“Yah! That wasn’t fair!”

Young Jin’s voice rose, shrill and a little whining, from where he and Hyo Jin were sprawled on the floor over a game of snakes and ladder.  

“It was, too! See, it says so right there!” Hyo Jin retorted.  “Aren’t I right, Yeon Jin?” he appealed to Yeon Jin.  

Yeon Jin sighed loudly.   “I don’t know,” she answered shortly.   “Oh, just let him win, Hyo Jin—and, be quiet! I want to read this.”  

“No, why should I let him win?”

Hyo Jin’s protest mingled in with Young Jin’s renewed complaints and Yeon Jin’s impatient attempt at peace-making.  

Mo Yeon tried to block out the noise and concentrate on the notes she was making from the medical reports she was reading—tried, only to find that her hand had jerked, leaving a large blot on her paper, and she’d lost her place for what seemed like the thousandth time in the past half hour.   She threw down her pen impatiently.   She couldn’t work like this!  

“Be quiet, all of you!”  

Her sharp voice cut across the noise and silenced her children as nothing else could have, all of them turning to stare at her, as she continued, her voice rising.   “For God’s sake, can’t you three be quiet for even two minutes?!   I can’t hear myself think!   How am I supposed to get any work done with you three constantly making such a racket and getting into rows?  Hyo Jin, it’s not nice to fight with your younger twin. Young Jin, you shouldn’t be such a sore loser; you can’t always win.   Now, just be quiet so Eomma can get some work done!”  

Her children stared at her wide-eyed, Yeon Jin, in particular, looking rather stricken, and for some reason, it only irritated Mo Yeon more.   With a last frown, she retreated into her study.  

She wanted to slam the door but wasn’t quite so lost to temper as to do that; instead, she closed the door with deliberate care.   Normally, when she was in her study, she left the door open so she could listen to what the kids were up to but today, she needed some quiet.  

Mo Yeon fell into her chair with a huff, leaning her head back and closing her eyes.  

Today had not been a good day.   She had woken up with the beginnings of a headache and, although she had, of course, taken a medicine, the headache hadn’t entirely gone away, had only receded to a dull throbbing.   It had rained all morning (although the rain had, at least, stopped now) which meant that the kids were confined indoors and that made them more restless and quarrelsome than usual.   And while she was usually more patient with them, she was the first person to admit that she wasn’t, by nature, the most patient person in the world and on this particular day, her usual store of patience was even lower than normal.   She was worried over one of her patients who wasn’t responding to the treatment she’d prescribed when she’d been at work yesterday and today was one of those days when she would have wanted to go in to work to be there herself to monitor his condition—except she’d had to stay home today as Si Jin needed to go to the Blue House for a meeting with the Commader in Chief. And, of course, Si Jin had, in typical, male fashion, not even bothered to ask if she were okay this morning when he’d seen her taking the medicine and had only left the house after breakfast with the most routine of goodbyes.  

She heard the faint murmur of voices and music and guessed that the kids had retreated into the family room to watch the television.  

Good. That should keep them busy and out of trouble until Si Jin got home.  

She sat up straighter, pulling the reports and her notes toward her and tried to concentrate on her work. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  

Si Jin unlocked the door, pushing it open with one hand. “Kids? Mo Yeon?”

Yeon Jin, Hyo Jin and Young Jin filed into the front room so quietly he was mildly stunned.   Usually, Yeon Jin would greet him with a shout and threw herself at him with as much enthusiasm as if he’d been gone for a month while his boys would alternately show him more cheer, depending on their moods; it was one of the things he loved most in his life, how he was always greeted with a smile by his children.  

They were not smiling today.  

He quickly scanned their faces and dismissed the idea of illness or injury; they looked fine, if subdued.  

He dropped a kiss on Yeon Jin’s forehead, ruffled  Young Jin and Hyo Jin’s hair and knelt in front of them. “Hello, sweethearts. Where’s Eomma?”  

“She’s in her study,” Hyo Jin answered quietly.  

Yeon Jin tugged him closer to whisper into his ear with the air of imparting a grave secret.   “Eomma shouted, appa.”  

“Did she, really? About what?”  

“She said we were being too noisy,” Yeon Jin said, her voice chastened.   “And we were but not that loud. She wouldn’t normally have yelled at us for it.”  

“Mm,” Si Jin murmured, frowning inwardly. It sounded like Mo Yeon had been having one of those days.   He knew she’d woken up with a headache because he’d seen her taking the medicine and, more than that, he recognized that slight frown on her forehead by now.   He knew the look on her face when her head was aching.   He should have mentioned it, would normally have asked if she wanted him to stay home except that he’d been preoccupied with the meeting and, at any rate, had known that it was impossible for him to stay home today, in particular, thanks to that meeting which he really needed to attend.  

“She shouldn’t have yelled,” he told the kids solemnly.   “I’ll go talk to her, shall I?” 

“Oh but appa, she might yell at you too.” 

He gave Young Jin a quick wink.   “If eomma yells at me, I’ll make her go to bed without dinner or dessert, so I think eomma will be good now.”  

He was rewarded by Yeon Jin’s small giggle and the twins smiles.  

He stood up, resting a caressing hand lightly on Yeon Jin’s hair.   “Now, why don’t you go back to the television for now and think about what you want for dinner.”  

Yeon Jin smiled up at him, now quite restored to her usual self.   “Okay, appa.”  

Si Jin knocked on the study door lightly.  

“What is it?”  

He winced slightly.  Mo Yeon’s tone was not exactly harsh but it wasn’t exactly welcoming either.   No, she really wasn’t in the best of moods.  

He opened the door just enough to poke his head in.   “Do I need to get my bulletproof vest or is it safe to come in?” he asked, only half-teasingly.  

And realized his mistake when she didn’t crack even the ghost of a smile, only gave him a brief look.   “Don’t try to tease, Si Jin; I’m not in the mood.   What is it?”  

He opened the door fully and came in, entirely sober now.   “I think I’ll take the kids out for dinner so you can have the house to yourself for a few hours.”   He studied her for a moment.   “Is your head still aching?” 

“Yes- no- not really,” Mo Yeon said, with enough of a sigh that he didn’t allow himself even the merest hint of a smile at her uncharacteristic indecision.  “You and the kids have fun; I really need to get some work done.   I should have gone into the hospital today,” she fretted.  

“I’m sure Dr. Song would have called you if anything serious had come up,” Si Jin responded mildly, referring to Mo Yeon’s senior.  

“Oh, of course he would have, but I still feel