“Mommy are we there yet?” Saki whined in the back of the car, a bottle of water in her lap and a open chip bag on the seat next to her.

“Mommy!” Nico copied her older sister.

“Nope Saki, we’re not even close yet.” Momo answered for Mina.

“I’m bored.” Saki whined.

“Saki-chan why don’t you and Oka-san watch a movie okay?” Sana tried to pacify her daughter.

“But Nico-chan can’t watch a movie.” Saki pouted.

“Okay how about all of us watch a movie.” Sana suggested. “We can watch it on Oka-san’s laptop okay?” Sana had anticipated boredom from her daughters on their three hour car trip, so she had downloaded multiple kids movies they could watch in the car. Sana really hoped they could watch a Disney movie, all the other movies her kids watched were, for lack of a better term, annoying. She had downloaded some non Disney, in case Saki decided she wanted to watch something and Sana didn’t have it, but she was trying to get her daughter to pick either a Disney or Pixar movie really badly.

“Okay.” Saki nodded.

“What movie do you want to watch baby girl?” Sana asked.

“Monsters Inc!” Saki answered with a huge grin and Sana sighed in relief. That one was good, and she wouldn’t be annoyed as hell by it.

“Okay.” Sana nodded. “Do you need to go potty?” Saki sat there for a second and nodded. Sana knew Saki didn’t go to the bathroom at the airport and she was concerned they would get halfway through the movie and Saki would make them stop but there wouldn’t be any stores around for them to stop at.

“Nope, movie!” Saki cheered.

“Okay.” Sana nodded and started the movie, making sure Nico and Saki both had a good view. Nico quickly fell asleep in her car seat. She had stolen her sister’s stuffed dinosaur, again, and was using it as her pillow, her cheeks a little pink from the heat. Saki didn’t even notice her sister, instead focused on the movie.

“Oka-san I have to go potty.” Saki tapped Sana’s shoulder and she groaned. She had asked Saki the question earlier so they wouldn’t end up in a situation like this, where Saki had to go to the bathroom and there was nothing around.

“Mina.” Sana got Mina’s, who was driving, attention. Mina pulled out one of her earbuds. “Saki need to go to the bathroom.”

“I’ll look for something, Saki please hold it.” Saki nodded and Sana started the movie again.

“Oka-san it’s really bad.” Saki pouted.

“I know baby Mommy is looking.” Sana told her daughter. Saki started shifting uncomfortably in her car seat.

“Oka-san.” Saki whined.

“Saki-chan…” Sana trailed off. “Come on, you can wait.”

“No I can’t.” Saki pouted. “I need to go now.”

“I know baby we’re looking okay?” Saki was about to retort when Mina finally took an exit, finding a dingy old gas station. “Thank god, okay come on sweetheart.” Sana sighed in relief when they finally parked. Mina used the opportunity to check on Momo and Nico, who were both fast asleep. Mina brushed Momo’s hair out of her face and kissed her forehead before going back to outside the driver side and waiting for Saki and Sana. When they returned they had boughten another bottle of water, Sana saying it was for Mina so she would remember to drink water before kissing her cheek. They got back in the car and Saki was more than happy to get back to the movie.

Sana and Mina were just happy they didn’t have any other problems on their road trip.

xx

“Saki,” Mina laughed as her daughter ran out of the car.

“Babe she was in a car for three hours of course she’s excited.” Sana nodded. Momo set Nico down and she ran after her sister.

“Yup Nico’s definitely the same.” Momo giggled as Nico tripped and got back up without making any kind of a fuss.

“Nico!” Chaeyoung opened the door and Nico ran to her. “I missed you.” Sana wrapped her arm around Mina and Mina rested her on Sana’s shoulder as Chaeyoung picked up their daughter and Saki bent down next to a strawberry bush.

“Red!” Saki pointed at the strawberries.

“We’re learning colors,” Sana explained as she joined Chaeyoung in the entryway.

“Tzuyu is feeding the dogs, thanks for coming.”

“Of course,” Sana smiled. “We’ve been meaning to get out here. A change of scenery is nice.”

“Mommy, who’s this?” Saki asked as she ran to Sana’s side.“Your Aunt Chaeyoung, you’ve seen her in pictures.”

“Oh yeah!” Saki smiled.

“Your Auntie Tzuyu is inside, and I promise that’s your last Aunt honey.” Mina explained.

