Apprehensive.

"…Say unnie, why are we here?" Asked a girl with chocolate-brown hair, from outside the car.

As she uses to do before doing something that would require effort, she stretched her arms and back making some noises.

"To overcome my fears…" said the other girl from the passenger seat, fearing the decisive attitude of the other.

She clung to her seatbelt with such pression that her knuckles were already white.

"Let's review the plan then, what is the first thing you should do when you see them?" she asked, leaning against the window on the girl's side.

"I should smile" she said under her breath.

The answer was not enough for the other girl, so she gestured her to continue.

With a sigh, the girl, who had dark brown hair, listed

"to make eye contact, say 'Hi, I'm Chorong’..." she was nervous so she swallowed hard, "... listen to them and play".

The girl outside the car nodded animatedly and proceeded to open the door, decisively.

"Bomi, I don’t think I'm ready." Chorong closed her eyes and didn’t move a bit from her seat.

"Unnie, you said you would do it this time. I even asked you five times before coming here." Bomi smiled and pressed the button to release the belt, waiting for the girl to get out of the car.

"You shouldn’t pressure someone to overcome their fears, Yoon Bomi. That goes against the protocol to..." Chorong complained from her seat.

"I knew you would say that, wait a second!" Bomi exclaimed and went to the back of the car, confusing Chorong.

When she returned, she had a big black bag in her hands.

"…That's why, I brought this baby…" Bomi opened the bag and inside there was something way too pink, calling Chorong's attention. "Ta-da!"

"What the…?" Chorong couldn’t understand why Bomi pulled out a gigantic pink stuffed bear head, nor how it would help with her current dilemma. "... Bbom-ah I’m not a clown"

"If you wear this extra pink, extra cute suit you won’t have direct contact with them! Is a safety barrier, but a nice one? And surely they’ll like you from the beginning"

Bomi pulled out the whole costume, and gave it to her, convinced it was a great idea.

"But what if they all approach me suddenly... it’ll be worse." Chorong said scared.

"Then... consider it a 'Shock Therapy'" the girl said thoughtfully. Obviously, she didn’t think about it well, but in her mind, somehow… it could work.

She had seen it on some TV show where people is put before their worst fears. Of course, some ended traumatized, bitted or burnt, but some of them were ‘cured’.

That TV show was cancelled after only 12 episodes, and the producers were sued, but

how bad it could end with Chorong?... Is not like she’s making Chorong to go trough a bunch of snakes or bees.

"But that's not..." Chorong, a naturally skeptical woman, found no relationship in her words.

"Yah Park Chorong!" Bomi shouted, finally exasperated.

Almost immediately Chorong's hard look reminded her that it isn’t right to shout at an older person. And is worst if that person is Chorong…

"Sorry… Unnie, but we've already talked about this.

It’s not the first time that we are in this very same place, parked in the same spot, without having achieved anything."

Although initially Chorong became angry at Bomi's lack of manners, she felt guilty.

It was true that the brunette had kindly accompanied her to that place several times.

She once tried to go by herself as a new-year resolution, only to make a U turn and head back home immediately.

"Look, I don’t want to pressure you. I understand that I shouldn’t," Bomi said, much calmer and looking at her softly. "It's just... I'd like you to try once at least"

After looking at the bear suit for a long minute, she nodded.

"Okay." She took a long breath and got out of the car finally.

She, Park Chorong, an adult and smart woman, would not let herself be defeated by some irrational fear generated by her anxiety. "I’ll do it." She said solemnly.

She would overcome her fear of children.

"Great! I’ll help you with this…" Bomi animatedly said. “I bought this a month ago and now it finally has utility”

“You what?” Chorong was about to complain about Bomi’s lack of common sense but the other just rushed to open the zip of the costume.

A few minutes later there was a striking pink bear standing next to a car.

Bomi, of course, was having the time of her life because of the ridiculously adorable scene. She took as many photos as she could and could almost see Chorong's pink and puffy cheeks behind the bear's head.

"I can’t see a damn thing with this on". The girl tried to pull out the huge pink thing but Bomi stopped her.

"watch your language, you know… for the kids. And that, my dear unnie, is the intention~" Bomi sang, holding on her laugh.

"Are you making fun of me?!" Chorong tried to hit Bomi but failed since seriously, she could hardly see through the two holes of the eyes.

"No." Bomi tried to sound serious by failing in the attempt and began to laugh loudly

The disguised girl tried to get back in the car, her self-esteem was hurt.

"Ok, ok. Sorry. But is not every day you can see a giant pink bear." Bomi took her by the shoulders and pulled her away from the car. "So, ready?"

"No..." said Chorong.

"Well, let’s go." Bomi took hold of Chorong’s arm to help her not to trip in the way to the tall doors of the building.

"What if they don’t like me?"

