Delete if problematic; no intent to disparage the artist.
All content is unrelated to reality.
tap tap tap
Half-asleep, my stomach felt heavy.
tap tap
Someone was taking turns pressing my stomach with tiny fists.
When I cracked my eyes open, Tatpung was sitting on my stomach, wearing a serious expression and pressing away.
Hana "...Tatpung, are you a person right now..."
Tatpung "Dunno. But we still gotta do it."
Then something on the other side started poking my cheek.
Myeongmyeong "Noonaaa~ wake uup~ the suuun’s up~"
Myeongmyeong was poking my cheek right in front of my face while wiggling his hips.
Hana "Mm... just five more minutes..."
Myeongmyeong "You said that ages ago!"
Hana "It hasn’t been that long..."
Instead of answering, Myeongmyeong slipped under the blanket and started tickling my soles.
Hana "Kyahaha!! Myeongmyeong!! Stop!!"
Myeongmyeong "Get uuuup~~"
In the meantime, Tatpung moved to my pillow and
was playing around, lightly tapping my hair with his front paws, no, his hands.
Hana 'This is scarier than an alarm...'
In the end, I laughed myself fully awake.
I finally got up and tried to get them dressed, but another problem came up.
Myeongmyeong "That’s mineee! Noona dressed me in it!"
Tatpung had grabbed the short-sleeved T-shirt I’d worn yesterday before Myeongmyeong could.
Tatpung "First one to grab it gets it, don’t you know?"
Myeongmyeong "Hiiing... Noonaaa..."
Then Tatpung held the T-shirt out toward me.
Tatpung "Noona, my hand hurts so my arm won’t go in~ Help me~"
Hana "Oh my, really? Noona will put it on for you~ Ta-da~"
Myeongmyeong "Liar!!!"
Tatpung stuck his head through the T-shirt hole and stuck his tongue out at Myeongmyeong.
...I just saw that
Nurse Yoon Yurim "Hana, you have... another nephew?"
Hana "Ah, t-this one is... my c-cousin..."
Nurse "Your family sure has a lot of kids~"
Hana "Haha... yeah..."
At this rate, I’ll end up making a fake family tree.
Nurse "Now that our new friend is here, I’ll give you a quiz! What’s the hottest fruit in the world?"
Myeongmyeong "......"
Tatpung "......"
Nurse "A peach~!"
Tatpung "Not funny."
Myeongmyeong "...not fuuuuny"
Nurse "......."
The nurse’s shoulders slumped.
This time, the two of them even double-tapped him for good measure.
That morning, the hospital didn’t get a quiet moment.
They fought over the waiting-room snacks, fought over the seat next to me,,,
Then Tatpung climbed onto a high shelf and started teasing Myeongmyeong.
Tatpung "Come up here if you can~"
Myeongmyeong "Come down!! That’s cheating!!"
But after teasing him excitedly for a while, Tatpung suddenly went quiet.
All that was left on the shelf was my short-sleeved T-shirt, and on top of it, a black cat curled up into a round ball.
Hana '...Again?!'
Nurse "Huh? Hana, what’s a cat doing on the shelf...?"
Hana "Ah!! I treated this one yesterday!! I brought it here!!"
I secretly pulled Tatpung down along with the T-shirt before the nurse noticed.
Myeongmyeong laughed so hard he clutched his stomach.
Myeongmyeong "Serves you right~"
Myeongmyeong teased Tatpung, who was inside the cage,
then sat on my lap.
It was right in the middle of afternoon appointments.
The hospital door flew open, and an elementary school girl came in hugging a hamster cage tightly.
Girl "Teacher... sob..."
Hana "Oh dear, what’s wrong? Is the hamster sick?"
Girl "Mom... Mom says I can’t keep Ringring... she says to send him somewhere else..."
"At this rate, our Ringring is going to dieee... waaaah!!"
Seeing the child cry like the world was ending, I panicked and didn’t know what to do.
Hana "Then... how about we keep Ringring here at the hospital for a little while, until your mom changes her mind?"
Girl "Really...? Promise?"
And that’s how hamster Ringring came to our hospital.
