"Are you sure you can handle her by yourself?"
"Of course, you are going to be late if you don't get going, sweetheart." Bin chuckled
Yejin was going on a girls trip to Jeju with her infamous cinderella group. Initially, she was planning not to join because she did not want to leave Ji eun for more than a day. However, with the pleas of her friends that begged me to persuade her, she decided at the last minute that she was going to go.
After all, it was just a 3 day 2 night trip. What could possibly go wrong right?
Checking that she had all her bags, she turned around to give me a final kiss and then slowly crept up to the sleeping Ji eun and gave her a small peck, inhaling her heavenly baby scent one last time before she left.
"But look at her, she's too cute! It's making it even harder for me to leave." Yejin complained
"Yah.. Son Ye Jin. I see where I stand now." Bin said, flashing the most adorable pout.
"I'm going to miss you too, big baby!" Yejin said trying to make it up to him.
As they were wrapped in each other's embrace, the door bell rang and it was time for her to go.
"See you in 3 days, Love."
"See you in 3 days." Bin replied, giving her a final peck.
After Yejin left, Bin sat on their bed replying to some emails as he watched Ji eun sleep at the same time.
Glancing over to see her long eyelashes, sharp nose and pouty lips, he couldn't help but smile at how beautiful she truly is.
Kim Ji Eun, truly a splitting image of both of them as she grows up each day.
It has been an hour or so since Ji eun started napping and she was finally starting to wake up.
After tossing and turning, she finally opened her eyes and began to look around the room.
"Baby, you're awake!" Bin exclaimed as he carried her in his arms, giving her hugs and kisses.
"Eomma..?" Ji eun begun to mumble
"Eomma went to have fun for a few days so Ji eun-ie will stay with appa okay?" Bin said, trying his best to explain that Yejin will be gone for a few days.
Ji eun probably didn't understand what Bin was saying but it was evident that she was missing her eomma as she looked around the room and could not find her.
"I know baby, but Eomma will be back so so soon."
As I was comforting Ji eun, a phone call came in.
Initially, I thought it was a work related phone call and had no intention of picking up. However, I nonetheless grabbed my phone to see who was calling and was none other than a Facetime call from Yejin.
"Ji eun-ah! Eomma is sorry that I didn't get the chance to say goodbye before I left. I'll buy you many toys to make it up to you okay baby?" Yejin said from across the line.
As soon as Ji eun heard Yejin's voice, she immediately started to cry, "Mama.. Eomma.." She said in between her cries.
"Eoh Ji eun-ie, wae? Don't cry baby, eomma will be back in two days arraseo?"
It was also evident in Yejin's eyes that she was worried and wanted so badly to comfort her.
"Ji eun-ah, we are going to have so much fun and eat all the junk food before eomma comes home ok?" I lightened up the atmosphere
"Kim Tae Pyung, you better not feed my baby unhealthy chicken nuggets again!" I nagged at him.
The last time Yejin left Bin with Ji eun alone for the day, he had fed her chicken nuggets for lunch, very unlike Ji eun's usual healthy diet.
"No promises, Ji eun-ie and I are going to have fun without eomma! Right Ji eun-ie?"
It was only then that Ji eun started to smile and be more like herself again.
The call soon ended with many I Miss Yous and I Love Yous.
And it was just Bin and Ji eun again.
The first thing they did to start off this 3 day adventure without Yejin was to get Ji eun changed and head out the door.
As usual, Bin gave her a quick bath and picked out an outfit for her to wear.
Picking out outfits has always been Yejin's duty, simply because she loved dressing up and knows more fashion than Bin.
Bin stared blankly at the huge closet of all sorts of dresses, different types of tops, skirts, shorts and rompers. To put it simply, he didn't even know where to begin. This was only Ji eun's summer clothes, her clothes for colder weather were all in another wardrobe. He thought to himself, how did they accumulate this many outfits within a year.
After 15 minutes of searching for the right attire, he could've sworn that this was one of the hardest part of fatherhood.
Once again, he gathered her back into his arms after pampering her with so many kisses, probably also his way of making sure she's getting enough kisses with Yejin being away.
A few minutes and many kisses later, they were out of their lovely home.
Grabbing his cap and his sunglasses, he took Ji eun out from her car seat and they made their way to their destination.
"Annyeonghasaeyo!" The convenient store worker greeted.
Politely, Bin greeted him back and proceeded to quickly grab and pay for the things he wanted to buy.
Soon, both father and daughter were out of the store but this time with a bowl of ramyeon and banana milk.
Both very popular in Korea and also a strong part of Korea's culture, ramyeon and banana milk.
Grabbing the picnic mat from the car, Bin laid out the mat and set the food as he got Ji eun situated and comfortable.
They were at a grassy area overlooking the infamous Han river.
This was Ji eun's first time trying ramyeon so he naturally had to record her first time.
"Is it yummy, baby?" Bin said from behind the camera
Upon having her first strand of ramyeon, Ji eun let out a very excited squeal and clapped her hands together.
"Shh.. Don't tell eomma okay? This is our secret!" Bin added
After devouring their ramyeon, they laid on the mat as they had their eyes fixed on the beautiful Han river.
"Ji eun-ah, Do you know appa brought eomma here for our first date after I spent at least 2 month pursuing her?" Bin chuckled as he recalled their very first memories together
"That day, I was the happiest man... It was from the very first date that I knew I wanted to marry eomma and dreamt of having a family with her..."
Bin pointed further in front of their mat, "and that's where we had our first kiss"
"3 years later, Ji eun-ie finally came into our lives! When eomma told appa that she was pregnant, I was ecstatic."
"I knew from that moment on that I would love you with my whole heart but what surprised me was how much more love I felt from the moment I first laid my eyes on you.."
"Then I remember looking back at eomma, she was so exhausted after hours of labour but she still looked like the most beautiful person to me..."
"I can never repay eomma for bringing you into this world and making me a father"
I then looked down at Ji eun, she was fast asleep in my arms.
I chuckled before holding her tighter, "I love you, Kim Ji Eun."
AUTHORS NOTE
hey guys! i've managed to squeeze the time to write another chapter. my apologises if it's shorter than usual! a month or two ago, i got a request from a reader to write a TROS chapter but at that time it didn't seem fitting so this is my version of TROS! again, lack of updates will come to an end soon! please bear with me till mid oct when my exams ends !!
lastly, stay safe!
see you in my next chapter xx