Chapter 8: Stickers

“Backpack, water bottle, picture books…” Lee Jin followed Han Lanjie’s instructions, placing the items one by one.

Having two kids of her own, Han Lanjie was very experienced. “No need to rush, there’s plenty of time. Oh right, where are Eun’s little stickers?”

There weren’t many children at the kindergarten, but items got mixed up very easily. Since her daughter Domi started kindergarten a few years ago, she’d come up with a method, putting stickers with the child’s face on their belongings to avoid losing things.

“They don’t have names printed, right? You should still be careful not to let strangers know your kid’s name.” She helped Lee Jin fold Eun’s spare clothes and put them into her bag.

“Here, here eh, where are the stickers? Eun!” Lee Jin turned to look at the two little ones having breakfast, and helplessly held her forehead. This little kid was obsessed with her own photo stickers, always sneaking them away to “admire” in secret.

So self-obsessed and confident at such a young age, at least she’d never fall for a man like her father who loved putting others down.

Eun and Kwon Jiyong were sitting side by side eating rice cakes, each holding a piece of cloud cake in their hands. Their little heads turned in sync with the moms as they moved around. Hearing her mom’s question, Eun guiltily pulled out the photo stickers she had hidden under her butt.

She looked mournful, quickly peeled two stickers off and handed them to Lee Jin. “Mommy, can you make more of these cute Eun stickers later?”

Lee Jin took the stickers and nodded helplessly. “But you can’t stick them just anywhere, okay?”

Eun nodded decisively. But the moment Lee Jin turned her back, she slyly stretched out her other hand, fingers spread wide in front of Kwon Jiyong. “Jiyong, look! This is Eun!”

Her chubby index and middle fingers each had a sticker of her own face, complete with her signature puffy cheeks and twin braids.

Jiyong swallowed the last bite of his cloud cake with a sip of milk from his kid’s cup, then patted his small backpack and pointed at the sticker on it. “Look, this is Jiyong. This way, our stuff won’t get lost.”

Hearing this, Eun shifted her gaze from her mom, who was busy labeling her items to her own chubby little hand, then looked over at Jiyong beside her, seeming to consider something.

A second later, she peeled off one sticker from her fingertip and smack! stuck it to her own chest. “Eun herself!”

Then, in a flash, she slapped the remaining sticker onto Jiyong’s chest. Smack! “Eun’s friend!”

She looked proud and confident. “Now Eun won’t lose Jiyong. When we get to kindergarten, don’t get lost, okay?”

Jiyong scratched his head and looked down at the sticker on his chest. A kid who liked drawing on his clothes from a young age, he didn’t think there was anything strange about this. Lee Jin, on the other hand, was both speechless and amused. Did this kid just treat her friend like personal property?

At the kindergarten gate, Eun held Jiyong’s hand with her left and tugged on Lee Jin’s sleeve with her right, looking a little dazed as cries and sniffles echoed around her.

To the left, a little round-headed kid clung to his mom, bawling, “I don’t want to go to kindergarten! I want to go home!”

To the right, a tiny toddler held tightly to his dad’s hand, teary-eyed, saying, “Appa, you have to come pick me up on time, okay?”

The chaotic sound of children crying filled Eun’s ears, and anxiety quickly spread at the kindergarten entrance. She slowly loosened her grip on Kwon Jiyong’s hand and clutched tightly onto Lee Jin’s clothing.

“Mommy, didn’t you say kindergarten is really fun?”

Why is everyone crying, then?!

Eun fearfully shrank behind Lee Jin, feeling like the exciting kindergarten life shown in the picture books had suddenly turned into a terrifying monster. She whispered, “Mommy, can we go home too?”

Lee Jin squatted down and gently patted the little bun on her daughter’s head. She herself was also suffering from separation anxiety, but every child has to go through this moment.

“Eun, play at kindergarten for a while, okay? Mommy will definitely come pick you up on time.”

She pointed to the watch on her wrist. “Didn’t we agree? When the number reaches seventeen, Mommy will come to get Eun. Look, the other kids are also getting ready for school.”

“…Okay…” Eun nodded. She didn’t cry, but a heavy atmosphere lingered around her. “I got it.”

She sneaked a glance at her “classmates.” All of them were accompanied by their moms or dads. Eun stared at the fathers for a moment, shuffled her feet, lowered her head, and said nothing.

Kwon Jiyong overheard her and leaned in to comfort her. “Eun, we’ll go to kindergarten together and go home together too.”

He puffed out his tiny chest. “Auntie, don’t worry! Leave Eun to me!”

