The air smelled like spring and rain when Selena saw her again—Rhea, with her long hair grown back, draped in a soft coat, the sleepy weight of a toddler against her hip.
They sat across from each other in a cozy café in Gangnam, quiet jazz humming beneath the clatter of teacups. Selena's eyes widened as the little girl looked up, curious and serious all at once.
"Oh my God," she breathed, covering her mouth. "She's… she's him."
Rhea looked down, brushing a hand over her daughter's hair. "Her name's Yoona."
Selena leaned closer, speechless for a beat. Then, "Rhea… she's copy-paste. You could deny it, and no one would believe you."
"I know," Rhea murmured, eyes distant. "That's why I came back. I heard his song. So Far Away. I don't know what it broke in me… but I think it was time. Time to meet her father."
Selena's voice softened. "Do you want me to help you?"
"I do," Rhea whispered.
Selena scribbled down an address and slid it across the table. "He still lives there. The house he bought before everything… said he wanted to raise a family in peace, away from Seoul."
"Family?" Rhea asks. Her breath hitched.
Selena chuckled. "He's not yet married. He's not dating anyone, either. He just built that house for future family purposes."
The house.
The car hummed quietly beneath her, but Rhea's heart was louder.
She sat stiffly in the passenger seat, one hand gripping the edge of her coat, the other resting gently over her stomach—a habit she never quite lost.Even though it was Yoona now who needed holding, not her belly.
Selena drove in silence, giving her space. The road stretched ahead, peaceful, lined with trees dusted in early spring's bloom. It didn't feel like Seoul. It felt like a hidden pocket of time. A place the world forgot to rush.
"Do you want me to wait?" Selena asked as they slowed to a stop.
Rhea shook her head, her voice barely above a whisper. "No. I think… I have to do this on my own."
Selena nodded, squeezing her wrist briefly before Rhea stepped out.
The gate stood before her—wooden, hand-carved. Simple but warm.Beyond it, she could see the white house. Wide windows. A garden stretching along the fence, where tiny pink blossoms had begun to open.
Rhea's breath hitched.She knew this house.Not because she'd ever seen it—but because she had once described it to him, in a late-night conversation whispered under heavy blankets, heads on shared pillows.
"I want big windows so the sun always finds us," she had said."And a garden for future kids to run through.""And white walls so we can fill them with color—music, love, maybe a dog."
And here it was.
Exactly what she once painted for him in words. Now real. Now standing.
She swallowed down the lump forming in her throat.
The bell sat beside the gate. Clean. Barely used.She lifted a trembling finger and pressed it.
Ding.
Her heart leapt painfully, knees nearly buckling. Her fingers curled into fists at her side.
What if he didn't want to see her?What if she was too late?
But the door opened.
Not slowly. Not cautiously.
It opened with a gasp of air and a blink of shock.
And there he was.
Yoongi.
Hair longer now, brushed back, a little messier. Eyes were tired but wide with disbelief. He looked older—and softer.
The house stood quiet and weathered with time, tucked behind hedges and a gravel path. The same house they once dreamed in. Yoona clutched her bunny toy, dozing lightly against her mother's shoulder.
Footsteps approached.
A woman opened the door. Not young. Likely a housekeeper. She smiled kindly.
Rhea's lips pressed into a bitter smile. Selena had said he wasn't dating… but still, her heart thumped.
Then came the voice.
"Who's at the door?"
She heard it before she saw him. Still deep. Still Yoongi.
And then—there he was.
He stopped cold.
His gaze locked on her first—Rhea, standing like a ghost from a memory. Her long black hair swaying. Her eyes—older now. Softer and more tired.
Then he looked at the child.
He didn't say a word.
Neither did she.
Rhea stood frozen by the gate, barely breathing. Her lips parted to speak but no words came.
Yoongi took one step out. His hand on the doorframe. As if to ground himself.
And then—
"Hi," Rhea whispered, voice quivering.
Tiny hands curled into her mother's coat. Wide brown eyes. Small pink lips. Hair falling over her cheeks.
She looked at him.
And he saw it.
His eyes.
His nose.
His mouth.
A perfect replica.
No questions. No denial.
Just breath caught in his throat.
His knees almost buckled, but he stepped forward. "Rhea…"
Her name escaped him like a prayer.
"She's yours," Rhea said quietly, almost protectively.
He knelt down slowly, not touching. Just… looking.
Yoona blinked at him.
"Hi," she said shyly, her bunny peeking from her arms.
Yoongi's lips parted. A small, wrecked smile appeared—one full of grief, awe, and something unspoken.
Rhea watched him.
The father. The man who lost so much.
Now meeting what was never truly gone.
Yoongi didn't move at first.
He just stared. As if blinking might shatter the image in front of him.But she was real. So was the little girl in her arms, blinking up at him with sleepy curiosity—eyes shaped like his.
A sharp breath escaped him, as if he'd been holding it for years.
"Come in," he murmured.
Rhea stepped past the gate. He opened the door wider without another word.
Inside, everything was quiet. Warm wood, clean lines, scent of jasmine and faint citrus. A home—not just a house.
She stood in the living room, unsure where to put her shoes, until a gentle voice broke the tension.
"Oh my," the housekeeper said, entering with a soft towel in hand. "What a pretty bunny! What's your name baby?"Rhea nodded. "This is Yoona."
The older woman's face bloomed into a kind smile. "Why don't you come with me, little one? I have a teddy bear waiting for you."
