“Hana! Luna!”

Both Hana and Luna turn to the same direction, and they see Gayoon and Xiumin with their two-year-old son Daesung, who is following closely beside his mother who is in a peach-colored summer dress under a loosely fitted, gray cardigan. Her husband, Xiumin, is carrying a large-sized tray with the takoyaki Gayoon had cooked from home for the party. He manages to keep a light smile as he patiently waits for his wife and son to catch up to him after every three or four steps. Daesung is dressed similarly like his father: a blue-collared shirt and fitted jeans with the exception that Daesung’s shirt is checkered.

Gayoon and Xiumin are the last of the friends to get married, and they have been married for four years. After a year and a half of trying to conceive, the success arrived after Hana introduced them to a specialist that can help boost their success of pregnancy.

They chose the magic of IVF, or in-vitro fertilization, and Daesung was the beautiful result. Because it was an expensive alternative, Xiumin had to work two jobs. Even though Xiumin and Gayoon work with Luna at Luna’s family business and Luna had countlessly offered to loan the money in advance or even suggested to raise the salary, Xiumin and Gayoon wanted to pay out of their own pockets from their own hard work for their little fella.

Hana and Luna stand up from the picnic rug Hana and her husband have brought to lay on the grass to greet the couple. Prior to Gayoon’s arrival, the two mothers were discussing and laughing about their husbands’ perks and their children’s relationships with each other.

Luna and Lay married a year after Hana’s small wedding. They have one daughter, Gongju, who is a year younger than Bom, Hana’s second son.

Unlike Hana’s small wedding that was for close friends and family, and unlike Gayoon’s vintage-themed wedding that had the proper audience attended, Luna and Lay’s wedding was the biggest, grandest, and longest wedding of all. It was a three-part wedding over the duration of a month. Of course, Luna’s theme was princess and royalty related.

“You can put it over there with the rest,” says Hana. She points to the two round and wooden picnic tables directly under a patio umbrella.

Her husband and her two older sons Taeyang and Bom had arrived earlier in the morning to claim the area and to set the table with decorations with her arriving later with her two youngest, Gyeo-wool and Yeoreum, along with the Zhang family. Right when the two families came together, the children went off with the fathers to the nearby baseball field, leaving the two mothers to stay behind and wait for the other guests.

“Alright ladies,” says Xiumin. “I’ll see you girls later.” He pats his young son’s head and then kisses his wife’s cheek.

“Xiumin, can you tell Kris to call me? No one picks up my calls,” says Hana, slightly pouting. She has made over ten calls to her husband, to his brother, and to her oldest son Taeyang, but because they have been too busy playing baseball, she knows they won’t bother to answer the phone.

“Even Taeyang?” asks a surprised Xiumin.

Everyone knows Taeyang has grown up to become more responsible that his father and uncle.

Hana heaves a restless sigh. “With his Dad egging him to play baseball, he’s definitely forgotten about me. I just don’t know why Kris won’t answer though.”

“Got it.” Xiumin runs off after waving goodbye to his son.

Hana goes back to sit with her friends. “Thanks, Gayoon, for the takoyaki. I hope it wasn’t much work.”

“You’re welcome,” says Gayoon. She lifts up her son and places him on her lap. “What else do you have?”

“I have pork cutlets because I plan on making it with curry later when more guests have arrived, and Luna ordered various dishes I didn’t even think of.”

Luna is pleased with herself. “Of course. It’s for one of our kids’ birthdays—how can I not do such a thing? But for your guests, who are you also expecting?”

“The usual: my big family, my in-laws, the Byuns, the Parks, and our daycare lady. Chanyeol and Krystal can’t make it because they are out for a meeting.”

“Wow, you still keep in contact with your daycare lady?” Luna asks, raising a brow. “Isn’t she, like, retired? Way, long ago?”

Hana nods. “She is retired now, but she’d occasionally visit the daycare center and would see the whole pack.”

“That’s sweet of her,” says Gayoon.

Both Hana and Luna nod.

“Speaking of your guests, the Parks, Leeteuk ssi and his family, have arrived.” Luna looks passed Hana’s direction.

Hana stands up again to greet her neighbors with their daughter, Chanmi, and their son, Changho.

Chanmi is a year younger than Taeyang and is usually teased for her relationship with Taeyang, as the two have grown up with each other after Hana and Taeyang moved back to live in their old house where they had lived for a year before the six-year disappearance. Her younger brother is the same age as Gyeo-wool.

