Yerim eyed her mother suspiciously from the back seat of the car as she drove them home after picking her up at the daycare centre. Irene was humming and drumming her fingers on the steering wheel as she drove, a telltale sign that she was in a very good mood. On a regular day it would have been fine, nothing odd about that really. But seeing how her mommy, Seulgi, had been out of town for the last few days and wouldn’t be back anytime soon, it was rather odd that Irene was in that good of a mood - she usually would be grumpy in Seulgi’s absence.

But was Yerim going to complain about her mother’s mysterious good mood? Of course not. Which five-year old would especially when it meant she could possibly get away with staying up a bit later that night. Her little mind had already started scheming to take advantage of it.

“Yerim-ah, what do you feel like eating for dinner later?” Irene asked almost absentmindedly.

“Pizza!!” Her reply came almost instantly.

“Okay, we’ll order it when we get home. Is that alright? It’s still too early for dinner now.” her mother reasoned and it made sense to Yerim. It was only 5 after all.

“Okay!”

“Do you want anything else?”

Yerim paused to think for a moment before deciding to try her luck. Taking a deep breath, she asked if they could get some chicken on the side.

“Sure, we can do that.”

Yerim blinked. Wow her mother must be in an excellent mood that day. She could see from the rear view mirror that Irene was smiling, her eyes almost disappearing into two lines. Yerim beamed, too. A happy Irene meant that she could get away with almost anything that evening, perhaps even some chocolates before dinner.

Irene unlocked the front door and Yerim ran into the house and soon, was sprawled on the couch. She lazed there for a while before something red appeared in her peripheral vision. Sitting up, she saw Irene waltz in with a bouquet of assorted flowers and headed straight to the kitchen, to find a vase of sorts probably. Yerim got up and tailed her.

“Mom, are these yours?” Yerim sat herself on one of the barstools at their kitchen counter and looked at the bouquet Irene had placed there.

“Sure is~!” Irene replied in a sing-song voice as she looked for a vase in their cabinets.

“Who is it from?”

“There’s a card on it, Yerim-ah. See if you can read it.”

Yerim looked at the bouquet for a card and found it. Taking it from the bouquet carefully, she brought it close to her and squinted as she tried to figure out how to pronounce the second word.

“Happy..Val..V-valen..mom?”

“Valentine, sweetie.” Irene corrected as she searched.

“Oh, okay. Happy Valentine’s Day. From Gom.” Yerim blinked. “Mom, who’s Gom?”

“Hmm~?”

“Who’s Gom?” Yerim repeated, sounding suspicious but Irene didn’t catch it.

“Hmm?” Irene finally looked up at her daughter and saw that her daughter was eyeing her suspiciously. Raising an amused brow, she smiled, making her way to the counter with a vase in hand. “Gom is somebody I’ve known for a very long time.”

Yerim’s eyebrows furrowed. “Have I met Gom before? Why is Gom sending you flowers? Does mommy know about Gom? I thought only mommy can send you flowers.”

“Why don’t you ask mommy later when she calls.” Irene patted Yerim’s head and left the kitchen to place the bouquet in the living room. Yerim hopped off the chair and followed her mother.

Dinner basically passed with Yerim eyeing her mother suspiciously from time to time and Irene raising a brow every time she caught her daughter looking. Irene smiled and shook her head at Yerim’s antics. She would leave it to Seulgi to handle the situation later during their nightly calls.

When Irene’s phone rang a little while later, Yerim dove to the couch and grabbed the phone from the coffee table.

“Mommy!” Yerim squealed when her mom’s face appeared on the screen before turning serious. “Mommy! Mom got flowers today!”

“She did??” Seulgi asked just as Irene sat down beside Yerim. Irene rolled her eyes at her wife feigning surprised. “Were they pretty flowers?”

“Yeah! They’re really colourful and thiiiiiiiiis big!” Yerim opened her arms to help Seulgi visualise how big the bouquet was, not realising that Seulgi couldn’t see it since the phone was still in her hand and the camera was out of view. Both her mothers laughed at how cute she was being.

“Wow, they sound really pretty! Did mommy put them in a vase?”

“Yeah, they’re over there.” Yerim moved the phone to show Seulgi the vase beside the TV across the room and Seulgi whistled.

“Wow, those are really pretty flowers. Just like your mom!”

“Seulgi!”

Yerim saw Irene was blushing and made a face. “You two are gross.”

“We know.” Seulgi’s eyes disappeared into two thin lines as she laughed at her daughter’s reaction.

“Mommy, who’s Gom? Mom told me to ask you..”

“Gom? What Gom?” Irene snorted at her wife feigning ignorance and rolled her eyes again.

“Gom! It was the name on the card on the flowers! Here!” Yerim scrambled to pick up the card to show Seulgi. “Mommy, you need to come home fast and tell this Gom person to go away because you and mom are married!!” Yerim insisted.

By that time Seulgi had already lost it and was laughing her head off at her end, much to Yerim’s dismay. What was so funny about some random person sending her mom flowers? It was serious business and she wasn’t sure why her parents were not serious about it.

“It’s almost bedtime, Yerim-ah.” Irene nudged her daughter with her elbow and Yerim looked at her disappointedly.

“Can I talk to mommy a little while longer? I still have questions!”

“How about you go and get ready first and we’ll continue later?”

The child beamed at her mother’s suggestion and raced upstairs to wash up. Irene kept her eyes on Yerim until she disappeared from sight before turning back to her phone. “Thank you for the flowers, Seulgi-ah. They’re beautiful..and expensive.”

“It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it. Though, I can’t believe Yerim thinks that somebody is after you.”

“This is all your fault, you could’ve signed the card as ‘Seulgi’ instead of ‘Gom’, you know..”

“Aaw but I did that all the time back in the day. All our friends were so excited about this mysterious Gom,” Seulgi chuckled as she recalled.

Irene was about to say something when she heard Yerim call from upstairs that she was done washing up. “I’ll go tuck her in and I’ll call you back?”

“Okay. I’ll talk to you later! Happy Valentine’s Day, Hyun. Love you.”

“I love you, too. Happy Valentine’s Day, Seulgi-ah. I’ll call you back in about 20 minutes.”

“Yes, dear.”

END.