Joy has been volunteering at an orphanage because of a school programme and she has come home with stories of this little girl with bright eyes and an equally bright smile. Her smile lights up so much as she talks about the little girl that Irene needs to see the little girl for herself, one to validate Joy’s claim for herself, and also to thank her silently for making Joy so happy. The first time Irene met Yerim, she had ran and threw herself into Joy’s hug, only to slide down and hide behind Joy’s legs when she realize Irene was there. Bright eyes peeked out from behind as Joy tried to cajole the girl to step out while introducing the two to each other. Irene squats down to the girl’s eye level, causing Yerim to immediately shrink further back behind Joy’s legs.

Irene speaks gently. “Hey, it’s okay, I don’t bite.”

Slowly, the little girl peeks out again from Joy’s legs, looking at her carefully as if trying to make out if she’s a bad person or not before looking up at Joy for reassurance. Joy nods and the next thing they know, Yerim detaches herself from Joy’s legs and run towards Irene, engulfing the oldest with a tight hug. Taken by surprise, Irene falls backwards and lands on her back with Yerim on top of her.

“Yay, a new friend!” Yerim squeals as she tightens her hug around Irene and the latter laughs as Joy pulls the both of them up. She can’t even find herself to be angry at Yerim although her back hurts from the fall just now. The little girl is just too cute to be true.

--

Joy is in charge of teaching arts, and Irene just tries to make herself useful by going around looking at the kids’ drawing, only stopping and helping if they ask for help. The kids mostly draw the same stuff like a house with a garden and clouds and birds, but she stops behind Yerim, watches as the girl bends her head over her whole paper as if she wants to cover her work. She turns around to see Irene behind her and immediately covers her paper with her hands while pouting at Irene.

Irene returns the pout. “Can’t I see it?”

“Later.” Yerim replies brightly and Irene just ruffles her hair before walking away.

At the end of the class, all the kids hand up their work to Joy and leave the class, leaving only Yerim in the class. She hands the paper over to Irene instead, the latter taking the paper from Yerim as she grins, excited to see what the little girl has drawn. She sees three people holding hands in the middle of a playground and it didn’t take a genius to know that Yerim’s drawing them.

“Who did you draw?” Irene still asks, knowing that the little girl is probably very excited to explain her artwork.

“This is Joy-unnie!” Yerim exclaims, pointing at the tallest figure in the drawing.

“This is Yerimi,” she says while pointing to the shortest figure in the middle, “and this is you Irene-unnie!” Yerim finishes her explanation while pointing at the last figure that has stars drawn around her.

“Why do I have stars around me?”

“Because you are pretty, just like the stars!”

Irene has probably heard such cliché praises often from her abundance of suitors, but hearing it coming from a bright-eyed child like Yerim makes it more sincere and endearing. Irene feels her ears heating up and she engulfs Yerim in a tight hug. “Thank you Yerim.”

--

It’s time for them to leave and Yerim is holding onto Irene’s legs tightly, not wanting to let go. Joy tries her best to coax the little girl out of her tight grip, but the little girl just responds with furious shakes of her head. Irene pats Yerim on her head lightly, only to make the latter look up at her with tear filled eyes.

“You will come back again right?” Yerim asks tearfully as she has her arms around Irene’s legs, looking up at the latter with puppy eyes. Irene has to control herself from squealing right there and then at the cute sight. She tugs Yerim off her legs lightly and squats down to give Yerim a hug.

“Of course.” She pats Yerim on the back and the kid sniffs while pulling away.

“But many people who said so didn’t come back.” Yerim says as she refuses to let Irene go, afraid that this will be the last time she’s seeing the older woman.

Irene squats down and holds Yerim by the shoulders gently and gives her an equally gentle smile while wiping the tears off her face. “Did Joy-unnie lie to you when she said she will come back?”

Yerim responds with a shake of her head.

“So likewise I wouldn’t lie to you. I will come back and see you soon.”

Yerim seems to think through it before holding out her pinkie.

“Pinkie promise?”

How can Irene say no to that cute face? She smiles as she hooks her own pinkie finger with Yerim’s. “Pinkie promise.”

--

Irene taps her feet against the floor impatiently as she waits in line for ice cream. She turns around to see Joy and Yerim sitting at a table and a smile immediately replaces the frown on her face as she spots Joy giving kisses to Yerim while the little girl tries to avoid it, to no avail. Although Yerim is avoiding it, she’s still smiling and laughing while doing so. It’s finally her turn at the cashier and she tears her view away from the two, but the smile never leaves her face.