“It’s okay mommy.” Saki grinned, going to Momo side and Momo her hair.

“Saki here just get her haircut.” Momo smiled.

“I wanted to look like mommy.” Saki insisted.

“And you do,” Saki smiled at Chaeyoung’s compliment. “Come on Tzuyu made you cookies!”“Cookies! Mommy cookies!” Saki smiled.

“Saki loves cookies.” Sana giggled.

“I know, I’m trying to buy my way into Saki’s heart like I did with this princess.” Chaeyoung tapped Nico’s nose and lead them inside. The dogs all came running at the new people Saki giggling and patting all their heads. Sana ran inside and back hugged Tzuyu, giggling at her old friend.

“Hi Sana Unnie.” Tzuyu sighed.

“I missed you Tzuyu-ah.” Sana smiled at Tzuyu. “Thanks for having us.”

“Of course.” The adults looked at Saki, who was happily petting all the dogs, the dogs about the same size as her. “I’m surprised she’s not scared.”

“Saki loves dogs.” Sana explained. “All sizes.”

“Nico doesn’t though.” Momo pouted.

“Nico is fine with small dogs, Momo’s just pouting because big dogs scare Nico, to be fair she is a lot smaller than them.” Mina elaborated. “Nico is obsessed with cats though. We saw one at a friends house and Nico spent the whole afternoon chasing after the cat. The poor cat, it hated her.”

“We have a cat, he’s around here somewhere, he doesn’t like most people except Chaeyoung.” Tzuyu sighed. “Not even me.”

“Well maybe he’ll come around to you.” Sana smiled. “Saki come here and say hi to Auntie Tzuyu.” Sana asked in Japanese.

“But Oka-san, dogs…” Saki responded still in Japanese.

“They’ll still be here honey.” Sana giggled. Saki nodded and ran to Sana’s side, waving at Tzuyu and giving her a toothy smile.

“Hi Auntie Tzuyu.”

“Hi Saki.” Tzuyu smiled at Saki.

“I like…” Saki thought of the Korean words. “Your dogs!” Saki giggled when she got it right. Tzuyu couldn’t help but smile at the young child, she reminded Tzuyuy of herself when she could barely communicate with people because of the lack of lingual skills. Tzuyu pat Saki’s head and Saki giggled before running back to the dogs. Nico had been clinging closer to Chaeyoung and whimpered when one of the dogs came too close to her.

“Hey Nico let’s go play with mister strawberry okay?” Chaeyoung smiled at the baby and carried her away. “We’ll be in our bedroom.” Chaeyoung announced.

“Mister strawberry?

”“Chaeyoung’s cat.” Tzuyu clarified.

“Oh.” Sana giggled. “Saki honey why don’t you and the dogs go play outside while the adults talk?” Saki nodded and clapped to get all the dogs to follow her. Saki found the door to the backyard and opened it, ushering the dogs through before following them, forgetting to close the door in excitement.

“We usually let her play with Hime alone in the backyard if the gate is closed.” Sana explained. “But it would be nice to keep an eye on her.”

“Sure.” Tzuyu nodded. “We can talk outside, there are some tables.”

“Thank you Tzuyu-ah.” Sana giggled and pinched Tzuyu.

“Sana Unnie stop.” Tzuyu whined. Sana smiled, it had been a while since they had been like this. Sana missed twice sometimes, she missed the others and their playfulness. She still kept up with them, they had they kind of friendship that was hard to break. They had been together for so long, and been so close for all that time. Sana missed that sometimes, but what she had now was better. They were a more private family now. It was much more intimate, more quiet. But the chaos of twice was something they would always miss.
Saki loved running around with the dogs. They were never too rough with her, a thing Mina was a bit concerned about. They were just happy to have someone that matched their energy level, and Saki happily ran around with them, not minding if she was getting covered in dirt and grass.

“It’s gonna be fun to get all those grass stains out of her shirt.” Mina rolled her eyes. “Letting her wear white was a bad call.”

“But look at her babe she’s having so much fun.” Momo argued.

“So, is she adjusting to Korean at all yet?” Tzuyu asked, smiling at her niece and her dogs.

“Not much, but French has started coming easier and easier.” Sana sighed. “We’ve started to prioritize tacking her French because we want her to make friends and that’s hard when she can barely communicate with other kids.”

