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Miyeong sighed happily as she lounged back in her beach chair. The umbrella situated above her protected her from the summer sun, and a fan placed on the side of the deck helped keep her cool from the summer heat.
Her, her wives, their daughters, their eldest daughter’s wives, and their eldest daughter’s four children were all staying in a large and remote resort home. It had five large bedrooms, two of which were equipped with California King beds for the adults, two of which had large bunk beds for the eldest four children (Aeri and Hayun in one room, and Jihae and Hani in the other), and the final one, which had two large cribs in it (they had originally meant to only have one crib, and one twin bed, but Taeyong had inherited Zoey’s knack for moving around in his sleep, and they didn’t trust he wouldn’t roll out of a twin anyways, so it worked out). There were also three large bathrooms, two of which were connected to the big rooms, and one of which was in the hallway between the smaller ones. A fully stocked kitchen had been used multiple times by Mira and Celine to make food for everyone, and a room filled with board games for everyone to play was next door to it and the cozy living room.
All in all, it was the perfect place to relax with her family.
Her mouth curled up into a delighted smile as she heard a squeal of joy and opened her eyes to see her eldest granddaughter (which, even now, almost 5 years later, was strange to think about) land a shot of water with the squirt gun in her hand on Mira. The pink-haired woman, who had been sitting on a floating pool chair in the water and minding her own business, yelped as the spray hit her. As soon as she spotted the culprit, she growled, “Aeri…” She leapt from her chair into the water, wading towards the edge of the pool.
Sensing her inevitable “doom” at the hands of her mother, Aeri gulped, “Uh oh…” She backed away from the pool slowly, and, once Mira was out of the water, ran away from her, squirt gun still in hand.
“Aeri! No running around the pool!” Mira called after her, running around the pool to catch her.
A lifeguard might’ve stopped them, but they had the entire place to themselves, so none was around to do so.
Another yelp, this time one belonging to someone clearly younger, drew her attention back to the occupants of the pool. Over in the shallow end, Taeyong was the source of this particular noise. His short arms flailed a bit as paddled towards Zoey, who was waiting for him just a few feet away, pressed against the wall and with her arms outstretched to help him should he go under. His usual prescription goggles had been subbed out for another, more swimming-appropriate pair, framing his little face adorably, and he had a nose plug in to protect him from getting any chlorinated water up his nostrils. The way the water had situated on his chin made his patterns shimmer even from as far away as where Miyeong sat.
She was teaching him how to swim, a skill she had taught all the children in their family thus far. All three of Miyeong’s granddaughters had learned from their Mom, who, having grown up near the shore, had learned to swim at a very young age, and wanted her kids to know how to do so early, too. Miyeong had already returned at the point Hayun had been deemed old enough to learn, and, having dreamed of teaching Rumi to swim before her own health and mortality had ripped the opportunity away from her, jumped at the chance to teach the girl, who already saw her as a third mother figure even before Miyeong had gotten back together with her mothers. She had been disappointed, then, when Poppy and Celine had instead asked Zoey to teach their daughter, but understood once she saw how well and how quickly Hayun learned from her.
Zoey put her hands on him briefly to right him, but pulled back once he was back in the right position. “That’s it, sweetie! You got this! I believe in you, baby boy!” she cooed at her son. Her eyes strayed from him just briefly enough to spot her eldest daughter and wife running past above her. “Careful, ladies!” she called to them, already looking back at Taeyong. They didn’t respond.
Yet another shout, this one of outrage, made her turn towards the deep end of the pool. Jihae’s face contorted in anger as her younger (by 5 whole minutes) sister splashed her again. “Hani, stop it! You’re being a jerk!”
Hani blew a raspberry at her sister. “Nuh uh! You’re the one who threw that ball at me!”
“So? It didn’t even hit you!”
“Yeah, because your aim sucks, idiot!”
