Chapter Text
March 2024 - Family Game Night at the Wong-Jo Household
“HULA.. DANCE. HULA... DANCE!” Jungeun screams at her teenage daughter, completely oblivious to the effects of the noise-cancelling headphones on her decibel level.
“Dance?” Yerim guesses, half-correct.
Jungeun gives her a thumbs up. “HULA.”
“Hula?”
Jungeun nods excitedly. “HULA DANCE.”
“Huh?”
“YOU HAD IT EARLIER. HULA DANCE. PUT THEM TOGETHER. TWO WORDS!” the mother yells, holding up two fingers.
“Peace?” Yerim asks reluctantly while Hyeju and her parents cackle at the Jeong-Kim family’s inevitable loss.
Jinsol holds the phone timer up to Jungeun’s face. Ten more seconds and the title of Family Game Night Champions go to Sooyoung, Jiwoo, and Hyeju for the fourth consecutive month. “TEN SECONDS, JUNGEUN!”
“JINSOL ACT IT OUT FOR HER!”
“Hey! You’re only supposed to mouth it!!” Sooyoung objects, mainly to get a rise out of Jinsol who ignores her.
“YERIM, LOOK AT MOM.” Jungeun points at her wife who is goofily swaying her hips in a circular motion.
“Hula hoop?”
“HULA DANCE! HULAAAAAA!” Jungeun shrieks to no avail as the timer goes off. Jinsol rubs her back, aware of how Jungeun’s competitiveness gets her riled up (and not in the good way). As usual, Yerim attempts to put a positive spin on things. “I’m sorry I couldn’t get it, Ma. But if it helps, we only lost by one point!”
Meanwhile, Jiwoo and Sooyoung run around the perimeter of Vivi and Haseul’s lavish backyard, boasting their victory and acting like children. The festivities abruptly come to a pause when their actual child, Hyeju, the quietest of the bunch, holds up her phone and uncharacteristically squeals, “BBC EMAIL! YERIM YERIM YERIM CHECK YOUR PHONE!” All six parents’ eyes (plus Yeojin) dart to the two same-aged friends as they open what they hope are letters of acceptance.
“3…” Yerim counts, reaching for her childhood best friend’s hand.
“2…” Hyeju continues.
“1…” They say in unison.
“Congratulations-” They also read in unison although the high school seniors are bombarded with their parents and aunts’ hugs and kisses before they can even finish reading the first sentence.
“Looks like you kids are going to our alma mater!” Haseul cheers.
The parents bust out the champagne and spend the next hour rereading the official email from the BBC University Office of Admissions and revisiting the most pivotal four years of each of their lives. At the moment, Vivi was telling the legendary story of the time she accompanied her then-friend Haseul to her wisdom teeth extraction and Haseul, high off laughing gas and gauze spilling from her mouth, held the dental hygienist's hand and passionately slurred, "I'm gonna marry youuuu, Bibi."
Meanwhile, Hyeju, Yerim, and Yeojin have other priorities.
“Oooooh she’s hot!” Yeojin exclaims as she scrolls through the #BBCUAcceptances on Instagram.
“Yeojin! Hyeju and I are not going to college for the girls. We’re trying to get our education.” Yerim reminds the junior.
“Why not both? That’s what our parents did. What do you think, Hyeju?”
Hyeju has been preoccupied with the “BBC Class of 2028 Roommate Matchups” Facebook page. “I think this sucks. Take a look at this, guys. A lot of the freshman dorms are triples. Even if Yerim and I can be roommates we still need to find a third person. I can't imagine a better trio than us but Yeojin happened to be born a year later."
Jinsol, who has been eavesdropping all this time, interjects. “Haseul did you hear that? Imagine if Yeojin was the same age as Hyeju and Yerim. You could have had her earlier if you didn’t spend a whole year trying to figure out how to approach Vivi!”
“Wait. It took you a year to talk to Mom?” Yeojin asks. She knew her younger mom was a softie but she didn’t know her game was that weak.
“She’s just exaggerating. I didn’t take that long. Maybe 10 months,” Haseul corrects but it doesn’t seem to help her case as Sooyoung, Jinsol, and even Vivi struggle to contain their laughter.
In order to get the humiliating target off her back, Haseul retaliates at her assailant. “Well at least I didn’t get ARRESTED on my first date with my future wife. Not your best move, Jinsol.”
Yerim gasps. “Mom?!”
“I was not arrested. I was detained. And it was romantic. Wasn’t it, Jungeun?” Her wife pours herself another glass.
And speaking of bad moves, why aren’t we calling out Sooyoung? The main reason the three of us got into any form of trouble was because of the Sapphic Singles Squad. And we all know who the founder was.” Jinsol strikes a nerve in her best friend as Sooyoung’s smirk gets wiped clean off her flawless face.
“How DARE you disrespect the name of the Sapphic Singles Squad like that?!”
Unable to tolerate the whiplash-inducing turns of this strange yet fascinating conversation, Yeojin raises her hand. “Can someone tell me what the fu- err HECK is going on? I’m so confused! What’s the Sapphic Singles Squad?”
“Same!” “Same!” says Yerim and Hyeju.
Vivi, ever the voice of reason, provides the kids with some much-needed answers. “The Sapphic Singles Squad is what Haseul, Sooyoung, and Jinsol called themselves in college before they met us. Jinsol may be right.”
