Side Story: Ha-eun's Day
This chapter alone is told in the third person.
"Meow."
Every morning, Ha-eun woke a little earlier than seemed strictly necessary. She never set an alarm. Poksini came and got her up.
Maybe it was the fellow feeling of one mother for another, but of all the animals, Poksini was the one Ha-eun felt closest to. Poksini liked her in return. Ha-eun was the one who looked after her best.
"Poksini, did you sleep well?"
"Mraow."
Unlike Suhwan, Ha-eun couldn't speak with animals. Even so, she understood the answer. Or rather than understood — she could feel it. The meow sounded for all the world like I slept just fine, and Ha-eun smiled and ran a light hand along the cat's back.
Poksini enjoyed the petting, then slipped away, satisfied. Ha-eun turned to the two still asleep beside her.
As if to prove they were father and daughter, Suhwan and So-eun slept in poses that were practically carbon copies of each other.
"Honestly. She got my face, but everything she does is her dad all over."
One arm flung up, one foot hooked against the opposite calf — the ridiculous sprawl left no doubt they were parent and child. No DNA test required. She could have sworn to it a hundred percent.
She watched them a moment longer, then wiped So-eun's cheek, where a thin ribbon of drool had escaped in her sleep.
"Mmm."
At the touch, So-eun smacked her lips and gave her head a little shake. It was unbearably cute. Before she could stop herself, Ha-eun lifted her phone — click — and climbed out of bed looking thoroughly pleased with herself.
A quick wash, her hair twisted up tight, and she headed for the kitchen.
"Hm-hm-hmm…"
Still humming, she set straight to work on breakfast. They had money enough to order in or put someone else to the cooking, but Ha-eun was stubborn about this one thing: the meal that opened the family's day, she wanted to make with her own hands. Working from what she'd prepared the night before, she put the morning together almost the way you'd finish off a half-ready meal.
Smack!
"Eek! D-don't startle me!"
She'd been cooking along when someone gave her backside a light pat, and she jumped half out of her skin. Suhwan had come up without a sound, face full of mischief.
"I'm telling you, nothing beats smacking Noona's butt first thing in the morning."
"Hey!"
He fled, snickering. Ha-eun shook her head and bent back over the food.
Today's menu was fried rice tossed with vegetables of every color and a little meat, plus a simple egg soup. Ha-eun loved it, and so did Suhwan and So-eun.
"Moooom!"
She was spooning the fried rice onto plates when So-eun — woken and washed by Suhwan — came barreling in and wrapped herself around Ha-eun's legs.
"Sleep well?"
"Uh-huh!"
Ha-eun fished out the children's utensil set for the little barnacle clinging to her. Spoon in one hand, training chopsticks with their finger ring in the other, So-eun took off for the table.
The chair was a bit tall for her, but she climbed it like a mountain and settled into her seat.
"Food!"
"So-eun. What did Mommy say?"
"Be good at the table!"
She'd been waving the utensils in both fists. At the reminder she sat up properly and waited for breakfast to arrive in front of her.
Suhwan took his place as well, and once the food was down So-eun started in with a blissful face — scooping rice with her spoon, sipping egg soup, even picking up the roasted seaweed herself. There had been a time when she could expertly sort the bits she didn't want out of her mouth. These days she ate without much fuss at all.
"Noona's cooking really is the best."
"Mommy's food is the best!"
"Eat lots."
Told that the food she'd made was the greatest, Ha-eun smiled, soft and pleased. She left the cleanup to Suhwan and started getting So-eun ready for kindergarten.
He'd already bathed her and gotten her dressed, but there was still plenty of finishing to do. She neatened clothes that had merely been pulled onto the child, and gathered hair that was halfway to a tangle into a cute little tie.
"Our girl's so pretty."
"Hehe."
The bright, unguarded smile that answered the compliment undid her. Ha-eun couldn't help pulling So-eun in tight and planting a big smacking kiss. Only then did she get the shoes on and settle the kindergarten bag across those small shoulders.
"I'm off! I'll be back!"
"Hiiiinh!"
"Have a good day!"
Same as always, So-eun climbed onto Bboni and set off for kindergarten on her own. Ha-eun saw her out, then sat down with Suhwan for a little tea.
Herb tea sweetened with honey just taken from the hives in the yard — that was her very favorite drink.
"Mmm, that's good!"
"You really do love that stuff."
"This herb tea and the honey just go together, I'm telling you."
They chatted about this and that over the tea, and then she saw him off when he said he was going to look in on the animals at the zoo. She cleared the cups, did her makeup, changed into proper clothes, and left the house.
"Unnieeee!"
She was on her way toward the office when Yeongji, arriving right on time for her shift, came pelting over and threw her arms around her.
"Unnie, where's So-eun?"
"At kindergarten, obviously."
"Aww…"
"You can play with her this afternoon. I've got plans, so look after So-eun for me, all right?"
"Okay! Leave her to me!"
Yeongji wasn't some stranger. She was Ha-eun's younger cousin, and Ha-eun trusted her with So-eun completely. She said goodbye and continued on to the office.
"Did you all sleep well?"
"Kwaaak!"
The path from the house to the office was full of animals, and they came up to greet her warmly as she passed. So-eun was so much Ha-eun's double that the animals seemed fond of Ha-eun for much the same reason. She answered them with a light pat here and there as she walked, and before she knew it she'd reached the building that held the office.
"Madam, you're here?"
"Good morning."
