lots of cursing,,, have fun

Chaeyoung sighed as she flicked through the postcard section at the dingy gas station she had sought refuge in. She sighed when she realized she hated all of them, they all looked like stock photography of the same building or had long biblical quotes Chaeyoung didn’t even want to read. She looked out the window, only to find the snow still falling at the same pace as it had earlier. She really just wanted to get home, she had been gone for the last two weeks and she was exhausted and wanted a long shower and a kiss from her girls before falling asleep cuddled with Sana by the fire place. 

But Sana would murder her if she tried to drive in this weather. She had already sent a text to her girlfriend explains she was stranded thirty minutes from town in the sketchy gas station they had made out in once before Nico came around. Sana responded with a simple, “stay safe, I love you” text. She sighed, her phone only had about twelve percent battery left and her coffee tasted like . She took another sip of the cheap coffee and winced as it burned down .         

She glanced around the gas station once more, there was only one other patron stuck with her and a bored teenager who had his face buried into a magazine. Chaeyoung knew he was reading a magazine underneath, he had a flush on his cheeks and he really wasn’t being discreet and he didn’t look the type to be into cosmopolitan. She knew the kid, everyone in town knew each other, and if she wanted she could tell his parents about his risqué endeavors. But she decided against it, he was just a bored curious teenager. She was the same way at his age. 

The other patron, a man looking to be in his early fifties had an unlit cigarette hanging out of his mouth and the distinct smell of smoke really was triggering Chaeyoung. She promised Sana to stop, but dear lord she could use a cigarette right now. But she wouldn’t give in. If she did, she wouldn’t stop. She feared she would get kicked out of the house, Sana hated the smell and Nico had asthma. She settled for digging out some peppermint gum from her pocket and chewing it aggressively, trying anything to get rid of the temptation. It helped distract her, and Chaeyoung felt a bit less on edge than she had a moment ago. 

After finding a spot to sit in the corner of the dirty gas station floor Chaeyoung unlocked her phone. Her service was spotty, and just sending a text to Sana had taken nearly twenty minutes, so she didn’t expect an answer anytime soon. She settled for scrolling through old photos saved on her phone, she didn’t have to connection to do much else and she wasn’t going to feed her subway surfers addiction when her battery was so low as it was. 

Her camera roll had a lot of pictures of Sana, and a lot of pictures of Nico. Her all time favorite would always be the one taken right after they found out they had been approved to be Nico’s guardians. Sana had this huge smile as she held the baby, still wrapped in the same cloth they had found her in, and Chaeyoung melted just a bit more every time she saw it. 

They didn’t have Nico’s blanket anymore, it had turned into evidence long ago and was cursed to sit in a Korean police station collecting dust for all eternity. She was surprised Nico still had it when the photograph was taken, there was very clearly blood stains on the pink cloth. Chaeyoung pushed those thoughts away, they were far far away from Korea. Far far away from whatever killed Nico’s real parents and far far away from their problems. Nico didn’t know yet, she knew she was adopted but she didn’t know about her mothers complex history. Chaeyoung hoped it stayed that way. Nico had learned too much about their dark sides recently. 

Chaeyoung groaned and took another agonizing sip of the supposed coffee. She needed to get out of that gas station. She glanced at the snow once more, it had lightened a bit and Chaeyoung figured it would be fine for the short ride home. She sighed in relief before cruising herself for just now realizing she had to pee. She debated holding it, but realized she could get stuck in the snow and if she was going to freeze to death she didn’t want the police to find her and she had peed herself before death. She threw the cheap coffee in the trash the first opportunity she got, taking satisfaction in the sound of the heavy cup hitting the bottom of the trash bin. 

She found the disgusting bathrooms stuffed into the back of the restaurant and was bombarded with memories of the time her and Sana had made out with each other here. They were young teenagers and the person on duty had left to smoke and they couldn’t hold themselves back. Chaeyoung had been willing to go all the way right there in the bathroom but Sana had been horrified by the gas station bathroom and insisted Chayeoung take her home if she wanted any action. Chaeyoung had done so without a second thought, of course. 

Chaeyoung felt the hairs stand up on the back of her neck when she heard a ruffling noise behind her. She ly to find nothing behind her. The boy at the counter looked ready to cream his pants and the older man was playing with the slots machine. Chaeyoung sighed and decided to let it go, opening the door to the bathroom and going inside. They had replaced the door, at least from what Chaeyoung had remembered. She heard the sound again, this time from outside and she cursed because her pants were halfway down and she had to pee. She decided to pee as fast as she could before washing her hands with water and running out of them bathroom, her hand on her firearm tactfully concealed in her jacket. She went through the fire exit and looked around. There was nothing there. Chaeyoung exhaled on relief. 

But she froze when she heard the sound once again. She pulled her pistol out and cocked it, scanning the area as best she could. Everything happened too fast as the beast kept out at her. Chaeyoung shot it down mercilessly. The beast let out one final cry after her clean shot to the head before Chaeyoung looked at it. It was a young one, probably too stupid to realize that it was making that much noise. She looked at the body, it’s blood leaking onto the snow dying the beautiful white snow an ugly brown.

She picked up the thing carelessly before throwing it into the dumpster, closing the lid and hoping the trash came sometime in the next twenty four hours. She grabbed a handful of snow to cover up the colored snow and she dated off her hands before looking at the open fire door, praying to god no one heard the gunshot. She didn’t want to risk going back inside, so she went around the side of the building and got on her bike parked in the corner of the lot. She started it up, the snow sticking to her jacket as she climbed on. She let out a silent prayer before driving out of the parking lot. 

xx

“Son Chaeyoung!” Chaeyoung sneezed as Sana pulled her inside the house. “I thought I told you to stay put!”

