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Rumi doesn't remember ever feeling like this before, but she knows she doesn't like it
They're in a convenience store — they walked past it on their way back home and the girls wanted to check it out.
After going through the store sections and picking out some cute decor items, Zoey leads them to the stuffed animal isle after seeing a cute turtle plushie.
Rumi isn't above stuffed animals herself — she has a bear she likes to sleep with and some others she uses as decoration.
She skims through the shelves, not looking for anything specific when something catches her eye.
There's a blue stuffed tiger, almost identical to one she had kid. She picks it up with curiosity. Then, something inside her shifts.
It feels like everything stills just for a moment, and she's back to her childhood bedroom, building a blanket fort with her tiger friend.
She clutches it close to her chest, a giggle leaves her throat.
She's rocking back and forth on her heels with her eyes close when Zoey calls her name.
"What are you doing?" Mira chuckles.
Rumi looks at her, then at the tiger in her hands, and then at her surroundings — they're in public.
She feels her cheeks flush. She closes her eyes and hides her face in the plushie and starts actually sobbing, feeling her patterns starting to change color and glow.
She doesn't like being seen like this, but it's like her heart switched places with her head, and she can't stop it.
"Rumi, what's wrong?!" Zoey whispers, looking around to see if anyone recognizes them.
Rumi continues to cry, without replying. She wants to go home! She wants to lay on the couch and watch her favorite shows with her tiger and her favorite blanket, and maybe also have a juice box.
She feels a hand touching her. Mira is pulling her hood up and holding Rumi against her chest, coaxing her to walk.
"Excuse me, can you show us where the bathroom is?" Zoey asks.
They're directed to the disabled bathroom, where Mira sits on the toilet's lid and pulls Rumi to her lap.
They don't say anything for a moment, Mira just holds her, rocking from side to side in a comforting rhythm.
"What's going on, huh?" She asks, wiping the tears falling down her eyes.
"Is it about the tiger? We can get it if you want it…" Zoey tilts her head.
Rumi cautiously looks up.
"Can we?" She asks, her voice higher than usually.
"Of course, silly!" Zoey giggles.
"Let's go pay for it and go home, okay?" Mira gestures for her to get up.
They attempt to take it off her hands so the cashier can scan it, but opt for just cutting the tag off when Rumi threatens to freak out again.
They walk home as quickly as possible, Rumi carries the plushie all the way.
They never speak of that again — Mira and Zoey tried to bring it up several times, but Rumi changed the subject each one of them.
She manages to avoid the topic, until one day.
Zoey wakes up in the middle of the night to crying coming from the hallway. When she opens her bedroom door, she sees both Mira's and Rumi's doors open.
She follows the crying and finds Mira sitting by Rumi's side in Rumi's bed. There are tears rolling down her cheeks, Mira has one arm around her.
"What's going on?" Zoey rubs her eyes and sits on the edge of the bed.
"She won't tell me," Mira replies.
Zoey frowns.
"Hey, what's wrong?" She attempts to ask.
Rumi sniffles and buries her face in her knees.
Zoey looks down, trying to think of what to do, and that's when she sees the little tiger plush they got for Rumi the other day and has an idea — a weird idea, but Rumi has been acting weird, so it might just work.
She takes the stuffed and brings it close to Rumi's head.
"What's the matter, huh?" She softly asks, while gently rubbing the plush's nose against Rumi's hair.
Rumi slowly raises her head and grabs the tiger, holding it tightly.
"I'm scared of being alone…" she cries, her voice higher than usually.
"You're not alone, we're right here." Mira gives her a squeeze.
"I want my…" Rumi sniffles. "I want Celine!"
Mira and Zoey both frown in confusion and exchange a look.
"What do you mean?" Zoey asks.
"I want Celine," she repeats.
"Haven't you two not been talking?" Mira raises a brow.
"I want Celine!" She insists.
"We can go see her tomorrow," Zoey suggests.
"No!" Rumi pouts. "I want Celine… I want my mama…"
Now that's when they're sure something's off.
Of course they know Celine is Rumi's adoptive mother, but Rumi has never referred to Celine with familial terms before, and that's not even accounting her childlike speech and mannerisms.
"Rumi, it's very late…"
"I want her!" Rumi insists, the tears becoming more abundant.
This is going to be a long night.
After unsuccessfully trying to coax Rumi into waiting for tomorrow to go see Celine, they end up getting in the car and driving to her apartment — luckily she's currently in Seoul for a meeting.
Rumi cries the entire drive there, while Mira comforts her with cuddles on the backseat.
They finally park the car and head inside the building. They have to call Celine to let her know it's them at the door, and when Celine shows up, she's in a robe and house slippers, looking like someone who just got out of bed.
"Celine!" Rumi basically throws herself into Celine's arms, burying her face in her shoulder.
"What's going on?! Has any of you gotten hurt?!" She rushes to ask after gesturing for them to come inside and closing the door behind them.
"No, we're all okay," Zoey replies. "Well, mostly…"
"Rumi is acting weird. She started crying and asking to see you and wouldn't calm down until we told her we'd bring her to you," Mira elaborates.
Celine stares at the girl latched on to her for a moment.
"Rumi? What's the matter?" She asks, awkwardly cradling the back of Rumi's head.
Rumi sniffles.
"I want to stay with you," she cries.
