She didn’t really mean anything by it. 

She just thought that Miss Irene and Miss Wendy are the only cool ones out of all the volunteers—they’re the only ones who actually cares enough to do the voices whenever they read to them.

So it shouldn’t be a surprise when she pulls Miss Wendy to a corner after reading time to say, “I wish my future mom will be as cool as you, Miss Wendy.”

It also shouldn’t be a surprise that she did it to Miss Irene the next day. 

But Yeri’s 10 now, and now she knows that adults make a big deal out of everything; so when she wakes up to her friends excitedly gossiping about how they overheard Miss Wendy and Miss Irene arguing because of her, it didn’t really surprise her either.

“I heard them say that they want to adopt you,” her friend reports to her, her eyes crinkling because she’s smiling so wide. “But I didn’t understand why Miss Suzanne was scolding them, though.”

“Maybe she’s telling them to pick a younger kid,” Yeri thinks back to when the owner prevented her from eating her fifth cup of pudding. “She always wants to sabotage me.” 

“But how does that work?” another friend asks. “They can’t both adopt you, right? They’re not married.”

--

The answer comes a week later, when Miss Suzanne takes Yeri out of a very important game of hide and seek because someone wants to see her. 

She sees Miss Irene and Miss Wendy on opposite sides of the swings, a couple of paper bags in their hands. 

“You know Miss Irene and Miss Wendy, right, Yeri? They volunteer here every weekend,” Miss Suzanne says, sounding entirely too stiff and professional in Yeri’s opinion. 

Yeri nods and moves to sit at the middle swing between Miss Wendy and Miss Irene. She glances at the bags in their hands and sees a couple of dolls. “Are we going to play today?”

“If that’s what you want, yeah,” Miss Irene answers. Yeri saw Miss Wendy direct a glare at Miss Irene but it was gone so fast that Yeri’s convinced she just made it up.

“Well, I’ll leave you to it. Have fun, Yeri! Irene, Wendy,” Miss Suzanne sends a look towards Miss Irene and Miss Wendy, almost like a warning, before walking back to her office.

“I bought you something,” Miss Irene starts, taking stuff out of her paper bag.

The action made Miss Wendy to rush beside Yeri, almost shoving her bag on Yeri’s lap. “Oh! Me too!”

It’s overwhelming, and after watching them fight over who gets to play as Yeri’s mom when they were playing house, Yeri decides that Miss Wendy and Miss Irene doesn’t really like each other, and they’re competing for her; which is unfortunate because when she said that she wishes her future mom was as cool as them, she meant exactly that. She wants both of them.

If you ask the caretakers in the shelter, though, you’ll find out that Kim Yerim is very good at getting what she wants.

--

Miss Irene was alone during the next visit. She was wearing formal clothes—the one that boring adults in TV shows always wear—and she looked tired, but Yeri still finds her very pretty—the kind of pretty that always win at the end of the sad boring movies she sees Miss Suzanne watch at night.

“Are you an actress, Miss Irene?” she asks in the middle of eating her melting popsicle stick.

“Why do you ask that?” Miss Irene asks, her tone a little bit amused.

“Because you look like one,” Yeri replies like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. 

“No, I’m not,” Miss Irene smiles. “I’m a professor,” she says proudly. Yeri would be happy for her if she knew what that meant. 

“What’s that?”

“Um, I teach teenagers,” she explains. “And adults, too, sometimes.”

Yeri’s eyes widened. “Adults need a teacher?” She grabs Miss Irene’s face between her hands. “Can you teach Miss Suzanne, then? She needs to learn how to be more fun, I think.”

Miss Irene laughs. “I don’t think that can be taught,” she removes Yeri’s hands on her face and replaces it with her arm around Yeri’s shoulder, “I think one has to be born with it, just like you are, Yeri.” 

“I think you’re born with it, too,” Yeri smiles, because Miss Irene let her have a second popsicle stick as long it’s their secret and she always keeps the drawings Yeri gives her.

Miss Irene’s eyes suddenly shines more than usual, Yeri thinks she looks just a little bit sad.

--

“How was your day? I heard you did really well on your test today,” Miss Wendy asks the next day, just after Yeri arrives from school. She has another paper bag in her hand, Yeri peeks and sees a couple of glow-in-the-dark star sets. 

“Yeah, it was easy anyway,” Yeri walks over to the swings. “We learned about turtles today!”

Miss Wendy sits on the seat beside her and starts swinging. “Really?”

“Yup! My teacher said that momma turtles leave their babies under the sand after she gets pregnant with them,” Yeri kicks the ground harder, trying to swing faster than Miss Wendy. “So I guess that means all turtles are like me, huh?”

