where would i be without you? || a book of IZ*ONE one-shots

yulyen: protecting us

A/N: there are some parts that may be uncomfortable for some readers but i'll put a tw before and after it (in bold) so you can skip it if you want to. i'm still unfamiliar about when to use trigger warnings so please correct me if i make a mistake.

also, this one is pretty long so brace yourselves.

._.

I have no idea who this kid is, but she is sitting next to me and she seems a little down so I smile at her. She smiles back and really, that is one of the cutest smiles I have ever seen. Her big bright eyes paired with her winning smile and deep dimples. Damn, this kid has stolen my heart already. 

A while later, she seems sad again. This time I make a funny face and she makes one back. We both try to hold our laughter in but it's no use. We just make sure to keep our volume down so that we wouldn't wake up the woman next to her. That woman is sleeping very peacefully. She must have had a long day. The kid seems to know her so I'm guessing that's her mother. 

It's about two hours till our flight lands and the air hostesses are handing out drinks for everyone. She reaches our row, "What would you like, sweetie?" she asks the little kid next to me.

"Orange juice please," she squeals and I chuckle. I'm once again reminded how much I love kids and their excitement for the smallest of things. Good thing I became a preschool teacher.

The air hostess then attends to the kid's mother (she woke up a while ago) who just asks for plain water. "And your wife?"

"My wife?"

Her wife? Who's that?

The air hostess points at me.

Me? I'm not her wife though. She seems like a lovely woman but unfortunately I'm just a sad single travelling alone.

"Oh, I'm not her wife," I tell the air hostess, "I'll have an apple juice though,".

The kid next to me scrunches her nose, "Apple juice? Bleh," she makes another funny face.

"Hey! It's not that bad," I defend myself.

The air hostess apologises to the woman, "Sorry Miss. I just assumed all of you were together because of how she was playing with your daughter earlier. Enjoy the rest of the flight," she says and moves on to the next row.

The woman then turns to me, "I'm sorry if she bothered you during the flight. I didn't mean to fall asleep. I guess I was too tired,".

"Oh, it's alright. She wasn't a bother at all. Great company in fact," I assure her.

"Thank you. I'm Yuri by the way,"

"Nice to meet you. I'm Yena,"

"And I'm Yujin!" the kid in between us says.

"Hahah, nice to meet you too, Yujin," I pat her head, "You've got a lovely daughter, Yuri," I tell her.

"Thanks, she's actually my niece,"

"Oh,"

"Yeah. Who would've thought I'd have a kid on my hands without ever actually dating," she ruffles Yujin's hair and the kid burst into a fit of giggles, "But I wouldn't have it any other way. It's the least I can do for my sister,".

At the mention of the word 'sister', Yujin's mood dampens and she curls into a little ball.

"Oh no, I'm sorry, Yujin," Yuri says and kisses the little girl's head. She pulls Yujin close to her and pats her back soothingly until the little girl falls asleep.