pictures of her and her son together before she has to run off to the bathroom. Normally, she'd take Onyx with her but that can be a bit of a hassle.
"I'll be right back."
"It's okay. I got him. I'll take more pictures. There's still other flowers to show him."
"Okay. Thank you." Harper quickly walks off and out of the doors.
Yoongi continues to walk Onyx around the garden and finds a spot that's warmer than other areas are. Being the man that he is, he stands there with the infant, soaking up the heat.
"Didn't think I'd ever see you back here again."
He stops swaying at the sound of a familiar voice. It plays like a distant memory. He hasn't heard it in so long. His eyebrows twitch as he looks at the cluster of butterflies.
He turns around to see his ex-girlfriend standing there. She looks different now than she did back then.
But of course she does. It's been six years. He knows that he looks different, too. Not drastically. They're still noticeably and obviously themselves. They've just matured with their looks.
Her eyes take him in before double taking to the baby in his arms. She stares at Onyx for several seconds as he chews on Yoongi's thumb. She clears her throat and looks back up at the man.
"I heard that you were coming home this year." She says. "Our moms are still close. So when she called to tell her, I almost couldn't believe it."
She's speaking to him casually. Like speaking to an old friend. They just haven't seen each other in years.
"Well, I didn't believe it. I didn't think you'd have the time." She admits.
"My schedule was cleared in order for me to make it." Yoongi tells her. "It feels good to be here."
"Must be a little weird through, right?" She inquires. "It's been a while."
"Yeah." He admits. "At first I was nervous about coming home. But then none of that mattered anymore. It was just excitement."
"Ah." She nods. "I can understand that. How is surgery treating you?"
"Well." He replies. "Great, actually. I've been busy since I started working at St. Juniper's. But I've been able to change my schedule a little to spend more time at home."
"I assumed you've changed something." She looks at Onyx again.
She never thought she'd ever see him with a baby in his arms. Once upon a time she did, but not after they broke up. From then on, she knew that he'd immerse himself in his work.
She never thought he'd give the time to be deep enough into a relationship to have a child.
Yoongi hears the way that she speaks and can't pin just what the context is. He doesn't know what she means by that. But he assumes that she's talking about him being able to come home.
"How old is he?" She asks curiously, nodding toward the baby.
"He just turned five months on the 22nd."
"Mmm." She hums and nods. "Your parents must've been excited to meet him."
"Oh, they were." He smiles at the memory of him telling his mother about him. "I don't think that I've heard my mother that excited since I was accepted into med school. Though, I think she was a little surprised by the information."
Mrs. Min was very excited to hear that Yoongi would be bringing Harper and Onyx along for the holidays. But having not heard anything about him being interested in anyone, to him feeling comfortable enough to bring a woman that he's interested in and her son home, was a bit of a shock. A relieving shock for her, if that makes sense.
"I'm a little shocked myself." The woman tells him.
Yoongi looks at her, waiting for her to continue. He has a feeling of what she's going to say and he feels the pending irritation beginning to brew.
"I'm surprising that you've had the time to be a family man. A lot of my friends who are married to doctors are having time struggles with their significant others. You're even more pressed for time. Eight years of med school and then right into the field as St. Juniper's? That's gotta be stressful."
"It was 10." Yoongi corrects.
"Excuse me?" She says, confused by what he means.
"I did 10 years of med school. Four for college, four for graduate school and two postgraduate."
"Wow." Her eyebrows raise. "So, basically all of your 20s."
She can't believe that he did all of that time. The first eight were long enough, she thought. To hear that he went back for another two, she's really conflicted about how she should feel.
Grateful that she left him when she did. Or... bitter about the way that he's able to spend his time now.
"I'm only 28. That's still young." Yoongi tells her. "But I've gotten all of my foundation set so I can actually live my life now. I don't have to worry about a thing. I've done all of that already."
Onyx drools on Yoongi's hand as he coos. A butterfly flies a little too close to him and he whines and shakes his head away. He leans against Yoongi and begins to cry.
Attentive to everything that is Onyx, Yoongi looks down at him.
"What's wrong?" He asks softly. "What happened?"
He looks up at the lights and knows that they aren't too bright. They're a warm toned hue, closer to an orange or brown; somewhere in between. He feels his wrists and he isn't too warm.
Onyx rubs his eyes and shakes his head, pulling on Yoongi's sweatshirt.
