Chapter Text
Jihyo gets asked often, almost too often, if she’d do things any differently.
The intentions behind it are always good, when people ask. She knows she’s lived a life most people would envy, and she knows that her career probably could have lasted a few more years before she decided to cut it short.
Part of what she’ll always take pride in is embracing her decisions, and having something that made retiring early worth it. Hanging up the adrenaline, the fame, the recognition, most people seemed shocked that she’d step away from the very thing she had worked so hard for, in what seemed like the prime of her career.
But staring back at those sweet brown eyes, familiar and yet completely their own, there’s nowhere else she’d pick to be instead.
(Unfortunately, it isn’t always picture perfect, especially when said sweet brown eyes are going through her sassy first grader phase, testing every boundary Jihyo tries to set for her.)
“Hirai Leeseo,” Jihyo grits, for what feels like the 10th time that evening. She’s multi-tasking: wrangling kids, trying to get ready herself, and also packing a bag full of bottles and tupperware boxes of freshly-cooked rice and braised pork. She loves the girl, she does, but now is not the time. “Car, now. Don’t let me tell you again.”
But Leeseo just blinks back at her with those big, sweet eyes. Pleading, forcing herself to pout, her little hands holding onto the speaker shaped like a Minecraft TNT box that her aunt had gifted her for the start of the school year. Waiting, hunting for any crack in her mother’s resolve.
Jihyo tries to stay firm. She’s about to repeat herself, try to be menacing, to try to forget just how exhausted she is playing mental gymnastics with this little girl when she’s juggling a million other things to do before they have to leave the house for the evening.
But then, her eye twitches.
Shit.
Leeseo spots the shred of weakness immediately, and pounces.
“MAMA!” The little girl bellows, her bottom lip quivering, milking the moment for all she’s got. She holds the speaker up, shoving it in Jihyo’s face, and if a kid could make her eyes any rounder and sweeter, Leeseo’s sure as hell trying. “But I just started playing this song! It just started!”
Jihyo bites back on her tongue. Those damn eyes, blinking back at her, that scrunchy nose. The eyes she fell in love with, the nose that infiltrated her dreams.
(She was never going to win. She never has, against those eyes.)
“The song is 4 minutes long.” She finally breathes, trying to steady herself, calm her voice. She kneels, brushing a strand of hair out of the little girl’s face. “But when it’s over, you get in the car.”
“Thank you, Mama,” Leeseo chirps, beaming from ear to ear. “I love you, Mama!”
Jihyo sighs and watches as the little girl happily finishes her one-man dance party.
“I love you too, my little peach.”
With her daughter now tamed, Jihyo pivots to try and hunt down her second earring. When did she even get a chance to put in the first one? Where the hell did the second one go? Didn’t she just put it down on the countertop?
She’s angry all over again. God dammit. All she wants is one perfect night and she’s driving herself crazy not knowing where she’s putting half of her things. Her phone is in her purse, the food is still too hot to pack, the bottles need to go in a separate bag—
“You were right. We didn’t need to buy her a second one, ‘cause I just found Leeseo’s sliding glove under her seat in the car. And she swore she looked.”
Standing in the doorway are those too-familiar same brown eyes and scrunchy nose.
But these eyes are softer, weathered by years in the sun, lighting up as they see her. Taller, broad shoulders, her hair darker and back to it’s natural color compared to the bright, almost white blonde she had sported when they first met.
And then she smiles, like she’s making fun of herself, that crooked shy grin, and Jihyo instantly melts.
“You trusted a six-year old?” She teases back, trying to steady herself.
“Don’t start.” The woman tilts her head, wrinkling her nose at Jihyo as she takes her in, eyeing her from head to toe. “You look amazing.”
“Thank you.” Jihyo reaches forward, brushing down the front of her wife’s top, undoing a wrinkle by the neckline. “I like your sweater.”
“Of course you would. You bought me this sweater,” Momo chuckles.
Jihyo hums, letting her hand linger on Momo’s chest, just below her collarbone, admiring her.
“I have good taste.”
Momo is readying her next smart comeback, but there’s a brightly colored stuffed parrot being launched in her direction. Jihyo and Momo both turn to seek their assailant.
Hirai Keonho, a full-fledged terror at almost 8 months old, already standing and holding himself up, eager to survey the kitchen for wherever he’s just launched his toy.
