▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

She knocked on a door that she hadn't knocked on in ages, waiting for a response. A certain three year old came into view as her eyes scanned on the figure outside the door, her father behind giving the person a warm grin.

"Min!" Do Kyungsoo beckoned her with open arms, enveloping the returned babysitter in a tight welcoming hug. Kyungri, however, ran out of the area into her room.

"How's everything?" Min questioned sweetly, looking a lot more gaunt and tired as opposed to her fresh looking self prior to her hiatus.

"It's good, actually. Kyungri's growing more mischevious by the day but it's expected, right?"

She let out a faint chuckle. "I missed her. It's been hard, dealing with my grandma and also trying to get back to work."

"So how come you're back?"

"My grandma's luckily been getting better and she was strong enough to come back to Seoul and continue treatment at home! So I can take back this job for the meantime."

This was heaven to Kyungsoo's ears. He'd had to struggle with Kyungri's spoilt self during work, and he didn't want to continue burdening Ara with her without pay although they both were very close. Min was back. Finally.

"That's great!" Kyungsoo smiled genuinely, taking his jacket from the small table beside the front door. "I'll just get her and then I'll leave."

Min's usual schedule was to stay in the house, providing Kyungri with her usual oatmeal breakfast — the small child refused anything other than it — then dropped her off at her school, pick her up and stay with her until Kyungsoo returned from work in the evening. A long day, but Kyungri was a kind child and didn't annoy Min too much.

Edging towards the girl's lavender themed room that was laden with plush toys, Kyungsoo found her sulking whilst hugging a teddy bear dangerously tight. Her head snapped up to see her father and she grabbed his leg desperately.

He crouched down to her level, gently stroking her silky black hair. "What's wrong?"

"I don't want Min," she grumbled. "I want Ara."

Kyungsoo bit his lip. He should've seen that coming. "Well, tough. Min's here so be nice. I don't want to hear her complaining about you, okay?"

When he stood up, Kyungri scratched at his shin to try and get his attention while whining soft 'no's'. But he was going to run late if he didn't leave anytime soon. So Kyungsoo literally picked the squirming girl up, carrying her all the way to the living room where Min was sitting.

After setting her down on the sofa, he whispered in her ear. "Be good. Or I'll be very mad."

Despite opposing her old babysitter that disappeared on her and preferring Ara's presence, Kyungri didn't ever want to make her father angry. It was extremely rare, but shattered her whole being when he was. The small, slight man was not as cute as people thought. So she shut her mouth up and attempted to brighten up.

That was Kyungsoo's cue to leave.

Across the hallway, Ara was rushing out of her apartment to get to university on time when she saw a fuschia colored ribbon garnishing an expensive small envelope. Gingerly picking it up, she unravelled the ribbon and pulled the card out.

You're cordially invited to Im Juhyun and Kim Junmyeon's wedding.

Underneath were the details to when and where the momentous wedding was taking place and other unimportant words. But getting invited was enough to make Ara's heart pound — she finally felt part of something. She was always hoping in the back of her mind that Juhyun would invite her to the wedding, but it actually happening was another feeling in itself. However, it was taking place in under three weeks which meant she needed to buy a dress extravagant enough for a Juhyun wedding, a gift for the to–be married couple, and of course she needed to get her number in the first place to thank her for the invitation.

Ara slipped out of her apartment after realizing she was standing dormant in front of the door and bumped into the equally swift Kyungsoo obviously going to work. He spotted the card in Ara's hand after she forgot to leave it in her apartment and raised a brow.

"Finally got an invitation?" He asked, already knowing the answer.

"Yeah."

With a grin, he nodded his head. "See you there."

—

"You got back together with her?"

Kyungsoo's loud and assertive voice managed to garner attention in the small café where people were calmly drinking warm beverages. He recieved sharp looks before they turned away.

"Shut up," Kim Jongdae was looking pretty embarrassed at his friend's outburst, blushing a little. "And yes, as a matter of fact I did."

"You're crazy."

The infamous ex mentioned before, Choi Yuna, was back in their lives. She had the rare ability to twirl her hair seductively and recieve everything Jongdae owned; especially his heart. Something she had a tight grip over. Hence why she was back and her influence even stronger.

"Why am I crazy? I love her," Jongdae protested in irritation. "She loves me."

"Clearly. Seems that love was shared with several other guys."

The humiliated seethed at Kyungsoo's remarks. "Yeah, because you'd know enough about happy relationships."

"Happy enough I married her," he retorted, equally furious.

"That marriage was very happy, right?"

