Aside from Yunjin and Chaewon, Hanni was probably the only other adult she fully trusted. It was a slow and tedious process to get that level of trust between them. In the beginning of the year Eunchae was cautious of the woman, eyeing her as she walked around the classroom and helped kids tie their shoes or read stories, things like that just felt suspicious. Now she really liked her and would actively seek her out for comfort and attention. So when Yunjin told her over the phone at lunch that she would have to stay a half an hour after school later than she usually would because Chaewon had a court case and she was at a crime scene, she wasn't too upset about it.
Yeri stuck her tongue out at her and Sooyoung as she ran away, throwing the doors open to greet her Mom, finally leaving the two of them alone. Yunjin was going to be there soon, and Hanni was going to take Sooyoung home, something the girl didn't seem all too pleased about. Sooyoung had been pouting all day, and even now asked Eunchae to color with her in the hallway so she wouldn't actually have to spend time with the older woman. Eunchae liked her friend group, the five of them always had a good time, and each offered something different to their dynamic. As much as she liked it though, some people were just closer to others; Yeri and Sooyoung, Eunchae and Kyujin, Lucas the only boy, often accidentally excluded but they made a point to actively rope him into their games.
It still took Eunchae by surprise when Sooyoung decided to speak up, breaking their temporary spell of silence, "Was it hard to leave your Mom?"
Eunchae stopped coloring for a minute, before shrugging, "Kinda. At first it wasn't, but then I realized she wasn't coming back and it got hard."
"My mom wants us to move in with Hanni."
"Is that bad?"
"I don't know." Sooyoung shrugged, "I'll live with them during the weeks and with my Dad during the weekends."
"That sounds like a good plan."
"I just want to be with both of them. I don't want Hanni to be there."
"I like Hanni." Mina mused, "She's a good person."
"I don't like her." Sooyoung pouted, "She's mean."
"How?"
"My parents were fine before my Mom met her."
"That doesn't make her mean," Eunchae pointed out. Eunchae has seen mean people, Hanni was far from it.
"I don't know."
"Remember the family day at the beginning of the year?" Eunchae pointed out, Sooyoung nodded.
That day was a mess. Eunchae had brought it up to her Mom nearly a week before and she said she would try to come, but when Eunchae walked to school alone that morning, it was pretty clear to her that no one was coming. It was just so much the entire day, there were so many people, so much noise, and while everyone else seemed to be enjoying the day, Eunchae felt miserable and scared. Kyujin really tried to include her, making one of her Moms be Eunchae's partner, even Yeri offered one of her parents as well. But Eunchae didn't know them, and when Lucas tried to get his dads to help the floodgates opened. She was just so overwhelmed and terrified. Looking back at it, it was a bit embarrassing, but in the moment when Lucas was proudly holding Taeyong's hand bringing him towards Eunchae, she just went into survival mode; screaming and crying. Everyone stared at her, Wendy tried to comfort her but it wasn't enough, so Hanni took her inside the classroom leaving the next classroom's teacher to combine both classes and handle everything.
The two of them just sat on the beanbags for what felt like hours as Eunchae calmed down. She cried and hid her face into the soft fleece of the chair, but never once did Hanni touch her or hurt her. Instead the teacher just hummed soft tunes, calming her down to the point she could look over at her. Hanni just smiled back at her, her body was too big for the child sized chair, her legs folded at an awkward angle, but she didn't move. Eunchae dictated the pace, something she had never the privilege of doing before. They didn't talk much, instead they laid on the floor and drew while Hanni played soft music in the background. Eunchae tried her damn best to tell Hanni what was wrong, drawing picture after picture of her home. Hanni didn't seem to understand what she was trying to say.
"Or remember when she used to do my hair?" Eunchae asked again. Sooyoung looked down at her shoes.
Following that day, Eunchae found herself opening up a bit more to the teacher. Every morning before they entered the classroom, they could even get a fist bump, high five, or hug. Usually Eunchae would just shake her head and enter the classroom, but the day after family day she found herself pressing the hug button, visibly surprised Hanni obliged pulling her into a tight hug. So incredibly love deprived, Eunchae had started bawling clutching onto the teacher. Morning hugs became something Eunchae treasured. Eunchae's bangs always tickled her eyes, causing her to swipe them out of her eyes repeatedly. She knew she looked dirty, other kids had pointed out the holes in her clothes and how her hair was greasy. But Hanni had taken it upon herself to tie Eunchae's hair up into a ponytail every morning, pinning her bangs back with Bobby pins. She had even bought Eunchae a heavier coat under the excuse she bought it for her niece and it didn't fit. She would give Eunchae just a bit more attention when she felt the girl needed it, and backed off when Eunchae made it clear she wanted to be left alone.