“GAH!”
He holds up a trophy from his play-pen. Jihyo’s second earring. She squints at him and immediately snatches it from his hand.
“Please take him,” she blurts quickly, rushing to get the earring on before she loses it again somehow. “I love him, but he’s sabotaging me.”
Her wife complies instantly and snatches him out of the play-pen, cooing to him affectionately. She takes a look around, realizing the kitchen is in full swing of prep time.
“You shouldn’t even be in the kitchen today,” Momo furrows her brows. “Especially with accessories.”
Jihyo’s eye twitches, again. She barely gets the earring back clasped before she’s trying to shove the still-hot meal containers into the to-go bag, trying to go back over her mental list before she was distracted by her super hot wife and her super cute nuisance of a son.
“It’s either I swing a bat, swing a cleaver, or I swing one of your children,” she threatens.
Momo pauses to contemplate. She looks at Keonho, pursing her lips. A moment passes, then two.
Finally, she shrugs.
“Leeseo’s built tough. She could handle a fling across the yard.”
That does it. Jihyo manages a small smile. Momo’s always been so good at this: making her feel less crazy with the most ridiculous little things to say.
“Don’t encourage me,” Jihyo laughs. She breathes out, trying her best to relax. “Kiss, please.”
“Who?” Momo blinks, looking around. She points at Keonho playfully, then herself. “Me?”
Jihyo laughs again, trying to cover it by rolling her eyes.
“Who else?”
But no moment of peace is meant to last in her household, and she’s reminded of that when she hears her daughter try to sneakily play another song at top volume. Jihyo instantly snaps back into mom mode, sharpening her tone to hunt the little girl down in the living room.
“Hirai Leeseo!” She barks. “What did I tell you to do when that song ended? Do I have to take that speaker from you?”
Leeseo nearly snaps her neck, turning to look at Jihyo, instantly terrified.
“NO! Please Mama, nooooo!” She bellows, racing to go get her things to load into the car.
Jihyo storms back into the kitchen, stressed all over again. They’re running late, and it’s supposed to be a special night, and all she’s doing is chasing one child only to have to hunt down the other.
“I’m going to kill Yunjin. Who thinks a speaker is a good gift for a first grader?” Jihyo hisses irritatedly, returning to shove the baby bottles into Keonho’s bag to desperately get something done off her checklist as she rants to her wife. “We’ll all be deaf in a year. I miss when we could listen to our music without Bruno Mars interrupting us. It’s all she listens to, Bruno freaking Mars. I don’t even remember what other music we even like, Momo. Since when did we get like this?”
There’s a silence in the kitchen, and Jihyo is about to snap and go on part two of her stupid rant, but she doesn’t. A hand reaches over to cover hers, softly taking the baby bag from her.
Jihyo looks up, and Momo is looking back down at her, those gentle eyes shining down at her.
“Car’s starting,” she says simply, her voice soft, an instant soothing balm for Jihyo’s fried nerves. “I’ll go get the baby strapped in, and I’ll convince Leeseo to cool it. You go pick your shoes.”
Jihyo looks down at herself. She did try to go all out, the figure-hugging black dress that she keeps tucked away for special events, hair blown out and cascading down her shoulders, makeup done to celebrate their special day. But the knee-high fuzzy pink socks are definitely not part of the outfit. They’re more to avoid stepping on a Lego and losing her mind even more than she usually does.
“I’ll go get Leeseo,” Jihyo shakes her head, trying to take the bag back. “But then I have to go look through her bag, to make sure she packed actual clothes and not just baseball jerseys and no pants again, and then I need to make sure she packed her toothbrush—”
“Ji,” Momo cuts her off, gently but firmly.
Jihyo stops. She’s rambling. Fuck.
But Momo doesn’t seem irritated, nor annoyed. She holds Keonho up in front of her face, like the baby has some magic superpower, his cooing giggle enough to snap Jihyo out of her stress-spiral. Jihyo reaches for him, but Momo takes him back out of her reach, turning to focus on finishing packing his bag.
(Jihyo recognizes what her wife is doing. Showing that their children are fine, and can be taken care of without Jihyo hovering over them.)
“Go get your shoes,” Momo repeats, voice firmer now, almost teasing.
Jihyo lets out a grumble. “Don’t tell me what to do...”
