Munhee was upset at Baekhyun, disappointed as well,  he couldn't make it to the parent's meeting both them were supposed to attend. Baekhyun had promised her, and the girls, that he'll keep his schedules clean for the mere one hour of meeting held in every two months in the twin's school. 

But he had actually missed it. Reason? Munhee didn't know. He only sent her a short text saying that he's caught up with something really urgent. 

'Must be some emergency in the office.' Munhee thought and hoped that whatever it was, should be solved soon without creating any bigger problem.

She had already lost count of how many sorry smiles she had to offer her babies everytime they'd ask her when their Daddy would arrive. Although, she alone was enough to go through the whole meeting, but Munhee did feel a little lonely when she noticed most of the women were accompanied by their husbands. But she kept a huge smile intact on her face for the sake of her babies who would be more sad if they notice the disappointment on their Mama's face.

For making up the unexpected absence of Baekhyun, Munhee took the kids to the new bakery shop that had opened in the same block as their school. After spending a moderately enjoyable hour there, the trio of mother-daughters decided to return home. They took a cab in their way back home as Munhee had already told Jongin they wouldn't be needing him for the day, since she was certain that Baekhyun would be there.

Reaching home, Munhee got surprised seeing Baekhyun there. He wasn't someone to return home just at noon on a workday unless it was a matter of absolute urgency.  

"Hey!" Baekhyun greeted her, his smile almost sheepish or as if he was nervous about something. 

"Didn't you say you had urgent work on hand? Then why are you back?" Munhee asked, walking closer to her husband who was standing in front of the couches in their living room.

"My babies, Daddy's really sorry for not attending the parent's meeting. I will attend the next one. Promise!" Baekhyun sincerely apologized to the twins, successfully avoiding to answer Munhee, bringing them into his arms, showering them with sorry kisses. The kids weren't someone to hold grudges, so they smiled and kissed back their father and happily talked about what happened in the meeting. 

Munhee glared at the back of Baekhyun, who made the kids sit on the couch and kneeled before them to be face to face with them so that they could converse comfortably. 'Is he ignoring me?' She thought, annoyed at the possibility of her assumptions being true. 

When she stood beside the couch, beside his kneeling figure with hands on her hips, she could see him stealing glances at her direction. Living with Baekhyun for almost one year, she was already accustomed to the patterns of his every kind of behavioral aspects, and today's his attitude was definitely hinting that he was nervous about something, or worse, afraid about something he was going to say to her and that was probably what leading him to avoid answering her.

Munhee cleared loudly, making her obvious presence even more obvious, so that it would be impossible for him to dodge her questioning stares. She could see her husband biting his lips for a second to probably gather up some courage, then heaving a soft sigh he stood up facing the girl.

"Is there something I need to know?" Without beating around the bush, Munhee directly asked him what her instincts had been telling her. 

"Yes. Uh..there's a... there's a guest in our house." Baekhyun let her know in his almost stammering speech. His casual use of the word 'Our' would've caused her tummy butterflies to whirl in sort of contentment if not for the word 'Guest' catching her attention.

"Guest?" Munhee asked to get a more clarified answer. She immediately raked her eyes over the house, but saw no trace of any supposedly guest her husband was talking about. She fixed her eyes over the male again, "Can you tell me clearly, who is this guest? I don't see anyone!"    

Baekhyun ruffled his gelled hair, looking just as nervous as before, "There is! She's in the guest room." He let her know.

"She? Who? Is she one of our moms?" Munhee asked, a smile took place on her lips as it had been more than one month that she had last visited any of them. "You should've told me earlier! Oh my! Did Miss Lonn manage to cook some extra lunch for her?" Her eyes widened at the thought of not being able to show enough hospitality to their mother, whoever it was.

"Miss Lonn is already preparing lunch. Don't worry." Baekhyun assured Munhee, his face still nervous. That made her stop thinking about the hospitality and the fact that he hadn't confirmed yet who was the guest.

"Baekhyun, you aren't telling me who-" 

"Baekhyun can you help me with the....oh! Hello, Munhee! I didn't know you already arrived here!" Munhee was interrupted by a seemingly chirpy Liana. Her own excitement about the guest decreased immediately upon seeing the girl. She hadn't seen her for months. But even after all these months, seeing her didn't let Munhee's unease and sort of disliking towards the girl subdue at all. If possible, she could feel it got worse.

"Liana?" Munhee's surprised mouth could only utter the girl's name. Why was she here? As their guest? 'Don't be so cheap, Mun! She's Baekhyun's friend. Just like his other friends, it's normal for her to visit once in a while.'  Her rational inner self told her firmly. "Hi.."  She greeted the girl shortly, forcing her lips to form into an welcoming smile, though she wasn't sure whether it could even considered as a smile or not. Without waiting for any reply from their 'guest', Munhee's eyes found Baekhyun's, who was coincidentally looking at her with those same nervous eyes, tracing her features for any extra reactions. 

