Dear Julie,

I am so sorry. I gave this letter to them, telling them to give this to you with the first two. Yes, first two.

I should explain. A couple days before your grandfather’s death, these two babies ended up at my door. Seeing we were rich and lonely, the Hug and Kiss Orphanage thought that the kids would be great with us. Sadly, they were wrong.

I wanted to take the babies in, but the moment your grandfather saw them, he “knew” they were trouble. Your father had a gut instinct, just like you, and felt that these two kids would be bad for us two. He didn’t want them, so the next day after we realized who brought them, we went to the orphanage. Your grandfather took them inside, left them with the lady saying we couldn’t take care of them with the death of your mother, father, and little sister and that you were an emotional wreck and that having babies along with us wouldn’t be good for the babies. The lady took them back, of course, but the person who left them thought otherwise.

He got angry and came to our house, yelling for your grandfather. You were sleeping and the walls are thick, so you couldn’t hear or see anything. The man was livid, though, saying that we were just being selfish, not taking in children who needed more help than an “emotional female most likely on her period.” Your grandfather got mad and started yelling back, saying those kids would bring them nothing but bad luck. I had to stop them from getting into a fight and after your grandfather went in, telling the man that I had wanted the kids seemed a good idea, but I would call the police if he didn’t leave. He seemed to understand, but I made the mistake of telling him that my husband wouldn’t let me and that I was too old and I could barely walk anymore.

He decided to bring it upon himself to rid our lives of the misery. He killed your grandfather, and then went to me. He told me that I could take the kids, and I asked him if I could after I grieved over my husband’s death, but he grew mad again and said no. I tried to take them after that, but wasn’t allowed to. I then told them about you when I knew they would most likely kill me or I would die of old age soon. I told them how I was dying and that you would be most likely taking my house. They agreed to give you the kids. They then told me about how many they had wanted to give us and I was shocked.

They said that every day, they would have given us two babies until we had twelve or more. I was shocked and asked them to just give you the twelve since you are so young and don’t know anything about parenting besides taking care of a “dog” you had when you were fifteen. I didn’t dare tell them about your sister, your cousin’s babies, or any of your babysitting jobs since the babies would just cling to you and call you their umma as if you were her. Thankfully, they believed me and agreed, though, along the way, they said they’d drop off more if they feel like it, so be careful.

Please take care of all of them. I know these two come first, but I don’t know about the rest. Oh! The little chubby bunny one is Minseok, but I heard they call him Xiumin because he doesn’t like Minseok. Don’t know why, it’s an adorable name. He’s very lovable so be careful, I heard he clings to his bed when he doesn’t want to leave it. The other is Luhan. The ladies there love him because he’s adorable, but Xiumin, Luhan, and the other eleven, don’t allow the ladies or men to touch them. I heard they were waiting for the right Eomma, but that didn’t seem possible until I saw them all with the other nurses. Please be careful, these two and the others are mean little buggers!!

Love you dearly, my sweet child,

       Grandma Adrianna.

P.S. There is baby food in the pantry, milk in the fridge (though the people probably feed them from time to time so be careful! They might hound you. If they do, there’s pills that I got from the people there that after an hour you can feed them like…ahem…that.), twelve of the rooms are ready to go, but I hid some baby beds/pens in the hallway closet next to your room, and there are toys, coloring books, and books for you to read to them. You know, the normal things. Ta-Ta~!

P.P.S. I heard these two are two years old and the youngest you will get is nine months. You’re going to have to go through the terrible two’s!

Julie sighed and then looked at the babies, feeling weird about the “ feeding” part. They looked at her, as if they were calculating her with their eyes, most likely trying to know what they’re thinking. Julie decided to talk to them as she had dealt with some babies like this before and knew little things that may help.

“Hello, boys,” she said softly, making their eyes start to soften as her own started to soften as well. “I don’t know if you can understand me, but you two seem like smart boys. Xiumin and Luhan, ne? I read that you two don’t like ladies who pretend to be your umma.” She stopped, not knowing what to say as they started to look a little angry as the last comment. “So, I don’t ask you to call me ‘umma’ as you grow, just know that I will try my best to be with you both (and the others that may come along) always and that I will try to be your friend first and act as your umma second. Is that alright?” They looked at each other, blabbing in baby talk that Julie didn’t understand. Finally, they looked at her, finally smiling at her, making her smile and sigh in relief. She was about to pick up Xiumin when she remembered they both don’t like being touched. She pulled her hands back, thinking of what to do as they watched her. “Um, are you hungry at all?” Xiumin understood, nodding. Julie nodded and brought them to the kitchen as they watched the lights as she moved them to the island in the middle of the kitchen so she could make something nice for them.

She looked in the pantry, seeing the different baby food, she groaned. She hated baby food because it was all too mushy and disgusting and she would feel bad if she made them eat it. She moved them around and saw different kinds of soup behind the baby food that they would most likely eat. They were probably cold, though, since that blanket was thin and so she decided that soup was better than nothing. She held out different soups, seeing if they would nod or smile. Sadly, only Xiumin’s face lit up as he pointed to a Broccoli Cheddar one. Julie put the can next to his side of the basket and began to pick out more, showing them to Luhan. He didn’t want any of them, or anything else. She decided to show the baby food and he smiled at the first one. Guess I have to feed him the disgustingness first, she thought sadly.

She turned the stove on, following the directions before pouring it in a bowl when it was done, beginning to feed Luhan as it began to cool down. After a while, she checked on it, and deciding it was okay, she began to feed Xiumin as well, blowing on it just in case. She fed Xiumin, then Luhan, then Xiumin, then Luhan, and so on until everything was gone. Since the boys had gotten a little messy, she grabbed a paper towel, getting it wet in warm water and dabbed off the extra food off of Xiumin’s face. She did it gently, not touching him other than that. He didn’t seem to mind, but when she threw it away and got ready to do the same to Luhan, he didn’t want her anywhere near him and began to open his mouth to scream. Knowing what he planned on, she stepped back, throwing the paper towel away. He closed his mouth, looking at her confused. She sat back down in her chair, frowning.

“Why won’t you let me clean your face?” She mumbled to herself. “It’s dirtyyy.” She began to whine. The baby seemed to roll his eyes as the other baby giggled. She looked at him, deciding on whether or not to ask to pick him up. The baby seemed to understand and held his arms out, making grabbing motions. She picked him up, her heart beating fast as a big smile graced itself on her face. He put his little chubby arms and legs around her, clinging as if he was a monkey, laying his head on her shoulder, looking at Luhan. He then opened his arms. She smiled in relief, Xiumin clinging to her well enough so she could scoop him up with one arm, feeling how light one is and how heavy the other is.

The babies wiggled, giggling and blabbing to each other as they laid their heads down on her collarbone and shoulder area. Julie walked to the doorway to the kitchen, turning off the lights with her toes with her flexible leg. She then made sure the door was locked and then carried the babies up the stairs and to her bedroom, laying Luhan on the bed as Xiumin wouldn’t let go. Julie sighed, crawling into bed as she made sure Luhan was next to Xiumin.

Though, when she laid down, Xiumin let go, laying on his back like a normal baby would do. Julie turned off her bedside lamp, laying her right arm over Xiumin and a sleepy Luhan. She smiled as the baby who was staring intently at her. She started to close her eyes, slowly welcoming the darkness when she heard a tiny and adorable voice.

“Umma.”