“HA! Told you, Sooyoung!” Jinsol interrupts while Jungeun motions for Vivi to continue.
“Every irresponsible thing these three did can be traced back to the SSS code of conduct or whatever you guys called it. They’d go out of their way to impress girls and they usually failed. And even when they were successful, someone always ended up getting hurt.” Haseul, Sooyoung, and Jinsol’s faces turn the same shade of crimson. Vivi could really be a savage at times.
“Honestly, Jiwoo, Vivi, and I were the best thing that ever happened to the SSS. You kids don’t understand just how messy your moms were before we came around. We take responsibility for taking down their little club.” Jungeun adds to which Jiwoo yells “Periodt!”, quite proud of herself for remembering the new slang she learned from her secret twitter.
Somehow, Hyeju and Yerim’s college acceptance has taken a backseat to the revelation that about nearly 30 years ago, their parents and even responsible Aunt Haseul formed their own lesbian-exclusive sorority that behaved more like a frat. Yet they don’t mind being upstaged one bit. They’ve never been more intrigued and neither has Yeojin.
“Hey! We weren’t that bad! And I’m definitely the lesser of three evils. I babysat these two doofuses most of the time!” Haseul self-defends.
“You guys are giving SSS a bad rep. It was college! You kids will understand when you get there.” Sooyoung confidently replies.
Jinsol, not wanting to be labeled a SSS traitor, wraps an arm around Sooyoung. “Yeah! I’m sorry for turning my back on triple S. So what if we made mistakes? We were young! And no offense girls, but if you three think you're the most iconic trio, you're sadly mistaken. Aunt Sooyoung, Aunt Haseul, and I invented friendship.”
"Facts!" Sooyoung agrees.
"What Jiwoo said earlier: 'Periodt!'" Haseul yells.
“Alright, alright fine! You had fun, you were young, but that was decades ago. Let’s make the rest of this night about the kids, ok?” Jungeun concludes and the topic quickly shifts to setting up a campus tour and registering for freshman and parent orientation.
By the end of the night, Hyeju and Yerim are overwhelmed by their parents and aunts’ advice and endless congratulations. As the Kim-Ha and Jeong-Kim families pull out of Haseul and Vivi’s driveway, Yeojin wonders if the SSS will ever be brought up again. Will she ever find out how Aunt Jinsol got arrested? Just how many hearts did her mom and aunts break? And whose? She opens up her group chat with Hyeju and Yerim and smiles. Apparently they were all thinking the same thing.
[7 unread messages from “Daughters of Useless Lesbeens 🌈”]
GAYmer Gurl 🎮🐺: That better not be the last time we hear from the SSS
Batgirl 🦇🍒: My ma still won’t let my mom tell me how she got “detained.” Inch resting
GAYmer Gurl 🎮🐺: All I know is Sooyoung is definitely the mastermind behind all this. Mom’s always hinted at her being a player and this just confirms it
Batgirl 🦇🍒: You call your mom by her first name?
GAYmer Gurl 🎮🐺: It’s just easier than saying "my other mom." Sooyoung's cool with it… I think
Batgirl 🦇🍒: Y’all are weird
Batgirl 🦇🍒: Btw what does "sapphic" mean?
Yeojin scoffs at the last message.
Yeojin: Oh sweet Choerry you have much to learn
After kissing their respective wives good night, Jinsol, Sooyoung, and Haseul can't sleep (Stream Kim Lip's "Twilight"). The mere mention of the Sapphic Singles Squad has opened up visceral memories that haven’t been revisited in three decades. They’ve gone through multiple jobs, several moves (although they’ve never lived further than an hour apart), three weddings, and three pregnancies with three of the most amazing women in the world (they may be a little biased). Countless diaper changes, late night bottle feeds, hundreds of checks for monsters under the bed, and a thousand packed lunches.
And now Hyeju and Yerim will be out the door in a matter of months, Yeojin soon to follow. The idea of empty nests and the inevitable end of family game night, their monthly tradition dating back to the time the kids were just starting to walk, haunts them. But so do their kids not knowing the full stories about where they came from. How their moms found each other. How they fell for each other. How they stayed together when they could have fallen apart. Yes, the Sapphic Singles Squad at their roots were reckless, immature 20-somethings but they also gave birth to the women Jinsol, Sooyoung, and Haseul are today. Maybe this was just what they needed to keep their minds off the bittersweet reality that their little girls were growing up and they were growing old.
Jinsol tiptoes quietly out of bed, extra careful not to rouse her slumbering wife. I know it’s somewhere in the storage closet. Behind the tax documents and in front of the insurance documents. AHA! Sooyoung and Haseul are gonna flip out!
At 12:12 A.M., Jinsol sends the image to the "C00Ler Moms😎" groupchat.
Sooyoung responds immediately.
Hag Soo(not)young 🦴💥🤮🍎💃🏼: NO FUCKING WAY
Jo Hagseul 💚🕊🥺🥰🎤: HOW DO YOU STILL HAVE THIS? 😧🥴🤩I thought we burned it?! 🔥🔥🔥
Jinsol grins, the gears in her scientist mind are turning.
Jinsol: Key word: You THOUGHT
[Hag Soo(not)young 🦴💥🤮🍎💃🏼 renamed the chat to "Sapphic Singles Squad 2.0"]
Hag Soo(not)young 🦴💥🤮🍎💃🏼: We’re making a comeback, ladies 😎😎😎
To be continued...