Chapter 2: You Need to Apologize, Okay

Kwon Jiyong yanked away her chubby little hand and looked down at the frilly little dress he was wearing, his face growing increasingly aggrieved.
“Omma, I want to go home! I’m not doing ballet anymore! I’m never playing with Yi Eun again!”

He threw himself toward Han Lanjie and clung tightly to her thigh. When Yi Eun tugged on him, he immediately flung her off, crying.

She tugged again, and Kwon Jiyong choked up and hid behind Han Lanjie.

Even though Yi Eun was still little, she could tell that the big brother who had been teasing her in the car earlier suddenly hated her. Her little mouth turned down, and she fiercely wiped away the tears welling up in her eyes, turned her head with determination, and refused to look at him again.

“He hates me. Then I don’t like him either! ”
She pouted, crossing her chubby arms over her waist, her tiny nose puffing with frustration, and her belly rising and falling as she held in her anger.

The two toddlers stood back-to-back, one wronged, the other angry. The three adults watching them couldn’t help but laugh.

“Jiyong ah, didn’t you make a promise with Omma? That you’d go and find something you really like?” Han Lanjie crouched down and spoke to her six-year-old son like he was an adult. “If you don’t try the class today, maybe you’ll miss out on something you’ll really enjoy.”

Meanwhile, Lee Jin was also gently coaxing:
“Yi Eun ah, Jiyong is oppa, not unnie, okay? Just wearing a dress doesn’t mean he’s a girl. Don’t you sometimes wear little pants too?”

After quite a bit of coaxing from both moms, the two kids finally calmed down somewhat.

But the moment they saw each other again, they pouted and looked away. Han Lanjie and Lee Jin exchanged helpless smiles clearly, the little ones were still sulking.

Luckily, the two children were placed in different trial classes based on their age groups. As Yi Eun was led by the gentle ballet teacher toward the Level 1 Beginner Class, Kwon Jiyong walked off in another direction.

   Three-year-old children’s bones haven’t fully developed yet, so the ballet teacher didn’t have them do any flexibility training. Instead, she played music to help them feel the rhythm while learning basic standing and sitting postures.

Listening to the teacher’s gentle voice, Yi Eun followed along, stretching out her chubby little legs, raising her tiny hands to form a “roof” over her head.

When they bent over to “smell their toes” or “turn into a starfish,” her big sparkling eyes crinkled into crescent moons as she smiled.

Even the teacher was surprised this new little student occasionally got distracted, but she actually followed along on her own for the full half-hour lesson.

The teacher patted Yi Eun’s little head.
“Oh my, oh my does our Yi Eun like ballet?”

Yi Eun hugged the teacher’s long arm and beamed brightly.
“I like it!”

Lee Jin was also pleasantly surprised. As she took Yi Eun’s hand and led her over to wait for Kwon Jiyong’s class to end, Yi Eun still reluctantly waved goodbye to the teacher.

Han Lanjie had been watching her son, whose ears were red from embarrassment as the only boy in the entire class. When she saw them coming over, she waved and quietly called out:
“Come quickly, come see Jiyong is actually doing quite well!”

Yi Eun obediently sat between her aunt and mom, propping her little face up with both hands. She didn’t even glance in Kwon Jiyong’s direction, staring intently instead at the little girls who were about the same height as him.

“Okay, let’s try the splits, let’s see whose legs are the longest and straightest! Do it just like the teacher!”

Kwon Jiyong easily did a split. Even though he was a boy, his body was unbelievably flexible.

Proudly, he raised his head and peeked at Yi Eun through the mirror, only to realize she wasn’t paying attention to him at all. He pouted and turned away, cheeks puffed with frustration.
“What’s the big deal anyway… You called me ‘unnie’ and still got mad. Hmph.”

The one-hour class passed quickly. On the way home, Kwon Jiyong crossed his arms, acting completely differently from how he had on the way there.

    Yi Eun sneaked a peek at him and tried to imitate him by folding her arms across her chest. But after spinning her two short arms around twice, she still couldn’t do it.

That made her so frustrated that her bottom lip started to quiver.

The journey to the ballet class had been full of laughter and cheerful chatter between the two little ones, but on the way back, they didn’t say a single word.

The two mothers exchanged helpless glances. With such strong-willed kids, could they really get along peacefully?

When they got home, the first thing Lee Jin did was pull up a children’s animation about sex education and personal safety for Yi Eun to watch.

Yi Eun scrunched up her little face.
“Yi Eun doesn’t have a little jj, so Yi Eun is a girl.”

“That’s right! Our Yi Eun is so smart!” Lee Jin encouraged her with a nod.
“Jiyong is different from Yi Eun. Jiyong has a little jj, so Yi Eun should call him oppa.”

“Nope.” Yi Eun shook her head stubbornly. “I haven’t seen it!”

Lee Jin was momentarily caught off guard by what her daughter meant.

Yi Eun glanced at her dazed mom and sighed like a little adult.
“Yi Eun has seen Daddy’s little jj, so Daddy is a boy. But Yi Eun hasn’t seen Jiyong unnie’s.”

Hearing her daughter bring up her ex-husband, Lee Jin’s expression darkened slightly. But she quickly composed herself, not wanting to show anything in front of a child who didn’t understand.

“Unless Yi Eun sees Jiyong unnie’s little jj, Jiyong unnie is an unnie.”

Her words were clear and her logic was flawless for a child. But children’s thinking was often very literal and difficult to redirect.

How was she supposed to explain to a child, who hadn’t even grasped the concept of reversible logic, that boys could also wear skirts?