Momo arches her eyebrows, her tone almost scolding now, but her eyes are shining with something playful. Keonho giggles as she lifts him up, his little baby smile working miracles to calm Jihyo’s raging stress.
“Shoes,” her wife repeats a final time. “Breathe.”
Jihyo sighs, surging forward to press a kiss quickly into the taller woman’s jaw before she does as she’s told, disappearing upstairs to go hunt down her favorite heels.
“Thank you,” she whispers back.
Momo doesn’t say anything to her as she walks away, but Jihyo quickly hears her calling out to their daughter in Japanese, ensuring she gets the practice in. Leeseo races to do as she’s told, as if Jihyo hadn’t already told her to do it a million times.
Momo doesn’t have to say anything to Jihyo. Even after all these years, her actions are more than enough.
One car ride later, the Hirai family is knocking on the door of Yunjin’s apartment, Leeseo nearly leaping out of her shoes when the door opens to reveal a teeny-tiny Eunchae, not much shorter than Leeseo, beaming from ear to ear as she greets them at the door.
“Eomma! Appa Jinnie!” Eunchae calls back behind her, letting the family in. “Leeseo and Keonho are here!”
Jihyo shuffles her children into the home, admiring the warm, homey decor of her sister’s place. Every bit a family home, framed pictures of the three of them all over, the shelves decorated with Eunchae’s ever-growing collection of baseball awards. She spots a framed photo of their two families together, Leeseo and Eunchae smashing their cheeks together with how hard they’re hugging.
Jihyo had always known exactly how she wanted her life to go, and had chased that vision relentlessly. Her younger sister, on the other hand, had almost stumbled into everything that has come to her, floating along on the breeze, but the life that had fallen into her lap like this was perfect for her. Jihyo never pictured her little sister being a step-dad as the key to her true happiness, but seeing Yunjin so in love with Chaewon, and so passionate about raising little Eunchae, Jihyo knows her sister is exactly where she belongs.
Plus, Chaewon and Eunchae entering Yunjin’s life have given Leeseo a best friend her age, and Jihyo has another mom friend to add to their village. Their beautiful, growing family.
“Kiddo, what did I tell you about opening the door without a grownup?” Jihyo’s lanky younger sister rubs her nose, padding out from the kitchen to greet the family as they come in.
“Sorry! I could hear Leeseo,” Eunchae smiles broadly, clearly trying to get out of it by being just insanely cute. She pivots, politely hugging the two adults that enter. “Hi Coach Momo and Coach Jiji! Happy anniversary!”
Jihyo gives the little girl a squeeze with her free arm, Eunchae’s well-wishes melting her heart.
“Thank you, Eunchae. That’s very sweet.”
“Hi cutie,” Momo greets her, watching as she and Leeseo wrap each other in a giant hug as if they didn’t just hang out yesterday. She squints, tilting her head. “Hm… Eunchae… did you get... shorter?”
The little girl shrieks, her face turning up into an even brighter smile.
Eunchae had always been one of the more shy girls on the little league team. Yunjin’s year of coaching her had done wonders to get her to open up, but Eunchae had always seemed particularly fond of their family. Momo in particular, her kind and soft demeanor clearly comforting the apprehensive little girl without the pressure of expectations from anyone else.
Jihyo knows that previously-single-mom-Chaewon’s tumultuous coparenting relationship with Eunchae’s dad must’ve left the little girl particularly curious about what a two-parent household should look like. Momo and Kazuha had being Japanese in common, which wasn’t really much of a connection, but to a curious little girl, that must’ve been more than enough to magnify the curiosity. Eunchae had imprinted like a little duckling onto Yunjin from the moment the two met, but the little girl had always been particularly excited for whatever Coach Momo would say to her next.
(And to her credit, Momo is a dream in the parent role, as evidenced by Leeseo always rambling about stories about her Papa’s doings.)
“No! I’ve been eating all my vegetables, even the yucky ones!” Eunchae chirps.
Momo pauses, assessing the girl, nodding to herself.
“Hm, no. You’re right. Your clothes just got taller. Makes you look tiny.”
Leeseo weaves forward in front of the woman and pats her leg, grimacing.
“Okay Papa,” the little girl says plainly. “We can leave being funny as a job for Mama. I love that you tried.”
