(　× his eyes close and hazy visions of a night fueled by alcohol, driven by desire crowd his mind -- he recognizes, he remembers, he knows.  a soft sigh escapes him; it seems that now they're magnetized, attracted, pulled together by a single night.  he can't say that he's ashamed, but this is something that isn't temporary.  they were meant to be something temporary. his eyes open.  his face doesn't change [ not much, unless you're looking -- hard enough to see the twitch of a smile that pulls at his lips ] .  there's an answer that swims in his mind like the body of a fish, and he is the fisherman attempting to catch it.  he never does.

chubby fingers, tiny toes.  he can hear them clambering on their way to him before he hears her voice, her precious voice -- way too loud and it's probably not a good idea that she's running in the house, let alone with the gift he's sure she's bearing in her clumsy hands.  at first he thought that she was too young to be trusted with a gift this important, but it was clyde that whispered in his ear and told him that everyone deserves to feel love -- to give it to others, to have a heart so full to bursting.  their little girl was no different, and perhaps biased though clyde was, jaehyun knew that he was right.  he had no reason to keep a heart from the heartsmith's daughter.  from their daughter.  and even though he held his reservations, the thin smile on his face showed his understanding -- the squeeze of their held hands was one of trust.  

he's pulled from his reminiscing when she comes bounding in -- all wild haired and toothy smiles, beautiful as can be and bright as the sun.  the glow of her heart matches the glow of her eyes and this one is just perfect, just for her -- he can feel the love radiating from where he stands.  it takes him but a stride before he reaches her and picks the young child up in his arms, inspects the heart she holds tight in tiny hands.  it's the love of a father that makes him rub the dirt from a pale and pretty cheek, that makes his heart feel full when she's inside his arms.  and so he begins to whisper caution in her ear -- lessons learned far too long ago that led to broken hearts and feeling whole.

" be careful with it, okay? hearts are fragile; they're easily broken and you --..  you're going to love with that one." there are memories of a time too long past when he said those same words to clyde at the sight of a heart shattered on the floor, hardly as warm as this one and without the same spark of magic.  he places a kiss to the crown of her head, the wisps of her flyaway hair tickling his cheeks.  he can feel the warmth of her heart against his chest and somehow, it echoes with his own.  parts of clyde -- parts of him -- were beating in this heart, he could feel it resonating from his fingers to his toes.  and of course clyde would use bits and pieces of them to make the perfect gift for their daughter.  just like him to be that sentimental. 

and clyde likes to call jaehyun the idiot.  jaehyun finds that he misses him-- just a little, ( perhaps a lot ) even though they just saw each other that morning before clyde left. because they should be sharing this moment with their daughter together, and without realizing it his legs are on their way to clyde.  he wants to feel the way they beat together; the love of a family written in smiles and the glow of healthy hearts.

his arms wrap tighter round her tiny body when she whispers, " i know, papa.  i'll be careful." it seems she knows where they're walking because there's a little smile on her face when she cuddles into the warmth of jaehyun's chest and curls up around the beating of her very own heart.