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Nothing, Jinsol thinks, absolutely nothing could make her day any worse than it already was.
Well, she doomed herself from the start when she decided to be a piece of trash and hit the bar with her friends instead of working on her writing assignment. That very wise decision left her scrambling to finish the whopping 15 pages the day before it was due (nasty hangover included!) That's entirely her own fault though, she knows. She didn't realize how difficult it would be to BS the thing until she was slaving over her desk at 11PM with less than half of the required pages written. Guess who had no choice but to pull an all-nighter? Hint: Her name starts with Dumb and ends with Ass.
On top of that, the shuttle that usually takes her from her dorm to her university campus happened to be extra crowded this morning. For a bumpy 15-minute ride, Jinsol found herself squished between a dude who smelled like spoiled cheese and some sick chick who wasn't carrying enough tissues to wipe up her buckets worth of snot. When she finally reached her stop, Jinsol noticed an oddly-colored stain on her pricey black cardigan. Whether it came from Cheese Boy or Snotty Girl, or how it even came about, she’s too afraid to find out.
As one may assume, Jinsol obviously wasn't feeling her best by the time she arrived onto campus. She didn’t have much free time before her first class began. The only thing she could do was treat herself to her first cup of overpriced coffee; 'first' because there would obviously be more after that. At last, she thought that she’d be able to catch a break and enjoy her short walk to class. If there’s one good thing she could say about her campus, it’s that it is pretty darn gorgeous with its stunning classical architecture, surrounding nature and all.
Then, of course, some girl Jinsol has never seen in her entire sad life decided to follow her around, probably trying to harass her into paying for something she absolutely does not want, like those 'donations for the poor endangered animals' that'll never see the light of day. To Jinsol's wonderful luck, the girl turned out to be incredibly insistent and refused to leave her alone even after all the excuses Jinsol spewed at her. The girl didn't bat a single eyelash at her usual game-winning, "Move, I'm gay!" which made things even more awkward. So Jinsol ended up sprinting to class.
What else could possibly go wrong, Jinsol laughs to herself, more bitter than the black coffee she's guzzling to keep herself awake. At least she managed to focus and take proper notes throughout her lecture. She sat between her friends Vivi and Haseul, who motivate her to be an upstanding student with those glares they shoot her whenever they catch her on her phone. They're good influences, to say the least.
Class wraps up without a hitch and Jinsol thanks her lucky stars, no sarcasm this time around. Just as she and her friends are following the rest of their classmates out of the lecture hall, Jinsol notices a girl standing off to the side, staring at her. They make eye contact and the girl boldly approaches her. Jinsol comes to a stop and signals to Haseul and Vivi to go on without her.
"Hey."
"Hi...?" Jinsol greets back with uncertainty. She knows she's seen this girl around a few times (it's hard not to, with her blond hair that's even lighter than her own), but they've never exchanged a single word with each other until now. Why did she suddenly want to talk to Jinsol, and why today? She was in a hurry to return to the safe confines of her dorm room, where no more outside misfortunes could touch her. Screw her obligatory club meetings.
The girl emanates nervous energy, apparent in the way she wrings her hands together. "I know we've never talked before, but I couldn't help but notice you. I really appreciate your input during class. Your interpretations are always interesting. And…you're really pretty too." So that's where this is going, Jinsol realizes, observing the redness beginning to brighten the other girl's cheeks. She's not so bad-looking herself. "Oh, and I'm Jungeun, by the way." Jinsol manages to chime in her own name before Jungeun continues with a shy smile, "I was wondering if you wanted to grab a cup of coffee sometime?"
There it is. Jungeun’s timing couldn’t be worse. Jinsol nearly allows a sigh to escape from her lips but she stops herself from doing so in fear that it would cause a misunderstanding between the two of them. She still has to be honest and let the other girl down easy. "Hey look... Jungeun, was it? I'm really sorry, but I'm not interested in dating anyone right now."
Jinsol catches the flash of disappointment across Jungeun’s features, and the guilt weighs down on her like a rock "Oh." Jinsol feels worse when a forced smile appears on Jungeun's face. "That's totally fine, don't worry about it. Sorry for bothering you."
"It's cool." Jinsol shifts her weight from one foot to the other and eyes the doors. "Uh, I gotta get going now, but I guess I'll see you around?"
Jungeun simply nods, and then they part ways.
