Soojin was preparing for school. She had stayed the night at Soeun’s house and she was picking out an outfit for today’s school day while Soeun was showering. Eventually deciding on a simple black dress and a pair of black flats. There was a couple of drawers in the sisters’ walk-in closet that house a couple dozen sets of her clothes and shoes so that Soojin wouldn’t have to bring luggage whenever she slept over. Eventually, Soeun finished showering and got out of the bathroom while Soojin went in. They tried to minimize the noise that they make as Hyunjin and Hyejoo were still sleeping.

However, Soeun tripped over a leg chair, causing her to fall forward with a thud.

“The heck’s happening with you?” Hyejoo said as she brushed the sleep from her eyes.

“Ahh…mianhae unnie.” Soeun grinned apologetically at her sister.

Shaking her head with a chuckle, Hyejoo went back to sleep, facing the opposite direction. Soeun then went inside the walk-in closet to change into her usual outfit consisting of a jacket and pants. The usual ensemble that Soojin can’t get enough of.

As Soojin stood in the shower, she was deep in thought. She regretted those times when she hated on her mother for always being gone. Unaware about the battles that she had been trying so hard to win for nearly two decades. A momentary respite was won when Haseul met Vivi, but now a new threat had been looming. Her father was back.

Father, Soojin chuckled as she thought of the word being affixed on Seon-ju.

It disgusted her.

Shaking the thoughts away from her mind, she got Soeun’s shampoo and used it on her hair.

Soeun was playing on her phone when Jungeun slowly opened the door, peering in. Yerim was already done with her preparations for today and she was busy chatting with Yeojin. The computer genius apparently has an idea for a business venture. Yeojin was simply sharing, venting out her ideas onto Yerim and she willingly listened to her. She believed that Yeojin had the capability of making this a reality.

“Hey baby, you’re ready for school?” Jungeun asked upon seeing Soeun first, asking the same to Yerim later when she rose from her lying position over her bed.

“Yes eomma. Soojinnie’s taking a bath right now.” Soeun said with a smile.

Jungeun smiled and told them that breakfast would be ready in a few minutes. Kissing them both, Jungeun left the room.

Soeun seemed happier today, maybe they indeed had that quality time we were jabbering about yesterday. Jungeun thought as she walked down the hall. The mother appreciated that her children still find ways to be happy despite the tense situation happening before them. She wanted to host a sleepover with all of her daughter’s friends so that they could catch up with each other. Soojin, since the threats surfaced, went home immediately after classes if she had no obligations or duties left to do. Her friends emulated the habit since they didn’t have anyone else to hangout with, besides they all agreed that it would be best if they were all safe at their homes.

“Beautiful.” Soeun muttered when Soojin left the bathroom.

Chuckling, Soojin simply went inside the walk-in closet to change. She could really tell that Soeun missed her by the way she showered her with affection. They were able to sleep late last night as they whispered the night away, trading stories, thoughts, and sentiments they had kept bottled up in the past days.

Soeun got up and hugged Soojin the moment she came out of the walk-in closet. She was a picture of an elegant yet simple young lady in her black dress and flats.

“Soeun-ah! We didn’t see each other for just a couple of weeks.” Soojin chuckled as Soeun rained kisses on her forehead.

“Weeks? It felt like months.” Soeun replied with a pout.

Soeun sat Soojin down and fixed her hair. Brushing and tying it according to the way Soojin usually does. As Soojin sat, she couldn’t help but wonder what had she done to be this lucky in life.

“There all done!” Soeun said with a gentle squeeze on the shoulders.

Yerim peeked from her bed and saw that the couple was finally done. They were ready to go. Getting up, she gave Soojin a gentle hug before the three of them headed out downstairs. The family had a good meal before heading out for school but not before Jungeun teased the couple before they left.

“Bye mom!”

“Bye bye auntie Jungie!”

“Bye eomma!”

The trio called out to Jungeun who saw them off at the front steps. Jinsol was still asleep at this hour. Hyejoo and Hyunjin obviously took from her when it comes to their sleeping habits.  Jinsol stayed up until the wee hours of the morning playing video games. Jungeun accompanied Jinsol as she played, watching her husband control the character on-screen and trying her best to understand what was happening. The other day, Jinsol stayed up until four in the morning building one of her robot models. Jungeun understood that doing these things can help divert attention and stress away from her husband, so she tried to keep up with her and show interest. This made her quite ecstatic and eagerly explained to Jungeun about the various concepts related to building gunplas. It ended up with Jungeun helping Jinsol sand off the nubs of the model’s parts. She enjoyed the moment as she bonded with her husband, but she simply could not get her mind of the situation unfolding before them. Soojin was like a daughter to her by now, she couldn’t let anything happen to her.

Walking inside the mansion, Jungeun picked up a phone and called the investigators she hired to help track down Seon-jung. The bulk of the families’ collective resources were now moving yet this man proves to be quite elusive. Sooyoung’s people were able to dig up information regarding his criminal activities. This allowed Lt. Colonel Shin’s people to strengthen the case building against the man, which would allow them to take more concrete actions against him. She hoped that this menace would be caught before he caused any more damage to any one of them.

Jiyoon was leaving her apartment when she saw that her mailbox had a package in it. Picking it up, she found that the box did not have any indication of what it contained or where it had come from. Dumbfounded by it, decided to put in back in the mailbox. She would check the parcel out later as she was running late for school already. Getting on her bike, Jiyoon slowly pedaled towards SNU which was about ten minutes of riding at a leisurely pace. It was probably the camera lens she ordered from overseas, she thought. But why was there almost no indication of what was inside?

At the school, the group did their usual meet up before going to their respective classes. By the time Jiyoon arrived, Soeun and Soojin was already there along with Yerim who was reading something. Doing their usual couple stuff while leaning on each other. As she approached the couple, Jiyoon realized that she was probably the only one without a significant other in the clique. She was too busy, Jiyoon thought. The right time would come.

“Hey guys!” Jiyoon cheerfully greeted the couple and Yerim. All of them returned her greetings.

Jiyoon caught up with the trio, asking them how things went for them in the past days. Sure she was in constant contact with all of them in their group messaging app, but she still wanted to learn what had happened firsthand. Listening to friends was something that Jiyoon thoroughly enjoyed.

Jaehee, Jihyo, and Chaewon soon arrived, minutes in between one another. Hyewon came last as she brushed the sleep from her eyes.