"Ooh, are you tired?" He picks the baby up and gets a good look at his face.
Onyx doesn't look sleepy at all. Another butterfly comes around and he frowns.
"Oh. You don't like them?" He asks the infant. "But they're cool. We talked about butterflies before, remember?"
Yoongi looks around before holding his finger out to a nearby flower. Onyx watches his hand as he waits for the butterfly to touch his extended index finger.
Yoongi focuses on the insect and Onyx looks over at him. Onyx can now fully recognize the contour and shape of Yoongi's face. His vision hasn't fully developed but he recognizes him well enough.
His vision blurred after a certain amount of distance. But for the most part, the baby is able to recognize things like body frame and the outline of facial features. He has even become familiar with the way that Yoongi's hair is usually styled or kept in order to help identify him.
Yoongi's voice is what's most specific to people though. Onyx included. It's got a certain depth to it with a hint of rasp that gives it a smooth feel with just the right amount of abrasion.
It's nothing harmful. It's never painful or too much. It's simply unique.
The butterfly moves onto Yoongi's finger and the man smiles. He looks over at Onyx who's busy mapping out the features of his face.
Onyx sees his gummy smile and returns it with one of his own. He doesn't know what they're smiling about but he's a baby learning social cues.
He's really just happy to be there.
"See?" Yoongi shows him the insect with getting too close to him or moving too suddenly.
He doesn't want to scare Onyx or the butterfly from his finger. He wasn't even sure if it would touch him but he figured that he'd try anyway.
Onyx puts his fingers in his mouth and Yoongi shakes his head.
"Why that? You've got your pacifier right here."
Onyx coos back, not understanding a single word coming out of his mouth. Pacifier sounds familiar but he doesn't get it.
Instead, Onyx reaches out to touch the butterfly. Now feeling confident that it isn't scary, he's okay with being close to it. The butterfly flies away from Yoongi's finger and he chuckles.
"You waited too long."
He uses the sanitizer station to pump the cleanser into his hands. He rubs most of it on his own before rubbing his hands against Onyx's to clean his little ones.
He then holds his small fingers so that he can't put them into his mouth. That's not a good taste and he also just shouldn't be consuming hand sanitizer like that.
"Yoongi?"
He looks in the direction that he hears Harper's voice. She's looking in an entirely different direction, mildly lost in the pathways of the garden.
"Over here." He puts his hand up.
"Oh." Harper says as she spins around.
She smiles when she sees him.
"This place is so confusing." She tells hums as she walks over. "I felt like I was going to get lost on the way back from the bathroom."
"They have signs up, don't they?" He asks.
He believes that they should. Not every person has this place mapped out in their brains.
"Yes, they do. I just followed them back to the main area. They don't have any bathrooms in this area. I had to walk down to the like the lounge area."
"Really?" His face twists subtly. "That's obnoxious."
"That's what I said, too. But I didn't design this place so maybe there's a reason for it."
"That's true."
Harper holds her hands out for Onyx before noticing the woman standing in her peripheral. She glances at her, realizing that she may not have interrupted a conversation.
She looks between Yoongi and the woman, suddenly feeling awkward.
She knows that Yoongi hasn't been home in quite some time. So she assumes that they must know each other.
Old friends, colleagues, whichever. But the atmosphere surrounding the situation right now is subtly tense.
"Hi." The woman greets as Yoongi hands Onyx back.
"I'm Adaya." She sticks her hand out. "An old friend of Yoongi's. We go back like, a decade."
At the words 'old friend', Adaya rolls her eyes up, putting slight emphasis on them.
Harper smiles politely, close-lipped as she reaches her hand out. She shakes Adaya's hand and introduces herself.
"I'm Harper."
She offers no further information. No relationship detail to Yoongi. No other comments regarding the two of them. Nothing.
Adaya looks down at the hand that Harper's using to hold her son and sees no ring. She notices that Yoongi isn't wearing one either.
"It's nice to meet you." She smiles. "I hope Yoongi here's taking good care of you. He takes his work very seriously. I was just telling him that I'm surprised he had time to come home."
Harper pokes her lips out a little as her eyebrows subtly pinch together.
"I see him all the time." She says, confused at why Adaya would think he has no time.
"I mean, he is busy at the hospital but Onyx and I still get to see and talk to him every day." Harper says innocently.