Jinsol changes her mind and decides that she's going to attend her Book Club meeting so she can talk to Haseul and Vivi about completely unrelated matters - namely, her earlier encounter with Jungeun. She's still feeling bad about rejecting the other girl and though it may be too late now, she's wondering if she should've given her a chance. Jungeun is pretty cute, probably among the smarter bunch of her classmates, and Jinsol hasn't been on any real dates in a while. She'll talk it out with her friends and see what they suggest.
But first, more coffee. She needs to guarantee that she can function properly if she knows she's going to socialize. No room for mistakes there. The line for coffee is longer now that it's closer to the afternoon, but Jinsol doesn't mind the wait. Before and after making her order, she checks her email and social media updates on her phone. She replies to unread messages from her friends. She eventually gets her coffee, a nice warm cup of Americano. It all works out.
That is, until someone rams into her head-on while she's leaving the café. It all happens so fast and the next thing Jinsol knows, the Americano she'd painstakingly waited for is now splattered all over the floor. She's this close to falling to her knees and mourning over it when she remembers the existence of the culprit behind this tragic accident. She whirls around to face them, only to be flabbergasted by who sees. "What the - it's you again! You've been following me all freaking day, haven't you? Who the hell are you and what do you want?" The people around them are staring. Jinsol doesn't care if she's causing a commotion. Her day was just beginning to improve.
"I'm your daughter!" The brunette declares with confidence akin to stating a fact.
Jinsol freezes up, her only visible movement being the deep furrow between her brows. "What the actual fuck." The girl only grins at her, much like the sun, and Jinsol is furious – but she can't help but find her very cute. Like adorable pinch-your-cheeks-and-give-you-candy-cute. (Although she’s resisting the urge to drop-kick her to the moon.) None of the previous onlookers are watching them anymore. Either they've lost interest or they're afraid to blatantly stare at the strange pair.
Jinsol pinches her nose bridge and performs a quick breathing exercise to calm herself down. She can’t lose her cool to this girl, who looks a little too young to attend this university. She’s got to be some lost high school student or something. "Okay, you know what, I've got nothing else to lose today. Let's do this. I'll listen to whatever freaky thing you want to tell me, but that's only after you buy me another cup of coffee. Otherwise I won't be caffeinated enough for this."
Still smiling, the girl cutely shrugs. "I don't have any money."
"Ugh, you...! What is it that you want from me? Is it money? If I give you money, will you finally leave me alone?" Jinsol reaches into her pockets to find any spare change she may be carrying. However, she stops her search when she notices the girl shaking her head.
"Nope. I'm actually in desperate need of your help." She suddenly looks so serious that Jinsol can't find it in herself to outright refuse. Dare say it, this piqued her curiosity.
"Geez, alright then. Let’s go."
Jinsol walks away, and as expected, the girl continues to follow her.
Jinsol leads the stranger to a secluded area behind one of the Business buildings, a grassy clearing with a single lonely bench. This area was hardly ever used. Jinsol only knew of herself and the very few people who needed some way to sneak a cigarette onto campus. She highly doubts the arrival of any other visitors at this time. This way, she can also be assured that no one will catch her talking to this weirdo. She's surely suffered enough already.
Jinsol sits down on one end of the bench and the girl sits right beside her, seemingly ignorant of the rules of personal space between strangers. She decides to ignore it and continue moving forward. "Alright, now that we are here… Explain yourself. You better have a good explanation for all of this. You have exactly 2 minutes, starting now."
The girl speaks hurriedly, taking Jinsol's instructions to heart. It's kind of cute. "Well, my name is Yerim, and I'm your daughter from the future - "
"Okay, I gotta stop you right there." Jinsol interrupts, raising a hand in objection. She slowly begins to rise from the bench. "I have a club meeting to attend soon and I really don't have time for this nonsense. So, if you'll excuse me - "
Yerim pouts and grabs onto Jinsol's arm. The blonde falls right back onto her butt. Okay, she's really adorable, what the heck. Jinsol shakes Yerim off her arm, as well as the strange warmth she's beginning to feel towards this girl. She's just planting weird ideas inside her head. That's most likely her goal. "Why won't you believe me?"
"Of course I'm going to be skeptical if some random person suddenly stalks me, tackles me, and tells me they're from the future."
"I'm not a random person, I'm your daughter." Yerim insists so resolutely that Jinsol could almost believe her. She can't allow herself to be conned by this girl!
Jinsol rolls her eyes. "Yes, yes. 'Daughter'. If you really are from the future, then I'm gonna need some evidence. For example, tell me something that will happen in the future."
