Jaehyun's POV

It was getting dangerously close to 11 as I cleaned up from another busy day at the clinic. Despite us being a smaller clinic, our clientele had been growing steadily over the last year, which meant more work for me. But I always pushed through and tried not to complain. 

After I finished cleaning up and putting all the equipment back in its proper place, I finally grabbed my belongings, locked the clinic up, and headed to my car. I threw my bags in the passenger's seat next to me and then let out a long, deep exhale as I started up the car. I couldn't wait to just get home, slip my shoes off, change into my pajamas, and lay down in my bed for the night; it was always the one part of my day I looked forward to. On rare occasions, I could actually manage to close up on time and get home to see Minah and Jeongsoo before they went to bed. And those times, though seldom, I liked even more.

I pulled into the driveway and put the car in park before grabbing my things and getting out. Once inside the door, I took my shoes off using my feet and made my way upstairs as quietly as I could. Before I went to my bedroom, though, I made sure to peek into Minah's room, a habit that had formed out of my instinctual parental worries when I first started going back to work. It brought a smile to my face to see that she was sound asleep in her bed, her feet curled into the blankets and her breathing steady.

I looked for a few more seconds and then closed the door again, tip-toeing my way back to Jeongsoo and I's room a few doors down. I found him asleep as well with my side of the bed still made like it usually was. He had this thing where he only messed up his side of the bed if I'm not home on time to go to bed with him. I don't know why he does it, but some part of me liked to think of it as one of his many ways of showing he loved me.

I put my stuff down on the chair near the window and then went over to grab some pajamas out of the closet before quietly slipping into the bathroom to wash my face and change. Once I was finished, I tossed my dirty clothes into the hamper near the bathroom door and made my way over to the bed. 

Carefully, I pulled back the covers and lifted myself onto the mattress, trying not to stir around so much that it would wake him up. However, that proved to be nearly impossible, as it typically does, because as soon as I sighed and began to settle in, I felt an arm wrap around my waist and a warm chest press against my back.

"Mm, you're home," Jeongsoo mumbled sleepily, his voice resonating throughout my whole body. "I missed you."

"I know," I replied, wrapping my hand around his. "I'm sorry. I wanted to be home sooner, but I guess every pet decided to be sick today." He chuckled and tightened his grip on me. "How were things while I was gone?"

"Fine, as usual," he said back, yawning toward the end of his reply. "I picked Minah up from school, we cooked dinner together, did some homework, and then just relaxed until bed."

"Mm, that sounds nice," I said, sighing and looking down at his fingers as I began playing with them. "You know, it's funny, before Minah, I never wanted to be the stay-at-home parent, so I worked extra hard in school to make sure that didn't happen. But now that I've gotten what I wanted, I want what I didn't want before. I feel like I'm missing out on everything."

"Then hire another vet," he said as yawned again.

"Pssh, wouldn't that be nice," I said, not taking him seriously and scoffing. I let out another exhale and then kissed his hand chastely. "Let's stop talking now. We're both tired." He just hummed and moved around a little bit from behind me, making me smile before allowing my head to sink into the pillow and dosing off for the night.

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The next morning, I woke up a little earlier than usual so that I could make breakfast for Jeongsoo and Minah. I figured that if my job wouldn't allow me to spend evenings with them, I should at least take advantage of the mornings that did. So, after a quick shower, I put on some temporary clothes and went downstairs to start on cooking. They started waking up not too long after and came down, too, after they were done getting dressed. 

"Morning," I said as I glanced back at them and smiled.

"Appa!" Minah said first, excited. 

"Morning," Jeongsoo replied next, sounding slightly confused. "What are you doing up so early? I thought you'd still be asleep."

"I probably should be, but I felt bad for not being around yesterday," I explained briefly. "So, I thought breakfast would be a good apology." 

"I'm not complaining," Minah interjected as she came up to me hugged my side tightly, her smile warm and bright. Jeongsoo laughed and walked over to where we were, placing a quick kiss on my cheek. 

