Little fingers of Yerim fiddling with the head of the turtle doll, a gift that Seungwan bought for her from her work trip in Japan. She played with several toys that she got as a present for her third birthday last month. Playing of what it seems like a tea party being held with the dolls as the attendee.

She was about to make her turtle doll drink from the plastic cup when she heard a doorbell rang from the main door. Yerim, who didn’t know someone will come to her home, clutching the doll tight inside her arms. She looked at her mother who hurriedly goes to the front, about to greet the guest that will be stepping inside the place where they live.

Feeling curious as to who is the person visiting her home, Yerim stands to her little feet, walking slowly towards the front door. She stopped right at the corner as an interesting scene currently happened right in front of her eyes.

There is her mother, currently hugging the two guests that rang the doorbell of their house. Her mom rarely hugged anyone, except for her and her other mother. And the smile on her face is something that Yerim often witnesses, since it was the kind of smile that her mom reserved to be shown to the people that she loves the most. Which is her other mother and herself. So, to see her welcoming guests this warmly is something new for Yerim to witness.

A confused frown shoots up from her forehead, noting that the face of the two guests is a bit familiar for her. She was sure she has seen both of them before, but she can’t pinpoint when or where she had seen both of them.

She was about to tiptoeing her way silently towards her mother, when one of the guests witnessed her walking from the corner. Breaking her early plan into a pile of ashes. “Oh? Hi, Yerim! It’s been a long time since the last time we saw you!”

The other one followed to greet her warmly. “Hello, Yerimie!”

Yerim immediately ran towards her mother, hugging her leg tight as she covered almost all of herself behind her mother, only showing a peek of her eye. “Umma,” said Yerim in a small whisper as she tugs on the loose pants of Joohyun, “Umma, up.”

Her mother chuckles from the sight as she lowered her body for a bit, picking her daughter up in her hands. Yerim quickly hid her face using the turtle doll that she brought with her, refusing to let the guests see her face as a whole. “Yerim, do you remember Auntie Seulgi and Auntie Sooyoung?”

“Nice to see you, Yerimie!” exclaimed the woman with monolid eyes, Seulgi. “I’m Auntie Seulgi! And she is Auntie Sooyoung.”

“Yo, kiddo,” greeted Sooyoung, the tall woman between all of them. “Did Joohyun-unnie take care of you right?”

Joohyun sent a warning glance towards Sooyoung who only deflected it away with an easy shrug. Her eyes looked to her daughter inside her arms, who was still covering herself from her siblings using her turtle doll that Seungwan bought for her. “Yerim, say hi to your aunties.”

Yerim only covers herself more with the doll as she hides her face using Joohyun’s shoulder, refusing to look into the two women in front of her. Her mind quickly wishes for her Mama to finally come to the front door. Mama is not as strict as Umma, so it’s fine for her if she didn’t need to say hi to the guests.

“Joohyun?” asked Seungwan who just woke up from her nap, rubbing her eyes gently in the process. Coming just in time when Yerim started to feel restless over everything that is happening around her. “Who’s comi—Oh? Seulgi! Sooyoung!”

Her other mother proceeds to hug the two guests tight, the same way as her mother did to them earlier. After Seungwan was done exchanging greetings to her aunts, Yerim shot her arms towards her as a cue for her mother to pick her up. “Mama,” whispered Yerim softly. Understanding what Yerim wants, Seungwan hurriedly took her from Joohyun’s arms.

Her little body immediately relaxed for a bit as the familiar comfort of her mom started to be injected inside her system. She leaned her head to the comfortable shoulder of Seungwan, still paying her attention to the doll in her hand. “Yerim? Have you said hi to your aunts?”

“I already told her to say hi,” huffed Joohyun in a gentle tone as she moves the baby hair away from Yerim’s forehead using her finger. “But, Yerim refused. I think it’s because she didn’t remember who the guest is.”

Yerim’s dark brown eyes that looked exactly like Seungwan watching the two guests with wary and shyness inside it. “Hello,” muttered Yerim softly, a bit muffled since is covered with the turtle doll.

“She can be a little bit shy towards new people,” chuckled Seungwan as she kissed the top of her daughter’s head. “She will warm up to you soon.”

Seulgi waved her hand with a small chuckle. “It’s okay. It’s our fault that we rarely visited here this year,” dismissed Seulgi easily as she flashes her bright eye smiles towards Yerim. “We can introduce ourselves again to her! Right, Yerimie?”