Yerim frowns. "I'm afraid I can't do that since it's considered top secret confidential information...but..." Yerim slips her purple backpack off her shoulders and rummages through it. She momentarily stops to peer up at Jinsol. "I guess I can show you something kinda cool, but only if you promise not to tell anyone." Jinsol gives her a look, and after a brief examination of their surroundings, Yerim presents what looks to be an average smartphone. However, she turns the thing on and a few taps later, it projects a 3D holographic model into mid-air, a sight Jinsol would only expect to see in movies. She nearly jumps off the bench.
"What the hell?! How did you get your hands on something like this?" Jinsol observes the thing from afar as Yerim very easily manipulates the hologram. It looks to be an app screen of sorts, as the girl gives Jinsol a quick demonstration of all the features, from simple internet browsing to complex puzzle games. She’s never seen anything like it, and she’s not sure how to react.
"Anyone in my time can get ahold of this as long as they can afford a smartphone." With that said, Yerim quickly turns off the device and places it back into her backpack. She seems quite satisfied now that she’s finally captured Jinsol’s full and undivided attention.
"No freaking way. This can't be real. This has got to be some kind of delirium caused by my lack of sleep." Jinsol pinches herself and Yerim flinches at the very quick and sudden movement. The blonde winces. "Ow. Okay, maybe this is all an elaborate prank for a TV show I’ve never heard of.”
Yerim places her hand on top of Jinsol’s and offers her a sweet smile. “I promise you, this is one hundred percent real, Mom.”
Jinsol is so overwhelmed by the recent developments that she feels a wave of nausea hit her. She attempts to calm herself down, but it’s difficult. "Mom?! Good god, I can barely take care of myself, and now I have a freakin’ daughter?!"
Yerim’s enthusiasm remains undeterred by Jinsol’s horror and disbelief. If she’s an actress in on the prank, she’s real good. If Jinsol were in her shoes, she would’ve busted out laughing by now. This only lends Yerim slight more credibility. "It’s okay! Give it a couple of years and you'll be the best mom ever! Alongside my other mom of course."
"H-Hold up - your other mom?" Yerim nods excitedly, and she reaches into her shirt to pull out a silver heart-shaped necklace. It’s a locket, Jinsol soon discovers, as Yerim opens it to reveal the photograph inside. Jinsol leans forward to get a better look at it.
She feels a chill run down her spine as she instantly recognizes herself, somewhat older, smiling, the long hair on her head as black as the day she was born. There’s another woman beside her in the photo, a brunette. She looks very familiar. It takes Jinsol a few seconds to finally realize where she'd seen the woman before, and when she does, she nearly chokes on her own spit. "Shit, I can't decide if I want to laugh or cry."
Yerim’s eyes sparkle with anticipation. “You know her. You’ve met Mom already?”
Jinsol cringes, sucking in air through her teeth. "I hate to break it to you, but Yerim, my sweet child, I turned down your 'mom' this morning."
Yerim’s smile falls right off her face, and her face even appears to lose some of its color. Now Jinsol is beginning to feel anxious. Did she do something wrong? "Oh no, that's really bad... I was supposed to stop you before you did it.”
“What do you mean?”
Yerim carefully closes the locket and tucks it back underneath her shirt. “I came here from the future because I really need your help. There’s a lot to explain, but it’s long and complex. I’ll keep this explanation as short and simple as I can.” Jinsol nods for the girl to continue. Yerim gestures to everything around them. “I’ll start by telling you that this isn’t the only universe. There are multitudes of them, some running parallel to ours. Among these parallel universes, they generally follow a set of defining conventions. For example, the key component for this timeline is your marriage to Kim Jungeun, and my subsequent birth as your daughter. However, there’s been a disruption in our universe, one that I’m still investigating. This tends to happen from time to time, but this is one irregularity in urgent need of fixing.”
"Okay…what's at stake here?" Jinsol questions though her mind is still trying to wrap around the information Yerim had just relayed to her.
"My existence." Jinsol stares at Yerim. The girl is solemn-faced, a stark contrast to her previously cheerful demeanor. Still, she looks young, and Jinsol feels an inexplicable urge to protect her. "If you don't get together with Mom soon, I'll cease to exist."
Jinsol turns away from Yerim and kneads at her temples. She feels a massive headache coming on. She wouldn’t even be mad if Yerim burst out laughing right now and told her it was all a hoax. But she doesn’t. In fact, she looks genuinely fearful, and though she still has her doubts, Jinsol feels responsible for Yerim’s current predicament. After all, she’s the one who turned down Jungeun and set this whole thing in motion. "You know, those are very high stakes. Am I really the best person for this? There’s no…Timeline Police or something that can fix it?"