“She’s started to befriend a few girls in her dance class.” Momo added. “She even is having her first playdate with one of them when we get back.”

“The girl’s family is also Japanese so she and Saki have started to bond over that, Saki likes the fact they can speak Japanese together. Her name is Haru.” Sana smiled. “Her parents are super nice people, we’re having dinner with them after the girls playdate.”

“Thats good for Saki, I’m glad she’s making friends with people her own age.” Tzuyu remarked. “And I like that she loves dogs.”

“It’s hard sometimes to keep her away from dogs.” Sana laughed. “She and Momo both, they see a dog and they instantly want to go pet it.”

“She wants a puppy for her birthday too.” Mina nodded. “When I asked her what dog she said she wants a Shiba Inu.”

“Sana Unnie haven’t you always wanted a Shiba Inu?”

“Yeah, but I’m on Mina’s side in this issue, they aren’t big but they are medium sized dogs and even if we get a puppy it will grow faster than Nico and she will be scared of it.” Sana explained.

“When’s Saki’s birthday?” Tzuyu asked.

“December first.” Momo answered. “I want to get her a puppy.”

“But if it scares Nico then it won’t be good right?” Tzuyu asked.

“But she could get over her fear…” Momo trailed off.

“I told Saki she can get a puppy for her birthday when her little sister is four. We already have a dog.” Mina explained.

“Why four?”

“She was throwing a bit of a fit and it was making Nico upset so I just threw out a random number hoping it would shut her up.” Mina shrugged. “It worked, she probably won’t remember it either.”

“Hime is a good dog and we do want to eventually get another pet, but Nico is so little right now.” Sana summarized.

“How old is Hime now?” Tzuyu asked. “She’s five, so she’s still young.” Momo smiled. “She’s with our neighbors for the week.”

“Nico does fine with her right?”

“More than fine. She likes to chase Hime.” Sana laughed. “Hime is protective over her and Saki. She growls at new people when they approach them.”

“Hence why Saki’s playdate will be at her new friends house. And their family has a trampoline and Saki is excited to play on one.” Momo explained.

“That’s cute.” Tzuyu laughed. “How was the drive?”

“Not too bad, Nico and Momo both slept pretty much the whole time and Saki and I watched a movie.” Sana explained.

“Yeah it’s pretty annoying that the nearest airport is three hours away, but we like being this remote.” Tzuyu explained.

“I can understand the appeal. We have an airport but if we fly international we usually have to stop in Paris.” Momo explained. “Speaking of travel are you and Chaeyoung going anywhere soon?”

“We’re going to Singapore in about a month. We both enjoy traveling quite a bit. Not having kids makes it a lot easier.” Tzuyu shrugged. “We’re happy living through you guys.”

“You two are welcome anytime. Sometimes even we need breaks from Saki and Nico.” Momo laughed. “But Mina and Sana won’t admit it.”

“We don’t need breaks from them they could get hurt or-”

“My point exactly.” Momo laughed. “We have trouble trusting people with them.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Tzuyu nodded. “We’re definitely going for Nico’s birthday. We already booked a hotel.”

“You guys are family, you don’t need to stay in a hotel.” Sana argued.

“It’s fine Sana Unnie.” Tzuyu nodded. “Really, you three are busy enough with Nico and Saki.” They heard a loud scream followed by a giggle from Saki as she played with the dogs, they were her face and she was petting them obsessively.

“I wouldn’t say we’re too busy.” Sana defended. “At least we only have two.”

“That is a fair point.” Tzuyu laughed. “Jihyo Unnie and Nayeon Unnie are something else for having more than two.”

“I know.” Sana nodded. “And Dahyunie says her kids can’t stop fighting.”

“I feel bad for Hana. She’s usually the one who ends up loosing.” Tzuyu sighed.

“Something is up with Hana. Last time we saw her she seemed kinda sad. I asked Dahyun though and she said Hana was fine.” Sana had a look of concern on her face. “She hasn’t seemed as happy as she used to be recently.”

“To me she just seems a lot more stressed.” Momo added. “She’s really smart, and I think that’s part of what’s causing her so much stress. She thinks she needs to be perfect.”

“Dahyun and her husband are good parents, I’m sure they’ll figure out whatever is wrong with Hana.” Mina added.

“I don’t know, Sana Unnie has always been the closest with her.”

“She hasn’t told me anything.” Sana nodded.

“I’m s