The first thing Julie noticed about her new neighbor wasn’t the moving truck or the mountain of boxes.

It was the little boy stubbornly dragging a dinosaur backpack almost as big as himself while a man balanced a sleeping infant against his shoulder like he’d done it a thousand times.

“Need a hand?” Julie called with an easy smile, stepping off her porch.

The man barely looked at her.

“No.”

Just one word. Flat. Cold.

Julie blinked as he lifted another box without another glance.

“O…kay.”

Her eyes followed him anyway. He couldn’t have been much older than twenty-five, maybe twenty-six. Broad shoulders, sharp features, military posture. Exhaustion sat beneath his eyes, but his grip on the tiny baby never faltered.

The little boy wandered toward Julie instead.

“My name’s Minjun!” he announced proudly.

Before Julie could answer, his father appeared.

“Minjun.”

The boy sighed dramatically. “Daddy says I’m not supposed to bother strangers.”

“I’m not bothered,” Julie laughed.

“We are,” the man replied, taking his son’s hand. “Come on.”

The front door closed before she could even ask his name.

“…Well,” Julie muttered to herself, “you’re sunshine wrapped in camouflage.”

She would later learn his name was Jeon Jungkook.

A military officer recently transferred to the city’s training base. The recruits respected him. Most feared him.

What they didn’t know was that every morning before barking orders at soldiers twice his size, Jungkook had already changed diapers, packed dinosaur-shaped lunches, soothed midnight cries from his four-month-old daughter, and convinced a stubborn four-year-old that broccoli wasn’t poisonous.

Trusting people had cost him twice.

The mother of his son had walked away years ago.

The mother of his daughter had disappeared only days after giving birth.

He wasn’t making the same mistake a third time.

Unfortunately for him…

Julie had never been very good at taking no for an answer.