“Why do we come to these things again?” Krystal gave a labored sigh as she sat with her best friend in a fancy ball room turned dining area.

It was the annual company gathering, where proposals were presented, employees from the sister companies mingled, and everyone was more or less ordered to enjoy themselves.

“Because the alcohol is free and people watching can be fun,” Amber grabbed two glasses of wine from a passing waiter and gave one to Krystal.

“You say that every year,” Krystal rolled her eyes, “Isn’t that how you met…what was her name again?”

“Hey I was in love with her,” Amber interjected and Krystal laughed.

“You spoke to her for all of 12 minutes tops before you were taking her up to your room,” Krystal accused.

“Hey with the right questions you can learn all you need to know in 12 minutes,” Amber winked, “You should try it.”

“No thank you, if you can’t entertain my brain you’re definitely not getting a chance at my body,” Krystal laughed, “They have to be sophisticated, classy, funny…”

“Again with that stupid list of yours, you know you just ruled out everyone in our age group,” Amber smirked, “Or maybe you like them older.”

“Don’t be gross, I have an age limit,” Krystal made a face as she observed the mingling suits and skirts.

Something caught her attention at the bar and she sat up, “Now that I like.”

Amber instantly went on alert and scanned the bar area until her eyes landed on what had caught Krystal’s attention. Long chestnut colored hair with striking crimson at the ends, elegant black pants with white pin striping, and a white blouse underneath a short blazer. The woman looked like she had just stepped off the cover of Vogue. Looking past Krystal’s point of focus she noticed the woman was talking to a shorter woman with strawberry blond hair in a simple, although on her it looked anything but simple, black dress.

“I want to know who her friend is,” she whispered and Krystal elbowed her to keep her from drooling.

The strawberry blonde caught them staring and threw a small smile at Amber nearly blinding the poor girl before she turned back to her conversation.

“You okay?” Krystal waved her hand in front of the tomboy’s face.

“Barely,” Amber grinned.

“I hate these things,” Victoria downed her wine and signaled for another glass as Luna laughed.

“I know, but there are a lot of eligible people here, maybe you should cut loose a little,” Luna suggested.

“No what I should do, is get out of here before one more person hits on me,” Victoria huffed and Luna giggled.

“It wasn’t funny.”

“It was a little bit,” Luna muttered before being hit with a glare, “Oh come on most women would kill to be considered a MILF.”

“You’re such a ,” Victoria shook her head, “Why am I friends with you again?”

“Because I babysit for free,” Luna smirked getting a chuckle out of Victoria.

“Speaking of which I should probably call my sister and make sure my kids are still in one piece,” she frowned as guilt settled over her.

“I’d make sure your sister is still in one piece,” Luna muttered into her wine glass as Victoria glared at her.

“They’re not that bad,” Victoria began to defend, but one look from Luna had her stumbling, “Okay, okay, but you have to admire their teamwork.”

Luna glanced behind Victoria and noticed they were being watched by two beautiful women. She smiled at the tomboy and enjoyed the way her jaw dropped and their friend tried to snap them out of it. Then the duo was walking toward them and she said nothing; intent to see how Victoria would handle this next unexpected encounter.

“Incoming,” she muttered and Victoria winced as two young females stood beside them.

“Hi, I’m Krystal and this is Amber,” Krystal introduced as Amber suddenly lost the ability to speak.

“Luna and this is my friend Victoria nice to meet you,” Luna extended her hand and shook theirs.

“We were heading out and wondered if you’d like to join us, you seem to be enjoying yourselves as much as we are,” Amber joked.

Luna watched Victoria closely as her friend had yet to say two words at this point.

“Or maybe I can get your number and…”

“My number?” Victoria arched an elegant brow.

‘Here we go,’ Luna smiled.

“And which number would that be?” Victoria lured the younger woman in.

“How many do you have?” Krystal had no idea she was about to be blindsided.

“You might want to stand over here next to me,” Luna whispered to Amber.

“Oh I’ve got numbers coming out of my ears,” Victoria’s eyes pinned her, “For instance five.”

“Five?” Krystal questioned in confusion.

“Yeah. That’s how old my baby girl is.”

“You’ve got a little girl?”

“Yeah, y, huh? How about this for a number? Eight, that’s the age of my second, ten is the age of my oldest, 17 is how old my little sister is that I also take care of, two is the number of hours I actually get to see them on a daily bases, 30 is my age; 850-3943, that's my phone number, and with all the numbers I just gave you, I'm guessing zero is the number of times you're going to call it,” When Victoria had finished it was as if Krystal’s ego had been napalmed and all she could do was watch the other woman turn on her heel and retreat through the crowd.

