When Jeongguk's car came into Jaehwa's view, she couldn't hold herself from grinning sheepishly. Through the tinted mirror, she could see how furious yet bizarre Jeongguk looked at the moment, and she knew she was going to be bombarded with tons of questions once she got into the car.
"Why didn't you tell me that you go to the same university?!" Jeongguk exclaimed as soon as Jaehwa plopped down on the front passenger seat.
Putting on the seatbelt, she then raised an eyebrow. "Surprise!" Jeongguk sighed upon her remark, which somehow disappoint her to see how the effort to lift the mood up didn't faze Jeongguk even at the slightest. "Well... I thought Hoseok had told you."
"Hoseok?" Jeongguk asked quizzically, a frown etched into his forehead.
"I stumbled upon Hoseok in the library last week." Jaehwa glanced at Jeongguk, saw how he nodded lightly as a sign of acknowledgement. "Anyway, it's not even a big deal. So what if we go the same university? It's not like you'll pay for my university fee."
Jeongguk snickered as he turned to Jaehwa's direction, couldn't help but to flick her forehead for the nth time since they knew each other. Groaning in pain, Jaehwa rubbed her forehead but instead of comfort, what she got from Jeongguk was a high-pitch laugh, filling the air inside the car completely until Hyun who was sitting at the backseat craned his neck to look at Jeongguk.
"But you know..." Jeongguk trailed off, switching on the blinker before he checked the reflection on the side mirror. "The temperature of earth is gradually increasing." He paused again, lips were pursed out of habit as he turned the steering wheel and stepped on the gas pedal.
"So?"
"We should start carpooling." He finished off, stealing a glance at Jaehwa only to find out that she was rolling her eyes playfully upon his statement.
"You are struggling to look after Hyun and now you have the audacity to look after me. No, thanks." Jaehwa deadpanned, sarcasm lacing her voice. "Yerin won't stop talking if she finds out we go to the university together. I had enough of her shipping us together."
"Yerin? Your friend? She shipped us together?"
Jaehwa nodded furiously before raking her fingers through her hair. "24/7."
Jeongguk hummed, a breathless chuckle then left his mouth before he turned towards a street which Jaehwa had never known. Nevertheless, she remained in her position, no words were uttered because all she wanted was food (she had been keeping her stomach empty since Jeongguk promised to buy lunch).
Few minutes later, they ended up at a mall and that was the moment Jaehwa knew that he indeed wasn't joking. She hadn't stayed at his apartment for quite a few days to know if Jeongguk was still gambling but for the time being, she chose to push that thought to the very back of her mind, didn't want to ruin the moment when it was crystal clear on Jeongguk's face that he was excited about this outing. Jaehwa took the baby bag from him while he leaned to pick Hyun up from the baby's car seat, cooing voices erupted from Jeongguk's lips as he pulled the little boy closer to his embrace. Just when she was about to walk away from the car, Jeongguk leaned in again to reach for something, and Jaehwa just had to scrunch her eyebrows together when he pulled out a camera bag, the one she saw when Jeongguk left his apartment for a group discussion.
"Jeongguk." She breathed, scanning his hand which was busy checking the content of the camera bag. "Why are you bringing a camera along?"
Jeongguk who was squatting on the ground looked up at Jaehwa. "Hmm? The camera?" Jaehwa saw him putting on the lens with one hand, another one hand was around Hyun's torso to keep the little boy close to him. She had never known someone who was a film production major before, and now that Jeon Jeongguk was just before her eyes, attaching things she herself had no idea what they were to the digital camera, Jaehwa just couldn't tear her gaze from his hand. "Sorry. What did you ask just now?"
"Why are you bringing your camera along? If you're busy then it's okay- you can treat me lunch when you're free! No need to force yourself-"
"Documentary." Jeongguk shoved all the unneeded camera accessories back into the bag before getting up. A rather faint smile tugged on his lips when he noticed Jaehwa's blank expression. "It's for a documentary entitled precious. Worthy."
A lump automatically formed at the back of Jaehwa's throat, her grasp on the strap of the baby bag tightened when everything hit her. The emotions were hitting her like a wave of tsunami, without any warning and there she was, drowning yet unable to scream for help. Jaehwa wanted to curse herself for being so ignorant, for being so stupid to realise what was happening, to realise why Jeongguk was so devastated when Jimin came to visit Hyun that he just had to cry to lift the weight off his chest.
"H- Hyun." Jaehwa spoke, voice wavered but she decided not to conceal that because she knew, Jeongguk had been staring at her ever since he told her about the documentary. "Hyun. It's Hyun. P- precious, or worthy."
Blinking the tears away, Jaehwa raised her head, only to see Jeongguk smiling down at her before nodding lightly. "Your vocabulary is good. It's a good thing that Hyun's babysitter is a literature major. I don't have to elaborate for you to get a grasp on what I meant."