“Couldn’t stand to be there any longer love,” Chaeyoung shrugged after pulling off her thick coat, pulling her arms close to her as shivered. “I got here in one piece didn’t I?”

“You could have died ,” Sana putted, wrapping the blanket she had previously wrapped around herself around Chaeyoung. “Go take a hot shower before you get sick.”

“Babe?” Chaeyoung asked tentatively. “Are you mad?”

“No,” Sana pouted. 

“Then can you make me some hot chocolate?”

“No,” Sana pouted even more. “Nico’s bedtime is in an hour and if you get to have hot chocolate she gets to have hot chocolate and you can see where I’m going with this.”

“Can’t she stay up late? She’s in preschool it’s not like she’ll have any makeup work if she skips a day.” Chaeyoung wrapped her arms around Sana. 

“Your teaching her to be a delinquent.” Sana pushed Chaeyoung away. “Shower, then we’ll talk.”

“Okay,” Chaeyoung sighed. “I love you, and I missed you."

“Yeah yeah,” Sana rolled her eyes. “I love you too, but I can’t kiss you if you die from hypothermia.”

“Umma!”

“Nico baby I told you to stay in the other room-”

“Oh hello princess,” Chaeyoung smiled and bent down so Nico could hug her. “Or should I say monkey?” Nico giggled as Chaeyoung noticed she was wearing her sock monkey pajamas.

“How was the trip?”

“It was fine Nico, thank you for asking,” Chaeyoung pecked Nico’s cheek.

“Nico baby Umma needs to take a bath, she was out in the cold and she might get sick if she doesn’t.” Sana informed the child. Nico hugged Chaeyoung tighter and Chaeyoung laughed.

“Umma don’t be cold!” Nico chanted as she hugged Chaeyoung tighter. 

“I’m not cold anymore,” Chaeyoung smiled and kissed Nico’s cheek. “Thank for that monkey.”

“See Mommy? Umma’s not cold anymore, because of magic hugs.” Nico turned to Sana.

“Yeah Sana, magic hugs cure everything.” Chaeyoung smiled at her girlfriend. 

“Stop being cheeky, both of you,” Sana groaned, fighting off a grin on the corner of her lips. 

“Umma,” Nico looked up at Chaeyoung’s face. “You have something on your shirt.” Chaeyoung looked down and found exactly what Nico was talking about. She groaned when she saw the dark brown substance on her white sweater. It would never come out, and she liked this sweater. “Was there another one?”

“It wasn’t anywhere close baby, they can’t hurt you,” Chaeyoung whispered reassuringly. 

“You promise?” Nico held her tiny pinky out and Chaeyoung nodded. 

“I swear princess.” Chaeyoung intertwined her and Nico’s pinkies before standing up and facing Sana.

“Chaeyoung go take a shower, Nico why don’t we finish watching our movie okay?” Sana told the two.  

“Mommy,” Nico whined.

“Nico,” Sana mimicked. “Movie or early bed time kiddo.”

“Fine, movie,” Nico grumbled, releasing her grip on Chaeyoung. 

“I’ll be down soon princess okay?” Chayeoung smiled at Nico. “I seriously think your mad at me,” Chaeyoung commented once Nico had run off. “I’m sorry for driving home in the snow baby. I missed you so much and it wasn’t even that far. I swear.”

“Your bike Chae, I saw it when you pulled in, the tires look destroyed.” Sana sighed. “What happened?”

“Since when do you know so much about motorcycles?”

“Chaeyoung I rode them for like three years.” Sana answered casually.

“Really?” Chaeyoung asked in shook. “Why didn’t you tell me? And why are you now driving a car?”

“Well I quit when I moved to Korea, I had mine in Japan and my father wouldn’t let me take it to Korea because he was mad at me for choosing to go study there for my last two years of college. Anyway this isn’t about me, what happened?"

“Don’t worry about it babe, the roads were really rough in Arizona okay? I couldn’t control it, the road ate up my tires.” Chaeyoung offered Sana a weak smile.

“Your telling the truth?”

“Scout’s honor,” Chaeyoung told Sana in English. 

“What does that mean?” Sana asked as she arranged the blanket draped over Chaeyoung’s shoulders. 

“I don’t know, one of the boy’s in town told it to me and I’ve had it in my head ever since.” Chaeyoung laughed. “But I think it means I’m telling the truth.”

“Alright fine,” Sana sighed. “I was just scared. I’m sorry for being a bit strict.”

“It’s okay baby, I know. You weren’t being that strict, I could tell it was because you care.” Chaeyoung sighed, rubbing Sana’s arms reassuringly. “I love you.” Chaeyoung leaned forward and kissed the taller girl’s lips and Sana instantly melted into the kiss. 

“I love you too, but please go shower your lips are freezing.” Sana muttered after they pulled away.

“I will,” Chaeyoung laughed. “I’ll be down in a bit,” Chaeyoung winked at Sana before running upstairs and taking a quick bath before returning downstairs. She smiled when she smelled Sana’s peppermint hot chocolate. She found her girlfriend and child in the kitchen and she was quickly handed her world’s best umma (she had written Umma in herself in messy handwriting with a permanent marker, and Chaeyoung wouldn’t dare smudge it)  mug Nico had given her last mother’s day. She laughed as she and Nico got matching whipped cream mustaches and Sana laughed with them as she cleaned up. They watched another movie before Nico came down from her sugar high and fell asleep against Chaeyoung. Chaeyoung carried her to bed before returning to Sana. 

“Where was it this time?” Sana asked once she returned and Chaeyoung felt the atmosphere change. 

“Behind the gas station,” Chaeyoung sighed. “It looked young too.”

“There’s been more and more of them around here recently. Two in three months is a new record.” Sana sighed. “And you’ve had to g