Yunjin was done with her hair. It was long, it tangled, she actually had to spend time brushing it. It wasn't fun. Sakura had told her about the benefits of cutting her hair, especially now as a new mom. With the twins she simply didn't have time to do her hair, and plus the shortcut prevented babies from gripping on painfully. To be honest, why she even kept it as long as she did was a mystery to her. Maybe it was because she was always told to keep her hair long as a child, her mother always telling her it was a sign of femininity and as she got older and entered highschool it was. She would strut around the hallways with her high ponytail, winking and flirting with whoever she saw fit. Then as things changed it was never a priority, why spend money on a haircut when she could buy food or a blanket? Eunha loved her long hair too, always braiding it or begging Yunjin to let her dye it. One time she caved and let her bleach her hair, they dyed it back two days later after Sakura teased her about it and Yunjin felt self conscious. Sakura felt horrible following that and even offered to bleach her hair, but Yunjin refused saying she liked her black hair better.
It was never a conscious thought, she never paid too much attention to it. So why was chopping it all off her first reaction? As soon as she picked up the phone, and let her eyes glide over the notification she was itching to do something.
UNKNOWN NUMBER.
Yunjin, this is your mother. I'm going to be in Seoul during the holidays, let's meet up. Your father was wrong, I'm sorry for his behavior. Let's talk, okay?
[10:47PM]
All night she kept glancing over at it. All the kids were sleeping peacefully in the living room, tired out from the excessive walking and candy. Chaewon was passed out too, snoring softly next to her, Boo curled up on the end of the bed, his face resting against her legs. The detective just laid looking straight up at the ceiling, flipping on the phone, rereading the text, before turning it off again. She was sorry. She thought his behavior was wrong. Did Yunjin believe that? She wasn't too sure. Maybe she should invite her over, that way she could meet Chaewon's parents. Wait- that may be a bad idea.
She needed to do something . Her hands were itching, her mind was racing, she needed a distraction. If this was before she would have just left for the precinct and maybe not come home for a few days before Sakura would throw her out and threaten to fire her (she never actually would though, they both knew it). But she had responsibilities now, a kid to look after her, and Chaewon who would probably not take too kindly to that. That's how she processed things, well maybe avoided processing things. She needed to find something new.
With all her three am wisdom, Yunjin decided her hair had got to go. As quietly as she could she got up and made her way to the other side of the bed, where Chaewon always kept the scissors in her nightstand. Yunjin had questioned her why they just didn't keep them in the kitchen like normal people, Chaewon had argued they shouldn't leave dangerous things out where Eunchae can just grab them. The logic did make sense, Eunchae was the type of kid to cut her own hair or decided to give one of the pets a haircut, but Yunjin had tried to point out the fact that Chaewon's very sharp, very dangerous cooking knives also lived in the kitchen. (Chaewon tuned her out). She successfully grabbed the scissors, when something else caught her eyes. A little green box, that looked much like the one Yunjin held Chaewon's ring in. After sneaking a glance at Chaewon, she opened it to see a small ring sitting proudly. Fuck, was Chaewon planning on proposing? No fucking way, this was Yunjin's time to shine and make Chaewon feel special.
She had already worked out the plan in her head, she was going to propose at a dinner she was going to make on Chaewon's birthday in a few days. Hana has actually been the one to suggest it when Yunjin revealed what she was planning at one of Eunchae's dance lessons, the older sister screaming and hugging her. Maybe Eunchae would help her out, who knew. She closed the box and put it back, trying not to think about it too much.
Marriage terrified her. She was with Eunha for six years and neither one of them ever brought it up. It was too risky, too permanent. But for Chaewon, Yunjin was willing to open herself up to the possibility being hurt like a dog rolling on its back. Trust.
As quietly as she could she marched to the bathroom and flipped on the lights, and for the first time in a long time she really looked at herself in the mirror. She used to not even be able to look at herself, but here she was staring back at someone she finally learned to recognize. She took the scissors to her hair, and cut.
Chaewon screamed when she woke up the next morning. A lot.
The detective was in no way a hairdresser, and her new do came out choppy and uneven. It ,in Chaewon's words, looked horrible and they needed to go to an actual hairdresser as soon as possible. To be fair Eunchae also needed her bangs trimmed as they were starting to poke her eyes again. Somehow along the way Chaewon convinced Yunjin to let her decide what they do. The detective walked out of that salon with a really nice short haircut, it ended just on her shoulders and was dyed an ash brown color. Chaewon said it made her look like a milf, Yunjin wasn't sure if that was a compliment. Eunchae had been supportive, constantly touching and looking at the hair in awe as they left.
Even with the few extra inches off, she still felt the same. She always felt the same. She'd talk about it with Chaewon later.
...
Dinner had been a bust. Again. Yunjin had insisted that she was going to cook for Chaewon's birthday, but when dinner caught fire the lawyer had taken control and banished Yunjin from the kitchen. Honestly she just wanted Mexican food anyways, so in the end it all worked out for her. She hadn't expected Yunjin to look so crestfallen, but Chaewon just tried to chalk it up to her constant need to being trying to show she appreciates Chaewon. It was cute, really.
She placed the order, and watched as Eunchae crawled onto Yunjin's lap, pulling the blanket up to her neck while covering Yunjin too. After watching yet another YouTube tutorial, Yunjin had downloaded a few games on the XBox that lived in the livingroom and the two of them had started trying to test the out. Fortnite was the newest edition. It worked out well because her parents wanted to FaceTime, so she could just chat now before either of the girls wanted attention again. (Yunjin was just as needy as Eunchae).
