Closer than Ever

Chapter 89 - Airborne

I am feeding Sol on Monday afternoon, when Taehyung suddenly says, "Birdie, you have a nice life here. Would you... would you want to move back to Seoul to wait for me? Or do you want to stay here?"

"Oh. Uh." I'm caught off guard by the question. "I would feel kind of bad leaving less than a month before school starts, but... I don't know?"

"Well, if you were home, you two could come and see me for weekend oe-chul leave for a few hours, anyway. We could see each other almost every weekend."

"Oh, then we're definitely moving back." I smile at him. "What am I going to do in Seoul while you're finishing your service, though, babe?"

"If it's possible, would you still like to work for BigHit?"

I stare at him. "I... I just ran off with no notice, and then sent a resignation letter about a month later. A year ago. Do you think there's any chance that they would rehire me?"

Tae shrugs. "I'll see, Birdie," he says, and walks out of the apartment to call.

He's gone for twenty-five minutes or so, and I convince myself that he's trying to wheedle the company into rehiring me, with no success. My heart is racing out of control, so I try visualization and breathing exercises, but it's still pounding so hard I'm afraid the sound is going to wake Sol.

He walks back into the apartment, then shakes his head at me with a completely straight poker face. My heart plummets down through the whole apartment building toward the center of the Earth. "Bang PD hyung says that you can come back to work, and have a new contract, but only if you let him hold the baby as soon as you get there." He breaks into a huge boxy grin.

I shriek with joy, startling Sol awake, and jump up to hug Taehyung. "Really?! Really?! If you're messing with me, babe, so help me..."

He laughs and wraps his arms around the two of us, dancing us around the room. Sol looks so surprised that he isn't even crying, just trying to figure out what is happening. "Hyung said that they can only pay you for the six months of parental leave, though, not for the other five months," he tells me, once we stop. "You can work with TxT until we come back, or you might get loaned out to other Hybe divisions or something until we're discharged."

I shake my head in amazement. "I can't believe this. How the fuck am I so lucky? I get to have you back and my job back, too? Thank you, thank you, thank you!!" I plant a flurry of kisses on his chest, and he laughs again. Sol gives a quiet, experimental sort of cry, as if he's testing the mood in the room. His dad and I just smile down at him, and he stops, looking back and forth between our faces.

"Everything is good, now, little man," Taehyung tells him. "Everything is going to be good."

I smile up at him. "Babe, I really can't believe this. I must have done something amazing in my last life, to have such good fortune this time. I must have invented a life-saving vaccine or saved all the kids from a burning orphanage or something."

He smiles. "Me, too, Birdie. I was about 90% sure that I had fucked up my whole life forever, when I lost you. But everything is OK now. After this, we're just going to be happy together, OK?"

I nod. "Yes. Absolutely." I pause for a moment, studying his face. "I think that I've made progress with my anxiety, but I will work really hard with the therapists in Seoul to be as close to normal as I can be, by the time you're discharged. I want to be really mentally healthy and happy for you and for Sol."

He tucks my hair behind my ear. "You do seem better already, sweet girl, much less panicky. I'm so glad! And I will keep meditating every night about being open and honest with you, like I've been doing. I'm never going to try to trick you like that again, OK, Birdie? It has been my habit for a long time, but I am going to break the habit so you can fully trust me."