“It’s a big day. How are you feeling, darling?” Chaewon flexed her knees slightly so she could get to the same level as Luda, allowing her mom to fix her hair after adjusting her hearing-aid to keep it properly covered. She could’ve done it herself, but she would never refuse the care from her moms – there was something that always made her feel calm whenever Luda combed her hair with her fingers, and Jiyeon gently patted her head despite how tall she had grown.

“The biggest!” Jiyeon echoed her wife’s words, coming close to help fix the tie of Chaewon’s school uniform and give her a thumbs up in approval – just like every day, for one last time.

“It’s just graduation. It’s no big deal.” She repeated what she already told them several times this week, albeit her tone didn’t betray any annoyance, but patience – she knew how excited they were to take zillions of pictures of her and throw a good celebratory dinner, just like they did for all her previous graduations.

Clicking her tongue, Luda shook her head. “It is a big deal. You are finishing high school and that means we are not getting any more adorable yearbook pictures.” Luda said in a tone that was only half joke – she did love collecting her only daughter’s school pics as much as she loved collecting games. “We are very proud of you, Chae. Proud of the woman you have become.” There was no humor in her tone now, but her brown eyes shone with pride and fondness.

Feeling her ears growing warm, just like her heart, she opened to thank her moms for everything they had done for her – an old habit she struggled to shake off.

Jiyeon cut her off before she could say anything. “No ‘thank you’s, remember? Having you in our lives and seeing you happy is more than enough.” Patting her head as if she was still a kid and not a full-grown adult now, Bona hugged her by the shoulders and gave her a mischievous smile. “Now what about letting us embarrass you one last time by letting me drive you to graduation?”

“Sure.” Chae agreed easily, looking from Jiyeon to Luda as she spoke, “It won’t be embarrassing at all. I’m proud of you, too.” And that was one of the many things that would never change between them, it didn’t matter what anyone else thought, their family was her source of strength and pride and she would never forget it.

Looking very pleased with themselves, the couple exchanged a knowing look, as if they had already predicted that reaction and what comes next – they did, Chae was their kid and they knew her better than anyone. “This means she won’t mind if we greet her pretty girlfriend!”

Chaewon made a face, remembering that not only her moms, but also her cousins and possibly her aunts would be there to congratulate her and talk to Minjoo as well. “Okay, maybe it’s just a little bit embarrassing.”

The couple only laughed, before the moms insisted on feeding Chaewon a big breakfast and another round of maternal pampering for her last morning as a highschooler.

That morning they also took her last picture before she graduated and joined the university she would be attending for the next few years, following Jiyeon’s footsteps as a lawyer. They posed to the picture in the living room, the cellphone timer set as the three women stood by each other’s side, Chaewon in the middle as her parents rested a hand on her shoulders, just like that time over ten years ago.

“Say mint choco!” Jiyeon shouted as the camera went off and they laughed, a sequence of pictures being taken to capture the genuine glee of that moment.

This time there was a big, contagious smile on every face in the pictures, no awkwardness, just the comfortable feeling of being around the people you love. Those smiles eternalized in the pictures, would stay for good, just like Chaewon stayed in their lives.

A/N: So, it’s over now! I wanted to make it as wholesome and sweet as it could be since TSOTH already goes a little deeper into Chae’s story, here we had bonlu’s pov more prominently.

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed it, whether you read it for bonlu and had no idea of this whole thing was about or you read it to see a little bit of baby Chae. Thank you for reading The Light Of Us!

P.S.: It took me like a year to finish this, so idk if it counts as a bday gift anymore, but here you go, Jin lol