Yunjin chokes back a snort. Jihyo can’t help but laugh at her wife’s bewildered expression. Momo glares between the two of them, half in disbelief.
“Hey!”
“What?” Leeseo blinks innocently. “I said I love it!”
Before the chaos can escalate, Chaewon comes out for greetings, offering hugs to each of them.
“Hi, sorry, I was just putting away the groceries,” she apologizes. “Eunchae is eating literally everything lately, we wanted to make sure we had enough in case Leeseo matched her appetite.”
“I made you guys dinner, so you wouldn’t have to worry about anything.” Jihyo hands the bag to her sister, the containers she had pain-stakingly prepared to ensure all her bases would be covered. “Enough for everyone, you two included. Keonho’s bottles are all labeled and ready to go. He should only need to be fed once by the time we’re back.”
Yunjin frowns, looking down into the bag.
“Ji, you didn’t have to—”
“It’s the least we could do as a thank you,” Jihyo quickly cuts her off. “Really.”
Momo can feel Yunjin’s eyes flash over to her, a silent communication between the two in-laws. Momo then gently takes her wife by the waist, trying to soothe her.
“Chaewon has been begging to spend more than 5 minutes with the baby before he gets too old and grumpy,” she says. “I actually think we’re doing them the favor.”
Chaewon and Yunjin laugh, and Momo sees Jihyo finally crack a smile. Keonho, as if on cue, lets out an excited scream and Chaewon reaches forward to take him out of Jihyo’s arms. He screams again, bubbling over with laughter, and Chaewon beams back at him. Jihyo wants to relax, but it’s like her body won’t quite let her.
“Will you need anything else?” She asks. “Oh god, extra diapers—”
“I packed more in the bag,” Momo cuts in. Her grip on Jihyo’s waist tightens, to reassure her. “I knew you’d want extra.”
“Oh.” The woman blinks. “Thank you.”
Well, no more excuses. Leeseo is already off blasting music out of that damn speaker with Eunchae, and Keonho is cooing and putting his baby charm onto his Auntie Chaewon. At this point, Jihyo is just being neurotic and protective.
“We’ll be okay,” Chaewon nods. “It hasn’t been that long since I raised that one over there, and Yunjin vaguely remembers auntie duties, she said.”
“You can leave them overnight, you know,” Yunjin cuts in. She pokes Jihyo in her shoulder, teasing her older sister. “Those two love sleepovers. Makes more sense than trying to separate them if they fall asleep. Leeseo is a gripper, she loves to grab onto people, you know the kid.”
Jihyo is almost convinced, but Yunjin, her too-tall, awkward dork of a little sister, is never this confident doing literally anything. If there’s anything about their family, they’re overthinkers, and they second-guess everything they do, even if they project like they know what they’re doing.
(Jihyo realizes that Leeseo must get her ability to sense weakness from her mother. Jihyo can tell something is up with Yunjin by the mere curve of her mouth, the slight twitch in her brow.)
She narrows her eyes.
“What are you hiding?”
Yunjin folds, immediately.
“God dammit.”
“It’s the lips,” Jihyo glares at her. “You look like you swallowed a frog. Now out with it.”
Yunjin tosses her head back, and Jihyo feels a sense of satisfaction knowing she’ll always be the older sister who can clock these kinds of things from miles away. The younger woman wrinkles her nose.
“Sana is coming over to help us.”
Minatozaki? Yunjin had always been close with Ji’s old teammates, but why would Sana come over to help babysit on Jihyo and Momo’s wedding anniversary? Jihyo hasn’t talked to Sana in a few days, a few unread messages coming in, but Momo is usually good at getting back to her. Did Momo have something to do with this?
“Oh really?” Jihyo arches a brow, immediately pivoting to glare at her wife. “Did you suggest that?”
“No?” Momo balks. “Why would I do that?”
Momo does look just as bewildered as Jihyo feels, so maybe she really isn’t in on it.
“It was my idea,” Chaewon pipes up. “I’m sorry… Yunjin said Sana is Keonho’s godmother, she sees you guys often, so I didn’t think it’d be weird.”
“Chaewon wants to meet my friends, which are mostly your friends,” Yunjin explains, scratching her neck sheepishly. “I thought it’d be fun to have some backup, since I know how nervous you get being away from the kids. And I wanted Sana to finally meet Eunchae, and you know how Eunchae gets shy… Having Leeseo here might make her more comfortable. Her emotional support bestie-slash-step-cousin, you know?”
