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"Dada, Biyoo wants to learn how to cook."
Kim Dokja took the car key from the bowl on the table near the door as he took Yoo Jisoo's bag. "Sure. You can ask Papa to teach you how to cook on his day off, baby."
Yoo Jisoo shook her head. "No, Biyoo wants to learn from you."
Kim Dokja is looking at his 5-year-old daughter, who's currently trying to fasten her pink shoes' lace. He's flattered that his daughter wants to learn something new. But cooking? To him? Kim Dokja is wondering how Yoo Jisoo wants to learn how to cook from someone who always burnt the chicken nuggets.
"I am happy you ask me this, ladybug, but I was wondering why you didn't ask Papa for help?"
Yoo Jisoo is looking at him with her dark eyes and sighs. She then ran to her bedroom and came back with a book. A cookbook. Written by Yoo Joonghyuk. "Papa's birthday is almost here, Dada. Biyoo wanna make a surprise by cooking him his favourite food when he's home. Also, Biyoo wanna make a book where Biyoo draws and puts photos of me making the food. What is the name of the book, Dada? The one that you mentioned before?"
"Oh, do you mean a scrapbook?" Yoo Jisoo nodded sharply and smiled widely. "A scrapbook!"
Kim Dokja wants to cry because of how sweet and thoughtful his daughter is. She's willing to learn something new because she wants to give something to her Papa.
"What a sweetheart you are, ladybug. We'll try our best, alright? When do you want to try our cooking experiment?" Yoo Jisoo is now ready and took her bag from Kim Dokja's hand. "After we meet Aunty Sangah?" Kim Dokja chuckled as they both walked out to the carport. "Only if you're not tired."
Yoo Jisoo agreed as she climbed inside the car and sat on her grey booster seat, which was placed behind the passenger seat. They are going to the skating rink. A few days ago, Yoo Jisoo accidentally stumbled upon Yoo Sangah's performance video during her competitive years on her 30 minutes TV session. She keeps asking about skating and insists on calling her now "ice princess aunty." Yoo Sangah then agrees to give her a free lesson if she wants to try, which she accepts immediately. So here they are, arriving at the skating rink.
"Aunty Sangah!" Yoo Jisoo is running when she sees her current favourite aunty. Jung Heewon is going to be screaming and crying about this. Yoo Sangah looked back as she talked with a few parents and waved at them.
"If this isn't my gorgeous Biyoo!" Yoo Sangah gave her a hug. Yoo Jisoo hugged her back shortly, looking at her with round eyes. "Biyoo wanna learn how to skate like you!"
"Easy there, ladybug. Why don't we choose your skating boots first, okay?"
Kim Dokja led her to the booth as they gave her the most fitted boots. Once she found the proper boots, Yoo Sangah led her to the ice.
"Are you coming, Kim Dokja?" Yoo Sangah asked. Kim Dokja shook his head. He will pass this one since his right ankle is still not fully healed. He slipped and hurt his ankle a few weeks ago because of his clumsiness. It's okay to walk for now, but as for sports, he might want to wait a little more.
He sits in the waiting room next to the ice rink. There's a giant window on the side, so he can still look at his ladybug from here. He took some pictures and sent them to his husband. Yes. Husband. Kim Dokja and Yoo Joonghyuk married two springs ago. It was held privately on an island with families and close friends. Both of them are not really fancy about a significant event celebration, so they choose to have an intimate party.
Someone knocks on the glass as Kim Dokja replies to Yoo Joonghyuk's text. He looked up and saw Yoo Sangah happily pointing at the exciting bubble Yoo Jisoo skating on her own. He smiled and made a small wave towards her. Yoo Joonghyuk, I think we need to do more research about being parents of a figure skater.
---
"Okay, Biyoo. What are we going to make for Papa's birthday?" Kim Dokja sits on the couch with the cookbook on his lap while Yoo Jisoo stands in front of him.
"Dumplings. Biyoo wanna make dumplings."
Kim Dokja stilled and watched his daughter. "Interesting. Why do you want to make dumplings, sweetheart?"
Yoo Jisoo was looking at him and smiled excitedly. "Because Papa said it was his first meal with you! So Biyoo wants to have the first dumpling with the three of us but this time made by Chef Biyoo and Chef Dada!"
The answer is enough to make Kim Dokja shed his tears. Dumplings are the food that both Kim Dokja and Yoo Joonghyuk cherish the most. There are more stories about how the food is precious to them, but one of them, just like Yoo Jisoo said, it's their first meal together.
