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Large raindrops drummed onto a fragile umbrella where three bodies were currently huddled under. Their footsteps were brisk and sloppy; neither of the girls wanted to get wet. However, as the rain heightened in intensity, so did their pace.

“Babe hold the umbrella closer towards me, Minhyun is going to get wet!” Mina carried the sleeping baby within the full protection of her large winter coat. Nayeon grumbled an incoherent curse as she followed Mina’s command. The full brute of the endless rain saturated into her exposed neck and shoulder within a second. 

A few tense moments of speed walking led the couple under the cover of the staircase leading up to by far, the most irry looking apartment complex near campus. 

 Neither of the two girls reflected on that fact now. At that moment, this complex was a safe haven from nature’s piss show outside. 

“I told you it was going to rain.” Nayeon cleared her blurry vision to watch an equally soaked Chaewon sprint toward them from the parking lot. In her arms were Minhyun’s baby car seat and book bag. 

“Either way we made it.” Mina chimed in with a cheerful tone. Her shoulders and face were completely dry. 

Neither Chaewon or Nayeon had the energy to reply. It was too early and too cold for any of that.

Silently, they made their way up two floors and took a right turn leading to the middle of the complex. Even after seven months, the dim hallway lights flickered on and off to its mellow beat. 

It was Chaewon who approached the door of 251B first and knocked rapidly. Her impatience and sudden burst of energy was due to one reason only.

“Ducky!” Chaewon pounced onto Yena as soon as she had opened the door for them. The latter shuddered from the chill that came from Chaewon’s barrage of wet and cold kisses on her cheek. 

“Seperated for 24 hours and look at them” Nayeon mumbled as she wedged herself past the two hugging girls at the door.

 In the process, almost tripping over the baby bag Chaewon had dropped.

"Oh my god he's so cute!" Yena said with adoring eyes as she remembered the reason for the three older girls' early appearance. The other night Mina and Nayeon had called her and asked if she and her roommates could babysit Minhyun for a couple hours while the older girls worked. They had initially tried to ask Eunbi if she could possibly babysit, but she as well had work. Thus, this was their final option. 

Once they had all dried and taken off their shoes, Mina uncovered Minhyun from her coat so that Yena could get a better look. 

“He really does have your mouth Mina unnie!” Yena eyes enlarged as she continued to inspect the sleeping baby. Yena loved babies. In her house, she was the youngest, and likewise was treated as the youngest. She had always wished to be an older sibling; Minhyun revitalized that childhood wish. 

“Remember, if he wakes up and cries just give him the pacifier and rock him in the baby car seat. No soft drinks, no desserts, especially no candy for him.” Mina took a moment to stare angrily at her girlfriend at the mention of candy. 

Nayeon pretended she couldn't hear and walked deeper into the living room. There was a strange clash of noise somewhere in the apartment that she was trying to locate. 

“And you guys surely are capable of changing a diaper right?” Mina’s voice could not hide the anxiousness she felt leaving Minhyun in their care.

“We go it unnie!” Yena waved her hand. “Both Chaeyeon and Minju have younger siblings and Hyewon watches family vlogs all the time on youtube. Don’t worry about it. Look, we made the whole place baby proof.”  Yena signaled the three girls to check what they did with the apartment. 

Mina inspected the little bumpers on each corner of the table in the living room and so forth. The floor was draped in bubble wrap, three-fourths of which had already been popped when Yuri and Chaeyeon were playing Just Dance the night before. 

What caught Mina off guard was smack dab in the middle of the living room was a large dog cage. Nayeon noticed the cage as well and asked, “did you guys get a pet?” 

Yena’s eyebrows creased in confusion. “No, we’re not allowed to have pets here.”

“What’s with the dog cage then-” Nayeon pointed.

"You're not thinking about putting Minhyun in that are you?" Mina chuckled nervously. For some reason she had pushed Minhyun closer onto her chest as an act of shielding him.