The smiling faces of her parents filled the screen, waving excitedly as she waved back. They were obviously up to their antics once again, her mom wearing her glasses down on her nose squinting at the screen and her dad just smiled affectionately, "Hey honey!"
"Hey guys!"
"Wah, you're getting so old now."
"Byungwoo don't say that!"
"Sorry."
Chaewon chuckled at her parents' antics, they never could just chill. It made her childhood exciting and refreshing, while helping her bond with them. She was about to respond when Yunjin's voice distracted her.
"All you have to do is press this button." Yunjin instructed, placing Eunchae's hand over the correct place and pressed down. Her character on the screen then shot once and Eunchae's eyes widened. "Then you just kill everyone and win."
"Babe, is this the best thing to be showing her?" Chaewon cut in.
"It's good, don't worry. Yeonjun was telling me a lot of kids play it, his boys do too." Yunjin waved off, turning her attention back to where Eunchae was running around on the screen.
Chaewon rolled her eyes, before turning back to the screen where her parents just stared back at her, this smile on their faces that made her brows furrow in confusion. "What?"
"Nothing." Her Mom hummed, "I just like you like this. Momma bear mode."
"I am not a momma bear."
" Sure." Her mom laughed, "Am I gonna be able to see you in action when we come up for Christmas?"
"Yeah, when you guys stay with us you can spend time with both of them." Chaewon smiled, "That way you can bond a bit."
"Honey, we can just go to a hotel."
"No," This was final. "I don't want you guys spending money on an overpriced room when we could all stay together. Plus it's going to be Christmas, we need to stay together."
"Honey, I'm just worried it's going to be a lot for the little one." Her father argued, "You told us she was shy, and I work with kids like her usually they don't take well to people suddenly invading their space."
"How about I introduce you guys right now?" Chaewon suggested, not waiting for an answer and turned to look at Eunchae again, "Eunchae come here bud."
Eunchae looked over, before sighing and handing Yunjin the controller and slowly made her way over to Chaewon, occasionally glancing back at the game. Eventually she made her way onto Chaewon's lap, looking up at her before looking at the phone.
"Say hi," Chaewon encouraged, even though she knew damn well all Eunchae wanted to do was go back and play with Yunjin.
"Hi."
"Hi honey," Her mom greeted, cooing at the child, "Do you know who I am?"
"No."
"I'm Chaewon's mommy. We're going to be coming over for Christmas, how does that sound to you?"
"Good, can I go play now?" Eunchae asked. Gee, thanks for the effort. Chaewon nodded and Eunchae practically sprinted back to Yunjin, boo chasing her and nipping at her ankles. She was going to have to fix that.
They only talked for a little bit more, being cut short by the arrival of the delivery food. As entertaining as it was to see Eunchae try and eat a burrito the size of her head, Chaewon was starting to get tired. They finished and just laid on the couch, Monsters Inc (Chaewon's choice) playing softly in the background. Eunchae was sat on the ground, both dogs on either side of her all focused on the movie, giggling at how Boo would perk up when he heard his name sometimes. Chaewon just kept glancing over at Yunjin, letting herself take in just how good she looked with her new haircut.
"I love your hair." Chaewon let her fingers tangle into the strands, smiling inwardly as a light blush spread over Yunjin's cheeks. "This suits you so much."
"I'm glad you like it, you did pick it out after all."
"Your right."
"I'm sorry I couldn't make you something for your birthday." Yunjin still looked saddened by that. "I tried to follow the tutorial but it just caught on fire, next time I'm going to try harder and-"
"Yunjin, it's okay." Chaewon laughed, pressing a kiss to her cheek, "I honestly wanted Mexican, so don't feel bad."
"I still got you a gift though," Yunjin made a very obvious motion behind Chaewon's back that the lawyer had to be in a Hellen Keller state to not register. Eunchae's little feet ran off somewhere into the apartment, ahh, Yunjin's wingman. The two of them, as cute as they were together, caused a lot of trouble when Chaewon wasn't looking. But Yunjin looked shy, her fingers trembling slightly as she brushed a hand through her hair, it was a bit unusual for her. Chaewon just chalked it up to Yunjin being worried she wouldn't like the gift.
Eunchae came back and handed a little box to Yunjin, reaching over to whisper something in her ear. Yunjin smiled and nodded, letting Eunchae climb onto her lap, the youngest looking excited.
"Um, I don't know what to say." Yunjin started, "I love you a lot, I hope you know that. You're just so patient and perfect, and I don't know how I'd do this without you." Yunjin was tripping over words, and Chaewon understood, she never usually spoke like this. "I know it hasn't been too long, but I really want to be with you forever. I want you to be my family."
She flipped open the little box, revealing the ring. Chaewon's world stopped, she let her eyes flutter from the ring to Yunjin. She felt tears starting to prick her eyes as she looked back at the two girls who looked so excited, and a bit nervous. "Chaewon, will you marry me?"
It took a minute for her to find her voice, "Y-yes!"
A audible sigh of relief escaped Yunjin, as she took the ring out and tried to slip the ring on Chaewon's fingers. It was a bit difficult with how hard she was trembling, but they made it eventually. She just stared down at the ring, sniffling a bit. Yunjin spoke up, "If you don't like it I can just get a new one, or I can get it sized or-"
Chaewon shut her up with a kiss, grabbing either side of her head and pulling her in. She broke away, "I was going to propose too."
Yunjin just shrugged, "Should have been faster."
Chaewon shook her head and laid a kiss on Eunchae's forehead, the youngest giggling. She was so lucky, and so in love. This was the life she always imagined.