“Seul-“

“Shhh…” The three year old warned her aunt with a finger over her lips. “Mommy’s sweeping.” Jennie said, though her warning sounds are cute than threatening as she can’t pronounce her L’s just yet.

“Jennie!”

Joy had always been assured that there is nothing in this world that can shock her, but her nieces are sure to test that theory. Right now, she stood still, trying to process what she’s seeing as she watches her bestfriend’s three year old stepping on her little bear stool to place her dinner inside microwave before pressing 2:00 like a mini boss.

But it didn’t stop there, before Joy could jump back to make sure Jennie doesn’t burn those little hands. The little girl puts on her little bear mittens before waiting intently for the microwave to beep.

“Hey! Let me do that.”

“Don’t worry aunt Joy, I got it.” Jennie motions Joy with her cute little paw to take a seat next to her. “Mommy! It’s time to watch Powowo!”

Joy could hear a bear groaning in the bedroom across before Seulgi stumbles sleepily out of her room.

“Is it? Oh Joy?”

“You let Jennie microwave?” Joy said, completely appalled at Seulgi’s parenting skills.

“What?” Whatever sleepiness that Seulgi had earlier was completely wiped away. She turns to her little girl, a look of complete worry all over her gorgeous face. “Baby, what did I say about you microwaving?”

“But I didn’t get huwt,” The baby reasons out.

“I know, but what if something happens and I’m not awake?”

“Oh.” Jennie hangs her head low after getting a scolding. But her mom softly lifts her chin up, almond shaped eyes disappearing in a sweet smile, “But you wew sweeping.”

“It’s okay.” Seulgi coos at her daughter’s sweet gesture. “Mommy would wake up just for you.”

“You will?” Those worried little brown eyes brightened up at her mother’s promise.

“Always.”

And at the corner, a surge of pride rises in Joy to see how her bestfriend who before couldn’t even take care of herself was now raising a bright little girl on her own.

*

It felt like déjà vu almost except that this time, Joy took a step back, watching like a show as almond eyes trail Jennie’s every move in the kitchen.

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Seul… Jennie is a better cook than you.”

Seulgi frowns before turning her attention back to her daughter, “Well, I could help ummm… I don’t know, slice stuff?”

“Mom- I promise, I got it.” Jennie answers, tasting the sauce. “Here, try this.” She offers a spoonful of Arrabiata sauce she’s been slaving on for hours.

Seulgi’s eyes flutters in excitement, her expression looking like she’s in a pasta commercial, “Oh wow, baby, that’s really good.”

“Really? Don’t you think it needs a little pepper or something?”

“I think it’s perfect, my love. Chaeyoung is very lucky.”

“She got it, Seul. And besides I think she wants to make it special for her girlfriend.”

The high school senior rolls her eyes dramatically, “You just have to go there, huh aunt Joy?”

“Of course.”

*

“What are you doing?”

“What do you mean?” Wendy asks mindlessly, her hand working on muscle memory as she places another plate on the dinner table. But her wife swipes the plate away before she could finish setting up.

“You already cooked, Wen. Let Jisoo and Chaeng set up the table. Jisoo! Chaeyoung!” Irene’s voice boomed inside their two story Mcmansion.

“What?” A voice answered from the second floor.

“Don’t what me. Come downstairs and set the table.”

“Please,” Wendy chided her “say please to the girls, Irene.”

Irene just replied with an exasperated groan, “Please!”

Their eldest daughter popped in first, her new Switch still on her hand. She look like she hadn’t slept for days, yet she couldn’t look more happier.

“Hello, Jisoo, I haven’t seen you all day,” Irene subtly slide it in there.

“Hello mama,” Jisoo’s eyes glow, turning into a pleased “O” at the table, “Oh, is it time for dinner already?”

“Put your game away.” Irene commanded, “Help set up the table, where is your sister?”

“She’s getting ready for her date night.”

“Oh yes. 100 days, baby. Can you believe that?” Wendy sighs dreamily.

Irene just answers with a low hum, “Well, congratulations to them.”

“-You know we have been talking about getting an English name and I thank you for trusting me with that decision.”

Wendy and Irene exchanged worried glances not sure if trust is really the right word to use.

“Okay, so, what have you picked for yourself?”

“Alright. Alright. Be prepared to be wow…”

Her moms know they’re going to be wowed, they’re just not sure if they’ll be wow for the right reason.

“Let me introduce myself, Hello mothers, my name is Jisoo Tutel Labit Son- Bae.”

Of course. Of course. Only their daughter could think of that.

“Wait… Can you say it more slowly?” Wendy asks, trying to make sense of what she heard.

“Turtle Rabbit.”

