You Are Home [Hwang2Shin]

CH. 20

Ryujin's POV

You wake up feeling like shit.

Every time you swallow a million tiny daggers dig into your throat, and your head is absolutely pounding.

You snooze through your first alarm, skipping your morning run, and by the time your second alarm goes off Yeji is out of bed. As you slowly make your way to the bathroom you can hear her and Yuna chatting away in the kitchen. Normally you'd be down there with them. Spending the mornings as a family is one of the best parts of your day, and you've been running earlier and earlier to maximize your time together.

It pains you to miss out today, but if you don't get in the shower within the next five minutes you'll be late to a meeting with a deep-pocketed donor who just might fund an initiative your non-profit is launching. You're rinsing shampoo from your hair when Yeji knocks on the door and pokes her head in.

"Yuna just left for school so I'm going to run some errands before starting on work. You need anything?" "No, I'm good," you say, surprised at how scratchy your voice sounds. "You sure about that? I can pick you up some cough medicine. Or the antidote to the bubonic plague." You laugh and it hurts. "I'm okay." "Uh-huh. Sure." Yeji sighs. "Love you, you stoic nerd." There's a pause before the door clicks closed.

After you get out of the shower you see that Yeji wrote "go back to bed" on the fogged-up mirror.

Yeji's POV

Your wife is ridiculous.

You love the fact that she's so passionate about her job, which is more of a calling, since she runs a truly awesome charity that changes the lives of at-risk kids. The place probably couldn't function without her, but it wouldn't kill her to take a day off every now and then. Especially when she looks like she's on death's doorstep, like she did this morning.

You're in line at CVS with a basket full of candy and cold medicine when she texts you to say that, despite the plea you wrote on the bathroom mirror, she has to go into the office to meet with some philanthropist. You write back, pointing out that the donor might not be in a charitable mood if Ryujin gives them smallpox, but she replies with a laughing emoji and a promise to call you when the meeting gets out.

Once you get home your inner caretaker kicks in and you start preparing for your patient.

You grab the pillows from your bed and some clean blankets from the linen closet and make a little nest on the living room couch. Then you take the cold syrup, ginger ale, and hard candy (butterscotch, her favorite) that you bought at the store and arrange them on the coffee table.

After that, you try to work on a graphic design project for a new client, but your mind keeps wandering back to your stubborn, suffering wife, and eventually you give up. When Ryujin calls you to check in you're already in the car, just a few blocks away from her building.

Yuna's POV

Waffles is the only one there to greet you at the door when you get home from school. This happens every once in awhile, usually when your Ma gets hyper-focused on a work project, so you're not worried. You pat Waffles, slip off your backpack, and pour yourself a glass of water.

There's a reusable shopping bag hanging from the back of a chair and some ripped plastic packaging on the kitchen table. Upon further inspection you see the packaging is for a medicine of some kind, and you frown. What if Yeji got sick?

You set off to look for her, with Waffles at your heels. Yeji's laptop is open on the desk in the study, but she's not there. Your heart starts to speed up a little bit. Waffles has wandered down the hallway, so you decide to follow him. You're halfway to the living room when you hear the faint sounds of voices coming from the TV. You relax, letting out a breath you didn't realize you were holding.

"Ma," you call, breaking out into a jog, "I'm home." She doesn't respond, and when you step into the living room you see why. (Though you're not any less confused.) The coffee table is a mess, littered with mugs, a half-empty soda bottle, a bottle of sticky-looking orange cough syrup, a thermometer, and yellow butterscotch wrappers. That boring movie about sad Americans staying at a hotel in Japan -- which your Mum loves for some reason -- is playing on TV.

But no one is watching it because beneath a pile of blankets on the couch are your moms, who are both fast asleep.

Once you get over the surprise of it all you smile to yourself. You remember that Ryujin didn't come down for breakfast this morning, and Yeji mentioned that she'd been coughing all night. You guess both of your moms took a rare sick day. Ryujin mumbles something in her sleep and shifts, causing the blankets to fall to the floor. Now you can see Yeji's lying on her back, head resting on pillows from their bedroom, and Ryujin's almost entirely on top of her. Her face is smooshed against the crook of Yeji's neck and one of Ryujin's arms is wedged between Yeji and the couch cushion.

The position doesn't look too comfortable, but they both have little smiles on their faces, so you keep quiet as you gently drape the blankets over their entwined bodies. You can't help but touch the backs of your knuckles to Ryujin's forehead, the way Yeji does when you get sick. Her skin feels pretty hot, and you're debating taking the blankets off of them again when Yeji's eyes flutter open.

"Hey kiddo," she whispers in a groggy voice. She tries to sit up but doesn't make much progress, what with Ryujin on top of her. "Shoot, is school already out? I didn't mean to fall asleep..." Something about the mental image of Yeji fighting sleep as she snuggled with a sick Ryujin under a mountain of blankets makes you feel all warm inside. Like there's love lodged in your chest.

"It's okay," you whisper back. "Can I get you anything?" Yeji presses her lips together and looks at you in that way she does sometimes, like she finds the perfectly normal thing you just said "stupid cute." "We're all set," she says. "Thank you though." Ryujin murmurs something again, and Yeji runs her fingers through her hair to sooth her. She smiles to herself and kisses Ryujin's temple.

"Is Mum going to be alright?" "Oh yeah. She'll be fine." Yeji grins. "We'll just have to baby her for a few days. Nurse her back to health against her will." You clamp your hands over your mouth to suppress a giggle. A few months ago, after you fell off the jungle gym at the park, Yeji told you about the time Ryujin sprained her ankle in college. She could barely get around campus, even with a crutch, but she was still very grumpy about Yeji taking care of her. (Ryujin rolled her eyes at Yeji as she told the story, but you couldn't stop laughing. By the time the story was through you'd forgotten all about your skinned knees.)

"I heard that," Ryujin grumbles, making you and Yeji jump. "And I'm going to work tomorrow." "You can't see me, but I'm rolling my eyes right now," Yeji says, winking at you. "Aren't I, kiddo?" "Yep." You grin. "Major eye roll, Mum. I wouldn't mess with Ma right now." Ryujin yawns. "I'll take your word for it." She opens her eye that isn't pressed against Yeji and peers at you with a mischievous smile.

"Actually... you look a little under the weather yourself, Princess." You frown. "I feel fine." Yeji's smile widens and she kisses Ryujin's forehead. "You know, I thought the same thing," she says. "Maybe we're all coming down with something." "Huh?" You glance between them, completely lost. Ryujin's eyes fall closed and she nuzzles into Yeji. "Guess we'll all have to stay home sick tomorrow," she says sleepily. Yeji raises her eyebrow. "Call it a family sick day."

You beam at her when you finally catch on. Ryujin must really feel poorly if she's suggesting this level of rule-breaking, but you're not about to question it. It's weird to think about how your past foster parents didn't want you around even if you really were sick. And now you have a Mum who wants to be with you when she's not feeling well. Like you being there might actually make her feel better.

The next thing you know you're lunging forward to hug your moms over the blankets. They both kinda freak out, warning you to move away so you don't really catch Ryujin's bug, and for some reason even that makes your eyes sting.

You squeeze them tight and kiss both of their cheeks before finally stepping back. You used to dread getting sick, but now -- here -- it doesn't seem so bad.

The next morning Ryujin wakes up feeling much better. Yeji just has the sniffles. You all stay home anyway.