"Ara!" Eunji's cheery voice made Ara jump, but she kneeled down instead, spreading her arms for the child to crash into.  

"Hey sweetheart," she gushed, "How have you been?"

"Good! So good! I played with Minho this morning and we had so much fun! He just got a treehouse and it's so high I was sitting up in the clouds when we were in it!"

Ara laughed, "Oh, really? I should ask Minho if I can visit one day then!"

"Yeah! He would love to invite you over!"

"Good morning my two favourite ladies!" Jimin's loud voice cut Eunji off as he walked into the room and leaned down to scoop her up in his arms before pecking Ara on the cheek.

"You weirdo," she scoffed, trying to bite back the smile pulling at her lips. 

"Yay! Daddy's ready!" Eunji wriggled around in Jimin's arms, "We can go now!"

Eunji had been raving on and on about the circus that Jimin had booked tickets for months ago, however it was only up until a week ago when she started to beg her father to let Ara come along too. Luckily his gallery was sponsoring the show or he wouldn't have been able to get another last minute ticket for her.

"I can't believe we're gonna be in the front row! I can't wait to see the acrobats!" her face was lit up in the biggest smile Ara thought possible and she loved the look of content on Jimin's to match.

"You know, I used to do acrobatics," Ara said once Jimin had closed the door as they left the house.

He raised an eyebrow, "You what?"

"Why is that so surprising?" she flicked her hair over her shoulder, "I was pretty good lemme tell you."

"Really?" Eunji was dumbfounded, "Show me! Show me! Show me!"

"Maybe later," Ara grinned, looking over at Jimin, who was just smiling down at her with some expression she couldn't seem to point out.

"What?" she asked, opening the door for him to put Eunji in the back seat.

"Nothing," he hummed, putting the seatbelt on his daughter before closing the door, "I just love learning more and more about you."

Ara smiled, "I'm really not that interesting, you know."

He shook his head, his lips pursed, "You really are," leaning down, he pecked her on the lips quickly. "Let's get going! On route to the best circus you'll ever see."

Ara had no idea how she was always smiling around him, even when neither of them were saying anything, it was like she was in her happiest place when she was with him.

—

"Uncle!" Ara heard Eunji squeal as she was getting out of the car. She looked over at Jimin, who was scanning for this 'uncle'.

A small smile appeared on his face when his eyes lay on a particular someone, the same someone who was crouching down to pull Eunji into a hug.

"Namjoon hyung, what are you doing he- Min Hee?"

"Ara!" Min Hee, who was standing behind 'Namjoon hyung' burst when she saw Ara, rushing over to hug her, "How are you!"

"Wait..." Jimin's eyes shifted from Min Hee to the man who was now carrying Eunji. "What are you guys doing here... together?"

"Hi," the man completely ignored Jimin's question, holding his hand out to Ara, "I'm Namjoon."

"Ara," she smiled politely, shaking his hand.

"Uhm," Jimin reached out and took Eunji from Namjoon's hold, "Stop playing with my daughter to avoid my question, what are you guys doing here?"

"We're here to watch the production," Namjoon pointed at a theatre nearby, "You?"

In the corner of her eye, Ara say Min Hee sending Jimin crazy signals to get lost, so she took the chance.

"We're going to watch the circus show!" looking at her watch, she replied, "We should probably get going, it was nice to meet you!"

Jimin narrowed his eyes at Min Hee, but before he could say anything more, Ara pulled him away from the two.

"You're such a creep," she shook her head at Jimin as they made their way to the entrance.

"Excuse me? I am not a creep, seeing my best friend and my cousin together like that is gross."

Ara rolled her eyes, "C'mon Eunji, let's go," she grabbed her hand when Jimin finally let her down and they walked into the the large gazebo after Jimin showed the bouncer their tickets.

"Front row! This is gonna be so much fun!"

—

And it was. It was so much fun for all three of them that they would still be talking about it for the next three days. Eunji was amazed at the way those circus acts could move, Ara was impressed with their level of professionalism while Jimin was in awe at the creaive displays.

Hey Ara, Eunji's feeling a bit sick and she won't be able to come to school today.

P.S. We still need to have that Jegichagi match

-Jimin

Ara smiled at her phone. It was a day later and she was finally back into normal routine, work and then going home, work and then home. But small moments like this were so worthwile. Every time a text from him came in, she would find your mouth hurting from smiling too much, even when all it said was 'Eunji left her pink jacket behind today, please keep it aside so she can bring it home tomorrow'.

Thank you for letting me know! And you're right, I was beginning to think you wanted to keep putting it off because you were scared

Ara tried to reply as witty as possible, but with her fingers trembling and her mind blanking at the very thought of this man, it was pretty hard.

Again. In your dreams.

-Jimin

His reply was quick but the effect it had on her wasn't short lived.

"Hi!" a kid chirped and she looked down.

"Hey Joo Won," she crouched, "What's up."

"Can you help me finger paint! I can't make purple anymore," he pouted, "I'm pretty sure I made it the other day! But I don't remember how I did it."

Ara chuckled, "Of course, come on."

Holding his hand, she walked over to the finger painting table, asking him how he thinks the colour comes about and teaching him how it's meant to be made.

"Ara!" someone interrupted her while she was conjuring up her own masterpiece and she turned to see her centre manager yelling for her with one hand holding the wall phone to her ear.

"Yeah?"

"You know Park Eunji?"

"Eunji? Our student?"

"Yes, I'm gonna need you to go to the hospital, she needs you."