“Hi, Mrs. Park,” says Hana. “Hi, Chanmi and Changho.”

“Hi, Mrs. Lu,” says Mrs. Park.

“Hi, Auntie,” say Chanmi and Changho. Because the Lus and the Parks are next door neighbors and friends, each of their kids referred to their friends’ parents as auntie or uncle.

“Where’s Taeyang?” Chanmi asks as she sets down two liters of carbonated drinks. “Where’s Uncle too?”

Hana pouts and glances at the baseball field. “They’re all over there playing baseball. I’ve called for them to come over and start the barbecue, but Taeyang, his dad, or his uncle isn’t answering any of my calls.”

Mrs. Park laughs from the side. “Chanmi, why not go tell my future son-in-law to call his mother. He listens to you too.”

“MOM!” Chanmi blushes a bright color and looks away. “We grew up together, that’s all.”

Everyone laughs, and even Daesung claps in harmony.

“That would help,” says Hana, smiling. “Can I send you to either pull Taeyang or his father by the ear for me?” Even though she just asked Xiumin to do the same job for her earlier, she knows that once Xiumin joins the gang in the field, her mission to him is long forgotten.

“You can count on me, Auntie.”

“I’ll tag along too,” says Mr. Park with a grin that implies he has other intentions.

Mrs. Park lightly chides her husband. “You should get them to come here too. I’m sure the kids have been playing without eating.”

Luna nods. With a dreadful tone, she adds, “Since eight in the morning.”

Mr. Park and Chanmi run off, and Hana goes back to join the conversation.

“Since eight?” Mrs. Park surprisingly asks. “Oh, to reserve the area.”

Hana makes an unimpressed expression. “I told him he can go at ten with me and the kids but he desperately wanted to choose a good spot, so he took the two older kids with him.”

Luna laughs hysterically and adds that when she, her family, Hana, and Hana’s two younger kids arrived at the park later in the day, Mr. Lu and the older kids were playing catch and had yet to do anything as they were told to do. “In the end, Hana and I had to set everything up properly.”

“Men,” says Mrs. Park in a joking manner. “They can never get the job done properly.”

The girls continue to chat until ten minutes later, Hana’s phone rings and she answers.

“Chanmi? Oh Taeyang. Why are you calling from her phone?”

“Dad told me—I don’t have it with me.”

Hana heaves a heavy sigh because she knows her husband has committed the same offense of purposely turning off their phones. “Well, did your dad forget that I have a job for him to do?” When she can hear the soft panting from her son, she worriedly asks if they have played too rough. “Tell him that I want him back here for his job. Both your dad and your uncle.”

“Got it, Mom. And Mom.” Taeyang quickly adds the latter comment. “Dad got Yeoreum and Gyeo-wool dirty.”

From what sounds like behind Taeyang, Hana’s husband shockingly shouts, “Taeyang, why you—”

Taeyang hangs up the phone, however.

“I knew I should have made they stay behind,” Hana says.

“It’s okay, Hana,” says Luna. “They’re still kids, so they’re going to get dirty anyway.”

The other girls laugh because Luna is a different story when it comes to her daughter, Gongju. If Gongju had a stain or a wound, Luna gets all dramatic and wants all stains removed and every wound tended to. There once was a time when Lay secretly taught Gongju to bike that when she scraped her knee, Luna had almost called all of the doctors from around the world to ensure that there won’t be a scar and had requested for the impossibility of having the wound to heal within two days’ time.

About five minutes later, four people arrived. Three out of the four know they are in absolute trouble with Hana.

“Auntie, they’re here,” says Chanmi, showcasing the guilty men behind her to the warden, Hana.

Hana points to Taeyang. “Take my keys, and get yours and your brothers’ clothes from the car for you guys to change.” As soon as Taeyang runs off to obey her orders, she points to her husband. “You, start the barbecue.” She points to her husband’s brother. “You, we need more ice so unpack it from that box over there.”

Both of the boys say nothing and walk away to complete their respective jobs.

“Hana, my team was winning against Taeyang’s, you know,” says Luhan. Ever since Taeyang grew and sharpened his batting and catching skills for baseball, Luhan has yet to win a game against him. “I was my team’s MVP too.”

