Upon A Time (JoongNine AU)

Upon Colours Of A Family Portrait

Joong

"Joong...", I looked up from the scripts that I had been reading for an hour, sitting at the sofa and putting in notes on my personal thought of how the scene should be acted out. The Director respected constructive discussion, listening to actor's opinion and also allowed improvisation to produce a better scene.

"Aria already asleep? Her coughing, worries me...", I said to Serena, as she sat besides me and nodded, looking a little tired, "...and you too, should go to sleep. If she cries, I'll comfort her back to sleep".

"You are avoiding it, again...isn't it?. After this, you'll be busy filming this new movie for months, so we should really talk...about us. Please?". She was a pretty woman; dark hair that was in such contrast with lighter brown eyes; high cheekbones, with dimples in both cheeks. Aria looked a lot liked her, only with dark eyes from her father.

"There's nothing to talk about, Serena.  I told you not to mention about this again. Aria needed a complete family around her. I knew how it felt, and felt grateful for the father that I have now. We could raise her good, together".

"A family, Joong, not just having two parents to raise a child. I couldn't cloud Aria in fluffy fairy tales, forever too. One day, when she started to understand, I must tell her about Porr too. If we crafted a fake reality liked this for her since the start, she would feel betrayed later, on learning the truth, and we couldn't make it right when it's already too late. You and I, couldn't keep up appearances forever. You don't think I know...about you, and Nine?". My eyes flickered, and there's sudden tightness that I felt within my chest.

"Porr is your best friend, Joong...he was worried, that you'll feel alone once we're married. So, he asked for my understanding, to let him spend some of his times, whenever you needed a company. To tell you the truth, I had felt guilty that you had to take the responsibility on taking care for both Aria and I. But, at that time, I was helpless, and thus, I hang on to the only lifeline that I had, even though I know that Nine came back for you, yet you chose to protect us. I kept thinking that, if only I was brave and strong enough, I could have stopped our marriage from happening, and gave you that precious chance to be with someone that you love. It's still not too late, Joong. I am trying to make it right, but I need you to also be brave enough to let us go too. Aria would always be your princess, you could treat her as that, even without us being together, I won't stop you from it...so, please, Joong, think about this, alright?".

"I don't know if he still would accept me, Serena. I had crumpled and thrown his love away. It has been five years, most probably, he has moved on too, or already fell in love with someone else...".

"Yeah, that could possibly happen. But, Joong, my humble request, is not tied to whether you'll be back together with Nine, or not. Just for you to be with someone that you love, whoever that lucky person maybe...and also to give myself a chance to be independent and strong too, to raise Aria. I used to be afraid of being labelled by the society, for being a single mother, but now, if they don't approve of my choice, they could talk as much as they want...I couldn't care less". She smiled as she squeezed my hand in assurance, and went to her room to sleep the night away.

***

My thoughts went back to the talk that I had with Serena, about three months ago. Might be because of the wish that I just made. As I finished showering, I changed into a comfortable shirt to board a long hours flight. Though actors needed to keep up with fashion, I didn't want to be stuck for six hours, in a shirt that would suffocate me.

I ate breakfast; fluffy pancakes that were messily decorated with berries and bananas. Afterwards, I gave thousand kisses to the chubby cheeks who decorate them; who then, immediately left the table when her favourite cartoon was showing on the tv. I took the chance, to have a talk with Serena, before my manager arrived.