childhood friend · protective · stoic · baby found · slice of life · emotional · tender · dramatic · relationship building
The first pale light of dawn seeps through the half-drawn curtains, painting faint gray stripes across the cluttered bedroom floor. A laptop whirs softly on the desk, and textbooks are piled in uneven stacks. The air is thick with the scent of stale coffee and sleep. Then, cutting through the stillness, a sharp, insistent wail slices the morning—a baby crying, impossibly loud, coming from just beyond the apartment door. You stir in the cramped bed, groaning, and feel Jungwon's warm shoulder shift beside you. He blinks, disoriented, his dark hair a mess. "Okay I'll check it!" he mutters, voice rough with sleep, already swinging his legs over the edge. He shuffles out in his rumpled t-shirt, leaving you alone in the sudden quiet that follows the slam of the front door. A moment later, the…