“Turtle Rabbit? You name yourself turtle rabbit? Like the animal turtle?” Wendy asked over and over just to make sure she heard it right and not going crazy like she thought.

But Irene was getting close to her menopause years and wasn’t entertaining anymore of these ridiculous ideas from her own child.

“No.”

“What?”

“No. I said no.”

“What? Why?” Jisoo frowned. “I thought you guys said I could pick.”

“A real name, Jisoo. A real one. I carried you for nine months and was in labor for ten hours. Trust me, I have every right to tell you no.”

“But Chaeyoung name herself with her favorite flower and mommy Wendy name herself out of her favorite fastfood-”

“No, I did not.” Wendy quickly corrected her.

“From Peter Pan’s Bae?” Jisoo asks.

“No. No. Look, your mama has a point, Jisoo. People don’t really name themselves after animals.”

“That’s kind of unfair, don’t you think? People name themselves with flowers and fruits. But how many people did you meet have names from animals?”

“None.”

“Exactly. It’s unfair.”

“Hmmm.” Wendy hums, her face scrunch up in thought. “Well if you think about-“

“No.” Irene does her wife’s thinking for her, nudging her wife on the rib. “No, Jisoo. Might as well just stick to your name.”

“Fine. Fine. Fine.” Jisoo raises her hands up in surrender. “Maybe I’ll just choose a flower too.”

Wendy and Irene exchanged looks. This time they shared a look of triumph to finally have their daughter backed against the corner.

“That’s good.”

“Ah! I know.” Jisoo pouts thoughtfully, that beautiful face scrunched up in thought while that extra beautiful mind goes to work. “Jisoo Chrysanthemum Son-Bae.”

Oh God, they can never win against their own creation.

“Chrysanthemum?”

“Do you even know how to spell Chrysanthemum?” Irene taunted her daughter.

“C-H-R-Y-S-A-N-T-H-E-M-U-M.”

“Okay fine.”

“Well, sweetheart. Maybe just maybe that name is a little too long, you know? You already have two last names-“

“And a dash too.” Jisoo adds, reminding her moms how her last name is spelled.

“And yes a dash too. It would be a pain for your college applications.”

“That’s true, that’s true.”

“How about Lily? Or Daisy? You look like a Daisy.”

“Or, or…” Jisoo would never fall for such a common flower name. “How about Irene Junior?”

“Ahhhhhh…”

“My nickname could be IJ?”

“Well, ummm… if we name you Irene Junior? Chaeyoung already-“

“That’s okay, mom. We can still call her Tall Wendy.”

Irene is ready to end this conversation before she suffers from a heart attack. “Go and wash your hands, Turtle Rabbit.”

Jisoo pumps her hands up in the air, “You can call me Rabbit for short.”

Irene opens to call on her daughter Rabbit, when the doorbell rang, their home is instantly filled with squeals followed by skipping down the stairs.

“That’s Jennie- “Chaeyoung sees the expression on her moms face and quickly added, “-unnie. Jennie unnie is here.”

“Okay, why don’t you invite Jennie in for a bit?”

Chaeyoung tilts her head in confusion, “What? Why?”

“Hi Jennie,”

“Oh hello, aunt Wendy? Aunt Irene?”

Wendy greets the high schooler with a bright smile, placing her pasta dish on the table.

“Did you eat?”

“Well, no, not yet.”

“Oh, I forgot you guys are going on your date.”

“Where exactly are you going?”

It takes a lot to scare Jennie, but when she heard her aunt Irene’s questions, goosebumps started raising on her skin, Stephen King can’t relate.

“I… I actually cook.”

“Oh. That’s so romantic. I’m pretty sure Chaeyoung would like it-“

“Maybe you’ll even get lucky.” Everyone’s head snapped over to Jisoo’s direction. Their eldest daughter instead put her focus on placing the pasta on her plate. “I meant, maybe you’ll win a lottery, why what are you guys thinking?”

“I think that’s very romantic.” Wendy tries to change the subject, hoping they could avoid that talk until Chaeyoung turns 30. “You really know how to treat someone special, Jen.”

Irene doesn’t know if her wife is just letting that subtly slide in there,

“So, what are you planning to take Chaeyoung back home?”

“Maybe twel-?” she didn’t even get to finish her sentence, when her Aunt Irene already raised a brow. “Elev-” The expression on Chaeyoung’s mama’s face didn’t change one bit. “Ten?”

“It’s seven, what are you guys planning to do for three hours?”

“I know but I’m not going to say,” Jisoo Turtle Rabbit says in a singsong voice.

“Don’t worry about it, Jen.” Wendy says softly. “She can come at midnight.”

