“Eomma...”

“Eomma!”

Dahyun’s eyes shoot open when she feels light taps on her shoulder. She looks around, trying to decipher what woke her up when a hushed whisper in her right ear makes her body jump in surprise.

“Eomma?”

“Kenji? Why are you still awake?” Dahyun croaks out as she lifts her head to get a better look at the small crouching silhouette. “It’s already late—”

“Ssshhh! You’re gonna wake Mama up.” Kenji, despite the darkness, places his index finger on his lips to shush his mother.

At the mention, Dahyun turns her head and sees her wife peacefully sleeping beside her. By the way that the blanket’s already kicked off Sana’s body and Ahri’s already asleep in between them instead of his own little bed, Dahyun guesses that it has been a few hours since they went to bed. Turning back to her son, she then furrows her eyebrows.

“Is something wrong, buddy? Why’d you wake me up?” Dahyun whispers to the boy. She squints her eyes to make out her son’s face but fails as she’s basically blind without her glasses.

Kenji tugs on the sleeve of her shirt and whispers back, “Nothing is wrong, Eomma. But can you please come to my room? Just for a while.”

Dahyun quietly nods her head then carefully removes the blanket from her body to pull it up to Sana’s chest. She freezes momentarily when Ahri shuffles a little which causes Sana to let out a small hum, before grabbing her glasses and taking Kenji’s small hand into hers. In the darkness, she quietly follows her son to his room.

“Kenji, what’s the matter? Why aren’t you asleep yet?” she worriedly asks the five-year-old boy one more time as she takes a seat on his bed.

Kenji immediately climbs on his mother’s lap and glances up at her with the big brown eyes that he inherited from Sana. A smile unconsciously makes its way onto Dahyun’s lips as she sees the splitting image of her wife in him.

“Eomma, Mama is Japanese, right?” Kenji inquires, curiosity shining in his innocent gaze.

Dahyun nods her head. “Yes, Mama is Japanese. Why do you ask?”

“So that means I’m also Japanese, right?”

The Korean woman scrunches her eyebrows together in confusion. They already explained this topic to their son a few times before, so she’s a little caught off guard that he’s suddenly asking about his roots.

“Yes, baby. You’re both Japanese and Korean. May I know why you’re asking about this all of a sudden?” Dahyun lazily combs her fingers through his soft locks and lets out a yawn.

“Then why can’t I speak Japanese? I can’t talk like Mama because I only know very few words,” Kenji whines with a pout.

Dahyun’s eyes widen and her sleepiness instantly dissipates into the air. Out of all the things that she was anticipating Kenji to tell her, she didn’t expect it to be this. She’s a little confused yet quite impressed that he’s already interested in learning Sana’s mother tongue this young.

Rubbing his back, she explains with a gentle smile. “It’s because your Mama and I have agreed to have you learn Korean first because it’s the language that you’ll be using a lot since we live here. Then when you’re a little older, your Mama will formally teach you Japanese. It’s also to avoid you getting too confused from learning two languages at the same time.”

Kenji falls silent for a moment to ponder about her answer. Dahyun takes this chance to appreciate the boy’s beauty; he really is a carbon copy of Sana. Except for his eyebrows, face shape, and fair complexion that he got from his Korean mom, he has Sana’s brown almond eyes, high-bridged nose, and pink pouty lips. Even his mannerisms were like Sana’s, especially now that he’s jutting his lips and furrowing his brows in deep thought. It makes sense though since Sana was the one who carried him for nine whole months. If Kenji mostly looked like Dahyun, Sana wouldn’t let her hear the end of it.

Feeling a wave of affection, Dahyun can’t resist planting a series of quick pecks on his chubby cheeks, which seems to pull him back to reality.

“Mama’s birthday is almost coming, right?” Kenji asks again after giggling from the kisses.

“Mama’s birthday is still in two months, Kenji-ya. Do you remember what month it is today?” Dahyun replies patiently.

“Yes, it’s October. It’s going to be Halloween next week!” Kenji excitedly answers then abruptly pauses. He glances down and plays with his fingers, a nervous mannerism that he also inherited from Sana. “Eomma, can I ask you something?”

Dahyun really has no idea where Kenji is going with this conversation with the random questions that he’s been asking. Although she has an inkling feeling that it has something to do with Sana, she quietly hums in agreement nonetheless.

“Of course, baby. You’ve been asking me questions all this time, some more won’t hurt.” Dahyun caresses the boy’s back to ease his nerves.

“Um, I think it’s a favor, not a question,” Dahyun nods her head again to urge him to continue. “Eomma, can you... um, can you please enroll me in a Japanese class?” Kenji bashfully asks, now fiddling with the hem of Dahyun’s shirt.

Dahyun eyebrows shoot up both in surprise and curiosity. “Oh? May I ask why you want to take Japanese classes?”

“Because I want to surprise Mama on her birthday. I want to tell her how much she means to me in Japanese and I think she’ll love it a lot because the other day I told her ‘Osewaninarimaa, Mama’ and she cried happy tears. It felt nice here when I saw her reaction and I want to do it again but with different words,” Kenji rambles on and points to his chest at the last sentence.

A wide grin breaks out on Dahyun’s face as her son explains his reasoning. She feels her own chest soar in pride and pure joy while listening to Kenji’s plan to make Sana happy. She embraces him tightly and places more kisses on top of his head, making him giggle again in response.

“That’s great to hear, buddy. I’m proud of you for wanting to learn more about your Mama’s roots. It will absolutely make her happy, she loves surprises,” Dahyun praises with a beam. “But wait, who taught you how to say that? And do you know what that means?”

“Yuki-chan! And I do, it means ‘thank you for taking care of me’. Yuki-chan made fun of me because I can’t speak as many Japanese words as her, so I asked her to teach me some phrases instead,” Kenji excitedly reveals.

Yuki is Jeongyeon and Mina’s daughter, both are Dahyun’s and Sana’s best friends. She’s a few months older than Kenji and goes to the same kindergarten as him. Mina must’ve already started teaching Yuki Japanese early on.

“What else did Yuki-chan teach you?”

“Issho ni asobo! Nani e asobu?” Kenji stands up from her lap and proudly shows off his newly learned phrases. (Let’s play together! What do you want to play?)

Luckily, Dahyun understands Japanese. And although he has a thick Korean accent compared to Sana’s Kansai accent that she’s used to, she’s still absolutely impressed with her son’s ability to learn fast.

“That’s amazing, baby. Are there any more phrases that Yuki-chan taught you?” Dahyun pulls Kenji back into her embrace and happily kisses the top of his head again.

“Hmmm, yeah! She taught me ‘yamenaide’, but I forgot what it means. She told me that Auntie Mina says that a lot when she’s with Auntie Jeongyeon in their room,” Kenji innocently responds.

Dahyun’s eyeballs almost pop out of their sockets and hangs open. She knows exactly what that phrase means, having personally heard it from her own Japanese wife. It has a different meaning and context with how Sana uses it, but their son does not need to know that.

Her cheeks are flushing as she pushes away Sana’s seductive voice that’s echoing that phrase in her head. She clears and immediately changes the subject.

“Kenji-ya, I’m so happy and proud hearing your eagerness to learn Mama’s mother tongue. I also want you to be exposed to your roots because it’s a part of you,” Dahyun puts him back on her lap and slowly rubs his back. “But Eomma can’t give you an answer right now because I still have to think about it, okay?”

“Is it a bad thing?”

“What? No, of course not.”

“Then why do you have to think about it if it’s not a bad thing, Eomma?” Kenji pouts his lips again, frowning.

In all honesty, the reason why Dahyun’s hesitant right now is because such a request is requiring her to make a decision without Sana’s say. It’s a decision that concerned their son and even though it has great intentions, she still can’t help but start to feel guilty at the thought of leaving Sana out of it. She also worries about the fact that someone else will teach Kenji a part of his identity that he got from Sana, and not Sana herself. It doesn’t feel right to take away such privilege from her wife.

Those, and Dahyun also has to come up with a foolproof plan if they are to keep this hidden from Sana until her birthday.

Sighing, she decides to give him a vague answer to prevent him from worrying. “It’s a good thing, yes. However, there are just adult things that I need to consider before I could make a decision. I promise to tell you soon, is that okay?” Dahyun explains while patting the boy’s head.

Kenji puffs out his cheeks before reluctantly nodding his head. “Okay. Don’t tell Mama, okay Eomma?”

“Not a single word.” Dahyun mimes zipping her lips shut, locking it with an imaginary key and shoving the said key into her pocket. The act makes Kenji laugh out loud, until a knock on the door causes him to stop.

“Dahyunie? Kenji-kun? What are you two doing still awake?” Sana’s sleepyhead peeks inside. She then opens the door wider and groggily enters the room, squinting her eyes from the sudden brightness.

Dahyun and Kenji eye each other and the Korean mother sees alarm and worry in the latter’s brown orbs. Sensing her son’s nervousness, Dahyun squeezes his hand in reassurance while sending her wife a smile.

“Hey, honey. Our baby here just had a scary dream so I had to fight off the bad guys in his head. Did we wake you up?” Dahyun glances at Kenji when she feels him squeeze her hand back in gratitude.

Sana settles next to Dahyun and wraps her arms around the two before planting a quick peck on Kenji’s cheek.

“I was just wondering where you went. Are you okay now, baby? Do you need Mama to help Eomma kick their butts too?” Sana leans her head on Dahyun’s shoulder, caressing their son’s soft cheeks.

Kenji looks at Dahyun for approval and understanding what he’s trying to say, she nods her head. She makes a mental note to explain the concept of white lies to him later on especially if they were to push through with this plan.

“I’m okay now, Mama. Thank you, Eomma,” Kenji replies, planting a quick peck on both of his mothers’ cheeks.

“You’re always welcome. I’m always here to help you, buddy. You too, Sana-chan.” Dahyun sighs in contentment when both Kenji and Sana nuzzle closer to her.

“I love you, my Kenji-kun and my Dahyun-chan,” Sana lovingly whispers in Japanese and their son repeated it. They then go back to sleep shortly.

♡

For the next two days, Dahyun spends her free time thoroughly thinking about Kenji’s request. One might look at her incredulously for overthinking such a simple thing. I mean, there’s nothing morally wrong about it and she could solely afford an additional class for their son.

Her worries are mostly surrounding the fact that her wife—her son’s other parent—won’t be the first one to formally teach him her mother tongue. Dahyun may have known Sana for more than two decades now but she isn’t entirely sure how the older woman will feel about giving the opportunity of teaching Kenji her native language to a complete stranger instead of her, even if the purpose was for her.

Dahyun thinks about some alternatives and considers asking Mina, Momo, or even her own parents-in-law to teach Kenji since Sana trusted them more than a stranger.

However, Dahyun then realizes that none of those options are plausible because, 1) Mina is very busy lately as she’s currently working on an important project; 2) Nayeon, Momo’s wife, discouraged Dahyun by saying, “She’s forgetful and can’t even speak it properly sometimes. Do you think she’ll be able to teach Kenji well?”; and, 3) Sana’s parents can’t communicate in Korean, which is what Kenji could only fluently understand as of the moment.

“Dahyun-chan, I don’t think Sana will mind at all if it’s to surprise her on her birthday anyway,” Sana’s mom, Hanako, reassures Dahyun over the phone during her lunch break.

A deep hum also sounds on the other line. “I agree. But if you’re still hesitant to enroll him in a formal class, why don’t you teach him instead? Your Japanese has significantly improved over the years.”

“Eh? But I’m still lacking a lot...” Dahyun frowns. Although she isn’t against the idea, she believes that it’s better for someone who’s more fluent than her to teach their son. She only learned the basics in order to communicate with her in-laws and occasionally with Sana.

“Nonesense! You even just reacted with ‘eh’. I’d say you’re basically almost Japanese,” Hiroshi, Sana’s dad, grumbles a loud chuckle with his wife softly laughing along. “We can always help you out on things that you find challenging to understand.”

“I think Sana would love that idea even more, dear. But don’t let us pressure you, okay? We trust that you’ll do what you think is best for Kenji and Sana,” Hanako adds, voice as sweet as her daughter’s.

Later that afternoon, Dahyun also calls Mina for another set of advice. Mina also thinks that Hiroshi’s suggestion is a brilliant idea and encourages her to try it. She believes that Dahyun’s Japanese is enough for Kenji to learn from.

“If you were in the same position as Sana, would you be upset if Jeongyeon took it upon herself to formally teach Yuki Japanese first?” Dahyun voices out her concern as she settles in her car.

There are a few moments of silence from Mina’s end, minus the faint buzzing in the background. “No, especially if she’s doing it out of love. I don’t think it should be a competition of who’s going to do it first.”

“It’s not that I see it as a competition, I’m just really worried about lying to Sana and teaching Kenji how to lie, and stealing that opportunity from her and... I don’t know. Ugh, why am I like this?” Dahyun groans loudly in frustration, running a hand through her jet-black hair.

