to yoohyeon, family is everything. as much as she hates to admit it, it is what it is.

yoohyeon used to be the princess of the kims. the only favourite. everyone adored her. the apple of her moms’ eyes. whatever she wanted, she got it.

well, that was before gahyeon was born. it was a memorable 3 years of her life (not like a 3-year-old yoohyeon could remember much). yoohyeon believed gahyeon is a spawn of the devil, coming to earth just to make her life a living hell.

the cute, bubbly newborn gahyeon had everyone swooning over her and snatched that princess title from yoohyeon. now yoohyeon is just the eldest daughter of kim bora and kim minji. 

see, her parents, just like any parents, are annoying, to say the least (to be fair, to a 15-year-old yoohyeon, everyone is annoying). surviving in this household is a struggle. every waking life is a struggle. she just can’t wait to be an adult and get the hell out from this house. 

why, you asked? well, well, well...

i.

a road trip with your family should be a fun journey, right? but nooooo. her parents would argue over the smallest thing. 

"minji, you took the wrong turn!" her mom said to her mommy, almost yelling. 

"relax, will you? i know this road." her mommy tried to calm her wife. 

"are you sure? you’re not even following the gps!" 

"shh, you’re distracting me." 

“you shushed me?!”

yoohyeon sighed. here we go. she glanced at her sister who's currently engrossed with her phone. 

"moms, please don't fig--" yoohyeon tried to put out the fire but her words fell on deaf ears when the argument got even intense. 

she gave up. she sat further into her seat, crossing her arms while watching her moms battled it out. then she heard gahyeon cleared before reading out loud-

"according to research, witnessing parents fighting can cause emotional distress for children. it can trigger early anxiety issues and other mental health issues. furthermore, it can also lower their self-esteem an-" 

yoohyeon’s jaw dropped. this brat has a death wish.

their moms closed their mouth in an instant. 

“sorry, guys...” her mommy said while looking at them through the rearview mirror, she looked genuinely apologetic.

her mom turned her head to face them (more like to face gahyeon) and said, "we weren't fighting, honey. were we talking too loud? i'm sorry, baby."

yoohyeon squinted her eyes looking at her mom. i see how it is...

gahyeon sure is their favourite child. if it was yoohyeon who did that, it would turn into an hour lecture, no scratch that, it would turn into a lecture throughout a whole journey. 

my moms . 

ii.

having dinner together is a must in this household. as usual, her mom would do the cooking, her mommy would help prepare the ingredients and yoohyeon would set the table. gahyeon? well, seemed like she’s the big boss in this house. it’s unfair how her moms let gahyeon watch tv while she ended up setting the table alone.

pfft, picking favourites.

the dinner for tonight was a sinfully creamy fettuccine alfredo. the family took their own seat before digging in their meal. 

yoohyeon was fully indulging in her creamy pasta when her mommy asked her to pass the pepper. she passed to her absent-mindedly, way too focused on her pasta. she didn't realise when it happened but suddenly--

"is the pasta too bland for you?" her mom asked her mommy. her tone filled with accusation. 

"what? no. i just like it spicier." 

"when i asked you if you wanted spicy or not, you said just do as i normally do," her mom huffed. "nothing i do is perfect around here," she heard her mom sighed. 

ah, here we go again. her mom, the drama queen kim bora always took things a little bit seriously. an exaggeration, really. 

"i said that because the kids don't eat spicy food, bora." her mommy tried to defend herself. 

"moms, please don't figh-" 

"i think it's just perfect, mom," gahyeon chimed in, showing her chubby thumbs up. 

"thanks gahyeon. i can always count on you." her mom said. 

i am here too??? what about me?!?!?

iii.

yoohyeon rarely brings friends over. it's nothing really, it's just she has a few close friends (that her moms know all of them) and she also values a little privacy. so, she doesn't really like to bring friends over. especially when they’re not her close friends.

but when her math teacher paired her up with a classmate of hers to tutor her for this semester because she failed her math test, well, yoohyeon had no choice but to invite her classmate over. sure, they could just go to the library, but yoohyeon’s house is closer.

here's the thing, her moms had never met yubin before, so there's 99% chance her moms were going to embarrass her in front of her crush friend. 

and she's right. 

"oh hi there! who's this, yoohyeon?" her mom asked when yoohyeon entered the house.

"hi mrs. kim. i'm yubin, yoohyeon's classmate," yubin greeted and bow to her mom politely.

"i need yubin's help with my math," she said while leading yubin to the stairs. 

"wait a minute, young lady," her mommy emerged from the kitchen. urgh, what now.

yoohyeon halted her stride and faced her mommy, "yes?" 

"are you really just studying? no funny business?" 

"mommy, please," yoohyeon rolled her eyes.

“minji, come on, they’re teenagers.” 

“yeah, exactly. what did you do when you were a teenager, bora?” 

that question got her mommy tongue-tied. “okay… yeah. yoohyeon! study only, no funny business!” 

“ugh!” yoohyeon groaned before taking yubin to upstairs. “sorry my moms are embarrassing”

yubin laughed, her small nose crinkled a little, “it’s okay. i’m quite used to embarrassing parents. i have one too, you know.”

just as yoohyeon about to close her door, she heard her mommy yelled, "keep your door open!" 

she can't believe her mommy would be like that. usually, her mom would be the dramatic one. 

after getting settled, the two started their math lesson immediately. yubin patiently explaining to her the concept of geometry, and how right-angled triangle works.