Recovering quickly Krystal smirked and bit the inside of her cheek as she watched the taller woman walk away.

“Krystal…are you okay?” Amber edged.

“Challenge accepted,” she shook her head and signaled for a glass of wine.

“You’re crazy you know that?” Amber chuckled.

“You ladies enjoy your evening,” Luna gave a wink and slipped away to find her fuming friend.

“Don’t you think you were a little harsh?” Luna asked as they entered their shared hotel room.

“Give me a break, a girl as pretty as her has probably never heard the word no in her life,” Victoria rolled her eyes as she kicked off her heels and flopped onto the bed pulling out her cellphone.

“So you agree she’s pretty?” Luna pried.

“I’m not dead I can still recognize an attractive female,” Victoria rolled her eyes as Luna laughed.

Dialing a number her fingers knew by heart she sighed happily when it answered on the second ring.

“Vic-unnie how’s the event going?” a bubbly voice came through the line.

“Its fine Sulli how’s everything there?”

“Um…” Sulli began as children’s laughter could be heard in the back ground.

“Aish…why are they still up?” Victoria scolded.

“They won’t go to bed and they keep ganging up on me,” Sulli whined.

“Put me on speaker,” she sighed rubbing her forehead and hearing Sulli shuffling with the phone.

“Jihyo, Mina, Chaeyoung,” she called and instantly heard the commotion calm down before a loud “Omma!”

“I’m very disappointed in all of you, I told you while I’m gone you’re to listen to Sulli-unnie,” Victoria admonished, “Don’t you love your auntie?”

“Yes,” came a chorus. “Jihyo, you’re the oldest you need to help Sulli-unnie take care of the others,” she continued.

“I know, but…” Jihyo whined, “Mina stop making faces at me!”

“You started it…ow… Chaeyoung’s pulling my hair!” Mina shouted.

“Girls!” Victoria raised her voice and there was silence again, “I want you to brush your teeth and go to bed, if you give Sulli-unnie anymore trouble you’re all grounded, no more ballet, no more park, no more sleep overs.”

“We’re sorry,” the three girls chimed, “Good night Omma we love you.”

She heard the scurrying of feet and more giggles as Sulli took her off speaker and put the phone back to her ear.

“When are you coming home Vic-unnie,” Sulli whined.

“The day after tomorrow I promise, just hang in there Ssul,” Victoria sighed, “You have no idea how much I appreciate you.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Sulli laughed, “You owe me.”

“Anything I promise,” Victoria vowed.

“I love you Sulli,” Victoria felt tears sting her eyes.

“I love you to Vic-unnie, good night.”

“Night,” she whispered hanging up.

“Vic-unnie, you shouldn’t beat yourself up, they’ll understand when they’re older,” Luna comforted as she lay down beside her friend and rubbed her back.

“You’re helping to put your little sister through school, raising three kids, and working a full time job, you’re doing the best you can,” Luna continued, “You also need to consider you might need some help.”

“You had me in your corner right up until the end,” Victoria sighed pinching the bridge of her nose.

“All I’m saying is it’s okay to take care of yourself once in a while,” Luna pushed her shoulder, “You’ll be no good to anyone if you keep running yourself into the ground.” Victoria’s phone suddenly buzzed with an unknown phone number and she answered it.

“Hello?”

“Hey its Krystal I wanted to apologize for earlier,” the young woman spoke quickly afraid Victoria was going to hang up at any second.

Victoria was amazed the girl had actually remembered her number let alone called her.

“Look, we were both sick of that event, and I can’t imagine how stressed out you must be, but I’d like to start over, have coffee with me,” Krystal spoke sweetly.

“Krystal I don’t…” Luna poked her in the side and gave her a pointed look as she gestured at her to say yes.

“It’s coffee Victoria, I’m not getting down on one knee with a diamond ring,” Krystal sighed and the older woman actually smirked.

“Alright, one coffee and bring your friend for Luna,” Victoria added and the other woman blushed smacking Victoria’s arm.

“Great, there’s a little shop down the street do you know it?” Krystal tried to dampen her excitement.

“Mary’s right?” Victoria guessed.

“That’s the one, meet me there at eight?”

“Eight it is,” Victoria agreed before hanging up.

“I’m impressed, not only did she remember your number, she called it too,” Luna nodded her approval.

“Can’t wait,” Victoria sighed, “She’ll ask about my life, I’ll tell her, and she’ll run away like they all do.”

“I don’t know I think she might surprise you,” Luna shrugged.

“Just who’s side are you on?”

“Yours of course,” Luna hugged her tightly.