Baekhyun gave Munhee an I'll-explain-you-later look before looking at Liana, "Do you need any help?" He asked, offering a smile. 

"Oh, yeah!" The girl beamed upon remembering why had she been calling Baekhyun when she left the room in the first place. "Can you help me keeping my luggage over the closet? It's quite heavy. I couldn't do it alone when I tried." She pouted at Baekhyun, her hands went to tug the material of Baekhyun's dress shirt's arms.  

'Luggage?' Was the first thought that hit Munhee. 'Why would she need to bring lug- Wait, is she staying over? But for how many days that she had to bring her heavy luggage with her?' Munhee couldn't help but let the questions revolve around her head. But all these questions stopped when she saw Liana trying to act cute in front of Baekhyun. The sudden feeling of something that felt like nausea stirred inside her stomach. She didn't know the reason clearly, it wasn't important at that moment. 

Baekhyun gave Munhee another glance, pressing his lips tightly, before he spoke to the clinging girl, "Leave it for now. It's lunch time. Have your lunch first." He gently removed Liana's fingers from his arm, and was about to come near Munhee, probably to say something, but he was stopped again when Liana held his arm again, this time wrapping her all fingers around his arm.

"No, Baek! Help me now! You know how clumsy I am, I would probably hit my legs there and will get a nasty injury!" Liana whined, making Munhee cringe while her hands clutched onto her bag slinging on her shoulder. She didn't want to admit but somewhere in a distant corner of her heart she knew she felt a little envious at how easily Liana could call Baekhyun with a short nickname, she might never be brave enough to do so.

Baekhyun sighed before nodding, "Fine. Let's go. Munhee I-" He was about to say something, but this time, it was Munhee's turn to ignore him. Not that she'd just let him go without listening the reasoning behind bringing the uninvited guest. She just didn't want to discuss this in open, as much as she disliked the girl, Munhee wouldn't want to make her feel uncomfortable with her queries to Baekhyun. 

"Kids, let's go, Mama will get you changed. Then we will have lunch. My babies are hungry, right?" Ignoring Baekhyun, she took the kids upstairs.

Lunch was, even more annoying. When Munhee went to the dining area after changing her and her babies' clothes, she found Liana sitting on the chair on Baekhyun's left side, where she would usually sit. In the past, Munhee used to choose the farthest seat from her husband, but now, their sitting arrangements had changed since they're not on the hostile zone anymore. What irked her even more that Liana didn't leave any opportunity to talk with Baekhyun, not allowing the space to let him talk even with the kids.

Munhee was mostly silent during the whole lunch, only speaking with the kids as they seem like they needed attention. After finishing lunch, Liana was still talking to Baekhyun about her two days' trip to China in the previous week, Munhee internally scoffed at the attentive look on Baekhyun's face and took the kids with her and left them alone to talk all they wanted. She could feel Baekhyun eyeing her time to time, even now when she was walking away, but she didn't acknowledge his stares and went upstairs.

"You didn't eat much today. Are you not feeling okay?" Baekhyun asked as soon as Munhee returned their bedroom after spending half an hour in the kids' room. She wasn't sure whether Baekhyun would stay back, leaving his work as there was still few hours left of the office hours. But seeing him in his comfortable black tee and black shorts, it silently confirmed Munhee that he wouldn't be going back to office for the day. Not that she would've come back here any earlier if she had any prior idea of his presence anyway.

"Yeap, couldn't be any better." Munhee answered him, rolling her eyes when she walked past his standing figure to slide down into her side of bed. She noticed in her peripheral vision, Baekhyun doing the same. But he chose to just sit there instead of lying down. 

"About Liana..Hey! Are you listening?" Baekhyun started but stopped when he saw Munhee tucking her head under the blanket. A habit of hers, whenever she'd want to avoid him or be angry on him, her childish way of showing her displeasure, that Baekhyun seemed to be accustomed with already. "Munhee? Come out or I'll make you come out on my own." He threatened, making the girl hitch her breath upon remembering the one time she had been adamant of giving him one of her silent treatments and that ended up in her receiving a terrible tickle attack from her husband. 

"Fine! But first tell me why did you miss the parent's meeting? What was the urgent work of yours? Was it Liana?" Munhee huffed, coming out of her shell. She sat up with her arms crossed over her chest, giving Baekhyun a displeased face while waiting for his answer.

"Yes." Baekhyun nodded while sighing. Munhee felt another wave of something that felt like a mixture of nausea, annoyance, unreasonable anger upon having her assumptions confirmed by the male himself.  "I'm sorry that I couldn't make it to the meeting. You already know I would never miss it unless it was really urgent." Baekhyun insisted.

"Okay, spill then." Munhee her side, facing Baekhyun as she plopped herself on her arm, her another hand brought Mr. Byun into her chest, patting and smoothing the doll's soft bum. 

