A certain model was walking down the streets after her schedule when she heard a loud wail in the corner of the back alley.

 

“Must be an injured child waiting for their parents.” She continued walking further down ahead to get her favorite smoothie.

 

She was on her way back when she heard the familiar sound again. Out of sympathy, she walked towards the source of the noise and was struck by the scene before her eyes.

 

A girl with light purple aura coming out of her was sniffing with her head bowed down low. The model was captivated by her for quite some time before deciding to bring her home for the time being.

 

---

 

“Here, one strawberry ice-cream for you.” The model carefully opened the pack of ice-cream and passed it to the girl. If anything can cheer you up, it’s gotta be food. Or at least that’s what the model thinks.

 

“...” The girl stared at the unknown object presented to her.

 

“It’s delicious, have a try.” The model held onto the ice-cream while taking out a box of fruits from the fridge.

 

The girl took the stick from the model and started putting it into . The flavors instantly danced around in as she let out a happy squeal.

 

“Told ‘ya it’s good.” The model couldn’t help but smile at the sight of the happy girl. She suddenly felt like a mum towards this strange girl that she randomly picked up on the streets. Content with how fast the girl was adjusting to her new environment, she scrolled through the internet to see if she can do anything about the clothing since her normal clothes wouldn’t fit on the girl at all.

 

---

 

A few weeks passed by since the girl was picked up on the streets. The model was about to leave the house for a meet-up schedule with her manager when she felt a tug on her miniskirt.

 

“Mummy, are you leaving again?” The girl pouted since the model has been going to different venues for the nth time for the past week. 

 

“Yeah, I have work now. Sorry boo, Mummy can’t accompany you for movie night…” The model showed an apologetic expression on her face.

 

“Is Mummy going to meet someone? She’s dressed very skimpily today.” The girl was about to tear up by the time she finished her sentence.

 

“Oh no.. this is work-related.” The model couldn’t bear to tell the girl that she works as a model for a magazine that focuses on swimwear. By standards, it should be obvious that gravure models often wear little to show off their body to attract attention from both genders, predominantly of males. 

 

“I don’t want you to lie to me, are you really going for work?” The girl was starting to throw a tantrum in front of the older lady.

 

“Yes, I am. Oh! I have to leave now.” The model saw the time on her watch and left the girl alone in the house. However, she forgot to do one thing…

 

---

 

“Kwangsooni, your turn next.” The lady heard her name and walked into the room with confidence until her eyes fell onto a young girl who’s busy munching on the chocolate cookies placed on the table not too far away from the door.

 

“MUMMY!!” The girl quickly embraced the still-shocked lady, who froze in her spot. 

 

“Eunbi, what are you doing here?” The lady can only speak mechanically while her brain is still processing the scene.

 

“Mummy left the door unlocked so I followed you to make sure you’re not lying. You’re really working. Sorry mummy, I doubted you. I’m going to go home now.” The girl finished her last bite of cookies and headed towards the door. 

 

Fearing for the girl’s safety, she hurriedly got back the child and told her to wait for the end of her shoot so that they can go back safely together.

 

“Okay, but there’s nothing for me to do here.” The child replied while tilting her head sideways.

 

“Here, you can doodle on this while Mummy’s working, but you must promise me not to wander off outside the building. Can you promise me that?” The model’s tone was serious. 

 

“And what if I don’t?” The girl teased.

 

“No movie night for you for the next two weeks.” The model talked expressionlessly.

 

Upon hearing the sentence from the older girl, the child behaved instantly and quietly doodled at the corner of the waiting room. 

 

All was well until another lady walked up to the kid, offering her candies if she can accompany the lady for a short walk outside the building. The child was very tempted by the food, but she thought of what the model told her and rejected the lady. 

 

“Sorry, Mummy said I won’t have any more movie nights with her if I go out with you today.” The girl told the lady who insisted on bringing the girl out.

 

“Duck.”

 

The familiar voice caught the attention of the girl and she quickly ran to the back of the model.

 

“Mummy, that lady is scaring me..” Her quivering voice didn’t go unheard by the model. She softly pats the girl’s head while dealing with her fellow colleague. 

 

“What do you want from her now?” The model was clearly done with her colleague’s antics.

 

“Oh, you’re a mum now? Is this some sort of shotgun marriage I didn’t know of?” The duck questioned the model.

 

“No, she’s just a girl I picked up from the streets. No one seemed to claim her for a while, and you know me. I just can’t let a kid starve on her own.” The model explained.

 

“But you’re her mummy..” The duck grinned.

 

“So what?”

 

“Like a foodie mummy??” The other lady laughed out loud.

 

“That’s not funny. Really, it isn’t.” The model gave her blankest stare to the other woman.

 

“Are you going to be okay though?” 

 

“Wow, are you asking about my welfare now? How nice of you..” The model replied in a sarcastic tone.

 

“Of course, I mean this is the same woman who threw her keys in a dump when she’s drunk because she thought by doing so, it will grant her a lover.”

 

“That was months ago though... Are you perhaps secretly recording each and every moment of my life in your journal or something?”

 

“No, I’m not a stalker. Besides, I think your wish has been granted by the gods of trashcans.”

 

“Meaning?” The model sometimes couldn’t catch up to the logic of her crackhead friend.