Jihyo doesn’t know whether to be angry or grateful. Momo’s wide, confused eyes tell her that they’re on the exact same page. Sana is harmless, and Keonho’s godmother for a reason, but maybe it’s the idea of what Sana, chatty and charming Sana, might share about Ji and Momo when they’re not there that makes her a little more apprehensive than she’d like to admit.
A delicate knock at the door interrupts the conversation.
“Hellooooooo? Jinnie-chan?”
The voice is unmistakable. A sing-songing lilt with the faintest accent, like a Disney princess at the door. God dammit. As if she’s been summoned on cue, no way to get out of it.
Jihyo wants to rip her hair out.
Leeseo’s eyes instantly light up, the girl bolting towards the door without a second thought. At least someone is happy to see the woman.
“That’s Auntie Sana! Auntie Sana! I’m coming!”
“Leeseo,” Yunjin groans, chasing after her niece. “Why do you kids keep opening my door without a grown up?”
“Because they don’t see you as an adult,” Jihyo snips quickly.
“Hey!”
The door swings open before Jihyo can chew her sister out for inviting people over to see her kids without telling her. But to her surprise, there’s not just the familiar squishy-cheeked smile of her gregarious friend.
There’s also the mischievous grin of their former team troublemaker, and the beaming, near-psychotic crazed eyes of their irresponsible team elder.
Sana, plus Jeongyeon and Nayeon. Oh god. Jihyo might actually rip someone’s head off. And that someone might have to be her sister.
She pivots to glare at Yunjin, hoping for an explanation of what the hell is going on and why not just one, nor two, but three of Jihyo and Momo’s friends have shown up to Yunjin’s place like it’s a damn house party.
Yunjin throws her head back and lets out a whine, her eyes panicked.
“I thought you guys would get here after they left!”
Jihyo could strangle her idiot sister. This was planned? And they intended to keep it a secret?
“Ji and Mo never run late for anything, we calculated for that,” Jeongyeon complains, leading the trio inside. “What the heck are you guys still doing here?”
“Woah!” Nayeon bellows, getting a good look at Jihyo’s dress. As if she can’t do anything normally, she then lands a dramatic smack to Jihyo’s ass with her open palm, the crack of her hand against the fabric ringing out through the room. As if spanking her friend without warning isn’t enough, Nayeon then proceeds to chant as loudly as she can manage, at the top of her lungs, just to seal the deal. “Hyo, you look hot. MILF alert, MILF alert!”
“Im,” Jihyo warns sharply, swatting her hand away. She has half a mind to break Nayeon’s pinky just to get her to shut up.
Poor little Eunchae, overwhelmed by the sudden intrusion of these unfamiliar adults, hides behind Chaewon’s leg, peeking out from behind her hip. She tugs at her mother’s sleeve.
“Eomma,” she whispers delicately, “what’s a MILF?”
“Mom I like to fall in love with,” Yunjin cuts in immediately, too quickly, before her poor child can lose her innocence any further from what she’s just witnessed. She glares at the older woman, regret starting to seep into her features. “Bro!”
“Yunjin, I thought you just said Sana was coming? Did you bring the whole team? Coach JYP too, while you’re at it?” Momo groans.
“Momo, you and Ji never call me any more,” Sana whines. Her lips are twisted into a dramatic pout, and she motions to the baby, still in Chaewon’s arms. “I haven’t heard from you since Keonnie-tan started crawling. I need more updates! I’m going crazy! I’m doing this because you left me with no choice to see my godson!”
Jihyo and Momo exchange disbelieving glares. Sana saw him last weekend. It’s been 5 days.
“Sana was hanging with Jeong when Yunjin called, and Jeong invited me,” Nayeon grins. “Surprise!”
But Sana seems to be distracted by all the cute little kids around her, one in particular catching her attention as she still hides behind Chaewon, apprehensive yet curious.
“Oh, I’ve heard lots about you, sweetheart. You’re Jinnie’s little sunflower,” Sana smiles. She leans down, meeting the little girl at eye level. She tilts her head, squeezing her own cheeks as if to stop herself from pinching the little girl’s. “Oh, you’re even cuter in person!”