“Dahyun, calm down. You’re overthinking this way more than you should be, and that’s coming from a fellow overthinker,” Mina lets out a soft giggle. “Look, I’m grateful that you’re considering Sana’s thoughts and feelings into this, but Kenji already said it himself: Sana cried when he said that to her. Not because someone else taught it to him before she could, but because she’s touched that her son expressed his feelings in the language that she grew up with. Now imagine the happiness she’ll feel when she hears him express more in the same language on her birthday and then finding out that the love of her life was the one who taught her son.”

Dahyun feels like slapping herself as soon as she realizes Mina’s point. As usual, her worries clouded her ability to think rationally. It’s just that it’s her first time making a decision that concerns Kenji without Sana and she just can’t help but feel guilty. But now, she’s fully convinced that it’ll all be worth it. Just the mere image of Sana’s face flushing from beaming too widely with tears running down her cheeks is enough to make her heart flutter in excitement.

♡

Kenji and Yuki’s kindergarten classes end at 3 P.M. Usually, he’ll either be picked up by Jeongyeon and hang out at their place or be fetched by Dahyun’s mom and spend the rest of the afternoon with her until Sana comes to pick him up. Meanwhile, Sana usually leaves her workplace at around 3:30, which is hours earlier than Dahyun.

So considering those, this is the foolproof plan (or as foolproof as it could be) that Dahyun comes up with:

She is going to go to work at the same time as Sana so that she can end earlier than usual. But she won’t tell Sana that she’s also going home at the same time as her. Instead, Dahyun’s going to say that she’ll be working on a new project that’ll require her to work longer hours and that she’ll be the one to pick Kenji up from her parents’ place since they also wanted to spend more time with him lately. That’ll give her and Kenji around an hour and a half max to study Japanese together at her parents’ house where Sana won’t find out about their surprise.

When Dahyun tells Kenji about this, he’s beyond ecstatic. The five-year-old boy is jumping in excitement and keeps asking when they’re going to start. Sana, on the other hand, is the complete opposite.

“But why can’t I hang out with your parents too?” Sana whines as she flashes her famous puppy eyes to Dahyun.

“They want to spend time with Kenji alone, honey,” Dahyun lies, plopping down on the bed beside her wife who is still pouting. That’s not exactly a lie though since her parents love spending time with their grandchild anyway.

“Don’t they love me anymore?” Sana immediately wraps her limbs around Dahyun and nuzzles her face into her neck.

“What? Of course they love you,” Dahyun replies as she combs her fingers through her wife’s brown hair and places a soft kiss on her forehead. “I guess they’re just feeling a little clingier with him lately. You know grandparents’ love towards their grandchildren. I wouldn’t even be surprised if they loved Kenji more than me.”

Sana lets out a sigh and Dahyun feels her warm breath tickle her skin. “That makes sense. My grandma was like that too when I had to leave home and study abroad. But still, I’ll be lonely here without either of you.”

“You can treat it as a ‘you’ time, babe. You’ve been working hard for Kenji and for our family and you deserve some rest as well.” That, too, isn’t a lie. Sana has been working incredibly hard since Kenji came into their lives, which often makes Dahyun worried about the older woman’s well-being. But Sana keeps reassuring her that it’s her choice and that Dahyun can just be with her when things get too exhausting.

Thankfully, Dahyun doesn’t need to pull out more cards from her because that alone seems to convince Sana. And in no time, Project Teach-Kenji-Japanese-So-That-He-Could-Surprise-Sana is in full swing.

Dahyun buys several kid-friendly textbooks and digs the internet for easy learning materials. She also approaches her in-laws to review the materials that she prepared for Kenji.

The mother-son duo quickly adapts a comfortable weekday routine. Dahyun would pick up Kenji from kindergarten, head to her parents’ house, and study there for an hour. If they’re not too tired, they’ll watch a Japanese cartoon show together for the next thirty minutes before going home to Sana who already prepared their dinner.

Even though she understands Japanese, teaching the foreign language is definitely harder than Dahyun thought. It brings her back to when she diligently studied the language just to impress her in-laws when she and Sana were only dating. But then again, studying and teaching are two different things especially when she’s teaching a five-year-old child.

However, to her genuine surprise, Kenji seems to easily learn the basics after a few days. Well, Sana did causally teach him the alphabet, counting from one to ten, and how to introduce himself f