“You have a daughter?” Jihoon asks, his voice filled with disbelief.

            “Yeah, she’s seven and she’s in Audrey’s class.” Jihoon still doesn’t believe what he’s hearing.

            “You don’t look like you’d have a seven year old,” Jihoon comments awkwardly.

            “I had her when I was fairly young,” she looks down at her feet as she explains. Jihoon, although just meeting Madisen, wanted to get to know her more but he didn’t know how to.

            Jihoon places the notebook he’s holding on the countertop again. “How long have you been married?” he asks, assuming.

            “I’m not.” Oh, Jihoon remarks to himself.

            “Divorced?” Madisen shakes her head to say ‘no’. “Are you with the father of Lacie at all?” he asks but immediately regrets it. He didn’t know why he asked or why he cared if Lacie’s father was involved but he couldn’t stop the words before they escaped his lips.

            “No, we’re not together,” she sighs, continuing to look down.

            “I’m sorry for asking such a personal question, having just met you,” Jihoon apologizes. “I’m also sorry I’m so awkward.”

            “No, it’s alright. I don’t mind,” Madisen tells him. “Well, I should probably get going now. It was nice meeting you Jihoon. Do you think you’ll be fine to handle putting them to bed?” she asks. “Eryn told me the other day that they’d be leaving after dinner so the kids would be fed before you came.”

            “Honestly, no. Would you mind staying to help me put them to bed?” Jihoon asks. “I have no idea what I’m doing, as you can clearly see from today,” he adds.

            “Of course I’ll help, that’s what I’m here for,” she smiles before walking away to tell the twins to put their pajamas on and to help Landon change into his.

-

            “Okay, Landon’s in bed and starting to doze off. Did you have any trouble with the twins?” Madisen asks Jihoon as she meets him again in the living room.

            “No, actually, they were fine,” he tells her as they sit down on the couch. “I did it!” he quietly cheers. Madisen can’t help but laugh quietly at the excited man. “Sorry, that was weird,” he apologizes.

            “No, it’s totally fine,” she continues laughing. “I felt the same way for the first, probably, three years of Lacie’s life.”

            “That must’ve been hard,” Jihoon comments quietly. “Taking care of your daughter by yourself,” he adds.

            “It was hard sometimes, but I got the hang of it and now all is well,” she smiles. “I don’t want to bore you with any of that so I’ll stop talking.”

            “I don’t mind. If you want to tell me, I’ll listen,” Jihoon shows her a smile. “We’re friends right?” he shrugs. Madisen smiles in response.

            “Okay, I’ll tell you but I’m sorry in advance,” she takes a deep breath before continuing to talk. “Like I said, I had Lacie when I was fairly young; like, right out of high school pretty much. Her father has never been involved except for maybe a few months but he left early on; basically, I told him and he said it was too much to handle so he left and moved away. Lacie’s never met her father if I’m honest.” Jihoon just stares at Madisen. “So, yeah, that’s the story,” she shrugs. “Not the ideal situation but I’m still here for my child and I wouldn’t change anything.”

            “I’m sorry you had to deal with that,” he speaks. Jihoon didn’t exactly know what his emotion at the moment was. He felt sympathy for Madisen and her daughter Lacie because she had to do it alone but he also felt slight anger. He couldn’t quite wrap his head around the thought of someone leaving a pregnant woman alone to raise a child by herself.

            “I should get going home,” Madisen breaks the silence Jihoon created. She stands and starts making her way to the front door to put her shoes on. Jihoon has a thought and tries to process all the possible outcomes.

            “Madisen,” Jihoon calls after her. “I have a question before you leave.” Madisen waits silently for Jihoon’s question. “Would you help me take care of the kids for the next couple of days until Daniel and Eryn get back? You clearly know them well. I don’t know what I was thinking, thinking I could care for three children by myself. And if you’d be okay with it, maybe you could stay here with me?” Jihoon becomes shy as he speaks. “If you agree to it, you could stay in the master bedroom and I’d stay on the couch.”

            “You were asked to take care of their kids… I can sleep on the couch, I don’t mind,” she speaks. “Or we could share the master bedroom,” she smirks as a joke. This causes Jihoon to blush. How did she make me blush so easily? I know I’m fairly awkward in certain situations but when it comes to talking to other adults I’m usually fine. What is it about Madisen that makes me so nervous? Jihoon mentally questions himself. Madisen laughs as she notices Jihoon’s blushing face, “Well, if you’re going to be awkward about it, I’ll sleep on the couch.”

            “So, you’ll stay here and help me?” Jihoon asks for clarification of her answer, ignoring her earlier comment that made him blush so much.

            “Yeah,” she shrugs. “Lacie’s at her grandparents’ all weekend so I don’t have to pick her up until after Eryn and Daniel get back. I would’ve been home alone anyway and judging by your behaviour, you’d be calling me with a lot of questions,” she chuckles.

            “You’re not wrong,” Jihoon joins in laughing with her.

            “I’ll just run home to pack a small bag then?” Madisen asks, making sure it’s okay with Jihoon that she does stay, even though he was the one that asked her. Jihoon nods.

            Suddenly, Jihoon’s phone rings in his pocket. “Hello?” he answers the call.

            “Hey Jihoon, how’s everything going? How are the kids?” It’s Daniel. Jihoon freezes a little. Do I tell him that Landon got stung by a bee and had an allergic reaction? He might get mad, he doesn’t know what to do.

            “Hey Daniel. Everything’s good and the kids are good, just put them to bed,” he tells Daniel. Madisen can see that Jihoon is getting awkward so she takes out her phone from her pocket and opens the ‘Memo’ app to type a message. She shows him the message that says ‘You should tell Daniel what happened to Landon, he won’t be mad’. “Actually Daniel, something happened today. I brought the kids to the park as something to do since it was still nice and light out and Landon got stung by a bee…”

            “He was stung by a bee?” Daniel asks.

            “Yes, and when I got him home later his whole hand was swollen and red so I brought him to the hospital and they said it was an allergic reaction.”

            “I didn’t know he was allergic to bees but thank you for taking him. Did you freak out?”

            “I did but I tried not to and I tried to hide it from the kids. Audrey told me that you told them that if anything goes wrong to call ‘speed dial six’,” he chuckles as he looks at Madisen. She smiles in response and he suddenly feels nervous again. “Basically, I’ve met your friend Madisen now.”

            Jihoon hears Daniel explain everything to Eryn and hears a faint cheer, “Yes! They’ve met now!”

            “Daniel, can you tell Eryn that I can hear her?” he laughs. He doesn’t bother to ask what she means because he’s a little afraid of the answer. Madisen shows Jihoon another message on her phone; ‘I’m going to run home and pack some stuff, I’ll be back soon :)’. Jihoon nods before continuing his conversation with Daniel. “How’s the vacation so far?” he asks as he hears the front door close.