Chapter 160

The Kim family reunion was loud.

Not just loud loud.

It was Kim-family loud.

Aunties were talking over each other, uncles were grilling meat while pretending they knew what they were doing, kids were running around the huge backyard with sticky hands, and somewhere inside the house, someone had already started karaoke even though it was barely noon.

In the middle of all the chaos stood four-year-old Ruby.

Tiny.

Round.

Fluffy.

And currently very, very offended.

Ruby stood beside her Mommy, staring at the crowd with narrowed eyes and puffed cheeks while holding Jennie’s hand dramatically tight.

Because something was wrong.

Very wrong.

Ruby looked around once more.

Then at Jennie.

Then back at the relatives.

Then again at Jennie.

“…Mommy.”

Jennie looked down from where she was helping Lisa carry desserts inside.

“Hm?”

Ruby pointed suspiciously at her cousins.

“…Where’s the mandus?”

Jennie blinked.

“The what?”

“The tiny mandus,” Ruby whispered like this was serious business. “The Kim babies.”

Lisa already started biting her lips to stop herself from laughing.

Ruby looked devastated.

Because in her little dumpling brain, a “Kim reunion” meant she was about to meet an army of mini Jennies.

Round cheeks.

Tiny eyes.

Squishy faces.

Mandu everywhere.

But instead-

One cousin looked tall and sharp like a model.

Another had big round eyes.

One had tan skin from surfing.

Another had dimples but no mandu cheeks at all.

Ruby looked personally betrayed.

“These are my cousins?” she whispered in horror.

“Yes?” Jennie answered carefully.

Ruby stared again.

“But…”

Her tiny eyebrows furrowed harder.

“…they look normal.”

Lisa snorted so loudly she nearly dropped the cake container.

Jennie slapped her wife’s arm immediately.

“Behave.”

“I’m trying,” Lisa wheezed.

Ruby walked deeper into the reunion with visible disappointment written all over her tiny face. Every cousin she met only made her more confused.

One cousin ruffled her hair.

“Aigoo, you’re so cute!”

Ruby narrowed her eyes.

“…You don’t look like a dumpling.”

The entire table went silent.

Then exploded into laughter.

The poor cousin looked confused. “What?”

Ruby crossed her arms.

“This is Kim reunion. Why no one fluffy?”

Jennie immediately covered her face with both hands.

“Oh my god…”

Lisa was fully bent over the table laughing now.

Ruby continued her investigation.

She walked up to another cousin.

Poked their cheek.

Flat.

Not squishy enough.

Another cousin?

Too skinny.

Another?

Not enough mandu energy.

By the time Ruby returned to Jennie, she looked genuinely upset.

“Mommy,” she complained dramatically, “I think they got wrong family.”

Jennie choked on her drink.

“Ruby!”

“But where’s the mandus?!”

At this point, the entire family was watching with amusement.

Ruby looked at all her relatives again before throwing her tiny hands in the air.

“I expected tiny Mommy faces everywhere!”

That did it.

Jennie’s mother burst into loud laughter so suddenly she had to hold onto the chair.

“Oh my goodness-” she laughed. “That’s the same line your mommy said before!”

Jennie froze.

“Mom.”

But it was too late.

Everyone immediately turned interested.

Lisa gasped dramatically.

“Oho? Story time?”

Jennie groaned.

“Please no.”

Her mother ignored her completely.

“When Jennie was little,” she began while wiping tears from laughing too hard, “we brought her to meet her baby cousins for the first time too.”

Ruby’s eyes widened.

“Mommy did?”

“Oh yes,” Grandma nodded happily. “And your mommy looked around and said-“

She pointed at Jennie dramatically.

‘Why are they not shaped like me?’

The entire reunion erupted.

Lisa nearly fell off her chair laughing.

“JENNIE KIM-“

Jennie covered her face completely now.

“I was five!”

“You were offended too!” Lisa cried.

Jennie groaned louder.

Ruby stared at her Mommy with pure shock.

“…You also mad cause no mandus?”

Jennie muttered into her hands, “Apparently genetics trauma runs in the family.”

Ruby gasped softly.

Then slowly climbed into Jennie’s lap.

The little girl held her Mommy’s cheeks carefully.

“…You understand me.”

Lisa HOWLED.

Jennie couldn’t even defend herself anymore because honestly?

Ruby was exactly like her.

The same dramatic reactions.

The same offended pout.

The same expectation that the Kim bloodline should naturally produce dumpling-shaped humans.

Jennie sighed dramatically before kissing Ruby’s forehead.

“Yes, baby. I understand you.”

Ruby immediately hugged her Mommy tightly like she finally found someone sane in this cruel world.

“They should be fluffy too,” Ruby whispered sadly.

“I know.”

“Tiny eyes too.”

“I know.”

“Mandu cheeks.”

“I KNOW.”

Lisa was crying from laughter now.

“God, there are TWO of them.”

The older relatives were laughing nonstop while taking pictures because Ruby sitting in Jennie’s lap while both looked equally offended was the funniest thing they’d seen all year.

One uncle even muttered, “Copy-paste.”

Another aunt nodded seriously.

“No printer issues either.”

Ruby eventually warmed up to her cousins though.

Especially after discovering they would spoil her endlessly.

One cousin gave her ice cream.

Another let her sit on their shoulders.

Another taught her how to win a claw machine.

Soon the backyard was filled with Ruby’s loud giggles again as she ran around with her older cousins chasing after her.

Jennie watched fondly from the patio while sipping iced tea beside Lisa.

“She really got your personality,” Lisa said softly.

Jennie sighed.

“I know.”

A loud shriek suddenly echoed outside.

“MY MANDU FACE IS SWEATING!”

Lisa nearly spit out her drink.

Jennie closed her eyes slowly.

“…Yeah. Definitely mine.”

A few minutes later Ruby came running back dramatically.

Hair messy.

Cheeks pink.

Tiny face offended again.

“Mommy!”

Jennie opened her arms automatically.

Ruby climbed into her lap with a huge pout.

“One cousin called me steamed bun.”

Lisa immediately lost it again.

Jennie looked horrified.

“They WHAT?”

Ruby nodded sadly.

“I’m not steamed bun. I’m mandu.”

Jennie held her daughter’s face seriously.

“You are mandu.”

“Thank you.”

“Premium mandu.”

Ruby looked comforted instantly.

Lisa stared at both of them in disbelief.

“This family is ridiculous.”

Jennie smirked proudly while Ruby copied the exact same expression.

Grandma Kim looked at them and laughed once more.

“Exactly the same,” she said warmly.

And honestly?

Everyone agreed.

Because out of the entire Kim family tree, Ruby was undeniably the strongest copy of Jennie.

Tiny.

Round.

Dramatic.

And deeply offended that genetics did not provide her with more fellow mandus.