﹄✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ﹃

"enjoy the movie." yoongi spat, venom in his words as the happy couple hurried away from the cranky, milky-skinned man selling tickets. yoongi grumbled slightly to himself and rubbed his tired eyes. he had late shifts on thursday nights so he usually left yejin with his close friend, hoseok.

though the men had known each other since high school, the thought of leaving yejin with hoseok always made yoongi a little uneasy. not that hoseok was a bad babysitter, it's just that yoongi was afraid that yejin would grow up to be much closer with hoseok than she would be with her own father. after all, hoseok was full of energy and always willing to play, whereas yoongi was often run down or busy.

but yoongi needed hoseok's help.

they both knew that.

with a tired sigh, yoongi picked his body up and carried himself down the dimly lit streets. an occasional car would fly by, but other than that, it was empty. he found himself walking towards the park that yejin liked to play at and shielded his face from the wind as he looked over the sparkling, black lake. nothing but the sound of the water echoed in his ears as he sat down in the dry grass. what am i going to do? he thought as he hugged his knees to his chest. i can't work at a movie theater forever. a slight breeze whistled through the cool, spring night and his eyes fluttered shut, allowing the wind to send his hair back.

"i guess i'm not the only person that's a little stressed this evening." a silvery voice muttered lifelessly behind him.

yoongi whipped his head around to see a girl, hidden in the dark. he squinted, "who's there?"

"sorry," the voice laughed humorlessly, "didn't mean to scare ya'." the owner of the voice emerged from the shadows and out into the moonlight. the girl had on a large, gray sweatshirt with her hood on, keeping her dark locks tucked inside. she had a pair of circular glasses, sitting on the tip of her nose. yoongi blinked back the tears he didn't know he was holding in and cleared his throat. "you didn't scare me." he muttered, not in the mood for a conversation. the girl gave yoongi a half smile, "do you come here often?" she asked.

yoongi nodded slightly and turned back around to face the water.

"i always see you under the oak tree." she added, "do you know... yejin? by any chance?"

yoongi raised his eyebrows at the mention of his daughter's name. he turned back around to face the mysterious girl, "how do you know h-"

"i always see her running over to you," the girl mused, "i thought that maybe she was your... cousin?" yoongi nearly raised his eyebrows at the bluntness of the girl. "father," yoongi corrected, preparing himself for the odd look that strangers usually gave him after finding out he was already a father- a single father. but to yoongi's surprise, the girl just nodded in understanding and joined yoongi on the grass. "i'm jihye, by the way." she said as she looked out into the lake. "in case you needed a friend. you always look kinda... lonely."

yoongi scoffed slightly. jeez. "yoongi." he said quietly, "i guess a friend wouldn't hurt." he looked down at his white shoes, which were now a brownish-gray and worn down, before looking back up at the girl. jihye, or whatever her name was.

"yejin tells me about you all the time," jihye said, two dimples popping up on either side of her face. "the girl loves to chat, doesn't she?"

"what kind of stuff does she tell you?" yoongi muttered, curious but also slightly concerned that his daughter was sharing his personal information.

"a lot. most of it is kind of a blur, but she tells me her father's name is min yoongi."

"that's it?"

"well, she talks about her uncle a lot." jihye said. "but i haven't really figured out who he is yet."

"yejin talks more about her uncle than me?" yoongi asked, feeling like he had just been punched in the gut. hoseok. it had to be hoseok. why do you care, yoongi? he thought to himself. of course yejin talks about hoseok. she adores that man.

he looked up at jihye, who looked slightly confused, "who is this 'uncle'?" she asked, her eyebrows crinkling.

"he's not blood-related to me, but just a close friend," yoongi said as he bit his lip, "he babysits yejin sometimes."

"why did you ask if she talked more about him than you?" jihye asked, frowning slightly, but she quickly stopped and sat up straighter, "sorry... i didn't mean to get too personal or-"

"it's alright." yoongi says with a sigh, as if it wasn't already personal.

jihye looked up at yoongi, as if she was waiting for him to continue, but he didn't.

hoseok is energetic and always ready to play with her. i can understand why she likes him better than me.

"hey." jihye said as she placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, "i don't know you, but i know yejin." yoongi forced himself to look up at her. she smiled slightly, "she loves you, okay? don't forget that."

yoongi bit his lip.

"thanks...um... jihye."

she smiled brightly, "of course." suddenly, the two heared a loud ringing coming from jihye's pocket. with a frown, she picked it up, looked at the caller id, and sighed. "i need to get going." she said. "see you around?"

yoongi nodded, a slight smile on his lips. "see you around."

and she was gone.