The title of Madam had grown familiar by now. Ha-eun smiled and stepped into her own office. Her real work was checking whether any requests had come in from outside, and handling things like the costs of running the zoo.
She'd only been at it a little while when her phone went off — the alert that Suhwan had started his broadcast. The important work was already finished, so she decided to keep an eye on the stream.
Watching him translate what the animals said never stopped being wondrous, no matter how many times she saw it. She'd only been monitoring a short while when a strangely familiar scene filled the screen. He filmed at the zoo, so familiarity was inevitable — but this was a spot she knew better than almost anywhere else on the grounds.
"Ta-da! The husband's here!"
None other than right outside her office.
"…What is it?"
The surprise of him turning up at her door lasted only a second. Ha-eun looked at him calmly. This was hardly the first time he'd shown up like this.
"Our viewers want to see the Queen. They say they're sick of looking at the same person every day, and they want a look at you."
"Calling me the Queen is embarrassing. Do we have to?"
"So-eun's nickname is the Princess, isn't it? So what are you supposed to call a princess's mom?"
"…"
For a moment she had nothing to say. Suhwan grinned at the look on her face.
"See? That's what they're saying."
"That's a little…"
Suhwan might be on television, and hugely famous on Mutube, but Ha-eun was the sort who got embarrassed about appearing there herself.
"Hey now. You don't get to call it cute when another man's wife is embarrassed."
"Out!"
He'd been filming her flustered face with perfect ease, smirking the whole time, and Ha-eun chased him out.
"Honestly."
She let out a small sigh, finished what work remained, and got up from her desk. A close friend had come all the way out to see her. The message said she was waiting at the café, so Ha-eun went, and for a while they talked and talked.
"So, Ha-eun. How's married life?"
"Me? It's good."
"…Right. I'm an idiot for even asking. You dated for ten years and then got married."
"Why? You getting married?"
"Yeah. Honestly, the reason I came today was to give you the invitation."
"Congratulations!"
Ha-eun congratulated her with her whole heart, then watched her friend rummage through her bag for the card.
"Huh? Did I not bring it? No, I did…"
"…Sopodong."
Seeing her dig through the bag hung over the back of the chair, Ha-eun sighed quietly and called for Sopodong. At the summons he slunk into view, a crisp white envelope clutched in his paws.
"Krrng."
"Is that everything? If you've got anything else, bring it here."
"Krrrrng."
Ha-eun held out her palm as she spoke. Sopodong gave a small chitter and produced the rest of his stash — wireless earbuds, a tiny cosmetic, a contact-lens case.
"I'm sorry. Our raccoon has terrible sticky paws…"
"It's fine. I knew there was a pickpocket raccoon around. I should have been more careful."
As she said it, she nodded toward the sign posted on the café wall.
(Raccoons)
Ha-eun couldn't quite hold back a laugh.
"Still, the animals seem to take to you pretty well too."
Under that openly envious look, Ha-eun smiled gently and stroked the vixen curled in her arms — Miho — in slow, easy passes.
"Take to me might be the wrong way to put it. It's more like a bond? For some reason I get along strangely well with the ones who have babies. She has kits of her own."
Poksini, Miho, Oguri, the rhinoceros, and others besides — she was especially close with the ones raising young, or carrying them. As she said it, she smoothed Miho's fur with a gentle hand.
They kept chatting after that, until So-eun came back and Ha-eun went to meet her. She must have played with Yeongji for a bit; the hot chocolate Yeongji piled high with cream had left a mark at the corner of So-eun's mouth.
"Moooom!"
Ha-eun wiped her mouth as she greeted her, then listened while So-eun tumbled through everything that had happened at kindergarten that day.
"Today Jiyeon gave me a paper crane!"
"She did? Did you tell her thank you?"
"Uh-huh! And me and Jiyeon and Sujeong played hospital, and I was the teacher! Where does it hurt? Hehe."
"Sounds like you had fun."
"It was so much fun!"
Ha-eun hummed along in the right places and sorted through the things So-eun had brought home — checking the notes sent back from school, and tossing clothes dusted with dirt, evidence of some mud play or other, into the laundry basket.
"Mommy, I wanna go to Daddy."
"Daddy? Just a second."
She took So-eun, who was asking for Suhwan, and went to find him. He'd ended the broadcast not long ago and was helping some newly arrived animals settle in. Ha-eun sent So-eun over to him.
"Want to play with Daddy, sweetheart?"
"Yeah!"
Watching the two of them romp with matching sunny grins, Ha-eun felt as if she were raising two children. They clicked so perfectly that she couldn't tell whether So-eun was the grown-up one, or Suhwan was the child.
She left So-eun with him and went to get dinner ready. Evenings, their rule was simply to eat something good, which mostly meant ordering from a place they trusted — so there wasn't much to prepare.
The delivery arrived, and just as she was finishing setting the table, Suhwan and So-eun came back wearing happy faces. They washed their hands, and the meal that followed was wonderfully warm. They fed each other bites of the good stuff, told each other about their days, and spent the time in high spirits.
Afterward Ha-eun showered with So-eun until the little girl was soft and fluffy, then put her to bed early, just as So-eun wanted. Read a fairy tale with animals in it, and So-eun's head was soon nodding as she slipped under.
"Noona. What about a second?"
"…Go away."
"Heh heh. Not going anywhere."
"Eek!"
And so, with the sleeping So-eun left behind them, Ha-eun's day didn't quite end until she and Suhwan had gotten in a little exercise that wasn't exactly exercise.