The group planning this ensured it would only be in the finest restaurant Seoul could offer. Thus they were all willing to fork out their well earned cash to be able to enjoy a night with one another. Due to family and work constraints, organizing a dinner that everyone could attend was extremely difficult, but today was different.

It marked four years since Juhyun's slightly disastrous yet interesting wedding, and everyone had grown and matured so much since then. Things have changed drastically between those long years.

So there Jung Ara was, nostalgically placing earrings on herself like she had done with her older sister, Lia, on the day of her graduation party. Her hair was at its usual waves, instead highlighted with a hazy gray at the tips. Adorning a monochrome dress that reached her ankles, Ara quickly stuck on a pair of black heels that made her seem less like her short self.

Things were definitely going her way. Lia, who was in Seoul yet again, had taken Kyungri out for the day. Ara couldn't ask for anything more — she loved her family, friends and job.

But she couldn't find her purse.

Hobbling around the spacious house, the first time Ara had actually experienced living in such a beautifully modern place, she swore quietly to herself when it was nowhere to be found. It wasn't hard finding a glittery purse, but this certainly was a con of having so much space.

"Kyungsoo!" She screamed, her mood shifting immediately from levelheaded to almost Satan. She was never one to shout or be angry like this in general, but things were different. "Have you seen my purse?"

Hearing Ara's shouts made Do Kyungsoo practically run downstairs to see what she needed. She wasn't someone scary or anything, but it was better to be safe than sorry. "Hm? Your purse? The one on the sofa?"

Ara turned around to see the damned purse, almost combusting into flames. She lightly slapped her forehead in embarrassment. "Oh my! You hid it, didn't you?."

"I swear I didn't," he defended himself with hands up, trying not to laugh at her forgetful state.

"You did! I've been looking everywhere and suddenly you come downstairs all innocent and it's on the sofa!"

Raising a brow at her outburst, Kyungsoo let out a sigh before edging closer — he then lightly grasped one of Ara's curls slipping past her shoulder and pulled it back behind her ear with the upmost gentle touch. "You should be grateful I did your hair when the hairdresser cancelled on you."

Feeling slightly overwhelmed at the pair of eyes staring at her, she felt her anger fizzle out in seconds. Also because her hair came out really nice. "Hmph. I'll spare you for your actions today. But don't expect this kind of clemency next time."

"I won't, don't worry. Anyways, we should get going."

Taeyeon wasn't the best person to irritate when it came to lateness. Even though she was unfazed by practically everything, she had a peeve against people who were tardy.

Once the pair arrived at the restaurant, they were both taken aback at how esteemed it was. Dimmed, it boasted huge glass chandeliers and elaborately dressed employees. Simply perfect. At one of the end tables, their friends had already sat down. They joined the group, sounds of greetings and hugs filling the room as everyone was just smiling and complimenting each other's outfits for the first few minutes.

"Wow, it's been a little while," Taeyeon addressed the table giddily. As expected, time had only made her more beautiful. She had her raven black hair pulled back into a ponytail to reveal all of her pretty face. "Ara, you look so cute!"

The youngest blushed hearing Taeyeon's words. "So do you. I don't think I've ever seen you with your hair up. Looks great."

Taeyeon flicked her hair to the side. "I know. Hence why I wore it like this!"

Across the table from Ara sat Chanyeol, Sehun and Minseok, and beside her were no other but Jongdae and Kyungsoo. Taeyeon and her were the only girls since Juhyun was slightly MIA. She was back in Seoul, but wasn't really active.

"Can you guys believe my kid does my taxes?" Chanyeol piped up randomly, glasses perched on his nose. He was never really someone who wore glasses, but since becoming a father he decided they made him look more mature. Though his wide eyes would never lose their innocence. "Saves me so much time."

Surprisingly, Park Chanyeol boasted a three year old boy called Minhyung. Nobody expected him to ever father children, but he did. Though he never married his girlfriend...which he continued to promise he would do as soon as possible. Knowing him, that was debatable.

"He's three," Jongdae answered incredulously.