Yoongi smiles to himself as he looks at the tiled floor. He puts hands into his pockets and looks back up at Adaya.
"Oh..." is all the woman can say.
She doesn't have a response to those words. They throw her off as she didn't expect them to be said.
Onyx lays his head on his mother's shoulder and Yoongi watches as his tiny eyebrows pull together. They knit right in the center, creating a small fold there. A little wrinkle.
Harper hears his quiet grunting and looks at him. She recognizes the expression on his face and looks back at Yoongi.
"I'm going to have to go change him."
"Yeah, I see. Stinky boy." Yoongi taps Onyx's nose and he giggles.
Yoongi looks at Adaya while grabbing the handle of the stroller.
"It was nice to meet you." Harper says before walking along the path.
"Nice meeting you." She replies as she looks back to Yoongi. "I was going to invite you out for coffee to do this catch-up thing but now I'm thinking that wouldn't have gone over so well. Your ex-girlfriend asking you out for coffee. Your girlfriend probably wouldn't have liked that. And she looks younger than you. Probably wouldn't have understood."
He knows that's a jab, targeting Harper's maturity level. The only problem is that Adaya knows nothing about Harper at all to make that argument. She's making judgmental, stereotypical assumptions.
"She doesn't even know who you are." Yoongi tells her. "Even if she did, I wouldn't have accepted your invitation either way. There is nothing that could possibly come out of my mouth about you that would make her feel as though you were or are a threat. Younger than me or not."
Adaya's raises an eyebrow, offended by what he says. He's not upset or feeling any type of way about things. He's just being honest.
"You're 28. Are you sure she's what you're really looking for? Long term, I mean? Younger women tend to be a little more immature in the way of thinking for relationships."
"I'm sure you're speaking from experience and that's fine. But don't push how you were onto others. Projection isn't very healthy." He grabs the handle of the stroller and begins walking down the path.
"Is he yours?" Adaya calls to him.
He stops walking and looks back at her. "And if he is?"
"If he isn't, you really are settling." Adaya scoffs in disbelief.
"And if he is?" Yoongi repeats.
He waits for her response and when she doesn't give him one, he smiles kindly at her.
"Good talk."
He walks out of the garden and into the main venue again. Looking both ways, he finds the sign leading to the lounge area.
He walks through the building until he finds it and sits on one of the cushioned chairs. The women's bathroom is off to the right. Whoever Harper comes out, she'll be able to see him immediately.
Yoongi looks around as he's seated and admires the art on the walls. He's always held great respect for artists. Artists of any craft, he respects greatly. It takes tremendous amounts of courage to publicly display what you've learned or created.
A craft that you hold dear to you and put time into could be a touchy subject.
Either the reveal goes really well and is accepted. Or the criticism or thought of failure is too much to bare and they withdraw before they've they've even gotten a chance to begin.
Yoongi takes a deep breath and sighs through his nose as he waits for Harper.
He hopes that she doesn't think anything of the situation with Adaya. He doesn't want to run her off before they've even finished their first date.
Running into his ex-girlfriend on the first date doesn't feel like a green flag to him.
The way that Adaya spoke to her implied that there was -or could have been- something between them. Harper didn't pick up on that until after she had already walked out of the door.
It's a bit disheartening, she feels like. And the two seem cordial so she thinks that maybe they didn't end on the worst of terms.
Or maybe they just grew apart but still have feelings? Harper thinks to herself as she puts Onyx's dirty diaper into a scent blocking bag.
She throws that into the trash before washing her hands. She dries them on paper towel and unstraps Onyx from the changing table. As she picks him up, she throws the protective sheet out.
She kisses the side of her son's face as she walks out of the bathroom.
When she steps out, she finds herself looking around for Yoongi. Just as she's about to scold herself, she sees him.
He's reading a TIME magazine as he waits patiently.
A small smile forms on her face before she can help it. She walks over and he looks up from the article that he's reading.
"Everything okay?" He asks, closing the magazine and standing up.
"Mhm." She nods. "He's all clean now. Right, Onyx?"
He sucks on his pacifier and looks around the room. Places that he's never seen before always make him curious. Curious and anxious.
"I passed something on the way here that I want to go see. I'm not exactly sure what it is but I saw black lights when the door opened for people to get out." Harper sets Onyx into his stroller and starts to strap him in.
He gets fussy and starts kicking his legs. He starts to cry almost immediately and Harper is in sudden panic. She freezes as she looks at him.