Miss Wendy falters, then suddenly her swinging becomes slower, before stopping altogether. “Yeah,” she says, looking at Yeri with a small smile.

Yeri thinks Miss Wendy is a little bit sad, too. 

--

Two weeks later, Yeri finds them arguing by the swings.

“Why are you here? It’s my day today,” Miss Irene whispers angrily, her body looking stiffer than Yeri’s used to. 

“I told Miss Wallace that I need to reschedule because I don’t have time on Wednesday,” Miss Wendy whispers back, too preoccupied to notice Yeri beside them.

“Oh and it just so happens that she rescheduled you today? On my day? Please, you planned for this to happen, didn’t you?”

Miss Wendy takes a step closer to Miss Irene, almost invading her personal space. “Why are you so scared to share a day with me?”

Miss Irene also takes a step towards Miss Wendy, Yeri thinks this is the closest they’ve ever been to each other. “Scared is the last thing I’m feeling right now, Miss Shon.”

“Are you guys fighting?” Yeri asks, because she’s starting to get bored and she left a Hello Kitty’s Paradise marathon for this. 

“Yeri!” Miss Irene jumps. “Hey, no, of course not! We were just—”

“—Talking about adult stuff,” Miss Wendy adds.

Yeri frowns, “Like taxes?” she asks, because the only thing that gets Miss Suzanne riled up like that is taxes. 

“Exactly, kid,” Miss Wendy smiles, putting her arm around a Miss Irene, who is trying her best to hide her discomfort with a smile.  

Yeri doesn’t buy it. 

--

Miss Irene suggest for them to play something that kids used to play back when she was young, Miss Wendy agrees, and Yeri was so surprised to see them agree on something that she just has to see how good this game is—and it was really fun, that is, until Miss Wendy and Miss Irene started arguing again. 

“You cannot do that! That’s not allowed,” Miss Irene exclaims, waving her arms like that will erase the apparent cheating that Miss Wendy has committed.

“Yes, it is? Have you never played this game before?” Miss Wendy retorts back, still hoping on one foot. 

“Yes, I have and that's how I know that what you did is against the rules.”

Miss Wendy puts her hands on her hips. “How is it against the ru—”

“Miss Wendy?” Yeri interrupts. “Are you a professor too?”

Miss Wendy blinks. “No, I’m a composer,” she answers. “I write songs.”

“Okay, well, Miss Irene is a professor and I think you should listen to her teach us stuff,” Yeri explains, smiling, because Miss Suzanne said that she should always be polite to her elders. 

Miss Wendy looks like someone just threw a pillow on her face, and her facial expression worsens when Miss Irene smugly takes the pebble out of her hand. 

--

“Will you guys visit again?” Yeri asks when they start to pack their bags.

Miss Irene crouches down to Yeri’s level. “Of course, Yeri. I’ll come back soon, I promise.”

“No,” Yeri shakes her head, her pigtails waving maniacally, “I want the both of you to visit me again. Together.”

“Oh,” Miss Irene whispers, glancing at Miss Wendy before directing her eyes back to Yeri. “We’ll see, okay?”

“Why?” Yeri asks, crossing her arms against her chest. “Why is it different from when you guys visit me separately?”

“It—it’s complicated,” Miss Wendy says. Adults really love that phrase, Yeri thinks; it’s complicated.

“Why?” Yeri presses harder. She starts to put distance between her and Miss Irene. “I really had fun today, and I do have fun when you visit me separately, but it’s the best kind of fun when we’re all together,” she stares at her shoes, the one that Miss Wendy gave, “What’s complicated about that?”

Yeri hears one of them sigh, and then suddenly their both crouching down in front of her. “We’ll see what we can do, okay?”

--

Miss Wendy and Miss Irene starts to visit more often. 

Yeri figures immediately that Fridays and Sundays are Miss Irene days, and Tuesdays and Saturdays are Miss Wendy’s. They try their best to visit together on Wednesdays and Thursdays—they play more games from Miss Wendy and Miss Irene’s childhood, they help Yeri with her homework, and they start to argue less. 

Yeri also thinks they start to look a little less lonely, a little bit happy, but then they’re back to arguing, and Yeri has to help them be adults again. She reports this to Miss Suzanne, and all she gets as a reply is a small smile and a “You’re going to be a great judge” whatever that is.

But sometimes, like today, Miss Wendy isn’t present because she’s busy with her work. Miss Irene says that she’s working with a very important person today, but she misses Yeri, so she wanted to call. 

“Hey, Yeri!” Miss Wendy greets, her face on Miss Irene’s phone screen looking very tired but very excited.

“Hi, Miss Wendy. Where are you?”

