Chaewon wasn't sure how many times she had to reassure Yunjin she was okay with picking Eunchae and Kyujin up from school while she was at her therapy appointment. She knew the woman still felt uneasy asking that of her, but quite frankly she was totally okay with it. Eunchae ran up to her, holding Kyujin's hand and tugging her along, Chaewon had expected for her to be excited to see her, instead anxiety was written all over her features, "Where's Yunjin."
"She's seeing her therapist, so I'm bringing you home."
"Like Ms.Sunmi?"
"Mhmm." Eunchae seemed to relax at that, turning to Kyujin and smiling.
"You know Kyujin right? She's my friend."
"We met before, remember? At parent's day."
She watched Kyujin smile back at her, gripping onto Eunchae's hand tighter. She was probably shy, Eunchae was as well so they probably balanced each other out well. Eunchae was a cute kid as well, walking alongside Eunchae blabbering to her about something in class that Chaewon imagined was hot gossip for kindergartners. It's only been a few days since Eunchae came back with them, and Chaewon could already see the change in the child simply from getting enough sleep now. Chaewon had started using the couch, letting Eunchae take her place next to Yunjin simply to make the girl comfortable. Sure she could return to her own apartment, but she just didn't want to. She wanted to make Eunchae lunch before she went to school and kiss Yunjin a goodbye before they left. Eunchae had woken up with night terrors the night prior and Chaewon was kind of glad she decided to sleep on the couch, it took a few minutes for Yunjin to get her to calm down as she screamed and thrashed around not registering it was Yunjin if Chaewon was there too, she wasn't sure if the girl would have come to so quickly.
Yunjin calmed her down, and eventually Chaewon and grumpy made their way into the room as well. Eunchae didn't exactly say what it was about, and maybe it was just a normal night terror kids her age had about monsters and alligators (the second part may have just been Chaewon's reoccurring night terror as a child though). Chaewon had her doubts about that though, Eunchae sounded too scared and too much of a reaction for it just to be a monster. And honestly, as the trial started, Chaewon was expecting them to start to occur more.
Eunchae's mother's attorney had blocked her and Joohyun's request to do Eunchae's testimony digitally, citing some bullshit reasoning that Chaewon didn't even remember. Sure she can still have a guardian with her, probably Yunjin, for comfort, and her psychiatrist that she has been seeing will be there to monitor and cut in if she needs to but Chaewon still felt uneasy about it. Two options were starting to become abundantly clear in Chaewon's mind, the defense was either batting on the assumption that Eunchae would lie and defend her mother, or Eunchae's mother genuinely felt like she did nothing wrong. Both made her angry.
"Do you hear that?" Eunchae asked suddenly, braking Chaewon away from her train of thought, tugging Kyujin into a small ally as Chaewon scrambled to follow caught off guard. She didn't even get to question what they were doing when Chaewon say what they were looking at. A small golden dachshund crying out as Eunchae reached down to pet him. She looked around, and there was no trace of a mother in sight. Shit.
"Why is he alone?" Kyujin questioned, "He looks tiny."
"I don't know, what do we do Jin?"
"Maybe we wait for his mommy to come? She has to come back, Mommies come back."
"I think his mommy left him kiddo." Chaewon cut in.
"His mommy left him?" Eunchae questioned, looking up at Chaewon watching her nod. She turned back, reaching out to run her fingers through his fur. Kyujin looked just as concerned, squatting down next to Chaewon taking her backpack off to dig through it, coming out with a few pieces of ham that she held out and offered to the puppy, in which it was quickly devoured. Chaewon watched as a smile spread across Kyujin's face as he ate, Eunchae just seemed to get more and more upset, "Why didn't his mommy take care of him?"
"Uh-" Chaewon stammered, not expecting the watery tone in Eunchae's voice. The situation was upsetting yes, and probably more so for a child, but Kyujin seemed to be okay- oh. Eunchae was projecting. Chaewon made sure to smooth over her voice, calming her stress levels down so neither of the younger girls would pick up on it and freak out as well, "Sometimes they just can't. My mommy couldn't."
Both of the children's heads snapped in her direction, and Chaewon just shrugged, reaching down to pet the puppy as well. She could hear the children's silent discussion on what that meant, before Kyujin spoke up, "Why?"
"My dad died in a car accident when I was around your age, and my mom was sad. So she left."
"Like Yunjin's friend?" Eunchae asked.
"Yeah, like Yunjin's friend. I was born where you were born Eunchae, but when my parents died my sister and I got sent here. And now I have really nice parents that I love just as much." Chaewon could see both the girls staring back at her, "Sometimes mommy's just can't take care of you, it's not your fault, it happens."
They were both quiet for a few seconds before Kyujin spoke up, "My mommy couldn't take care of me either. I don't know why." She stared down at the puppy, "But my moms adopted me and that's good enough for me."
Eunchae was quiet, and Chaewon could tell she was thinking. About what exactly, Chaewon wasn't entirely sure. Honestly, it hadn't been all too long since Eunchae was placed with Yunjin, just a few months, how much Eunchae still wanted her real mother's love and approval was still a bit of a mystery. She saw this often at work, how kids still tried to defend and cling onto their parent's love and attention even when they're being abused. Eunchae seemed to be able to distinguish that what her mom put her through wasn't normal, but Chaewon couldn't expect her to just be over it already. The kindergartner threaded her fingers through the puppy's hair, "Can we take care of him?"