Jihyo sighs, the rage dissipating. If there’s one thing she’ll give Minatozaki credit for, besides being a freak, a flirt, and nosy as hell, it’s her uncanny ability to make a friend out of absolutely anyone.
Eunchae smiles shyly, blossoming under the compliments.
“No, she’s literally the most precious!” Nayeon jumps in. “And look, missing so many teeth! Where’d all your teeth go, little cutie?”
“I lost my teeth too, Auntie Nayeonnie!” Leeseo grins excitedly, pointing to her own mouth. “Eunchae, well, she’s my best friend, so when her’s fell out, we wanted to match. So she helped me pull one, this one in the front!”
Moment ruined. Jihyo immediately goes stony all over again. The tooth that had barely been wiggling had mysteriously fallen out after a playdate with Auntie Jinnie and little Eunchae.
Jihyo glares at her daughter.
“Hirai Leeseo.” She tries to take a deep breath, but she knows she sounds pissed off all over again. “You told me it fell out eating an apple.”
Leeseo blinks. Caught.
“Um…” Her eyes dart immediately to Yunjin, who once again, folds immediately, like the useless dummy she is.
“Eunchae tied floss around it and ran the opposite direction,” Yunjin confesses. “I helped her tie the knot.”
Jihyo pinches the bridge of her nose to stop herself from screaming at the top of her lungs. Yunjin is going to be the death of her. This adult child thinks she’s still going to babysit after all this? Jihyo is ready to set a restraining order against her own sister at this point.
“Yunjin, I’m going to mur—”
“Hey!” Sana cuts in, coming to their rescue. “A little girl needs a source of income somehow. That tooth fairy is serious business. Jinnie was just helping speed up that process.”
If she stays in this house any longer, Jihyo might actually end up putting both her sister and her best friend in a headlock and bashing their heads together. But she has a super cute wife to celebrate getting married to, and she didn’t spend this much time getting ready just to let it go to waste, so she inhales as sharply as she can manage and pivots to take Momo by the hand.
“Chaewon, I think you’re the only person in this house I trust to keep my children in one piece,” she sighs. “Anything happens, we can be here in 20 minutes. Just call.”
“Nothing is going to happen. I’ll keep them all in line, I promise,” Chaewon reassures her, nuzzling her cheek into Keonho’s head to punctuate her point. “You guys enjoy your dinner.”
“Leeseo, a hug for Mama and Papa,” Jihyo beckons the little girl over, in case it’s the last time she ever sees the little girl before Yunjin loses her or Sana steals her to take her across the continent or something. For as much as Leeseo drives her crazy, she’s also Jihyo’s most precious pride and joy, so she hugs her extra tight when the little girl finally reaches her for a squeeze. “Be good. I mean it. No surprises when we come get you.”
But Leeseo doesn’t seem ready to part ways just yet. She grips onto Jihyo’s arm, unwilling to let her mother get up.
“Mama, wait, don’t leave!” She cries out, trying to balance her iPad in the other hand. The speaker from earlier, now tossed carelessly on the floor next to her things, cuts in and out as the kid skips through song after song on her playlist. “I’m about to play Papa’s love song!”
Jeongyeon lets out a teasing snort and arches a brow in Momo’s direction.
“You have a love song, Hirai?”
Momo looks down at Leeseo in confusion, hoping to get some clarity, but the little girl only has one mission on her mind.
And when she finally accomplishes it, Leave the Door Open by Silk Sonic is blasting at full volume out of the tiny TNT shaped box. Jihyo wants to smash the thing under her heel. She is sick of hearing this album, the dramatic funky intro, and regrets giving Leeseo access to her own music playing device. The little girl is certifiably obsessed with this man and his discography. Jihyo and Momo haven’t known peace since Leeseo discovered her love of music. And it would be fine, if Leeseo listened to literally anything else, but all she wants to do is listen to this damn man and the same three albums on repeat, nonstop.
“No, every time the song comes on in the car, Papa tells me the story about how she met Mama,” the little girl pouts, her eyes pleading. “I love this story. Loooove this story.”
She turns quickly to face the woman in question, batting her big brown eyes at her expectantly. Momo lets out a laugh as she realizes the girl’s eager behavior is setting the scene for a very long, very elaborate bedtime story.
