Snippets of the Yoo-Im Household over the years.

I.

No… this can’t be happening!

“Jeongie, I don’t think I can do this…” Nayeon struggled for calm as she stared down at the positive pregnancy kits lined up neatly in front of her on the table. “I can’t be a mother! I… I just can’t.”

“Relax; focus on my voice,” Jeongyeon held her hand. “Take deep breaths.”

After a few minutes, Nayeon felt more in control of herself and she shot Jeongyeon a tentative smile.

“You’ll do just fine Nabongs; you love kids.” Jeongyeon squeezed her hand reassuringly. “You’re a natural with them.”

That set her off again.

“But it’s different! Those were other people’s children!” Nayeon exclaimed before deflating. “You know that I don’t exactly have the best role model for being a parent… what if… what if I end up like him…?”

“I see that you have made your choice, Nayeon. You always were such a disappointment. Get out of my sight right now!”

“You won’t.” Jeongyeon said firmly, snapping her out of her thoughts. She met her eyes. “You’re you. You’re Im Nayeon. You’re not your father and you will never be. You’d rather die than let yourself turn into someone like him. I know you, and I trust you, Nayeon.”

Nayeon looked away. “There’s still one more thing…”

“What is it?”

She plucked up the courage to voice the other issue that was bothering her. “I think we should stop.”

“Stop…?”

Nayeon walked away from Jeongyeon, preparing herself for another argument. “Stop this. We can’t keep doing this Jeongyeon, not with a baby.”

Her hands slipped down to cover her stomach. “After that time where we broke Jihyo out, we sent ourselves to the top of the hitlist; if anyone finds out about the baby...”

“Okay.”

“Huh?”

“Okay, let’s retire.” Jeongyeon agreed easily, nodding. “Just that? I thought you wanted to break up with me or something.”

“I would have, if you were insistent on continuing.” Nayeon assured, already protective of this little person that she had yet to meet. I won’t let you grow up like I did, I promise…

“See? You’re already being a good parent, placing the safety of your child as the top priority.” Jeongyeon pointed out. “Give yourself more credit; you can do this and I promise that you won’t be alone.”

She got up and started pacing.

“Since you’ve been honest, it’s my turn now, to be honest too.” She smiled at Nayeon meekly. “Actually, I’ve been thinking about retiring as well.”

Nayeon gaped at Jeongyeon in disbelief, knowing how persistent she was in finding out what happened to her family; the two of them having had many fights about it in the past.

“I’m serious.” Jeongyeon closed the gap between them. “I’ve been thinking about it for quite some time; some things are meant to be left buried in the past… we should cherish what we have right now, and especially with a baby on the way…”

“A baby represents new beginnings. Why don’t we find somewhere that’s safer for raising a child and settle there, forget about all this?”

Just like all those years before; Jeongyeon grinned broadly as she held a hand out to Nayeon.

“Miss Im Nayeon, will you run away with me?”

II.

When Nayeon first held the wailing, squirming mass that she had labored hours over to push out of her body, it was cliché but she felt all her tiredness fly away at that very moment.

Oh.

She carefully cradled the precious bundle in her arms, afraid that she might hurt the baby.

Mine.

This is mine.

She had always secretly thought that newborn babies were kind of ugly with how squished they looked but this baby, her baby.

Her baby was perfect, even if she did look squished.

No.

She looked at an emotional Jeongyeon who was next to her.

Our baby.

“She’s perfect, Nayeon.” Jeongyeon said breathlessly, unable to tear her eyes away.

“Mina.” Nayeon blurted out suddenly.

During the course of the pregnancy the two of them had gone through dozens of names and after much debate, settled on a short list of potential names with ‘Mina’ being one of them.

Looking at this moment now though, it felt right.

Nodding in agreement, Jeongyeon reached out a trembling hand to the baby’s cheek. “Welcome to the world, our little Mina.”

III.

Mina was, unsurprisingly considering her parents, a demanding baby.

She cried all the time.

She cried when she was sleepy.

She cried when she was hungry.

She cried when she needed a diaper change.

She cried when she was the slightest bit uncomfortable.

She cried when she was set down and this resulted in either one of her parents having to hold her at all times.

This meant that her sleep time was the only time that the two of them could have a break; however, getting her to sleep was another monumental task.

Neither of them minded though.

“Get some sleep for those panda eyes Mrs. Yoo,” Jeongyeon teased as she rocked the cranky baby in her arms. “Mina’s falling asleep soon; you can stare at her more later in the morning.”

“Hey!” Nayeon said defensively, embarrassed at being caught. “I don’t stare that much…”

“It’s okay; I stare at her too.” Jeongyeon admitted quietly. “I’m scared that if I look away for even just a while, I might miss something… she’s so small, but growing so fast... Oh! Do you think we should have a baby album? We can use it to record major milestones and everything. Plus, it’ll be insurance if Mina ends up becoming an emo teenager; we’ll can use it as blackmail material to ensure she obeys her curfews.”

