It was another day in the Kim-Honda household. Chaewon, the stay-at-home mother, got up, woke up her two children, Wonyoung and Yujin, 3 and 4 years old respectively, made breakfast for the family of 4, and brewed a pot of coffee for herself and her lovely wife. Hitomi, a dance studio owner, choreographer, and lyricist (known by the alias Hopes and Dreams), was asleep all the while, exhausted from the long day at work the day before. So, once she had finished preparing everything, Chaewon took the chance to wake her up. Leaning down to press a kiss on her lips, Hitomi stirred.

“Good morning Hitoma~”

“Five more minutes” said Hitomi, turning away.

“Baby, it’s 6:30. Don’t you have to go to work soon?”

“Why didn’t you wake me up sooner????”

Hitomi scrambled her way out of the bed and into the bathroom to wash up and get ready. Chaewon just smiled lovingly and shook her head while laughing. Hitomi’s career didn’t really require her to work to a specific schedule, or more so that she worked on her own time, but Chaewon knew full well that her wife had a routine she stuck to, so she left her to it. 

She then went to check up on their two little girls. She opened the door to their room to find Yujin helping Wonyoung put on a shirt as they got ready for their days. Yujin had her first day of preschool and Wonyoung was set for a day out with her mom. Seeing this sight, she smiled warmly, grateful that the two grew up well together. 

She made her way down to the dining room and set the table, scooping up some scrambled eggs and bacon onto their plates. After a couple minutes the two girls walked their way into the dining room and took their seats, making sure to thank their mom before eating. No more than thirty seconds later did their mama walk through the hallway to see her two angels eating away. Chaewon watches as Hitomi goes around the table to place a kiss on top of her daughters’ heads.

“Did my babies sleep okay last night?”

“I did mama! A-and I had a dream about going on a vacation with mommy and mama and Wonnie!” Yujin exclaimed with the most excited look Chaewon had ever seen on the four-year-old.

“Is that right Ddaengie?”

Chaewon squatted down next to their youngest and asked her, “What about Wonnie? Did Wonnie sleep okay last night?”

And with a mouth (and cheeks) full of eggs, Wonyoung resorted to sticking a thumb up next to her cheek and nodding enthusiastically. Chaewon went back to the kitchen to pour out two cups of coffee for the long day ahead of the two adults. After finishing breakfast and adequately preparing the two children to leave, the family left the house, with Chaewon putting the kids in her car while Hitomi went to her own. Quickly giving each other a goodbye peck on the lips, the two went on their way.

The first stop of the day for Chaewon was the preschool. Chaewon took some time unbuckling the girls from their seats, got them both out of the car safely, and walked with the two of them hand in hand, both girls holding hands with as much of a death-like grip as 3 and 4-year-olds could muster. 

Although Yujin was a very talkative child at home with her family or other people she was comfortable with, she’s generally a shy girl from what Chaewon’s seen. She’d usually hide behind either of her mothers’ legs when she was approached by another child at the playground, usually waiting for either’s encouragement before interacting. The stark difference between the two sides of their Ddaengie was very endearing in Chaewon’s eyes. Maybe it’s because her wife is the same.

Conversely, Wonyoung was a very straightforward kid. She valued anyone she was with, whether it be her mom, mama, sister, or anyone else she spent a lot of time with. Because of that, she was reluctant to let them leave. Just like this moment, where Yujin was about to go into her preschool for the first time. She took after Chaewon, she realized with a smile. The way Wonyoung was nervous about being apart from Yujin was the same as Chaewon had felt when Hitomi left for her dance studio for the first time. She couldn’t help but notice the nervous glances her children were sending, flickering between each other and their mom. When they got a couple feet away from the door, Yujin started lagging behind, slowing down her mom by weakly pulling backward. Noticing this, Chaewon took the two off to the side so that other families could make their way in. She squatted down and pulled the two into a hug.

“Yujin, there’s nothing for you to worry about, okay? Even though mom can’t be here with you all the time, you can make new friends. And Wonyoung, Yujin will be safe here, okay? The teacher here will make sure that she’s safe. So let’s not worry too much okay, both of you?”

The two children started tearing up a little bit, so Chaewon had to wipe both of their tears when suddenly she heard a familiar voice from behind her.

“Chaewonnie?”

At the sound of her name, she turned around to find Hitomi’s older sister and professional esports gamer, Sakura.

