It’s a lovely Saturday afternoon and Jessica squeals and protests as Krystal tries to convince her to get out of the car.

“I don’t wanna!” The princess says, crossing her arms and glaring hard at her sister. Krystal groans and rests her head against her hand which is placed on the hood of the car. She takes a deep breath before she struggles to get the frustrating child out of the vehicle, sighing in relief when she successfully manages to place her sister on her feet on the ground.

“Unnie!” Jessica pouts, attempting to scramble back inside the car, only to sulk further when her sister glares at her sternly and closes the door. She lowers her gaze to the ground and can feel the guilt seeping in; she doesn’t like disappointing her sister. A pat on the head makes her raise her head and she looks up at her sister and notices the soft smile on her lips.

“It’s not going to be bad Jess; your child-care friends are here,” Krystal tries to persuade her stubborn sister. Jessica just stares back at her unimpressed and bored.

A light bulb goes off in Krystal’s head and she crouches down to whisper in her sister’s ear.

“Taeyeonnie is coming to the party; I think she might already be inside playing with the other kids,” She utters, smirking in triumph when Jessica’s face shifts into surprise and then anger. She tries to stifle her giggle when her sister’s cheeks puff up in annoyance and the girl tugs on her hands.

“I wanna see Taengoo! Taengoo is mine!” Jessica squeals, pulling her sister forwards.

Krystal lets out a loud chuckle and holds her sister’s hand. After locking her car, she walks her sister to the front door and rings the doorbell, waiting patiently for someone to welcome them inside. She smiles softly when she sees Jessica bounce excitedly on her feet and impatiently rap on the door, as if hurrying someone to open the door and let her find her Taengoo.

Krystal lifts her head when the door opens and a smiling Luna beams at her.

“Hi Soojung!” She says, giving the woman a warm hug before crouching down and ruffling Jessica’s hair.

“Hi Jessica,” She greets brightly, only to giggle when the child murmurs a soft “hi unnie” before running past her to find a particular friend.

“Jess, take your shoes off!” Krystal calls out, not containing her laughter when her sister sulks and runs back to place her shoes neatly to the side before dashing off deeper into the house.

When Jessica totters into the living room, her eyes brighten when she notices a particular child that she recognises, only to flare her nostrils when she realises the other person accompanying that particular child.

“Taengoo!” she shrieks, hurrying over and snatching her friend from the figure lying underneath her. She ignores the look of surprise followed by annoyance on Yoona’s face as she sits up and crosses her arms in protest.

“Sica!” Taeyeon chirps cheerfully, giving her friend a quick hug before turning around and returning her hands to Yoona’s sides to tickle her. Jessica watches helplessly as the sound of laughter bounces on the walls and the furrow on her brow deepens when she comprehends that she no longer has the eldest girl’s attention.

“Taengoo!” Jessica cries, tugging back on Taeyeon’s arms to pull them off Yoona’s waist. She pushes the girl to stand behind her and sizes up the younger girl as Yoona’s face contorts into displeasure.

“Taeng was just playing with me,” Yoona states, looking past the older girl’s form and shooting Taeyeon a desperate look.

“ off, ,” Jessica replies. A gasp is heard and all three girls turn around to face the newcomer.

“Unnie! Unnie! Jessica-Unnie swore! Unnie!” Seohyun shrieks down the corridor, sighing in relief when Krystal enters the room.

“What’s going on girls?” The adult asks calmly, squatting down beside the three girls. Being the proudly stubborn girl that she is, Jessica has her nose high in the air and crosses her arms. Seeing that her sister is refusing to answer her question and Yoona looks too shocked and affronted by her sister’s words, she turns to face the girl in the middle of this mess who very surprisingly has a frown adorned on her cute face.

“Taeyeonnie?” Krystal beckons, speaking in that soft tone she uses to coax the girl to tell her what’s troubling her. It seems to do the trick because Taeyeon bursts into tears and clings onto her whilst she spits fire.

“Sooyeon said bad words! Very bad words! Like baaaaaaad words. Sooyeon made Yoongie upset! Yoongie and I were playing and Sooyeon came and swore at Yoongie and told her t-to –”

“Uh uh Taeyeonnie, no swearing,” Krystal scolds, tapping on the girl’s nose to warn her.

“Okay,” Taeyeon sniffles, hints of tears threatening to escape her eyes whilst her head bobs up and down in understanding.

“So I take it that Sooyeon swore at Yoongie which led to Seohyun yelling at the top of her lungs for me to come here?” Krystal asks, smiling softly when Taeyeon nods her head frantically. She lightly bops the girl’s nose again before planting a soft kiss on the child’s forehead. Unfortunately, someone watches with seething jealousy and moves to stand in between her sister and her Taengoo.

“No kissing Taengoo!” Jessica declares, holding her arms out protectively to shield her friend away from her sister.

Krystal sighs and reaches forward to lift her sister, wincing when the girl struggles in her arms.

“Put me down!” The princess shrieks, kicking her legs in the air and accidentally hitting her sister in the stomach. Krystal thanks herself for her fast reflexes and just manages to not drop her sister onto the floor. She carries the girl to the other side of the room and places her on the armchair, glaring at Jessica when she’s about to hop off the seat and waddle over to her Taengoo.

“You will sit here and think about what you did wrong and not play with Yoona or Taeyeon. What you said to Yoona was very rude and mean and for that, I will not let you play. Do you understand?” Krystal reprimands sternly, placing her hands on her waist to assert her authoritative position.

Jessica meekly nods and lowers her head in sadness.

Krystal turns around and walks back to the other three girls in the room, nodding and smiling gently at Seohyun before bending down and placing a hand on Yoona’s shoulder.

“I’m very sorry for what my sister said to you,” Krystal apologises on Jessica’s behalf, looking over her shoulder to glare at her sister again.

“It’s okay Teacher,” Yoona says, mustering a smile on her face. She receives a light pat on the head before the adult stands up.

“You’re a good kid Yoona and we’re not in child-care so you can call me Unnie,” Krystal says, playfully tapping Taeyeon’s head and ruffling her hair before walking out of the room.

“Unnie!” Taeyeon whines in protest, cutely rubbing her head with her hands with a pout on her face.

Krystal just giggles down the hallway at Taeyeon’s adorable reaction.

When Taeyeon totters towards the living room with Yoona and Seohyun in tow, she hears a loud shriek and looks down to see Tiffany, Sooyoung and Hyoyeon sitting on the floor playing with some dolls.

“Taetae!” Tiffany yells, falling open whilst the the colour drains from her face.

“Yes Fany?” Taeyeon replies, frowning in confusion.

“What are you wearing?” The girl exclaims, pointing an accusatory finger at Taeyeon’s clothes. The child looks down at her shirt then back up at her friend, clearly perplexed by the question.

“It’s a picture of three peas in a pod,” Taeyeon clarifies, smoothing out her shirt before looking down at it again. She frowns further when she can’t find anything wrong with her choice of clothing, and looks back up to see Tiffany cover her eyes with her hands.

“It’s ugly,” Tiffany says inconsiderately, and that’s when Taeyeon’s bottom lip juts out and she begins to blubber for the second time that day.

“Oh my, what’s going on here?” Luna says, rushing into the room and placing a giggling Yuri holding a bottle of juice onto the floor. She squats beside Taeyeon and her hair before looking over at the rest of the girls for an answer.

“We just entered the room and Fany –” Yoona begins to recount, only to stop when Taeyeon’s head shoots up and she begins to shake her head vigorously to signal to her to stop talking. Luna notices t