Believe in fate | Lee Know

epilogue

six months later

"Daddy, who is that over there?" Miga asked, holding onto Minho's hand while she pointed to a figure standing a few metres away.

"Sora?" Minho asked and the person looked up and a small smile spread on her face. "Hi Minho, good to see you and the kids. How is everyone?" Before Minho could answer, Soori hurried towards the girl and let himself be picked up for a hug.

"We're managing" Was Minho's response, "It's good to see you again." The two smiled sadly at one another for a moment before turning towards the reason they were here for.

Minho crouched down and placed a red and a white rose in front of Ahri's gravestone. His fingers felt the engraved name and Minho had to quickly blink away his tears. "Hi, my love. I hope you are doing okay wherever you are right now." Then he felt a small touch on his shoulder and saw Jonghun standing next to him, "Of course she is alright, she is with our parents now."

Sora saw the wholesome scene when Minho hugged all three kids close to his chest and the young woman stared up into the sky, preventing the tears from falling down, "Your family is okay, Ahri."

She still remembers the moment in which she and Minho had to tell those little rascals, who were all proudly wearing their wedding clothes, that their sister would not be with them any longer. She would never forget Jonghun falling to his knees crying while Miga was trying to get her brother to stand back up, not understanding what happened.

The first nights Minho, the kids and Sora all stayed at the latters parent's house, somehow trying to keep going. One day Minho had kissed the kids and Sora on the forehead and left the house, saying he would be back soon.

That night the driver of the truck, who was still livig freely until his trial, was brought to the hospital because of serious injuries. Sora knew that Minho was behind it but she never brought the topic up again. Minho started becoming more and more distant that day on forward and Sora didn't know what to do. On one hand she just wanted to cry in the corner because of the loss of her soulmate that she has known since birth, on the other hand did she promise said person to look after her siblings for her.

So she swallowed the grief and concentrated on the kids, she and Hyunjin broke up along the way because Sora didn't want anyone holding her close if it wasn't her best friend.

The adoption process luckily still was successful so shortly after everything happened, Minho was legally the guardian of the three kids. Though he did not act much like it in the beginning.

One night after Sora brought the kids to bed and Miga had asked when Minho would read her a bedtime story again, Sora had called Minho but got no response. The last time either her or the kids had seen Minho was at Ahri's funeral where the latter was extremely distant and Sora was about to explode because he didn't respond to Jonghun's hug, leaving the boy utterly confused and hurt.

So that night Sora drove to the place she knew Minho would be at - his and Ahri's old apartment. Entering the apartment she soon saw Minho sitting on their old bed, pressing Ahri's pillow close to his chest and sobbing into it.

Minho had accepted Sora's hug this time and cried in her arms for several hours until he fell asleep. The next morning Sora wasn't as friendly anymore, "Minho, you have to pull your shit together! You can't leave the kids hanging, especially not now! They need you as much as you need them!"

Their argument ended with Sora stormin out of the door but Minho was finally woken up from his depressed state and returned to the Choi's household in the evening. The kids were happy to see him and Minho realised how much he missed the warmth of getting hugged by them.

Sora helped him settle in again and take over full responsibility of Ahri's siblings. She helped them find a new apartment to live in and she was the one that got rid of most of Ahri's stuff with the help of Sooyeon but she kept a few boxes stored away as memory and reminder of her best friend.

About two months after Ahri's death, Minho called Sora, crying and in need of comfort - comfort that he found in the one person that shared the same grief. That night Sora broke down, reaching her limit of always staying strong for other's and swalloying her own emotions. She had said goodbye to the kids and promised them that she will return soon. That was the last time Minho had seen her until now.

"How have you been?" Minho asked once he got back up and let the kids tell Ahri a story about their trip to Minho's parents.

"I have been better but I also have been worse. I heard Straykids' hiatus will come to an end next month?"

"Yeah, I think we all need to go back to our normal lifes and perfoming together with the members is what I love - of course my schedule will be a bit layed back so I still have enough time to spent with them" Minho answered and looked at the kids with all the love in his eyes, "Thank you, Sora. Not only for being there for us but also for pulling me back on track."

Sora only nodded and patted Minho's arm gently. "Have you talked to Hyunjin since you've been back?" Minho continued, hoping not to overstep.

"I called him yesterday, we're meeting up for coffee on Friday" Minho noticed Sora's faint smile and he was happy for the both of them. The loss of Ahri had taken a huge toll on both of them and the didn't manage to handle both the grief and their relationship back then. But now Minho saw hope for them again and he knew Sora probably deserved to be happy more than anyone.

"Pumpkins, will you say goodbye to me? I have to go now but I promise I will take you to the arcade this weekend. How does that sound?" Sora asked and the three immediately came to hug her. When they pulled away Sora turned to Minho who's eyes were fixated on the engraving of the gravestone again.

"You deserve to be happy too, Minho. Ahri would have wanted that for you" Sora smiled when Minho pulled her into a hug, "Ahri always told me to believe in fate and I know that that's hard right now but we will manage, together okay?"

Minho nodded again and gently kissed Sora's cheek before looking down at the kids who were holding onto the two olders in some way.

"Ahri would have wanted for all of us to be happy, so let's be happy together."

~the end~

------------------------

~and that's a wrap for this story but the next one is sure to come soon
~I will re-read and edit the whole book again in the coming weeks so don't wonder why all the chapters will be getting published again
~for those who don't know: this is my third finished story (after Seungmin and Changbin) but somehow I feel the most emotional after this one

~so thank you all for reading this, I hope we will meet each other again soon

~until the next book
~~June