Kintsugi // ATEEZ [Ishihara Sequel] ✔

62 Closure

A year later, Lucida

Seonghwa's eyes go wider by the second as he looks at Youngjae then to Yeona, scrutinizing them as he waits for them to say anything. It's like his mouth is moving with every move of their mouths, trying to prompt them to produce an audible word. Both of the babies are sitting in their baby walkers as their father has entertained them for at least half an hour, from feeding them to making funny faces so that they'd laugh. After he's done with everything, he waits as he watches their mouths move.

"Akira!" Seonghwa calls his wife, who's almost deep into a book about parenting and startling her, before beckoning her over. When it seems that she's not moving from her spot fast enough, he picks her up before putting her down to crouch in front of their babies. "Wait."

"For what?" Akira blinks.

"I heard both of them trying to say something," he utters. "I bet it's," he whispers, "dad."

She scoffs, crossing her arms. "Really? Dad? How are you so confident?"

"Just wait, and either one of them will have dad as their first word. Yeona, Youngjae," he starts addressing his babies, "if any of you call me first, then I will win over your mother. So any one of you, you can say it now." He smiles as he extends his arms.

Akira only looks on, intrigued by Seonghwa's prompt, but hides a smile as it seems that Seonghwa is the baby and not the father.

Seonghwa beams as he turns to Yeona, whose mouth is moving before he nods enthusiastically, his hands in a slight sweeping motion as he encourages her to speak. But his shoulders drop as she only gurgles, not an audible word heard.

She chuckles before lightly punching her husband's shoulder. "I think you heard wrong," she utters, "they're not ready for their first words yet."

He shrugs before standing up, holding out his hand to help her stand up too. He puts an arm around her waist as he sighs, "Maybe I did hear wrong." He hums as they turn around, but they immediately stop in their tracks and crouch again in front of their babies as they hear Youngjae making a sound. "Say it, Youngjae," he looks at his baby expectantly.

Youngjae flaps his arms before giving a toothless grin, managing a "Ma-mma!"

Seonghwa blinks before his lips are pushed into a pout, looking like he's almost going to cry. He turns to Akira, who is obviously trying hard not to smile and rub it in her husband's face. He sighs, already admitting defeat but he straightens up again as they hear Yeona saying her first word next.

"Da-dda!" Yeona says without fault.

Seonghwa's eyes go wide as he hugs Akira, overjoyed over the milestone he has achieved over the one year they became parents to the twins. He seems to be really excited as he slightly shakes Akira, poking her shoulder as he repeats, "Did you hear that? Yeona called me."

"Youngjae called me first," Akira rebuts.

He narrows his eyes, but breaks into a smile as he hugs her again, almost looking like he's going to break into a happy dance as he gives a thumbs up to his twins. "My beautiful babies," he manages, "your father is proud of you. Youngjae, you're going to grow up as handsome and smart as your father. Yeona, you're going to grow up as beautiful and strong as your mother-"

"So you're saying I'm not smart?" Akira interrupts him.

He looks at her from the corner of his eyes before playfully grinning. "I didn't say anything."

"You better-" She pulls his ear and he shouts out in pain as he pouts, and seeing this, even though not understanding anything, the twins laugh.

Seonghwa whines before grabbing her hands so that she won't be pulling his ear anymore, then hugs her so tight that she feels like he'll manage to deflate her even before she can stand up. When she gives up only then he grins before letting her go. They turn around as they hear another baby crying, knowing that it's Yunho's baby - his and Jihyun's daughter they named Sua.