[SHORT STORIES] Once upon a time, at the strike of midnight, a reader found themselves tucked underneath their blanket.
The moment they started to read words of magic and fantasy, they are pulled into the realms of their beloved tales.
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Aera thought she would never see him again.
But he's here, walking beside her, the bag of food in his hands.
His soft coconut-cut hair from before was now a messy ruffle, and the way he towered over her, how mature he acted, proved that he wasn't a boy anymore. But his doe eyes, his bunny teeth, the way his voice sent chills down her spine, the way he tried to hide the blush creeping up his cheeks—it was still the boy from her adolescence.
Unconsciously, she recalled the smell of her selected oil paints, the colors of him that filled her palette, and her best canvas.
Jeon Jungkook.
Her first love.
She wanted to say something, to bring up random topics, just so she could shatter the uncomfortable silence. Yet it was as if those soldiers and his sudden appearance sucked up all her energy, resulting in her not being able to utter a word.
Of all times that he could've shown his face, why now?
He should've run to her doorstep before the day she was confirmed to be married, should've embraced her, should've proposed to her, should've taken her far away from this corner of the world. He should've done all those things sooner.
But he was already too late. Her heart was longing for someone else.
Aera opened the wooden gate, wondering why he wasn't asking her questions about her house, about her family, about her life without him. He was humbly letting her lead him inside towards the hallowed hall of their home.
The first sight he beheld was the painted canvas of a sleeping young man, sitting openly by the crystalized container of Iris blossoms. He saw the look on Aera's face when she gazed at it, her glassy orbs filled with so much fondness and melancholy.
"Daddy?"
Both of them turned to the small child peering from the other side of the living room, her pupils dilated and expectant. Before the man could inform her, she bolted across the floor and onto his legs.
"Are you my daddy?" Taera fluttered her lashes as she stared up at him. The light from the outside made it hard for her to see his face clearly. "Daddy smells like flowers though."
Jungkook, evidently flustered, stiffened like a statue.
Aera sighed and pushed the door to a close, having her daughter realize that this man wasn't her father at all.
The little girl peeled away from him, pouting. "You're not my daddy."
"I-I'm sorry." Jungkook stammered a reply, whipping his head back to the quiet Aera. "You haven't told her yet?"
"Why would I tell her that?" Aera frowned at him. "I can't let the news ruin her like how it ruined me."
He sadly stared at her before kneeling down to get equal with the girl's eye-level, "Because she deserves to know."