“Girls, stop calling each other names right now, or you’re both going to be banned from the pool for the rest of the day!” Mira shouted as she ran past them, still trying to catch Aeri.
Properly chastised, the two sisters took to splashing each other with water, whispering insults instead of yelling them. Miyeong shook her head, hoping nothing more would come of it, and their splashing would be enough to take out whatever frustration was left in their systems.
Her eyes drifted to the middle of the pool next, an area significantly calmer than the deep end, though a little more eventful than the shallow end. Hayun was swimming back and forth from one side to the other. Miyeong figured she was trying to get some practice in, or to show off to Poppy, who was resting on a pool float nearby, watching her. Every so often, her wife would tell their middle daughter that she was doing a “Good job!” and to “Keep it up, Hayhay!” Miyeong’s heart swelled at the sight of them spending time together. Part of her considered jumping into the water to join them, but the events of last night still made her too sore to be able to move properly.
(How her wives, now in their mid-60s, were able to do that to her even still, was a mystery, but it was one that excited Miyeong more than she would likely be able to express aloud.)
Footsteps padded towards her, and she turned her head just in time to see her other wife stop beside the chair next to Miyeong’s. A small, rubber duck themed towel was pressed against something on her chest. Celine smiled. “Having fun, darling?”
Miyeong grinned back. “Especially now that you’re here, love.” She sat up and leaned towards her. Celine bent over to meet her halfway, mindful of what she was holding.
Distantly, she heard Aeri stop nearby their chairs and groan an “Ew!”, before she gasped and ran off again.
When they pulled back from one another’s lips, Miyeong made sure to press hers against the towel bundle. Sure enough, it shifted, letting out a quiet noise of contentment. She leaned back and watched the two of them adoringly.
Celine sat down on the chair beside hers and lounged in a position similar to that of Miyeong’s, and the previously-older woman was delighted to see more of what was hidden under the towel now.
Two tiny hands curled together into fists, resting on either side of equally little shoulders. The sleeping face of their youngest daughter was pressed cheek to chest with her tallest mother, who cradled her with practice and care. Nayoon’s body rose up and fell down with each steady breath in and out of her little lungs. The chaos of her sister-in-law and nieces did nothing to bother her slumber.
Miyeong could confidently say Nayoon was the calmest 1-year-old she had ever known.
Then again, the only other 1-year-old Miyeong could remember having known was Taeyong, who had been a fussy baby, not unlike his mother had been in the month she had her as one.
Speaking of…
Miyeong’s eyebrows furrowed as she scanned the length of the pool. Her four grandchildren were all accounted for, as were her two daughters-in-law, two wives, and two younger daughters, but her eldest daughter was nowhere to be found.
She turned her head to face Celine again. “Hey, Cece, have you-”
Her eyes caught on something on the distant end of the deck. She squinted to get a better look at it, unsure if what she thought she was seeing was correct.
Underneath a large umbrella, situated on a deck chair and watching Celine with crossed arms and glaring eyes, was Rumi.
Only the slightly red glow of the patterns on her body allowed her to even see her there, the umbrella seemingly blocking out any light from entering its coverage.
“Uh, Celine?” she asked her wife slowly.
Celine didn’t move. “I know.”
Miyeong blinked, bewildered. “Know what?”
“That she’s watching me right now,” Celine replied, nearly completely still in her chair besides her mouth, her rising and falling chest, and the hand rubbing their youngest daughter’s back.
“How?”
“Because she used to do this with Hayun, too.”
Miyeong tilted her head questioningly, “Do what?”
“Glare at me while I’m holding her younger sister, as though she doesn’t have legs and a mouth to come over and ask me for affection with,” Celine answered simply.
“So, what,” Miyeong watched her eldest daughter, who didn’t seem to notice her eyes on her, carefully, “is she jealous?”
Celine nodded. “Very.”
Miyeong opened her mouth and closed it again like a fish. “Why?” she finally settled on asking.
