One year

JACKSON

"Which one of them do you think will talk first?" I asked Ellie one day when the twins were almost a year old. I've heard that some fast learners could talk at one year old. Jake seemed like he could walk on his own when he reached one year old, since he's been hanging on to any surface that he could reach to help him walk. He only needed to be brave to let go of his hold and then he could really walk on his own. While Jane.. It might take awhile since she was afraid. Last time when she tried the push walker, she pushed it too hard and ended up falling face first. She cried so hard and refused to use the push walker the next day. At least now she was brave enough to hold the furniture and started to copy Jake. Both kids were eager to copy Ellie or their nannies whenever they taught them to talk. I've heard Ellie taught them the vowel alphabet. I've heard her saying 'Aaa—.' numerous times in the past month. They said that babies would likely to say vowel first and the first vowel that was easy to say was 'A'. I've heard the nannies taught them to say 'Daddy' and 'Mommy' as well. Well, not the complete word, but like 'Daa—-daa—" and "Maaa—Maaaa". Both kids babbled a lot, but so far only meaningless words.

"I don't know," Ellie frowned. "Both kids look attentive when we teach them how to talk and both copy me or their nannies when we teach them words like 'mommy' and 'daddy', so I don't know who's going to talk first."

"Okay then," I lowered myself to become eye level with the twins and put on my serious face. "Say 'daddy' first, okay? Repeat after me... Daaaa—-dddyyy," I exaggerated my articulation, mimicking Ellie, but somehow the twins thought I was joking or something that they ended up laughing at me. I tried to do it again but the twins were still laughing at me so I gave up at last.

ELLIE

"Do you guys have to bet over everything?" I groaned when I learnt that the boys were betting over the twins. They were betting which one of them would speak first, Jake or Jane. Both Jinyoung and Mark picked Jane, while Jaebeom decided not to join the bet. He reasoned he had lost too many bets so he should stop now. The maknaes hoped that Jake could beat Jane, but they were doubtful. I knew that Jackson himself hoped that Jake could speak first, but he had a gut feeling that Jane would win.

Jackson shrugged, "Why not? It's just for fun. By the way, we didn't just bet on who's going to talk first. We also bet which word that the twins will say first, whether it's mommy or daddy," he added.

"Really?" I raised an eyebrow at him. He knew damn well that last time I told him that most kids managed to say 'daddy' first rather than 'mommy'.

He grinned, "Don't worry, some of the boys rooted for you.. Youngjae, Jinyoung, Jaebeom hyung and Yugyeom bet that they will say 'mommy' first, so don't worry.. You still have some supporters."

The twins were just finished eating when Jackson came home. His feet tripped over the toys that were lying around the house and naturally he cursed. "Damn!"

"Language!" I warned him, pointing to the twins that were still playing in the living room.

"Oops, sorry," he immediately apologized. "Pretend you don't hear it kiddos," he talked to the twins as if they understood it.

I've warned him to watch his language around the twins. I knew he and the boys had loose tongue, but still.. The twins were still little so I didn't want them to hear bad words so early in their life. However, my warning seemed to come back empty.

JACKSON

Yoojin asked Ellie for a favour. One of Ellie's old patient needed another surgery and he refused to be treated by other doctor but Ellie. That was why we were here again, back in Korea just a week before the twins turned to one. I didn't mind going back to Korea for 5 days. After all, the boys were excited to see the twins again. As usual, we decided not to take the nannies with us so we could bond with the twins better as Ellie wouldn't be staying at the hospital for long aside from tending his old patient.

"Are you going to the studio with the twins?" Ellie asked when she was about to go to the hospital and I nodded. "Mind your language around the twins," she pointed a finger at me, reminding me not to curse too much around them. She said as if it was polluting their minds.

"I know, I know," I assured her, but she seemed not to trust me judging by her gaze.

"Ohhh, who's here? My favorite nephew and niece," Bambam exclaimed the moments the twins stepped inside the studio. He proceeded to hug the twins, asking for a kiss from Jane which she gladly gave and Bambam squealed in delight. It didn't take long for the others to crowd the twins. Yugyeom tried to teach Jake how to do a fist bump and Jake, being Jake, was happy to copy the gesture much to Yugyeom's delight. Jaebeom hyung was nowhere to be found, but seconds later, he came into the studio, still talking on his phone.

"Damn it! What do you mean you don't know? Then you should find out about it!" he seemed angry toward the person on the other line so we said nothing until he finished talking. Seconds later, he realized that there were kids in the studio. He immediately covered his mouth, "Sorry," he whispered. "I didn't know you guys are here."

"It's okay hyung, let's just hope they didn't hear it," I whispered back. I eyed the twins carefully but they seemed not to hear it, so I hoped they really didn't hear it as Ellie would certainly hang me if she knew about this incident.

"Anyway, are they talking yet?" Bambam questioned me.