Going into school the day after it happened was tough. Everything hurt. Her ears hurt from all the screaming all night, her face hurt, her body hurt. But she wanted to go to school so desperately, wanted to be in the safety that Hanni provided, that Kyujin, Yeri, Sooyoung, and Lucas provided. She just wanted to feel safe. She didn't feel safe. She watched Hanni's expression drop as the teacher let her eyes flutter over the bruises covering her face, her scared expression, Eunchae didn't want to dwell on it for too long so she pressed the hug button and dove into Hanni's arms. Of course Hanni made her stay during lunch, the two of them coloring as she asked her how she got the bruises and why she was so sad. Eunchae couldn't answer, again she tried to show. But by now she just figured she was a bad artist.
"There are worse people your Mom could be dating." Eunchae hummed, passing a blue crayon to Sooyoung.
"I tried to talk about this with Yeri." Sooyoung said, "But she doesn't understand. Her parents are together, and she doesn't even remember her real parents. I just can't understand why they don't love each other anymore."
"Maybe your Mom just likes girls?" Eunchae suggested, "Chaewon tried to explain why some girls like girls and boys like boys, she said sometimes people try to hide it. Maybe she tried to hide it too?"
"Why?"
"Maybe she was scared of what people like Minhyuk's dad would say?"
"Maybe." Sooyoung blinked, "If she can just stop loving him, can she just stop loving me too?" Insecurity laced her tone.
"I don't think she stopped." Eunchae stated, earning a confused look from Sooyoung, "People love each other a lot of different ways. If she married him, she had to love him maybe just not in the love love way. Maybe it's in the way I love you, I don't want to date you but I love you still."
"That makes sense."
"Did you talk to her about it? All this?"
"Kind of," Sooyoung shrugged, "I don't want to bother her."
"Maybe you should. I always ask my mommies questions, and they usually answer. It's not being a bother, she should be able to explain things to you."
"But-"
"She's not going to not love you." Eunchae started, her voice firm. It's okay, I still love you. Those were the words Eunchae said to her mom, after everything. And her mom still loved her, she could see it. "I pinky promise."
Love was a tricky thing. You never really stopped loving, it just found new ways to show itself.
"Eunchae," Hanni peeked her head into the hall, smiling at the two of them, "Yunjin texted me, she's outside. Do you want me to walk you out?"
"No, it's okay." Eunchae smiled and picked her bag pack up, waving goodbye to both of them before running as fast as she could outside, nearly toppling Yunjin over.
"Hi penguin." Yunjin smiled, reaching down and picking the kid up, "How was school."
"It was good!" Eunchae smiled, "I read all by myself today!"
"That's great!" Eunchae always wanted to do good so Yunjin would be happy, the kindergartener loved the way Yunjin would smile and hug her a bit tighter when she did good. "The babies are coming over tonight."
"They are?"
"Yeah, Sakura's been tired lately. She's probably going to fall asleep as soon as she gets to our house."
...
"HUH YUNJIN YOU BITCH!"
"I CAN EXPLAIN."
"Babe, please put the baby down first."
Sakura carefully set the carrier down on the ground, before looking up and glaring at Yunjin who stood on the other side of the couch hands up like she was trying to calm an animal. Yunjin could see her eyes zero in on the ring on her finger as soon as she went to go take the carrier from her hands. It was her own fault for underestimating the senior detective. If Yunjin could just put a bit of space between them-
Sakura jumped over the fucking couch.
"What is this!" She screamed, grabbing Yunjin's hand and pulling it up to her eyes, "Is this what I think it is?!"
"Surprise. We're engaged."
"You-" She could almost hear Sakura's brain exploding as she looked over the piece of metal, "SHE PROPOSED?"
"Technically I did first."
"YOU-" Sakura's mouth dropped, "And you didn't tell me?"
"I didn't get the chance."
