Decoupled • KTH : Book 1✔

Chapter 51

*a few weeks later*

Maya

It has been almost over three weeks since the mediation session ended with attorney Cha, and Taehyung has been managing quite well, given that the divorce would be through any day now. He has been meeting Areum and spending time with her every weekend, yet since this is all so new to all of them, she hasn't yet spent a night alone with her father.

They meet, play and spend time together during the day, and at night she goes back to Jang-Mi.

Taehyung does, of course, get extremely withdrawn sometimes when he misses Areum a lot, and I try my best not to get him out of it because I know that nothing will work when it comes to his daughter. So I just let him be until he comes out of it on his own.

Areum, however, talks to him over the phone at least once every day, and he is always at his happiest when he speaks with her.

Taehyung and I even spent a lot of time making some decisions about how and when to move in together, and the conclusion that we arrived at was that it would be best not to move in together right away.

Areum has to learn to adjust to the new life of Taehyung and Jang-Mi living apart, and understanding that she will only get time with one of her parents at a time. It is going to be really hard for her, and if I try to spread myself over that small space, then it will only make her despise me, and we don't want that at any cost.

I want to be a part of her life for a very long time, and if living together with Taehyung has to be pushed to later so that Areum gets her breathing space, then I'm all in for it.

Her emotions are foremost.

Taehyung hasn't been living in his home since he felt that it would make him miss her even more. So during these past few weeks, we have been living together at my home, making the most that we can of our time together.

Lost in my own thoughts, I curl up with my cup of coffee on the swing chair at the balcony of the guest bedroom where we slept last night.

My eyes lazily shift away from my steaming cup of coffee to look at an elderly couple that always took a morning walk down the street. The couple greet me as they walk closer to my home, and I climb out of the swing chair to greet them back by bowing my head and waving to them with a big smile.

Just then, the door to the balcony creaks open, causing my head to turn in that direction. Taehyung walks out on to the balcony, squinting hard at the morning light, his hair sticking out in all directions.

He pulls his sweatpants a little higher up his waist as he comes closer to me and pecks my lips once.

"Morning, TaeTae!" I greet him and try to tame his disheveled bedhead with one hand.

"Morning, Maya," he smiles sweetly while greeting me in his seductive morning voice as he finally manages to open his eyes wider.

Slinging an arm around my shoulder, he walks us to the railing at the edge of the balcony, and we stand there rejoicing in the warmth of the morning sun as well as each other's company.

The elderly couple has now very slowly reached the path just outside my house, and then they turn around and begin walking back in the same path that they came in.

"Taehyung, this couple has been married for over fifty years now," I speak softly as I move closer to him and pass my cup of coffee to him when he asks for it.

"Wow! Fifty years? That's amazing," he exclaims as he takes a sip of the coffee and nods his head a few times.

"Yeah. And I've seen them on their morning walks ever since I moved in here, and they have a beautiful garden too. They look so happy together, and I love them so much," I smile big, turning my head a little to look at him.