She gets lost in the painting. It’s almost as if all the lights have dimmed around her and there’s a spotlight shining on her from behind, casting her shadow onto the piece of art like she’s part of it. She narrows her eyes and looks at every detail. The way the girl’s sitting on the floor, the delicate way the mother has her hand posed and ready to adorn her daughter’s hair with expensive pins. The girl’s smile. The milky white chest of the mother and the way her garment falls gracefully off of her shoulders.

“Sophia, come on”

“Soph” a hand waving in front of her face brings her back to reality.

“...huh?”

“God, Sophia, you act like you haven’t already seen this painting a hundred times”

Sophia sighs and smiles at the art on the wall, “I know, but it’s my favourite”

“Yeah, well, we have to go”

Sophia puts an arm around her sister’s shoulders, “Ok, let’s go”

They walk  out of the exhibition room and into the main hallway.

“Great, where did Mom go?” Bella asks herself out loud, knowing her sister isn’t really listening, ‘...she was just here” she does a full turn and spots her mother in the corner. “There she is...”

Sophia follows slowly behind, still swimming in a dreamy sea of renaissance art.

“Mom, we’re going to be late!” Bella points to her wrist and mouths ‘let’s go’ when she sees her mother on the phone.

Her mother holds up her index finger and shakes it. Mouths back ‘one minute’.

Bella rolls her eyes and groans quietly. Leaves her mother standing in the corner and grabs her daydreaming sister by the arm.

“we’ll wait outside for her”

“Ok...” Sophia sighs.

They know their way around the museum, it’s where they spend most Satyrday mornings when they have the time, since Sophia is quite the art enthusiast and is indulged by her mother and sister. But this morning Bella, too, is to be indulged.

As they round the corner toward the exit, Bella stops suddenly. Sophia bumps into her from behind.

“Ow!” Sophia rubs the point of impact on her forehead where she collided with her sister, “why did you stop?”

Bella takes Sophia’s head and turns it to the right. “...thats why...”

“what am I looking at?”

“Her...” Bella points, “That woman”

“There are ten women over there”

“Oh my god, Soph...” Bella pulls her sister behind a small wall partition, “the woman looking at the statue”

“Oh... that woman” Sophia stares, and Bella watches her sister’s eyes get bigger and bigger until they’re nearly bulging out of their sockets.

“See? I told you”

“It looks like her but... her hair isn’t blonde. And how is she...? Mom said she moved to Korea”

“It’s been two years or something, maybe she moved back. And there is something called hair dye, you know. Come on...”

Sophia allows her sister to tug her along until they’re only a few feet away from the unfamiliarly familiar woman.

“Say something” Bella whispers, bumping her sister with her hip. “she’s walking away”

“Sunny!”

The woman turns around and a faint, involuntary gasp escapes her. She doesn’t move or speak, just stares at the two girls for a good minute.

Sophia and Bella look at one another and shrug simultaneously. Bella approaches the woman first, smiling.

“fancy meeting you here, Sunny”

Sophia joins her sister and looks Sunny up and down, stopping at the woman’s surprised brown eyes. She notices that Sunny’s eyes are flitting back and forth between her and her sister, but that they’re also looking behind them, searching.

“Our mom’s here” Sophia answers Sunny’s silent question, “she had to take a phone call”

“You two have grown” Sunny finally says.

“I’m a quarter of an inch taller than Sophia” Bella grins and cranes her neck to prove her point.

Sophia rolls her eyes, “No one cares, Bell”

“It’s been a long time” Sunny says, hugging a book to her chest.

“Yeah... so what are you doing here? Mom said you left and moved to...”

“Jeonju” Sunny finishes.

“Right, Jeonju. So what are you doing here in LA, at the Getty?”

“I... actually, I...”

“Sorry girls...”

A familiar voice stops Sunny from continuing. She looks up to see Taeyeon walking toward them, and her grip on the book tightens.

“...I had to take that call...” Taeyeon says, dropping her phone into her purse and keeping her head down, “it was Mr. Kwong... damn, where the hell are my keys! I know I...”

She does a triple take.

“Hello, Taeyeon”

Taeyeon puts her hands on her daughters’ shoulders, tugging them backward gently. “Hello” she answers slowly.

The silence that follows is awkward, and Sophia and Bella both tilt their heads back to look at their mother.

“You look well” Sunny smiles unsurely, her palms squeking against the hardcover book in her arms as she adjust it.

“Thanks... so do you”

Bella and Sophia look at one another and roll their eyes. They know that if sparks and fireworks and marching bands could actually appear when you see someone who used to make your heart skip a beat, those things would all be happening right now.

Sophia imagines in some alternate dimension, these things are happening.

“We have to use the ladies room” Taeyeon’s youngest daughter announce, She pulls her sister away from the brunettes frozen in time, and they quickly make their way behind the restroom door.

“Did you see that?” Sophia asks her sister, as they wander around the restroom.