Yerim only looked at her with curiosity in her eyes. Auntie Seulgi already feels like a teddy bear who will give you a warm hug every time you need it. And Yerim likes warm teddy bears.

“How’s the journey?” asked Joohyun as she brought her siblings to the living room, finally catching things about each other’s life. The things that they rarely do now after she got married and both of her siblings decided to move their life from Seoul to Suwon.

“Seulgi-unnie almost made us get left behind by the train,” scoffed Sooyoung with petty inside her voice. Still pretty much annoyed with all the things that happened in the station.

“I was buying us bento boxes, okay!” protested Seulgi as she puffed out her cheeks. Yerim, who was placed right on top of Joohyun’s thighs after Seungwan gave her back to her mother as she goes to the kitchen to make drinks for all of them, watching with fascination at her aunt’s expressive facial expression. “It was limited edition and I want to try it.”

“We can buy food inside the train, unnie,” pointed out Sooyoung as she rolled her eyes. “Don’t need to do anything hassle and tiring just because of that.”

“But the train didn’t sell the limited bento box!”

“But we almost spent our money twice just for the expensive tickets!”

Seungwan chuckles as she puts the drink on top of the low table. “Both of them just never change, huh?”

“That’s my siblings for you,” sighed Joohyun in a tired voice, noting that it’s been a long time for her to experience a bickering like this. She missed this. Missed when all she did just listen to the dumb argument that her younger siblings pull against each other. Separating them once the fight got a little bit too heated up. “Can you not argue in front of my daughter? She will be copying your act and I don’t want to handle that.”

“Please, you weren’t any better than us, unnie,” jested Sooyoung in the matter-of-fact tone.

Joohyun squinted her eyes as she sent her youngest sibling a warning. “What did you say?”

Yerim stepped down from her mother’s legs and went to the place where her toys are scattered everywhere on top of the floor. Feeling the adult conversation is too boring for her. Unbeknownst to her that one of her aunts followed her to where her toys is. She was about to grab her teddy bear doll when Seulgi crouched right beside her. Eyes trying to search something in between the piles of toys. Yerim only blinked towards her with a blank gaze, before looking back to her toys.

“Oh, a 3D puzzle!” exclaimed Seulgi in an excited tone. She grabbed the piece of puzzle with fascination as her eyes checked all the unique pieces that are scattered around the floor. “Can I borrow this, Yerimie?”

The toddler only nodded her head in a slight movement as she focused back on her dolls. Continuing what she was going to do with the teddy bear and the turtle doll.

Seulgi’s monolid eyes focus on the game in front of her. Trying to solve the intricate puzzle that she never tried to solve it, not even once. After several minutes of only watching around and connecting the puzzle randomly, she surrenders. “Damn, this is hard,” grunted Seulgi in annoyance.

Her expression of annoyance got Yerim’s full attention. She looked at the piece of puzzle in Seulgi’s hand, before diverting her eyes towards the rest of the neglected puzzle. That is the easiest puzzle that she has in this house. She already solved it tons of times until she grew bored of it, making Seungwan buy her more 3D puzzle whenever she was going back from work.

Her aunt noticed the gaze that she is currently sporting right now. Sadly, Yerim failed to notice the soft smile that grazed Seulgi's face, being fascinated with her giddiness towards the puzzle. “Can you show me how to do this, Yerimie?”

Yerim nods softly, putting down her dolls as she stands up to her feet. Walking to where Seulgi has seated down on the floor alongside the pieces of puzzle that she is unable to solve. “Can Yerim sit at your legs, Auntie?”

“Sure!” grinned Seulgi happily as she swiftly put Yerim’s small body into her lap. Fixing it to make sure that the toddler is comfortable with her seat and also making her able to see how her niece solves the intricate puzzle.

“This is easy,” muttered Yerim as she swiftly grabbed the puzzle with her fingers, connecting every piece with one another as the original form of the 3D puzzle started to be built fast. “You just put this here, and then here. And done!”

“Whoa!” exclaimed Seulgi in fascination as she held the puzzle in her hands gently, didn’t want to ruin the form of it if she moved too harshly. “This is really cool! Yerimie is so smart!”

Yerim flashed her shy smile as Seulgi pats her head softly, still being amazed with the toddler’s capability to build the 3D puzzle that quick. Sooyoung, who watched from the low table where she sat together with her sisters earlier, already goes to Seulgi’s side as she found another 3D puzzle being neglected between the piles of toys. “Yerim-ah, want to help me build the puzzle too?”