“Leeseo, you don’t want to hear this story again,” Momo chuckles. “You know it all already. I think you’re just trying to keep us here longer, for a big grown up party.”
Momo’s eyes dart up to meet Ji's, and admittedly, the song brings them back. It’s almost like she can feel that warm sun on her in the field again, the buzz of team bus drives together, the chaos of parties they’d crash as a group. The nostalgia is eating her alive, and it doesn’t help that today is already so sentimental, being their anniversary.
Jihyo can’t help but relax, melting under Momo’s cute scrunchy smile.
To her surprise, it’s Eunchae’s voice that cuts in, eager and pleading.
“I want to hear it!”
“You’ve never heard about how Coach Jiji and Coach Momo met?” Yunjin asks in surprise, pulling her step-daughter into her lap from where she sits on the floor.
“Me neither, now that I think about it,” Chaewon sits down beside them, eyes lighting up.
“Oh, I’m sure you leave out all the good details,” Nayeon cackles. She rubs her hands together, plopping down on the couch. “I’ll tell it!”
Momo and Jihyo don’t even have to look at each other before they launch back their answers, completely in sync.
“No.”
Nayeon shrieks, like full volume screams, in response, shriveling up dramatically on the couch.
“What? Do you HATE ME?!”
Jihyo doesn’t have the energy to get into it with her friend right now. Momo looks back at her, those same sweet brown eyes she fell in love with all those years ago. The same eyes that anchor her, that bring her a sense of calm whenever she starts to lose sight of herself.
“Our reservation is at 8,” Jihyo hums. She’s debating it, grabbing Momo’s wrist to look down at her watch. “We have an hour.”
“I’ll drive fast,” Momo offers.
Jihyo looks in front of her. On the floor, Yunjin and her new little family. On the couch, Jihyo’s teammates, who she had once considered to be a second family.
And now, crawling into Jeongyeon’s lap is Leeseo, and Nayeon reaches out to take Keonho into her arms. Leeseo and Keonho, her own little family, a too-clever little girl that has all the best parts of the woman she loves, and a tiny baby boy that fills her heart with a sense of comfort and completion.
Family. The thing Jihyo chose above all else, and has never once regretted it.
She lets out a sigh and kicks off her heels, sitting on the arm of the loveseat across from everyone.
“Fine.”
Chaewon lets out a little yelp of excitement, and Jihyo finds it sweet that her aspiring sister-in-law seems so genuinely intrigued to hear how Momo and Jihyo came to be.
Momo seems ready to start, but Jeongyeon stands up, cutting her off, holding her hands out dramatically to set the scene.
“Picture this, everyone. It’s junior year. Hyo is in the competition for biggest stick up someone’s butt.” She pauses, and Jihyo’s already twitching. She wants to give her the benefit of the doubt, maybe this is her funny anecdotal intro, but she forgets it’s Jeongyeon, who is the biggest pain she’s ever fucking met. Jeongyeon smirks, pointing at the woman in question. “And Hyo is winning. There’s actually no competition. The ecosystem is in shambles. Beavers everywhere hate her. She’s hoarding sticks. All up her ass. All of them.”
Leeseo scrunches her face in confusion, turning towards Momo. “Papa, why was a stick in Mama’s—”
Yeah, no. Anniversary cancelled. They’ll try this again next year.
“Okay, storytime over,” Jihyo hisses, shoving Jeongyeon down back onto the couch as hard as she can. She points at Leeseo, and reaches to snatch up Keonho. “Hirais, in the car. Now.”
But Sana’s voice works to calm them all, settling over them like a blanket of peace across the eager audience, entrancing them. Her eyes are bright, her voice low but brimming with excitement, weaving the scene for them all to visualize. Jihyo sees Momo instantly attentive, and even she can admit that she hesitates to rush out, eager to hear what the woman will share next.
Even though the story is for Eunchae and Chaewon, Sana’s gaze is fixed on little Leeseo, whose eyes are round and wide with wonder, lingering on each of Sana’s words. Sana smiles, knowing her audience is now fully prepared.
“When your Mama went to college, she was captain of her team,” she murmurs, like she knows the tale by heart. “By her junior year, she was the most famous college softball player in all of Korea.”
“There was only one player more famous than her, and that player was Hirai Momo, a pitcher from Japan. She came to play for your Mama’s team, and that changed everything.”