“Mama, when are we going to see Taeyeon and the girls?”

Sunny stops typing and picks up her son with a struggle, setting him on her lap. She hugs him gently and slowly spins around in the swivel chair she’s sat in.

“You really want to see them, don’t you”

“Yeah, I want to show Taeyeon my soccer uniform for camp. Can I wear it when we go see her?”

Sunny lifts a flap of her son’s brown hair and kisses his sweaty head. She’s been going back and forth all day – her heart and mind battling out over whether or not she should go to the group thing Bella and Sophia seemed so eager for her to attend.

She’d been beyond stunned when she ran into Taeyeon and the girls at the museum on Saturday. And perplexed, that Taeyeon didn’t seem as stunned, or even interested, really, that they were seeing each other for the first time in over two years. She was so blase. Sunny had thought the rest of the day... among other things like, is she seeing anyone? She couldn’t concentrate on anything... least of all the gathering of research and information for her paper, which she’s now trying desperately to write up.

I owe it to him, Sunny thinks, as Jamie types out his name on her computer with one finger.

“If you want to go and see them, then we can”

“Yesss! Thank you, Mama” he turns his head and pecks her lips, then promptly jumps off and runs toward his bedroom. “I’m gonna put on my uniform so I’m ready!” he calls out to her.

Sunny uses the mouse to click the “stand by” option on her computer, and gets up from her chair. “Not so fast, young man...” she calls down the hallway “You need a shower first... you stink!”

By the time she gets to his room he’s standing in his jersey and underwear, his hair sticking to his sweaty forehead from when he pulled the garment over his head.

“Take everything off” she says in a motherly tone, “You’re not going anywhere smelling like that”

“Oh, Mama” he groans, but strips in record time, and runs down the hallway behind her into the bathroom.

Sunny sticks her hand under the shower spray to test the temperature. She closes her eyes and shakes her head when she turns around and sees her son standing stark with his hands on his hips. Steps aside and gestures for him to get in, but before she closes the door completely, she pokes her head in and reminds him, “Use soap this time, sweetheart”

....

....

....

Sunny checks her face in the rearview mirror. Thinks perhaps she overdressed, as she looks out the car window at all the people walking in to the community center. And even though she’d thought as much while she was dressing,  she couldn’t help wearing her lowest cut blouse and her tighest fitting jeans.

She looks in the rearview mirror at her son, “Ready...?”

“Yes” he nods emphatically.

Sunny takes a deep breath, “Best behaviour”

He grins, “Always, Mama”

....

....

....

They walk in, hand in hand. Identical brown eyes scan the large room for the three people they most want to see.

“Sunny, you came! Hi, Jamie!”

Sunny looks toward the voice and sees Sophia fast approaching.

“Of course I came” she smiles and hugs Sophia back when the girl leans in and hugs her gently.

A twinge of guilt stings her, as it often does, when she thinks about the two years she missed out on with Sophia and Bella. It pains her that they’ve grown so much without her. And her guilt is only compunded by the fact that they seem to harbor no ill-will toward her for leaving them without a word.

“Honestly, I didn’t think you would” Sophia admits, and pulls a cap off a purple marker she’s holding, writing down Sunny’s name on a nametag and handing it to her.

“I want one” Jamie says, stepping toward Sophia.

Sunny smiles at the heart Sophia dotted the ‘i’ with, and she peels the strip off the back of the tag and sticks it near the hem of her blouse.

“Here you go, Jamie” Sophia hands him a tag with his name and the word ‘survivor’ in parentheses underneath it.

“Hey, Sunny, you came” Bella saunters up and pats the brunette on the shoulder, “we didn’t think you were going to show”

“I’m not as predictable as everyone thinks, then” Sunny says with a smile.

“Where’s Taeyeon?” Jamie asks.

“Come on, she’s accross the room” Sophia takes Jamie’s hand and begins to walk away.

“Are you coming, Sunny?” Bella pauses when Sunny doen’t follow.

“I think I’ll look around a bit” Sunny tells them.

Bella smirks, and then shrugs at her and follows her sister and Jamie to the other side of the room.

Sunny begins to wander around. She stops at a long table covered with pamphlets and flyers and scans them quickly, picking up a few that catch her eye and puts them inside her purse.

After making herself a cup of instant tea, Sunny wanders again and notices the kids in the corner of the room, with a group of other children. Not seeing taeyeon with them, she walks in their direction, And that’s when she hears it; Taeyeon’s laugh.

She’s forced to take a deep breath as she spots Taeyeon not far off, talking with two men. Sunny doesn’t move toward her, but instead walks sideways, keeping her eyes on Taeyeon; taking in the way she moves; her body language, her smile, the way her hands talk along with . Still as beautiful as ever.

