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"Okay kids, let's get started?"
The teacher asks, in a gentler and playful tone, just the way little Yongbok likes.
It's Yongbok's first arts class and she's more than excited to be part of it. She got everything; colour pencils, crayons, little drawing book, white sheets, and an exclusive kids painting kit from her favorite aunt.
She was so invested in watching her aunt paint in her free times, and Yongbok wanted to be like her. Her cousin Chan adding fuel to her little wish, as he started to come back after school and tell her about his arts classes.
"It's our first class right?" The teacher asks and the kids nods, making few noises agreeing. "So let's draw something easy. Like something you love."
Yongbok's head snaps up, her table full of colourful crayons and white sheets. As the teacher went back to her seat, Yongbok thinks.
Her little brain runs to places and things, searching for ideas. Like sunrise, trees, flowers, her mommy's pet cats, and even to her favorite chick doll, eventually finding the one thing she loves the most, like what the teacher said.
She takes a brown crayon, one that's already broken into half and draws few lines and circles, making her masterpiece.
The teacher gets up from her seat and roams, inspecting all the little drawings. She stops next to Yongbok and the girl smiles, giving the white sheet now filled with colors for the teacher to grade.
"Wow Yongbok. It's so beautiful." The teacher beams making the girl clap her hands happily.
"Bokkie's family." Yongbok says, holding onto a blue colour pencil.
"Your family is so big."
"Not big. Bokkie's family is happy." Deadpanned the girl as she rolled her eyes. A habit she picked from her mother.
The teacher gulped with an awkward smile, but continues. "Now say who's who." Asked the young woman, now kneeling on the floor to be on the same height as the little girl.
Yongbok nods with a huge grin on her face. She drops the pencil on the table and dusts her hands. Then, she roams her eyes to see from where to begin.
"This is me." Yongbok says, pointing at the stick figure that have a brown lined body with a small circle for the head and blue crayon stain in place of hair.
The teacher nods as the girl moves her fingers to the two on either side of her figure.
"This is mommy and this is papa." She announces proudly, pointing at the figures next to hers. "This uncle Han and this is aunty honey."
"Honey?"
"Yes. Uncle Han calls aunty honey." Yongbok says, her big dark eyes staring at the woman. The teacher nods with a smile and Yongbok continues.
"This is Binnie, this is grandpapa and this is grandmama. Binnie is so big now. He don't come to play with us." She says, a little sad and the woman pats her head lightly.
Yongbok was fast to overcome the sadness that started to fill her as her eyes moved to the one in the middle of uncle Han and aunty honey's stick figures.
"This is Channie." Yongbok announces, excitement building inside her. She takes a little almost used black colour pencil to fill the space that the teacher assumed to be hair, and paints it pitch black.
"He's Bokkie's brother from aunty and uncle." She says and the teacher glances at the seemingly big joint family.
After inspecting the girl's work for a good two minutes, the woman leaves the picture back on the table, watching the girl filling the spaces with tiny hearts and more vibrant colours.
Yongbok takes a red crayon and fills the whole stick figures into a big heart and smiles, one of her front teeth missing.
After taking a final look at her work, she hugs the sheet, bringing it closer to her chest.
"Bokkie loves her family so much."
"Look, it’s not my fault that Bokkie wanted to sleep with her parents." Minhee attacked her husband with her words, pointing a knife at the equally furious man.
"You’re not a mother, you would never understand." She makes another point, crossing her arms on top of her chest and Seungmin sighs, dealing with the tantrums on daily basis.
For the man, it's double trouble, two menaces in one house, one adult version in his wife's form and other, a little, adorable three years old version in daughter's form.
Seungmin turns to his sister-in-law, now coming to join them from the kitchen, with a tray of tea pot and three cups.
"Lina," Hyunjin calls the woman, addressing her by her nickname as a genius way to get her attention.
"Keep that thing back right where you found it." She says, eyeing the knife in the older's hand.
Minhee might be older than both Seungmin and Hyunjin, as well as Hyunjin's husband Han, but her being the second daughter-in-law, new to the family and they treat her and pamper her the way she deserves.
Minhee groans in defeat and goes into the kitchen, mumbling something under her breath.
"What now?" Once the woman is out of the sight, Hyunjin turns to Seungmin. The man takes a deep inhale, tilting his head to watch the way his wife left.
"We were, you know- last night..." Seungmin was having a hard time explaining it to Hyunjin, the woman getting what he meant, just by reading his flushed face.
"Okay, okay I got it. Then?"
"Bokkie had a nightmare and she wanted to sleep with Minhee. Now she's sulking as if it's my fault."
Hyunjin held herself from laughing at Seungmin's tone, instead she shook her head. "You guys are new to being parents. You'll get used to it." She assures.
Seungmin huffed and dragged his teeth over his bottom lip, biting on it afterwards.
