Happiness (End)
Happiness (End)
Early morning.
It had become a daily routine to set the breakfast table, come back into the master bedroom, and mentally organize the things he needed to do that day.
Without organizing his thoughts like this, things got so hectic that he sometimes forgot tasks entirely.
When had he picked up this habit?
He could just jot it down in his phone memo... idiot.
"Should I get up soon?"
Looking at the time, it was well past when A-ra would have left for work.
He really ought to start clearing the table and getting ready to go out.
At that moment, the soft sound of small footsteps, jeobeok jeobeok, reached his ears.
The sound of those footsteps was neither Lil' One's nor Pipsqueak's.
And it wasn't Tiny's footsteps, either.
Cats, after all, made a point of keeping their footfalls as quiet as possible.
"Haaaaaam...."
He yawned loudly on purpose, loud enough to be heard.
Only then did the sound of those small, widely spaced footsteps shift to the patter of running, tudadadak.
And as the master bedroom door swung wide open, a young girl stood outside.
He smiled looking at the child, who anyone could see resembled A-ra so closely they'd think she was a tiny version of her.
"Daddy!"
Yes, this child looked like A-ra, but she wasn't a homunculus or some fantastical being.
She was a scientific yet eminently realistic being—A-ra's daughter, and his daughter too.
The child who rushed at him the moment she saw him and threw herself into his arms; he stroked her head.
Just like A-ra, she loved having her head stroked, so it was an essential part of the morning routine.
"Song Ah-rin, Daddy told you not to run around the house in the morning, didn't he?"
"Yes! You did!"
"Then why did you run?"
"Hehe."
It was like this every time.
A child who was the model of good behavior for adults outside, but at home, she was a tomboy through and through.
Was it because she took after A-ra?
She was the spitting image of the young A-ra he had heard about from Hwa-young.
"Daddy, stroke my head more."
This part was exactly like her, too.
She was very skilled at coaxing something out of him.
Even now—wasn't she rubbing her cheek against his chest and asking him to stroke her head?
She'd probably picked it up from her mom.
Still, mornings were always a flurry of activity.
Instead of leisurely stroking her head like this, he needed to feed her, wash her, and get her ready for kindergarten.
"Isn't it almost time for kindergarten? Did you have breakfast?"
"I ate with Mommy."
"Really? Then..."
He checked the kitchen just in case, and the bowl for Arin that he had set out after waking up that morning was gone.
After confirming it was properly placed in the sink, he grabbed a can of coffee from the refrigerator and sat on the sofa.
"Aren't you going to eat, Daddy?"
"Yeah, Daddy's full."
Since he wasn't much of a breakfast eater, these days he made do with a canned coffee.
He took a cool swig of the canned coffee, which opened with a clicking sound, and set it on the table.
At the same time, Arin climbed onto his lap and threw herself into his arms for a hug.
"Our daughter doesn't ask strangers to stroke her head, right?"
"Umm... I asked a friend in the Forsythia class once."
"...A boy?"
"No, a girl!"
"I see... That's a relief..."
No matter that they were the same age as his little daughter—he couldn't allow a boy to stroke her head.
Only our family gets to stroke Arin's head.
That aside, he was getting more serious as he got older.
Forget a son-obsessed fool—he was a daughter-obsessed fool.
*
"Goodbye!"
"Okay, don't fight with your friends. Listen carefully to your Seonsaengnim!"
Even though he said the same thing every day in front of the kindergarten, Arin was probably that rare kind of good child who listened to the end without showing the slightest irritation, smiled, and even waved her hand.
You could tell immediately just by looking at the other kids around them.
There were kids who lay flat on the ground, turning themselves into a human mop because they didn't want to go to kindergarten, and kids who threw their bags and clothes.
For reference, the kindergarten Arin attended was located right within their apartment complex.
It occupied an entire floor of the commercial building, and since the children were all apartment residents, they could also use the resident facilities. So, in terms of amenities and safety, it was in a different league from any other kindergarten.
That was why apartment residents didn't have to send their children to some far-off kindergarten for no good reason.
Well, even if it weren't here, plenty of kindergartens ran shuttle buses for drop-off and pick-up, so it wouldn't be a major hardship—
but the psychological security of having a child nearby versus far away was a world apart.
Imagine getting a call that something had happened to your child.
The difference between having the kindergarten just an elevator ride down and needing to drive there would feel enormous.
"Haah... Should I go grocery shopping now?"
There were days when, after seeing the kids into the kindergarten, he'd have a cup of coffee and chat with the senior parents,
but most days, like today, they'd just exchange a brief greeting and head straight home.
Failing that, they'd chat briefly on the chairs placed in front of the kindergarten and then head home.