Her wife sighed. “Well, for the first 31 years of her life, she was an only child. For the first 24 years, I wasn’t truly affectionate with anyone besides her. She didn’t have to share my attention at home until she was 16.” She shrugged. “Of course she’s jealous.”
“So, then, why doesn’t she just come over and ask?” Miyeong felt a strange pit of her own jealousy rise up, irrational in nature. “I’m sure she could find some space on your long ass body to rest on.”
Celine snorted, covering their youngest daughter’s ears. “Language.”
“Or, y’know,” Miyeong rubbed the back of her neck, “she could find some room on someone else to lay on.”
Celine’s face softened into a frown. “Mimi…”
“I know, I know. Wishful thinking,” Miyeong chuckled sadly.
It had been 5 years since Miyeong’s return to the land of the living, and while Rumi had started to call her “mom” and be occasionally affectionate towards her, she could tell there were certain things that her eldest daughter was still uncomfortable doing with her that she had no problem doing with Celine and even Poppy. Cuddling was one of those things. Miyeong understood why, of course; Rumi hadn’t just not had her around for the first 33 years of her life, after all. Miyeong was also physically younger than her daughter by 5 whole years. She had only just reached the age her daughter had been when they reunited not long ago. Looking for motherly affection from someone was visibly younger than even your maknae wife had to be difficult for Rumi to do.
Still…still…
A shout of joy caused her to return her focus to the pool. Taeyong was giggling happily as his Mom held him up in the air triumphantly. She was grinning ear to ear, as was he. “Yay! I did it! I did it!”
Mira slowed her chase down next to where they were on the pool’s edge, reaching down to ruffle Taeyong’s hair. “You did it, bud?”
“I did, I did!” Taeyong nodded excitedly. “I swam all the way from over there,” he pointed towards the other end of the pool, “to over here where Mommy was, all without her help!” That wasn’t fully true (after all, Miyeong had seen Zoey help him), but his smile of pride was enough to make any arguments against that claim die on all tongues.
A loud cheer rang out from the other side of the deck, and Miyeong looked over to see her eldest daughter sitting up and out of the shadows. All the red in her patterns had disappeared, and her glare had been replaced by a wide, toothy grin. “Good job, Tae! You did so well!” She clapped for her son. “That was incredible!”
Taeyong beamed in response to the praise, laughing when Mira left him up and out of the water to tickle his stomach. “Eomma!”
“Look at my little boy! So perfect! Such a good swimmer!” She placed a big, long kiss on his cheek, and he squirmed with delight in her grasp.
A quick glance over at Rumi revealed her slinking back into the shade, and the red quickly returning to her patterns, glare back on her face.
How she transitioned between the states of jealous older sister, to doting mother, and back again so quickly, Miyeong didn’t know.
Her pursuing mother now distracted and no longer chasing her, Aeri finally slowed her run to a stop on the opposite side of the pool as her, figuring she had gotten away with her crime. She bent over and placed her hands, one of which still holding her squirt gun, on her knees, huffing and puffing while she caught her breath.
Zoey saw her, however, and she raised an eyebrow and began swimming over to the edge of the pool on the side Aeri was on. She climbed out of the water, tiptoed towards her eldest daughter, and then, from seemingly nowhere, pulled out a small, turtle shaped item. Aeri, finally sensing her mother’s approach, turned around to face her.
Miyeong’s unspoken question of what it was, was answered near instantly when Zoey held the item up, pointed it at Aeri, and pushed down on what appeared to be a trigger. A blast of water shot out from the item, apparently a small squirt gun, and hit Aeri in the face, causing her to gasp in outrage.
She began the chase anew, now on the opposite end of it, and with Zoey as her opponent. Zoey laughed and ran away from her daughter, electing to hop into the pool to escape her pursuit. Aeri grumbled, “No fair!”, but she followed after her, jumping in as well.