"You remember what I said about hiring another vet last night?" he asked me a couple minutes later as he was pouring himself a cup of coffee.

I laughed. "I'm surprised you remember it. You're the heaviest sleeper I know besides my dad."

"Ha, ha, so funny," he replied sarcastically, making me laugh as he took a sip. "Anyway, I know was half asleep, but I was being serious about that. If it's so exhausting having to take care of the whole clinic on your own, then you should hire another vet to help you out. That way you can have more days off besides the one day a week it's closed and not worry have to worry about what's going on over there." Sighing, I stopped what I was doing and looked at him. He shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. "I'm just saying," he said, holding a hand up innocently and walking over to the table. "You're the one who said you feel like you're missing out on everything, but that's not gonna stop unless you force it to."

I let out another breath, turning back around this time. I knew he was right. I hated spending 23 hours of my day at the clinic and not with my family. But I guess that's just another I share with my appa. He probably would have worked at his bakery until he dropped dead if it hadn't been for dad forcing him into retirement. Don't get me wrong, he was around for Lily and I whenever we needed or wanted him to be, but I can't truthfully say that there weren't times I when I probably needed him but couldn't have him because his work was holding his attention captive. I didn't want Minah to grow up and only have memories of me coming home too exhausted to be with her, and since she seemed to be growing up so fast, I knew I had to do something about it much sooner than later.

"Okay, but how would I even go about that?" I said, turning around again. "Where do I even look? And what if I hire someone and they turn out to be totally incompetent? I can't let some stranger just come in and ruin the good reputation I've made for the clinic."

"You make valid points, but babe, you're pessimistic when it comes to change," he said. "You only see the bad things that could happen and not the good things. You could find a really great person to help you out if you tried. And if you need help getting started, I'll be here. It'll give me something to do during the day."

"Did plan out all these argument in your head or something?" I asked him, turning around a little more and resting one of my hands on my hip.

"Yes, I did," he answered sarcastically. "That's what I do when I'm here during the day, come up with ways to refute your every word." I grinned at him and he just laughed in response.

"Fine," I said after a while, sighing in surrender. "How about I close up early tonight and we can look at hiring a new vet?"

"I think that is the smartest thing I've ever heard you say and you made it through medical school."

"Alright, I see where this is going." He laughed loudly. "You can have the rest of today to rub this in my face and then I'm cutting you off."

"Well, if that's the case, I will be taking full advantage of this," he said. "Be prepared for a text every hour." I rolled my eyes and he laughed again.

"Are you sure that you guys aren't the children?" Minah interjected, watching us with one eyebrow raised. "Cause right now, I feel a lot more mature than you guys." That made us both laugh.

It was mornings like this that are my favorite.

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Surprisingly, I was acutally able to close the clinic early that day so that I could get home and start my search for a second veterinarian. Jeongsooo and I sat down together at the kitchen table and even though I had him there to help me, I still felt my anxiety beginning to kick in. What if I couldn't find anyone? Would that mean I would have to watch my daughter grow up from the sidelines? Or what if I did and they turned out to be horrible? What if the person was really a con artist and tried to steal my business from me right out from underneath my nose? There were so many things that could go wro--

"Baby, stop thinking so much," he said, snapping me right out my thoughts. I looked in his eyes and sighed deeply. "I know you don't see it now, but this is going to be the greatest thing that you ever did for yourself and for our family."

"I know, I know," I said, taking a deep and anxious breath. "I just want to make sure we're picking the right person because even if I hire someone else, I'm afraid I'm still going to be at the clinic all the time making sure they don't mess anything up a-and then none of this would have mattered because I'd still be missing out anyway."

"Alright, I hear you and I get it. But we haven't even looked at anyone yet, so let's take this one step at a time and we'll figure the rest out when we get to it. Do you think you can do that?"

