[ based on author’s own childhood experience ]

Park Sooyoung was a smart child and she knew it.

She’s now six years old, a year older and therefore smarter than she was when she was at the ‘baby’ age of five, like Yerim is now.

Don’t tell Yerim she said that though, she doesn’t need to sit in the corner for teasing her sister again. Heaven knows she’s wasted enough of her precious time staring at the corner for every one of her transgressions.

And yes, Sooyoung knows that word. She reads.

No, not the dictionary, you nitwit. She’s not boring. Just clever. Sharp.

And if her Aunt Taeyeon had anything to say, it was that Sooyoung was a little too devious for her own good.

It’s not her fault Seulgi and Seungwan were such easy targets. Forgiving even. Seulgi always laughs it off and Seungwan would just pout before waving it off five minutes later.

Sure, the kid plays a lot of harmless pranks for the most part but sometimes it scares Taeyeon just how smart Sooyoung is. Maybe if she used that evil mastermind brain of hers towards positive things, then the woman wouldn’t be so concerned.

But Taeyeon knows Sooyoung has a good heart. She really does.

It just takes some time to see it.

–

When Taeyeon said it takes time to see Sooyoung’s good heart, she meant it.

Especially right now as she tries to suppress the sigh that wants to escape her lips. In front of her stood the six-year-old genius, beaming as she held an old shoebox in her hands.

Said shoebox contained a nest with three little eggs.

Where they came from, Taeyeon had absolutely no clue. But she knew she had to put her foot down.

Out of all the kids, Sooyoung was always drawn to animals the most, having warmed up to Ginger right away when the girls first came to live with Taeyeon, and she had only been two years old then. She practically grew up with Ginger, and later Zero. Taeyeon can still remember the little toddler waddling around after puppy Ginger, always insisting on feeding him and playing with him while her sisters stayed as far away as possible, especially Joohyun, who cried the moment she first laid eyes on the dog. It was almost as if Sooyoung preferred animals over people.

With this knowledge, Taeyeon knows she shouldn’t surprised that Sooyoung somehow came into the possession of what she assumes and hopes are bird eggs.

Heaven forbid if they were any other type of egg.

Crocodile eggs, spider eggs…she shudders at the thought.

Kneeling down in front of the child, who was cradling the box with hearts in her eyes, Taeyeon spoke up gently, so as to not risk any upset in the pig tailed girl (and to prevent herself from being a victim of the child’s wrath if things go south).

“Sooyoung, my sweet, sweet princess,” Taeyeon cooed. Sooyoung finally takes her eyes off the eggs to look at her aunt, eyes shifting from a loving gaze to one of boredom.

“Yes, Aunt Taeyeon?”

“That’s an interesting thing you have there. Where did you get it?”

“From the back of your closet,” the child deadpanned.

“Heh, no no, not the shoebox, princess. I meant what’s in it.”

Sooyoung brightens up at the inquiry of her precious eggs. “They’re bird eggs! I found them at the park on my way home from school! Aren’t they cute?”

Taeyeon nods stiffly, muttering what sounded like a half-hearted confirmation that, yes, Sooyoung, those eggs look adorable and not at all disgusting because we don’t know where they came from and oh my goodness wHAT IF WE GET SALMONELLA?!

She clears . “Yes, they are, ahem. But uh– why did you bring them home?”

“Because I’m going to raise them,” Sooyoung says with an unspoken ‘duh’ that Taeyeon just knows the kid was thinking in her head. On that note, the child held her head up high and walks past Taeyeon and to the kitchen, considering the conversation done and over when it was far from that.

They can’t have these things in the house and Taeyeon knew it.

She didn’t need Joohyun or Yerim crying at the mere thought of having to live with more animals. It took Taeyeon four months to even get them used to Ginger, and an additional two months for Zero. Don’t get her started on how long once Tiffany brought her pups into the family as well.

And goodness gracious, she REALLY didn’t need Seulgi and Seungwan accidentally cooking with the eggs for another one of their cooking experiments.

Nope, she is putting her foot down.