Their two small hands joined again, and under the teacher’s guidance, Eun fought her fear and anxiety, constantly turning back to look at her mom. At the corner, when Lee Jin was finally out of sight, she couldn’t hold back her tears anymore.

Tears instantly soaked her cheeks. With her little backpack on, Eun wiped her eyes with one hand while tightly gripping Jiyong’s hand with the other. “Jiyong… when will my mommy come get me…”

The kindergarten teacher glanced at the parent hiding around the corner and wiping away tears. She was used to this kind of scene at the beginning of every school year. She squatted down and gently comforted her, “Your mommy told me that Eun is a little warrior. And wow, as soon as I saw you, I knew you were super brave! Jiyong, did you notice too?”

Jiyong quickly nodded in agreement. “At the gate just now, all the other kids were crying, only Eun wasn’t!”

“Am I… a little warrior?” Eun’s sobs calmed a bit, and she looked up at Jiyong.

Following the teacher’s gaze, Jiyong turned his head and saw his aunt teary-eyed and Eun’s mom smiling and waving at them.

He leaned down and whispered shyly in Eun’s ear with his hand covering his mouth, “Eun, don’t cry anymore… Auntie’s going to cry too…”

Eun immediately turned around and saw her mom’s tear-streaked face. She hiccupped and sobbed twice, then suddenly broke away from Jiyong and the teacher and ran toward her mother.

“Eun!” Jiyong stood stunned for two seconds. Didn’t I just comfort her? Why did it backfire?!

Eun rushed to her mother and threw herself into Lee Jin’s arms, crying, “Mommy… hug your baby, please…”

Lee Jin hugged her soft little daughter tightly. Though she was also crying, she knew that if the parent showed more anxiety, it would only make the child more resistant to staying.

She took a deep breath, suppressing the sob in her voice. “Of course, Mommy will hug you.”

That strong hug seemed to give four-year-old Eun an immense sense of security. Her chubby face pressed into her mom’s neck as tears rolled down to soak her mother’s skin.

Eun let go, then wiped her mom’s neck dry with her small hand. Still crying, she said, “Eun will be brave. But Mommy has to has to come get Eun, okay? Eun only has Mommy now…”

The little girl once again took the teacher’s and Jiyong’s hands and walked back inside. Han Lanjie’s eyes were moist too. She hugged the sobbing Lee Jin and gently patted her back. “You’re already doing a great job.”

Although she didn’t know exactly what kind of person Eun’s father was, for a mother to be so determined that she never wanted her child to see the father again, he must have been a terrible man and that must’ve been a terrible experience.

Leaving must have been a decision Lee Jin made after deep and careful thought.

But neither of them expected that a little girl, after just a few months without seeing her father, would say something as heartbreaking as “I only have Mommy” just from seeing other kids arrive with both parents.

The two moms talked for a long time.

Meanwhile, inside the kindergarten, Eun now clung to Jiyong and wouldn’t let go. She looked at him with teary eyes again. “Didn’t you say you’d stay with Eun? Why are you leaving too?”

In her understanding, going to school together and going home together meant staying together all the time!

Kwon Jiyong scratched his head awkwardly. “Eun, we’re not in the same class… But don’t be scared, I’m just next door!”

“Is Jiyong a liar?” Eun pouted, and her tears started flowing again. “You promised to stay with Eun…”

“I’ll come find you as soon as class is over, okay?” Jiyong rummaged through his backpack, then decisively peeled off a sticker and stuck it on Eun’s arm.

The goofy smiling face of the little boy instantly appeared on the little girl’s arm. He gave Eun’s chubby cheek a light pinch. “Be good, Eun. Jiyong put a sticker on you when class ends, I’ll follow the sticker and ‘whoosh’ come find you!”

Eun looked down at the silly little face stuck to her arm, then turned to look at her own smiling face on Jiyong’s chest. She broke into a smile through her tears. “Okay! You have to come, Jiyong!”

“I will definitely come!” Jiyong slung his little backpack over his shoulder again. “Now that we’ve got our stickers, we’re best friends!”

She raised her hand and stuck both her sticker and Jiyong’s sticker onto the back of her hand. After seriously comparing the two, she looked at Jiyong, who was trying to comfort her, and declared sincerely, “Eun is so cute.”

Putting her sticker next to Jiyong’s made it even cuter!

Jiyong: “…?”

Teacher: “???” Is this child always this overwhelmingly confident?

Oh well, so long as she’s not crying anymore.

Jiyong grinned. “Mm!”