Bella shakes her head and laughs, “I thought Sunny was going to faint” she puts her hands under the motion-sensing faucet, “...faint, or jump on Mom and tackle her to the ground”

“Eww” Sophia giggles.

“They’re not known for their subtlety” Taeyeon explains, smiling tightly.

“They’ve grown so much” Sunny says, a regretful tone to her voice.

“Yeah... they’re good girls; I’m proud of them”

“You should be”

Taeyeon clears and her black eyes awkwardly scan the room when she can’t think of anything intelligent to say.

“Taeyeon...”

“Hey, Sunny, I found this book about the Getty in the gift shop. Think you can use it as a cheat sheet for your paper?”

Sunny smiles apologetically at Taeyeon and then turns to the woman that’s just approached them, looking behind her. “Where’s Jamie?”

“Oh, he’s right behind me” the woman turns around and points to a little boy running full-speed toward them.

Taeyeon puts a hand to , smiling beneath it when she lays eyes on the brown-haired boy.

Sunny takes notice and reaches out to stop the Tasmanian devil that is her son. “Sweetheart, ther’s no running in the museum, remember?”

“Sorry, Mama” he takes his mother’s hand and looks around the room, not noticing Taeyeon at all.

“Hello, James” Taeyeon squats down a few feet from the boy and smiles through misty eyes. He doesn’t reply. Just looks at her witha furrowed brow, through his coke-bottle-lens glasses, scratching his shaggy-haired head. “Do you remember me?”

When he shakes his head and moves closer to his mother, Taeyeon’s heart breaks.

“It’s been a long time, hasn’t it” she says, controlling the shake in her voice. “You were just five last time we saw each other”

“is this an old friend, Sunny?”

Taeyeon smiles weakly at Jamie and stands, stretches out her arm. “Sorry” extends a hand, “I’m Taeyeon”

“Choi Sooyoung”

“Taeyeon’s and old friend, yes” Sunny tells the long haired brown woman, “seems like ages ago” she sighs.

“A little over two years” Taeyeon nods and turns her attention back to Jamie. “and two years is a long time in young boy years”

“Mama, I’m bored, can I go see out the window and look at the tram?”

Sunny tries to force down one of her son’s many cow-. “Yes, you may go and look out the window... but don’t go anywhere else”

He’s gone before she can get out the last word. Taeyeon watches him as he darts between museum patrons and climbs onto a marble bench to look out the window.

“That head of hair is rather amazing” Taeyeon tells Sunny, keeping her eyes on Jamie.

Sunny laughs, “He refuses to let me cut it”

“It’s beautiful” she says, voice full of emotion “I never did get to see him with that much hair”

Sunny looks guilty, and Taeyeon shakes her head faintly, as if to apologize and let her know she didn’t mean it like that.

“He’s officially cancer-free” Sunny informs her, “two months ago”

“That’s wonderful, Sunny” Taeyeon crosses an arm over her chest and begins biting on her thumbnail.

“You two seem like really good old friends” Sunny’s new friend Sooyoung pipes in.

Taeyeon had almost forgotten she was there.

“Um, actually, Soo...” Sunny glances at the woman, “Taeyeon is my ex”

“Oh... Ohh” Sooyoung points to Taeyeon and nods, “right, I thought you looked familiar, I’ve seen your pictures around the house”

Taeyeon tries no to look surprised. She clears .

“Sunny, would you mind if I...” Taeyeon gestures to Jamie with her hand.

“No... yes... I mean, go”

Taeyeon thanks her with a nod and makes her way across the room to Jamie. She stands behind him for a minute, taking in the way he’s changed and grown. She sits down next to him.

He has his face pressed to the glass, his glasses scraping against the window as he looks left and right, oblivious to her presence.

“That tram is the best thing at this museum” Taeyeon says to him.

“Jamie’s head moves slightly, but he ignore her for the most part, looking at her kfrom the gaps at the sides of his glasses.

“I always pretend to forget things in my car just so I can ride back down and up again – I think Bella and Sophia are beginning to catch on” Taeyeon stares out the window, purposely not giving him her full attention.

He stays quiet.

“You look very handsome in your glasses. I wear glasses sometimes too, but only for reading”

When he remains silent and staring out the window, Taeyeon wants nothing more than to reach out and grab him and pull him into her lap and cuddle him the way she used to. She wants to tell him she’s sorry for leaving him in the park that day. That she wishes she could have been with him the last two years. But she doesn’t. She can tell he’s feeling a bit uncomfortable.

“Well, I have to get going, but i’m glad I got to see you, James, because I’ve missed you” she gently pats his bruised-up, little boy knee and stands up. “I hope to I see you again soon”

As she’s walking away, she feels a tug on the back of her shirt and turns around. Looking up at her with magnified eyes is a less than serious Jamie.

“I remember you” is all he says, before running back to his mother.