“What? Oh wow. Really? Oh wow.” Jennie could actually hear the hallelujah chorus, until she sees her Aunt Irene’s stern expression. I’ll bring her home by then.”

“Well, you kids have fun.”

“Thank you.” Chaeyoung says with a thankful squeal, before giving her moms a goodbye kiss. “I’ll be back. Don’t wait up.”

*

“What’s wrong, Chaeng? Does it taste bad?”

“What? No. no. I’m just…”

Chaeyoung wanted to say that she can’t ask for anything more. When they walk in Jennie’s apartment, her girlfriend leads her over to the balcony where there is a candlelit dinner waiting for them. Instead of taking her to a five star restaurant, Jennie took the time to actually cook for her and prepared this romantic dinner date for her.

Chaeyoung has always been a true romantic at heart. A fan of fairy tales even when she was still a baby but even she couldn’t help but feel when reality is just looking like it’s too good to be true. How can she be this lucky?

But the older girl just looks back at her with pure adoration. Jennie thinks it’s adorable how Chaeyoung is suddenly getting shy with her eating habits.

“Chaeng, when we were kids you would ask me for my cupcake.”

“I ummm…” the blush on her face only got deeper, “Sometimes, you would just give it to me.” Chaeyoung defended her once little hungry self.

“Ahhh… I guess I knew then, that seeing you smile is worth more than a cupcake.”

Chaeyoung glances away, trying to hide her smile from Jennie’s adorable confession.

“Sorry I didn’t get to say this earlier because your parents were there and it feels kinda awkward, but ummm… you look really beautiful tonight.”

The high school junior bites her lower lip nervously, trying to calm the nerves taking over her from such a sweet confession.

“Thank you. You always look so pretty. Oh. I got you something,” Chaeyoung giggles gleefully, ruffling through her bag before pulling out a box.

“Wow Chaeng-“

“Open it, open it.”

And Jennie did and what she found inside the rectangular box was worth more than anything that her previous rich exes have ever given to her. The prettiest silver charm bracelet with J and C dangling from it.

“You know after working at the maid café, I manage to earn enough to get you this.”

But maybe Chaeyoung sees her silence as a form of rejection because Chaeyoung bright smile dimmed a little.

“Is it alright?”

“Yeah… I mean Chaeng, it’s the best thing I have gotten ever. I love it,” She leans over, pressing a kiss on Chaeyoung’s lips. “And I… love you. I really do.”

Chaeyoung smiles through their kiss, maybe for tonight, she really have her fairy tale story.

*

“That book seems very interesting.”

Irene just rolls her eyes from her wife’s quip, trying to distract herself from glancing on the clock and went back to her book. What was she reading again?

“It’s going to be okay, babe.”

“Why am I so worried? Isn’t that your job?” Irene almost says in defeat. She couldn’t understand it either, she thought parenting was as good as black and white with a few hints of gray in between. But here she is, sometimes completely at a lost every once in awhile.

“Tell me about it. Maybe I’m worried too, but I know it’s not necessary.”

Irene looks at her wife, wondering if she has the answers to this parenting schtick. “We know Jennie since she was a baby. Seulgi also tells us what’s going with her. But she had always taken care of Chaeyoung eversince.”

“That’s true.”

“What we do need to worry about is that Jisoo needs to take her driving test soon. I actually check out the prices of the different driving lessons.”

Wendy hands over her phone to Irene, and she could see Irene’s eyes grew wider and wider as she reads the different prices.

“For one class?” Irene says in dismay,

“Well, there is packages too. Like 5 classes for-”

Irene raises her brow, “For that price? We might as well save that money for her college fund. You know what? I’ll teach her then.”

“Wait? You?”

“What does that mean?”

“It’s Jisoo we’re talking about.”

“Knowing her, she’ll torture us a bit, then 5 minutes before her lessons end, she’ll turn out to be this amazing driver.”

“So, you’re up for it?”

Irene turns to her wife and if there is one thing she is good at, it’s that she’s ready for a challenge.

“I got it.”

But just when Irene’s worry about her eldest one subsides, when she saw that it’s a minute before 12 and her baby is still out there quickly rises up her blood pressure.

But right before she’s about to reach out her phone, they hear the front door lock slowly open just in time for the clock to strike midnight. 

“Guess, Cinderella is home.”

TBC

Hi! I know it's been a long time since this fic is updated but here it is. Hopefully it's worth the loooooong wait if you guys are still reading it. Technically it's still Easter where I'm from so happy Easter! Please Stay safe during these crazy times and let's stay positive for better days ahead. Thanks for reading! 

Extra Edit: Turtle Rabbit is all from the Real Jisoo Kim's mind, this epicness can't be made up, it's real. lol