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Six - Namjoon appa

Jina, four years old

Namjoon's POV

"Tell me about the stars, appa."

Glancing down at the little girl who was tilting her head upwards to stare at me with curious eyes, I placed a peck on her forehead as I hummed an okay to her.

"See that star?" I pointed at a star that was twinkling and shining brightly, and saw Jina nod her head. "That is the Venus star."

"It's so bright." She mumbled, and I chuckled when she rested her entire back on my abdomen.

We were at the attic, observing the night sky that was blanketed with millions of stars, but only a few were prominently standing out among the rest.

I watched Jina leave my lap and crawl towards the telescope I had gifted her, and using her small hands, she squinted an eye close and adjusted the telescope as she observed the sky.

"If you observe even more closely, you will see shapes and patterns formed by the stars, Jina." I spoke softly, and watched her search for the said stars.

"Where?"

I pointed at a particular pattern.

"See that? Where three stars are lined up together in a straight line?" I guided her, and continued when she nodded fervently. "That's the belt of the Orion. And that," I pointed at a star that was slightly further from the three but still on the same invisible horizontal line, "that is the head of the arrow prepared to be launched in his bow."

Laughing at her confused face, I tickled her sides, making her squirm while giggling.

"S-stop!" She cried out, and I immediately obliged.

Her cheeks were flushed red, and she was breathing hard to recover from the tickling.

Just then, she threw a fierce glare at me.

"Woah, what's with that intense gaze?" I crossed my arms at her.

"You bullied me. I'm telling this to the other appas." She stuck out her tongue at me, making me feel shocked.

"You wouldn't dare." I challenged her with an eyebrow raised.

She grinned. "I do!"

And she went scurrying away down the ladder like a bumblebee, leaving me alone in the dimly lit attic.

"Aish, this kid." I muttered to myself before following her footsteps.

After closing the attic door shut, I was about to holler Jina's name when my phone rang.

Fishing out my phone, I furrowed my eyebrows at the caller ID - Unknown Number, before swiping left on the screen to answer the call.

"Yobeoseyo?" I waited for the person on the other line to reply.

"Kim Namjoon-ssi?" The stranger asked, and I replied a 'yes' when I saw Jina poking her head out on the couch.

Jina, being her mischievous self, gestured me to go towards her and made me sit on the couch with her.

I was still talking to the person on the phone, and realized that he was one of my customers in my dad's company I was currently working in.

The coffee table was spreaded with the paper works and documents I had brought back home from the office, along with my Macbook and a cup of coffee that had turned cold.

My life after graduating from highschool had been relatively repetitive, from waking up in the morning, dressing myself in button ups and slacks, then head to work, work all day, answering phone calls and signing documents after reading them, attending meetings, sometimes skipping lunch even, only to get scolded by both Jieun and Jina when the younger one demanded her mum to call me, then returning home from work, and finish the documents that weren't completed in the company.

Why was I such a workaholic?

It was to prove to the workers in my dad's company that I was eligible to be the next CEO of the company.

Reality sucks, and people were all fake and were not subtle about it.

I was forced to grow up from being a clueless teenage boy to a diligent worker in the company.

I was a lonely whale in the ocean of masked people, but as time went by, I was quick to catch up with them, and in no time I had a facade on my face too when it comes to facing the reality.

My father was proud of my performance, I was very sure of it.

If he was happy, I was too.

But was I really happy with the life I was living in?

Seven days a week, I forced myself to keep striving on.

"Yes, sir. Please do come to the company to sign the contract tomorrow. Yes, have a goodnight too." I ended the call finally, and threw my phone away on the couch.

A tired sigh escaped from my mouth as I closed my eyes shut.

"Appa."

"Hmm?"

"Are you okay?"

Upon hearing that, my eyes flew opened and I tilted my head to see Jina frowning at me.

Sitting up properly, I carried her and let her sit on my lap while facing me.

"Of course I'm okay." I lied with a smile.

Jina crossed her arms.

"You're lying. Eomma told me that lying is not good." Jina blurted, and I stared at her in disbelief.

"Are you a mind reader or something?" I chuckled, feeling amused and better already at the adorable sight of the little girl sitting on my lap.

"Appa, if you're sad, Jina would be sad too." She then leaned her cheeks on my chest, and wrapped her arms around my torso.

Freezing at her sudden action, my heart nearly stopped beating at her sweet gesture.

Tears were forming in my eyes, but I wiped them away with the sleeves of the shirt I was wearing.

"What can I do to make you happy, appa?" She blinked innocently, and my heart swooned even more at that.

Stop it!

"Silly girl, just by looking at you, all my worries are already gone." I pinched her cheeks, and a smile finally appeared on her face.

"Really?"

I nodded. "Really."

She shrieked excitedly while hugging me even more tightly, and I wrapped my long arms around her.

"Let's bring you to bed or your eomma will kill me for letting you stay awake when it's already past your bedtime." I whispered into her ear as I carried her towards her bedroom.

"Where's eomma?" She asked while letting me tuck her into bed.

Covering her with her blanket, I switched on the night light and placed a peck on her forehead.

"She's on the way back home." I told her honestly, and wondered why was Jieun taking such a long time to return home. "Now, go to sleep, princess."

I was about to stand up to leave when she pulled my hand, making me halt in my footsteps.

Crouching down, I asked her what was wrong.

"Read me a storybook, appa. In English." She giggled while pointing at the books arranged neatly in the bookrack at the side of the room.

Grinning at her, I obeyed her and took a random English storybook.

"Once upon a time..."

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