paste you to the pages of my heart

Chapter Six

Even with their lunch not being as smooth sailing as Nayeon hoped it would be, it's still progress that their group can adapt to having Mina back in their lives.

Which means that now, it's okay for Minji to know about her real connection with 'Auntie Penguin.'

Despite Nayeon's initial decision to keep Minji a secret from Mina, she doesn't have it in her to keep such vital information from her daughter.

And seeing how much Minji seemingly adores Mina is enough for Nayeon to cement her decision of letting them get... acquainted, so to speak.

Nayeon just hopes she's ready herself.

"Minji, baby."

Nayeon is rarely serious when addressing Minji, so her daughter is understandably confused by her tone.

"Yes, mommy? Did I do something?"

Nayeon shakes her head. The last thing she needs is for Minji to think that she's being chastised. "Oh, no, baby. No. You did nothing wrong. I just... want to explain a few things to you."

Minji tilts her head to the side. It's becoming a habit of hers that makes her even cuter. "Things?"

"Yeah." Nayeon takes a deep breath, steeling herself for what she's about to explain to her four-year-old child. It's never easy to tell if Minji will take the news well. "You know how some of your classmates have two parents who pick them up from school?" She waits for Minji to nod before continuing, "Well, have you ever wondered why there's only you and me?"

Minji is even more confused, the tip of her tongue poking out of her lips as she tries hard to comprehend Nayeon's question. "But there's Auntie Sana, Auntie Yoda, Auntie Momo, Auntie Dubu, Auntie Jeongyeon, and Auntie Jihyo." With every mention of her godmother's name, one of Minji's tiny fingers goes up. "Pwus you and me. We're eight, mommy. Not two."

Her daughter even shows Nayeon her hands as if to punctuate her point.

And Nayeon knows that if her friends were here, they would've melted on the spot and showered Minji with hugs and kisses because seriously how adorable is she? And then they would've laughed at Nayeon's predicament because of course they would.

Nayeon struggles to find the right words. Goodness, why does this have to be so difficult? She just needs to tell Minji that she has two parents instead of one. "I mean, I'm your only parent. Your aunties are your godmothers but they're not your parents, you know?"

Minji shakes her head. "But they're cawwed godmothers? So, they're my mothers, too?"

At the question, Nayeon almost taps out and dials Jihyo's number.

How does Minji even think of such things? Nayeon knows her daughter is smart—she's Nayeon's child, after all—but she doesn't have the brain capacity to explain their complicated family dynamics in simplistic terms.

And then Jeongyeon's no-nonsense voice speaks up in Nayeon's head. "Just explain to her the birds and the bees. That would go well."

Nayeon initially rejected the idea. Her child is four, for goodness' sake! She just has to know that she has two parents. She doesn't need to know how babies are made!

Another one of her friend's—Jihyo's—voice pipes up in her mind. "Just immediately tell her about Mina. She already met her anyway."

At first, Nayeon turned down that suggestion too. She's kind of wary about bringing Mina up again after the constant barrage of Auntie-Penguin-related questions a few weeks ago. Minji's line of questioning even made Momo bolt out of Nayeon's apartment when Minji started asking questions related to Mina for the umpteenth time.