As if she understood what her parents were currently discussing, Mina picked that exact moment to start crying. “Waaaaa!”

“Yah, Yoo Jeongyeon! She was just about to fall asleep!” Nayeon quickly took over carrying Mina. “Don’t worry, your Jeongyeon-mama is just teasing you. She won’t do that; if she does, I’ll smack her.”

“Nayeon! She’ll grow up spoilt at this rate.”

“Says the one who insists on carrying her around until she falls asleep despite all that research on sleep training.” Nayeon countered. “Who was the one going ‘you need to ignore your baby and let her cry on her own to tire herself out’?”

“Guilty as charged,” Jeongyeon shrugged. “I can’t just leave her crying and ignore her.”

Nayeon sighed. “Me too. We’re screwed, aren’t we?”

“Heck, Mina’s unique! All that expert advice can it. If she grows up spoilt, so be it!”

“Agreed!”

“I hope she grows out of this fussy mood though…”

“… that as well.”

Going out with Mina for her checkups, however, was tricky as they had to juggle their extensive baby supplies, distract her to ensure that nothing triggered her off, and carry her all the time.

“Tsk, the two of you are spoiling your baby.”

“Excuse you!”

Jeongyeon had to stop Nayeon from throwing herself at the random passerby who had felt the urge to pass a comment.

“Nabongs, she’s not worth it!”

“Yeah, run like the puss—”

“Not in front of the baby!”

“Oh right. Sorry.” Nayeon smiled sheepishly before shouting after the fleeing stranger, not caring that she looked like a madwoman. “We don’t need busybodies like you commenting on how we choose to raise our kid!”

IV.

“Come on Mina, say ‘Nayeon-mama’, I know you can do it!” Nayeon chanted to Mina who was seated in the baby chair, delightedly slamming her hands into the bowl of gloop that was baby food and sending it flying everywhere.

It was lunchtime for the baby but Mina did not seem interested in eating, taking in only a few mouthfuls before starting to babble rapidly in baby language.

This got Nayeon super worked up as she was certain that Mina was going to say her first word soon.

Although… Jeongyeon is so going to get mad once she sees the mess. She winced as some of the baby food splattered onto her hair.

Reluctant to give up though, Nayeon continued to focus on Mina. I’ll just clean up later… or leave it for Jeongyeon to clean. HA!

“Say ‘mama’, can you do it? Ma-ma.”

“She’ll say it when she’s ready Nabongs.” Nayeon turned around to see Jeongyeon setting down the groceries on the counter. “Now, about this mess…”

“Mina did it!” Nayeon quickly pointed at the culprit who was still sending baby food flying.

“Are you selling out your kid, Mrs. Yoo?”

“Why, I believe I just did Mrs. Im.”

Smiling softly at each other, their heads drew closer and they were about to kiss when—

“Ma!”

The two of them immediately broke apart to stare at Mina.

Mina noticed them staring at her and grinned. “Ma!”

Nayeon’s eyes widened. “Did you hear that Jeongie? Our baby just said her first word!”

Contrary to her composed behavior earlier, Jeongyeon was caught between blubbering and panicking.

“Where’s the video camera? Oh my gosh I didn’t capture that moment on video what should we do? I missed our baby’s first word on camera! I’m such a failure I—”

“Jeongyeon! Look!”

“Ma! Mama!” Mina said again, making grabby hands at the two of them. “Mama!”

“Yes Minari?” Nayeon lifted her up from the baby chair, noticing how Mina seemed to be judging Jeongyeon. She laughed. “Give her some time, your Jeongyeon-mama is a little overwhelmed at the moment. Can you call me ‘mama’ again Minari?”

“Mama!” The baby repeated happily in response while patting Nayeon’s cheeks, the slimy sensation reminding the woman that Mina’s hands were covered in baby food.

Nayeon sighed. “Alright, it’s bath time for the both of us.”

V.

“Baby shark, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo…” Singing the latest song that Mina was obsessed over; Nayeon walked through the house slowly.

In the living room, she stopped before the pair of tiny feet that were sticking out from the floor length curtains and tapped her chin thoughtfully. “Hmm… I wonder where can my baby shark be?”

She pretended to look under the sofa and then under the coffee table. “Nope, there’s no one here either. I guess I should look somewhere else.”

Hearing giggles from the curtain, she turned and pretended to walk out.

“Rawr!” Mina pounced on Nayeon from behind, failing miserably in her attempt to look fierce in her shark onesie. “Baby shark caught you!”

“Aigoo, you caught me!” Nayeon didn’t have the heart to remind Mina that she was supposed to be hiding while Nayeon was seeking, and also that sharks do not roar. “Alright baby shark, shall we look for your Jeongyeon-mama together?”

“Okay!”

Hand in hand, the two expanded their search to the upper floor and in one of the bedrooms, discovered a suspicious large lump on the bed.

“Wow, Jeongyeon is really good at hide-and-seek.” Nayeon sighed dramatically as she sat on the bed next to the lump. “Maybe I should give up.”