a better life // hwang hyunjin ✔️

chapter one

don't approach strangers

"daehyun, behave." seulgi scolds her son, feeling slightly irritated with his erratic behavior today. he seemed to be all over the place, trying to touch every item in the store, asking her for every shiny and colorful toy in sight. she was growing increasingly tired, and daehyun's behavior was doing nothing to calm her.

she clasped his small hand between hers, holding him close as he's tried running off frequently today. but the boy just wanted to roam around, not intending to irritate his mom, but he was feeling extra energized today. watching his mom roam around the grocery store, marking things off her grocery list was becoming increasingly boring.

"mom~ can we go to the park?" daehyun whines, trying to pull his hand from his moms grasp.

"not today, baby." seulgi tells him, eyes glued to the list as she pushed the cart down the isles, making sure to hold daehyun's hand tight in hers despite his wiggling.

"but mom..." he whines again. seulgi has to bite back a groan, not wanting to push her irritation onto her son.

"i'll give you more t.v. time today, how about that?" she coaxes.

"i don't want to watch t.v.! i want to play!" daehyun argues. seulgi sighs, happy that her son doesn't want to be glued in front of screens all day, but these days she was overly exhausted. and the thought of going to the park, being forced to make small talk with other judging moms was the last thing she wanted to do.

but it had been a while since she'd taken him to the park. she was okay with doing things that compromised her own sanity when it came to daehyun, she would practically do anything for him. and she knew he meant well, being a eight-year-old boy with no siblings of course meant there would be a lot of energy needed to be spent.

"okay, we'll go to the park. just behave, and let me finish getting everything we need, please." daehyun's smile widens at her words, his mind already running wild with all the fun things he could do at the park. seulgi smiled subconsciously watching him smile. daehyun resembled his father a lot, but it didn't make her sad anymore. seulgi let go of his hand as he began to happily clap.

unfortunately for her, he started to skip away, happily making his way down the isle. she groaned, pushing the cart to follow him, picking up her pace as he turned the corner and fell from her sight. but she knew his built up energy was her fault, so she couldn't exactly blame him.

"daehyun!" she calls, turning the corner and seeing him chatting animatedly with another shopper. she groans in embarrassment before making her way to the pair. "daehyun! what did we say about approaching strangers! i'm so sorry, he's usually better behaved than this..."

"i-it's okay, i don't mind." the man smiles at her, he was quite shocked that such a beautiful woman was seeming to care after the little boy. "are you his older sister?" the man asks, subtly trying to gauge her age. seulgi laughs, interlocking her hand with daehyun's.

"he's my son." she tells him, still slightly giggling at the thought of someone thinking she was his sister. sure she was young, having had the boy when she was only fifteen.

"seriously? how old is he?" the man asks. seulgi was reluctant to respond, not knowing if this man was some sort of creep.

"i'm eight!" daehyun tells him proudly, seulgi mentally face palming at her son.