Victoria awoke before Luna the next morning and dressed in a black skirt and blue blouse. She wasn’t sure why she had let Luna talk her into something so silly, but then again if it hadn’t been for Luna she probably wouldn’t have allowed herself to have any fun. When Luna finally dragged herself out of bed she quickly showered and dressed realizing it was close to eight. They drove down the block in their rental car and parked outside of the small café. When they walked in Krystal stood up from one of the booths at the window and gestured her over.

‘What am I doing?’ Victoria sighed inwardly as she and Luna walked over and sat across from the two young women.

“Glad you could make it,” Krystal smiled disarmingly as a waitress came to their table to take their orders.

“So what departments do you two work in?” Amber broke the ice, “I’m in technical support and Krystal’s the advertising queen.”

“We work in architectural design and photography,” Luna answered.

“Yeah, you did the Summer Set catalogue last year right,” Amber smirked, “Beautiful work.”

“Thank you,” Luna smiled brightly, “Victoria, designed the building I just took pictures of it.”

“I remember that one, it was the only graphic design that made the cut, I was impressed,” Krystal complimented.

Victoria sipped her coffee still not feeling very talkative.

“What are your daughter’s names?” Krystal asked.

“Chaeyoung, Mina, and Jihyo,” Victoria answered simply, “My sister is Sulli, between them and work I don’t have time for anything else.”

“That’s too bad,” Krystal replied.

“Yeah it’s a real pain in the to have responsibilities,” her words dripped with sarcasm and Luna elbowed her.

“That’s not what I meant,” Krystal shook her head, “What I meant was that it’s too bad you can’t see them more.”

“Well you do what you have to,” Victoria brushed it off.

“I’d like to kick his ,” Krystal suddenly blurted.

“Excuse me?” Victoria’s eyebrows raised.

“The person who made you so jaded, I’d like to kick their ,” Krystal clarified.

“I don’t need a knight in shining armor,” Victoria sat back and crossed her arms, “And I’m not jaded, I’m just not easily swayed by charming people.”

“Well at least I know you think I’m charming,” Krystal smirked and Luna covered to hide a giggle.

“And cocky,” Victoria added and it was Amber’s turn to chuckle.

“I prefer confident,” Krystal laughed.

“She doesn’t seem to be running, Vic-unnie,” Luna mumbled under her breath and Victoria glared at her.

“When the company event is over have dinner with me…”

“I told you I don’t have time.”

“Come on Vic-unnie,” Luna gave a small pout.

Victoria considered her friend before rolling her eyes, “Fine, but I’ll cook and you can come over to my house.”

“Deal,” Krystal tried to stop the fluttering in her chest as her persistence paid off.

She secretly praised Luna for nudging the other woman in her direction.

“We should head to the meeting, the sooner its finished the sooner I can get home,” Victoria sighed before her phone started ringing.

“Hello?” Victoria answered it before taking on a worried expression, “What’s wrong?”

She then let out a sigh of relief, “Okay that’s good, there should be one more bottle in the pantry. I’ll be home soon, love you too.”

She hung up and Luna looked at her expectantly.

“Sulli thought we were out of ketchup,” Victoria smiled.

“That would have been a disaster, Mina won’t eat without it,” Luna also gave a relieved sigh but noticed Victoria’s smile fade into a frown.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“Sulli didn’t get much sleep last night, this isn’t her responsibility, I’ve put such a burden on her,” Victoria fought back tears that were threatening to spill.

“Hey, it’s okay, it won’t be like this forever,” Luna rubbed her shoulder.

“Excuse me,” Victoria quickly got up and headed for the restroom.

Luna looked at Krystal waved her hand in the direction Victoria had gone.

“Fine, but if she comes back without me, check the stalls,” Krystal sighed with a roll of her eyes.

Victoria dabbed carefully at her eyes with a tissue as she tried not to smear her make up. She saw Krystal in the mirror as she entered and instantly hardened her features once more.

“Are you okay?” Krystal approached her rested her hand on Victoria’s.

The taller woman pulled it away and made like she was fixing her hair in the mirror.

“I’m fine,” Victoria lied and Krystal’s lips became a thin straight line as she crossed her arms.

“No you’re not, so you can drop the tough single mom act.”

Victoria coughed out a short laugh, “It’s not an act.”

“How long are you going to do this to yourself?” Krystal was irritated at the other woman and she wasn’t sure why.

“Don’t,” Victoria pointed at her, “Don’t stand there and psycho analyze me like you know me, you have no idea what I’ve been through.”

“Not for lack of trying,” Krystal clipped, “And you know what you’re not the only one who’s been through .”

Victoria knew she was right, “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Krystal smirked, “You’re right I don’t know you, I don’t have any idea what you’re feeling, but I’m not giving up.”

“You’re annoying you know that?” Victoria felt a smile tug at the corner of her lips.

“I prefer persistent,” Krystal held out her hand, “Now, we have a meeting to attend.”

Victoria smirked with a roll of her eyes and brushed passed the outstretched hand to exit the restroom. Krystal chuckled lightly and followed the other woman out.

The board meeting prattled on and more than once Amber had to kick Krystal under the table to keep her awake.

“…which draws me to one more item before we close,” the suited man cleared his throat, “We have a project coming up and we want our best people on it, so as a test we’ve decided to intertwine certain departments. For this team we have chosen, Jung Krystal, Song Victoria, Park Luna, and Liu Amber. We are sure your hard work and dedication will make us very proud. This project will take full priority, please reassign all other tasks to the appropriate personnel, you will each receive packets on the proposal as well as one week of vacation before you begin to make sure you are at your freshest.”

He ended the meeting and everyone began filing out of the room as an assistant handed out workbooks, large envelopes, and flash drives with the information.