Lee Jin rubbed her forehead helplessly. She certainly couldn’t go ask Jiyong to prove anything by showing his private parts.

“But didn’t Yi Eun make Jiyong cry today?” Lee Jin said, picking her daughter up.
“And whenever Mommy makes Yi Eun cry, doesn’t Mommy always apologize?”

Yi Eun stretched out her short little arms and wrapped them around Lee Jin’s neck, her legs clinging tightly to her mother’s waist like a baby kangaroo, firmly hanging onto her.

She pouted and shook her head, her lips jutting out far enough to hang a soy sauce bottle on.
“I didn’t do anything wrong. I’m not apologizing.”

“Mhm. Mommy knows Yi Eun feels wronged,” Lee Jin said, turning her head to kiss her daughter’s soft, bun-like cheek. “But wasn’t Jiyong also innocent?”

Yi Eun’s chubby little chin poked her mom’s shoulder twice. She stayed silent, stubbornly refusing to respond. Every time Mommy used that tone, she knew it meant she had to behave.

---

The next day, Yi Eun wore a pink princess dress and held her puppy plush tightly. Her hair was tied into two little puffs with a headband, her lips were red, teeth white, and features delicate. When the sunlight hit her, her big eyes sparkled like there were stars inside.

“Aaaahhh, 너무 귀여워 (so cute)!!!” Kwon Jiyong had no extracurriculars that day, and the moment she opened the door and saw the adorable little girl calling her unnie, she immediately turned and shouted to her mom,
“Mom! Is this the Yi Eun you told me about yesterday?!”

Han Lanjie wiped her hands on her apron and hurried over.
“Oh! It really is Yi Eun and Jiyong! What a surprise, why are you here so suddenly?”

Yi Eun blinked her big eyes while hugging her puppy plush, her dark eyes staring at the unnie in a white dress in front of her. Then she noticed Kwon Jiyong peeking his head out from inside, scrunching his nose as he secretly looked at her.

He was wearing pants…

Yi Eun pouted a little. Mommy was right after all, if she came today and saw him wearing pants, then she’d have to apologize.

Lee Jin led Yi Eun inside, smiling as she said,
“Yi Eun made Jiyong sad yesterday, and she said she absolutely had to come apologize today. Isn’t that right, Yi Eun?”

Unaware of the little trick hidden in her mother’s words, Yi Eun sighed and nodded,
“Nae (yes).”

Kwon Jiyong instantly took a liking to this soft, fair-skinned little sister. Even the way she sighed was so adorable that Jiyong dramatically waved her hand to comfort her…

“Tch, please! He hasn’t stopped saying Yi Eun is cute since yesterday, how was he sad at all?!”

“Yah!” Kwon Jiyong’s little face flushed red, and even the tips of his ears started to burn. Embarrassed, he nudged his unnie’s waist and stammered a rebuttal,
“I-I didn’t compliment her! I just said she looks cute but her eyes don’t work right!”

Yi Eun puffed up her cheeks in anger, glaring fiercely at the boy who insulted her eyes. But with her chubby little face, even her attempt to be fierce looked absolutely adorable.

Kwon Jiyong pressed his lips together and avoided her gaze, his ears burning even hotter.
“Anyway! I wasn’t calling her cute or anything!”

Han Lanjie and Lee Jin exchanged a look utterly exasperated.

Now it wasn’t just one kid who needed to apologize.

How come two normally well-behaved children ended up in such chaos whenever they were together? Were their auras just incompatible?

Lee Jin crouched down and poked Yi Eun’s cheek. Her puffed-up little face instantly deflated with a soft “pfft,” and Lee Jin sneakily patted her tiny hand.
“Aiya, the balloon’s lost all its air, and Yi Eun’s apology gift hasn’t even been given yet.”

The carefully chosen puppy plush was Yi Eun’s favorite toy. The ugly-cute little shar-pei was something she usually guarded preciously, unwilling to take it out.

She looked down sadly at the shar-pei plush.
Alright then… go live at the house of this brother who likes wearing skirts.

“Mianhae (sorry),” Yi Eun still couldn’t bring herself to call him “oppa,” so she didn’t call him anything at all. She simply reached out and poked Kwon Jiyong’s arm with the stuffed toy.
“This is for you…”

Kwon Jiyong’s face lit up and he started to reach out in surprise, but the next second he pulled his hands back. His clear, downturned eyes glanced carefully at his mom. After seeing her smile and nod, he finally grabbed the plush from Yi Eun’s hands.

“O-okay then.”
Holding the wrinkly-faced shar-pei plush with both hands, from its face down to its arms full of creases, he awkwardly, but proudly accepted Yi Eun’s apology.

“From now on, you’re not allowed to call me eonni!”

In Yi Eun’s head, the two titles eonni (older sister) and oppa (older brother) were like little devils fighting each other throwing punches, each trying to win.

Not knowing what to do, Yi Eun grew frustrated and lightly pounded her little fists on her own head. Then, imitating how adults talk, she called him in a babyish voice,
“Ne! Jiyong-na!”

Kwon Jiyong’s little head was full of big confusion. He hadn’t yet been fully immersed in Korea’s hierarchical title system, so something about it felt off, but he couldn’t explain why. Still, as long as Yi Eun wasn’t calling him eonni, that was good enough!

His eyes curved into little crescent moons, and his chubby face lit up with a big smile. But he quickly adjusted his expression, turned his head to look at Yi Eun with a bit of pride, and copied her tone:
“Ne! Eein-na!”

Both moms put a hand to their foreheads in exasperation.

Well… close enough.