...At this rate, I feel like I’m just going to end up running a zoo.
The round little hamster hid in the corner of the cage, burying his head as people crowded around to stare.
Myeongmyeong "Noonaa, I think he’s embarrassed."
Tatpung had already turned back into his little-kid form too, and sat crouched beside Myeongmyeong in front of the cage.
As if seeing a hamster for the first time, the two of them kept staring at him.
Tatpung "Hey, hamster. You eatin’?"
Myeongmyeong "Ringring... you gotta keep looking up at us all the time? We must look super huge to you."
By the time the afternoon appointments were almost over, I noticed something weird about Ringring’s habits.
Nurse "Boksoon, I’ll give you a quiz~ What happens when a duck freezes?"
Nurse "A hill~!"
Tap.
Ringring threw a sunflower seed at the nurse.
Nurse "...Huh?"
Nurse "Then how about this? What do you call a banana when it laughs?"
Nurse "Banana kick~!"
Tap tap.
This time, it was two.
Whenever the nurse told dad jokes to the guardians and pets,
Ringring tossed sunflower seeds out in response.
Hana 'Is that some kind of odd behavior...? Is he stressed?'
I was peering in with a worried face when Myeongmyeong tugged at my hem.
Myeongmyeong "Noonaa, he’s doing that because it’s funny."
Hana "Because it’s funny?"
Myeongmyeong "Yeah! He’s clapping. His tail’s been twitching like crazy since a while ago."
...His powers of observation are seriously unbeatable.
Nurse "Hana... this is the first time I've ever...
...had an audience laughing at my jokes..."
The nurse’s eyes were getting misty.
When it was time to clock out, Myeongmyeong and Tatpung started fighting again.
Myeongmyeong "I’m the one holding Noona’s hand!"
Tatpung "I got to it first, didn’t I?"
All the while they argued, the running wheel inside the cage kept creaking.
Then suddenly,
creak... creak... clack
The sound of the wheel stopped.
Ringring slowly climbed down from the wheel, then stood upright on his hind legs.
And without making a sound, he stared at the two of them.
Myeongmyeong "......"
Tatpung "......"
3 seconds
The two of them quietly let go of my hand.
Only then did Ringring climb back onto the wheel.
creak creak
Hana '...Did that hamster just dominate them with his presence?'
Myeongmyeong "Noona... he’s cooool..."
Tatpung "......kinda cooool."
It was the first time I’d ever seen Tatpung admit that about anyone.
Hana "Okay, Ringring~ See you tomorrow~"
As I turned off the hospital lights one by one, the wheel suddenly stopped with a clack.
When I looked back, Ringring was curled up in a ball in the corner of the cage, looking toward the darkened exam room.
The charisma from earlier was gone, and his little back somehow looked lonely.
I remembered the girl’s voice from earlier that day, crying her eyes out.
Girl 'At this rate, our Ringring is going to die...'
Girl ''Promise!'
Myeongmyeong "Noona... let’s take Ringring too..."
Tatpung "...Being alone is scary. I know, I’ve been alone too."
For the first time, Myeongmyeong and Tatpung spoke in unison.
...I never expected Tatpung to say something like that.
Hana "......Sigh. Fine, fine."
I gave in and held Ringring’s cage to my chest.
The moment I did, the wheel inside the cage started spinning happily again.
Hana "You guys, Noona’s going to take a shower, so wait here!"
-After showering-
When I came out of the shower, a kid I’d never seen before was lying sprawled on the living room sofa.
Round eyes, round cheeks.
When he met my eyes, the kid shyly lowered his head.
Too flustered to react, I looked at Myeongmyeong playing around and Tatpung up on the sofa.
Myeongmyeong "Uwingiiiiiing"
Tatpung "...."
Then he said in a very tiny voice.
Ringring "Noona... what’s a hamster that runs when the phone rings...?"
Hana "...Huh?"
Ring "......Ringring."
Myeongmyeong "Puhahahahaha!!!!"
Tatpung "Not funny."
I sat down hard right there on the spot.
There were now three kids in our house.
Raising kids starts now..
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