She looks like a cheetah stalking its prey, Sunny does. And when she realizes it, she laughs at herself, closes her eyes and takes another deep breath. It’s when she opens them that she sees a sparkling pair of black eyes looking back at her.

Taeyeon continues speaking with the people around her, but her eyes stay determinedly on Sunny; a shy smile forming on her lips.

A last deep breath later, Sunny’s walking purposefully toward Taeyeon. And as she weaves between people, she sees Taeyeon’s expression change from shy to amused.

“Hello” Taeyeon says with a smirk when Sunny arrives.

“Hello to you”

“I didn’t think you would show”

“Seems to be the consensus around here”

Taeyeon laughs through a lip bite. “You’ve seen the girls, then. They haven’t been able to talk about anything but you, since the museum”

Another twinge of guilt, but it’s coveres-up well by a smile. “Jamie, either. He insisted on wearing his footy kit tonight, just for you”

“Did he, now” Taeyeon looks around the room and spots the group of children in the corner. She sees the shortest of the bunch standing next to her daughter, holding her hand, and immediately feels emotional. “He’s so handsome, Sunny”

“I have to agree with you”

The clearing of a throat catches Taeyeon’s attention, and she realizes she’s completely forgotten about the two people she was engaged in conversation with when Sunny caught her eye.

“Sorry, Dale, Max... this is Sunny, and old friend of mine”

The two men smile and shake hands with Sunny.

“Dale and Max lost their foster son Bryan to a brain tumor a few months ago” Taeyeon tells Sunny.

“Oh, god, I’m so sorry” Sunny puts a hand on Max’s shoulder, her mind immediately flashes back to a scene of Jamie in his hospital bed.

The two men nod their thanks, and Dale takes hold of Max’s hand. “He fought a good fight” Max says, “but he’s in a better place now”

Taeyeon pats Dale’s back comfortingly, and it surprises Sunny to see it.

“I have to get this thing started” Taeyeon says after a deep breath, “I’ll talk with you soon” she tells Dale and Max, and then turns to Sunny, “You staying for the entire hour?”

“Yeah, definitely”

....

....

....

“...so the doctor told us she wouldn’t live another month, and that we should consider stopping treatment and just take her home. Needless to say we were appalled by that, and I decided to call the Cancer Treatment Centers of America to see what they could offer us” a woman wih a buzz cut and a shirt that says, ‘YES I AM’ shares with the group. She turns to her sickly-looking partner and squeezes her leg, “We leave for Arizona in two days to start treatment”

Everyona begins to clap, and several people stand up to hug the two women. Sunny wipes her cheeks with acrumbling tissue.

Jamie’s head lolls against his mother’s chest as Sunny bends down to the side of her chair and puts the used tissue inside her purse, grabbing a fresh one on her way back up. He fell asleep nearly as soon as the group assembled and he sat on his mother’s lap, and the stories of love, loss and survival began.

“Thanks for sharing, Jean and Linda” Taeyeon’s voice cuts through the murmur of voices once everyone is back in their seats. She looks across the circle at Sunny, “We have someone new here tonight” she announces, “her name is Sunny, and that bushy-haired creature asleep on her lap is her son, James. He’s a leukimia survivor”

The clapping begins again, led by Bella and Sophia who are sat on either side of Sunny, and Jamie’s body jerks awake. Sunny wraps her arms around him and kisses his hair, rubbing his back as his eyes flutter open.

“Thanks for the warm welcome” Sunny smiles, “I’m really overwhelmed by all of your stories, and I feel so lucky to be here with my son” she starts.

Jamie takes off his glasses and rubs his eye, yawning loudly, causing an eruption of laughter in the room. When he puts his glasses back on, he’s looking directly at Taeyeon, and he waves excitedly to her. She waves back with a ridiculous grin.

“Jamie was first diagnosed with leukimia when he was just two and a half” Sunny continues, “it was the most frightening moment of my life. I’d moved here on my own, from Korea, and I took him to the doctor to get an immunization for nursery school. They ended up doing a bit of a physical on him after I’d mentioned some odd symptoms he’d been experiencing. They called me a week later and told me and I...” Sunny looks across at Taayeon, “I was terrified”

A warm hand covers Sunny’s and she looks to her right to see Sophia smiling sympathetically at her.

Sunny fights back tears through a deep breath, “They caught it early and were able to treat it with chemo...”

“I hate chemo!” Jamie broadcasts to everyone in the room. He receives a few laughs, a few nods, and a squeeze from his mother.