Yerim sadly shakes her head as she also seems to sense Jinsol’s reluctance about the matter. She didn’t want to make it so obvious, but how was she supposed to readily accept this?
Jinsol sighs, reaching out to softly pat Yerim on the head. It feels natural, and Yerim leans into her touch. She appears slightly comforted by the gesture at least. "Hey, can you give me some time? Like a day, to think about this? This is really a lot to take in."
Yerim only smiles, much weaker than before. It reminds Jinsol of something she’d seen earlier that day.
Jinsol hadn’t planned to make a big deal out of arriving late to the meeting, but Haseul calls her out as soon as she catches her creeping into the room with Yerim in tow. It’s the leadership instincts, she knows. “Jinsol, you’re beyond late! The meeting is already over and everyone left! And who is this you’ve brought with you?”
Before Jinsol could utter a single word, Yerim races forward with a big grin on her face. “Aunt Haseul! Aunt Vivi! You both look as youthful as ever! You’ll be happy to know that you haven’t aged a bit!” Now Jinsol knows why Yerim had insisted on tagging along when she mentioned her friends by name. However, deep down, she’s really happy to know that they’re all still close friends in the future.
Haseul and Vivi exchange perplexed glances before turning towards Yerim again. “Excuse me?”
Jinsol stands behind Yerim and places her hands on the younger girl’s shoulders. “Haseul, Vivi, I’d like you two to meet my daughter.”
Vivi gawks at the two of them. “Jinsol, did you fall on your way here and hit your head? Who is she, really?”
Jinsol sends Yerim a pointed look, as if to say, ‘See, no one in their right mind would readily believe such absurd statements.’ Jinsol then goes on to smoothly explain, “This is my little cousin, Yerim. She’s a first-year student who just transferred here.” (Yerim is indeed a first-year student, Jinsol would soon come to learn, except that she is merely a first-year student in high school.)
“You could’ve just said that instead of being weird.” Haseul remarks. “I’m Haseul, by the way. It’s nice to meet you, Yerim. Please, have a seat.” She points to the seats across from her and Vivi. “We can chat here for a bit. Although the meeting is over, they won’t kick us out of the club room just yet.”
Jinsol and Yerim sit down as Vivi begins her self-introduction to the youngest girl. “Well, hello there Yerim. It’s a pleasure to meet you. Jinsol’s never mentioned you before, but don’t believe any weird things she may have told you about us. I can guarantee you that they’re totally untrue.” Yerim nods and smiles in response to Vivi’s words. From the look of things, she seems quite fond of her future aunts.
“What was the point of coming to the meeting if you were going to show up this late?” Haseul questions, narrowing her eyes at Jinsol.
“Oh, I wasn’t planning on coming for the meeting, I just wanted to talk about what happened after class.” Vivi and Haseul don’t appear surprised in the least, and they scoot up their chairs to move closer to Jinsol and Yerim. Yerim herself pays close attention to the next words that would soon emerge from Jinsol’s mouth. “So that Jungeun girl ended up asking me out and I turned her down, but I thought about it afterwards and now I’m having some doubts. Do you girls think that was the right thing to do?”
“It wasn’t.” Yerim deadpans, but of course nobody takes notice of grim expression as she says this.
“It’s entirely up to you, whether you want to give her a chance. She doesn’t seem like a bad person at all.” Vivi says with a smile.
“She’s the best you’ll ever have.” Yerim once again offers her input without being asked for it. This time, however, she is finally noticed.
“Yerim, you know Jungeun?” Haseul asks with a raised brow.
Jinsol gives Yerim a look and cuts in, “Don’t listen to her, she’s just being silly.”
“Ah, she’s a such a cutie pie, it’s hard to believe that you two are related.” Vivi giggles behind her hand as Yerim beams cutely at her. ‘Joke’s on you, she’s actually my daughter’, Jinsol thinks.
She doesn’t realize she’s smirking until she catches Haseul giving her an odd stare. She coughs into her hand. “Anyway, how about we continue our discussion over lunch?”
“It’s like you want to out yourself as a time traveler. Or whatever you call yourself.”
“Time traveler works. It’s fine; it’s completely inconsequential. I wouldn’t do it if there was a problem.”
