It takes three days before Hayoung finally cracks and talks to her. It’s been three long days of Hayoung sulking and pouting and giving Chorong wounded, confused puppy dog looks. Chorong doesn’t know how to respond, let alone fix the situation, so she just ignores Hayoung’s moodiness and hugs and kisses her like always. Every night when she tucks her into bed, Chorong kisses her forehead and lets her know they can talk whenever Hayoung wants. She doesn’t specify what. She just tells Hayoung she’ll always be there for her.

Now, about an hour before bedtime, Hayoung pads into Chorong’s room and climbs into her bed. She plops down in front of Chorong and pokes her arm saying, “Mommy, I want to talk now.”

“Okay, let’s talk,” Chorong says. She mutes the TV and tugs Hayoung forward until she’s cradled in her arms. She presses her cheek against the top of Hayoung’s head and asks, “What do you want to talk about, sweetheart?”

Hayoung draws random shapes on Chorong’s arm as she asks, “Are you mad at Eunji?”

“No,” Chorong answers softly. She holds Hayoung a little closer. “No, I’m not, sweetheart.”

“But she hurt you?” Hayoung says, the end lilting up like an unsure question.

This time Chorong hesitates. She Hayoung’s hair as she thinks. After a long moment, Chorong says, “Yes, but she didn’t mean to.” Hayoung’s confusion is almost palpable, so Chorong explains, “Remember when you were playing with Yerin? You took the doll Yerin wanted to play with, and she got sad. You didn’t want to make her sad when you took the doll. You just didn’t know she wanted to play with it.”

“So… Eunji didn’t know you didn’t want her to be with that woman?” Hayoung asks. “That’s why you were sad, right? Because you saw that woman there when we were supposed to have dinner with Eunji?”

Chorong freezes. Sometimes, she wishes Hayoung wasn’t so smart. It’d make things a lot easier. She presses an absent kiss to Hayoung’s head and says, “Yes, something like that.”

“Should I be sad too?” Hayoung asks. She closes her small hand around Chorong’s wrist, chubby little finger curling to hold her. “Because it made you so sad?”

“No, I don’t want you to be sad,” Chorong replies easily. This much she knows how to say. “You only have to be sad if you feel sad.”

“Then… is it okay if I still want to see Eunji?” Hayoung asks. Her hand is still holding Chorong, and she squeezes just a little as she speaks. “I don’t want to make you sad.”

Chorong tries not to tear up at how lucky she got to have Hayoung as her daughter. “Would it make you happy to see Eunji?”  

Hayoung doesn’t answer for a long moment. Chorong can practically feel her inner turmoil over saying the right thing. Hayoung, much like Chorong, is always a little too preoccupied about how everyone else feels. After a few minutes, Hayoung lets go of Chorong’s wrist and whispers, “Yes.”

“Then it won’t make me sad,” Chorong tells her simply. In the end, Hayoung’s happiness is her happiness. “I just want you to be happy, Hayoung.”

“Okay,” Hayoung says eventually. She snuggles deeper into Chorong’s arms and says, “Can I sleep with you tonight?”

“Just for tonight,” Chorong agrees. She turns off the TV and the lights before crawling into bed with Hayoung. It’s still pretty early for either of them to sleep, but it seems like they’re both content to just lay together.

After that, Hayoung gradually returns to the bright and spunk Chorong knows and loves. She eagerly kicks her soccerball in the backyard again and asks to speak to Eunji. At first, Chorong had been hesitant. She didn’t want to talk to Eunji yet, so she took the coward’s way out. She dialed Eunj’s number and immediately handed it to Hayoung. She has no idea what Eunji said during that first phone call, but after a few minutes, Hayoung nodded and talked to her like the other day never happened.

It’s now been two weeks since that disastrous night. It’s been two weeks of automatically handing off her phone to Hayoung any time Eunji’s name flashes on the screen, ignoring the photo of the three of them that accompanies it. Chorong knows she’s being immature, but she just isn’t ready to talk to Eunji about how she’s in love with her when Eunji clearly doesn’t return her feelings.

Tonight, Chorong will be alone with her thoughts. After a lot of begging, Chorong agreed to let Bomi take Hayoung for the night.

“You need a night to yourself,” Bomi told her. “I don’t care if you use it to cry or take a bubble bath or whatever, but just take some time for yourself, okay? I can handle Hayoung for a night.”

It’s nice of Bomi to do, but as Chorong s