"Nope, not yet," I shook my head.

"Okay, let's get into business, dude," Bambam pulled Jake and made him stand in front of him, hands on Jake's shoulder, face all serious. "Repeat after me.... Daaaa—dddyyyy," Bambam started to teach Jake how to talk but Jake found it amusing and just laughing at Bambam's face. Yugyeom held his stomach as he laughed out loud.

"Yeah, sorry to break your bubble, but Ellie and the nannies have been doing the exact same thing, but the twins are just not talking yet," I informed them.

"It's okay, practice makes perfect," Yugyeom reasoned and he gestured Bambam to keep on going with the training. They really wanted to win the bet, apparently.

"They're not a year old yet, so it's natural for them NOT to talk at this age," Jinyoung stressed the fact that the twins were still under a year old, and most kids didn't talk until a year old or even older. "Speaking of a year old, will you hold a birthday party for them?" he turned to face me and I nodded.

"Obviously. It's quite important that they reach a year old already, so obviously a birthday party."

"In China?" Jaebeom hyung asked.

"Yes, in China," I nodded again and they groaned.

"Now, I wish you didn't move back to China so we can attend their birthday party," Jinyoung confessed.

"Come on guys! Are you seriously going to miss their first birthday party? What kind of god parents are you?" I playfully shoved Jinyoung's shoulder.

"Wait a minute, you don't expect me to fly all over the world from LA to China just to attend their birthday party right?" Suddenly I heard Mark hyung's voice. Apparently, Bambam video called him and he overheard the last part. "Mae is going back to work next week, so we're still adjusting to the new arrangement."

"No hyung, it's okay for you not to attend," I told him. "Mae will kill me if I forced you to fly and left her just to attend the twins' birthday party. But these lazy asses here," I smacked Bambam and Yugyeom's head. "They should fly to China."

"Okay, okay," Bambam grunted. "You're just lucky Yoojin loves the twins as well."

A week later, Bambam, Yugyeom, Jinyoung and Jaebeom hyung came to China as promised. Youngjae couldn't leave work and obviously I wouldn't force Mark hyung to come. Ellie were still getting ready for the party, as well as the twins. They looked cute. Jake wore a mini-size suit, similar to mine while Jane wore a little gown, similar to Ellie's.

"Don't you think the color is too bright?" Ellie looked at her reflection in the mirror. She was wearing a red gown, something that she rarely wore, but she got no choice. Red was a celebration color in China and since we were celebrating the twins' first birthday, she had no choice but to wear red.

"No," I smiled back at her through the mirror. "It looks great on you. You look... stunning." And I didn't lie. She rarely dressed up, so when she did, she really looked stunning. And I wasn't just sugar-coating my own wife.

I heard her sigh, "Okay then. Let's get the party started so I can kick them all out of the house before midnight." I laughed at her remark since she hadn't changed yet. Parties and public appearance were something that Ellie never got used to. I linked my arms with hers and guided her downstairs to greet our guests, including the boys. The twins then came down fifteen minutes later and the party started. We sang happy birthday for the twins, we helped them cut the birthday cake and let them taste the cake. Apparently both kids got their taste for desert from Ellie. The nannies had some difficulties to stop them from eating the whole cake. It was a chocolate cake and both kids found it delicious, but since it was night time already, they shouldn't eat too much sugar or they would get sugar rush and it would be hell later.

After a few hours of entertaining the guests, bringing the twins around to meet everyone and greet them, the party finally came to an end. The twins could barely open their eyes and it was way past their bedtime. The nannies already changed them into their pajamas when Ellie and I fetched them in their room. We played with them for a little while before calling it a night. Ellie put Jane to her bed while I still waited for Jake to clean up his toys. He picked up the blocks that he used to play earlier and put it back into the box. There were only several pieces left when he tripped over a block and fell down. I wasn't fast enough to catch him, but surprisingly he didn't cry. But... I heard something come out from his mouth when I caught up on him.

"What did you say?" I pulled him up and made him face me. "Did you just say Dada?" I asked expectantly. From the corner of my eyes, I saw Ellie watching us with curiosity as well.

Jake looked at me with his puppy eyes and flapped his arms up and down, opening his mouth and shouted, "Damn! Damn!"

My eyes widened when I heard those words come out from his mouth. I put him down on the floor as quickly as possible and sprinted out of the door. I heard Ellie running after me, while shouting, "Come back here, Jackson Wang!! I will seriously kill you!" I ran as fast as I could to our bedroom and locked the door. Geez, I didn't expect Jake first words to be foul words. I certainly wouldn't get to see the sun tomorrow.

a/n: Hi everyone! Thanks for loving this story. However, this will be the last bonus chapter as I'm currently writing the sequel for this book, so if you're curious about the in between story between their second meeting and their wedding, then make sure to check it out. I hope you give it much love as well.