As they began to swim around the water in quick strokes, Hayun took notice of her niece and sister-in-law swimming towards the area where she was making her laps. Sensing there was no area safe for her to do so now that the two best swimmers were afoot (or afin? Aflipper? Awater?) with chase, she pouted and swam over to the edge of the pool.
She climbed out with little difficulty, and trudged over to where Celine was lying. “Eomma! They’re being crazy in the pool! Make them stop!”
Celine sighed. “I would if I could, darling. But I haven’t been able to tell Zoey what to do and trust she’d listen since she was 17, and you know how uncontrollable Aeri gets sometimes.”
Hayun pouted, but conceded her point, if the way she sat down on Celine’s lap and curled up on top of her was any indication. Despite how wet she still was from the pool, Celine made no complaints about it, only wrapping an arm around their middle daughter’s body to pull her closer. Nayoon fussed a bit at the water that got onto her, but the towel covering her protected her from most of her sister’s area of effect.
In the distance, Rumi’s patterns glowed an even brighter shade of red. Her eyes seemed to become golden.
The pool itself was a pot of chaos, full of energy. Zoey was practically flying across the water, laughing between each stroke, changing form every so often as if to show off to all who were watching her. Aeri couldn’t keep up with her, not when she was only 8 years old, smaller, less experienced, and already worn out from her previous chase, but she sure wasn’t letting that stop her from trying her best to do so. The splashing match between Jihae and Hani had started to shift from small smacks of the water to arm induced waves of water violently hitting each other. Grunts of pain and anger were coming from the girls now, rising in volume each time. In the middle of it all was Poppy, who, evidently, had somehow drifted off to sleep in the middle of her floating seat at some point before Hayun’s exit from the water. The two people swimming around her and the two people shouting at the end of the pool did nothing to stir her awake.
At first, Miyeong considered it a stark reminder of the fact her wives were, in fact, over 60 years old. Then, she looked over at her middle daughter, and saw she had begun to snooze, too.
She looked up at the sky, and realized it had begun to turn a beautiful pink.
When had the sun started to set?
“We should start heading inside,” Miyeong said, “It’s starting to get late.”
Celine nodded. “Good idea.” She climbed up from her chair, impressively doing so without using her hands to lift herself, using them both to lift their younger daughters up. The move was surprisingly attractive.
Trying to distract herself from the rising heat on her face, she called out to her other wife. “Popstar!”
Poppy snored.
Miyeong rolled her eyes. “Poppy!”
Finally, she stirred. “Wuh, huh?” Tired eyes blinked rapidly.
“We’re gonna start heading in! You coming?”
“Hm? Oh, yeah. I’m comin’.” Poppy slowly dismounted from her pool float, grabbed it, and swam over to the edge of the water. She dragged it out with her so that it wouldn’t remain in the water overnight.
Mira hummed, rocking Taeyong, who was looking more and more tired himself, in her arms. “We should start heading inside, too.”
A chorus of protests, including one from the sleepy boy pressed to her chest, met her in response. The pink-haired woman smiled softly. “I know, I know. You guys wanna keep playing in the pool, but it’s gonna get dark soon, and we need to clean up before then. So let’s get it together.”
“She’s right, you guys,” Rumi said, suddenly appearing near the pool. Her wives and children didn’t look shocked, but she managed to startle Miyeong. “C’mon, start heading out of the pool and getting your stuff together.”
The triplets all grumbled and groaned in frustration, but they followed their mothers’ instructions, gathering toys and floats that were in the pool and dragging them to the edge to throw out, before climbing out themselves. They put the wet items in a place where they could dry off quicker, and then grabbed their towels and sandals to begin drying off and walking back to the large resort home the 12 of them were staying in.
That left only one occupant of the pool still inside of it.
Rumi put her fists on her hips. “Zoey. It’s time to leave the pool.”
Zoey, who had taken to floating on her back once she was left alone in the water, hummed. “Nah, I’m good.”
Mira raised an eyebrow. “Are you good?”