"Well, yeah, but--"

"Then let's start looking, shall we?" He cut me off before I could say anything else and honestly, I was thankful he did. "Okay, now, I already set up an account on here for you," he started explaining, prompting me to lean closer so that I could see the computer. "I said that you're looking for someone reliable with lots of experience working with different types of animals in a face-paced, clinic setting. I also took the liberty of adding that anyone interested should be willing to work long, irregular hours. How does that sound?"

"That pretty much covers it I think," I replied. "Did you put in any information about wages and benefits and that sort of thing?"

"No, I thought it'd be better to wait for you to do that," he said. "You are the boss."

"True, but I've only ever had to pay myself, a couple of technicians, and the one secretary," I said as I gave him a slightly worried look.

"Okay, well, that's not a problem." He sat up a little and looked for a piece of paper and a pen on the table. "We'll just make it however much you make, maybe a little less to start to see how they do and show there's room for growth." I nodded my head and watched as he typed that in. "And then as far as benefits go, I think it's fair to offer the same ones you get since they'd be doing the same job. That sound good?"

"Yeah, I guess," I said as I shrugged my shoulders. As you can probably gather, I wasn't used to working with all the fine details of having my own business. The clinic was just handed down to me, so all I really had to do was sign some paperwork and learn how to make sure everyone got paid, and I even had to ask my appa for help with that.

He was quiet as he finished typing out the final details and I watched just as quietly next to him. "And there we go," he said. "You are now officially hiring. See? That wasn't so bad, babe."

"Yeah, that was the easy part," I said, my lips forming a small pout. "Now I actually have to interview people. You know what that requires? Social interaction. And you know what I suck at? Social interaction."

Jeongsoo sighed and laid his face in his hands. "I can't with you sometimes," he said as he shook his head.

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Over the next week or so, I realized that I may have been overreacting slightly about interviewing people. Granted, the first few were like some form of torture made specifically with me in mind, but after I developed a sort of routine, I became more comfortable with it.

The candidates all seemed like great people, but I just couldn't picture any of them working at the clinic. When it was handed down to me, I swore that I would work hard to maintain and even boost its reputation in the community, which was the only reason I was being so picky about who I hired. If I were in any other situation, I would have hired the first person I met and moved on with my life.

I had probably said "I'll contact you later" to about 10 or 15 people by the time I approached the end of the list. I sighed, groaning under my breath as pushed my fallen hair back up. I was slowly beginning to think that I would never be able to find someone good enough and I would miss my daughter's entire childhood because I was at work all the time. 

Maybe this was life I was doomed to live. Maybe this what Fate had planned for me.

"How's it going, babe?" I heard Jeongsoo ask as he walked into the kitchen. I turned around and gave him one of those looks that didn't need any words to accompany it. "Ah, good to see it's going so well." He chuckled and sat down next to me.

"I've gone through this whole list and I haven't liked a single person," I whined. "Is it me? Are my standards too high? Is that why this is so stressful?"

"No, I don't think it's that," he said, shaking his head. "I think you just want what's best for clinic and if you think that none of these people live up to that, then you're not in the wrong. Besides, you have one more person left, so don't give up so quickly." I pouted at him and he just stared right back at me until I finally gave in and sighed.

"Fine, but if that one is horrible, too, I'm giving myself permission to give up," I said, causing him to chuckle lightly and give my back a small rub.

"Deal," he said as his laughter was fading away. "Now, let's see who we have here..." He clicked on the last name on the list of possible employees and began to read over her information quietly. "Okay, listen to this," he said. "Her name is Kwon Yerin, she's 28, and she graduated from veterinary school two years ago, two years earlier than she was supposed to. She's almost finished with her residency at a veterinary hospital in Seoul and she's looking for a smaller hospital outside of the city to work at." He nudged my arm and I looked at him, impressed but not yet fully convinced. "Well, what you know. You own a small hospital outside of the city. And based just on this, she seems smart and dedicated to her work. The only person I know that has graduated early from any kind of medical school is you. I think it's a perfect match."