Yoona, always observant, looked at Rhea. Rhea kissed her cheek and whispered, "It's okay... Go play."
Yoona reached out, surprisingly brave, and let the housekeeper carry her off. Her tiny hand clutched Rhea's sleeve for a beat before letting go.
Then it was just the two of them.
Yoongi walked into the kitchen, and Rhea followed, unsure of where to stand. He poured two glasses of water—not whiskey this time—and pushed one toward her.
She sat down across from him at the island. The silence was unbearable… until he asked quietly,
"How old is she?"
Rhea cleared her throat. "One year... and two months."
He nodded slowly, lips tight, trying not to react—but his hand clenched around the glass.
"When's her birthday?"
"January 18th."
"Her first word? Is she already talking?"
Rhea smiled faintly. "Appa."
His head snapped up.
She bit her lip, tears burning. "She says it all the time. Even though she hasn't met you."
A pause.
Yoongi looked down at his hands.
"When did she take her first step?" he asked, voice lower.
"Ten months old. In Canada. On my birthday, actually."
Yoongi's chest rose and fell a little harder.
"What's her favorite toy?"
"The bunny you won me way back when..." Rhea said quietly.
His eyes shot up again.
"I didn't have the heart to throw it away."
Yoongi blinked.
"Favorite food?"
"Cheesy rice. And anything sweet."
Another pause.
And then—
"Goddamnit."
His fist hit the countertop—not hard enough to break anything, but hard enough to shatter the calm.
He stood suddenly, pacing.
"I missed all of that."His voice cracked. "I missed everything. Her first cry. Her steps. Her first birthday."
Rhea stayed silent, watching him, a knot in her throat.
He stopped. Turned to her.
"Do you know what it did to me, Rhea? Not knowing if you were alive? and ?"
Her lips trembled.
"I would've given anything to know she existed," he whispered. "To hold her. Even once."
Rhea wiped a tear away. "I was scared, Yoongi. I didn't know if you'd even want us."
He shook his head slowly. "Want you?"He breathed out."I built this house for you."
Rhea looked down at her hands. They were trembling.Not from the cold, but from the memories.
"I was scared," she said, her voice almost a whisper."Not of you, Yoongi… but of everything else. The pressure. The spotlight. The world watching, judging. I didn't know if I was strong enough to survive it—much less raise a child in it."
She took a breath that caught on the way out.
"I didn't want her to be collateral damage. I didn't want her to feel like she was a mistake we had to hide."
Yoongi's jaw tightened, and he turned his face slightly to the window.The afternoon light hit his cheek, soft and sad.
"You're not wrong," he murmured after a pause."That world… it is brutal. And I've made choices that weren't always right."
He leaned forward, arms braced against the counter. His voice was low, honest.
"But Rhea, I would've fought. For you. For her. For us."
She blinked hard, a tear slipping down.
"I didn't know if you still had it in you," she whispered. "Back then, you were slipping. Working nonstop. Drinking like it didn't matter. I was already bleeding every day—I couldn't bleed emotionally, too."
Yoongi's head dropped slightly, and he exhaled through his nose, pained.
"I was drowning," he admitted. "Losing you broke something in me. But I kept hoping… maybe one day, you'd hear the songs. Maybe you'd come back."
Rhea stared at the glass in front of her.
"I did hear them," she said."And I hated you for making me cry." A breathless laugh escaped her lips, sad and small.
"But I also forgave you through those lyrics. Bit by bit. I think a part of me always wanted to come back… I just didn't know how."
Yoongi looked at her then.
"You just did."
Yoongi peeked out into the living room where the housekeeper was now holding Yoona up as the little girl patted a plush bunny on the head like it was her baby.
He turned to Rhea, voice caught in his throat."Can I… can I hold her?"
Rhea nodded slowly. "She's gentle. Curious. Smart. Just like you."
As if summoned by the moment, Yoona waddled toward the kitchen doorway, clutching her bunny by one floppy ear. Her big brown eyes locked with his — so wide, so full of wonder, rimmed with the same lashes he saw in the mirror every morning.
"Hi," Yoongi said softly, kneeling down. His voice cracked. "Hi there…"
She didn't speak, didn't flinch.Instead, she tilted her head. Then reached out one small hand and touched his cheek. A feather-light touch.It was like she knew.
Like her little heart had recognized something before her brain could name it.
Yoongi stilled completely.
Then—without warning—Yoona wrapped her arms around his neck. Bunny squished between them.
Yoongi broke.
He didn't cry. Not the loud, aching sobs he'd cried into studio monitors or whiskey tumblers at 3 a.m.Just silence. A single tear slid down his cheek as he clutched her tighter, heart thudding against hers.
Yoona, still not talking yet, pulled back just enough to hold her bunny up to him like an offering—then pointed at the living room.
Then the TV.
Yoongi blinked, then chuckled wetly."She wants cartoons."
He stood, still holding her carefully. She nestled right into his shoulder like she'd always belonged there.
"Please don't tell me you raised her as an iPad kid," he teased as he grabbed the remote.
Rhea, wiping her tears with the back of her hand, sniffled out a laugh."No. I couldn't even afford one."
Yoongi paused for a beat.
"Then I'll get her one. Educational. Big screen. Colorful case. Everything."
He looked at Yoona, who was now happily transfixed by a bunny-themed cartoon.
"She's getting everything."
Rhea watched them — the man she once thought she lost, and the child she built her strength around.
And in that quiet room, something fragile and broken began to knit back together.