"I cannot pay for all the damages now," Graycen sighed, "I have a baby on the way. I can't worry about that right now."

The property manager nodded, "I understand, we understand that. We'll just take this money that you gave us to fix the glass from the outside."

"Okay," Graycen nodded slowly, "how much would it be if I decided to close down my shop?" Graycen wasn't motivated anymore or at least not at the moment.

"You already paid off the store so it won't cost anything," the manager informed her, "however, you have to clean out the shop. What's your approach to that?"

Graycen thought for a second, "I'm going to sell the equipment I have "

"Are you sure?"

Graycen nodded, "Yeah, I am sure. I'm not ready for a shop right now."

"Okay," the manager jotted everything down in his notepad, "do you have a specific date you're closing down the shop? I mean I know you told your employees that everything was going to be indefinite."

"I'll email them about my decision and hand them their last paychecks. About everything else I'm unsure."

"Good, do you want me to take care of selling and cleaning out the shop?"

Graycen hummed as she gathered her belongings, "I'll call you tomorrow with my answer. I need to think about that."

"Alright, I guess that sums up everything."

"Thank you," Graycen stood up from her seat and grabbed her purse, "have a nice day, sir."

-

-

"So you're closing down the shop?"

Graycen took a sip of her sweetened tea, "Yeah, I mean I don't want to worry about it right now. I already emailed all the employees about it, I feel terrible. I mailed them all their paychecks as well, I'm broke as hell now."

"I mean that's understandable," Taylor said with a smile, "I'm here to stick with you forever, y' know?"

"I can't ever forget that, sis."

Taylor clasped her hands together, "Good!"

The two sisters talked throughout the whole dinner and finished eating. After dinner, they went to the theatre that was across the street. Graycen figured it'd be a nice night to enjoy a live musical before she kept herself at home.

The musical was something Graycen connected with. The storyline was about two kids that experienced their parents get a divorce. They had to migrate to another country and work hard for money. Graycen related to the parents getting a divorce and the moving out. The ending was super sad though, one of the two kids died. The said boy died from an accidental overdose.

Graycen made it home in one piece, thankfully. Taylor walked her to the door and hugged her goodbye when she knocked on the door and Taehyung opened the door. Taehyung was shirtless and didn't seem bothered about it until he noticed Taylor.

"Ah damn, I'm sorry."

Taylor snorted, "You're built like a little boy, I'm not worried about that. Anyways, goodnight Graycen, please get a good night sleep."

"I will, thanks!"

Graycen entered the apartment and took her shoes off by the door as Taehyung locked it. "My bad, I forgot I wasn't wearing a shirt. I'll put one on."

Graycen waved her hand, "It doesn't matter, it's your apartment."

"It's ours now, I want to keep you comfortable."

Graycen questioned with a smug expression, "Now it's our apartment, interesting." She watched as Taehyung's face transformed into guilt. "I'm just playing and I don't mind you being shirtless." She wasn't lying when she said she didn't mind. Taehyung still made her stare at him in delight, he was attractive.

Taehyung blinked but then nodded, "How was everything?" Taehyung sat back down and was reading from a textbook, which Graycen assumed was for work.

"I decided to close down the shop."

Graycen watched as Taehyung paused from reading to look at her, "You did what?"

"Closed down the shop?"

Taehyung squinted, "You worked hard for that shop, why'd you do that?"

"I'm not motivated towards that right now. Stop worrying about it, I'm fine."

Taehyung stood up from the couch, "It's hard to tell if you are fine these days.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It's just, I'm worried about your happiness."

Graycen rolled her eyes, "I'm happy I don't need to rock a wide smile to prove that. Fuck off, we're divorced, why didn't you keep this energy when we were married?"

Taehyung gulped at that and instead of responding he just nodded his head in disbelief. If Graycen would've known better, she would've been able to tell that Taehyung was hurt at that. Taehyung just sat down on the couch to pick up his book.

"Answer me!"

Taehyung asked without looking up from his book, "You don't think I had the energy to take care of you while we were married?"

"After the miscarriage, no."

Taehyung kept looking down, "I tried, Graycen. Don't ever forget that I tried."

Graycen sneered, "You should've tried harder." It felt like the world stopped after Graycen's comment, she felt her heartbeat rapidly. Taehyung looked up at her then down quickly, he grabbed his books and quickly went into his room. He left Graycen there to drown in her confused thoughts.

-

-

Graycen woke up with a headache and it stayed there even after she brushed her teeth and took a shower. Graycen reluctantly got out of her room and to the living room. Taehyung wasn't there and she felt sick, she wished that she didn't remember the previous night. Flashbacks of what she said were haunting her to the point where she chose to sleep instead.

Graycen went into the kitchen to see a yellow sticky note stuck on the fridge.