“I’m at the recording studio,” Miss Wendy switches the camera and starts to show them around “Um, see this is the booth where the singer records the song, and this is where we edit it if ever there are any that needs editing, you know?”

The video is very dark, and the only thing Yeri can see clearly is Miss Wendy’s hand pointing at stuff, but her voice sounds so excited and Yeri has never seen an office like it so she says, “That looks so cool!”

“I wish I was there playing with you and Miss Irene, though,” Miss Wendy switches back to camera to show her face. “I miss you guys.”

“We miss you, too! Right, Miss Irene?” Yeri looks over to see Miss Irene’s face looking funny. “Why is your face turning red?”

“What? No, it’s not,” Miss Irene exclaims, her voice suddenly sounding higher, more defensive. 

“Yes, it is!” Yeri moves to switch the camera to show Miss Irene “Miss Wendy, doesn’t it look very re—”

Miss Irene immediately covers the camera with her hand, that doesn’t block Miss Wendy’s laughter echoing off of the phone’s speakers though. “Okay, I think we should let Miss Wendy go back to her work, Yeri. You also have homework to finish.”

Yeri sighs. “Okay,” she directs the camera back at herself. “Bye, Miss Wendy.”

“Bye, Yeri! Do well on your homework, yeah?” Miss Wendy smiles, her eyes twinkling. “Bye, Miss Irene,” she adds before dropping the call.

“Your face is turning red again, Miss Irene,” Yeri giggles.

--

They decide to watch Meet the Robinsons when Miss Wendy was finally available to visit.

She arrived with tired eyes, kind smile, and a three buckets of popcorn. But it didn’t even take half the movie for her to fall asleep on Miss Irene’s shoulder. 

She’s drooling, and is slightly open, and it’s the funniest thing Yeri’s ever seen but Miss Irene puts a finger in front of her lips and sends Yeri a wink before redirecting her attention back to the movie. 

The movie shows the scene where Lewis sees his family for the first time, except he doesn’t know that they were his family yet, and they’re weird but they make him happy, and Yeri looks at how Miss Irene is sitting in a very uncomfortable way, unmoving because Miss Wendy might wake up, and Yeri understands.

--

“Hi, Miss Wendy!” It only a few days later but Yeri already missed her so she runs to half-hug half-tackle her. 

“Hey, kid,” Miss Wendy coughs. “You’re getting big, you know? Sooner or later I wouldn’t be able to catch you anymore,” she jokes. “Miss Irene’s not here today?” 

“No. Miss Suzanne said she’s not feeling well and she didn’t wanna get me sick so she’s absent today,” Yeri shrugs, she was really looking forward to seeing both of them today. 

Miss Wendy furrows her brows, Yeri thinks she looks slightly worried. 

“Do you wanna go get her something to help make her feel better?” Miss Wendy asks. Yeri couldn’t help but gasp, excitement bubbling inside her. “Of course, we need to ask Miss Suzanne if she’ll let me take you out—”

Yeri grabs Wendy’s hand and starts to pull her back to the house. “Come on then! Let’s go ask her!”

--

They ended up in a pharmacy first because it’s the closest to the shelter, and Yeri’s only 10 but she knows that getting 4 boxes of medicine is too much for 1 sick person, and Miss Wendy looks very worried so maybe Miss Irene is in a worse state than she thought.

“Does Miss Irene have tonsillitis?” Yeri asks, trying her best to read the labels of the medicines in Miss Wendy’s hand.

“What? No, she doesn’t. Why do you ask?”

“Well, you’re getting a lot of medicine and I remember drinking that many when I had tonsilitis.”

“Oh, um,” Miss Wendy scratches the back of her neck. “It just doesn’t hurt to be sure. Maybe Miss Irene prefers syrup over tablets, or maybe capsules? Maybe she likes those more? But if she does prefer syrups, I don’t know if she wants the strawberry flavoured one or the orange flavoured one,” she explains, her words coming out so fast that they sound like they’re tripping over themselves. 

Yeri purses her lips, she doesn’t completely understand what Miss Wendy just told her, but she does know that candy makes her feel better so, “Can we get her candy, too?” she asks.

Miss Wendy’s shoulders sags, relieved. “Yes, of course,” she smiles. 

--

They passed by a small restaurant before going back to the shelter. Miss Wendy said she just wants to buy a bowl of soup for Miss Irene, still, Yeri saw her come out with 4 bowls though. 

“You’ve been to Miss Irene’s house before, Miss Wendy?” Yeri asks, when Miss Wendy told her that she’s going to drop by Miss Irene’s house later to give her the stuff they bought and Yeri’s get well soon card for her too, of course.