"Huh? What did you say?"

"Here," she passed Ara a piece of paper and her car keys, pointing to the door, "Hurry up."

She started walking to the door, reading the writing on the paper at the same time. Park Eunji, Floor 13, room 101 Seoul Hospital.

What was happening?

When she got to the hospital, she rushed to the right floor and burst through the room, to see Eunji lying on the bed with a doctor towering over her.

Ara's worried expression caught the doctor's eye and he turned to her, "Hello there, are you her guardian?"

"Uhm, kind of, her father's coming in a few minutes, I'm her teacher," she walked closer to her, but before she could ask what was wrong, she heard someone else entering.

"Eunji?" behind Ara was a panting Jimin, his eyes trained on the little girl in the bed.

"What's happened?" he directed at the doctor, "What happened to her? She just had a cold this morning."

"Well, this young one's got a case of strep throat," the doctor sighed, looking over at her, "Thank goodness it was discovered before it got worse."

Ara had no idea what that was but it sounded severe to her, "Will she be okay?"

He nodded, "We'll have to put her on strict treatment until symptoms discontinue, but she should be fine in due time. It's really important that she starts this treatment promptly, however, or else it could put her in more danger."

Jimin dipped his head, standing beside her, "Please do what you can to make her better, please."

The doctor gave them both a reassuring smile, placing a hand on Jimin's back, "Of course, this condition is not common but it's not my first time so she's going to be fine. I'm just going to need another hour or so to do a few more examinations and tests as well as administering some treatment before I give you the prescription. Could you please wait outside so we have more space for the rest of the nurses to come in?"

"O-Okay," Ara bowed, starting to walk to the door, waiting for Jimin to follow, sitting in the seats just outside the room. She watched as nurses started to pour into the room, and she couldn't deny it looked much scarier than what the doctor had made it out to be.

Jimin's lips were trembling and his eyes were desperate as he looked at the medical professionals filling the room.

Ara smiled, tilting her head so he was looking at her instead.

"Jimin, she'll be fine."

He blinked, sinking into his seat, "I really hope so."

"Did you not hear what the doctor said? With some medicine, she'll get better, okay?"

He nodded, closing his eyes. She could tell he was trying to refrain from saying what he really felt. It was as if he had so much more bottled up inside of him but he couldn't let it out.

"Jimin, you alright?" she decided to ask, her eyes focusing on the way he slowly opened his own, and she saw a hint of red, a hint of desperation, a hint of his whole world crumbling to pieces.

"Yeah," he sighed, biting his lip.

Her hand went to his shoulder, patting it slightly, "Eunji's going to be okay, c'mon, let's go get something to eat."

"U-Uh it's okay," he looked to you, "you go get something, I'll wait here."

"You think I didn't know you were going to say that?" she got up, holding your palm out for him, "Just come with me, I doubt anything will happen in the next ten minutes."

He stared at her hand for a full five seconds, "Fine." standing up, he sighed, "Only ten minutes."

Ara's smile was victorious, "I saw Dunkin Donuts across the street, aren't you in the mood for something sweet?"

He opened his mouth to say something but shut it right away. Rolling her eyes, she headed to the donut shop, one hand swinging with exaggeration and the other firmly holding his.

"Two glazed donuts please."

—

The two spent the next half hour in silence, Ara knew that Jimin wouldn't want to talk about anything but Eunji and she didn't want to talk about anything else either, so they sat there, eating their donuts, watching the world pass by in front of their eyes. They finally finished their donuts and Ara knew Jimin would want to go right back to the hospital room, so she put away their trays and stood up, taking his hand and started to slowly walk to Eunji's room.

They were almost there, when she saw Eunji's room in the distance, she squeezed Jimin's hand.

He forced a smile at her, "Thank you for helping Ara," he said softly, "I don't think I would have been able to compose myself if you weren't here."

She stopped walking, causing her to pull on his hand and made him stop walking, turning to look at her.

Her thumbs caressed his cheek, her eyes pulling his to them like a magnet. "You don't have to pretend to be strong in front of me," her smile, much like her voice, was soft. "I'm so proud of all you've done for Eunji. You're not an incompetent father, in any case you're one of the best fathers I've ever seen."

Ara could tell Jimin had been beating himself up on the inside over this. As if Eunji being hospitalised was because of him somehow.

She brought his hand to her lips and pressed them against it, "Okay, are you ready to go and see your daughter? She'll be fine, I promise."

"Let's go," he breathed out.

Ara turned and opened the door to Eunji's room, her bright smile faded right when she saw the long black haired girl sitting next to Eunji's bed.

She turned around right when they entered and Ara felt Jimin immediately let go of her hand.

"Seolhyun? What are you doing here?"

════════════════

Hey guys! I hope you liked that update :)

I'm really really sorry that I'm not updating as usually as I used to. I swear I say this again and again in every update - that I promise to update faster, but the same thing happens guys, life gets in the way. I'm so grateful you guys are patient though, honestly thank you so much it really means a lot to have all of your support!

How was your day?

I hope school/uni/work or whatever you guys are doing right now is going well for you!

I just want to say, please remember that nothing lasts forever! So yes, even though our happy moments in life always pass by, so do our sad moments so never dwell on anything for too long because life really is too short!

Just, have courage and be kind :)

Make your heart the prettiest thing about you!

Sorry, I recently came across these two quotes (first one is from Cinderella hehe) and they have become my life's motto so I wanted to share them with you!

Please look after yourselves! Drink lots of water and laugh lots

I love you all so much!