“Kkura-unnie? When did you get back? Moreover, what are you doing here?”

“Oh, I just got back here a few days ago. Had to spend time with my little MinMin before she starts preschool.”

And then Chaewon notices the little human hiding behind Sakura’s leg.

Squatting to reach her level, Chaewon gave a warm smile, waved, and said.

“Hi Minju, it’s me, Auntie Chaewon. Remember me?”

“Say hi to Auntie Chaewon MinMin. She took care of you a lot while your mom was busy you know.”

“Hi Auntie Chaewon,” said Minju with a very shy look, still hiding behind Sakura’s leg.

“You remember Yujin, right? She’s starting preschool too! Maybe you two can stay with each other today, yeah?”

“How does that sound Min?”

The two same-aged cousins looked around shyly. Despite being cousins, the two never really interacted. Minju was always quiet and kept to herself, while Yujin liked to stick by what she knew, and that usually meant playing around with only Wonyoung. It’s not like she hated Minju, it’s just that she never took the time to open up to her. Chaewon saw these interactions firsthand and saw this as the opportunity they needed to get closer to each other. She watched as Yujin shot a glance towards Wonyoung, to which the younger nodded and pushed her towards Minju. Yujin walked over to Minju, took her hand, and the two made their way inside, not before turning around to wave goodbye to their moms and Wonyoung.

After the two new preschoolers disappeared, Sakura stooped down to pick up Wonyoung.

“And how’s my little Wonnie doing?” she said as she started tickling her. Chaewon internally gushed as she saw Wonyoung smiling brightly and laughing with her Auntie Kkura.

“Auntie Kkura, stobbit stobbit!” Wonyoung exclaimed while flailing around in retaliation to the oncoming tickles.

“Okay, okay, I’ll stop. You’ve gotten bigger haven’t you Wonnie?”

The three-year-old excitedly nodded. “Mommy said I grew a lot this month!”

“Yes, Wonnie, you really did,” Chaewon said while patting her head affectionately. Turning her attention to Sakura, she asked, “You have any plans today unnie?”

“Not really, just getting some lunch then paying a surprise visit to Chaeyeon’s work after picking up Minju. You?”

“Well, Wonnie and I were gonna go to the mall today. Wanna come with, unnie?”

“Sure! I need to catch up with this little one anyways,” she said while still having Wonyoung snuggled her embrace. 

The two walked their way over to their cars, Sakura’s conveniently and completely coincidentally (wink wink) parked behind Chaewon’s. The two made their way over to the mall and walked in with Wonyoung in the middle holding both of their hands, swinging their arms the whole way. After stopping by a couple shops to get some stuff for their wives and kids, the three were on their way to the food court for lunch when all of a sudden Wonyoung exclaimed “NAKO!!!” and started waving erratically. The adults looked to where Wonyoung was looking and saw another three-year-old waving back with energy matching Wonyoung's, with her mom looking on smiling.

Upon recognizing the pair, Chaewon and Sakura yelled out “Kwangbae!” as they approached the pair, with hugs being given everywhere between the five of them. As it turns out the mother-daughter pair were also going to eat lunch, so they all went to the food court to catch up and chat. While the kids were animatedly communicating with each other with their limited vocabulary, the moms were all talking to each other.

“How’s Chaeyeon doing these days, Kkura?” Hyewon asked.

“Oh, you know the usual, working hard, and doing amazingly well. Her choreos are really something else.”

“Yeah, as expected from my wife’s best choreographer,” Chaewon added. “How’s Eunbi-unnie, Hye?”

“Yena and Yuri are doing a good job keeping her busy. I swear if she’s not at home with Nako she’s at her studio or the computer composing tracks for them. But to their credit, their songs are really good. Props to Tomi for writing lyrics for their songs. How does she do it, write, choreograph, and run the whole place?”

“She’s got a good support system. Chaeyeon’s her right-hand woman at the studio, she’s writing songs for her best friend and her girlfriend (but they might as well be married), who’s also my best friend, their go-to composer/arranger is your wife, she’s got a lovely older sister who she can talk to about anything and everything, and at the end of the day, she’s got an amazing wife and two lovely children to come home to. It’s stressful, yes, but it’s a lot more bearable when you’re going through the day with your favorite people. At least that’s how she’s worded it to me countless times when I've wondered the same thing,” Chaewon supplied, shrugging after finishing it.

Hyewon and Sakura nodded along to that reasoning given