“Jamie went into remission when he was just four. But less than a year later he relapsed, without showing symptoms, and it was worse than the first time” Sunny turns her hand over and entwines her fingers with Sophia’s. “I was lucky though, that time. I had a wonderful friend and her incredible daughters to help me through it, and they saved me... they saved my son”

Brown eyes find black and linger there for a long moment. Sunny smiles sadly at Tayeon. Sophia leans her head against Sunny’s arm and squeezes her hand.

“He’s had a few residual effects from the treatments” Sunny shares, as she Jamie’s arm, “some difficulties with school, and problems with his vision. But he’s alive, and happy, and rambunctions, and full of questions – he’s the joy of my life”

A few moments of silence pass before the clapping begins again. Sunny uses her tissue to wipe her eyes, and Jamie turns his head to look at this mother.

“why are you crying?”

Sunny kisses his cheek, “Because I’m happy, sweetheart”

...

...

“Faster, Mama...!” Jamie watches impatiently as Sunny blows up a red balloon Bella gave him.

She ties it and hits it into the air, and Jamie jumps up, again and again, as he waits for it to float down to him. Sunny leaves him to it to watch Taeyeon as she says goodbye to the few remaining group members at the door.

Once the last one is out, Taeyeon closes the door. She begins to gather up the pamhplets and flyers, and Sunny walks over to help her.

“Can I help?”

Taeyeon smiles at her. “Please” she hands her a bunch of rubber bands, “if you could stack them and bind them that would be great”

“Sure” Sunny opens her hand and Taeyeon drops the bands, their fingers brushing lightly.

Taeyeon clears . “So what did you think of tonight?” she asks, as she begins to stack chairs.

“Yeah, it was really nice. Everyone’s so open and willing to share... it’s quite refreshing”

“All done with the trash, Mom” Bella says as she and Sophia walk in from outside.

“Thanks, girls... I’ll just be a few more minutes, and then we can go”

“Hey Sunny, want to come to Jamba Juice with us?” Bella stands next to the table while Sunny finishes wrapping the rubber bands around the stacks of paper. “We always go there ater group”

Sunny glances at Taeyeon. “Maybe your mum just wants it to be three of you”

“...Three of us for what?” Sophia asks, approaching the table with Jamie’s red balloon in hand. She throws it up and hits toward him.

“I invited Sunny to Jamba Juice” Bella tells her sister.

“Oh! Good idea” Sophia smiles, “you’ll come, right?”

Sunny tilts her head and is ready to decline the invitation when she hears squeals coming from the other side of the room, and looks over to see Taeyeon holding Jamie up as he tries to get his balloon down from the top of a tall locker. She watches Taeyeon laugh and hoist him up higher, and she sees the look of joy on her son’s face as he retrieves it and wraps his arms around Taeyeon’s neck, staying there for a good ten seconds.

Sunny can’t help smile when Taeyeon puts him down and smacks his bum as he runs off, throwing the balloon as high as he can.

“Jamba Juice sounds lovely, girls”

....

....

....

“...All I’m saying is, next time you get the brilliant idea to invite Sunny on an outing with us, please consult me first” Taeyeon tells her daughters as she backs out of her parking space.

“Sorry, Mom, but we thought you’d like to spend more time with Sunny and Jamie” Sophia apologizes.

Taeyeon sighs and looks in her rearview mirror and sees Sunny’s car. “I would like to spend time with James, that’s true enough but ...”

“Oh, come on, Mother” Bella interrupts, “you know you’re still holding a torch for Sunny; don’t even deny it”

“Holding a... what do you know about torches” Taeyeon steps on the gas when the light turns green and glances at her daughter sat in the passenger seat.

“I read, Mother. I know things?”

“Well perhaps I ought to pay more attention to your reading material” Taeyeon says, a hint of amusement in her tone.

“Mom...” Sophia says from the back seat, “if Sunny were to tell you that she wanted to get back together with you, what would you do?”

Taeyeon signals right, and the clickingof the turn indicator is all that can be heard in the car for a quarter of a mile. She looks in her mirror to make sure Sunny’s still following and turns into the driveway of the juice place. She parks and looks over at Sunny pulling her car in alongside her own. Looks away when Sunny smiles and waves at her through the windows.

Taeyeon doesn’t answer her daughter. She reaches back and grabs her purse, opens her door and gets out of the car. “Come on, then” is all she says to her children.

....

....

....

“So how was your first surfing lesson, Bella?” Sunny asks, once they’re all settled in at a small round table.

Bella rolls her eyes as she on her straw. Swallows. “It was so boring” she shakes her head, “all we did was lay on our boards on the sand and pretend to paddle”

Sunny laughs and sticks her orange straw between her lips, gently. “I’m sure whatever it was you were doing does serve some purpose” she says after she swallows.