"What? Why?" She furrows her brows.
Zoey walks up to Celine's and lays a hand on her shoulder.
"Please be gentle with her," she whispers. "We don't know what's going on but she seems very… vulnerable."
Celine seems to understand what she means, because she proceeds to sigh and sit down on the couch, positioning Rumi in her lap.
"It's alright darling, I'm right here." She starts rocking from side to side gently before turning to Mira and Zoey. "Tell me what happened."
Rumi falls asleep as they run Celine through the night's events.
"She looks so cute," Zoey coos.
"Any idea of what's going on with her?" Mira turns to Celine.
"I don't know yet. But I'll make some calls in the morning. I know a good doctor who can make some arrangements to see her tomorrow," Celine replies.
Rumi wakes up when Celine tries to get up, whining and clinging to her. Together, Celine, Mira and Zoey manage to calm her down and tuck her in bed with Celine, as Mira and Zoey make a bed for themselves in the guest room.
Celine sings for Rumi to get her to sleep, and she can't help remembering how they used to do the same thing when Rumi was little.
She can't help but feel a little emotional.
The doctor Celine mentions is able to see Rumi by late morning.
Since last night, Rumi still hasn't gone out of the strange headspace she's in — she refuses to get dressed by herself, and Mira and Zoey have to help her with it; when Celine tries to braid her hair she starts whimpering, saying her scalp hurts, so Celine settles for a loose braid; when they try to coax her into living the stuffed tiger at home, she starts crying, so the stuffie stays securely in Rumi's arms the entire drive to the clinic.
The doctor calls them in almost as soon as they arrive.
"Celine already explained the situation through the phone, so I'd like to talk with Rumi alone first," she informs.
They walk into the room about an hour later, and see Rumi sitting on the floor, playing with some toys on the corner of the room.
Zoey goes to sit by her side while Celine and Mira turn to the desk.
"So what's wrong with her?" Celine asks, sitting down.
"Short answer, nothing," the doctor replies.
"What do you mean nothing?! Rumi doesn't usually act like a four year old!" Mira crosses her arms.
"I didn't say there was nothing going on. I said there was nothing wrong," the doctor gently points out.
Mira grimaces.
"What is it then?" Celine closes her hands into fists on her lap.
The doctor glances at Rumi before replying, a discreet smile on her face.
"Rumi has been experiencing something called age regression," she starts. "It's when the brain reverts itself into a childlike state of mind when overwhelmed with stress. In her case, it's happening as an involuntary coping mechanism due to one or multiple traumatic events."
"But how do we fix her?" Celine insists.
"That's what I'm trying to say. You can't," the doctor replies
"What?! What do you mean?!"
"We can't fix her 'cause she's not sick. She's healing," Mira quietly states, looking at some point in front of her.
"But then…" Celine turns to look at Rumi, still playing on the floor with Zoey. "How do we help her?"
"Just keep doing what you're doing," the doctor starts. "Taking care of her and providing the space for her to explore these feelings in a safe way. She'll go back to being her grown up self once she's ready."
Once they're back to the tower, Celine leaves despite Rumi's protests, saying she has some things to take care of, leaving Mira and Zoey with the mission to distract a very fussy Rumi.
"Hey, what do you think of running a bubble bath, huh? I know a fun game we can play," Zoey suggests, all her experience with her younger siblings and cousins coming in handy.
"Okay…" Rumi reluctantly agrees.
After the bath, Mira manages to get her to take a nap on the couch. She brings her one of her favorite blankets, the stuffed tiger and turns on cartoons on the tv. She lets Rumi lay her head in her lap and strokes her hair until she falls asleep.
Celine is back on the next day, bringing several bags with her.
Rumi throws herself into Celine's arms as soon as she steps out of the elevator.
"I figured she'd might want some of her old childhood things; they used to bring her comfort," she explains.
"Did you brought her entire childhood bedroom or something?" Mira snarks, raising a brow.
"Of course not. These are some things I got that I thought she might like." She gestures at the paper bags she's holding while Rumi clings to her like velcro.
In the bag from the compound, there are things like Rumi's old favorite blanket, some stuffed animals and children's books, and in the other bags, all kinds of things from pacifiers to baby bottles and sippy cups, as well as some different toys.
"These are all for me?!" Rumi gasps.
Celine chuckles and kisses Rumi's forehead.
"Yes, all for you." She turns to Mira and Zoey. "I was thinking about staying for a few days, if that's alright with all of you."
They of course couldn't deny it.
The next few days are chaotic and relaxing at the same time, with their biggest concerns being keeping Rumi entertained and make sure she takes enough naps and snack breaks.
Aside from the initial shock, Celine handles Rumi's regression surprisingly well, reading for her every night, bringing her snacks during the day and cuddling her at nap time when she doesn't feel like being alone.
Mira and Zoey make sure to spoil her as well, trapping her in their laps while holding her tight and covering her face with kisses while she giggles, getting their own stuffed animals from their rooms to play with her, making silly voices, tucking her in bed and telling her stories, building blanket forts in the living room…
Rumi seems to be enjoying all of it. And she's never seemed more relaxed ever since they met her.
They know she won't be like this forever — sooner or later, she'll be back to being the adult woman they know. But they're not in a rush for that. They can wait.
They're more than happy to wait.