"Oh...not anymore, I guess." Yena frowned. She had spent at least two hours last night customizing the dog cage to fit Minhyun’s needs. She was under the impression babysitting a kid was much like dog sitting. Leave them in a cage with a blanket and a milk bottle and ka boom. 

"Look, we're making him breakfast right now!" Yena had gotten over her early disappointment and led them to their connecting kitchen.

"So this is where all the noise was coming from..." Nayeon said while biting her bottom lip. Minju was in one corner of the kitchen attempting to cut her way through strawberries with the wrong end of a butcher knife. She kept eyeing her mangled strawberry slices and then back onto the knife, unsure why she couldn’t get a clean cut. 

Yuri and Chaeyeon had somehow burned microwave bacon and a large gray cloud had entrapped the ceiling of the room. Tzuyu was sitting off in one corner still reading the manual on the side of a box of pancake batter. 

The more Mina studied the general disarray of the girls in the apartment, the more she began to doubt if this was a good idea to leave Minhyun in their care.

Her mind mentally painted pictures of all the horrible things that could go wrong. She zeroed in on the many kitchen knives and sharp utensils that laid sprawled around. The burnt bacon had left it hard to breath, and Mina had stepped closer to one of the windows to make sure Minhyun would be okay. Most of all, the ing dog cage was really rubbing Mina the wrong way. Just as soon as Mina and Nayeon had walked into the apartment, they had walked back out. 

Minhyun, still with them.

"Yeah, that was a horrible idea. Let's try Sakura's place."

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Twenty minutes later, the couple had pulled up to Sakura's shared apartment with Hitomi and Nako. Chaewon decided to stay back at Yena’s apartment but at least the rain had died down.  

Mina was reluctant to leave Minhyun in the care of these particular three after they lost Kookeu while Nayeon and her were gone for the winter trip. Desperate times called for desperate measures. J line would have to do. 

"Hey, sorry for the last minute request." Mina spoke in her native tongue once entering through the front door and into the living room.

Sakura was busy behind her computer desk playing Valorant and only offered a small wave before returning her gaze back towards her monitor.

"Should we leave him here?" Nayeon set down the baby car seat with Minhyun.

"Daijobu, daijobu." Sakura waved her hand dismissively.

"Oh, Mina san. " Hitomi entered the room. In her hand was a gigantic butcher knife that looked awfully similar to the one Minju had been cutting strawberries with.

"Are you cooking breakfast?" Nayeon asked with some bewilderment. Her default position in life was to assume none of her friends knew how to cook except Eunbi, Momo, and her girlfriend.

Hitomi angled her head sideways, confused by the question. Nayeon pointed at the knife in Hitomi's hand and only then did the younger japanese girl understand.

"Ahhh, i've been into woodwork lately. I'm making a bird feeder right now, do you want to see?" Hitomi ushered both the older girls to follow suit.

Mina and Nayeon entered into another small room where Hitomi was sharpening her craft. The floor was covered in plastic drapes and ontop was a very large and intimidating mechanical saw.

"Is this...safe?" Nayeon gulped. Last she checked, Hitomi wasn't even wearing gloves.

"Oh, totally! Nako and I have practiced a lot so there's no need to worry. Right Nako?"

Mina took a step backward in a horrified gasp as she watched the mentioned girl enter the room. Her face and chest was covered in red dripping ooze that soaked the floor and left a bloody trail behind her. It was a sight straight out of a horror movie and Mina and Nayeon wanted no part of it.

"Where's Minhyun, Sakura!?" Mina did a 360 when she realized their son wasn't in the car seat back in the living room. 

The girl in return only gave a small uncaring shrug before turning her attention back to her game.

"Ri-right here." Nayeon was hunched over in the corner trying to control her breathing. The sight of all the blood on Nako was causing her to become nauseous.

Mina ran to the corner of the room where Minhyun was chewing his way through the leather of the couch and picked him up.

"let's get out of here babe!"

Sakura jumped when she heard their front door slam close. She had no idea what caused Mina and Nayeon to leave in such a frantic mess. She had just assumed one of them was late to work and shrugged it off.

"Why did they take the baby?" Hitomi walked into the living room with a pout.