"Do you know any child who does not like a big pink plush bear?" Bomi said, though on second thought, she didn’t like stuffed animals when she was a little girl either. "Well, it's debatable, most of them should."

"... what if they ask me where the babies come from?!" Chorong stopped in panic.

"Hahaha unnie, I don’t think kids go around asking those questions to every adult they meet"

Chorong reconsidered it, Bomi made a point again. She hated being this childish but she can’t help it.

Normally, she is not like that. Most of the time she’s a respectable public prosecutor with a serious office, and a serious cactus over her serious desk.

And there she was, fearing to meet a bunch of kids.

Good thing nobody from her job is watching her like this.

"If children attack me you have to help me" said Chorong following her path.

Suddenly the girl inside the suit felt a blow to the head on the opposite side to which Bomi was going. But it was too obvious who had hit her.

"Yoon Bomi" she said in a threatening voice.

"It was a branch, Rong unnie" The mischievous tone with which she said it wasn’t convincing at all.

Just when the older was ready to go on with Bomi’s game and decided to kick her, another voice was heard,

"Good morning, welcome to St. Joseph’s Children Home.” The feminine voice was calm but also firm. “To what do we owe your visit?"

"Hi, I'm Yoon Bomi and the bear here is called Chorong. We want to spend time with the children. Of course, if that is possible," Bomi explained politely.

"Oh! that's adorable." the woman said more enthusiastically than before, "but I'll need your IDs, you know, legal matters."

"Sure! Ehh... We leave our things in the car. I'll be right back, sorry"

When Bomi let go of Chorong's arm, the bear immediately complained. "It’ll only be a moment unnie, we also leave the snacks in the back seat hehe"

"Don’t take too long Bbom-ah." Chorong stood shyly next to the woman who was smiling at her.

"I was wondering who were the people who always are stationed here in front for hours and then leave... a little scary if you ask me"

"Sorry. It was my fault. Should I take off this?" Chorong asked taking the big head off, which made the woman chuckle.

"It's okay. I saw your face before and I know you’re a human… through CCTV.” Chorong blushed out of embarrassment, “use it if you want to… Sometimes people do that, going back and front because they’re not ready"

"Really?" Chorong asked and put the head back over hers.

"Yes. It is more common than you think. Mostly now, people find it difficult to deal with children." Behind the bear's head, Chorong still had the expression of concern.

As Chorong stayed silent, the woman understood without words the situation and continued speaking,

"People come here for various reasons and are always welcome. We need to keep the kids active, you know.

Some, as I think is your case, want to overcome their fear of the little ones."

Bomi still didn’t come back and seemed to be struggling to get a huge box of candies and things.

"Last week a woman brought her husband here to lose the fear of carrying a baby."

"Isn’t that like… using the kids?" Chorong could be a little reckless at times.

When she recognized her blunder, she put her hands to , well, to the bear’s muzzle.

"Hahaha that may seem." The woman continued to laugh for a moment. Chorong relaxed a little. "Actually, our children love those who come to play with them.

It's an orphanage after all, they need a lot of love. "

That woman made a statement that struck a chord with her.

She came to that place with a selfish motive.

However, for those children, it could mean a difference.

In a few seconds while she was debating with herself if she should come another day with a purer motivation or stay because it would be more embarrassing to leave, a sound of things bouncing inside a box approached.

"I'm sorry... every time we come here, we bring presents but we never deliver them..." Bomi had two boxes stacked and a bag hanging on one side. Chorong could barely see, but she hurried to take a box by herself. "These are our identifications ..."

The kind lady took the papers from both of them and put them on her clipboard.

"Well then, follow me lovely girls."

The lady led them to a small house next to the door that was separated from the main building.

Through the holes by which she could barely see things, Chorong saw some children's games in the front yard.

There were no children outside, totally understandable since the weather was a bit cold as winter is starting to bring freezing breezes.

"The children are inside the house.” Said the woman noticing the pair’s curious eyes, “We don’t want them to catch a cold, it's a bit difficult to control outbreaks of flu here

…there are almost 30 children, and if one of them starts sneezing, that’s the beginning of the war" said the woman.

As if Bomi guessed Chorong’s thoughts —she doesn’t like germs and a room filled with potential influenza containers is not a pleasant idea—, she rushed to change the topic.

"It's a shame, we brought some balls too... I guess we can’t play with those for now" said Bomi looking at her box sadly.

"I think they'll find the way," the woman said smiling as she took notes. "By the way, I'm La Miran, the director of this place. I should have told you before but there’s so much in my head and sometimes I forget manners"

"Nice to meet you Mrs. La" said both girls at the same time.

"... and... can we go see them?" Bomi asked with genuine joy after some minutes.

