Somewhere in Time || A VKook Saga

[Forty-two]

As the party of four arrived at the restaurant, the disabled man looked around him and saw pitiful glances cast his way. Yes, he had learned that people can sometimes be rude, but it was a small price to pay when he had received another chance at living.

His disability, even if it wasn't his choice, shouldn't dictate how it would control his life. Sure, there were difficulties, but nothing he couldn't overcome if he put his mind to it. It was a bittersweet moment seeing the faces of the people he cherished beside him. He had to keep reminding himself everyone - Jimin, Alex and Eun-hye - all loved him for who he was now, the man who's living, the man Taehyung.

"Cheers to my son and his soon-to-be wife!" Jimin said as he lifted a glass to his lips.

"Hear ye! Hear ye! I'm expecting grandchildren already!" Taehyung jested.

"Hilarious, Papa," Alex commented as he looked at his father, with a look of happiness and sadness on his face.

"I can't wait too long, Alex," Taehyung quipped. "I'd be too old to run with him when the child grows up."

"Who says it'll be a boy?" Eun-hye piped up.

"Whether it's a girl or boy, it will inherit my genes!" Jimin proclaimed.

Taehyung laughed. "Jiminie, you dolt. Why is the baby getting your genes? You're not the one giving birth."

"Raising Alex made me feel like I was passing a stone," Jimin dead-panned.

"Speaking of stones, can I see the rock again that Alex gave you with our money?" Taehyung asked Eun-hye.

Alex rolled his eyes at his father's joke.

"Here you go, Papa," Eun-hye said as she extended her fingers.

Taehyung took her hand and observed the shining object. "It would be nice if your family could also come."

"Me too," Eun-hye replied, a sadness formed at the back of her throat. "But I couldn't find my mother... and my father....."

"Ah we know," Taehyung understood as he patted Eun-hye's hand. She had told them about her own family, but not in detail. All they knew was that her parents separated when she was a child and that her father's family were only tolerant of Eun-hye, at best.

Since her affinity with her mother was stronger, Eun-hye took on her mother's maiden surname, introducing herself as Shin Eun-hye instead of Jeon Eun-hye as tradition dictated. It was a matter Alex's family didn't want to press on, as Eun-hye was tight-lipped about it. They're hoping that maybe time would change that.

"Don't worry about it," Taehyung assured his daughter-in-law. "You've got us."

"But eventually, it's better if you make amends with your father," Jimin recommended.

Taehyung agreed. "By the way, what's your father's name?"