“Did you bring a gun?” she asked, her eyes still focused on the patrons walking into the building with rifles.

Seonwoo glanced up at her, as he hoisted Alleah up onto his back, “No, why would I?” he asked.

“I did!” the little girl cheered, holding up her gun.

“So you’re gonna rent one, then?” Sua asked, turning her attention to him.

“No, we’re using this one.” he pointed to the gun Alleah held. “Best to keep our chances even.”

“A toy gun?” Sua asked, raising a brow, “to a shooting range?”

“Hey!” Seonwoo exclaimed, his hands snapping up to Alleah’s ears, “don’t say that!”

“She probably heard you better than me, anyway.” Sua sighed, “Fine, it’s not a toy.”

Seonwoo let go of the girl’s ears, “What’s your range?”

“Really far! Mommy and Daddy said it’s five meters!” the girl exclaimed, wrapping her arms around Seonwoo’s neck.

“Wow! That is far!” Seonwoo smiled, “Alright, shall we request that range then?”

“Yep!” the girl smiled, and tightened her hold.

Seonwoo’s face was becoming a little red, “Come on, Sua!” he choked out.

She watched in awe, as the two leaped over to the building, as she followed them at a steady walking pace. That was something she had wanted, yearned for, really. The chance to climb onto her father’s shoulders, hug him tightly, as he didn’t complain of her strong hold. He’d spin around the fields, or the park lifting me high into the air. Laughing as my mother was to the side, gazing at us with a warm smile. Unwilling to get up and move too much. The laughter that caused his chest to heave as we collapsed onto the grass, would lift me at a constant rate into the air, my giggles mixing with his. I’d get up, and look over to my mother, asking for her to come and join us. She would hesitantly, and sit pleasantly on the grass, as my small body would climb off my dad, and leap into her lap.

“Sua, you comin?” Seonwoo asked, his hand holding two adult passes, and one child one, as Alleah still had her arms wrapped tightly around his neck.

“Actually, I…” Sua trailed off, as her eyes noticed the two tickets, he had already paid for them. She sighed, and walked over to them, “yeah, I guess.”

“Awesome!” He smiled, his face getting redder as the little girl wrapped her arms tighter.

“Yay!” she cheered, and pushed her cheek up against Seonwoo’s jaw, right next to his ear, “Sua’s gonna join us!”

She couldn’t say ‘no’ now. She followed them through the doors, and down the corridor to the children’s range. Four meters. She noticed, and she looked over to all the rubber bullets in the range that had missed the target. She noted the list of names, and the very few shots that marked their way through the middle of the target. She took a seat just outside of it, as Seonwoo handed the man their passes, which he ripped and handed back.

“Alright, Sua, you’re up first.” Seonwoo said, with the little girl giggling at his back, stretching the gun out for Sua to grab.

“Why me?”

“Cause it’s fun!” Seonwoo smiled, grabbing one hand on Alleah’s arm.

Sua took the gun, and walked over to the range. “Are there bullets in it?” she asked.

“Yep!” Seonwoo replied, his forehead now red, “Loaded them while you were daydreamin’.”

She flushed, and looked over to the range. The gun was easy enough to cock back, simple for a child. She lifted the gun up, before a hand was grabbed onto her shoulder. “What?” she asked, turning around to meet a set of heavy ear-protection and goggles.

“Put these on first.” Seonwoo stated.

“Silly Sua!” Alleah giggled, wrapping her limbs tighter around the man.

“Sorry, I’ve never been to a range before.” Sua smiled, meekly.

“What?” Seonwoo asked, raising a brow, “What did you do as a kid?”

“Sorry?” Sua responded, with wide eyes. “You went to ranges as a kid?”

“Duh,” Seonwoo replied, in sync with the girl on his back.

“I guess I didn’t have as wild a life as you.” Sua smiled, before taking the items handed to her, “Did you rent these, too?”

“No, those are mine,” Seonwoo replied, before turning away, and standing the correct distance from her, Alleah still clinging to his back.

“Alright, it’s not going to be pretty,” Sua stated, as she put them over her eyes and ears, “I’ve never shot a gun before.”

“It’s not hard.” she faintly heard Seonwoo yell.

She lifted the gun up with both hands. Her finger rested on the trigger, as she closed one eye, and lined the gun up with the center of the target. Her fingers shook as she tried to steady the gun. She took a deep breath, and opened her eyes, before she fired. The bullet had flown through the air, but missed the paper. She took a deep breath and adjusted her angle. She’d never fired a gun before, but math and physics came into play easily. She took another deep breath before pulling the trigger again.

While she had nicked the paper this time, that’s all it was, just a small rip at the edge of the paper. It swayed slightly, from the movement, and she took a deep breath and tried again. She didn’t understand why she wanted to hit the target so badly, but her eyes scanned the paper, and lined the gun up again with the center of it, before adjusting it to make up for the two mistake shots she had already made. She only had one shot left before she’d hand the toy gun over to Alleah for her turn. Sweat began to accumulate on her forehead, and she sighed, deeply, before she began to press her finger to the trigger once again. The shot fired, and half to her surprise, it was one of the rings in the target, and although it was the fourth ring out of five, she felt a sigh of relief rush through her.

She placed the gun down, and turned her attention over to the viewers as she took the headgear off her head. Alleah’s cheer was the first thing she heard as she saw the girl slide herself off Seonwoo and come leaping over to take the gun and gear, and fit it over her head. The man working began reeling the target back to replace it with a new one, and she made her way over to Seonwoo, as he tried to cover up the fact that he was trying to cough color and air back into his lungs and veins.

“Are you okay?” she asked, sitting down beside him.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” he smiled, “that was pretty good for your first time firing a gun.”

“Well, I only hit the target once.” Sua sighed.

“So,” Seonwoo replied, shrugging his shoulders, before rubbing his neck with his hand, “I think you did pretty well.”

“You’re joking,” Sua replied, before turning her attention to the little girl, as she adjusted her feet and hands for the gun to fire.

“Nope, it’s the honest truth.” Seonwoo smiled, “You should give yourself more credit, you know?”

She glanced over to him as he brought his hand down from his neck, and turned his total focus to Alleah, as she fired her first shot. His brows furrowed, and he rested his chin on his folded hands, as if observing the enemy. He really took things like this seriously, didn’t he. From viewing him from the side like this, he had a great profile. The sweep of his nose was so smooth, she wanted to run her fingers down it. He had a nicely cut jawline, and his cheekbones were sharp, but not too exaggerated. His hair peeked out from under his beanie, and partially curled their way upward.

His eyes widened, as Alleah fired another shot, and she noticed how slanted they were. His eyes were quite large, though they turned upward at the outer corners. He had double eyelids, and thin brows. The pink hairs were just visible enough to notice he had brows, and the way he smiled doubled his cheeks. She turned her attention away from him and toward the little girl. She was actually really good, that much was easy. Each of her shots so far had punctured the target, and were closer to the center than her own.

“She’s pretty good.” Sua found herself saying, which earned Seonwoo’s side glance for a brief moment.

“Yeah, but I’m better.” he mumbled.

“Go easy on her,” Sua sighed, as she watched the last shot fire.

“No can do.” Seonwoo stated, rising from his seat, “I’ve got a lot at stake here.”

“What did you end up betting?” Sua asked, as she looked up at him.

“A lot!” Seonwoo stated, and turned over to Alleah, who was handing him the gun and headgear.

“Try to beat that.” she stated, putting her small hands on her hips, proudly.

“Oh, I’m gonna hit the center three times!” Seonwoo stated, a smirk playing on his lips.