"Someone is excited~" Miran got up from her seat, once she finished writing the needed information in the scattered papers over the messy table. "Of course, let’s go. What about our Pink Bear?"

Chorong swallowed and nodded.

The time has come.

If only she could fake an emergency, but her phone was at the car.

"I'll take this" the lady took the bag of snacks with her. “I’ll have to check them”

"They are healthy snacks and fruits that have vitamin C, for defenses..." Bomi hastened to say. "Chorong unnie insisted on buying those,

although... I don’t know if they will like it, they don’t have much flavor"

"That's because you eat too much sugar and artificial colors, I've told you hundred times that you should be healthier," Chorong refuted.

"But unnie ~ I do work out. I need the carbohydrates," the girl proudly said.

"Your body will not be young forever, Bbom-ah. You must take care of yourself while it is possible so that later you do not regret... "

"Yes, unnie ..." sighed Bomi. "But if you keep scolding me you will get older faster"

With that last comment Bomi stepped forward a little before Chorong could catch her.

Mrs. La smiled at the behavior of the two. Almost as if two of her kids were taller.

"They’re behind these doors. First, I must announce that you are coming to visit, you know... to prepare them, I mean… they’re well behaved but just in case."

"Bbom-ah, I don’t think I can do it." Chorong raised her bear's head and then Bomi could see the anguish in the face of the former.

"It's okay unnie, let's just hand over the presents and we'll leave when you’re not feeling okay…" She tried to calm her down.

"You don’t understand, I-", the door opened again and Bomi lowered the bear's head quickly before the children could see her...

"I'm here. If you have an emergency just yell... eeehh, 'Sugar please' and I'll go running"

Chorong didn’t have time to respond or complain, the children were excited by the visit.

And soon there were a few of them hugging the pink bear.

The children did their thing, they were curious about the identity of the bear.

"Are you someone famous?" Asked a small boy as he pushed the bear's right flank.

“I love bears!!!” yelled another hugging tightly Chorong. “And pink is my favorite color!!”

"Are those toys?" One of the girls pointed to the box.

The bear was overwhelmed with so loud sharp voices that she just nodded and lowered the box as she could, which caught the attention of all the children who approached, in Chorong's eyes, like a horde of zombies.

Although in reality the children had been sitting neatly around the bear. Expectants

"Sugar!!!! Honey!! Huh ... glucose ... PLEASE!"

Bomi, who was entertaining other kids, heard Chorong's terrified voice and went to her rescue.

"Hey, we have gifts for you... but first, do we play games?" Bomi sat on the floor, signaling Chorong to do the same.

"Let’s play the multiplication table game!" Suggested one and others grimaced.

"that’s not fair, I still don’t know the tables... let’s have a race!" Said a girl cheerfully.

"We can’t go out to the playground Joohyun-ah... how about MAFIA!" Another taller girl proposed.

"But you always win that game" a big-eyed girl complained.

As they could not get an agree, Bomi thought of a solution more in her style.

"How about dancing? Our bear friend is a very good dancer too! Who want to see our Pink Bear dancing?!"

Causing Chorong to sigh defeatedly inside the costume.

Even if most of Bomi’s ideas included Chorong to do tiring things, as running and dancing, she was relieved that the younger was there.

At first it was difficult to catch the kid’s rhythm, but little by little she relaxed and discovered that, in reality,

children seemed to be simpler than she thought.

By lunchtime she was able to take off her bear suit and that of course, caused the children to ask her more questions, to which she responded in the way Bomi had told her:

"Give simple answers that end in a question for them... if you don’t know what to answer, try with 'what do you think?'...”

Bomi was a P.E teacher in an elementary school, and as far she’s been working there, she owns the tittle of “most loved teacher” and “Best baseball couch” —even if there’s only one couch in the entire school.

She even has lots of ‘her children’s’ fluttering letters, where the kids showed their love for her. As if she was a kind of star.

And, Chorong must admit it. Bomi is definitely a special person.

Also, under her childish attitude there’s a wise woman too.

Everything was going fine, it was a new experience and she could say she’s feeling ok. Until a child, the smallest of all approached, asked innocently

"Noona, where do babies come from?"

Her cheeks flushed and she looked for Bomi with her eyes, but the latter was helping to serve the food. She was alone with a bunch of kids looking at her curiously and she did not know what to do.

"Should I answer the biological basis?

Should I skip parts? It may be inadequate…

The "stork" is very twentieth century and is no longer recommended...

What did the specialists say? Godamn it, I don’t have my phone…"

Her train of thoughts was still running at full capacity, but she couldn’t formulate any coherent answer until the same big-eyed girl, called Namjoo, spoke;

"They come through the main door Subin-ie, we all know that... have y'all already washed your hands?"

The children looked guiltily at each other and ran to the bathroom in a race to get first, bumping into others in their way.