I have a 12-hour shift today. Please take care of yourself.

taehyung

Graycen threw the sticky note away after reading it. She decided on making herself a bowl of banana oatmeal. Graycen couldn't even finish eating her oatmeal, leaving it in the microwave she decided to clean around the apartment.

The apartment was already fairly clean, but she needed something to distract her. It didn't matter how hard she scrubbed the counters, swept and mopped the floors, or clean the bathrooms.

"Hello?"

"Jungkook!" Graycen exclaimed over the phone. "Since when did you guys finish the nursery room?!"

"Oh, I forgot that Taehyung was supposed to show it to you last night."

Graycen frowned, "He didn't."

"I mean I wouldn't either after what you said to him."

Graycen inhaled, "You know?"

"Yeah," Jungkook murmured before speaking up, "he was working on it all day yesterday. He even took the whole day off, begged me to draw those paintings."

Graycen felt herself tear up, "I feel so shitty."

"Did you mean what you said?"

Graycen didn't even miss a beat, "No, I was just upset. I was angry at myself, I've been for a while and it just came out. I'm terrible for that, I know how hard he tried."

"Just talk to him."

Graycen clicked her tongue, "I desperately need a favor."

"Oh gosh," Jungkook sighed, "what is it?"

"I don't feel comfortable driving these days, I need you to be my personal uber."

"Okay, but I personally hate Uber, can I be a Lyft driver instead?"

Graycen groaned, "I don't care."

"Okay, I'll be there soon."

-

-

"So why did you want me to take you to an art shop again?"

Graycen looked at the easels with a serious facial expression, "I feel bad about what I said."

"Buying gifts isn't what you need to do."

Graycen glared at Jungkook in annoyance, "I'm doing this because I want to. Yeah, I feel guilty, but he has been trying. Think of this as a thank you."

"Whatever you say."

Graycen placed a medium-sized easel in the cart and then went over to the paints. Graycen grabbed a paintbrush set and placed it in the cart. "Now we need paints, two palettes, and the canvases."

Jungkook pointed to another aisle, "The canvases are in this aisle."

Jungkook looked at Graycen in a shell shocked way because of the many blank canvases she grabbed. "Your money is gonna be gone in no time."

"Don't worry about what I'm doing, chase a bag!"

Jungkook snorted at her comment before following her. Graycen decided on buying oil, matte, and acrylic paint. It was a good thing Jungkook was with her because she was going to go overboard. "Graycen, that's enough."

"Wait, look and there are body paint and masks!" Graycen picked up the nontoxic body paint and the set of face masks. Jungkook decided to grab the airbrush kit. Jungkook and Graycen finally made their way to the register until Graycen spotted a camera.

"Please assure me that you're not looking at that expensive ass camera."

Graycen pouted as she picked it up, "It comes with the bag and the lenses. I wanna buy it, remember Taehyung saying he wanted to get into photography?!"

Jungkook huffed, "I'll pay for it."

"You're into photography, right?"

Jungkook nodded, "Yeah, why?"

"Because I need to know if this camera is good."

Jungkook gasped before he took the camera from Graycen's hands, "He's getting the same brand as me?! This one is $730, the one I got was $5,290." Graycen felt her jaw drop. "Yeah, I know. I don't know what got into my mind, Namjoon roasted me about it for months."

"Is it even that good?!"

Jungkook nodded animatedly, "Hell yeah! I'll pay for the camera because I just cannot see you pay for everything." Graycen couldn't even pretend that she didn't appreciate that. She thanked him and proceeded to check out. The art supplies alone came up to $379.63.

Before reaching back to the apartment, Jungkook stopped at Walmart to pick up a big gift box, a card with an envelope, and markets. Once they reached the apartment, Jungkook didn't allow Graycen to carry anything. Of course, Graycen threw a fit until he finished carrying everything.

Jungkook and Graycen used the markers they purchased to decorate the box. Taehyung's favorite color was green that was the main color used. After decorating the box, Graycen decided to start writing on the card.

"Prevent writing too much what you want to say should come from your mouth."

Graycen bit on her lip as she pondered about an idea, "I have a perfect idea." Jungkook didn't ask Graycen to elaborate any further. Once Graycen was done, they organized everything nicely in the box before Jungkook sealed it with clear tape. "Call Taehyung and see when he's coming home?"

Jungkook nodded then pulled out his phone and dialed Taehyung's number. "Put it on speaker!" Graycen whispered loud enough for Jungkook to oblige.

Taehyung picked up on the third ring, "You have some nerve calling me up at work."

"I'm sorry," Jungkook snorted, "I just needed to know when you're getting home. I have to talk to you about something important."

"I'll be home a little earlier, maybe by eight-thirty."

Jungkook and Graycen looked at each other in alarm. It was 6:54 right now and Graycen found herself feeling anxious. Jungkook nodded, "OK."

