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Sure Zoey came home with a bruise and a scraped knee here and there, but nothing could compare to when she attempted a trick she hadn’t done in years and not only she scraped both of her knees, she fell flat on her face. She was….bleeding? Oh shit.
The maknae sighed before getting up. She knew Rumi would nag her about how she told her to wear a helmet and pads which she didn’t listen only because she felt like not wearing them would help her form and vision. Rumi’s nagging and insistence to not go due to not listening has even worse ever since she found out about her regression. She was already teetering between headspaces on the way home.
As she finally made it home, she already had succumb to her little space which was rather unfortunate for her. She had just hoped Mira or Rumi didn’t notice as she planned.
Unfortunately that plan went out the window when Rumi was walking down the hallway with her tea and noticing the injury.
“Hi Zoe-oh my god! What happened?!” She frantically checked the maknae and her bleeding face. “Oh Zoey…” Rumi knew better than to yell at her. Not only she was aware Zoey hated yelling and if Mira were present, she would’ve give her shit for it. Another reason was that getting hurt outside of fighting demons was a trigger for either of her girls to regress and she could tell Zoey was halfway there.
“Baby girl, remember we talked about wearing a helmet?” The singer asked, softly.
Zoey nodded, slowly. She felt guilty for not listening, not being good. She wondered why she couldn’t just be good. “Sowwy mommy…”
“It’s okay. You’re alive and in one piece. That’s all that matters. Now, let’s get you cleaned up and bandaged. Hm?” Rumi suggested, noting the blood now dripping down Zoey’s chin and her clothes.
“Uppies?” Zoey asked, making grabby hands. Blood be damned, Rumi’s little girl wanted to be held and she was going to provide that.
So of course she picked her up. Rumi was fortunate to be wearing dark colors today because she knew if she wore an outfit with brighter colors, dried blood would’ve been all over her.
As she sat her little one down on the bathroom countertop and getting out a first aid kit then always kept in the bathroom. Rumi managed to dig out some bandaids for the scrapes on Zoey’s knees. As that was done, Rumi took out some antiseptic wipes to clean the bigger scrapes. Zoey whined at the touch of the wipe to her skin.
“I know baby, I know it hurts. We’re almost done,” Rumi reassured her, which didn’t help as she was practically wailing. Right there was when Rumi stopped to comfort her baby girl. “Hey, hey it’s okay. Mommy is going to make it all better.”
“No more pain? All done mommy?” Zoey asked.
As Rumi was done wiping, she looked up and smiled sweetly. “All done.”
Hearing that made Zoey happily swing her legs back and forth, still sitting on the countertop.
“Now what does my little girl want?” The caregiver asked, putting her little one down from the countertop to her feet.
“Hmmmmm. I wan…..iPad?” Yes, Zoey had an iPad. No, she never used it to write lyrics. She preferred to write them in notebook. Zoey only used her iPad for playing games in her spare time.
Rumi pondered for a second. Zoey settled at 5 years old so she wasn’t too young for the iPad. However, this meant limited screen time. “Okay, but no more than 2 hours okay?”
Zoey so cutely pouted but Rumi tried not to fall for it as she put on a timer on her phone. Zoey sighed and walked away. The older woman was relieved she didn’t have to put up a fight. It was pretty rare for Rumi to argue with her littles, especially Zoey who wanted to please everyone and be good for her caregiver.
Before Zoey went further, Zoey turned on her heels to check if Rumi was still within proximity and luckily she was.
“Mommy? Me bad today?”
Rumi too, slowly turned on her heels as she was about to go to her room only to see her precious maknae pouting again. She was she was in shock to see Zoey all confused and upset like this.
“Bad? Nooo why?”
“Cause I got boo boos.”
Rumi chuckled. “It’s okay, that was an accident. Accidents happen.”
Hearing that made Zoey smile. What did she do to deserve a caregiver like Ryu Rumi?
Just then, Rumi checked her watch and it was nearing dinner time. “Oh, it looks like baby needs to eat!” Rumi called out, making Zoey pout.
“But I want iPad!” Zoey whined. “I was good!”
Usually Rumi didn’t really put up with whining, but she understood where Zoey was coming from. She did a good job while getting cleaned and bandaged. She earned her iPad and who was she to take it away because it was dinner time? However, whenever Mira and Zoey were dropped during dinner, she never allowed devices.
“Hmmm, maybe just this once I let you play on the iPad while mommy feeds you,” Rumi suggested, making Zoey squeal of excitement.
Rumi started thinking about what to feed the 5 year old. Ramyeon was fine right? Maybe a little messy, but at least there wouldn’t be any choking hazard. Zoey had settled herself at the kitchen table with her iPad, currently drawing a bunch of sea animals while Rumi was heating up Zoey’s hamburger ramen. Within a few minutes, the ramen was heated up and ready to eat.
“Hey baby, can you look at me so mommy can feed you?” Rumi asked, preparing the utensils for her little one to eat.
Zoey did as she was asked, realizing she was being fed her favorite ramyeon. She bounced with excitement from her seat as Rumi fed her the first bite. As Rumi was about to prepare the second bite, Zoey tapped on the cup and signed in KSL that she wanted to try feeding herself.
“Okay, good girl for telling me instead of grabbing,” Rumi praised before handing Zoey the ramen. When being fed, it was a pretty common thing for Zoey to want to try and feed herself. She wanted to show Rumi that despite her younger mindset, she was still a big girl. Rumi thought it was adorable and was actually incredibly proud of her for trying.
However, Zoey ended up dropping the noodles on her green t-shirt and started crying. Another thing that commonly occurred whenever er the little one tried feeding herself. As Rumi heard the crying, she turned away and covered her mouth for a second to suppress any laughter that was about to come out of her. She couldn’t laugh now. She had a crying little to take care of. As soon as the caregiver was in control of her laughter, she turned around.
“Zoeyyyy, it’s okay aegiya. Mommy is so proud of you for trying,” the singer reassured the rapper.
“W-weally?” the little sniffled.
“Yes of course,” Rumi wiped away any tears falling from Zoey’s big brown eyes. “Do you want to try again?”
“Otay!”