Minseok then ruffled Chanyeol's now dark hair. "Well, his father is a genius, so are you really surprised?"

"That's the nicest thing you've ever said to me, Minseok!"

"Don't get used to it," the older sharply said, everyone dissolving into chuckles once Chanyeol's smiley faced turned sad. Ara grinned watching all of these interactions — though so much has changed, relationships certainly haven't.

Food filled the table half an hour later, everyone eagerly pulling their plates in front of them and digging in. This restaurant was renowned for its fine yet vast selection — from authentic Asian cuisine to Italian food.

"I'm so hungry," Taeyeon sighed, eating ravenously. The rest followed, but Ara was slightly apprehensive.

There was a scent from her food that made her feel quite...nauseous? The linguine in front of her would've been something she would eat in ten minutes flat, but today she wanted to throw up. Staring nervously at the dish, she didn't know where to start.

"Are you okay?" The loud sounds of eating was cut by the voice beside her. Kyungsoo was silently watching Ara not touch her food.

She sighed. "I—I don't know. I'm really hungry but the food's smell is making me feel sick."

"We can swap?"

She peered at his dinner, him sticking with the general Korean–style meal, which seemed to be the better option for her stomach. Grateful, she swapped their dishes. Taeyeon watched, curious.

"Pregnancy, hm?" She blurted out, clasping her hands to her mouth instantly when Ara started sending warning looks. She mouthed a, 'sorry' afterwards. After that, everyone's heads perked up and eyed up the girl in front of them.

"No..." Sehun gasped, his usually beady eyes widened. "You're not...seriously?!"

The miniature couple turned to each other, both blushing, and then nodding their heads in sync bashfully. The rest of the group quickly set down their utensils to revel this moment.

Chanyeol began with the congratulations. "Our small Ara is going to have a child of her own! This is bittersweet."

Whilst they all ran towards her to engulf her poor self in warm embraces, they also playfully ruffled Kyungsoo's hair that he spent ages perfecting. Once they stopped, he stared deathly at them.

"Yeah, this wasn't really the way we were planning to tell you guys," Ara explained awkwardly, feeling bad for not telling them the same time as she told Taeyeon, but she wanted to be completely sure that she was pregnant. "We didn't want this dinner to be all about us."

Minseok waved a hand, shaking off her words. "There will be other dinners! This is big news, Ara, so don't feel overwhelmed."

"How far along are you?" Jongdae questioned with a mouth full of food. Typical...

"About thirteen weeks?" She turned to Kyungsoo for confirmation, and when he nodded she turned back to Jongdae. "Yeah, pretty much."

"So we'll find out the gender soon," Chanyeol replied. "If it's a boy you guys have to call it Kyungsoo junior. Or I'll denounce the kid."

"I don't want him to be named after me! That's practically child abuse."

"Kyungsoo, it's an opportunity of a lifetime!"

"Why'd you call your child Minhyung then?"

Chanyeol stopped to ponder on that. "Ah...I don't know. Maybe I was drunk — I don't even remember him being delivered."

"Anyways," Minseok rolled his eyes at Chanyeol's rambling about his sad life. "We need to get drinks for this momentous occasion!"

Five minutes later and the table was welcomed with three large bottles of champagne, ready to be popped. Everyone, but sadly Ara, drank to celebrate the news — in Sehun's perspective also to get drunk. Unsurprisingly they all got tipsy very fast. Of course except Kyungsoo, who was gifted (yet also cursed) with a sky–high tolerance to alcohol.

—

"I'm sorry that it got revealed like that."

It was way past midnight, the full moon emitting its pristine white rays onto the mildly lit streets of central Seoul that night. Everyone had retired back to their respective homes. Currently, Ara and Kyungsoo were walking side by side to his car which was parked quite far away because of the lack of parking spaces.

She looked to the side, eyeing him up, with a shrug. "No, it's okay. It would've been revealed soon enough anyways. And, to be fair, only eighty percent of the conversation was about this baby. Twenty percent less than I expected."

"That's good," he laughed, moving his hand forward to grasp her small one, interlinking their fingers together. "How are you feeling?"

