Epilogue- 4 years later

Celeste stood behind the counter of her cafe and looked around. All the tables and chairs were filled and people drank coffee and chatted. There was a couch in a back corner that had a coffee table in front of it. There was a reserved sign on the table and screens had been placed on either side and all around it to allow for privacy. Celeste looked at her watch and tapped her foot on the floor impatiently. They should be here already, maybe she should call them and see what is keeping them. Just as she pulled her phone out of her pocket and looked down to unlock the screen, the door dinged six times, like it always did. She looked up to see a curvy redhead and a shorter curly headed woman walk in. They ran for the counter and started to talk loudly.

“It’s the devil’s fault”, Maggie complained. “I was heading out the door and he decided it was time to make out. I had to stop and redo my lipstick.” Kaye shrugged.

“Can’t blame the man, you spend so much time at the store lately. When else is he supposed to get a chance to kiss you?” Maggie smacked her. “Like Eric is any better. It’s like he forgets you can’t make babies anymore….yet he keeps trying.” Maggie giggled and Kaye smacked her back.

“That will teach you to knock instead of just using the pass code to let yourself into the house.” There had been an incident where Maggie had come to borrow shoes and found them in the living room. She had stared until Kaye threw a cushion from the couch at her and she ran out the door, the shoes forgotten. Celeste shook her head and laughed.

“I’m glad neither one of you knows my pass code.” Hyesung was very affectionate and it seemed like he made love to her every chance he got…..no matter where they were in the house. Her current condition was proof of that. She made their drinks and they all walked out to the couch and sat down. Celeste had a green tea latte because the doctor had reduced her caffeine intake for the rest of the pregnancy. She wasn’t even working today, she had come in specifically to meet with her best friends. They settled on the couch, Celeste with her feet on an ottoman. Kaye had gotten her usual, a super strong iced coffee and Maggie had ordered what she liked to call a SHCJ, even thought it was just a dirty chai on the menu. Her drink was an iced venti chai with 4 shots of espresso and three pumps each of vanilla and hazelnut syrup. She took a huge sip and grinned.

“This is the best drink ever. I probably wouldn’t have survived college without it.” Celeste smiled at her. “I wish you would let me put that on the menu…..I’m sure I could sell a lot of eight dollar drinks if they were called that.” She had lots of specialty drinks on the menu and they all sold pretty well. The conversation turned to the baby shower, which Kaye had volunteered to plan, since she was the queen of event planning.

“So I found this cute little boutique that offers event space. They provide all the decorations and you just have to bring whatever food you want. It’s really trendy and hard to reserve. So I already reserved it for the date we talked about. We just need to come up with a theme.” Kaye had a notebook out and looked at the notes she had made.

“Baby ducks!” Maggie said excitedly. “We could do baby ducks for the theme. It would be so cute, Celly.” It seemed like everyone called her that these days. Celeste had the men to blame for that. They all doted on her before and it was worse now that she was expecting the second Shinhwa Jr. She had them all in the cafe frequently to make sure she wasn’t working too hard and that she wasn’t forgetting to eat. She always reminded them that she was an adult and could take care of herself but they didn’t seem to hear her.

“Baby ducks……hmmmmm I think I like that a lot.” She sipped her tea, “And we could have people bring a baby item to donate instead of baby gifts. Lord knows we have enough of everything to last til this kid moves out.” She chuckled. Kaye wrote that down and looked at her.

“But we still get to give you something, its a BFF rule.” The three women were close as sisters and took the BFF rules seriously. The first rule was that any time one of them needed each other they would drop everything and show up. That started back when Kaye was dating Eric the first time and Maggie had shown up in Seoul unannounced after The Dating Announcement that almost ended things forever between Kaye and Eric. The second rule was that they always had brunch on Sunday morning, no matter what. They would kick the man of the house out of whoever's house they decided to descend on and sit around and eat junk food and watch cheesy dramas. The guys knew better than to mess with them, they put up with a lot and needed time to unwind together. And the third and final rule was that all celebrations would involve a gift that was carefully selected and presented with massive fanfare. For Kaye’s last birthday they had rented out an entire spa and the three had spent the entire day being pampered and then they had hit a club and danced the night away like girls at prom. Celeste and Maggie both saw her as a mother figure and made sure to make her feel special.

“Of course, can’t break the rules. I’d hate to be the one that has to do karaoke and do all the dance moves for Venus with a perfect stranger.” Celeste giggled. The punishment was both silly and strong enough to keep them from breaking the rules.

“So what kind of cake do you want?” Maggie was a bit of a whiz in the kitchen. When she and Minwoo had bought their house they had completely redone the kitchen and she had all the top of the line appliances to keep her happy. “I’ll make whatever you want.”

Celeste already knew exactly what she wanted. “I want chocolate cake with strawberry filling and chocolate frosting. The same cake you made for the wedding but not so huge. There was so much after the wedding we had cake for dessert for a couple of weeks.”

Their wedding had been private but they had made sure it was more like a party than a serious occasion. Andy and Dongw