“Yup!” The maknae replied, the “p” popping in mouth for extra emphasis. “I’m a grown woman who can swim all by herself just fine.”
Now it was Mira’s turn to put a fist on her hip, adjusting her hold on her son so that he was resting on the other one. “And are you also a grown woman who can sleep all by herself just fine?”
Zoey paused. “No,” she replied, “that I’m not.”
She got off her back, and paddled towards the edge of the pool.
Once everyone was inside, debates about who should get to use the bathrooms to clean off first began. Celine and Nayoon, both of whom only got secondhand wet from Hayun lying atop her mother, fell towards the back of the line. Rumi and Miyeong, who were bone dry, were very last, however.
Hayun, half asleep, was carried up the stairs by Poppy, who nominated her to use the one she, Celine, and Miyeong had in their bedroom in order to remove her from the debate of the hallway one.
That left only the triplets to decide on who got first dibs on the hallway shower. Jihae and Hani had been in the water longer than Aeri, the two of them, now sudden allies, argued. Aeri’s main argument was that she was the oldest, and thus, was born with first dibs.
She was pushed to the back of the line not long after that, much to her chagrin.
Jihae and Hani’s alliance fell apart as soon as it had formed after that, and it took Zoey playing three rounds Guess the Number (the first two of which they accused the other of cheating after they won) before a triumphant Hani skipped towards the stairs, while Zoey dragged the other two up as they grumbled about losing to their youngest sister.
Taeyong, the youngest one who had been in the pool, was pushed to the front because of how tired he clearly was (Nayoon already being asleep cleared her of this reasoning).
Mira carried him up towards her, Rumi, and Zoey’s room so that she could give him a quick bath and then put him down to rest. After that, she and Zoey could fight over who would get the bathroom next.
Of course, Miyeong wasn’t stupid. She knew they wouldn’t actually do that. Most likely, Mira would bring Taeyong to his room to help him get ready to sleep, and then, once he was down, come back to the room to wait for Zoey, who, once she managed to get Jihae into the bathroom and make sure Aeri didn’t start a fight by jumping in line, would also likely come right to their room.
And if Rumi was already there, well…
They were awfully large showers.
Miyeong would know; she tested the one in her room out with her wives the night they arrived, and the night after that.
That meant that if Miyeong wanted to try something out, she would have to move fast, before Rumi left.
Only four people remained on the bottom floor of the house now, everyone else having gone up to either wash up, wait to wash up, or help someone else wash up. Obviously , those people were the four who needed the bathroom the least urgently.
Somehow, Nayoon remained slumbering throughout all of the arguments that had just occurred between her nieces. Miyeong smiled at the peaceful expression on her youngest’s face. “God, she could sleep through a tornado siren, huh?”
Celine laughed. “It must be Poppy’s genes. Lord knows I was never this restful, and you used to wake up at the sound of a couple arguing halfway across the city from where we were staying on tour.” She looked at Rumi. “True story, by the way.”
Rumi startled at having been addressed. Now that her own children were out of the room and it was just her, her youngest sister, and two of her mothers, she had returned to glaring at the baby in Celine’s arms, as though she thought she was as invisible as she had been outside. “Oh, uh…” She cleared her throat, trying to look nonchalant. “Right. Can’t relate. That is, I didn’t get that gene, I guess.” Rumi rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. “I sleep like a rock.”
“Not always,” Miyeong and Celine replied at the same time. They shared a surprised look.
Rumi stared between them. “Oh.”
Nayoon whimpered, the first sign of her sleep being disturbed since having come inside, and Celine cooed at her. “It’s okay, my love.” She rocked her up and down. “Come on, we’ll go lay down until your big sister is done with her bath, and then we’ll give you a quick one of your own so you can sleep soon, okay?” She pressed a kiss to the side of Rumi’s head, “Goodnight, Rumi-ya.” Celine made her way over to the stairs, peering behind her when Miyeong did not follow. “Aren’t you coming, dear?”