Failing even that, it was a case like now, where Arin's homeroom Seonsaengnim was walking toward him.
"Hello, Father."
"Hello, Seonsaengnim."
Had he heard that this Seonsaengnim had graduated, served in the military, and then immediately gotten this job?
Seeing how diligently he worked even though he was younger than him, he seemed like an admirable person.
"Do you perhaps have a moment?"
"Ah... I do have time, but has Arin done something wrong...?"
"No, no! Quite the opposite—the opposite!"
It seemed his little daughter hadn't been summoned for doing something wrong, after all.
Judging by the atmosphere, had she done something deserving of praise instead?
"You know there's a friend in the same class as Arin named Jeong-ho, right?"
"Yes, Jeong-ho's father and I often grab coffee together and are close."
He was a young dad close to his own age, and an incredibly kind one at that.
He'd heard the wife was an executive at some major corporation?
He knew they were very well off.
And Jeong-ho was a friend who got along well with Arin, too.
He was a boy, but he was spirited and mature for his age.
"A while ago, Jeong-ho fell while running around at the resident playground. But Arin told him it was okay, that anyone could fall, helped him up, and took a band-aid out of her pocket and put it on him..."
"Ah, our little daughter falls a lot too, so she always carries a band-aid with her."
Because she took after her mother and loved running around, she fell often.
So her knee sometimes got scraped and bled.
A-ra would scold Arin for it, but she would also say that getting scraped up from running around was natural for a girl,
and would even encourage her.
"Jeong-ho's father was very grateful when he heard the story."
"Ah... No wonder Jeong-ho's father's gaze has felt particularly warm toward me lately..."
He was probably too embarrassed to bring it up himself.
He understood completely.
If it were him, he would have found it awkward and hard to bring up too.
Should he invite Jeong-ho's family over sometime and grill some meat?
Yes, that would be nice.
***
"Mommy!"
"Aww, aww, my baby! Did you miss Mommy?"
"Yeah! I missed you!"
The moment the front door opened, Arin rushed out and threw herself into A-ra's arms.
The fact that she threw her whole body into it showed just how powerful and full of affection that embrace was.
And chasing after Arin came our little rascals, the dogs.
Wife and daughter, along with the two dogs, wrapped up their tearful reunion and settled onto the living room sofa.
Even though he had come out of the kitchen wiping his hands on his apron, mother and daughter showed no signs of ending their display of affection, so he sat beside them.
Whenever A-ra pouted, she always stuck her lips out; he did the same, pouting his lips slightly.
"My husband, you're not pouting because I didn't hug you first, are you?"
"Ah... I wasn't pouting."
A-ra had gotten very skilled at teasing him lately.
She lifted Arin up and set her down in the seat beside them, then picked him up and settled him on her own lap.
Displaying this kind of scene in front of their daughter was a little embarrassing, but—
well, he'd learned to let it slide by now.
I'm 27 years old.... Sob sob....
"Really? You're not jealous of your own daughter, are you?"
"I said I'm not."
Just what did she take him for!
If it had been a son, he might have been jealous, but he didn't get jealous of his daughter.
"Okay, okay. If Noona doesn't believe my husband, who will?"
A-ra hugged him tight and patted his back.
It was the same gentle, kind patting she used when she patted Arin, Pipsqueak, and Lil' One on the back.
It had already been eight years since they married, and the love between A-ra and him hadn't changed or wavered one bit.
Considering they had never once fought—wasn't that really something amazing?
"Want me to kiss you?"
"Ahem.... That's for later, in the room. Arin is watching."
"What's the big deal~ Arin, do you think it's weird for Mommy and Daddy to kiss?"
"Huh? Why would kissing be weird?"
"See?"
"Haah... Arin really is the spitting image of her mom."
A-ra was delighted to hear that Arin took after her, and Arin was delighted to hear that she looked like her mother.
It got to the point where he wanted to ask if there was any other family in the world as harmonious as theirs.
"Did you wash Arin?"
"No, not yet."
"Really? Then shall we all go take a bath together, like we do every day?"
"Me! Me! I want to sprinkle the hot spring bath salts! The lemon scent!"
"Sure, sure—our little daughter can sprinkle whatever she wants."
A-ra smiled brightly and led Arin toward the master bedroom's bathroom.
Ever since Arin was born, every single day had started and ended like this.
Some people might find this kind of repetitive daily routine tiresome, but to him, every day was precious.
This repetitive daily life, which he didn't know how long it would last, was fleetingly joyful.
Wasn't that good enough?
It meant that their family was already living a life full enough of happiness.
Someday, a change might come to this life, but for now, he just wanted to savor it.
Yes.
This life where he became the husband of an idol and the father of a child in a gender-reversed world.