Kyungsoo held back an urge to right hook Jongdae's sneering face. "I'd never take back that marriage because unlike your successful relationship, the marriage gifted me with my daughter."

He sighed, realizing he was at a tough spot. "I gave you support with your marriage, why can't you be on my side? We're best friends, I don't get it!"

"Jongdae," Kyungsoo began, his friend's name slipping out of his mouth steely. "How many times can we go through this before you realize Yuna isn't the one for you? You're young, smart, well off. You could do so much better."

Nodding his head solemnly, Jongdae exhaled yet again. "I know. And I get it. But I don't know what to do...no matter how much I hope to find better, my heart always leads back to her. I hate to say this but I never got over her."

"And you never will if you continue taking her back," Kyungsoo concluded before grumbling after he looked unconvinced. "Let's just go home, yeah? I need to cook dinner before I starve."

Jongdae made a face. "I know I was meant to drive you home and all, but I'm meant to pick up Yuna. We're going to watch a film."

Standing up slightly annoyed, Kyungsoo shrugged his shoulders at his naive best friend. "No worries. Public transport it is."

Using a bus was pratically foreign for the car driven man. He was so used to being beside a wheel as he wasn't much of a driver. Cue a huge thank you to his personal chauffeur Jongdae. However, climbing onto a packed bus filled with people flocking from work, families with several crying children and the elderly in his area was somewhat a culture shock for him. The stench of sweat filled his nose, churning the digested coffee in his stomach. Kyungsoo found himself a seat next to a bogging elderly lady who grinned sweetly whenever his eyes locked with her. He secretly thanked God when she got off the next stop, but she creepily winked at him from outside the bus when it roared back to life to continue the slow journey.

Kyungsoo got off the bus feeling quite sweaty and disgusting, planning a longer shower to rid all of the possible germs circulating around the compressed vehicle. Finally opening the door to his house, Kyungsoo breathed out in relief to see the inviting couch.

Min sat there, clearly distressed, her eyes brightening when she saw him. "You're here!"

"Sorry I'm late," he apologized. "I had to take the bus."

Min shook her head dismissively. "Never mind that. Kyungri's completely changed."

"How so?"

"She's not the same respectful girl I know," she frowned, mussing her short hair. "I don't know if it's me, or the lost time..."

"I'm sure it's not you."

She gave Kyungsoo an unsure look. "She keeps crying out some girl's name — Ara?"

That made Kyungsoo's eyes widen more than they're already naturally are. His eyes closed quickly before opening and he cursed himself in his head. Why didn't he think this could possibly happen?

"She's just my neighbor," he responded. "She looked after her for a little while when you weren't here. Trust me, though. It wasn't permanent."

"Well, I need to leave anyways. Thanks, Kyungsoo," Min began as she stood up and walked towards the door. Once she left, Kyungsoo sat still. He didn't know what to do about the situation. Hopefully it would solve itself.

Ara had just arrived at home laden with several thick and heavy folders which she threw on the floor tiredly as she entered her appartment after a long university day. She ruffled her hair, flopping onto the couch and throwing her shoes to the other side of the room.

She spotted a couple messages from her girl's group chat with Seungwan and Mira, a bunch of photos sent by Taeyeon, and of course the new group chat she was invited on where everyone but Kyungsoo and Jongdae were taking part in a dissing session, making distasteful jokes about the youngest of them all, Sehun.

The phone suddenly rang, her Mom's caller ID showing.

"Hello?" Ara muttered, wondering why her mother would be called her at such an early time; she'd usually rung in the night where her daughter would be tucked in bed.

"Ara!" Her Mom's voice was alarmingly thick. Possibly with tears.

Ara sat up suddenly, panicking that the tears could be caused by her Dad. Was he alright? "Mom, are you okay?"

It was weird when soft chuckles were heard from the other side of the line. "Y--yes, oh! I'm tearing up, right? Apologies — I was cutting onions a couple minutes ago."

"Wow, thanks for that. My heart's racing," she pouted, calming down massively at that.

"Oops. Anyways, your Dad is finally out of hospital and is dying to see you. Come over for the weekend! I'll make you something delicious! You need some good food after eating all that trash in your kitchen."

Ara feigned hurt. "Thanks, Mom. And I thought donuts were healthy here."

"News flash, they're very unhealthy. So...what do you say? Will you come visit your poor family yearning for you at the other side of the country, or are you too busy for that?"

She hated it when her Mom got all emotional on her. The last time Ara saw her Dad and sister was four months ago, where she spent a week at her family home where she grew up. The only mean of contact with her family was phone, which was extremely depressing, especially as her Dad's condition was unpredictable.