________
"Hyun! Look here!"
"Hyun! Look at daddy!" Jaehwa cheered to get Hyun's attention, didn't care if all eyes were on her at the moment. She had never thought she would set her feet into a kid cafe, the place which was a heaven for all kids. Jaehwa had no idea how Jeongguk could think of bringing Hyun to the place but looking at the bright side, it was nice to see him spending the last moments with Hyun with something like this. No tears. Only laughters and smiles.
Hyun craned his neck, looking at Jeongguk who was sitting few feet away from him, a camera to document every moment was secured in his grasp. Jaehwa was sitting next to Jeongguk, waiting for Hyun to crawl to the guy next to her, hoping that the red ball on his lap was captivating enough to Hyun.
Jaehwa bit her lower lip, smiling when Hyun leaned to lower his body before he crawled towards Jeongguk. Jeongguk's "you did well!" hit her eardrums, the voice, the fatherly voice, reminded her of the video he sent her almost two months ago. It showed how supportive he was, and come to think of it, Jeongguk was the first person who witnessed Hyun started crawling, the first one that Hyun made his way to. Jeongguk might came from a zero basic of parenting, but he had improved so much within these two months.
It would be a lie if she wasn't shocked to have Jeongguk crying in her shoulder before, and to make it more unbelievable, he was crying because of a baby, a little boy who came into his life out of nowhere that forced Jeongguk to change his lifestyle. Gambling and video games until late at night, were replaced by staying up to respond to Hyun's baby talk. Skipping class because he was too lazy to leave his bed was replaced by running all the way to the hospital to make sure if Hyun was fine.
Jaehwa had read so many novels before, yet no characters development could beat Jeongguk's.
"Jaehwa?" She returned back to reality when Jeongguk nudged her elbow, those doe eyes of his were staring into hers. "Are you okay?"
"Oh- I'm- I'm okay!" She assured, smiling sheepishly with hope Jeongguk would buy that. "What's wrong?"
"Have you gone to a kid cafe before?" Jaehwa was dumbfounded for a few seconds before she shook her head. The grin on Jeongguk's face suddenly widened. "Did you go to a kid cafe when you were small?" Once again, she shook her head.
"Why-"
Before Jaehwa could finish her sentence, Jeongguk was quick enough to reach for her wrist, pulling her up that made Jaehwa squeal a bit when her arm was tugged in a rather harsh manner. Still confused upon his question and weird grin, Jaehwa followed his step, her eyes locked with Hyun's who clearly enjoyed to be in Jeongguk's arms while the guy was jogging to somewhere Jaehwa didn't know. Hyun cackled when Jeongguk bounced him a bit to make sure Hyun was cradling his waist properly, laughed when Jeongguk almost tripped on the elastic balls scattered on the play mat.
"Jeongguk, be careful! You're holding Hyun!" Jaehwa hollered, her heart almost dropped before Jeongguk got to balance himself again.
Looking over his shoulder, Jeongguk smiled. "We're here." Jaehwa frowned, and when she followed Jeongguk's gaze, she saw slides which were designated for kids above 3 years old. They weren't that tall, but of course, too tall for Hyun.
"Have you lost your mind, Jeongguk?!" Jaehwa snatched her wrist away from Jeongguk's grasp, was so close to facepalming the guy standing next to her. "Hyun is only 8 months old! This is too tall and he will be drowned in that pool of balls by the time he reaches the bottom-"
"But we won't." Jaehwa's jaw almost touched the floor when she heard that coming from him. "The one who reaches last will have to buy ice creams after this."
Jaehwa stared at Jeongguk, wondering if he was joking but no, he wasn't. She could tell that when he sped off to the small stairs, climbing them while making sure his body and Hyun who was still in his arms could pass through the small, limited space.
"You're so unbelievable, Jeongguk." At last, Jaehwa followed him—climbing the stairs one by one, swallowing hard when she noticed how almost all parents were looking at them two at the moment.
"Jeongguk, people are looking!" She shout-whispered after sitting down on the slide. However, Jeongguk seemed too excited to slide down that he chose to ignore Jaehwa, making Hyun sit on his lap properly instead. "Jeon Jeongguk!" Jaehwa had lost her patience, and to have everyone whispering to each other urged her to leave the kid cafe as soon as possible.
"Jaehwa, can you shut up for a while? Let's enjoy this while it lasts, okay? Didn't you say that you had never been to a kid cafe just now?"
"But-"
"The camera is still recording so if we happen to reach at the same time, we will check the camera for a precise judgement." Jeongguk clicked his tongue, stretching his arm out so that Jaehwa could be seen in the frame. "Ready, baby?"
"Cut it off-"
"Whatever. Hyun, we are about to experience something new! On the count of three. Three... two... one!"