Chapter Text
“I just showered. She’s still sleeping now.”
“Okay. Just makes sure she wakes up on her own. Let me know when you are on your way. Take care.”
“Alright, bye.”
Kim Dokja put down the phone when Yoo Joonghyuk hung up. He checked the baby monitor once again making sure ladybug is still sleeping. When he’s preparing the baby bag, he looked at the crib and sees Yoo Jisoo awake from her nap, standing.
“Hello, my darling. How’s your nap?”
She babbles and raised her hands, wanting to be picked up. Kim Dokja smiled, walked through the crib, and picked her up. “It’s time for your bath, ok? Remember what are we going to do tonight? We're going to Boschi!”
Today is Boschi’s anniversary. There’s going to be a little celebration at the restaurant, attended by Yoo Joonghyuk and Namgung Minyoung’s families, close friends, and business partners. Namgung Minyoung is one of the founders of Boschi. Knowing both of their reputations in the culinary world, of course, there will be a lot of people today.
“Okay, let’s go.”
Both Kim Dokja and Yoo Jisoo are greeted by Yoo Joonghyuk at the entrance of the restaurant since he already informed his fiancé about their arrival. Yoo Joonghyuk kissed him softly and kissed his daughter. All three of them went inside and Yoo Joonghyuk lead them to one of the tables in the middle, the main table. The restaurant itself has a tropical modern style interior. Wide windows with some of them covered with woods as secondary skins, mixtures of rocks and woods as the wall, and indoor plants.
“Kim Dokja, it’s been a while since we met, and this is our favorite Jisoo.” Namgung Minyoung walked towards them as she saw Kim Dokja arriving. “How are you, Minyoung? Jisoo, say hello to Aunt Minyoung, hm?” Kim Dokja tried to make Yoo Jisoo babbles her hello but she hid her face in the crook of his neck as she babbles slowly.
“Ah, she’s a shy baby. I’m great as ever. How are you?”
“I’m grand. Oh, is Seojun coming here?”
“Unfortunately, no, she’s with her father now since she’s been with me for two weeks. Oh, how old is Jisoo?”
“Ah, tell her I said hello. Jisoo is eight months now. She’s usually a chatter but she is quiet now.”
As Kim Dokja and Namgung Minyoung chatted, Yoo Jisoo saw familiar faces as she looked up and smiled brightly and babbles excitedly. “Ba ba ba!” Kim Dokja looked behind him and turns out that Yoo Mia arrives. “Ladybug!” Now, Yoo Jisoo is on Yoo Mia’s warm hold.
It happened when the celebration is finished and almost all of the guests are going home already except some of the families and friends. Yoo Jisoo is sitting on Yoo Sangah’s lap, Lee Hyunsung is holding her fox plushie while storytelling. Jung Heewon, Han Sooyoung, and Kim Dokja are chatting while eating snacks a little bit far from them while Yoo Joonghyuk is with Yoo Mia and Mama also Tata at the table. Yoo Jisoo squirmed from Yoo Sangah’s hold as she wants to go down. Yoo Sangah and Lee Hyunsung were stunned as they got a reminder from her parents that if she wants to stand, she might or might not going to have her first step.
“Hyunsung, called Dokja and Joonghyuk.”
Lee Hyunsung panicked as he ran towards Kim Dokja with the fox plushie in his hand. “Dokja, Jisoo is standing.” Kim Dokja’s eyes widened as he put the glass on the nearest table. “Joonghyuk, where’s Joonghyuk?” He searched for his daughter’s Papa and once he found him, he speeds walked towards him. “Operation Jisoo first step. Now.” Yoo Joonghyuk stands in an instant and hurries to Yoo Jisoo’s whereabouts alongside Kim Dokja, Lee Hyunsung, Mama, Tata, Yoo Mia, and of course, Jung Heewon and Han Sooyoung.
As they arrived, Yoo Jisoo is standing with her hands is being held by not so panic Yoo Sangah. “Guys, I think she will take her first step.” Kim Dokja and Yoo Joonghyuk kneeled not that far from her. “Jisoo, ladybug. Come here, come to Dada and Papa.” the bubble of sunshine Yoo Jisoo keeps standing and her eyes locked on her parents. She put her arms in front of her, reaching for her parents but her Papa and Dada keep stills in their place. So, on the night of July 18th in Boschi, 8 months old Yoo Jisoo did her first steps and slowly walked towards her parents who kneeled about 10 steps from her.
