Diamond nation

30. I am sorry princess

7 years later

"Dad"

"Dad"

"Dadddaaaaa"

"Okay Esther, I can hear you princess", a tired Jungkook spoke as he looked to the side to see a little girl glaring at him.

"Dad you said you would sit on my tea party with Mrs Bubbles", the girl replied, holding her blanket close. Jungkook pulled her up to the bed, to sit beside the space where he was laying down.

"Did I say that?", he asked at the child innocently nodded. Jungkook smiled as he stroked her head. "I am sorry princess. Dadda had a long flight today. You know I had to go with grandpa for the conference in Belgium. And grandpa made me do a lot of work"

"Why are you always tired?", she asked looking at him with puppy dog eyes. "Does grandpa make you work a lot? I don't like that. I don't like grandpa"

"No, we don't say things like that. He wants me to become strong like him and make a lot of money so his dear Esther can get all the things she wants. That's why he wants me to work hard"

"But then you don't play with me", she sighed. "I don't want things. I want you to play with me"

Jungkook sensed the hint of sadness in her voice as he took her in a side hug. "Oh I am sorry. You know what, tomorrow we will go and tell grandpa that dad will not work for the next week. And during that time we can go and do everything you want. Have a tea party, take all your friends to our farm house, go shopping in Tokyo. Does that sound good?"

"YAYYYY", a scream was heard as she threw her hands over the man, engulfing him in a hug. Jungkook chuckled, holding tighter as he placed a peck on her cheek while stroking her hair. They cuddled for a while as Jungkook heard her narrate stories about things she was taught at school.

"Esther! Esther!", a woman's voice was suddenly heard. Both of them turned to the side to see the door open as Alison walked in. She turned a little awkward seeing Jungkook there but regained her composure as she smiled.

"Esther honey, you have school tomorrow. Let's get you into bed. And let your dad sleep as well, he had a tough day today with all the traveling", she spoke. The girl nodded as she kissed her dad goodnight before letting her mother usher her out of the room.

Minutes later Alison came back in as she closed the door. Jungkook wanted to stand up but the woman stopped him. "You can take the bed today, I am not going to be sleeping. I have work to get done, I think it will be an all nighter for me", she spoke gathering some of her material.

"But in case if you want to come rest", he began. "I can sleep in the spare bed in the office. I'll come back to the bedroom in the morning once Esther wakes up so she doesn't have questions"

Alison nodded and Jungkook gathered his blankets. The duo usually slept in different rooms. To their family they gave the excuse that Jungkook's business video calls with his international associates often disturbed Alison due to the different time zones so he slept in another room. But Esther had sensed something was off because her mom and dad were never in the same bed. She began asking questions, wondering why they did that when all her friends's parents slept in the same room. To avoid upsetting her, they came up with this 'pretend' arrangement where Jungkook would sleep in an adjacent room which was connected to their room so he could easily switch back in the morning.