Yoongi sees her internal panic and picks the baby up for her. Harper looks at around the lounge as her son cries. A few other people are in there and look over to see what the commotion is.
A woman with shoulder length strawberry blonde hair looks over. She looks from the stroller, briefly looks at Harper and then to Onyx.
She watches as Yoongi rocks him to soothe his cries. He gives the baby his pacifier as he grips onto his sweatshirt. Only when Onyx begins to calm does she looks away.
She pays attention to nothing but the infant and Harper noticed that a couple sitting a few feet away do the same. They pay no mind to anything else but the baby and when he is fine, they go back to their own business.
Harper looks at Yoongi as he Onyx's cries turn to small hums before dropping off.
"I don't think he's hungry. He just ate not too long ago." He says.
"He's not." Harper confirms. She looks down at the stroller and then back. "I just think he didn't want to be in there."
"That's okay. We can carry him." Yoongi offers. "If your arms are tired, then I will. Maybe he just wants to up here with us."
Or you. Harper thinks.
She shakes the thought from her head and sighs through her nose.
"It's okay. I can carry him." She holds her arms out and Yoongi hands him to her.
Onyx sits up and looks at his mother. She wipes his cheeks and kisses his nose.
"Are you all better now?" You didn't want to be in there?"
"We can go see the exhibit you were talking about." Yoongi says. "You'll just have to show me where it is."
"Oh, okay." Harper hold Onyx so he can see where they're going and starts leading the way. Yoongi walks next to her and she avoids looking at him.
Of course, he notices her small change in behavior. Though he doesn't know if it's because of what just happened with Onyx or if it's because of what happened earlier with Adaya.
Either way, he wants to say something to her about it. As he told Adaya, there is nothing that to be said that should make Harper feel threatened at all.
Their relationship was what it was and he's long since moved on. If he hadn't, he wouldn't have even acted or pursued his interest in Harper.
But she's the only one that he's focused on. Harper is the only woman that he's worried about. He isn't even capable of being interested in more than one woman at a time.
Yoongi places all of his eggs in one basket. He puts all of his attention into the things he pursues. If he wants something, he'll work hard to obtain and maintain it. Hence why he's one of the best surgeons in the state working in the best hospital in the state.
The same thing applies to women he likes as well. That's just how he's always been.
"It's this one." Harper says quietly as they approach a set of open doors.
They walk into the area and Yoongi reads the sign.
'GloAquarium'
They walk up to the desk and the man behind it smiles in greeting. His name tag reads 'Cody'.
"Hello. Welcome to GloAquarium. Have you guys been in before?" He asks.
Based on the curiosity on their faces, he'd figure that he'd ask. He knows that they probably haven't so it's a prompt, really.
"No." Yoongi responds as he looks at the pictures of fish on the walls.
The place is blacked out but illuminated by only black lights. The carpet pops with colors of blue, green and orange.
"This wasn't here when I lived in the city." Yoongi explains. "What is it?"
"We actually just got her ourselves not too long ago." Cody says. "We've only been here about three years but lots of people come in year round to see the exhibits. A lot of people bring their little ones as well." He gestures to Onyx.
The infant is staring at his pacifier as it glows in the dark. He holds in it his fist and giggles. Harper smiles watching him and Yoongi grins.
"How do we pay? I mean, how much are the tickets?" Yoongi asks.
Cody flips a laminated piece of paper toward him and also gestures to the glowing sign behind him as well to point them out.
"So everyone 16 and up is fifteen dollars. Kids two and younger are free. If you're emergency or medical personnel, military or a veteran, you get 50% off. With valid proof, of course."
Harper reaches into her pocket for her wallet and Yoongi takes cash out of his pocket.
"Can you break or a 50?" He asks as he holds it out. "Or should I run to the ATM quick?"
"I can break it here." Cody tells him.
"Okay. Thank you." He hands the money to him and Cody nods. "How many?"
It's his passive aggressive way of asking if he's paying for both tickets. He's had too many incidents where people think they're being paid for and aren't. Too many dates have gone left in this place because of that. And he's witnessed one too many awkward encounters.
"Two, please."
Harper looks at him as she takes her wallet out. "I have the money."
"It's a date." Yoongi looks at her, confused.
She looks confused as well. "Yeah... but.." She looks at her wallet.
Yoongi shakes his head and Cody looks in between them.
