ᴀʙᴅɪᴛᴏʀʏ || baek kyung

ᵉᵖᶦˡᵒᵍᵘᵉ

⚜

"Taeil, get off Solbi. She's not a horse."

The six year old ignored Jia and continued to ruffle the dog's ears while sitting on top of her. "Run, Solbi!" Taeil whooped loudly, "Let's go—oof!" He slid off her sideways, falling face first on the floor. The Golden Retriever wagged her tail and circled where she stood before licking Taeil's chin.

The dog was the spitting image of Geumbi, with her black fur and her dark eyes. Or so everyone thought. Even after all these years, only Jia could tell the difference.

The woman placed her hands on her hips, trying to give Taeil an admonishing look and failing, "What did I tell you?"

"I'm not hurt," he replied, still distracted by the dog. He giggled loudly as Solbi pressed her snout against his face, and excitedly rubbed her back.

"Go, see if your sister's awake," Jia made her way to the storeroom down the hallway, "The others will be over soon."

Taeil slumped back to the floor and groaned, "I don't wanna wake her. She always cries when I wake her. When will dad be back?"

By the balcony doors, Danbi lazily raised her head only to fall back asleep. Her golden coat shone under the sunlight. Solbi, much younger and bursting with energy, darted towards the other dog. She let out a soft bark and tried to push Danbi off her cushion only to fail. A low growl from the latter warned her not to disturb her again.

After making sure the store room was empty as well, Jia returned to the living room. She took in the bare walls and the near vacant space. Only the gray sofa, bar stools by the kitchen counter, and the beds in the rooms upstairs remained. Everything else had been moved into their new home.

"I think I'm going to miss this place," Taeil said, squishing Solbi's face between his hands and laughing as she tried to nip his fingers.

Jia fixed her hair, untangling the strands from her earrings, as she flopped back on the sofa, "Me too, little man."

Danbi suddenly raised her head again, letting out a loud bark while wagging her tail. Taeil rolled over on his stomach before leaping to his feet, "Oh, hey! I thought you weren't here. Is Yuri up?"

Kyung carefully descended the stairs, the one year old toddler in his arms. Yuri had leaned her head against his shoulder, rubbing her eyes sleepily. "You were loud enough to wake her," Kyung said, shooing away Solbi who came sniffing at his knees, "That and Dohwa called. He picked up Soohyang on the way—let go of my hair, Yuri. Thank you," he leaned his head away from her pudgy hands. "Honestly, I can't wait to hand you over to him," he said to her as she cooed and tapped her fingers against the faded scar on his forehead.

"You need to take a picture of this," Taeil pointed at the edge of the wall near the balcony, "So that we can draw this again in the new house." There were black markings on the brick wall, along with dates and the measurement, to keep track of how much the little brunet had grown in the past three years.

"We can just draw them again—you keep eating my shirt and I'll make your aunt hold you," he bent a little, acting as if he was going to drop Yuri off in Jia's lap. Yuri's brown eyes widened. She let out a no! and threw her arms around Kyung's neck, hugging him in protest.

Jia brandished her arms as if to say 'see?' before folding her legs underneath her and getting comfortable on the sofa, "It's a Wednesday. I'm off on Wednesdays. The kids are your responsibility until their dad comes back. Besides, Yuri hates me."