Byulyi slowly walked out of the escalator, the backpack that carried her laptop and all the important documents she needed to read tonight felt heavier with each step closer to her safe haven.

Byulyi was a little deflated to hear no noise from outside their apartment, but it was to be expected at this hour. Plus, with the smoldering headache that accumulated through her tired working day, she wasn't sure whether she could handle it if Gaeul, her daughter, were still awake. 

She punched the keycode and pushed the door in. The entire living room was dark, meaning Yongsun and Gaeul must have retreated to the bedroom. She wiggled her feet out of the shoes, ready to kick them off while her hand searched for the light switch.  

The scene unwrapped before her eyes immediately halted her leg movement.

Her daughter's toys were thrown everywhere, inside and outside the playpen. Her half-empty milk bottle was lying on the glass coffee table, thankfully with a lid on. On their dining table, she saw a barely touched dish of fried tilapia, a big bowl of vegetable soup, and a smaller eating bowl that still had some rice and seaweed flakes. Byulyi could only imagine what had happened that made Yongsun abandon everything to quickly tend to their child.

"Yong surely won't appreciate any addition to this mess," mumbled the younger woman to herself as she neatly placed her pair of shoes into the cabinet. She placed her backpack on the floor against the wall, enjoyed a moment of relief for her back and stretched, before proceeding to clean up the living room and dining area. She tossed Gaeul's toys into the playpen and mopped the floor once with water - or she planned to do just that, but some juice-like blobs of liquid that she just discovered forced her to do a second round of mopping with kid-friendly floor cleaner. She put the milk bottle away, making a mental note to decide if she should throw the rest away or just keep it and to sterile the bottle later.

There was a dish cover on the kitchen counter, under which a separate portion of every dish was nicely prepared for her. The cooking pots were still on the stove, ready for her if she wanted to heat up everything for a late dinner. Byulyi might or might have not shed a tear. She cleaned Yongsun's bowl, put everything back in the pots, and turned the stove on, then returned to the table where she did a quick wipe and set up her working area. Their little girl was still sleeping with them, meaning if she wanted to get changed and work at her usual table she would have to enter the room. The last thing she wanted to do at the moment was to disturb their sleep. 

Byulyi carefully took out a small portion of the veggie soup and kimchi and reached for the box of seaweed flakes. After a moment of pondering, however, she decided to plate the fried fish, take out a bigger portion of the other dishes, and a set of a clean bowl and chopsticks for her significant other. 

Yongsun blearily opened her eyes, taking time to get used to the darkness. She craned her neck to look at the nightstand clock; 1 am. She looked at the tiny sleeping figure and smiled, snuggling with her baby for another moment. She then cautiously detached her from her and put her back in the crib, not forgetting a light peck before exiting the room.

She thought of the mess awaiting her outside and sighed. Her daughter was unusually excited to the point of agitation today, and she could never leave her side