"I got it." He assures.
Harper slowly puts her wallet back into her pocket.
Cody rings them up and gives Yoongi his change. He gives them each a glowing wristband and hands Yoongi the receipt and tickets.
Yoongi gives Harper one and she thanks him.
Cody presses the button for the doors to open and they walk through.
"Enjoy your time."
"Thank you." They both call back.
The second the doors close behind them, they're in awe once again.
It's a small scale aquarium, lined on both sides of the path. Filled with vivid colored aquatic life and sea coral perfectly preserved. It's like taking a peek into the ocean.
Onyx drops his pacifier as he looks around. Luckily, it's clipped to his shirt so it won't be lost.
"It's like we're scuba diving." Harper says as she looks around. "I've always wanted to go."
"Really?" Yoongi says.
He's surprised to say the least. He knows that people enjoy scuba diving and make actual careers out of it. But he simply can't imagine doing it himself. He'd rather watch from the boat.
Or maybe the dock.
Or maybe the solid ground that comes way before the dock.
Whichever.
"Mhm." Harper nods. "I love the water."
They start their stroll, watching the fish as they go.
"I've always wanted to go see everything in person, you know?"
"You've never been to an aquarium before?" Yoongi wonders.
"No, I have." Harper tells him. "But this isn't the same. I want to see everything the way that it should be. The way that it was made to me. The fish here may be for our entertainment. Or maybe it's for refuge and entertainment. But either way, I want to see everything in their natural habitats."
Yoongi nods as he listens to her.
"I think everything about water is so pretty. There's like an entire undiscovered ecosystem down there. It's so cool." She talks mindlessly.
There's a small smile on her face as she looks at the fish in the large tanks. They move from one to the next and she watches as a sea of clownfish swims by. She gasps quietly and walks to show Onyx.
"Look, Onyx. Nemo."
The baby looks at the tank, seeing mostly blue but a swarm of many other colors. He sees the fish and watches as they pass.
Yoongi looks up at the ceiling, curious of the architecture of the place. The black lights seem to be built into the ceiling, as expected. There are also blue and white LED lights as well, further illuminating the water.
There's a calm sense of quiet between them as they walk. After several seconds, Harper breaks it.
She has questions. And though it may not be her business, or place to ask, a part of her feels like it is. They are on a date after all.
She'd much rather feel the sting of pain now than wait weeks to months after. Then it'll be a full ache and she doesn't want to feel that at all.
"That woman.. from earlier. Adaya?" She starts.
Yoongi looks at her as she begins to speak. She realizes that she doesn't know how to continue from here without feeling like she's grilling him. This is their first date. They've barely gotten through it.
Who am I to question him like this? I'll look crazy.
"Never mind." She says softly.
She looks down at Onyx and fixes his little sweatshirt. She pulls his pant legs to cover his chunky little ankles.
"Adaya and I met in college." He tells her. "She's a nurse so we had some of the same classes our freshman year. We dated for three years after that."
"Oh..." Harper says.
"We broke up because I got accepted into medical school and doubled down on wanting to be a surgeon. She didn't like that even though that's what I've always told everyone that what I wanted to do. It's been my dream since high school." Yoongi admits.
Since his sophomore year of high school, he's known what he wanted his career to be. He never cut corners or slacked on anything in order to achieve it.
It was silly of Adaya to think that he'd give all of his hard work up just to settle. He hadn't come that far to give in or give up. That's such a crazy thing to even insinuate for him to do.
"Anyway, I got accepted into med school, doubled down on my surgeon career and she said that she wasn't sure if she could 'share me with my job'. She said that I already was busy with school. Imagine if I took on the extra workload."
Harper blinks at him. That doesn't make much sense at all to her. School is only temporary. It ends at some point. She doesn't understand causing a permanent loss to a temporary....
She wouldn't even call it a problem. This is what he's always wanted and Adaya knew that. So why switch up all of a sudden? That, again, doesn't make any sense. But she digresses.
"So she told me that it was either school or her." Yoongi continues and Harper raises her eyebrows.
It's clear which option that he chose but it's just crazy that the ultimatum was even given.
Why would she that of him? How could she ask that of him? Has she no shame?
"You see how that played out. Haven't seen her since until today." Yoongi finishes. "I don't regret anything."
A half truth. He doesn't regret choosing his education at all. He doesn't regret choosing his career at all.