"Not so fast there," I said, moving the laptop so that it was in front of me. "Sure, she sounds great and wonderful and dandy, but she could very well be a con artist trying to trick us." Jeongsoo rolled his eyes and smirked, shaking his head. "We have to contact her references to make sure she didn't just bullshit all of this. If they say the same things about her, then, and only then, will I consider interviewing her."

"Aw, look at you, babe," he said teasingly, leaning over and kissing my cheek. "You're making so much progress. I'm proud of you."

"Shut up, asshole," I said as I elbowed him in the stomach. He yelped but laughed afterward. He gave me one more kiss on the head before he got up from table and walked away, leaving me alone with my thoughts again. 

I read over her profile once more and let out another soft sigh. Despite my cold reservations toward her, I really hope she would be as great as she made herself out to be.

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She came into the clinic the next day after I called all of her references. She sounded friendly and cheery over the phone, like she was excited just to be getting an interview, so that was a good sign because it showed that she would be enthusiastic about her work. But I still couldn't be sure of these observations until I met her in person.

Turns out, that's exactly how she was in real life, too.

I was never the kind of person who meshes well with overly cheerful people who are constantly acting happy, so I was worried that she would be like that. But she wasn't, not really anyway. She didn't strike me as the annoying kind of happy person. She seemed more like the happy when it appropriately applies kind of happy person. That I could deal with.

"Hi!" she said when I opened up the door to the clinic and let her inside. "You must be Dr. Kim. I'm Kwon Yerin, it's nice to meet you!"

"It's nice meeting you, too," I replied with a friendly smile. "You can call me Jaehyun. Dr. Kim will feel too formal if we're going to be co-workers, especially in such a small place like this."

She smiled brightly and nodded her head. "Jaehyun it is then," she said, adding in a tiny laugh. 

"But yeah, anyway, this is the clinic," I said, changing the subject quickly before things got awkward. I started to walk her around and give her a brief tour. "All the examinations rooms are down that hall as well as the supply closets should you ever run out of anything. The operating room is down that other hall and so is the delivery room. Um, break room is over there, my office is back there, and that's where yours would be, too. But that's pretty much it, I guess. I know your profile said you wanted a smaller hospital, but I hope this isn't too small for you."

"No, no, it's perfect!" she said. "This is exactly what I was picturing when I wrote that. I've been stuck in the big, crowded city for so long that I need a change."

"Great," I said. "Well, why don't we get started with the interview then?" 

"Sure." She nodded and smiled again. I nodded as well and led her back into my office, offering her a seat as I walked around my desk to sit down. As I was pulling up all the paperwork and what not, she saw the picture of Minah I had sitting atop my desk and smiled. 

"Is this your daughter?" she asked me with a smile still spread across her lips. 

I smiled and nodded. "Yeah, it is," I answered. "Her name is Minah. I think she was about 6 in that picture. She's eight now."

"Aw, how precious is she," she commented. "Does she come in here a lot?"

"Yeah, pretty often. Her dad brings in her sometimes after school and she gets to pet all the animals. She loves them."

"I bet and I'm sure they love her back."

"Oh, yes, that's for sure." I laughed. "She's actually the reason I'm hiring a new veterinarian. She's growing up so fast and I don't want to miss out on anything because I'm stuck here constantly."

"Oh, yeah, work is no excuse to miss out on your family," she said in agreement with me. "My parents worked a lot when I was growing up, so I know how it feels to miss that time. I mean, I see them now, but they're older, so it's not the same, you know. It's good that you're doing this early."

"I hope so," I said in response, smiling faintly. "I also hope you won't mind weird hours. I usually try and plan out my week ahead of time, but sometimes things come up here and there and I have to move things around."

"Oh, no, I'm perfectly fine with that," she said as he nodded and blinked a couple times. "This is what I signed up for with this career after all. I don't have much going on at the moment, so I'm available whenever you need me."

"Great," I said, finally feeling like I could take a breath of relief. "I'd try to keep it pretty evened out as far as opening and closing goes between the two of us so you aren't staying late every night or waking up early every morning." She nodded her head. I was just about to carry on with the actual interview when I stopped. I thought for a moment and then looked at her. 