Her little right feet slowly stepped in front of the left one. Even though the steps are wobbly, she confidently moved her slender feet towards the front, reaching for her parents as fast as she could. Then, she is in her parents’ warm hugs. She smiled and laugh as she looked at the people in front of her, tears and happy faces surrounding her, and most importantly, her Papa and Dada smiling at her. “We’re so proud of you, Jisoo.”
“Thank goodness I got it in my phone.”
“Please share it to the group chat, Sooyoung!”
“We need to start setting up the guards, Joonghyuk.”
---
Kim Dokja is walking in the snacks aisle, looking for his and Yoo Joonghyuk’s favorite chips. Yoo Jisoo is sitting comfortably on a trolley with her beige shopping cart cover installed. He finally found it and takes 4 bags of chips and put them in the almost full trolley. Since today’s grocery is not their usual monthly shopping, it’s special because he needs to buy essentials for tomorrow’s event. Tomorrow is Yoo Jisoo’s first birthday, and there’s going to be a small party at Mama and Tata’s house. Of course, only friends and close family will attend because both Kim Dokja and Yoo Joonghyuk agreed to have an intimate and comfortable environment for their daughter's first birthday.
“Which flavor do you want, Jisoo, strawberry apple or banana?” Kim Dokja holds 2 puffs snacks and lets his ladybug choose which one she wants. “Ba ba ba!” Yoo Jisoo pointed at the banana one. Kim Dokja nodded and put the banana one in the trolley and put the strawberry apple one back on the shelf. “Good choice.”
They are waiting in line for payment when someone tapped on his shoulder. “Kim Dokja?” He turned around and saw a familiar face behind him, smiling. “Aileen! Hey.”
“How are you? It's been a while since we met.”
“I’m great. How are you? Yeah, the last time we met is farewell party, right?”
Aileen Makerfield nodded. “Yes. Ah! Is this your child? How old is she?” She looked at Yoo Jisoo happily and waved her hand. Yoo Jisoo looked at her for a while, then looked at her Dada, asking for an explanation. “Yes. This is Jisoo, she turns one tomorrow. Jisoo, say hello to Aileen.” Yoo Jisoo babbles shyly and continues playing with her favorite fox plush.
“Time flies so fast huh. You know, she’s one, have you ever had any thought about going back to work? It's been different since you left.”
“I haven’t thought about that yet, to be honest, but maybe I will someday.”
Aileen nodded and looked at her back when someone called her. “Please give it a thought. I need to go actually, my girlfriend is waiting for me. Happy early birthday, Jisoo. Dokja, call me or text me, okay!”
“Will do. Say hello to your girlfriend.” as Aileen bid her goodbye, it’s Kim Dokja’s turn to pay. Once he finished, Mama’s chauffeur is already on his side to bring the groceries. The ride home from the grocery store is only 10 minutes. Once they arrived, Yoo Jisoo got out of the car with the help of her Dada and walked by herself inside the house, looking for her Papa in the kitchen. Yoo Joonghyuk alongside Tata is making cakes for the party tomorrow. Tata is in charge of the cupcakes while Yoo Joonghyuk is in charge of the birthday cake.
“Ba ba ba ba!” Yoo Jisoo ran through her Papa’s legs and laughed while she looked at him. Yoo Joonghyuk smiled and put down the frosting spatula on the kitchen island. He picked ladybug up and showered her with kisses. “Hello. How’s your trip to the grocery store?” “Ba ba!”
“Did you buy the fruits?” Tata’s eyes still locked on the cupcakes as he started to decorate them with the second layer of frosting. Kim Dokja walked toward him as he looked at the cupcakes. “I did. Bruno is bringing the bags now.” He tasted the icing from the bowl and sit on the counter. “Whoa. This icing is really good, Tata.” Tata smirked and keeps decorating the cakes. “My 6 months of pâtissier training isn’t wasted, is it?”
The cakes for tomorrow are finally finished. A simple yet beautiful white cake covered with icing in the shape of roses and fruit cupcakes, prettily decorated in different shades of green icing. Yoo Jisoo, looking at her birthday cake is screaming excitedly. She keeps looking at the cakes with her wide black eyes. “Do you want one, Jisoo?” Kim Dokja is looking at his ladybug as Yoo Jisoo is looking back at him with her pleading eyes. Ah, she’s such a charmer, just like her Papa.