Hana walks over to her friend. “You guys have been playing for over three hours and none of you have yet to take a rest, so I was getting worried.” She then looks at Kris. “I thought I was able to trust you with answering my calls.”

Kris shyly points to his younger brother.

She grimaces at Luhan. “Next time, I’m so not inviting you.”

“You cannot do that. I’m related to the kids, you know.”

“So, what?”

Everyone watching laughs to themselves at the friends’ small and unchanging bickering.

When Taeyang walks back from the car with the clothes his mother had prepared in advance, he is followed by a group of people: his grandparents and Uncle Baekhyun.

“Mom, I’m heading back to the field,” says Taeyang. He walks passed Chanmi and flips her hair to the side, something he does whenever he is around her.

Chanmi tries to get him back by chasing after him, and they run straight towards the field again.

Luhan finds this as a chance to join the two and to escape his job. “Me too!”

“Luhan, you have to finish this first,” says Hana, already a step ahead of him.

“Hyung can do it for me.”

“Almost everyone’s here, and you’re not going to lend a—”

From out of nowhere, Mr. Kim, Hana’s father, enters the couple’s conversation. He stands behind Luhan, and not his daughter. “Hana, why are you telling him what to do? Let him go as he pleases.”

“Mr. Kim,” says Mr. Lu, Luhan and Kris’s father, from the opposite side. He also comes from out of nowhere and includes himself into the conversation, but he bickers with the elder man in front of him while he stands behind Hana. “Why are you yelling at my daughter-in-law? This son of mine needs to know his responsibilities, and she is putting him in place.”

“My daughter is still lacking in many areas, and—”

“Okay, you two,” say both Mrs. Lu and Mrs. Kim to their respective husband. They pull their husband away and tell them to sit down at the other patio while the young adults get to work.

As the four of them head to their own table, Mr. Lu and Mr. Kim continue their occasional, small, but cute, argument about Hana and Luhan. Every time the two elderly men meet, they always spat over about which friend of the two is better, but they never miss to do it over a few drinks. Everyone had expected for Mr. Lu to defend his son, but he chooses to say good words of praises about Hana. The opposite is true too. They expected Mr. Kim to defend his daughter, but he has nothing bad to say about Luhan. Despite such conversations, they have become good drinking buddies ever since the two families have become one with the Kim-Lu marriage.

Luhan quietly whispers to Hana. “See, your dad’s right.”

“No, your dad’s right,” says Hana.

Within two hours, the kids have been cleaned up by their respective parents, all of the guests have arrived, the party starts with Bom’s blowing out the candles followed by the grand meal, and finally, Bom’s opening of the birthday presents.

The guests then slowly leave the park to head on home, first starting with Baekhyun and his grandparents.

They thanked Hana for the invite and sweetly bid the Lu kids goodbye.

“You’re going to be home this summer?” asks Taeyang to Baekhyun.

As per usual, Taeyang visits his great-grandparents in the countryside every summer; however, Baekhyun now has Kris’s job as the grandparents’ business mediator in the city, so it requires him to move between places, causing him to rarely meet the teenager during the summer.

“For the first two weeks, yeah,” says Baekhyun. “Are you going to do the internship?”

“Yeah, after summer camp. There won’t be any practice for baseball too, so I’ll have time.”

“Okay. That’s fine.” He shakes Taeyang’s hand. “See you then.”

As for Taeyang’s great-grandmother, before she leaves, she slips in a quick commentary to Hana. “Thank you, for always taking great care of our grandsons.”

Hana bashfully smiles. “It’s my pleasure.”

Mrs. Byun walks with her husband and grandson to their car. She steals a glance behind her shoulders and smiles. She’s glad she did what she had done ten years ago.

Her great-grandson is happier with his mother, and she is glad that she didn’t tear apart both mother and son.

After the Byun family leaves, the Parks also has to go because Chanmi has tennis practice. After Taeyang mocks Chanmi’s tennis posture, she chases him around the area until she decides to call it quits because of the unnecessary shipping of her and Taeyang from everyone.

The retired, day care center lady also takes her leave a couple of minutes later.

Another thirty minutes passed, and Hana’s grown up nieces and nephews, her older siblings, and her parents leave the park.

Now, it was just the friends and their children.

They would have cleaned their area right after everyone went home but when Taeyang asks to stay for practice, the friends continue to stay. All of the