"Alright Jungkook, also check on Graycen and see if she's okay."

"I will."

"Thank you. I'll see you later." Once Jungkook ended the call and then looked at Graycen. "Alright, where do you want me to put this box?"

"In the nursery room."

Graycen followed Jungkook into the nursery room and sighed contently at the sight of the room. "It's so pretty in here, I feel emotional."

Jungkook gave her a wide smile, "I cannot wait until my niece comes."

"Neither can I," Graycen chuckled as she places a hand on her swollen belly, "she kicks my ass when I try to sleep."

"She's going to be stubborn as you."

Graycen snorted, "That's not true! I'm not stubborn, I'm intelligent."

"Intelligently stubborn."

Graycen rolled her eyes playfully, "Whatever you say."

Jungkook looked at his watch then at the door, "I had a lot of fun today, I hope everything goes well tonight."

"Thank you!" Graycen walked Jungkook to the door and locked the door after he left. Graycen decided to get into the guest room and grabbed Drew's box. She rubbed her hand over the soft textured box before carrying it to the nursery room.

Graycen sat in the rocking chair with the box in her lap, waiting for Taehyung to come home. She had her headphones in her ears to listen to her 90s R&B and waited patiently. She was deeply wrapped up in her music she didn't realize Taehyung was standing in the threshold of the door.

Graycen hastily took the headphones off her head and stood up from the rocking chair, "Hey."

"I was just seeing if you were okay," Taehyung said with his eyes on Drew's box, "I'm going to go to bed."

"No!"

Taehyung looked at her with a tired expression, work must've stressed him out. "Is there something wrong?"

"I'm wrong," Graycen blurted as she placed the box on the rocking chair, "I was wrong. You've always taken care of me. You always made me feel safe."

Taehyung just blinked slowly, "Okay."

"I'm being serious!" Graycen's hands clutched into fists. "I mean it, I mean it with every fiber in my body. I was wrong about everything. Drew destroyed me, him leaving us destroyed me. Then, I just assumed that you weren't hurting and I don't know why I acted like I was the only one affected. I get it, I get everything better." Graycen took a deep breath to continue talking. "I've always wanted a baby and I wouldn't want to have a baby without you being the father. Taehyung, you're caring and you're deserving. I don't deserve you, but I will thankfully take you as the father of our child."

"Graycen-"

"- I'm so sorry," Graycen interrupted with him, "I hurt you and I'm sorry. I want this to be my last time apologizing."

"You really did hurt me."

Graycen looked up at Taehyung with a sad smile. She didn't like hearing Taehyung saying it, but it had to be said. "I'm insecure about this, about raising a baby. I don't want to mess up and I don't want to make this any harder than it is for us. I forgive you, I just want to move forward."

"We will."

"Okay, I should get going-"

Graycen walked over to the big box on the floor, "Come, open this." Taehyung raised an eyebrow in confusion before he touched the box.

"What is it?"

"Just open it."

Graycen anticipated Taehyung's reaction when he opened the box. His hands quickly reached in to pick up the canvases. "What, why did you buy me this?"

"Just a gift."

Taehyung had set aside most of the objects but stopped when he touched the camera bag. "This is too much. I understand that you're sorry, but this is a lot."

"It's not because of your apology," Graycen assured him, "raising a baby won't be easy and I know you have hobbies you want to pursue. Think of these as hobbies to keep you grounded." Taehyung picked up the camera. "Jungkook purchased that."

"I-" Taehyung didn't know where to begin. "Thank you, Graycen. Really, I don't need all of this, but I'll do my best to make use of everything."

"Let's make use of them right now."

"Of what?"

Graycen picked up the nontoxic body paint, "Paint my belly and take a picture of it. It's non-toxic, but I'll use the masks in case."

-

-

Graycen was laid out on the floor on a big sheet in Taehyung's room as Taehyung used primary colors to paint. Taehyung stressed her wearing the mask and made sure to double-check the chemicals in the paint. It was a nice back and forth between the two as Taehyung was concentrated on his artwork. They wore the face masks that were purchased, just to be safe.

"So, next week Jade invited us to her wedding."

"Us?"

Taehyung chuckled, "Yeah, she invited us. I would like you to go with me mainly because it's halfway across the town and I don't wanna worry about you."

"Ugh."

"I was planning on wearing baby blue."

Graycen huffed as she shifted a bit so Taehyung's brush can reach a bit better, "I have nothing baby blue. Let's do green."

"We can go shopping, but green is fine."

"I guess."

Taehyung clicked his tongue, "Can you at least sound a bit enthusiastic?"

"Oh goody, wedding shopping with my ex-husband, hooray!"

They both laughed as Taehyung finished off painting on her belly. "Okay, let me take this photo and then you can wash it off." Graycen stayed still as Taehyung snapped the photo of her stomach.