Of course, Yerim has nowhere else to stay but in Jinsol’s very own dorm room. As Yerim is drying her hair in the bathroom, Jinsol rummages through her closet for any spare pajamas she can lend to the girl. She’s only a couple of inches taller than Yerim so it shouldn’t be a hassle.
“How can I be so sure that you won’t murder me in my sleep or something?” Jinsol questions half-jokingly as she hears the other girl coming out of the bathroom. Yerim instantly begins to whine. “Okay, okay, whatever. Sorry I asked.”
She still has so many questions to ask Yerim, she doesn’t even know where to start. She doesn’t know when all of this is supposed to end. It’s exhausting just to think about. Technically, Yerim asked her for help, so that should mean Jinsol has an option to refuse. If Yerim is telling the truth about this entire situation, then it sounds way too complicated for even the both of them to handle together. This is the matter of the universe they’re dealing with. There must be someone else or somewhere else Yerim can go to for help. Jinsol can’t do this, she’s not even that much older than Yerim for crying out loud -
“Today was a lot of fun, Mom. You didn’t change much. I know it’s a lot and it’s hard to accept but thank you for trying. You’re the best.”
Jinsol momentarily stops. She peers over her shoulder to steal a glance at Yerim, who’s now laying on her bed. A soundless sigh escapes from Jinsol’s lips as she stands up to her full height, holding in her hands the cute pajamas she’s picked out for Yerim, in purple, her favorite color.
She quietly makes her way over to the bed. Her eyes widen. “Wait, that’s my blank…et.” Jinsol’s objection dies in her throat as she realizes that Yerim has already fallen asleep, cozy and completely enveloped in her fish print blanket. She didn’t even get to change into the pajamas Jinsol picked out for her. Jinsol briefly considers waking her up, but she sees the content smile on Yerim’s sleeping face and decides against it.
Jinsol grabs her spare winter blanket from her closet and carefully climbs into bed beside Yerim. She drifts off to sleep just as quickly as the younger girl does, allowing the exhaustion of her day finally catch up to her.
That night, Jinsol dreams of the future, or at least that’s what she thinks it is. Jungeun, Yerim, and herself are playing together alongside the beach. It feels so real. The sand is warm and soft between her toes, the seawater they splash at her is salty and cold, and the sunlight hits everything at just the right angle. The sky is so vast and clear.
Unlike her other dreams involving people, Jinsol can clearly see Jungeun and Yerim’s smiling faces. They grab her hands and lead her towards the water. They stand together against the waves, hands held and fingers intertwined. Jinsol feels the warmth of this dream not only outside, but inside as well. It’s the happiest dream she’s had in a long time.
When Jinsol wakes up, the world is silent and a terrible sense of loneliness creeps in.
That is until Yerim, who is still asleep, throws her leg over her and snores.
Jinsol doesn’t feel comfortable leaving Yerim alone at her dorm (or anywhere else, really) so she decides to bring the girl along with her to campus again. She blends in relatively well among the college students, barely managing to pass as a baby-faced, bright-eyed freshman.
Jinsol quietly sips her coffee as she listens to Yerim babble on about the theory of multiple universes she mentioned to her the other day. She’s pretty sure Yerim isn’t going to finish the cup of hot chocolate she bought for her. “I think it’s super romantic. There are infinite possibilities in infinite universes, leading to infinite outcomes, but you and Mom still find a way to be together in most of them. At that point, you can pretty much consider yourselves soulmates.”
“Soulmates, huh…” Jinsol murmurs, stirring her coffee. “What’s Jungeun like? Is she a good mom to you?”
Yerim looks at Jinsol like she just asked her the silliest question. “Of course she is! Both of you are! She’s a little stricter with me though…”
“Hey, is that why you came to me first instead of her?”
Yerim grins and shrugs her shoulders.
As they enter the lecture hall, Vivi and Haseul spot the two of them immediately and wave them down. To keep Yerim coming around the university without raising suspicions, Jinsol and the younger girl spent the morning expanding on her freshman transferee backstory, now complete with both unquestionable and useless details. She has to admit, they make a great team.
Jinsol situates herself between Yerim and a girl she doesn’t know. Yerim busies herself chatting with Vivi about her totally made-up life while the other girl next to Jinsol is scrolling through the photo album on her phone. Jinsol watches her and realizes that she has a lot of photos of the same girl. That’s when she decides she’s going to mind her own business from now on. She averts her gaze from the girl’s phone screen and looks elsewhere.
