"So you and my mom were in love?" little Sharon's dreaming eyes were brighter than the stars that at that moment lit up the night sky "why did you break up?"

"Because I made mistakes and I made your mother feel bad" Chaeyoung, who returned from a business trip a few hours ago, was still wearing the elegant suit "and then, if you want to know my opinion, I think I was right to help your mothers or at this moment I would not have had my favorite niece"

Sharon smiled both with and with her eyes and she threw herself at the woman to hug her "you're my favorite too, but don't tell Aunt Nayeon and Aunt Sana or they'll get very angry"

"Your secret is safe with me" she kissed her head very gently, making sure to place the blanket over her shoulders.

"Auntie, can I ask you another question?" she had asked her in a low, almost cautious tone of voice.

"You can ask me anything you want, you know"

The little girl, moved away a few centimeters to look into her eyes, seemed sad "why don't you have anyone?"

Chaeyoung was blown away by that question, but she was able not to be surprised "why are you asking me? Don't you like having a rich aunt who travels the world? Having a person next to me would be an impediment for me"

"You have sad eyes even when you smile"

"I'm not sad, you're confusing yourself with fatigue" she gave her a light pinch on the nose "and you don't have to worry about me, I already have all the love I need to live"

"But I would like some cousins ​​to play with, if you are not engaged you cannot get pregnant"

At that moment the door opened, revealing the perfect figure of Tzuyu "it's time to sleep, let your aunt rest and keep your questions for tomorrow morning" she had approached to kiss her daughter's forehead.

"But I still have so many things to ask, I can't go to sleep" Sharon had the same pout as Mina, who was flanked by Tzuyu's puppy eyes "another five minutes, please mommy"

"We don't make your mother angry, I don't want to sleep on the couch and leave her alone in the cold"

"I can sleep next to your wife, I'm a great portable stove" Chaeyoung had given her a mischievous smile, getting a well-deserved smack on her forehead "I was kidding, you're the usual jealous"

The little girl, from the age of nine, was able to understand the situation and laugh "my mommy is jealous because Aunt Chae is more charming than her"

"Who taught you to say these things?" Tzuyu seemed ready to hit her friend at any moment.

"It was me, or rather, it's all thanks to the book I read to her the other day" Mina was leaning against the door jamb, wearing heavy pajamas and a hint of a clearly visible belly.

Chaeyoung immediately got up to touch it "miss, you should be in bed resting, you don't want to stress you know who" her eyes were all turned to her rounded belly, steeped in love and adoration.

Tzuyu had remained on the bed watching them, unable to hold back a nostalgic smile "Chae, take her to bed. I'll take care of this hyperactive little princess"

The shorter one had made the military salute, waiting for Sharon to imitate her before taking Mina's hand and taking her out of the room "why can't you sleep? Are you sick?"

"I'm fine, if we put the tiredness aside, but I couldn't fall asleep because I wanted to see all three of you together. Because of your constant travels, it doesn't happen often to see the women of my life reunited"

"Then you are forgiven, but only because you included me in the package" she helped her to go to bed, tucking her blankets "and soon a boy will also arrive in this family full of girls"

"I'm terribly afraid of not being able to raise him right" she was her belly with her fingertips "I feel I'm not doing enough for Sharon and I'm really afraid of ruining our family"

Tzuyu had joined them at that moment "she's been repeating the same things since we learned our son's ; could you tell her to stop being so paranoid?"

The shorter of the three was smiling in amusement "oh no, I have no intention of getting in the way and I think I will enjoy the spectacle of you two arguing"

"There is nothing to argue about, I am aware of being too paranoid right now" Mina had her eyes closed and seemed on the verge of falling asleep "I would just like to see you happy, to all of you"

After saying those words, the breath of the pregnant woman had settled and the other two remained motionless to admire her.

Nayeon was quite nervous: her beloved wife, unsurprisingly, had forgotten to go to collect their clothes from the laundry and, still as expected, she had had to walk there. She didn't mind going out, but she had so much work to do before their return to Korea and the lack of help from her better half had made her irritable.

Luckily for her, there was Momo with her, who a few years earlier had moved with Jihyo in the same city as the two brides "don't be with that angry expression, you're even uglier when you do"

"If you don't shut up I'll punch you in the nose"

"The usual violent and rude" the brunette snorted, walking briskly to stay next to her friend "could you remind me of the reason for my presence here? You could have asked Jihyo to accompany you"

"She has many requests from every singer that can come to my mind and I have no desire to hinder her work, instead you are a no-brainer like me and I knew you would have no problem accompanying me"

Momo was not even offended, perfectly aware of being able to live on income for the rest of her life "at least I'm rich, what excuse do you have for being so lazy?"