"I was painting a wooden bird for him but then the red paint spilled on me." Nako groaned. 

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ten minutes later 

Mina and Nayeon sat on one side of a booth together staring as Minhyun chewed on his stubby fingers in a baby high chair. Even as mentally drained and wary as they both were. Somehow, Minhyun gave them the little energy needed to smile.

"What are we going to do with you?" Mina sighed into the open air of the cafe. She had just got off the phone with her boss saying she was running late. They had stopped by a cafe near Sakura’s place to catch a little breakfast. 

"At any rate, we don't know anybody else that can babysit Minhyun. I'll play hooky and take care of him at home till you come back from work." Nayeon parted Mina's bangs and gave her a small kiss.

"You and Minhyun alone? He won't even let you pick him up. How are you going to take care of him for the next five hours?" Mina challenged back.

"Who do you think I am? Im, I'm Nayeon" The older girl beat onto her chest with a closed fist. "I'll figure it out,  don't you worry."

"Really now?" Mina faced her girlfriend in disbelief.

"Yes." Nayeon answered with a bright smile.

"Pick him up right now then." Mina extended an open hand towards Minhyun. The baby in return looked between the couple and made a sour face.

“Right-right now?” Nayeon repeated with a stale voice. Her girlfriend nodded her head and ushered her to proceed.

“Well, here goes nothing-”  As Nayeon leaned over to take Minhyun out of the baby stool, a gigantic shadow loomed over their table.

"What's with the kiddo?" Ahn Yujin stood to Nayeon’s side with two menus in her arms. Everyday it seemed the younger girl's face was maturing and somehow she was still growing taller.

"I didn't know you worked here." Mina gave a bright smile as Yujin handed her a menu.

"Don't remind me." Yujin stuck out her tongue. "Who knew Seoul university was so expensive to attend?" The younger girl continued with a pout. Even though Yujin had received a ridiculous sum of money from an academic scholarship, it wasn't quite enough to cover a whole year of tuition.

"Anyways, who is this precious little child?" Yujin moved herself closer to Minhyun. Both Mina and Nayeon tensed once Yujin wrapped her hands around the baby to lift him up. So far, only Mina and Eunbi had been successful in even standing within two feet of him. But oddly enough, Minhyun didn't cry. What surprised Mina and Nayeon even more was that Minhyun began to laugh!

"Aren't you just adorable." Yujin twirled Minhyun around in her lengthy arms before rubbing her nose into his.

"First she's secretly a genius in computer science, now she's good with babies?" Nayeon rubbed her temple out of annoyance.

"Don't you two have work?" Yujin continued to hold Minhyun for Mina and Nayeon as they read through the menu.

“Don’t you need to go back to work?" Mina fired back. No matter how smart and perfect Yujin seemed to be, nothing would change her instinctive lazy work ethic. 

"Actually, I just finished my shift." Yujin counted down as the last second ticked on the clock before it became 11:30 A.M. "Now, I can sit down and join you guys and eat." The younger girl shamelessly invited herself into the chair across from the couple. Minhyun had taken a particular interest in chewing onto Yujin's shoulder, but the young adult wasn't bothered.

"Say, you're pretty good with kids." Nayeon was in awe of how at ease Yujin looked with Minhyun in her arms.

"Pft, I used to babysit loads of kids when I was in highschool. It was the only way I can afford my pocky addiction." The girl smirked. "So lunch is on you guys right? I forgot my wallet at home." Yujin lied with a straight face.

"Yeah, free on one condition." Mina smiled.

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Night before Halloween

"Minhyunnn." Nayeon walked through the front door of her house like an excited mother returning to her kid.

Minhyun was in the middle of the living room laid flat on his tummy and in his spiderman onesie. He looked up to the front door to the sound of Nayeon calling him. Something about the subtle smile Minhyun gave as Nayeon kicked off her shoes and rushed to see him, almost caused the older girl to tear up in joy. 

She rushed past the various girls sitting around in the living room without even acknowledging them. Nayeon's tho