Late October, 2019 [Dahyun: 4 years old; Chaeyu: 3 years old]

"No mommy! Please!” Chewy wails, humongous tears rolling off her cheeks onto her puppy pajama shirt, onto Jeongyeon’s hands, and most heartbreakingly, onto Minjoong’s matted paws. It wasn’t helping her case, and she didn’t want to yell at her eomma, but she knew she had to do anything and everything she could to protect him.

Jeongyeon was sitting on the floor in the middle of the kids’ room, legs stretched out with a dirty pup and a feisty, fiercely protective pup owner in between. She sighs and lets Chewy take Minjoong from her hands, and the distraught child immediately swallows her friend up in her arms.

"Sweetheart,” She starts quietly, reaching out to run a hand through her daughter’s long, tousled brown hair. “Minjoongie really needs to take a bath.” Her voice is soft and warm and tender, like a baby’s favorite blanket spread lightly on top of a sleeping angel. Which Chewy is usually like. Weird, but angelic nonetheless. But not right now.

The toddler has her arms and legs wrapped tight around the pup, who is practically her size. Patches of his fur are matted down from juice spills that weren’t fully cleaned off. His golden locks have dulled from his original glow. She’s taken him everywhere, from school to the supermarket to the dog park. Sure, there have been times when they weren’t together, but surely Minjoong was safe all those times, right?

She shakes her head vigorously, burying her face in his tangled furry neck. What if Minjoong is afraid of water? What if the soap gets in his eyes? What if he catches a cold?

Without saying any more, Jeongyeon pulls her baby and the pup in to a long, sleepy hug. Her slender arms were clothed in a baggy hoodie, and the freshly laundered folds made for the perfect little cave for Tzuyu to catch her breath and calm down.

They stayed like that for a couple of minutes. The patient eomma soothed her baby, kissing her head every so often. Tzuyu’s hair smelled only slightly different from Chae’s. At first, the moms couldn’t tell their smells apart, but now, Jeongyeon knows.

The younger one’s scent is more reminiscent of something like... living room pillows that had just broken in. New enough to smell fresh and renewing, but old enough to smell familiar and comforting. A hint of the usual dinner’s aroma had seeped in just enough to make it recognizably theirs and no other, the hint of spices so light that it almost seems like it’s trying to escape. That’s Tzuyu.

Chae on the other hand, smelled like the favorite couch blankets that were always left spread out and unfolded under those pillows. They were just a little bit older, usually used by one mom to tuck in another after falling asleep halfway through a stay-at-home movie date.

Oftentimes, in early morning, Jeongyeon would come out to start a pot of tea for the other two. She’d come out, underestimating the morning chill, and wrap herself in one of the blankets while waiting for the leaves to boil. Other times, Momo would bundle up one of the little ones if she finds them knocked out for their afternoon nap. Warm, herbal, fluffy. Both smelled like that, but each had their unique way of showing it.

After so long, Jeongyeon taps Chewy’s knee and gives her leg a little shake. “Chewy baby, would you like to help give Minjoong a bath? You can hold his paw the whoooole time and make sure he’s a-okay.” The toddler looks up slowly with puffy eyes, trying to keep as much of her face hidden in Minjoong’s fur as possible. Jeongyeon can’t help but smile big and wide at her baby. She’s got the big sad puppy eyes thing down pat, and Jeongyeon can already feel how exhausting it will be when Tzuyu really learns how to use them.

Tzuyu lowers her eyes and squeezes Minjoong just a little bit tighter, like she anticipates that she’ll have to let him go soon. Jeongyeon notices and kisses her hair again, lingering in the warmth radiating off her head. The moment stops, however, when Jeongyeon feels a hand press gently on her shoulder.

"Hey babe. Hey baby,” Momo greets with a quiet, sweet voice. She kisses Jeongyeon on the temple and moves to sit in front of the two. She crosses her legs and holds her ankles close, wiggling her toes in her socks when she realizes Tzuyu is watching her every movement. She really is on guard about this whole thing.

Momo reaches over Jeongyeon’s long, spread out set up to Tzuyu’s hair. “Do you think you’re ready to give Minjoong a bath? I think he would really like to be clean, don’t you think so, Joongie?” Momo smiles with both and eyes, bright as stars, and carefully places a hand on Minjoong’s head.

She waits for Tzuyu to either allow or deny the interaction. She doesn’t react but just keeps watching her eomma with a sensitive look. Momo proceeds to give the pup light, little pats on the head, to show Chewy that she wants to make sure Minjoong is comfy and happy too.

Momo takes her hand back, pulls her knees in under her chin, and hugs them close like a child. Jeongyeon’s heart flutters at the sight of such a small eomma. She loses track of time just taking in Momo’s overwhelming softness when she feels a tug on her sleeve. She looks down and sees Tzuyu balling up her eomma’s thick sweater sleeve in her paw, her eyes and breath all settled down. “Bath… bath time..” she squeaks out.

The two moms both try to control their giddiness at the character development. It’s the first time they had ever told little baby Chewy about Minjoong’s baths. Of course they washed him, he did live with three messy little animals after all. Jeongyeon just figured that, at some point, Tzuyu should be part of the process. She deserved to know why, randomly, Minjoong would look and smell so much newer. Besides, bath time is always a good excuse for more mother-daughter bonding time.

Momo gets up slowly and groans loudly as she stretches her arms and shoulders. She bends over to lend a hand to Chewy, who can’t get up while gripping Minjoong, but refuses to let him go. Jeongyeon helps by pushing Tzuyu’s little up and holding her sides until she’s standing steadily.

The smaller eomma leads the two pups and her girlfriend to the bathroom doorway. Tzuyu heads in first and squints her eyes as they adjust to the light bouncing off the baby blue tiled walls. Jeongyeon stops at the doorway, wondering why Momo didn’t go in.

Momo, gazing softly at her tall girlfriend, steps towards her and slips her hands under her hoodie to hold her waist. Jeongyeon shivers at first at