“Um…” Part of her did want to follow, to lay down with her wife and kiss her youngest’s head while they rested together. But she would get to do that any day when they were home.
A quick glance at her eldest daughter, who’d crossed her arms and was staring at the ground, miserably attempting to hide her disappointment, made up her mind for her.
“I’ll meet you up there,” she told Celine. Their eyes met, and a silent conversation passed between them.
Celine smiled in understanding. “Goodnight, Rumi,” she said again.
Rumi nodded. “Goodnight, Eomma.” She watched her ascend the stairs with the eyes of a child watching their parents leave after dropping them off at daycare for the first time.
On the face of her 38 year-old daughter, who had two wives and four children of her own, and had been staring enviously at her two sisters that were both less than 10 years old all day, it was slightly comical.
But Miyeong did not laugh. Instead, she attempted to gather up the courage to ask something that really ought to be easy to ask her daughter.
(Huh. It was harder than it seemed on paper. No wonder Rumi didn’t just walk up to Celine earlier.)
She almost missed her daughter wishing her goodnight, she was so busy gathering her courage.
“Wait!” She held out a hand to stop Rumi from walking any closer to the stairs.
Wide eyes met hers. “What is it?”
“Do you-that is, did you wanna…” Miyeong took a deep breath, trying to figure out how to get her words out properly.
Rumi’s eyebrows furrowed, “Mom, are you oka-”
Maybe it was the use of the word “mom” that granted her the courage and words to do so, but Miyeong suddenly found the question flowing out of her mouth effortlessly, “Did you wanna cuddle on the couch for a bit?”
Rumi stared at her mother, shocked. “Oh.” Miyeong winced; had she overstepped by asking?
But Rumi’s eyes grew wet, and a pleading look entered them. “Really? You would wanna do that?” Her voice pitched up several octaves.
Miyeong nodded frantically. “Yes, absolutely. It sounds amazing, in fact.”
Rumi nodded in return. “Can I…can I lay on top of you?” she asked hesitantly.
“Of course!” Miyeong walked over to the couch and laid across the cushions, resting her head against the arm of it. She reached out her arms, and gestured with her fingers in a move reminiscent of what Zoey had called “grabby hands” after seeing baby Taeyong do it after he was born. It worked here, too; Taeyong would do that motion whenever he wanted to hold onto something out of reach, and Miyeong wanted to hold her daughter right now.
She wasn’t out of reach for much longer, practically jogging over to where her mother was. She didn’t immediately jump atop Miyeong like she’d seen her do with Celine or Poppy, instead lowering herself slowly, as though she expected Miyeong to suddenly back out and tell her she didn’t want cuddles from Rumi after all.
That didn’t happen, of course. Once the side of Rumi’s head was pressed against her chest, and the rest of her body was flat against Miyeong’s own, she nearly cried out at the joy of having her baby so close. Her arms wrapped around Miyeong’s torso, and her mother returned the gesture, pulling her daughter closer to her. Rumi let out a noise of joy of her own, causing Miyeong’s heart to swell.
Suddenly, she realized that the last time she remembered doing this with Rumi, her daughter had only been two weeks old.
For Miyeong, it had been 5 agonizing years. It had been almost 8 times as much for her daughter.
38 years. It had been 38 years since Rumi had felt her holding her like this.
Tears sprang from her eyes and began to trickle down her face. A sob escaped her throat.
Rumi looked up, concerned. “Mom, are you-”
She nodded, waving away her concerns. “Fine. I’m fine.” She sniffed. “More than fine, baby. My baby…” A fresh wave of tears fell. “Oh, my baby!” She pulled Rumi’s head towards her, kissing the top of her daughter’s head.
The significance of this moment finally hit Rumi. Her own eyes began to leak tears, and her lip trembled. “Mom…Mom…” She clutched at Miyeong pool robe, gripped the fabric so hard it was at risk of tearing. She snuggled closer to her mother, who pressed kiss after kiss to the top of her head. They wept together, the weight of their reconnection covering them in a blanket of maternal love long-lost and now-found.