"Papa told you that?" He pulled his baby daughter into his embrace and kissed the top of her head. "Yes. Papa talks about you all the time, Dada. Biyoo loves listening to his stories."
"Funny, because Papa talks about you all the time to me, ladybug." Yoo Jisoo chuckles as he gives a kiss attack. They went to the kitchen, and Yoo Jisoo climbed to the kitchen island while Kim Dokja prepared the ingredients. Yoo Joonghyuk's birthday is in 3 days, so they have two days to practice. It's enough for them. They think.
Turns out that making a dumpling is more challenging than they thought it would be. First the filling. Kim Dokja puts the meat into the food processor while Yoo Jisoo prepares the seasonings. Once the filling was finished, then the dough came. Kim Dokja is massaging his head while looking at the supposedly soft and smooth dough. What did they do wrong? He had no idea.
"Dada, why is this one turning into a rock?" Yoo Jisoo is now lightly throwing the stiff dough onto the kitchen island. "I'm not sure, ladybug. There's plenty of flour in the pantry, so let's start over, shall we?"
Yoo Jisoo nodded and gave two thumbs up. "Let's go, Dada."
---
Yoo Joonghyuk went home to the dark and empty living room. That's odd because Kim Dokja and Yoo Jisoo are usually on their movie date. He put the car key on the bowl and walked inside. Perhaps they were in the bedroom, so he first walked to his daughter's room, which was empty. He frowned and walked to their bedroom, but the result was the same. Where are they?
"Dokja? Biyoo?" Yoo Joonghyuk called, but as expected, there was no answer. Were they going out? That's odd because Kim Dokja always told him first. He sat on the bed and pulled out the phone to charge. Then, he saw a note on the bedside table written 'backyard' by his daughter.
Yoo Joonghyuk walked out to the backyard and saw his home. Kim Dokja and Yoo Jisoo sit at the table with a cake and a pot. Yoo Jisoo looked in his direction and gasped. "Dada! Papa is here! Light the candle!"
Once the candle light up, both of them stand, and Yoo Jisoo is in charge of handing the small round cake. "Happy birthday, Papa! Don't forget to make a wish!" Yoo Joonghyuk smiled softly and walked toward them. As he closed his eyes, he wished for their happiness. When they're happy, he's happy. He couldn't ask for more. "Blow the candle, Papa." Yoo Joonghyuk opened his eyes and blew the candle. After he kissed his daughter and his husband, he pulled them into a hug.
"Thank you, my loves."
Kim Dokja kissed his temple softly while Yoo Jisoo kissed his left cheek. "Come, Papa. We have another surprise for you!" They led him to the table, and Yoo Jisoo opened the pot lid. It's dumplings.
"Tada!" Kim Dokja and Yoo Jisoo pulled out their hands and pointed them at the pot. Yoo Joonghyuk was stunned and looked at them. "You made this?" Both of them nodded. Kim Dokja took one and gave it to him, and he ate it all at once. At first, Yoo Joonghyuk didn't realise it, but he was crying until Kim Dokja hugged him from behind and wiped the tears from his face. "It's okay. We're here, husband."
Yoo Jisoo climbed to his lap and hugged him. "Papa, is the dumplings too good, so it's happy tears, or it's bad and sad tears?" He couldn't help but laugh. "It's happy tears, ladybug. The dumplings are good. You two can open your own restaurant now."
"Really? We practiced for two days, Papa, and we made it!" Her eyes shone as she looked at his Papa. Today might be a small celebration, but it will be in his memory to cherish forever.
"Biyoo is too excited to eat her dumplings until she forgot to give you this." Kim Dokja whispered as his daughter was sleeping beside him and handed his husband the scrapbook. Yoo Jisoo wanted to sleep with them for some reason, and they finally allowed her since it was a special day.
"Huh, I think the missing flour from the pantry is solved."
Yoo Joonghyuk took the book and slowly opened it. On the first page of this thin book is a picture of Yoo Jisoo and Kim Dokja smiling with the kitchen counter as the background. Then, the next page is the picture of Yoo Jisoo trying to knead the dough and the various images of them making the dumpling. Until the last page is a different picture. There's no Kim Dokja and Yoo Jisoo there. It's only a picture of a round bread inside the oven. A bun.
"Kim Dokja, is this what I think it is?" Yoo Joonghyuk is turning to his husband and gasps when he sees Kim Dokja with a pregnancy test in his hand, smiling.
"Happy birthday, Yoo Joonghyuk, my husband, soon to be the father of two. I love you so much."