“Sooyoung, I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to keep them.”

The child spins around to face her and Taeyeon shuts her eyes and braces herself for the six-year old’s wrath but nothing came. Opening one eye, she’s met with a pout and brown eyes glistening with tears.

Oh dear.

“Look, kiddo. I know you love animals, but these eggs aren’t yours. Their mom is probably looking for them. And you know the rules about stealing.”

Silence.

“And you don’t know where they’ve been. They probably have lots of germs and bacteria on them.”

The pout is still there. And good god, the kid’s lips are wobbling. And– oh , was that a tear?

Taeyeon can feel her resolve breaking.

“These eggs, they–they belong in the wild, out in nature, not in our house. They’re not like other pets.”

“It’s not fair,” Sooyoung whispers sadly, her head downcast. “You get to have Ginger and Zero. Aunt Ppany has Prince and Princess. Even Seungwan unnie gets to have her fat hamster. And you promised Yerim a pet turtle for her birthday!”

The woman can feel her heart aching. These were all very true, very valid points. For someone who loves animals the most, Sooyoung actually didn’t have any of her own.

“Why can’t I have something that loves me too?”

The dam broke and the tears flowed freely, heart wrenching sobs escaping Sooyoung’s lips. And Taeyeon knew the child wasn’t faking it. When it came to animals, Sooyoung was 100% sincere.

But this was one thing Taeyeon couldn’t give her.

Her foot was down, and that was final.

–

Sooyoung refused to speak to Taeyeon for a whole week after Taeyeon took the girl back to the park the very same day to put the eggs back.

She wanted nothing to do with Taeyeon, having felt completely betrayed by her beloved aunt. If Taeyeon came into the room, Sooyoung would stomp off without a word. If she was forced to be around Taeyeon, then the child would pretend the woman didn’t exist.

Taeyeon knew the little girl was upset, and she tried not to let Sooyoung’s behavior get to her, but she should’ve known Sooyoung wouldn’t go down without a fight, or revenge at least.

Taeyeon could feel a pang in her chest every time she saw Sooyoung cuddled up close with Tiffany, even going out of her way to exclaim loudly, “You’re my favorite aunt in the whole wide world, Aunt Ppany!” whenever she knew Taeyeon was listening and Tiffany would just look at her with a look of pity.

But Kim Taeyeon doesn’t give up. She had a plan.

Sooyoung will forgive her, she’ll make sure of it.

What she didn’t know was Sooyoung had a plan of her own.

_

Aunt Taeyeon said she couldn’t raise the eggs in the house.

She never said Sooyoung couldn’t do it outside the house.

And when the evil mastermind realizes this fact, she pats herself on the back (after facepalming herself for not realizing it sooner for someone as smart as her). She would’ve cheered had she not been in the middle of class. But they were just practicing addition and subtraction problems and Sooyoung already knew the multiplication table by heart, so she allowed herself to zone off and think about her precious eggs.

She turns down Yerin and Hayoung’s invitation for a sleepover that weekend in favor of tending to her eggs. If she was going to raise them, she had to be a good mom.

The problem now was, how was she going to get to the park without letting people know her plan? She may be a genius but she’s only six. She knew the world was a scary place with scary people. It’d be very bad if she got hurt or kidnapped trying to get to the park.

Who would raise her eggs?

Or worse – who would name them?

Sooyoung was not about to let Seulgi name her babies after her favorite chips or whatever. Joohyun would just name it after some brand of fabric softener. Seungwan might name it after some kind of dessert. And Yerim would probably name it Bob for all she knew.

Absolutely not.

There was only one person who could help her.

–

“Auntie Ppany~”

The woman looks up from her laptop at the call of her name and smiles at the sight of her sweet niece.

“Hi, sweetheart! Did you need something?”

Sooyoung put on her puppy dog eyes, knowing Tiffany could never resist them. Unlike a certain traitor who shall not be named right now.

“I wanna go to the park today. Can we? Pretty please?”

With hands clasped together close to her chest, Sooyoung looked at her aunt with all the cuteness she could muster.