"Let me check my schedule."

Ara zoomed towards her room where her cork noticeboard hung on the magnolia–painted wall, displaying all of her duties, future endeavours and other miscellaneous items. There was a calendar also where she scanned through for the week, and the weekend was luckily free.

"So?"

"I'm free this weekend, and I think I can squeeze in a trip to see my whole family which I hadn't seen in almost half a year."

She heard her Mom cheering excitedly on the phone before screeching. Returning after about a minute of silence on the other line, her Mom sounded alarmed. "I need to go...I forgot the onions were sizzling and they've been charred black. Love you, and I'm so delighted that you're coming!"

"Love you too!"

And that was the end of that. The phone ran dead and Ara couldn't stop beaming. She hadn't seen her invalid Dad in ages — would he remember her? Would he be mad that she didn't visit in so long? But all that didn't matter; she just wanted to see him.

She began scrolling through return train tickets from Seoul Station to her home city, Busan. Luckily the journey wasn't too long — about three hours maximum — as Ara suffered from motion sickness. A few terrible journeys on cars and planes alike and Ara never wanted to steer close to any moving contraption. Three hours were decent.

However, the prices said otherwise. She was definitely skint enough from travelling to and from university every day, having to pay rent and bills, groceries and other small luxuries including her phone bill. Let alone the actual university tuition. Furthermore, after making friends with wealthy people such as Taeyeon and even Juhyun, Ara went out a lot more and spent more than she would have hoped. She certainly did not have enough money to spend on return tickets.

Ara bit her lip. She couldn't call her parents asking to pay for this; she drained all of their money, and they needed the money more than she did. So she sat in utter silence for an hour or so just thinking. The door began knocking that evening and Ara opened it, still severly stressed. Her lovely neighbor stood equally stressed and annoyed. Kyungsoo surprisingly let himself in, sitting on Ara's sofa and covering his face briefly.

"Are you any good at giving advice?" He mumbled, peering up expectantly at her with his doe eyes.

"Yes, just be patient, time heals everything," she rushed in response, suddenly needing advice from him. She sat beside him, opening her laptop. "Okay, I have an even worse issue."

"You didn't even listen to mine!"

Peering at the prices again, Ara's fists clenched when she saw they increased. "Why should basic transport have to cost so much?"

"Huh?" Kyungsoo furrowed his eyebrows, puzzled, and turned his head to read her laptop. "You're visiting your family?"

"Yeah. How'd you know?"

"It's actually quite sweet when your neighbor's Mom invites me to visit their family home—"

She stood up in sheer amazement in what she had just heard. "Excuse me?"

"Yeah, your Mom called me earlier and begged me to come visit. She said something about how I've been such good help to you and yada yada."

"Nope," Ara shook her head almost hard enough for her to get instant concussion. "That's not going to happen. I mean what? I'm going to have a very stern talk with her! She might as well invite the whole neighborhood at this rate!"

"Anyways," Kyungsoo diverted the conversation swiftly. "I need your help. And I think I can provide you with assistance too. It's a win win situation here."

She sat back down before eyeing him up sternly. Unless Do Kyungsoo held return tickets to Busan in his hands, her negotiation window was closed. "What win win situation are you implying?"

"I need your help, real bad. Long story short: Min's return wasn't as helpful as I hoped and Kyungri's suffering from a very bad and probably chronic case of withdrawal symptoms from you. I don't think Min being her babysitter would be as bliss as before, so if you're looking for some extra cash and to make a certain neighbor extremely grateful, will you please consider it?"

Babysitter? Ara loved spending time with Kyungri, even more than many people in this cruel world, but full time babysitting wouldn't be practical. University was a huge and the sole committment that she wanted to deal with.

"I know what you're thinking," Kyungsoo suddenly cut her from her thoughts. "You don't have time with university and so. But in the mornings, I'll drop Kyungri off — no big deal. All you need to do is pick up and take care of her until I come back from work."

She was still skeptical about the whole situation. Granted, it would be great for Ara to garner some cash, but what about her chill evenings watching reruns of her favorite dramas? They'd be filled with chasing after a young child. She couldn't lose her lethargic nights.

Biting her lip, Ara narrowed her eyes. "What's your give in this win win situation?"

"I'll drive you all the way to and from Busan."

That was a huge deal, Busan was the other side of the country, but something Ara unquestionably needed at her destitute matter of time. Also, it's free. Unlike the rip off train tickets.

"I'll think about it."

But Ara knew what she was going to do.

—