Unlike him, Minhee got so much energy thus making her their daughter's best friend, and he's still trying to keep up with the mother-daughter duo.
He was so excited when Minhee announced her pregnancy like look at Chan, an obedient, unproblematic boy who's calm always, read, draw and sing little kindergarten songs. Seungmin always looked at his brother and sister-in-law in awe, being successful parents to a teenage boy and a little one, wanting one as his own.
God grated his wish. But Yongbok is north when Chan is south. Yongbok is the thunderstorm night when Chan is a warm sunny evening.
It was all fine when Yongbok was still in crib, just a tiny shriek and cry, if you feed her and change her diapers, she'll go back to her sleep, listening to Minhee's recorded lullabies.
Everything took a sharp turn when after few months or so as the little girl started crawling and walking, the real deal began.
She started climbing anything she gets a hold on, tried to swallow anything she finds good and sneak out at the first sight of the door opened.
In simpler words, Yongbok was nothing like Chan.
Seungmin agrees to the fact that raising Yongbok is rewarding. Yes it is. But being a first time parent comes with it's own hardships, fortunately his whole family is there to help him and Lina.
In that sense, Hyunjin got his full respect. She's raising two kids. Well, three if we include Han, who acts no less than a little child when he's with his beloved wife.
"But we made plans tho." It was Minhee, joining them, snapping Seungmin out of his reverie. She pouts next to Hyunjin and the woman shifts her face to the older woman.
"You can always drop her here for a sleepover." She winks, the couple getting the intentions behind it.
"No way." Seungmin was the one to deny her and Minhee glares at the male. "Bokkie will give Channie a hard time." He says and his wife seems to get the idea as well.
If Minhee is one thing, Yongbok is cherry on top.
"I can handle it. Just leave her with us." Said Hyunjin and kept her dark brown eyes moving from Minhee to Seungmin and back again.
"Mommy!" A shriek broke the calmness of the house, along with the loud bang of the door. Hyunjin startle up at the sound, but it got replaced with a sunny smile, watching the kids running (well, only one of them) to their parents.
Yongbok skips her way to her parents, little Chan following her steps, steady and slower than that of the girl. Chan goes straight to his mother and hugs her legs tight, exhausted.
The boy tugged at his mother's shirt, silently extending his arms out, asking Hyunjin to pick him up.
"Aww baby." Hyunjin lifts the boy up, Chan instantly finding comfort in her shoulder. "Was school fun?" She asks and the boy shook his head, gripping her shirt tight.
"Are you tired?" She asks fondly and the boy timidly nods, hiding his face in the crook of Hyunjin's neck.
Minhee looks at the mother and son, a small smile tugging at her lips before looking down at her daughter, who's the exact opposite of Chan.
Yongbok is jumping on her feets, after receiving her daily dose of welcome home kiss from her father as Seungmin goes to the door to help his brother, who just came, with the kids's backpacks. One in his hand and the other on his shoulder.
Jisung looked at his wife and mouthed a 'P.E' and Hyunjin registered the reason for their boy's exhaustion. Chan was never a fan of sports and physical education sessions always got him worn out.
"Was it P.E?" Chan hums at his mother's question, admitting honestly.
"Bokkie paint today." Yongbok giggled excited and Chan closed his ears with his hands. He shifts in Hyunjin's arms and snuggles closer to his mother's embrace. Hyunjin runs her hand through the boy's hair, gently, carefully.
Knowing Yongbok is going to be so loud, Hyunjin kissed her son on his forehead before lifting his face a little to meet his eyes.
"Want mommy to take you to the bed baby? Or a sponge bath? How does that sound?" She asks and Chan shook his head, clutching onto her white shirt and Hyunjin hums, rocking the boy. She takes a place near Minhee and Yongbok, Jisung coming around to kiss his wife and pat the boy's hair before disappearing upstairs to change.
"Won't you show us what you drew?" Hyunjin asks happily and Minhee nods, watching her daughter as she ran to the corner where her uncle left her bag.
She takes out a sheet of white paper and waves it off in front of her mother and aunt, her tiny fingers having remnants of dried paint. Chan peeks, his droopy eyes taking a look at Yongbok's painting.
Seungmin pulls the bag up and zipping it, he turns to Minhee, muttering something about leaving it in the car and goes out through the front door, leaving the kids with their mothers.
"Bokkie said Bokkie will paint like aunty when she's big like mommy." The girl says and Minhee laughs, looking at her sister-in-law, catching her staring at her daughter in so much love.
"Astist." She adds and the living room erupts into giggles.
"It's Artist baby." Minhee corrects and Yongbok looks at her, then to her aunt.
"Astist?" She says back and Minhee sighs, nodding.
"Now will you show us the painting?" Yongbok's mother asks and the little girl spreads the paper on the table, sitting with her legs folded.
Guess it's time to explain her masterpiece again.
"This is Bokkie, and this is-"