Her dark brown eyes looked at the piece that Sooyoung grabbed with her fingers. That’s another easy puzzle that she manages to solve fast. She nods her little head as she leaves Seulgi’s lap to sit at Sooyoung’s so she could help her to build the puzzle together.

The little girl is too focused with her puzzle for her to notice the soft glance that Joohyun sent towards her. Filled with affection, proud and loving gaze, knowing that Yerim didn’t have any difficult problem in getting closer with her siblings. It just happens naturally, and she is glad that Yerim is using her own way to warm up with them.

“She is really smart, unnie,” voiced out Seulgi as she watched the process of Sooyoung and Yerim building the puzzle together, while she still held the earlier puzzle in her hand. “And this puzzle looked so difficult to begin with. I can’t even solve it myself.”

“I thought you were only pretending in being unable to solve it,” frowned Sooyoung as she cast her glance towards Seulgi for a bit, before focusing again on the difficult puzzle.

“No, it’s because I didn’t understand it for real,” admitted Seulgi with honesty inside her voice. She looked towards her sister and her best friend, now has long become her sister-in-law, who is still sitting near the low table where she was at earlier. “How long does it take for her to solve this?”

“Five hours, if we are lucky,” sighed Joohyun tiredly, her eyes still locked on her genius daughter who is about to finish the puzzle in a bit.

“That puzzle you hold in your hand,” pointed Seungwan as she nudged her chin towards the 3D puzzle in her hand, “she solved it in 15 minutes for the first try.”

Seulgi blinked in disbelief as her eyes moved slowly towards fascinated Sooyoung and happy Yerim on her lap after finishing the building of the 3D puzzle. “How did you handle her, unnie?”

“Tell me,” breathed out Joohyun softly. “If you know how to handle a genius kid, I will gladly accept everything to help me take care of her.”

“Seungwan’s genes is really strong, huh?”

“I know right?” boasted Seungwan in a smug voice. “Already told Joohyun that, but she still doesn’t want to admit it.”

Joohyun made a scowl with her face. “Please, you are not that much of a smartass.”

A small hand grabbed Seungwan’s shoulder lightly. The owner looked back over her shoulder, finding her daughter currently yawning softly as she tried to utter words for her mother. “Mama, I want to nap.”

“Okay,” granted Seungwan with a smile. “You can go to your room and take a nap there.”

Her daughter pulls the sleeve of her t-shirt lightly. “Accompany me to nap, Mama.”

Seungwan sent a glance towards Joohyun as the latter swiftly gave her approval for her to accompany Yerim to take a nap. “Don’t fall asleep alongside her,” warned Joohyun as she watched her wife pick up their daughter into her arms.

“I won’t!” assured Seungwan as she brought Yerim towards her room to accompany her to take a nap.

Joohyun just let out a soft grumble after her wife closed the door of Yerim’s bedroom. “I know she will take a nap alongside Yerim there.”

“Come on, unnie. Let her rest,” chuckled Seulgi as she sat in front of her sister, while Sooyoung positioned herself back right beside her.

“That’s being said, when was the last time both of you enjoying your quality time together? Just the two of you?” queried Sooyoung out of nowhere, making Joohyun suddenly think about something that she never thought about.

See, now that it has gained her attention, it’s been a really long time since Seungwan and her enjoyed their quality time as two. They even do it much more often when they are dating than after they are married with each other. “Since Yerim was born, I guess,” shrugged Joohyun, didn’t able to remember when was the last time she got to spend time with Seungwan only.

Seulgi gasped in misery. “Unnie! That is so long ago! And Yerim is already that big!”

“We don’t have time, okay?” sputtered Joohyun. “And if we are having time to spend it together just the two of us, who will take care of Yerim? The daycare is closed in weekend, and Seungwan’s parents is in Canada.”

Both of her siblings glanced at each other, before taking back their glance towards her with confidence and assurance filling their gaze. “We can babysit her tonight,” suggested Seulgi.

Sooyoung nods in agreement. “And Yerim already warmed up with us. I think it’s fine if you leave her for one night only with us. We will take care of her.”

Joohyun snorted as she grabbed her glass filled with cold tea. “Both of you? Have you taken care of kids once?”

“Haven’t,” agreed Sooyoung fast, too quick for Joohyun’s liking since she knows that her youngest sibling will say something crazy. “But we have taken care of you once. And I believe Yerim is only half as difficult as you since her other half is Seungwan.”