Rumi, her first baby. How had Miyeong survived these past 5 years without this?
She knew she could not survive another 5 without it.
Two voices approached, coming down the stairs. They called for Rumi, but Rumi was too lost in her own emotions to hear them.
They did, however, hear Rumi’s quiet sobs. “Rumi?” Zoey’s voice asked, “Is everything okay down here-”
Her voice cut off. A gasp, and then a moment of silence followed. “Oh,” Mira’s voice said, wet and full of emotion. “We can…we’ll wait.”
Zoey let out a squeaking noise that sounded suspiciously like a sob of her own, and then the footsteps retreated back up the stairs.
The two of them stayed like that for several minutes. Eventually, Miyeong felt herself begin to drift off. She was unsure if the late hour (it wasn’t that late!), the crying, or the comfort of having her daughter lying atop her was more to blame for her sudden tiredness, but it was likely some combination of the three.
Rumi’s own breathing had settled from the stuttering sobs into something steadier, and her whimpers had turned to purrs. Her hands were kneading at Miyeong’s sides like a cat. She would find it funny if it wasn’t so adorable and comforting.
Without realizing it, the two of them must have fallen asleep at some point like that, because the next thing Miyeong became aware of was Celine staring down at the two of them affectionately. “Ladies,” she crooned, “it’s time to get up so you can sleep in a real bed.”
Rumi grumbled and burrowed closer into Miyeong. Miyeong, in return, wrapped her arms tighter around Rumi.
Celine laughed. “Come now, Rumi. Your wives have been waiting for you to come up so they could shower.”
And your wives have been waiting for you to come up so they could shower, too, Mimi, goes unsaid, for the sake of Rumi’s ears, but Miyeong could hear it between the lines.
She chuckled. “She’s right, Ruru, you should go rescue them from the dangers of chlorinated hair. You know Mira will complain about it for the next few weeks, and none of us, especially not you, want that.”
Rumi hesitated, but, with great effort, she got up and off of Miyeong. It felt like a limb was being ripped off her body.
She buried the pain under the relief of how reluctantly her daughter had pulled away from their cuddling.
Rumi rubbed her eyes and yawned. “Goodnight, Eomma. Goodnight, Mom. I love you guys.”
Celine smiled. “I love you, too, Rumi-ya.”
Miyeong sat up. She grabbed Rumi’s hand and squeezed it. “I love you, my darling girl.”
Rumi smiled softly, and took a few step towards the stairs. She stopped, though. “Um, Mom?”
“Yes, sweetheart?” Miyeong asked.
“Can we, um, do that again, at some point? Cuddling?”
A symphony of emotions, all surrounding love for her daughter, sadness that she even felt the need to ask, and overwhelming joy that she wanted to be back in her arms again, played in her mind. She grinned. “Of course, sweetheart. Whenever you want.”
Rumi let out a hum of delight. “That sounds amazing.”
“It does,” Miyeong said.
Rumi nodded, and bit her lip. After another moment of hesitation, she made her way up the stairs.
Once they were alone, Celine grinned at her. “Mimi…”
Miyeong laughed, tears falling down her face again. She leapt from the couch and into her wife’s arms. “She wanted to cuddle with me again, Cece! I got to hold her after so many years, and she wanted to do it again!” She kissed her wife, over and over again, overwhelmed with excitement.
Celine laughed, too. “I know, baby, I know! I’m so happy for you!” She twirled Miyeong around, causing her yelp in surprised delight.
“What’s all this raucous?” Poppy grumbled as she came down the stairs to greet them. “And why are my wives not in the shower with me as we speak?” She had her bathrobe on, and, for a brief moment, Miyeong was distracted by the thought of what was hiding underneath there. She licked her lips.
But she was back to the matter at hand in an instant. “Pops, Rumi and I-we cuddled! And, and! She wanted to do it again!”