 

“You threw your keys in and this girl walked into your life. You don’t know what’s going on?” The duck asked the model.

 

“But the girl appeared months after I did that. What’s the correlation?” The model remains blind still.

 

“Sigh, nevermind. I can tell the girl likes you quite a lot too. Mind if I join the both of you?” The duck suddenly getting touchy with the model and a tiny hand appeared out of nowhere.

 

“DON’T TOUCH MY MUMMY! SHE’S MINE!” The little girl exclaimed loudly, causing everyone in the room to stare in the direction of the two women.

 

“Woah… someone’s getting possessive. You really struck gold, Hyewon.” The duck sheepishly retreated and continued with her schedule after getting called out by a girl several years younger than her.

 

“Eunbi-yah. You don’t have to do that. She was just joking.” The older girl comforted the angry girl who was still staring at the woman in a deadly manner.

 

“But I only want Mummy to have eyes on me.” The girl pouted. 

 

“I already do.” The model waited a while for the briefing to be over so she can leave the place with the girl after the long night. 

 

---

 

The two had just finished their bath and it was getting late, so the model told the girl to sleep first while she settles food for the next day.

 

“Mummy, I can wait for you.” The girl rubbed her eyes yawning while sitting on one of the kitchen stools.

 

“You don’t have to, dear. Quick get some sleep before Mummy gets angry.” The model clearly doesn’t want to disrupt the sleep schedule of the young one because of her erratic schedules.

 

“Okay..” The girl was disappointed that she didn’t get to spend time with her mum but she headed off to bed anyways.

 

Going up the stairs, there were two routes. Left to the guest room where the girl usually sleeps and right to where the model sleeps. The girl decided to take a different route for today.

 

She quietly slipped into the model’s bed and sniffed a great deal out of the blankets. 

 

“Mummy smells so nice. I want to be with Mummy forever.” The girl secretly kept the thought to herself as she slowly drifted off to dreamland.

 

The older woman was just about done with her preparations, so she went upstairs to check on the girl. When she switched on the lights, there wasn’t a single soul to be seen. The model panicked and she started searching for every possible space the girl could have squeezed herself in. After around 10 minutes of searching, the lady came up with nothing. Feeling tired, she went back into her room and was about to get in her bed when she feels a little lump coming from beneath the blankets.

 

“So this is where you are.. You scared me for quite a bit.” The model then fit herself into the little space she had, not wanting to wake the girl up since the girl was sleeping in the middle of the bed.

 

The model then faced towards the girl and gave her a soft peck on the forehead, before giving in to the sleep lord as well.

 

---

 

The next day, the model woke up on the bed with soreness on her shoulders. She couldn’t complain since it was her own idea to squeeze herself onto the bed to sleep next to the girl. She was going to kiss the girl’s forehead again when she realized that she was alone on the bed.

 

“Hey, you better come out of your hiding place now. Don’t make Mummy worried about you again.” The model shouted in hopes the little girl would respond if she was indeed hiding in the house. Usually, the girl would have come out of her hiding place but this time, no sound was heard. Afraid that her worst fears might have come true, she sluggishly dragged herself out of bed to attend her first schedule of the day.

 

“Lipstick check, sunscreen check, shades check. Snacks check..” The model checked her bag thoroughly before leaving the house. It still felt weird that her house has gotten back the way it is before she brought the girl back into her apartment a few months ago. She never imagined her house to be this quiet. Not wanting to waste any more time, she put on her shoes and opened the door. 

 

“Hello, I’m here to visit a person called Hyewon. Did I make it to the wrong house?” A girl of around 20 years of age greeted the lady as soon as she stepped out of her apartment. 

 

“Ehh? Who are you?” The model didn’t remember giving her name or address to anyone, not even her close friends or family. So how did this person know either both of them? The model looked at the girl with heavy suspicion.

 

“I don’t remember seeing you or having talked to you before.” The model quickly dismissed the conversation and walked away from the girl before freezing when she heard a familiar word.

 

“Mummy.”

 

The model thought her ears were spilling rainbows out of them, so she quickly turned back to confront the girl. But it seems the girl was faster than her, and a passionate kiss was soon shared between the 2 women. 

 

“Wha-” The model’s train of thought was still in a loop when the girl pulled her in for another kiss.

 

“Do you miss me?” The girl smiled slyly while locking her eyes with the older woman. 

 

“But you look so different now.” The model took her time to scan through the entire body of the girl standing in front of her before swiftly turning her head away trying to hide her flustered face.

 

“Saw something you like?” The girl took one step closer to the burning model.

 

“It was nothing at all. You just grew up so fine.” The model can only stop herself before she says something stupid.

 

“How about this?” The girl then pushed the model until her back hit the front door of her apartment. The close distance between the two is causing an emotional uproar at the back of the model’s brain as she tried her best to cool down before she does something silly again.

 

“You don’t have to hold back this time.” The girl seemed to have read the model’s thoughts as she leaned in to claim the older woman’s lips for the third time of the day.

 

“Eunbi, you meanie..” The model couldn’t restrain herself anymore and she pulled the girl into her arms and held the latter’s back so she could claim the girl as hers for eternity. 

 

“Mummy, I’m back.”