“Alright, since you are a really good baby today, especially at the grocery store, I'll give you one after dinner, okay?” Yoo Jisoo smiled widely and babbled happily. “Darling, let’s go to the backyard. We're having a famous Tata hamburger night, remember?” Mama walked towards them and they walked to the backyard. Tata is already grilling the patty with the help of Yoo Joonghyuk. Yoo Mia is already there, helping them by chopping the vegetables. Kim Dokja is looking at the round and red thing on the table and shivering. Ugh, tomato. In contrast, Yoo Jisoo is walking toward Yoo Mia and wanted to have some. “Ah, feels like a betrayal, isn’t it?” Kim Dokja rolled his eyes as Mama smirked looking at her granddaughter loving the food that her Dada hates.
"You know, we need to start looking for Jisoo’s daycare.” Kim Dokja talked slowly to Yoo Joonghyuk as they painted with Yoo Jisoo on the playmat. He helped Jisoo mix the color red and yellow as she wanted. “Here you go, baby. Orange. The color is orange.” “Ba ba!”
“There’s this daycare near Boschi. I will ask for information later or we can go there together. Oh, we can ask for information on the daycare near home. The one we always passed when we go to the market.” Yoo Joonghyuk said as his left hand is guided by Yoo Jisoo to put it on the paint and later to the paper. “Ah, I don’t know. I just don’t like the vibes on that daycare. We can look up more.”
“Ok. Sure. Then we can start looking for her preschool. I heard it’s harder to look for a good one nowadays.”
“Yeah. You know, I once talked with Jose, and he said he’s already booked a name at the preschool. His son is still six months old.” Now it’s Kim Dokja’s left hand who’s going to have a little bath at the green paint.
“I still can’t believe we have this kind of talk, Kim Dokja. Before, we worried about where to go for our next trip, but now we worried about our daughter's school.” Kim Dokja chuckled and leaned his body on Yoo Joonghyuk, kissing his jaw softly. “Time flies so fast. In a blink of an eye, boom, Jisoo turns one tomorrow.”
“Time sure flies so fast.”
The next day, Yoo Jisoo standing in front of the cake with her beautiful sage green dress, babbling excitedly as the people around her sang happy birthday, her parents beside her.
“Happy birthday, dear Jisoo.” “Biyoo!” Kim Dokja noticed something. Did his daughter just say ‘Biyoo’? He didn’t sing the next part as he wants to hear clearly what Yoo Jisoo has said. “Happy birthday, Jisoo!” “Biyoo!” Kim Dokja stilled. As they finished blowing up the candle, Kim Dokja wanted to make sure of something. “Jisoo, who is this?” He pointed at Yoo Joonghyuk.” “Ba ba!” “And who is this?” he pointed at himself. “Ba ba!” Kim Dokja then pointed at her. “Who is this?” Yoo Jisoo stilled and looked at him, then smiled. “Biyoo!” Kim Dokja smiled and showered her with kisses. His daughter just said her first word, on her first birthday.
“Oh my god! Jisoo’s first word!” Yoo Sangah gasped and shook Han Sooyoung’s shoulder excitedly. “I got it on tape!” Lee Hyunsung shouted and tears started to fall from his eyes.
Yoo Joonghyuk kneeled and kiss his daughter’s temple. “Happy birthday, Biyoo.”
---
“What do you think? Is it good?” Yoo Joonghyuk stared at his now three-year-old daughter closely as she munches the new dish her Papa just made. Yoo Jisoo or she goes with Biyoo now, is sitting on her booster seat with a small bowl of broccoli pasta shell on her table. She nodded and raised her thumbs “Biyoo likes it.”
Yoo Joonghyuk sighed in relief. He’s been looking for dishes that Yoo Jisoo likes or dislikes for the past months. First of all, she loves tomatoes- which makes Kim Dokja devastated. Although she’s not a picky eater, she still didn’t want to eat broccoli, until today. He’s been looking for ways to prepare broccoli-based dish so his daughter could consume it, from the hardest way he could and it turns out, all he had to do is just make a simple pasta. A broccoli pasta shell.
“Today is your day to pick the dinner menu, what do you want us to eat for later?”
Yoo Jisoo stopped eating the pasta and made a thinking face. “Biyoo wants ice cream, and pizza, and tacos, and the round bun!”