That elsewhere happens to be Jungeun, who is sitting only a few seats away from her. She observes the blonde for a moment, as she scribbles something down in her notebook. Jinsol is about to look away when Jungeun suddenly turns around and catches her staring. She smiles widely and waves at Jinsol. (She thinks she knows where Yerim got her adorable smile from.) Jinsol, caught off-guard, only offers the other girl an awkward half-smile and nod of acknowledgement. An apparent expression of confusion appears on Jungeun’s face and Jinsol thinks she’s messed up. However, she catches movement in the corner of her eye and turns to see Yerim enthusiastically waving to her supposed ‘other mother’. Jinsol grabs the girl’s hands and forces them down, chiding her thereafter.
When Jinsol returns her gaze towards Jungeun, the other blonde is facing forward again, ready for the impending lecture.
As soon as the lecture ends, Jinsol hands a puzzled Yerim off to her friends and hurries down the hall steps. She soon realizes that she didn’t have to rush, as Jungeun waits for her at the bottom anyway. She never really thought about how much could change in a day, as she was quite indifferent to Jungeun yesterday and now, armed with the knowledge of a future wife, she feels a bit shy around the girl.
“Hey.” Jungeun greets her first.
“Hey. How’s it going?”
“Good. How about you?”
“Good for me too.” Jinsol knows her friends and Yerim are watching them right now, and they could probably feel how awkward it is even from where they are. “So…who was the girl sitting next to you today? I’ve never seen her around. She seemed, uh, really excited.”
“Oh, that’s just my cousin, Yerim. She just transferred, and she’s really stoked to be here, that’s all.” Jungeun wordlessly nods in understanding, and Jinsol can tell that she’s waiting for something. She pushes aside her reservations and goes through with it. “Listen, Jungeun, this is going to sound pretty dumb…but can I take back what I said yesterday?” Jungeun slightly tilts her head in confusion. “About not being interested in dating anyone.” The other blonde is certainly taken aback, but she tries not to show it.
“Are you sure about this?”
“Definitely – but only if it’s okay with you, of course. I know it’s stupid, to turn around and change my mind but I spent all day thinking about it. Sorry for putting you through this.” Oh, how the tables have turned. This must be how Jungeun felt yesterday. Jinsol feels her cheeks beginning to burn up. She prays that it’s not visible.
Jungeun bites her lower lip, probably to hide the huge grin threatening to show up. “It’s okay. It’s not stupid at all. I’m really glad, actually.”
“That’s great.” Jinsol finally allows herself to smile, and so does Jungeun.
Jinsol thinks she can hear Yerim squealing somewhere in the distance.
“So…tomorrow after class…coffee on me?” Jinsol offers.
“Alright. Sounds perfect. Um, do you want to exchange numbers?”
“Oh, right. Almost forgot.” Jinsol pulls out her phone from her pocket and they momentarily switch phones to add each other’s numbers. They switch phones again once they’re finished. As if they were living in some kind of cliche drama, their fingers accidentally brush while doing so and Jungeun smiles at Jinsol. (There's absolutely no doubt where Yerim got her smile from.) “There. Thanks, Jungeun. I’ll probably text you tonight, but I’ll see you then?”
“Yep! I’ll see you later, Jinsol."
With that said, Jinsol walks away from Jungeun feeling relieved and satisfied.
Yerim is so excited about the situation that Jinsol has to excuse Yerim and herself so they could return to her dorm. Vivi and Haseul are naturally confused as to why Yerim would be that excited about Jinsol setting up a date with Jungeun, but they don’t question it. The two of them barely make it through the door before Yerim practically bursts with pure joy and excitement. She prances around the room and skips in circles around a much less enthusiastic Jinsol. Well, she just witnessed the first step to her parents getting together, so it isn’t that odd – especially considering the fact that it’s saving her existence. So Jinsol lets the girl have her moment.
Jinsol waits for Yerim to calm down enough to listen to her. "I’ve made up my mind. I'll do what I can to help you, Yerim. But only because you're freaking adorable and I'd hate to see you go – oof!”
Yerim tackles Jinsol with the most intense hug she’s ever received. Yerim is just as cuddly as she looks. "Yay! Thanks, Mom! I’m so happy and excited! My moms are getting together!"
When Yerim loosens her arms and Jinsol can breathe again, she puts her foot down. "First things first, please don't address me or Jungeun as your mother when we're out in public... Just call us by our first names."
"Okay, Mom!"
Jinsol sighs.
Wasn't her life already troublesome as is?
Now she has a future daughter to save and a future wife to date.