Irene brings the ice cream back to the table and she sees the two faces light up, both clambering for the ice cream. She just smiles at the two of them as they dig into the cold delicacy deliciously. Yerim sees that Irene doesn’t have an ice cream of her own and alternate looks between Irene and her own ice cream cone before seemingly making a decision and sticking out her ice cream cone to her, albeit unwillingly. Irene shakes her head and pushes it back to Yerim. “It’s okay, I’m not hungry.”

Yerim seems to be relieved that Irene didn’t want her ice cream and happily eats it while beaming at her two older unnies. Joy offers hers to Irene’s too, more of being courteous than actually meaning it and Irene takes a big mouth of ice cream just to tease the younger girl and she stares at Irene, horrified at how her ice cream swirl had decimated to less than half than what it was previously.

“I thought you said you weren’t hungry!” Joy exclaims, trying to remove the iron grip Irene has on her hand that is holding onto her ice cream cone.

“Well I can’t let your politeness go to waste, right?” Irene replies and the two tussle over an ice cream cone.

Yerim giggles at their antics as she chomps down on her own cone. “You guys are so funny.”

They both give warm smiles to the little girl, playful banter already forgotten as they fuss over the mess she made all over her face and clothes. After the ice cream treat, they make their way back to the orphanage, with Yerim in the middle of her two older unnies. They bid farewell at the door of the orphanage, both of the older girls squatting down to Yerim’s eye level to give her a tight hug. Joy hugs Yerim first and ruffles her hair to the latter’s annoyance, before Irene goes next and engulfs Yerim in a hug. She holds the little girl gently by the shoulders and smiles gently while fixing her hair that Joy messed up. “You will be good, right?”

Yerim nods fervently while grinning widely. She holds out both of her pinkies and asks, “See you next week?”

Both Irene and Joy takes it with no hesitation and Yerim seems to be satisfied with their pinkie promise as she turns to follow the staff back to the dormitory area. As Irene watches Yerim walk down the corridor, she takes a peek at Joy to see a sad looking smile on the taller girl’s face. And it was in that spur of the moment where Irene made her decision.

“Yerim!” Irene calls out and runs after the little girl. Yerim turns and looks at her, confusion written all over her face as Irene holds her by the shoulder again.

“Do you want to live with us? With Joy-unnie and me?” Irene asks earnestly and hears the gasps of Joy who has caught up with her. She sees Yerim’s eyes widen in surprise before a smile that can rival the sun breaks out on the little girl’s face.

“YES!”

Irene grins and can feel the tears b up in her eyes as she engulfs Yerim in another hug. She feels Joy joining in in their hug, rounding the two of them up in a hug with her long arms. She might have made this decision at a snap of a finger, and they may be too young to take on the responsibilities of being parents, but Irene has a feeling that they, Sooyoung, her and Yerim now, can overcome any problems as long as they are together.

--

Irene opens the doors to the house and Joy lets Yerim down from her arms but the little girl stays rooted to the ground, flabbergasted by the interior of the big and beautiful house. Joy places her hands on Yerim’s shoulders as a reassurance. “This is your house now.”

Irene slides her arms around Joy’s waist and leans her head against Joy’s shoulders. “Wrong. This is our home now. Yerim-ah, do you like it?”

“Yes Irene-unnie and Joy-unnie!”

“Heol… it’s umma now!” Joy chides, knocking her knuckles on Yerim’s head. “But you can call her omoni because she’s older.”

Irene reaches out in an attempt to strangle Joy but she deftly hides behind Yerim, using the little girl as a shield while the girl just giggles at her new parents’ antics. Placing her hands on her waist, Irene tries her best imitation of being angry. “Do you agree with her, Yerimi?”

Yerim just laughs and shoots Irene a cheeky grin before running away with Joy, both of them chortling with laughter as Irene runs after them. “Come back here you two little rascals!”

As Irene chases after the two and she hears the raucous laughter spreading throughout the whole house, she knows, this is definitely home. 

A/N: the joyreneri family chapter you never knew you wanted (jk you guys probably don't want it BUT I DO SO IDC)

i'm sorry for disappearing for like 3 months I'M SORRY 

this volunteering idea came from my friend who told me how she volunteered at a hospital and one of the patients asked her if she was coming back because other volunteers were really only there to clock volunteer hours for school and will never go back and volunteer again voluntarily, as ironic as it sounds. so yeah just wanted to try to bring out the perspective of the patients in the hospice (or the children in the orphanage in the story) where they have to see volunteers come and go with no real intention of helping them... kinda sad if you think about it... 

and i pictured Yerim as Agnes from Despicable Me in here, the age the cuteness (the height too, probably lolol)

okay not sure if anyone survived this rather long A/N but does anyone want a seuldy marriage chapter? cos if not this fic is going straight to the epilogue!! and don't worry guys i swear this fic will be completed before the year ends (i hope. i wish. /nervous grin)

okay one more question: police AU, school AU or time rewind AU for the next story?!