Poppy’s eyes widened. A grin stretched across her face. “Babe! That’s incredible!” She reached them in three large steps, and grabbed Miyeong’s face to kiss her.
When she pulled back, Miyeong was practically shaking with glee. “I know! I just…ah!” She jumped in place. Her wives giggled, sharing in her joy. Once she was calm again, she put an arm around them, pulling them closer. “It feels like…and I know this is gonna sound weird, but hear me out!”
Celine and Poppy nodded encouragingly. Miyeong took a deep breath to calm her nerves. “It feels like…for the first time since I got back, that she’s finally our daughter, and not just yours, y’know?” She sniffled. “Like she’s my child, too. And I know that’s weird, because she is my literal child, but, you get it, right?”
They nodded again. Celine rubbed her cheek. “We do, baby. Believe us, we do.” She kissed Miyeong’s forehead. “It took me three years to see her as my daughter after you died. I felt like I was claiming a role that didn’t belong to me, even if I was raising her.”
Poppy hummed in agreement. “For me, I was also coming into a situation where Rumi was an adult who already had someone to call her mother in her life. A part of me always thought of her as the child I had abandoned. Then I met her and was subject to her wrath. I thought she would be angry at me forever. But then saw the fear in her eyes. The terror that I would only cause more pain in her life.” Her eyes turned distant, but they lit up when a certain memory came to mind. “The moment she deemed me worthy of her trust and love, enough so that she called me Eomeoni, was one of the happiest in my life.” The smile on her face reflected that, as though she were reliving the moment over again.
Miyeong looked down. “And that was when she was only 24. I came into her life again after being gone for 33 years. She was a mother by the time I returned. She was older than me.”
Celine rubbed her back. “And yet…”
“And yet,” Miyeong bit her lip, smiling brightly, “she calls me Mom! She wants to cuddle again! She thinks of me as her mother!”
“And now she’s ours. All of ours,” Celine reaffirmed. “Our daughter.”
“Our daughter,” Poppy repeated.
“Our daughter,” Miyeong finished.
The three of the leaned forward, and pressed their foreheads together. It was difficult, what with their height differences, but they’d long since learned to overcome that hurdle. They stayed like that for several minutes.
Until a hand drifted from Miyeong’s lower back to her ass. “Popstar…” she groaned, “You’re insatiable.”
Poppy snorted. “We haven’t slept together since yesterday. I’ve been waiting for you two so we could shower together.”
Before she could respond, another hand drifted to her ass. She gasped. “Cece! Not you, too!”
Celine shrugged. “I wanted to see how it feels.”
“You know perfectly well how it feels!”
“Be grateful, Mimi,” Poppy said, “Most people our age start to lose their libido. Ours is still fully intact!” Her hand squeezed her ass again, causing Miyeong’s hips to jolt forward.
When Celine’s began to squeeze as well, she whimpered. “Fine, fine. Let’s go shower.”
Her wives smiled smugly.
(Later, when they were lying in bed, sated and still damp from their shower, Miyeong turned to face Celine, who had her reading glasses on while she read a book in the dim light of the room. Poppy slumbered happily on Miyeong’s other side, arms wrapped loosely around her hips.
“Cece?” Miyeong asked.
“Hmm?” Celine replied, not looking from her book. Miyeong had half a mind to remind her that reading in dim light like this was bad for her eyes, but she figured she’d save that conversation for later.
“Did you take pictures? Of before?”
“Of the pool?”
“No.”
Celine smiled. “Ah.”
Miyeong nodded. “Did you?”
Instead of answering right away, Celine put a bookmark that Hayun had made for her two years ago in the page she left off on. She put the book down on the bedside table and leaned over the edge of the mattress to pick up something that must have been discarded in the earlier scramble to get to the shower. When she rose back up again, she saw a small camera in her wife’s hand.
Celine held it up proudly. “Of course I did.”)