But, sometimes, when his thoughts get the better of him, when the loneliness becomes too much on him, he often finds himself wondering how his life would be had he just become a doctor.
Would he be married by now? Would he have a nice big house that truly felt like a home? Would he have a child? Would the two car garage he's always dreamed of hold both him and his wife's vehicle?
How different would his life have been?
Significantly, he knows.
He looks from the floor to Harper. She's fiddling with Onyx's pacifier clip to distract herself from the conversation.
Had he had all of those things, he wouldn't be here right now. He'd have never know so many things. His experiences have molded to be the man that he is. They've molded him to have the mindset that he does.
He wouldn't trade his current life for anything. He still has more goals to achieve. He still has more things that he wants to get done. But he's reached the point in his life, early how he wanted to, where he has goal to achieve with someone else.
He wants to grow with someone now. He wanted to make sure that he had the lifestyle to take care of sustain his future family. He's made it to that point. His next step is finding someone to build with.
He's found someone that he wants to build with. It's just a matter of her accepting him.
Harper stops walking as her arms grow tired. Onyx is 30 steps from a nap and dropping his dead weight on his mother's tired body.
She, very carefully, sets Onyx in his stroller and straps him in. Yoongi grabs the handles to give her a break.
"Thank you."
"It's no problem."
Harper clears her throat and intertwines her fingers in front of her as they begin to walk again.
"What are you thinking for lunch?" Yoongi asks. "Pick anywhere."
"Anywhere?" Harper repeats. "It's just lunch. Mmmm. Maybe we can go get subs?"
"What kind? Hot subs or cold?"
"Hot. Like a Philly steak and cheese kind of thing." Harper says.
"I know the perfect spot for that. I used to go there a lot when I was in high school for lunch."
"They let you leave the school for lunch?"
"Mhm." He hums. "My mom just had to sign a paper saying that I could leave school during my free periods and I was gone. Every chance I got, I was outta there."
Harper laughs with him. "I thought you liked school. You must if you went for ten years."
"I like to learn." He corrects. "I don't like school. Learning in such formal settings is annoying to me."
Harper never thought she'd ever hear Yoongi call anything annoying. He's always so calm and patient. She would think that he doesn't have a single annoyed bone in his body.
An exaggeration of course. There's something that makes everybody cringe. She now knows that his is formal learning.
"I did it because I had to but I'd prefer to research and teach myself. Or maybe one to one type of thing, hands on thing. Actually," he says. "I can show you where I went to high school."
"Really?"
"Yeah. It's the holidays so they're closed but we can ride by. The sub shop is right by there anyway. Like a seven minute walk or something like that. There used to be a tattoo shop like ten minutes from the school too."
"For real?" Harper asks. "I've never seen something like that before."
"And you probably never will again. They ending up moving locations because the parents on the school board petitioned and protested about it."
"Why?"
"Because the students would skip the bus home and go after school. You didn't have to be 18 then. Only 16 with ID. So sophomores were coming home with small tattoos and their parents were pissed. Or they would just go there instead of going home because it was a hangout spot for us."
"So the board had a petition for it to move?"
"They had a petition to close it, actually." Yoongi states. "But because of all the business they were getting, they had already gotten the money to expand. So they just moved into a bigger building like 15 minutes away. Aanndd the kids still found a way to make it there so at that point." He shrugs.
"Did you go?"
"Oh yeah." He nods and laughs. "I was one of the first people that started going."
"So you know where all the cool spots are then, huh?"
"I do. I know I don't seem like it, but I was pretty popular in high school and college."
"You sound like somebody's grandpa." Harper jokes.
Yoongi snorts and starts laughing. "That's funny. I've never heard that one before. Usually they just would tell me that I'm mature for my age."
"Well, that can't really apply if you're 28 now, right?" She teases.
"Alriigght." Yoongi rolls his eyes playfully. "I get it. I'm almost 30."
"You don't look it at all." Harper tells him. "I thought you were like 24, 25 the first time that I ever saw you."
Yoongi smiles as his cheeks begin to blush.
"But then I found out you were a surgeon and I was like that's eight years so I knew you were at least 26."
"Me being 28 isn't going to run you off later, is it?"
"It's just five years." Harper says softly. "I should be more worried about you running off than the other way around."
The conversation is open, honest and spoken quietly. Neither of them think as they speak. They just say what they feel.