"I-" Eunchae looked over at her with big puppy eyes. Yunjin was most definitely going to kill her, but oh well, "Sure, let's take him home. We should stop at the store to pick up some food and a collar for him, don't you think?"
Both girls were extremely excited, letting Chaewon pick up the puppy and tuck it securely into her arms as they held onto her shirt and walked a little way to this pet store that Chaewon sometimes visited to pick up things for Grumpy. Controlling two excited kids and a puppy that started to wiggle in her grasp was not an easy feat, but somehow Chaewon prevailed successfully walking out with a dog of food, a bowl, a leash, a collar, and finally a small raccoon stuffed toy because Kyujin insisted he needed a friend like Peng and Minjoong.
The only thing Chaewon wasn't sure about was how to explain this to Yunjin when the woman got home.
***
"What is that and why is it here?"
Yunjin was tired, both emotionally and physically. After Eunchae's meltdown last night, she couldn't fall back asleep afterward tossing and turning trying to find some sort of rest before giving up and moved to just grab some case files reading over and thinking through a few of her cases. Then today, Sakura decided to complain for nearly an hour about how she and Kazuha were now in a big fight for her giving back Eunchae without telling her first, and that was after they ran nearly a mile chasing a suspect. Add the hour of unloading years of emotional trauma onto that, yeah she was exhausted.
"What do you mean?" Chaewon asked, but the guilty look on her face gave her away as she tried to maneuver her body on the couch to block Yunjin's view of the puppy.
"What is that and why is it here?" Yunjin questioned, putting her hands on her hips as she stared at the curled up sleeping puppy on her couch. Grumpy didn't seem too pleased as well, flicking his tail in annoyance from where he was sat on one of the kitchen chairs glaring over at where the dog laid. Chaewon just sent her a guilty look, reaching out to pet the small dog in a way that completely contradicted her face. Eunchae looked unbothered, bouncing around Yunjin's feet excitedly.
"Guess what? Chaewonnie and I were coming home and we found him! Look he's sad, we need to help him." Eunchae pulled on Yunjin's pant leg, and honestly, Yunjin was just too exhausted to fight it so she nodded, walking over to the couch and just sat down on Chaewon's lap, letting the older wrap her arms around her.
"You're not mad?" Chaewon asked, pressing a kiss to her temple when Eunchae turned away to run back to the kitchen table with Kyujin. Kyujin had brought a new Lego set that the girls were starting to build, giggling amongst themselves. This was the first time Kyujin had been over Eunchae's house, for good reason. When Yunjin had brought it up to Wonyoung the other day she was totally okay with it, saying Kyujin hadn't been allowed too previously because she knew something was off about Eunchae's home situation. Kyujin seemed comfortable though, diligently looking through the instructions booklet as Eunchae tried to gather the pieces.
"Oh no, I'm mad. You brought a dog into my house." Yunjin deadpanned, relaxing into her as Chaewon held her tighter. "I better get an explanation."
"Eunchae just found him, and then she gave me the puppy eyes. I couldn't say no."
A sigh, "Did she name him yet?"
"Rey."
"Great so she's attached." Yunjin groaned, "I guess it's better than the snake she wanted."
"I can take him if you really don't want him." Chaewon started to rub small circles on her stomach, "I wouldn't mind, he's pretty cute."
"No it's okay, I think Eunchae would cry if I said she couldn't keep it." Yunjin laid her head back on Chaewon's shoulder, "Are you coming to the party tomorrow?"
"Of course."
Chaewon was warm. She gave off warm vibes, yes, but she was actually physically warm as well. Blanketing Yunjin in this comfort after a long day at work while the kids played in the kitchen, giggling about whatever they were doing with a dog lying next to them and Chaewon's cat walking around. Yunjin looked over to where Eunchae and Kyujin were playing, now having built half of the camper they were so determined to create. Maybe Eunchae would sleep in her own room tonight if Kyujin and the dog were in there as well, she would help Chaewon read them a book before bed and make her take the dog out in the middle of the night when it inevitably had to go to the bathroom. Eunchae looked happy though, Yunjin couldn't ask for much more.
"Tough day?"
"I just didn't get a lot of sleep last night."
"Yeah," Chaewon hummed, "Did she settle after I went back to the couch."
"Mhm, but I still couldn't go back to sleep."
"I think she'll sleep fine tonight, you can get some rest too." Chaewon mused, reaching up to brush a hand through Yunjin's hair, making the woman's eyes start to flutter shut.
Maybe it was just the simple comfort after a long day, maybe it was Yunjin's sleep-deprived brain, but she couldn't stop the words from tumbling out of her mouth like a poor ballerina. "I love you."
She could feel Chaewon tense under her for a second, before responding, "I love you too."
Instead of letting herself try to ponder and agonize over what this meant, Yunjin just relaxed smiling a bit at Chaewon's words. "You're still responsible for this mutt though."