“okay, so you can only use pythagoras’ theorem on a right-angled triangle. you see there are three sides, right?” yubin pointed at the diagram of the triangle. after seeing yoohyeon nodded her head in understanding, yubin continued. “the longest one is called the hypotenuse,” 

if all math teacher is as pretty patient as yubin, she probably would ace her math test every single time. yoohyeon sighed dreamily, looking at yubin's gentle eyes. 

when she thought she's finally at peace, the devil’s spawn made her appearance. 

"who's that?" gahyeon asked, her head peeking out from the doorframe.

"my friend,” yoohyeon gave her a curt reply. “go away, we're studying," yoohyeon very much annoyed with the interruption. 

gahyeon ignored her sister and stepped inside the room. 

"hi i'm gahyeon! what's your name?" 

"ignore her," yoohyeon whispered to yubin.

to which made yubin chuckled and said "it's okay." oh, you’re too pure for this world, lee yubin. 

"hi gahyeon, i'm yubin!" yubin waved her hand to gahyeon. 

gahyeon seemed to be processing the name. she had this thinking face, as yoohyeon liked to call it. and usually, that thinking face do not bring anything good.

"go away gahyeon. we're studying here. or i'm gonna tell mom you're disturbing us," yoohyeon got up from her chair and walked towards gahyeon, trying to get rid of her sister. 

"yubin?" a lightbulb seemed to light up in gahyeon's head. "isn't she the one you wrote in your dia-- hmmpph" 

yoohyeon closed gahyeon's mouth with her hand in a flash as she quickly dragged gahyeon out of the room. 

"gahyeon, shut up!" yoohyeon hissed as soon as they’re at the hallway.

"that's your crush right? i'm gonna tell moms you're in your room with your crush!!" 

"shhh!!!!" yoohyeon tried to close gahyeon's mouth again. "tell me what do you want? i will buy you ice cream, okay? candy?" 

"no," her sister replied firmly. 

"no?" yoohyeon looked at her sister incredulously.  

"i don't want ice cream. or candies." 

"what do you want? cake?" 

"buy me the strawberry pencil case. you know which one." 

"what? ask moms for that!" 

gahyeon shook her head, "they said to wait until the one i'm using wore down first." 

"then wait?" yoohyeon said as matter of factly.

"mom!!!!" gahyeon yelled. and goodness heavens, her voice is piercing. 

"okay! okay! i'll buy it for you!" yoohyeon replied, having to admit to her defeat.
 
gahyeon smiled in triumph. 

"what is it, honey?" she heard her mom called from downstairs. 

"i’m hungry, what’s for lunch today?" and there went gahyeon, skipping away to her mom. 

that brat… yoohyeon thought about the savings that she had to sacrifice. 

kim gahyeon, i hate you. 

iv.

it was summer that year that she had the most traumatic experience ever. she wouldn’t wish it upon anyone (well, maybe gahyeon. but even so, it would be too brutal for the 12-year-old) 

that summer, she was about to join the english camp that she practically had to beg her moms to sign up for it. she was so excited about it. she already imagined all the language activities she’s going to do with her friends that weekend.

it’s the only thing she was really looking forward to that summer. 

but for some unfortunate reason, it turned out that the camp master was bitten by a poisonous snake. since they had to make sure the camp is safe from any wild animals, they had to send back the students to their home that morning. much to yoohyeon's dismay. 

with heavy footsteps and a heavy heart, she entered her house. the house was silent because well, gahyeon wasn’t there. she had a sleepover at auntie siyeon's house where her bestfriend dahyun was also there. 

usually her parents would be lounging around watching television together at this hour. and seeing the cars were safely parked outside, her moms were definitely in the house. 

after a few calls with no answers, she figured her moms would be upstairs in their room. yoohyeon climbed the stairs, wanting to deliver the sad news to her moms. 

yoohyeon really wished she didn't open the door that day.

it's one thing to see your moms . it's even worse when you saw one of them was on their knees while the other had a whip in her hand. she didn’t even want to remember which one was them. 

the shriek that came out of her was not human. 

"YOOHYEON WHY DON'T YOU KNOCK!" one of them yelled from inside the room. 

"WELL WHY DON'T YOU LOCK YOUR DOOR!" she yelled back, after closing the door at lightning speed.

yoohyeon stomped her way to her room while rubbing her eyes, wishing the image would go away. boy, do they last. 

yoohyeon ended up with a high fever that weekend. the shock really got to her.

v.

despite it all, yoohyeon is glad she's a part of the kims.

she truly believes her mom, kim bora is the perfect match for her mommy, kim minji. and vice versa.

she could truly see it. 

she saw it in their stolen kisses, when they thought yoohyeon and her sister wouldn’t notice.

she saw it in the way her mom would bake whatever dessert her mommy was craving at that time, even though her mom just got off from work.

she saw it from the way her mommy would go out of the way just to build her mom the shelves for her plants.

she saw it when they're happily dancing in the kitchen, and her mom laughing at her mommy’s dad jokes (which was really bad, by the way).

their moms, they’re not perfect. they’re far from it. and yet, they’re perfect for each other.

and yoohyeon wouldn’t have it any other way.