seven

  “Say ‘ah’, Huiling…”

  “No!” Huiling shook her head in disgust, moving away from the spoonful of food that her aunt had tried to give to her. “Auntie Sulli, I hate mushrooms! Even Mommy doesn’t make me eat those!”

  Thankfully, Victoria made an entrance just as Sulli had set the spoon down on the table with a heavy sigh. “Sulli, I ask you to take care of my girl for five minutes whilst I do her bed, and you’ve got her frowning already.” Victoria phrased her words with much irritation, yet much amusement.

  “…It wasn’t intentional!” Sulli became defensive.

  “I know, I know…” Victoria mused, at the same time trying to sound understanding as she walked over to them, and then sat her daughter on her lap. “…But still, Sulli, going back to what we had been talking about – do you really intend to break up with Taemin?”

  Sulli flinched as Victoria said those words, as if it was taboo to her ears. “Not break up… I mean… I might want to take a break from relationships, you know? To be with neither Sehun nor Taemin.” She inhaled deeply. “All this crazy relationship stuff is ruining the relationship between me and Krystal, and we’re best friends. I don’t want us to become enemies because of a guy…”

  “Sulli, that saying only applies when two best friends love the same guy.” Victoria pointed out. “And if you say such a thing, you’re almost implying that you do like Sehun, and you’re not really taking a break because, well, you really want to take a break, but rather, it seems as though you’re just letting time pass so you and Sehun can get together-”

  “No!” Sulli rebutted Victoria harshly, interrupting her before she could finish her sentence. “I’m not doing it so I can get together with Sehun or anything! I truly, truly am considering to get a break because it’s driving everyone crazy, and I know everyone’s really sick and tired of all this drama by now…”

  Victoria took a deep breath. “Then, all I can ask is – is this truly want?” She gazed at Sulli intently. “Do you want to give up the guy you’ve been with for so long, just because you find out that someone else who’s probably more appealing to you has liked you for a period of time?” Victoria enunciated her words. “…Is this really all that’s been between you and Taemin for the past few years?”

  Sulli swallowed her saliva, feeling rather guilty as Victoria spoke. She knew that in a way, Victoria had been right. She knew that she had been with Taemin for quite a decent period of time, decent enough to call their relationship a steady one. At that very point of time, the one who was wavering had been her, and not Taemin. Taemin had taken his stand clearly, but she herself was rather uncertain of what answer to give. And after such a period of being in a relationship, she knew it was not right for her to be hesitating.

  “…I…I don’t know, Victoria.”

  “Do you truly love Sehun?”

  “…I mean… It depends… I…” Sulli stuttered hopelessly, very much unsure of what to say. “…I haven’t spoke to Sehun, I don’t know whether he truly likes me or whether it’s all just-“

  “Sulli, the thing is… It’s not about whether Sehun likes you or not.” Victoria emphasized. “It’s about you and who you love.”

  She’s right. And all Sulli felt was a sinking feeling at the pit of her stomach.

  “This one or this one?”

  Jonghyun was at a loss for words when his wife held up two frilly dresses, showing it to him. The both of them were in the children’s section of the department store, shopping for clothing. Jessica had been a natural shopper, but this time round, her motive was not to shop for herself, but rather, the unborn child that was still in her womb.

  He truly was not knowledgeable about such dresses. “…They’re both pretty.”

  “You always say that.” Jessica frowned as she put down both dresses.

  “Sica, why are we buying dresses when we don’t know the baby’s gender yet?”

  “Because the baby’s definitely going to be a girl.” Jessica said willfully. “I mean, if I have another boy, I’ll still love him, of course, but I’ll die of boredom shopping for his clothes. Buying boy’s clothing is so boring, you know, especially when there are racks after racks of such pretty dresses next to the boy’s section!”

  He chuckled softly as he nodded his head. “Boy or girl… either’s fine by me.”

  “Well, you better take care of the kid if it’s a girl, Jjong. I expect you to croon her to sleep the same way you sang for three hours last night to get Jeongmin to dreamland.” Jessica smirked, as she saw Jonghyun just about to groan.

  “…He’s such a stubborn kid.” Jonghyun folded his arms. “He takes after his mother – two stubborn people.”

  Jessica gave him a soft shove. “I thought you liked me because I played hard-to-get.”

  “Well, it gives challenge to guys when girls act all cool, but then again Sic, you totally went overboard.” Jonghyun shook his head as he thought about it. “…I practically groveled.”

  “At least your groveling worked.” Jessica shrugged furtively, holding up the dresses once more. “And you should be happy to get two kids of your own, especially now… There are envious people – take my sister, for example.”

  Jonghyun chortled as he took one of the dresses into his hands. “This one.”

  “I thought so. I liked this one better because it has the lace and…”

  Jonghyun could only smile to himself as he watched his wife talk on and on. She could be moody, she could be picky and she could be extremely bossy, but in the end, it was those traits of her that endeared her to him. He liked putting a smile on a face, he really did, because he knew that when she did smile, it was genuine, at least most of the time.

  Just then, he remembered. “…Sica, how much is that?”

  “Two hundred thousand won.”

  He nearly fainted from the shock. “…There goes my bonus.”

  “You know, when I was little, I never thought I’d be accompanying my children- No, two children to an chocolate egg treasure hunt.” Seohyun said with a smile as she stood behind the white fence separating the parents from the children, who were running around and searching for the chocolate eggs. “I didn’t think I’d even have children.”

  Victoria stifled a laugh as she heard Seohyun’s words. “…I guess no one really did consider that. We just went boom – and the next thing we knew, we’re all with little families of our own.”

  “…Well, it’s partially due to the guys as well, they were all in a rush to get married.” Seohyun said casually. “…We were all blown away before we could even stop and realize that it wasn’t really our plans.”

  “Speaking of lifetime plans – how’s Yoona?” Victoria remembered.

  Seohyun shrugged her shoulders, sighing as if it was completely hopeless to bring up such a matter. “It’s been two weeks now, and she has not called me, not even once. Kyuhyun keeps assuring me that everything’s alright… But I cannot help but be worried. After all, we stayed together for a period of time, and she has never once been like this.”

  Victoria contemp