Namjoo winked at Chorong and went to Bomi, to ask for more snacks.

Life is full of surprises.

A bullet dodged.

After spending all the day there, they decided that it was time to leave and once they were back in the car neither spoke or had the energy for it.

After a few minutes Bomi was curious about Chorong's progress,

"And ... How are you feeling?" She asked, worried that the experience had traumatized her even more.

"It wasn’t that bad." She said simply looking at no particular point, “but I’m so tired”

"Same here..." Bomi leaned back in her seat a little.

"Oh really? It seemed like you wanted to stay a little longer."

"Not even I have enough energy for that hehehe" there was a moment of silence. "But I will definitely be back soon."

"Me too"

Two years later.

"Yoon Bomi where are you? They’re asking for you" Chorong's voice sounded irritated.

"Sorry, the traffic is horrible now and the principal wanted to have dinner with all the teachers and you know him, he doesn’t take a no as an answer so I struggled to get out there and...” Bomi said at all speed, she knew the other was mad.

“I'm sorry, but I'm on my way." Bomi looked at the long line of cars and didn’t seem to be moving any centimeter.

As accepting her fate she sighed and gave up, "You know what? I won’t lie to you, I don’t think I'll get there soon." Bomi waited for the scolding by closing her eyes.

Her unnie could be keen to a high level,

"Ugh. It's okay." With that she confirmed her dark future, she will get an earful for sure. “At least try to come for the ending”

Bomi was about to say she’ll try but the other already hang up. “GREAT”

She’s not one of those angry drivers but at the moment, she started using the claxon furiously.

An hour later Bomi came running to the auditorium.

Everything was over and there were only a few people chatting about how great the event was and others were saving the decorations.

She seriously thought about going back to the car stealthily and avoiding Chorong as much as possible, but a pair of big eyes saw her.

Namjoo and the other children went running to where she was and embraced her.

"Auntie Bbom I won the first place with the trick you taught me!" Little Subin, who had grown a little since she met him, proudly displayed a blue ribbon.

"That's great! I’m proud of you all… But I missed it... I'm truly sorry guys," Bomi said sadly, and suddenly saw Chorong's eyes.

She didn’t seem angry, but she was definitely upset.

"Chorong unnie recorded everything for you unnie," Namjoo who was hugging her from the side, said grinning "I won in the dance contest by the way."

"Aww Joo! Do you know what that means?" She said intently.

"PIZZA!" The children shouted in unison.

With the noise, the others adults looked where they were. Making Bomi to beam apologetically.

"Kids, go to Mrs. La and we’ll see you at the usual pizzeria, okay?" Chorong interjected.

When the children left with their guardian Bomi did not want to look directly at Chorong.

"I’m so sorry"

"It doesn’t matter anymore," she said without emotion in her voice.

"Did you record everything?" Bomi asked timidly.

"Yes. It was prodigious" Chorong smiled, she enjoyed to see Bomi that nervous but it was enough, she seemed to be really sorrowful. "Come on, you promised buy us pizza."

"Huh? Unnie, I thought we would buy it half and half..." Bomi hurried to catch up with her.

Suddenly Chorong stopped and looked at her smiling.

"W-what? You scare me Rong unnie." Bomi was afraid of being hit somewhere.

"Today I resolved something," Chorong said taking Bomi's hand, and the latter nodded for her to continue. "I'm ready."

"… Ready for?”

When she finally figured out what was Chorong talking about, her eyes widened as if she could scarcely believe what she was hearing. Bomi tried to say something but only stammered incoherent things, making Chorong laugh heartedly.

“I don’t know what you said but yeah”

Bomi hugged her so tightly that the older almost ran out of air.

"I promise to be the best mom in the world, thank you honey." Bomi kissed Chorong’s neck and kept hugging her, about to cry.

"But… will you arrive at their recitals on time?"

"I promise… wait" Bomi halted a little to see Chorong’s face, still wrapping her arms around her, “’their’? How many children do you want?” 

“Remember when we first meet six years ago?” Bomi nodded, “I almost ran away from our blind date because you said you wanted to have six kids,

now I think we can handle an average”

Finite ~

* A / N: NotAFan is getting older and softer.

This time my intention was to write without thinking too much. I don’t know if it's ok, but anyway… posted!

The idea came from a chapter of Full House, when Uncle Jesse was about to have twins and the family told little Michelle he was “apprehensive” (MX-Spanish dubbing)

... and a talk I had with a friend who wants to specialize in Pediatrics.

Still, I do not like kids, Miss S.

**Special mention to Redux, thanks for coming back, I’ll haunt you down if you disappear like that again. You said you can’t write fluff, and as I said, a drink can help XD **

In case you didn’t noticed, they were married since the beginning 😉

Hope you liked, byebye ~ *