“You can only pick one, darling. Our tummies won’t fit.”
“Then tacos!”
“Taco tuesday it is.” As Yoo Joonghyuk is making sure the ingredients for their taco tuesday night are available, Kim Dokja arrived with files in his hands. He threw the car key in the bowl on the table next to the door as he walks to the kitchen. He just finished Yoo Jisoo’s paperwork as she’s about to go to preschool in two days. Both Kim Dokja dan Yoo Joonghyuk agreed to sign her up for preschool because it will help her develop her social skill and take care of herself. But they both agree if she doesn’t want to go, then they will not make her go. One day, when they went out to the city to go shopping, Yoo Jisoo saw a group of toddlers going out of a building, and her curiosity asks them what are they doing. As her parents explain what are they doing, Yoo Jisoo wants to go, then here Kim Dokja was, finished with her admission and paperwork.
“Dada! Taco tueday!” Yoo Jisoo brightened up as she saw her Dada is finally home. Kim Dokja smiled as he kissed her forehead. “Taco tuesday for dinner? Sounds awesome! I'll have without tomatoes, please.”
“She chose tacos for our dinner and watch her ask for extra tomatoes.”
“Please don’t.” Yoo Joonghyuk smirked as he cleaned up the rest of his experiments. Biyoo is running to her room shouting tomatoes lots of tomatoes followed by Kim Dokja repeatedly saying no as he joins his daughter because it’s her playtime. She put down her boxes of blocks and boards and starts spreading the blocks.
“Papa, Biyoo want learn to ride a bike.” said Yoo Jisoo as she put the yellow cube on the boards. Then, she took other blocks and keep organize them in their places.
“Are you sure you’re tall enough to ride a bike?” Kim Dokja teased her as he helps her fix the location of the blocks.
“Dada is silly. Biyoo is tall now so Biyoo can ride a bike. The bike in the car room.”
“The bike in the garage is Papa’s. You’ll ride Biyoo bike.” Yoo Jisoo stared at her parents and frowned. “Biyoo bike?” Kim Dokja nodded as he looked at his fiancé, nodding. Yoo Joonghyuk stood up and got out of the room. Her curiosity kicks in as she ran following her Papa with a yellow hexagon still tuck in her left hand. She ran and stops in front of the garage door, her big black eyes widened and sparkling as she looked at a white bike. Biyoo’s bike. “Did you like it?” Kim Dokja kneeled next to her as she keeps looking at the bike. “Biyoo bike?” Kim Dokja nodded. “Biyoo Bike.”
Yoo Jisoo shrieked and jumps into her Dada’s warm embrace. “Biyoo loves it.” then she ran towards Yoo Joonghyuk and hug him tight. “Papa, Dada, thank you! Let’s learn Papa.”
“Why you didn’t ask me to teach you how to ride a bike?” They walked outside the house, with Yoo Jisoo running excitedly and Yoo Joonghyuk holding the bike. “Dada is silly. He can’t ride a bike.” Yoo Joonghyuk is the one who answered and Yoo Jisoo giggled. “Dada is silly.”
“Hey! I know how to ride a bike!”
The next two days, Yoo Jisoo is ready with her white shirt tucked under her plaid red skirt with her stockings on, her black coat wrapped around her small body, and a white backpack. Kim Dokja pinned a small red bow on her black hair. Yoo Jisoo is adorable on her first day of preschool. “Look at you, my beautiful, gorgeous ladybug.” Yoo Jisoo shook her body as she looked at the mirror. “Biyoo loves it.”
They drove to the preschool with Yoo Jisoo’s favorite playlist. Once they arrived, Yoo Jisoo bid her goodbye and she walked to the class with her homeroom teacher. Yoo Joonghyuk kiss-sniffed her dada’s forehead as they watched their daughter go to school for the first time. Kim Dokja smiled and hugged him. “She’s a grown-up now.”
“Yeah. She is.”
“The next thing we blink, she’s already a teenager.”
“You’re so extra, Kim Dokja.”
“But it’s true!”
“Well, should we discuss about Jisoo having a sibling?”
“Hm, let’s ask Jisoo first.”
“Yeah.”
Both of them are already in the car. Yoo Joonghyuk is looking at his fiancé, slowly smiling. “Hey, Kim Dokja?” “Yeah?”
“I love you.”
“I love you more, Yoo Joonghyuk.”