Bella shrugs, “Yeah, I know, but I just want to get in the water”

“As if you’re not in it every day” Taeyeon chimes in, shaking her styrofoam cup and on her green straw.

Sunny looks surprised at this. “You’re in the water every day?

“She’s part fish, I’m convinced of it” Taeyeon winks at her daughter “I should’ve done a through background check on the donor we chose”

“Ew, Mom, that’s... ew” Bella shakes her head and chews on her straw.

Taeyeon grins at Bella and turns her attention to Jamie. “Do you still like to swim, James?” she asks him, remembering the times he spent in the pool at her house and how he never wanted to get out.

“Mm-hmm” Jamie nods his head, refusing to take his mouth off the blue straw held captive in it.

“He takes lessons now” Sunny tells Taeyeon, “every Thursday after school”

“You should come to our house sometime, Sunny” Sophia says, looking directly at her mother.

Bella laughs out her nose and leans back in her chair, watching as her mother glares at her twin.

“I think James’s better suited for pools, right now, darling, not the ocean” Taeyeon says, and clears .

“I’ll go in with him” Bella offers, “I can teach him how to boogey board”

“...Ocean?” Sunny looks around the table, confused.

“Oh yeah, you weren’t around when we moved” Bella says.

Sunny instantly looks guilty at her words.

“We moved to the beach, Sunny” Sophia tells her, “about...” brown eyes look to the ceiling. “a year and a half ago”

“Oh”

“Yeah, it’s pretty great. The beach is private; only for the residents, and we’re always the only ones out there”

“Can I come to your beach?” Jamie asks Taeyeon.

Taeyeon opens but no sound comes out.

“Sweetheart...” Sunny touches his arm, “it’s not polite to invite yourself to people’s houses, remember? We’ve talked about this”

Jamie lowers his eyes disappointedly and sticks his blue straw back in his mouth.

“You’re always welcome in our home, James” Taeyeon tells him, “you... and your mum”

Bella and Sophia look at each other with raised eyebrows, while Sunny smiles kindly at Taeyeon. Taeyeon smiles back and slides her green straw between her lips. And the five of them spend the rest of the time drinking in silence.

....

....

....

“This was fun”

“Yeah...”

“I’ve missed you... all of you” Sunny says.

“Yeah...” Taeyeon smiles gently.

“Taeyeon...”

“Mama... am I busy on Saturday?” Jamie yells across the parking lot to his mother, who is standing with Taeyeon by the cars.

Sunny shoots him an odd look, “No!” she yells back.

Taeyeon rolls her eyes as she observes her daughters chatting with Jamie. “I have a feeling you’re coming over on Saturday” Taeyeon says to Sunny.

“Oh?”

“Yes. The girl’s have a party planned, and I think your son is being clued in as we speak”

Sunny laughs. “What’s the party for? Their birthday isn’t until November”

“It’s a sort of a graduation, end-of-school thing. They’re having ten of their friends over for a barbeque and sleepover” Taeyeon’s eyes grow wide as she says about it.

“That’s very brave of you”

Taeyeon shrugs. “I’m allowed my friends, too, so I won’t be completely overwhelmed”

“If you’d rather we didn’t come...”

Taeyeon reaches out and touches Sunny’s shoulder, “I meant what I said” pulls her hand away quickly, “you’re welcome in our home”

Sunny smiles halfheartedly and nods.

“We’re going to a party on Saturday!” Jamie jumps into Sunny’s arms.

“You’ll come, won’t you, Sunny?” Sophia asks.

“I... yeah... we’ll be there”

“Great!” Sophia turns to her mother, “give Sunny our new address and stuff. And your phone number” she hugs Sunny and tells her she’ll see her Saturday, and then dips into the back seat of the car.

Her sister waves and pats Jamie on the arm, then gets in the passenger seat. “Don’t forget your bathing suits” she says before closing the car door.

Sunny puts Jamie down and tells him to say goodbye to Taeyeon, and he immediately hugs the brunette woman. “Bye, Taeyeon. See you at the party”

“Goodbye, James” Taeyeon kisses his bushy hair. He climbs into the car and sits in his booster seat, putting on his seatbelt.

Taeyeon smiles awkwardly at Sunny and pulls a piece of note paper from her purse, scrawling down their new address and home phone number. Sunny waits for her to add a cell phone number to it, but Taeyeon doesn’t. She hands her the paper, waves to James in the back seat, and walks around to the driver’s side of the car.

“See you Saturday” she says across the roof of the car.

Sunny nods, “Yeah... see you”

....

....

....

hi guys :)

it's been a week ago since the last chapter. i didn't make you wait long enough, did i ? hehe

Oh! anyway thanks for all the comments guys . really.

enjoy reading :)