TESSELLATE.

@752hyojin ( this silence makes sure )

her mother smiles, strained, tension mirrored in her father’s eyes. dahye can only keep her eyes down and focused on the vault-tec issued food they’ve gathered around for dinner, occasional eye contact with hyojin seated across her. it’s never been the same since she came home more than a year back and admitted that she was seeing naoko; the break up lessened the tension on their side but it served to wind her up more, on edge around them now.

family dinners aren’t mean to be like this. every member of the rhees is busy, usually, and dahye used to look forward to having meals with them, the rare occasion of time spent with family that she treasures. that she still does, really, despite the strained atmosphere that’s plagued them. the mild excitement and joy they’d felt over the announcement of her pregnancy has faded, even though she knows they must still be looking forward to meeting their grandchild.

( something they’d lamented at her, half a year ago. they may not have been the sole reason she sought yujin out, nor the reason she chose to keep the child, but. her parents certainly had been a factor. )

“so—” “how’s yujin—” “have you—”

it’s like a burst bubble of tension, filled to the brim and unable to take anymore, everyone suddenly rushing to say something to fill up the emptiness. dahye can’t help but smile, small and genuine, catching hyojin’s eyes. it’s a relief that they’re still able to talk, even if it’s towards the end of their dinner.

@752naoko ( sometimes i still awake from you calling out )

naoko’s parents have always been warm and kind where hers were not. dahye thinks of them as fondly as she does her own – she loves her parents, she’s grateful for the strict way she’d been raised and she knows they love her, through it all. but naoko’s parents were the opposite of hers, and a different set of parents who mean just as much to her as her own. they brought laughter and jokes into her life, the carefree joy they exuded contagious. she loves them, just like she loves their daughter.

which makes the disgust on their faces when they pass her by in the halls hurt all the more.

she’s always had a soft heart, and their looks weigh heavy on it throughout the day. keeping herself busy with her duties can only go so far. dahye excuses herself when she finishes the last batch of radaway, leaving earlier than usual when she finds tears blurring her vision every time she lets her mind wander. it’s not the most responsible of her, but she can always come back to work tomorrow a little earlier to compensate for it.

for now, she goes back to her room – or rather, naoko’s room, because she’s converted her own into a makeshift hair salon for the dwellers who come by. there is a touch of naoko in every corner and as much as it comforts her, it also reminds her of the other girl’s parents. fresh tears well up in her eyes, dahye curling up into their duvet. the warmth of it soothes her in place of the girl herself, as she waits for naoko to come home to her. it must feel empty to come home to a room with only one person when she’d had such a warm family growing up, and dahye can’t help but feel guilty for it too, being the reason naoko’s become estranged from her parents. hers have always been strict and she’d known, in some part of her, that they wouldn’t have approved of the two of them. but she’d thought naoko’s parents would be different. had hoped it, because she doesn’t know if she can do this with only one person in her corner. even if naoko is the most important person to her right now.

@752yujin ( come give me more / of your honesty )

she’s working in the lab when she feels it, a soft bump against the swell of her stomach, almost a tickle from the inside. dahye stops for a moment, pauses her actions and puts her hand over her belly. “oh,” she says, when it happens again, when she knows it’s real. she holds the moment in her hands, emotions washing over her.

it’s been four months and still she holds amazed at the small life growing in her. she’d been terrified at first, frustrated and scared and the only emotion that remains now, excited. unwisely falling into bed with the first person who would have her, after naoko. after naoko, and that’s left a hole in her life that she hasn’t been able to fill completely, even if she thinks time and work has helped lessen the pain from that void. now she has a child to think about, and as strange as it is, he’s helped to heal her too.

and she thinks of yujin, only one level away from her, who’s been as much a part of it as well. he’s been kind and patient and understanding, and for that alone she could love him. almost does, she thinks, sometimes. not yet, but almost. yujin must be busy in the medical bay and she doesn’t want to disturb him, but this feels like too big of a milestone for him to be missing when he’s so near. dahye hesitates for a moment, and jinhyo kicks a little, impatient. so she quickly packs up the various vials and test tubes back into the incubator for safekeeping before she makes her way up to the medical bay, heart fluttering.

hello hello! c: i’m shu (she/her, 21, gmt+8) & i’m so excited to be here and introduce my soft babie with a baby of her own, rhee dahye!! here are her about & background pages, and under the cut is a quick tldr + some plot ideas! and yknow just tap that lil like button if you’d wanna plot c: