“She’s perfect”

Taeyeon cradles the newborn baby, swaying her gently as a nurse take Yul’s vitals.

“We chose the right name then” Yul smiles, exhausted and elated.

Jessica monitors the nurse monitoring the mother of her child. Once they announce that all is well with Yul, Jessica breathes a huge sigh of relief. But when the nurse takes the baby from Taeyeon to perform similar vitals, Jessica is right there hovering over the woman’s shoulder.

“Babe, leave the poor woman alone so she can do her job”

“I’m just making sure my daughter is healthy”

Jessica pauses and looks blankly at the wall across the room, whispering “…my daughter”

“Better get used to it. And fast” Taeyeon tells her friend. “Your life belongs to her now; you can forget about everything else”

“Way to help her relax, Taeyeon” Yul yawns.

Taeyeon laughs and sits in the rocking chair. “I should call the girls and tell them the news”

She presses the button that speed dials her home number, laughing at Jessica as she paces behind the nurse.

“Hi, darling… yes… she was born at two-o-three, and she weighed eight pounds, one ounce, respectively. Twenty inches long…. yes, Yul’s fine. I’m not so sure about Jessica though…”

“I heard that” Jessica says without taking her eyes off of her daughter.

“… yes, I’ll be home soon… I did, lots of them, don’t worry… what’s your sister doing?... I’ll see you in a bit… yes… tell Emma she won’t have to stay… ok… bye, Bella”

“They’re ecstatic and cannot wait to meet her” Taeyeon says, slipping the phone into her purse.

“Babysitters in the making” Yul smiles.

“Ready to try feeding, Mommy?” Jessica picks up her daughter with a look of awe in her eyes.

“I should go and let you have some privacy. Let me have one more look at the baby” Taeyeon carefully extracts the less-than-an-hour-old baby from her mother’s arms and kisses her wrinkled forehead lightly.

“Welcome to the world, Eden Kwon”

She hands her back to Jessica and takes a deep breath.

“Thanks for being here, Taeyeon; I couldn’t have gotten through any of it without you”

Taeyeon hugs Jessica from the side. “What are friends for?” she picks up her purse and walks over to kiss Yul. “Good job, Mum”

“Thanks, Taeyeon. We’ll see you soon”

“Yes, you will. The girls and I will have everything ready by the time you’re discharged, don’t you worry. Love you both”

“Love you!” the new moms reply in unison as Taeyeon walks out the door.

....

....

....

“What color hair does she have, Mom?” Bella fills three glasses with juice.

Taeyeon places a fork next to each plate on the table. “She doesn’t really have that much hair. But what little she does have is black. We can look at the pictures I took with my phone, once it’s charged”

“What about her eyes?”

“It can take up to three years before her eyes develop their true color” Sophia informs her sister, “I read that in the baby book”

“Come and sit down, girls. I’ll serve”

Taeyeon grabs tongs from a kitchen drawer and serves her daughters a good portion of salad, and then takes a large pot of rice and beans Emma cooked up for them off the stove and places it on top of a cast-iron pot holder in the middle of their table.

Bella leans in and grabs the serving spoon from the pot and puts two large helpings of rice and beans on her plate. She blows on the steaming food before sticking a forkful in .

“Is she ok even though she was born a week early?” she asks.

Taeyeon nods and chews her food. “The doctor says she’s perfectly fine” she points to each girl with her fork, “you two were three weeks early, you know”

“That’s typical with twins though, isn’t it” Sophia says.

“Yes. But we were still surprised to see you so soon”

“You mean you were scared” Bella grins.

Taeyeon laughs with full. “I was indeed. But as soon as I held you I wasn’t scared at all”

“How come…?”

“Mm…” Taeyeon takes a drink of juice, “I felt protective and proud and just… so much love. Those feelings overpowered the fear, I suppose”

“We should have a baby, Mom”

Taeyeon nearly chokes on the bite of food she’s just put in .

“I mean… you should have a baby”

Taeyeon gently hits her chest with a fisted hand, clearing and chewing the last bits of rice inside .

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about a baby?” Bella rolls her eyes.

“Wouldn’t it be fun, Mom?” Sophia jumps in, “We would be big sisters and we would help you take care of her…”

“…Her?”

“It would be a girl, of course”

Taeyeon squints and nods, “Of course”

“…And we could turn your office into the nursery”

“So now I’m giving birth and giving up my office?”

“Mother…”

“Children…” Taeyeon counters.

Bella turns to her sister, “She’s saying no way in hell”

“Language, Isabella” Taeyeon warns.

Bella rolls her eyes to the point that Taeyeon thinks they might stay stuck.

“But you love babies, Mom” Sophia sighs.

“You’re my babies. And, yes, I love you”

“We’re growing up, Mom. Before you know it, we’ll be gone off to university far, far away”

“Oh… so having a baby would be for my sake?”

The girls nod with the fakest of innocent expressions.

“Not to worry. I’ve already had plans drawn up for both your rooms, so as soon as you’re off to uni I’ll be converting the spaces into an exercise room and an old lady craft room – I’ll probably take up sewing”

Taeyeon’s daughters shake their heads at their mother’s sarcasm and decide to drop the subject.

A few bites of food later…

“So… Mom…”

“Yes…?”

“Talked with Sunny lately?” Bella giggles under her breath at the annoyed look she gets from her mother.

“Alright, let’s finish eating now”

The nerve she’s struck is a sore one, and Bella looks apologetically at her sister who is looking back with a tight, disapproving face.

The rest of their dinner is eaten in silence.

....

....

....

Taeyeon settles into bed with her Ipad. She slides on her glasses and shifts positions until she’s comfortable, and starts to read. Halfway into the second sentence, her phone rings. Taeyeon glances at the clock on the wall: “Eleven-o-eight” she mumbles.

Picks up the phone, “I’m not coming to get you!” she shouts down the phone, laughing a bit.

“Oh... sorry, were you expecting someone else’s call?”

Taeyeon sits up quickly when she hears the voice on the other end.

“Hi… no… well, I thought it might be Jessica calling in a panic to ask me to whisk her away from the hospital and help her disappear”

“I don’t understand…”

“Yul had the baby, and Jessica is… adjusting to the responsibility of motherhood”

“She had her?” Sunny excitedly asks.

“Yeah, earlier today; mother and child are fine. Other mother, not so much”

Sunny laughs. “She doesn’t like feeling someone have that power over her, does she”

“Nope”

“She’ll get used to it”

“Yeah, I know she’ll be fine”

Taeyeon leans back into her pillow and listens to a few seconds of dead air.

“I’m sorry to ring you so late”

“No problem. I was just reading”

Sunny breathes into the phone nervously. “I’ve been trying to call you since half nine”

“Phone troubles…?”

“No. Mind troubles”

“I don’t follow”

“I’d dial all the numbers but that last before losing my nerve and hanging up”

“…Oh”

“I… I haven’t been able to think about anything but you for the past week”

“…Oh”

“It’s been very distracting”

A long pause.

“I’m not sure what to say here”

“You don’t need to say anything, not if you don’t want to. I just… I’m feeling really confused, Taeyeon”

“About…?”

“About you… about why now… about…”

“Why now…?”

“Yes. Running into you now, right after I…”

“Became involved with someone else” Taeyeon finishes.

“What? No… I’m not involved with… oh… I’m not with Sooyoung, if that’s what you mean”

Taeyeon bites her lip. “You’re not?”

“No. She’s just a friend… a colleague. I mean, she has asked me out but…”

“…But?”

“I guess I’m still thinking about it?”

“I see…”

“Soo is a great person and everything, but I don’t feel that…”

“Connection”

“Yes, exactly”

“I know what you mean. I dated a very nice woman a few months back. She was attractive, intelligent, adventurous… but I wasn’t bothered for her when we weren’t together. And I found I rarely thought of her, unless we were speaking or out somewhere”

“So you’ve been dating…”

“I’m not a nun, Sunny” Taeyeon laughs. “Did you expect I’d be pining for you or something?”

She winces at her own words.

“Sunny… I’m sorry…”

“Don’t be”

Taeyeon runs a hand through her hair. “I guess I thought I’d handle this better”

“Handle what better?”

“Talking to you again; having you back in my life”

“You thought about it before?”

“Of course I did… hang on, Sunny”

Taeyeon’s cell phone rings and she looks at the caller id.

“Just as I suspected…” Taeyeon takes the call, “I knew you’d call sooner or later… yeah… hang on”

“Sunny, Jessica is on my mobile, I have to go”

“Right, yeah…”

“Have a good night” Taeyeon says.

“Oh. Sure. You too”

“Bye”

“Bye”

Taeyeon hangs up the phone and puts her cell to her ear. “So what are you freaking out about?”

“Nothing, I’m not freaking out at all. Did you just hang up on Sunny, you douche?”

“Oi, name calling!”

“Why would you do that! You should’ve told me you were on the phone with her and I could’ve called back”

Taeyeon hears Jessica mumbling to Yul.

“Is this some kind of conspiracy?”

“No, because a conspiracy would have me doing things behind your back instead of calling you a douche to your face… ear”

Taeyeon rolls her eyes. “The conversation with Sunny was taking a… a weird turn”

“Weird is good. Get past the weird and move on to the , right?”

“Have you stolen prescription pills and taken them? I’m not interested in with Sunny. I’m not interested in anything with Sunny. I’m not interested in Sunny. Full stop!”

“Right. Well, when you get your head out of your , dear friend, please be sure to stop by the house and feed our cat. That’s all I called for”

“Fine. Goodnight”

“Taeyeon, wait…”

“Goodnight!”

Taeyeon throws the cell phone down by the foot of her bed, crashes her head into her pillow and jerks around under the covers. She squeezes her eyes shut and pulls the covers over her head, trying desperately to shut out the voices echoing in her mind.

....

....

Thankyou so much for taking the time to comments. You guys are amazing!