When I was younger, even up until now to some extent, I could never fully relate to that feeling my parents always described to me, you know, the one you get when your heart knows something is right even when your mind doesn't yet. Yet, as I sat there and skimmed over the interview questions, I couldn't deny the signals I was getting from my heart. Something about this just felt right and I hadn't felt that with any of the other previous people. So, honoring the impulsive nature of my wolf side, I released a quick breath and stood up.

"You know what," I said, seeing how her face fell in slight fear as I spoke. "I don't think I'm going to even bother interviewing you. I know it's standard procedure, but I just have this feeling that you were meant to work here. So, Yerin, you are officially hired."

"Oh my god," she said, laying her hands over her mouth in pure excitement. "Oh my god, thank you so much!!" She leaned across my desk and hugged me tightly. "You have no idea how much this means to me, thank you!"

"No, thank you," I said as she pulled back. "You have no idea how much this is going to help me." She clapped her hands and smiled widely, causing a smile to appear on my face as well. "I'll give you a couple days to settle in before I start your training. I have your number, so I'll call you later with an official time."

"Okay, that sounds wonderful!" she said, still sounding elated as she bowed at me. "Thank you again. I promise I won't let you down and try my hardest." 

I just smiled at that because honestly, I wasn't worried about it. For the first time in pretty much my whole life, I was able to say I wasn't questioning if she really meant that or if all of this was just some big mistake I was going to regret. I could just breathe and that felt nice.

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I let Yerin shadow me for the rest of the day and even closed the clinic earlier again so that I could go home and share the news with Minah and Jeongsoo. I pulled up to the house and turned the car off before getting out of the car, and I don't think I've ever been happier to come home than I was that day. When I got inside, I could immediately smell dinner cooking and slipped my shoes off before walking toward the kitchen. 

"Okay, now we're going to take these put those in the pan, alright?" Jeongsoo said after he was finished chopping up what looked like an onion. "Be careful, okay? Even holding an onion can make you cry."

"That's not true, dad," Minah said as she got ready to hop down off the stool she was on. "You only cry when you're cutting them."

"Okay, if you say so, but don't say I didn't warn you," he replied playfully. She giggled loudly and he handed her the plate with the chopped onions on it, watching carefully as she dumped them into the pan successfully. "Good job," he said, giving her a high five before she stepped back up on the stool. 

She was first to notice me as I stepped further into the kitchen. "Appa!" she exclaimed with a big smile on her face and her eyes lighting up happily. She jumped off the stool again and ran toward me, wrapping her arms around me in a tight hug. "You're home early again!"

"That's right, sweetie," I said, pushing back some of her hair as she looked up at me. "And guess what?"

"What?"

"I'm going to be coming home earlier a lot more now."

"Really?" Her voice perked up even more and her smile widened. 

"Really," I said, laughing softly and rubbing her cheek. "A new veterinarian is working with me now, so I'll be able to be home with you and dad a lot more from now on."

"Yay!" she said, clapping happily and then hugging me again. I laughed again and bent down to lift her up into my arms, allowing her arms to wrap around my neck. 

"So, I guess it worked out with Yerin then, huh?" Jeongsoo asked me, walking over to where I was. 

"Yeah, I don't know how it happened, but I just felt like it was the right thing to do," I tried to explain. "I think it was the first time I really understood Fate."

"Well good," he said, giving me a smile as he gave my arm a gentle rub. "Now you can take some of the stress off your shoulders and more importantly, spend more time with us because nothing is more important than Minah, right?"

"That's right!" she answered enthusiastically, making us both break out in laughter. I pecked her cheek with a kiss and she smiled brightly at me in return.

I was definitely looking forward to this new chapter in my life.

A/N

Oh my gawd look who updated lmao XD But yeah I've been working on this for so long it's ridiculous. This life is a fucking struggle.

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, though, and don't be afraid to leave some comments down below telling me what you think so far! Until next time! <3