"Good. Great, actually. But I won't be surprised if I wake up throwing up again."

Kyungsoo shuddered a little hearing that. He wasn't the best person to handle sick people, particularly if there's fluids involved. The many times Ara found herself throwing up violently was scary to say the least. "Don't worry. I'll have the bucket ready."

"You make me happy," she sarcastically responded with a tight squeeze of his hand that made him quietly wince. "My Mom's eager to come over. She's desperate to come to one of the scans."

He smiled hearing that. "Amazing. She can finally see her favorite son–in–law."

"Just because you try to win her love with cakes doesn't mean you're her favorite."

"Yes it does," he concluded in a quick response, pulling her once the car was in view. Ara was feeling awfully tired at that moment and wanted nothing more but to sit comfortably in the car, snoozing off.

She found herself with a myriad of emotions compared to a few months ago: the fact that her stomach was going to balloon soon was one of her biggest fears. She witnessed the formation of a baby bump — small in size yet noticeable with certain outfit choices — which was emotional to say the least. The petite, young looking Jung Ara was actually going to become a mother herself.

"Imagine if the child is a girl," Ara mumbled sleepily once her head leaned on the car window. Sitting in the car was probably the best part of the night. She was seconds till conking out.

"I don't think I can handle a Kyungri clone."

She smiled tiredly. "C'mon, she's not that bad."

"Not that bad?" Kyungsoo gasped in shock, starting the car. "Last week she hid all of her food in her closet and let it rot. Do you know how long it took for me to take the smell out?"

"Wow, the end of the world. Anyways, she's a kid. What do you expect?"

Age had only made the young girl more mischievous. It was an amazing feat to get her out of her small, comfortable shell, but Kyungri believed she could achieve much more — now it was practically tortorous dealing with her. She ran amok, forever causing chaos, but was sneakily smart. Those big, curtaining eyelashes meant she could always get her own way when it came to her father.

"It was disgusting. Why do I have to deal with it?"

The snoozy girl sighed. "Because you made her."

"You should really help me bring up this child. Just like our founding fathers said, Ara, we're all in this together."

"Recalling a lyric from High School Musical does not equate to what our so–called founding fathers said."

"Maybe Troy Bolton is my ultimate founding father," Kyungsoo whined before slowing down when a pedestrian crossing came into view.

Ara snorted at his stupidity, checking the time. It was almost disgustingly late. At this point she should've already had her clay face mask on, forced Kyungsoo to massage her head and eaten her light snack before bed. She groaned inwardly realizing that she was too full to even have a bite of the light snack. It was granola! Her favorite.

"Sometimes I wake up in the morning and just wonder. Why was I so unlucky, out of the billions of possible suitors in this planet, that I was lumbered with you?" She pondered jokily, sarcastic heavy in her tone, but Kyungsoo was too tired to detect it.

He looked crestfallen, which in turn made Ara feel extremely terrible. "Seriously?"

"No, you idiot," she scoffed, edging forward to muss up his already ruffled hair. "I'm joking. You're not that bad."

The car reversed into the driveway of the house. "I'm flattered," he muttered in monotone. "For that, I'll run you a foot bath, hm?"

"Thank you," Ara squealed, unlocking the seatbelt restricting her to seal a kiss on his cheek before getting out of the car. "I'll be upstairs waiting. I love you!"

Watching her jolly, somehow awake, figure enter the house, Do Kyungsoo couldn't stop smiling as he mouthed a silly 'I love you too', knowing she couldn't hear.

He knew then for sure he was right from the second he told Ara his love for Juhyun and her would never compare.

—»

Ah, this is a huge thank you for getting my book to 10k reads! This is so exciting! I think this is going to be one of the last bonus chapters, maybe one more. After that, I'll completely end this story once and for all which highkey breaks my already fragile heart :'(. Thank you so much for reading again, and let's all appreciate daddy Chanyeol while we still can!

Also, if you are a huge Chanyeol, or EXO in general, fan, please check out my other book A Summer in Europe — I hope you like it. Thank you again.