"I was about to leave for the kids' school, then I got Liana's call. She was crying pretty badly, and told me that she needed my help, she sounded terrified. So I had to rush towards her apartment. That place was wrecked nastily. Someone had broken into her house when she was out for jogging. She claims that it might be her stalker. She has been stalked for the past few weeks."  Baekhyun sighed upon finishing the long explanation and patiently waited for Munhee to gulp down the provided information. "Her house wasn't in any state for a person to live there. And it's highly dangerous for her to live there alone since stalkers can be ruthless in some cases. So I offered her to live in our house for a few days, until the police give her stalker any restraining order or does something else."

Munhee's throat dried up hearing what the elder girl had to go through. Living alone in a big city like Seoul was already a hard task, but when it came to psycho stalkers, then it could become a nightmare. She suddenly felt really guilty for not seeing her with friendly eyes. She could no longer flare upon Baekhyun for bringing her here after knowing the reason. If she was in place of Baekhyun, undoubtedly, she would've done the same. "Does she have any clue who might be her stalker?" She asked her husband, genuinely wanting to know details about the terrifying circumstances.

"She says it might be one of her colleagues from her previous workplace, she worked at that company for a few months before joining mine. There was a bunch of men who gave her creepy looks every now and then. She recognized the design of the working ID when one day she was stalked while walking back from grocery shopping." Baekhyun pinched his nose bridge, seemingly worried for his friend. 

Munhee tentatively reached her hand to his arm soothingly. "That's really terrifying. She must've felt so scared all these time. But what happened today..." She shuddered slightly when she tried to imagine how Liana must've felt seeing the condition of her house and the fear of someone being dangerous enough to break in there, "You did the right thing by bringing her here." She told him. 

Munhee's words finally relaxed the male's stiffened figure. He lifted his head away from his fingers, gave her a grateful smile for being understanding of the situation. "I was worried that you might be upset." He mumbled softly, eyes tracing her features.

Munhee forced a nervous laughter, wanting to come out as much nonchalant as she could. She indeed was upset until she knew the backstory. Now she felt like a crap for judging him or Liana without knowing the details. "Why would I be upset?" She said while looking here and there.  "Don't be silly!"

"That's a relief then." Baekhyun's lips curved a little more upwards, smiling wider than before as he ran his fingers through his soft dark hairs, suddenly giving Munhee the urge to touch and feel the softness of them. Also, now that Baekhyun wasn't wearing his full sleeved shirt, she could clearly she his bracelet dangling on his left wrist. When she had given him the bracelet, she had finally decided to gift him a customized bracelet rather than giving him a random watch from any branded shop or any other gifts, she had gifted him the bracelet after exactly ten days of his birthday, she didn't expect him keep wearing it till this date. But she liked it. The feeling of him cherishing her gift felt somewhat soothing for her, letting her to believe that she indeed held a place of importance in his life, be it a tiny grape sized space, it didn't matter to her.

She still remembered when Baekhyun asked her about the quotes written in small letters over the white gold surface of the bracelet. It read  'Be brave, be humble.' She had chosen this particular quote because, in her eyes Baekhyun was exactly that, and she wanted him to always stay brave and humble, facing the problems in life bravely, helping the one in need humbly. Though, she only chose to answer that she found the writing font cool, that's why she got it for him. 

"Were the kids upset today?" Baekhyun asked while settling down in more comfortable position, sliding under the covers while he faced her. 

"Mmm." Munhee hummed, nodding her head, remembering the sad looks of her little sunshines, a soft pout forming into her lips without her knowledge. "But they got happy when we explored that new... bakery." Munhee softly yawned in between speaking. 

Baekhyun chuckled seeing her struggling to keep her eyes from closing, resulting her to blink them more than usual. "Thanks to whoever invented pastries and cakes."  He mused to himself, thankful that his kids didn't sulk through the whole day. "Go to sleep. You look tired." He then told the drowsy girl.

Munhee gave him a nod. Naturally, her hands reaching for the extra pillow to slip it between them, assuming that they're both going to sleep. 

  "Let it be." Munhee's hands were stopped in midway before reaching the pillow as Baekhyun was holding them, "I'm not gonna sleep. So we don't need it now." He told her before leaving her hand and sitting up to surf through his hand phone. 

Munhee again gave a sleepy nod towards his direction, clutching Mr. Byun into her chest tightly, she surrendered herself to her dreamland.

                                          _____

Munhee tried to act normal with Liana for the rest of the day, but that didn't result in a fruitful way. For some reason, Liana seemed like she would prefer if Munhee didn't initiate any conversation with her.

As Baekhyun had decided to work from home for the rest of the day, Liana, being the personal secretary of him, mostly spend all the time with him. Lastly, Munhee had to leave the bedroom, tired of her nonstop chatters about business, statistics, clients, things that she didn't have much idea about. She rather spent her time playing with kids, helping them review their homework