It took nearly five minutes for Kazuha to pry Sakura off of Yunjin, another ten to convince the senior detective not to kill her. Eventually she relayed the events of the proposal, to which Kazuha barked out in laughter and Sakura looked at her in disapproval making comments about how she can't expect anything out of Yunjin. They had to leave though if they wanted any sort of real sleep, and it took a lot to push Sakura out the door.
Yunjin got it, Sakura was nervous of leaving her kids for the first time. But she was also fairly certain that the young parents were about to pass out any second, the babies keeping them up all night. When Eunchae first stayed with her, Yunjin figures she was a bit like them, crying in the middle of the night and had to be calmed down. But Eunchae was pretty low maintenance, if she was hungry, she ate, if she was sad, she said why (sometimes), if she needed something, she asked. The babies didn't do any of that. Yunjin had seen just how needy they were first hand when she visited the Ahns, and it wasn't really something she was interested in.
They were just so dependent, and if Yunjin messed up it could be devastating. Chaewon had been bringing up babies and houses lately, and everything in her still just told her no. The house across the street from Kyujin was about to go up for sale, and maybe Yunjin had peaked around on a few websites for listings. But a house was very different from a human. And quite frankly Eunchae was all she needed, even if Chaewon argued it would be best if Eunchae had a sibling.
Still, Eunchae looked cute holding up her stuffed toys to the babies asking them if they wanted to play. Of course the babies just babbled back at her, but it was the thought that counted. Both the dogs were interested, looking into the carriers their tails wagging as Grumpy stood back and tried to peer in as well. This felt strangely comfortable.
That was until the babies started wailing.
Yeji started crying first, her face scrunching up as she let out high screams and angry tears running down her cheeks. That seemed to set Hyunjin off who started crying as well.
Fuck.
The two of them exchanged a quick glance then looked at the now crying babies. Eunchae didn't like it, her hands immediately flying to cover her ears as she peered into the car seat. Babies crying had to be one of the worst sounds on planet earth, it was just so loud. The way Hyunjin's eyebrows would furrow or Yeji's fingers would curl as she squirmed around was just ugly. The crushing realization hit all at once; Yunjin had no clue what to do.
Babies had never been a thing to her. She was an only child, and no one around her ever had any until now, she was completely in the dark. Maybe they were hungry? Yunjin rushed into the kitchen and placed the bottles into the microwave just like she had seen Kazuha do a million times. Yeji for some reason had completely rejected Sakura and would only be bottle fed, Hyunjin was indifferent as long as he was fed. Sakura was a bit bummed by that, but that was perfect for Yunjin. She took the bottles out and tested to make sure, offering one to Eunchae before holding it to Hyunjin's lips. The room hushed as Eunchae did the same, and both twins started eating. Carefully, Yunjin removed Hyunjin from his seat, cradling him in her arms as she fed him. Eunchae just sat next to the carrier, holding the bottle up.
Who knew babies could eat so much? The bottles were finished eventually, and Yunjin even taught Eunchae how to burp the babies, watching over as Eunchae carefully helped. They fell back asleep soon, and that's when Chaewon came in. She looked exhausted but she still smiled as Eunchae excitedly ran up to her, never once letting it dampen her mood. She came over to her and pressed a kiss onto her temple, peering into the baby carriers, "Have they been good?"
"They cried a bit earlier, but they've been sleeping ever since."
Chaewon went quiet, looking at the babies with this soft smile, "You know, I think Eunchae must've been a cute baby."
It never dawned on her before, but Yunjin had no clue what Eunchae looked like as a baby. Yunjin pictures her as the type of baby that just slept all the time, never making too much noise. She missed Eunchae's first words, her first steps, and she wasn't too sure how she felt about that. Even though she wasn't really supposed to, maybe Yunjin would look through the evidence room tomorrow to see if any baby pictures of Eunchae were seized. "The cutest."
"My parents come next week." Chaewon hummed, plopping down onto the couch, "I need to start decorating the house."
"What?" Yunjin shook her head, "I think the house is fine as is."
"Babe I have two full containers of Christmas decorations that are going up, and a fake tree."
Yunjin knew she wasn't going to win so she just sighed and nodded along, laughing as Chaewon picked up Boo and tucked him into her arms.
Even when the babies started crying a little bit later, Yunjin still felt happy. Sure her head hurt a bit and the babies crying still freaked her out beyond belief, but this felt fine. This felt like home. Yunjin had a home.