“I am not difficult,” grumbled Joohyun. Both of their siblings look at each other once again with an obvious deadpan on their expression. “Okay, stop judging me, you little . I know what’s running inside your head.”

“Why don’t you discuss this with Seungwan, unnie?” suggested Seulgi suddenly. “I mean, you need to admit that this is a great offer that we are giving to you right now. A chance to spend your time together with your wife, just the two of you in one night, is something that can’t be slipped away from your grasp. Am I right?”

“This time, I agree with Seulgi-unnie,” nodded Sooyoung. “Think about it, unnie. And talk about this with Seungwan-unnie too.”

Joohyun contemplates the offer for a while inside her head, before she stands up with a restricted sigh and goes to Yerim’s bedroom, leaving her siblings alone in the living room. Once she opened the door, her face turned into a deadpan as she noticed her wife and their daughter lying on the bed together. She put her arm on Yerim’s back, and another to cover her eyes from the reflection of sunlight that the curtain failed to block.

Seungwan moved her arm as she peeked at Joohyun through her lashes. “I’m not sleeping.”

“I can see that,” snorted Joohyun softly, even though Yerim would not even wake up if she made a fuss inside her room. Her daughter is a heavy sleeper, and she doesn’t know how come she became one since none Seungwan or herself is a heavy sleeper.

“What is it?” muttered Seungwan in a slightly sleepy tone, putting her arm at the back of her head to prompt herself to look better at her wife, who is still standing right at the door.

“Seulgi and Sooyoung told me to go out with only the two of us,” sighed Joohyun as she stepped inside Yerim’s bedroom, leaning her back into the wall. “They will take care of Yerim for us while we are enjoying the night.”

Seungwan hummed softly from the idea that her sisters-in-law gave to her wife. “When? Tonight?”

Joohyun squinted her eyes in suspicion. “Why are you not surprised with this suggestion? Did the three of you plan this beforehand?”

“Just answer my question.”

The older woman clicked her tongue in annoyance because Seungwan just evaded her question with another question. “Yeah, it’s tonight.”

“Okay,” answered Seungwan quickly, too quick for her own liking. “We will leave Yerim in the care of your siblings then.”

“Are you sure?” asked Joohyun, this time laced with worry. Seungwan, who closed her eyes the whole time the conversation happened between the both of them, opened it softly. Trying to assess the look that Joohyun currently wore right now. “You know how Yerim is. And you know how my siblings are. Will they be okay?”

“They will be okay,” chuckled Seungwan softly, trying to lessen the worry that she knew started to build up inside Joohyun’s mind. “Your sisters can handle her just fine. And Yerim already felt comfortable with her aunts. I don’t think it will be that much of a problem.”

Joohyun gives her a shrug, still feeling unsure with the idea of leaving Yerim alone for the first time without them or without a professional babysitter. Seungwan sighed as she stood up from the bed, fixing the blanket on top of the small body of Yerim before walking towards her wife.

She grabbed her hand softly as her warm dark brown eyes locked with the familiar doe eyes of Joohyun. Small smile graced her lips as she the soft skin of her hand. “The three of them will be fine. It’s just one night, after all. What thing could go worse?”

“My daughter is getting injured,” deadpanned Joohyun with her matter-of-fact tone.

Seungwan chuckled from the possibility. “I don’t think they are dare enough to let Yerim be injured. Especially when they know with whom they will be faced, if that ever happens.”

Joohyun grumbled from the fact that Seungwan just told her. Yeah, it’s a common secret that even though her sisters are annoying to her, they also didn’t have the slightest dare to feel her wrath. “Still, let’s ask Yerim about it later. If she wants to, then we will go out tonight. If she doesn’t, we need to bury the idea far inside our mind.”

“Deal,” agreed Seungwan as she landed a peck perfectly on top of her lips as a seal of their agreement. “Now, let’s go greet your siblings again, shall we? I think we have left them alone for too long now.”

---

As you can see by how I ended it, this chapter will have the sequel that I will upload soon (I hope jdsjksksdkj pls just pray for the well-being of my writing).

I hope this chapter can be a refreshment for everything that has happened in the past few days. I hope we can get through this together. And it's okay for you to take a break if this problem becoming too much, you can come back anytime whenever you are ready. And you are free to choose sides on this problem.

She already apologized, and the problem has already solved. And I think that's enough for us as a fans. I hope all of you have a good day today, and please always take care of yourself first before anything else.

See you in the next chapter!