TL/Editor: looloo

    Status: ongoing

    Illustrations: posted in discord

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    From the start, various problems arose, but my university life continued smoothly. My relationship with my classmates was good, and although there were occasional unreasonable criticisms, that had happened in high school too.

    Apart from that, my days were busier than I had dreamed. I wasn''t thinking about enjoying a romantic campus life; like Heena, I prioritized grades for the future.

    I hoped to repay all the help and consideration my family was giving me later.

    Life at home was just as peaceful. Heena seemed to have gotten used to the routine of living with Sarang, and she slowly started studying again while taking care of her. Although she didn’t go out much because of her worries about Sarang.

    Even so, many people still visited Heena’s house. Countless people came to see Sarang, the star everyone loved.

    Not only did our family visit often, but even Yoonjung came by a few times, and Heena’s relatives also visited occasionally. They would come in as if they were about to lecture us, but as soon as they saw Sarang, they would play with her and leave with smiles on their faces.

    It was all thanks to Sarang’s cuteness.

    It wasn’t just because she was my daughter; even though she was still so young, Sarang radiated beauty and cuteness. Heena claimed it was because she looked like me, but to me, she was a perfect replica of Heena.

    Days passed, and before I knew it, it had been over two months since Sarang was born. It was finally time to carefully take her out in a stroller.

    Now, she was more sensitive to surrounding sounds and could turn her head on her own to look around.

    But most importantly,

    Her big smile.

    “Ah! Sarang smiled again! Honey!!”

    “Get the camera, the camera!!”

    Sarang started smiling at us!

    Of course, she had smiled occasionally before, but those were just reflexive expressions, not responses to someone. Now, it was a social smile, recognizing and smiling at the person in front of her.

    It became much easier to see Sarang’s smile. As a result, at home, we just stared at Sarang endlessly. Then, only after she fell asleep did we go off to do our assignments or other tasks.

    Today, we were playing with Sarang in the living room, calling out “Sarang-ah, peekaboo~,” when my mother-in-law called the two of us over.

    “It’s the weekend; you two should go out and have some fun~ Don’t stay home every day just watching Sarang.”

    “But...”

    “No buts! Especially you, Heena, you never leave the house, and I worry about that! Should I send Yeonho to his place so you’ll go out?”

    “Okay, okay! We’ll go out! Just don’t say things like that!”

    “Um... please take good care of Sarang, Mother.”

    “It’s not like time flies when watching our Sarang, so don’t worry~ Actually, I want Sarang to myself, so I’m sending you two out~”

    She urged us to go out quickly. My father-in-law, coming out of the room, was also pleased, saying, “Can I feed Sarang today?”

    They were genuinely happy to take care of Sarang, but I knew they were also thinking of us, so we quietly got ready to go out.

    We both wore jeans and t-shirts, with just a cardigan each.

    Without much else to pack, we were practically pushed out the door. We came out, but it was so sudden that we were a bit at a loss. We had no plans and only had our wallets.

    Walking slowly towards the station, I asked Heena, who seemed to be pondering what to do, for her opinion.

    "What should we do? We came out so suddenly, and I can''t think of anything."

    "Hmm... Oh! Lately, there are so many cute baby clothes. Let''s go look at those! Like those animal pajamas for babies!"

    "Shall we? Then let''s go to the mall we always go to. I wonder if they have baby clothes."

    But whether we were complete or not, it didn''t matter. This moment was just too good.

    "Since it''s close by, let''s come back next time with my parents or brothers. If we casually show them, they might buy it for us. Like Heeseong hyung, for example."

    "What about Sunhoo oppa? He seems to really love Sarang too."

    "Oh, right. Surprisingly, he''s still always asking for videos of Sarang. He must think it''s a bit much to come all the way to our place."

    "He can come over... but maybe he feels uncomfortable."

    "Probably because they haven''t seen each other often. And you know what? Sunhoo hyung rarely spends money. Plus, he likes gaming, but instead of spending on games, he actually makes money from them."

    "Really? Can you make money from games?"

    "Apparently, some people can."

    So if we dragged both Heeseong and Sunhoo here, one of them would definitely buy the walker.

    Heeseong was always generous, and Sunhoo, though he didn''t spend much, would splurge on what he wanted.

    It felt a bit shameless, but we could repay them after we got jobs!

    Already imagining my brothers buying the walker, I moved on to the next section. As we shifted over, there they were, the animal pajamas we had been eagerly waiting for.

    There were various sizes for different ages, and plenty that would fit Sarang. Given how often we''d need to change her diaper, the designs were practical and easy to manage. They were more like wraps than regular clothes.

    "Oh my, how about this? This cat pajama! You love cats, right? And we can wear matching ones too!"

    "It''s adorable... so cute... what do we do? I want to buy them all and have her wear a different one every day."

    "No way~ As much as I''d love to do that too... we have to choose just one. Got it?"

    "Too bad... okay."

    We had a special credit card just for Sarang’s things, funded by our parents. We could buy whatever we needed, but we had to be responsible.

    So Heena and I put our heads together to decide.

    "I thought a dinosaur would be too much, but... isn''t this cute too?"

    "Honestly, they''re all so cute... how can we choose just one? Let’s keep the cat as a strong contender... Oh! A red panda! There''s a red panda one too!"

    "Really? They have that here too."

    "Of course! Red pandas are the epitome of cuteness! I knew they’d have it!"

    I wasn’t sure if they would, but there it was, a red panda pajama. At a glance, it looked like a raccoon pajama, but the tag confirmed it was a red panda.

    Seeing it, I thought, ''This is rarer than the cat one and even cuter,'' and my heart leaned towards it. I also just loved red pandas.

    Halfway to deciding, I picked it up and examined it. Heena, watching me, spoke up, seemingly displeased.

    "How about we get the cat one and buy a matching set for you too? We could do family sets."

    "That sounds good too. But isn''t this one too cute? Let’s get this today and do the matching set later?"

    "But~ Sarang doesn''t have a couple look with us yet. Matching pajamas for the whole family would be so nice! We could take family photos too!"

    "To do that, we’d have to buy one for me too. So how about we get this one for now─"

    "...Yeonho."

    "Yeah? What?"

    "Me and Sarang, or the red panda?"

    "...??"

    What?