ENCHANTED

20

You knew what they were all speaking behind your backs. Man got the sister as soon as the wife passed away.  The sister's shameless trying to enchant her brother in law. She couldn't have her own kids so she's trying to get her sister's now. As repulsive as they sounded to you neither Jungkook nor did you care about it. Whatever you were doing was the best for this family. What anyone else thought wasn't important but sometimes you did contemplate about whether what you were doing was right or wrong?

You surely weren't in love with Jungkook or anyone else and he was grieving Dahyun. He had fallen in love with her which said he had moved on from you. But if something brewed between the two of you again... you had no idea what it would look like or how it would pan out.

Something tells you still that if you both come to love each other again it would not stay limited to a passionate physical  thing rather you would connect on another deeper level with a lot of understanding, respect and trust.

Jungkook takes a shower when you bring breakfast for Yejun and Ria. You fed Yejun while Ria eats on her own.
When you go to the kitchen to keep the bowls away Jungkook came there too. You noticed he had shaved which had become infrequent now. He smelled of soap and shampoo and his hair was wet.

"You don't have to spoon feed them. They learnt to eat on their own from the beginning. Dahyun never did that." He tells you.

"But I'm not Dahyun right? I'm just doing whatever makes it easy."

"Yeah well okay... whatever is easy..." he taps your shoulder before moving to the coffee machine and making himself one.

"Should we take them to the park? Maybe a far one if not the neighbourhood one..." You ask him feeling bad for the kids sitting in front of the TV for a long time.

"If they want that..."

You end up going on a walk in the park after driving miles away from the apartment and moving around freely in the empty space. Yejun kept running ahead while Ria followed him observing the trees and flowers.

"Yejun look a butterfly" She exclaimed calling him to look at it. Jungkook looked peaceful watching his kids thinking about something else rather than their loss. They walked ahead hand in hand meeting a dog in the way and then sitting down in the grass calling you both to join them but you chose to sit on the bench instead to not get grass stain on your clothes and have an adult talk.

"Turns out my office refused to extend my leave..."

"Oh god... Will you have to go back then?" Jungkook asked sadly.

"I don't really want to..."

"I guess we'll figure it out"

"I only have four more days left"

"I'm gonna miss you here... to be honest I've got no idea how I'll handle all of this... maybe I'll have to find a caretaker but it's just that..." he pauses before saying.

"What..." You ask him.

"Nobody's gonna be as good as you. You loved them like a mother. If I hire somebody they would only treat it as a job and you had an emotional bond with them."

"We gotta inform them" you say looking at both of them lying down looking up at the sky.

"I don't want them to grow up any faster than they should..."

"Trust me Jungkook I know what it feels like..."

"Hey kids... come here" Jungkook calls them as they come running to him.

"As it turns out to be... Aunty y/n will be going back to her own home. She has to resume work next week."

"Do you really have to leave?" Ria asked looking at you.

"No... you can't leave. You're like mama no. 2" Yejun says making your heart melt. He said it out of pure innocence and purity and you'd no doubt of that. Because of you these children didn't feel alone.

"Please... please live with us. Please come back... Don't leave" Yejun clung to you while Ria hugged you from the other side.

"Guys she has to go back... you've gotta understand" Jungkook said trying to pull them back but they didn't shift even a bit.

"Okay... okay I'll figure it out. I promise I'll come back. I'll look for a job here. I'm sure Jungkook you'll let me live at your house until I find a job"

"It's not about you staying. Its about you making unnecessary sacrifices for us"

"Jungkook we go way back man... you can't say all of this... let me take care of them. I promise you I'll do my best. I don't expect anything from you I just really want to take care of them."

"But you'll have to accept some monetary exchange."

"That doesn't matters..."

"Guys I'll go and come back as quickly as I can... it might take a few weeks or a couple of months... but trust me I'll come back"

"Please don't break your promise" Yejun says with his head resting on your lap.

"Yes baby I'll try my best." You kiss their heads holding them close to you. In the last few weeks you'd come to have a selfless bond with these children. They'd become the reason why you woke up everyday. Taking care of them had been everything you'd done and now the thought of leaving them was too difficult to think about. In them you'd found something you thought you would never know in this life. This twist of fate gave you a chance to experience that even if it was for a very short while.

Jungkook looked at you and he realised it too that you'd become something they'd come to trust and depend on. Even though he tried still he wasn't as close to them as he would like to be owing to the nature of his job. Now he knew how important it actually was to maintain a balance. He had regrets but he knew it wasn't yet very late to make it right.