Taeyeon bites her lip and shakes her head at him. She walks to the restroom and finds her daughters sitting on the counters next to the sinks.

“You’ve been in here long enough, don’t you think?”

They hop off and walk out to the lobby with her, where Sunny is still standing in the same spot.

“Did you get to talk to Sunny?” Sophia asks, taking her mother’s hand.

“I did, yes”

“...And?”

“And I spoke to her” she says quietly, as they arrive back at Sunny.

“Wow, Jamie, you got big!” Bella says, ruffling his hair.

“I like your glasses” Sophia tells him, and gives him a hug.

Taeyeon tries not to look at Sunny, but fails miserably. Sunny is in the same boat.

“We really have to get going, girls”

“I start surfing lessons today, Sunny” Bella says proudly.

“Surfing?”

“Yup! And once school’s out, I’m going to join Junior Lifeguards”

“That sound exciting”

“It had better be for what I’m paying for it” Taeyeon says, tipping Bella’s chin up and raising her eyebrows at her daughter, “and you’d better stick with it, young lady”

“I will, I will. Jeez, Mom”

“Mama, I want to surf”

Sunny smiles down at him, “You’re too young, love”

“Can I go to the beach today? This museum is boring”

“Hey, sport...” Sooyoung picks him up, “me and you are going to have lots of fun while your mom takes notes for her paper”

Taeyeon clenches her jaw and wants to rip Jamie out of the woman’s arms. She smiles smugly, far too happy, when Jamie wriggles out of Sooyoung’s arms and stands next to Sunny.

“What kind of paper are you writing, Sunny?” Sophia asks with genuine interest.

“It’s for an art class I’m taking at the local community college”

“Going back to school?” Taeyeon asks, curious.

“No, I’m just taking it for fun, really. Something to do on my own” Sunny shrugs as she Jamie’s moppy hair.

“Good for you” Taeyeon smiles, and she can’t help it when her eyes slowly, involuntary take Sunny in, from head to toe.

“Um... we’d better get this show on the road, Sunny” Sooyoung says, standing between Taeyeon’s family and Sunny, “We’ve got that lunch date we can’t be late for”

Sunny looks down and sees Bella peeking around Sooyoung, mocking the stranger with her hands, and she has to keep herself from laughing. Jamie isn’t quite so in control of his giggles.

Taeyeon pulls her daughter back and holds her neck playfully. “We have to go, too”

Sooyoung moves out of the way and Taeyeon walks past Sunny, turning around and smiling halfheartedly. :It was good to see you, Sunny”

“Yeah... it was” Sunny says back, her eyes expectant.

“Good luck in your class”

“Thanks...”

Bella and Sophia look between the two women who seem to have an invisible string holding their gazes on each other. Bella elbows Sophia’s arm, and Sophia’s brown eyes dart back and forth briefly, before a high watt light bulb can clearly be seen turning on over her head.

“Sunny, you should come to group on Wednesday nights!”

Bella leans to her sister and whispers, “nice”

Taeyeon pulls Sophia back and pats her freckled cheek patronizingly, “I don’t think Sunny would want to...”

“What’s group?” Sunny asks, the corner of lifting slightly.

“We started it” Bella happily informs, “it’s for LGBT people who have lost someone to cancer”

Taeyeon glances at Sunny apologetically, “Sunny didn’t lose anyone, darling, so...”

“Not everyone has lost someone, Mom. You know that. Some people have family who are sick right now, or who have survived... like Jamie” Bella smiles at the boy who’s rubbing his nose furiously.

“Give me one of your cards, Mom” Sophia requests, holding a hand out to her mother.

Taeyeon glares at her daughters, reluctantly opens her purse and pulls out a silver card holder. She snaps itt shut after sliding a card out and hands it to her daughter.

“Pen...?” Sophia shakes her hand at her mother.

Once she has the pen, Sophia turns Taeyeon’s business card over and writes on it. Hands it to Sunny with a satisfied grin.

“We meet every Wednesday at the West Hollywood community center. You should come and share your story”

Sunny takes the card and glances at the front. Looks at Taeyeon, “You started your own firm?”

Taqeyeon nods meekly, “Yeah”

“Will you go to the group, Sunny?” Bella asks, eyes eager, “Jamie can come, too”

“I will if I have time”

“Alright, girls. We really need to go” Taeyeon puts an arm around each of her daughters, nods at Sooyoung, “It was nice to meet you” looks at Sunny and smiles, then looks down at Jamie, “I hope to see you again, James”

Jamie crocks his finger and calls Taeyeon down to him. Taeyeon bends down and Jamie whispers in her ear, “Take me with you”

Taeyeon laughs, a lot, and can’t resist hugging him. She’s relieved and touched when he hugs her back.

“Have fun in the museum, James” she winks at him, and then walks away with her daughters.

What's up guys hehe i hope you all didn't forget about the story

I decided to post the sequel in here. 

do comments ok ;)