“I don’t know, baby. I have a lot of work to finish and–”

“No, it’s okay. I get it. You’re too busy for me. Everybody is. I’m used to it.”

With that, Sooyoung looks down, allowing her tears to well up in her eyes just enough before turning to walk away but she doesn’t even make a step forward before Tiffany stops her, face full of worry and regret.

“H-hey! That’s not true. I’ll always make time for you. Go put your shoes on and we’ll go, yeah? Tell your sisters too.”

Sooyoung squeals happily. Step one complete. “You’re the best, Auntie Ppany!”

The six-year-old leaves the study feeling quite proud until she realizes what Tiffany said.

Her sisters.

Sooyoung lets out an exasperated groan. Her sisters are going to mess things up for her, she just knows it. What’s worse is, they don’t even mean to. It just happens and she can’t even blame them for it, not really.

But like the traitor who shall not be named, Park Sooyoung is not a quitter.

_

“Whatcha doin’?”

Sooyoung flails backwards with a yelp, landing on her bottom as the surprise visitor giggles with mirth.

“What do you want, Yerim? I’m busy,” the six-year-old groans, standing up to brush the dirt from her pants.

“You didn’t answer my question,” Yerim replied sassily, little arms crossing over her chest, “And I would answer if I were you or I’ll tell Aunt Taeyeon you were being naughty, and she’ll put you in the corner again.”

Sooyoung scoffs.

With the amount of times she’s been in the corner, it might as well be named after her. As if being sent to the corner was much of a threat to Sooyoung these days. If anything, unbeknownst to the adults, Sooyoung has started using her corner time to meditate and do some self-reflection, which really only lasts about five minutes before she goes back to concocting another prank in her head.

But here’s her younger sister, actually trying to…threaten her? Sooyoung didn’t know whether to be offended or proud. Yerim was known as the Sooyoung’s other half in their little devil duo, learning every trick in the book from the young master herself. Sooyoung should’ve known the kid wouldn’t leave her alone. Since when did Yerim go from the baby who couldn’t pronounce her R’s to threatening Sooyoung with full sentences?

“If I tell you, will you promise to keep it a secret?”

“What secret?”

Oh no, now her older sisters were here. Sooyoung bites back a groan. She’s been doing too much of that these days and princesses like her do not groan. It’s unbecoming of them.

Joohyun looks at her youngest sisters expectantly. She had noticed Sooyoung walking off but decided not to pay much thought to it, preferring to sit on the swing and gaze up at the sky.

While making sure Seulgi didn’t try to drink the pond water again.

But then Yerim wandered off too and she knew something was up. Joohyun took her unnie role seriously and so she hopped down from the swing to fetch Seulgi from the pond (luckily the girl was just feeding the ducks some bread) and Seungwan from the sandbox, who stood up and left her sandcastle with a pout when Joohyun called her.

“What are you up to, Sooyoung? Don’t tell me you’re doing something bad again. Aunt Taeyeon will send you to the corner, you know,” the eldest warned.

“Oh for the love of chicken! Stop with the corner! Corner this, corner that! I like my corner, okay?! I’d rather sit in the corner in peace than do chores as a punishment!”

“It’s okay, Youngie. We just want to know what you’re doing. Maybe we can help!”

Oh Seungwan, her sweet Seungwan unnie. Always so patient with her.

Sooyoung sighs.

“If you must know, I’m trying to raise my eggs in peace! And you’re all disrupting that peace!”

Seulgi ignores the blame her sister just placed on them, much more interested in Sooyoung’s little project.

“Wow, you’re taking care of them? I wanna help too!”

“No fair! I was here first!”

“Well, I’m the oldest so I should get to help her.”

“Unnie, you thought she was doing something bad! Besides, Youngie likes me the most, right?”

Sooyoung shakes her head tiredly. Her three precious eggs didn’t cause her nearly as much stress as the four kids in front of her.

Just then, Seulgi gasps. “Wait! Sooyoung, you didn’t touch the eggs did you?”

