Downpour | Kim Taehyung

bonus chapter 3

Kyungmin had always wondered about Aeri in her teenage days and had promised herself that no matter what her daughter went through, she'd make sure she was there for her.

So when she had been suspecting her daughter had been a little off the past days, she entered her room, prepared for her small pep talk when she heard Aeri's small sobs coming from Aeri's bathroom.

Since Aeri trusted her mom, she let Kyungmin in when she had knocked on the door. The first few minutes passed with Kyungmin patting her daughter to calm her down and trying to ask her what was wrong.

The next minutes, Aeri decided to finally open up to her mom despite being hesitant, feeling a little embarrassed to talk about something like this. Kyungmin listened to her as she went on about this certain guy in her school.

Aeri apologized for not having told her parents, but Kyungmin assured her that it was fine. Taehyung and Kyungmin both knew what was going on, but they wanted Aeri to take the initiative as they did not want to pry or get ahead of her.

"Mommy, you told me you and daddy had a long story, right? I never heard the whole thing," mentioned Aeri, voice a little hoarse but much better than the minutes that had passed.

"Do you want me to tell you?" Kyungmin thoughtfully asked. "He actually left me before. That jerk."

Little did the two know that at some point of their conversation, Taehyung had went inside Aeri's room and had been listening at their voices that echoed through the door.

"Yah! I came back for you!"

Kyungmin made an annoyed face, throwing a glance at her shoulders and saw her husband's shadow through the blurred glass door. "Taehyung, please go away. We're having a private conversation."

"I'm her dad."

"I'm her mom," Kyungmin retaliated, and Aeri shook her head in amusement, placing her chin on the rim of the bathtub.

There was shuffling of feet, and Kyungmin returned her attention back to Aeri.

"He broke my heart at least once or twice, and I had sulked on it before too. So you'll be fine. If it's not the guy you like now, it will be someone better." Kyungmin's lips curved upwards, nodding hopefully as an encouragement for her daughter.

"Although for your father..." Kyungmin crinkled her nose. "He came back more childish. So, I'm not sure about that part."

Aeri chuckled. She had always admired her parents and their love for one another, no matter how weird they could be at some point, as if her parents were the only one who understood themselves. But to Aeri, that only proved how her parents shared the same love for each other.

"Your real father had a different story though. You wouldn't even want to compare," Kyungmin added. "But if it weren't for him, despite all those stuffs he made us go through, you wouldn't be here now. So even if I hate him, I'd have to thank him for a fraction."

Aeri only stared, awed by her mom's heart, making her eyes well up a little.

"Mommy, did you ever regret your decision?" She subtly blinked her tears away.

"Which one? Marrying your father?" joked Kyungmin.

"Adopting me."

Kyungmin froze, mortified at Aeri's question. Then, she flicked the young lady's forehead.

"Yah!" Aeri held on the now reddened part to massage it. "What's with you and daddy flicking foreheads? Is it some kind of a ritual?"

"I'd go through the same painful thing again if I had to, just so I could be with you and your daddy right now, as is," Kyungmin told her without missing a beat. "Does that answer your question?"