“Yeah, I have,” Miss Wendy answers, double checking everything in her bag.

“Did you guys play?”

Miss Wendy’s face starts to get red, and she’s suddenly looking at the bowls of soup very intensely. “Um, you can say that,” she lets out a forced laugh before moving to give Yeri a hug. “Um, I’ll go and give these to her now, okay?” 

“Okay. Bye, Miss Wendy! Take care!” 

Yeri doesn’t understand why Miss Wendy suddenly looked very nervous, but maybe she will be too if she’s going to visit someone that can get her sick.

--

She ended up getting adopted by Miss Irene several months later. 

Miss Suzanne refused to tell her anything, so it was her friends that informed her that they heard that Miss Wendy withdrew her application because she realized her schedule wasn’t fit to take care of a kid. 

Yeri tries not to think too much of it, this isn’t the first time someone suddenly decided that they can’t take care of her and she understands Miss Wendy’s very busy, but she really misses her; and when she sees at how Miss Irene looks whenever they pass by the shelter, she knows she misses Miss Wendy, too. 

“Can we go see Miss Wendy soon, Miss Irene?” she asks when they were having dinner one night, because calling Miss Irene ‘Mom’ is still a little bit weird, and Miss Irene’s house is lovely, but she thinks it’ll be even better if the three of them are there.

“Wendy?” Miss Joy sends a look at Miss Irene, “Your Wendy?”

“I don’t have a Wendy, Joy,” Miss Irene grumbles. 

“You’ll have one if you just g—”

“I’ll ask her if she’s available, okay?” Miss Irene says, completely ignoring the eyerolls Miss Joy’s giving her. 

Yeri squeals. “Can you ask her now?” she asks, practically bouncing off of her seat. “I’m sure she’ll say yes! Can you ask her now? Please?”

Miss Irene sighs. “I’ll be right back,” she announces before leaving the room. 

The room was quiet for a moment, Yeri just watching Miss Joy mix her food. But her excitement is too much and she just has to ask, “Do you know Miss Wendy, Miss Joy?”

“You don’t have to call me Miss, you know? I’m practically your older sister,” Miss Joy smiles, blowing the heat off of her noodles. “But, yeah, I know Wendy. I saw her visit Irene once...or twelve times.”

Yeri sits up straighter in her seat. “Yeah! She told me they play together!”

Miss Joy chokes on her drink. “If only they were that brave,” she wheezed.

“Why?” Yeri frowns. “What kind of game do they play?”

“The kind where they go round in circles, waiting for someone to do something.”

Yeri’s frown deepens. “What’s that?”

“What’s what?” Miss Irene walks back in the room, her phone in her hand and a big smile on her face.

“Nothing,” Miss Joy sends Yeri a wink. “Will your Wendy visit Little Yeri soon?”

“Yeah,” Miss Irene grins. “Tomorrow!”

--

Miss Wendy wanted to have a picnic in the park near Miss Irene’s house.

She brought a basket of baked goods and her best friend, Miss Seulgi, and she’s kind and she greets Yeri with a wide smile that makes her eyes disappear, but then Yeri sees the smile Miss Irene sends to Miss Wendy, and she decides that no smile could ever beat that. 

“I don’t understand them,” Yeri says when Miss Joy and her were off to find them drinks because both Miss Wendy and Miss Irene forgot to pack some.

“You can say that again,” Miss Joy mumbles beside her.

“It’s so obvious that she misses her,” Yeri starts kicking some of the pebbles on the pavement. “Why did she wait for me to ask before calling Miss Wendy?”

“That’s love, kid,” Miss Joy sighs. “In all the gross and sappiest sense of the word.”

--

“Wendy’s beautiful,” Miss Irene whispers that night, just after she finished reading a second bedtime story to Yeri. “Isn’t she?”

“Yeah,” Yeri yawns, she can feel herself slipping away. “Don’t worry. She told me she thinks you are, too.”

--

Miss Wendy starts sleeping over after that, and sometimes, when Yeri wakes up earlier than usual, she sees them hugging while preparing breakfast. They go back to maintaining 5 feet of space between them when they hear Yeri go down the stairs though, and Yeri’s back to wondering why adults make a big deal out of everything.

Sometimes, when they think Yeri’s asleep, they turn the music a little bit louder, and they try their best to slow dance in the small space between the kitchen counter and the dining table, and they’re giggling and holding each other and they’re happy. 

And even though Yeri can’t hear anything over the music, she knows Miss Joy was right—the way their eyes are shining at each other, that’s love.

So 2 months later, when they finally sit Yeri down to tell her that they’re together, Yeri wasn’t surprised. Not Really.