Chaewon finished work early and was excited to head home to see her family.

She reached home and opened the door. As usual, Nako greeted her first. But unlike the norm, Hitomi was not in the kitchen prepping dinner. Something is off.

“Where’s mama?”  Chaewon lifted Nako into her arms.

Nako pointed to the couch.

“Did something happen?”

Nako giggled and nodded.

“Big.” Nako spread her tiny arms wide.

Chaewon reached the couch only to see Hitomi leaned back, hair a bit frazzled and eyes closed.

She was almost afraid to ask.

“Tomi?”

Chaewon lowered Nako onto the ground and sat on the edge of the couch next to Hitomi.

Hitomi opened her eyes, looked at Chaewon and simply said two words.

“Your daughter.”

Chaewon looked at Nako and then at Minju who was doing homework on the dining table. It was pretty obvious which daughter Hitomi was referring to.

That word “your” struck a chord with Chaewon. When “our” daughter becomes “your” daughter, it could only be one thing. Chaewon admits she is fairly stubborn. And somehow all their daughters inherited this trait to varying degrees, much to the displeasure of Hitomi. The most of stubborn of the three is without a doubt their youngest, Yuri.

“So, should I ask what happened?” She raised one eyebrow which caused Nako to giggle again.

“We walking home.”

Nako began the story.

“Yul had pika…”  Nako starts trotting around the living room.

“There….big puhol  (puddle).” Nako jumped.

“Na jump…and then Yul jump.” Nako jumped again.

Chaewon was trying her best to understand the story.

Suddenly, Nako laid on the floor, face down. Chaewon held her laughter as best as she could.

“Yul went this. Pika fell da water. Yul cry. Big cry.”

“Mama took pika. Yul big big cry. Yul no bath. Yul bad.”

Chaewon looked over at Minju again, she was too engrossed in her homework to care for her sister’s theatrics while Hitomi stayed in the same position with her eyes close.

Chaewon kissed Nako on her forehead.

“I get it. Thank you.” She laughed.

Chaewon walked to the hallway where she found Yuri sitting on the floor, exactly where she had expected, staring at the open closet. She could see Yuri’s clothes were still covered with mud and there were a few spots on her face too. Yuri’s signature pout was visible. She shook her head and laughed.

While she didn’t fully understand the whole story from Nako, it was enough for to get why Hitomi is not happy and Yuri is her stubborn little self.

She sat next to Yuri on the floor and looked in the same direction as Yuri. A yellow blob was spinning inside the washing and drying machine. Chaewon looked at the time remaining, 6 minutes.

“Yul?”

No response.

“You need to take a bath.”

No response. Yuri kept staring at the machine.

Chaewon sighed. She knows she won’t