“Why? What’s wrong?” Joohyun asked.

“You can’t touch bird eggs because then you’ll turn into a bird! You’ll grow feathers and everything!” Seulgi said, waving her arms hysterically.

Seungwan shook her head. “Where did you hear that from?”

“Jongin told me! He said his older brother Jongdae touched some eggs and ended up getting sick! It’s probably because he was sprouting feathers!”

Yerim doesn’t like what she’s hearing. She doesn’t want to turn into a bird! With a wail, she runs off to find Tiffany. Seungwan slaps Seulgi’s arm, to which the girl responds with a pout, rubbing at the sore spot.

“Aw man, you scared Yerim!”

“I didn’t mean to! She needed to know. We can’t lose our sister to a life as a bird. Imagine how lonely Sooyoung would be if we couldn’t recognize her anymore with her feathers.”

Said girl wonders if she could just sneak away quietly with the eggs but her plans were thwarted when Tiffany walked up to them with a crying Yerim in her arms. She stops in front of the little group, confusion on her face with an eyebrow raised but Sooyoung knew she meant business, especially when any of them cried.

“Girls, can you tell me why your sister is crying about being turned into a bird?”

“She did it!”

Three index fingers pointed straight at Sooyoung, who sputters at the accusation.

Betrayed. She feels betrayed.

_

Tiffany decided it was best to take the girls home after the incident. She wanted to talk to Sooyoung before Taeyeon came home and things became more tense. It was bad enough in the car on the way home.

It was one thing for Sooyoung to be mad at Taeyeon, it was another for her to be mad at her sisters. Despite their little fights and arguments, Sooyoung would do anything for the girls, and is fiercely protective of them. Tiffany doesn’t even think the kid realizes it sometimes.

But Sooyoung was furious. Whatever it was that she wanted to come to the park for, she was clearly upset at her sisters ruining it for her, that much Tiffany could tell. All of the girls reacted differently when they were angry or upset. But this was an angry Sooyoung Tiffany had yet to see.

The child simply sat in her seat, still and silent, eyes forward and face void of any emotion. It was concerning. Sooyoung wouldn’t even respond when Seulgi tried to apologize.

When they finally arrive home, Tiffany gathers them onto the couch, sitting in front of the expectantly.

“Who wants to explain to me what happened at the park today?”

No one spoke up, and it was the least they could do, Sooyoung thought, after they threw her under the bus earlier.

“Sooyoung, do you have anything to sa–?”

“I’m home!”

All eyes turn to Taeyeon, who just stepped through the front door, hiding something under her jacket.

“Oh, good! You’re all here! I have something to show you!”

The woman approaches Sooyoung, who looks away as expected. She couldn’t deal with any more traitors today. But it doesn’t deter Taeyeon.

“Princess, I know how much it hurt you to give up your eggs. And I thought about what you said. I didn’t realize you felt that way. You do deserve to have something that loves you too. Which is why I brought you this.”

A small yelp is heard as Taeyeon reveals what she was hiding in her jacket.

It was a puppy.

With sweet eyes that only looked at Sooyoung the minute it was pulled out from the jacket. It looked the same as Aunt Tiffany’s dogs. And it had a green bow on it too!

“I’m sure this little cutie will love you, but I want you to know that I love you too. We all do, and we want you to be happy. I hope you can forgive me, kiddo.”

Without a word, Sooyoung jumps into Taeyeon’s arms, giggling as the puppy her cheeks. She leans in to whisper into Taeyeon’s ear.

“Thank you, Auntie Taengoo.” And she meant it. When Sooyoung said those things a few weeks back, she meant it. She truly did want something that looked at her with unconditional love. And now she does. But maybe she’s had it all along.

“What are you gonna name it, sweetheart?” Tiffany asked.

Sooyoung looks into the puppies eyes. It’s still small, just a baby, but Sooyoung already knew it was going to be her best friend, someone who will always make her happy when she’s down, who brings her warmth and never fails to put a smile on her face.

"Haetnim. Her name is Haetnim."

The End.