“That was unexpected, I guess we’ll be seeing a lot more of each other after all,” Krystal smiled.

“I can hardly wait,” Victoria spoke excitedly.

“Really?” Luna shared Krystal’s surprise.

“Yeah, for the vacation that is,” Victoria smirked, Luna chuckled, and Krystal’s ego deflated yet again.

Victoria entered her small townhouse and could hear giggling in the living room. She quietly slipped into the living room and found Sulli sitting at the table face down in her books, while Chaeyoung entertained herself with drawing all over her homework. Mina was twirling around practicing her ballet as Jihyo played a game on her tablet.

“Omma!” Chaeyoung squealed charging toward the woman.

“Hey baby girl,” Victoria picked her up and peppered kisses all over her face making the little girl giggle even more.

“Omma!” the other two girls quickly stopped what they were doing and embraced her legs.

“Vic-omma?” Sulli questioned sleepily as she sat up.

“Omo,” she gasped seeing the markings all over her homework before groaning and letting her head fall back to her books, “I’m going to have to redo all of these.”

“I take it none of you have had a nap yet?” Victoria chuckled as Sulli’s stomach growled, “Or dinner?”

“Why don’t you go lay down, I’ll wake you up when dinner’s ready,” Victoria gestured as Chaeyoung snuggled into her mother’s neck.

“But you just got home,” Sulli whined standing up and shuffling tiredly toward her sister.

“It’s alright,” she used her free arm to hug Sulli and kissed the top of her head, “I’ve got a week’s vacation coming up we’ll have plenty of time to spend together.”

“A week really?” Sulli looked up in surprise.

“That’s right, now go get some sleep and I’ll put this one down,” Victoria received a peck on the cheek before Sulli stretched and headed to her bedroom.

Jihyo and Mina followed in her wake mimicking her stretch and her yawn. Victoria shook her head with a smile knowing that when she went to wake Sulli the two little girls would be sprawled across their auntie like usual.

“Have you been keeping Auntie up you little monster?” Victoria Chaeyoung’s soft brown hair.

She walked around as her maternal instincts had her effortlessly rocking the little girl. Placing the now soundly sleeping child in her bed she put away her luggage and walked around tidying up. Two hours later the house was more presentable and she had dinner on the table before walking into Sulli’s room. Jihyo was sleeping draped over Sulli’s stomach as Mina was upside down with a foot over Sulli’s face.

“Sulli?” She whispered giving the girl’s leg a nudge, “Sulli dinner’s ready.”

Sulli slowly opened her eyes and shoved the foot away from her face as Victoria gently shook Jihyo’s shoulder. Jihyo yawned widely before looking over and poking her sister in the cheek.

“Mina,” she continued to poke her sister until the other girl knocked her hand away in annoyance.

They eventually all sat at the table and Jihyo made a face as Mina squirted ketchup on her rice.

“That’s gross,” she commented.

“You’re gross,” Mina muttered and Chaeyoung laughed.

“Ladies,” Victoria warned with a raised eyebrow which caused Chaeyoung to giggle more.

“So did you meet anyone?” Sulli asked curiously.

“You sound like Luna,” Victoria smirked.

“That’s not a no,” Sulli smiled.

“We made some new acquaintances…”

“What’s her name?” Sulli became very interested.

Victoria gave a labored sigh, “Krystal.”

“Old, young, pretty, smart?” Sulli rattled off questions, “Come on.”

“Young, beautiful, irritating,” Victoria mused, “She asked me out to dinner.”

“What did you say?” Sulli was on the edge of her seat.

“I told her I don’t have time,” Victoria huffed.

“Sure you do, I’ll watch the girls you should…”

“No, you do enough as it is,” Victoria pointed at her, “I told her, I’d make dinner and she can come over here, we’re a package deal so if she wants to have dinner with me then she’s going to have it with my family.”

“How romantic,” Sulli rolled her eyes in disapproval, “Sometimes I wonder if you aren’t intentionally sabotaging you’re love life.”

“What are you talking about?”

“The shock factor, you never ease anyone into your life, you just throw them in sink or swim,” Sulli frowned.

“I’m too old for games, Ssul,” Victoria sighed.

“I wish you’d stop saying that,” Sulli scolded.

“And I wish you and Luna would stick to Korean dramas and leave my personal life alone.”

“I can’t, I’m part of your personal life remember?”

“Don’t you have homework or something?” Victoria began to clear the table as Mina yawned.

Jihyo picked up Chaeyoung and took Mina’s hand as they excused themselves from the table to go get ready for bed.

The oldest girl stood behind her younger sisters as they stood on their stepstools in the bathroom. Mina stepped down first and Jihyo wiped with a towel before doing the same to a squirming Chaeyoung. When she was finished brushing her own teeth she walked the girls to their room. She tucked Chaeyoung into bed kissing her cheek before helping Mina into the top bunk of their shared bunk bed. Laying down in the bottom she heard a slight rustling before Mina was leaning over the side.

“Are we going to have another Omma?” she asked innocently and Jihyo frowned.

“Don't be stupid.”

“Do you think Omma is lonely because of us?” Mina asked quietly, “Every time we meet someone she likes, we never see them again.”

Jihyo would normally try to comfort the girl, but this time she wasn’t sure what to say. She heard more rustling and a soft thud as Mina climbed down the ladder and was standing next to her bed.

“Jihyo-unnie,” came a whisper, “Can I sleep with you tonight?”

Without a word Jihyo slid over and made sure to cover her younger sister up as she lay beside her.

“Alright my babies,” Victoria entered the bedroom, “Did everyone brush their teeth?”

She received three little nods and she walked around to each of them to kiss their heads and wish them a goodnight.