"Why is that?" Yoongi asks as he pushes Onyx's stroller.
Harper stares at the floor as she takes her leisure steps. She thinks of many reasons. Many different things come to mind. All chasing behind her to the forefront of her mind, she's forced to confront them in this moment.
"I have Onyx." She says softly. "And I don't want anyone to see my son as an addition or an add-on to anything, you know? But it also isn't fair of me to expect people to just be okay with me having a son."
"Yes, it is." Yoongi says.
"Hm?" Harper looks at him.
"Is it okay for you to accept a person's preference to date a woman without kids? Sure. Definitely. But if somebody wants to be with you, then they need to accept the fact that you have Onyx. They can't pick and choose which parts of your life to interact with. That's weird. And I mean that in any way. Platonically or romantically."
His words sink into her and her mind interprets them in a way that she can understand. If people are okay with being with her or being her friend while ignoring the fact that she has a son, that's not something that she should be okay with. That's not something that she would be okay with.
"It's difficult to find guys my age that would be okay with me having a kid." Harper admits.
Not that she's been looking. She just hears the conversations about young single mothers. She used to see the social media posts about single mothers.
They did nothing but make her grow to hate herself. They did nothing but regret everything she's ever done. For a short while, she regretted ever meeting Onyx's father. She regretted ever allowing him to touch her.
She grew disgusted with her own body.
A part of her still is. She never wants to be seen again. She feels so ruined most days.
"Good thing I'm not men your age then, huh?" Yoongi asks as they stop by the fluorescent fish.
It's the darkest part of the path but it's the part that they wanted to see the most.
Harper looks from the fish to him. He's completely serious about what he said and it's written all over his face.
"Right." She says quietly. She looks away from him to the floor and has the hardest time fighting the smile on her face.
Glancing at Onyx, she sees that he's fast asleep with her pacifier in his mouth.
Yoongi holds his hand out, palm up for her. She looks to his hand and then to him. She notices that he always does this.
Never once has he grabbed her hand. Never once has he ever grabbed her in general. It's always him waiting for her to initiate the touch.
It's always him patiently waiting for her to give herself to him. Whenever she's ready, of course.
Hesitantly, she puts her hand in his.
Yoongi smiles at her, gently pulling her closer. Harper puts her other hand on his shoulder as her chest touches his.
"Are you enjoying your holiday break with me?" He asks softly, in the space where only they can hear.
"Yes."
"You're not going to ghost me when we get home, are you?"
Harper throws her head back as she laughs. A genuine laugh. His words caught her off guard. They're so straight forward and sudden that she can do nothing but laugh.
"Is this your admittance?"
"No." She looks up at him.
Yoongi's face is closer to hers than she'd thought it'd be. Her blinking slows as her grin becomes softer.
"I'm not going to ghost you."
Her voice isn't very loud. She doesn't intend for it to be this way. It's just the way it comes out.
"No?" Yoongi asks, admiring her features from up close.
Her head tilts back to see him better as they inch closer to one another. He feels her breath on his lips and as a subconscious action, puts his hand on her waist.
It smoothly glides around to the small of her back and Harper gets chills as the butterflies erupt in her stomach.
"No." She finally responds.
Her eyes bounce from his lips to his eyes and he can't help the sense of pure joy that fills him. He's giddy as his chest blooms with the incredible sense of warmth that he's been feeling around her.
"I hope not." He says as their lips touch.
Harper closes her eyes and decides to just let the cards fall where they may. In this moment, she's ready to risk it all. For the feeling that he gives her, she'd stay this way forever.
Suspended in a single moment of time that she never thought she'd see again.
Allowing herself to indulge in a romance she never expected. One that she really never saw coming. All because Onyx had a rough patch with his colic.
Harper lets go of every negative thought in her mind as she kisses Yoongi back. There's a sense of tranquility that this brings that she's sure she won't find anywhere else.
Yet it's so conflicting as she's more excited about this than she's been about a lot of things lately.
Yoongi's mind entirely blanks.
Every single thought he had in his mind disappears the second that his lips touch hers. Every doubt he's ever had about pursuing anything romantic, especially with Harper, is gone in an instant.
This is what he wants.
She is who he wants.
Why would he wait any longer to show her that?
A|N
#I'm about to mf SCREAM. Like I knew it was coming because I wrote it. But still... dang😭
#Also, this is 8.4k words... Don't ever say I don't love y'all <3