The older was thinking about it "I'm not lazy, but my clumsiness made me lose a lot of jobs and frankly, if I had a shop or anything else, I would never hire someone like me. To compensate, I'm thinking of everything for the back home, we have to spend a memorable holiday"

"We have the others waiting for us, I know that Dahyun and Sana have already left Japan so we are only four of us to complete the group" Momo was really in a good mood "my beautiful wife will delight us with songs and I can't wait to hear her wonderful voice"

"You can listen to it every day, you don't need karaoke to do it"

"Said the one who made the gym membership for herself and Jeongyeon so as not to deprive herself of the vision of her abs" she was clearly judging her with her eyes "you are worse than me and I advise you not to give your opinion where it is not required"

After picking up the clothes and having a coffee at the bar, the two girls walked home, arguing that Momo, despite having three different and brand new cars, had decided to go on foot.

To interrupt that futile discussion was the sound of a clacson and the smile of the owner of the car that produced it "there is still a long way to get home, would you like a lift?" one thing that hadn't changed in the least in those years was Jihyo's beaming smile, which swept away the mood of the other two women.

They talked about this and that, finally focusing on leaving for Korea and getting excited about the ultrasound photo Mina had sent in their group chat.

"I still can't believe we'll have another baby to spoil, I'm so excited I want to scream" Nayeon was in adoration and she didn't forget to turn her attention to Sharon's photos too "that grown-up child will slaughter hearts wherever she goes, I feel that"

"It's the perfect mix of Mina and Tzuyu, I wouldn't expect anything different" Jihyo was focused on driving, fiddling with her ring whenever she had to stop at a traffic light "I wonder what our little man will be like"

"I'll teach him to flirt, it must be everyone's desire" Momo was making an imaginary list in her head "maybe I should teach Sharon too"

"Do not try!" the other two women screamed at the same time, frightening the brunette and laughing at her reaction.

Jeongyeon joined them about an hour later "I knew you would be staying at our house and I thought I'd bring dinner for everyone" she had put the envelopes on the table after kissing her wife "is almost everything ready for departure?"

"We just have to close the suitcases, but that has to be done the same day" Nayeon immediately set out to set the table.

Jihyo was also on her feet to lend a hand "here we are and we were lucky to have found four tickets at the last minute"

"We are also in time for my grandmother's birthday, I would have been sorry not to be able to bring her flowers" Momo's eyes were teary.

"It will be one of the first things we will do when we arrive, I promise" her wife knew how difficult it was to face a loss, even after many years. What none of them knew was that on that lady's grave there was a variety of colorful flowers that were changed every week. The responsible for that silent gesture? The one that had phoned a few minutes later to know when she would have to go and pick them up at the airport.

"Auntie, I don't like doing my homework for the holidays" Sharon was sulking and sprawled in her favorite chair "can we take a break and watch something on TV?"

The only person who never lost patience on those occasions was Dahyun, who hadn't flinched at the tender expression of her niece "let's do this: let's complete two more pages and stop for today. With my help it won't take a lot because you are very smart, is it good for you as a compromise?"

"Okay, then just stay with me for a while"

While the girl was concentrating, the woman was giving her an affectionate smile, so much so that it prompted Sana to point out "you never smile like that, not even with me. Should I feel threatened?" she felt like laughing.

"My baby can melt my heart of ice so yes, you should worry" she winked at her, checking the exercises and putting her finger on one of the answers "this one is wrong, check carefully"

While Dahyun was intent on explaining the mistake to the little girl, Mina was watching them with a toothy smile "she knows how to deal with children, she is never so calm when we help her"

"I think you should get busy" Tzuyu was sharing peanuts with Chaeyoung, who immediately gave a hand to that proposal "in short, Sharon loves being with her and even the children who meet her by chance take a liking to her"

"I would love it and I think it's the same for her"

"But?" Chaeyoung was still looking in the direction of Dahyun and Sharon.

"We both believe we are not inclined to have children, at least not now that we are always busy with work" she was smiling "for now we are fine, but you convinced me to talk about it with her"

The shorter of them got up after checking the time on her cell phone "I'm going to the airport to pick up those four unfortunates, you keep talking about the future babies I will have to spoil" she kissed the head of the little girl, addressing the same watch out for Mina's belly, and then she walked away humming a children's song.

Sharon's scream made everyone collect from their thoughts "there's a spider!" she had thrown herself at Dahyun, who hadn't shown the slightest hint of fear and had caught the tiny spider with her fingers.

"You shouldn't be afraid, he has more than you considering his size. See? Nothing happens even if you touch him"

The little girl did not seem convinced at all and ran away to hide behind Mina "take him away, I'm too scared"

The pregnant woman was amused and moved by the whole situation "you are a sweetheart, even if you are afraid you do not want him to get hurt"

"I don't want to make his family cry"

Tzuyu had held her with pride "we are so proud of you, you deserve so many kisses"

As those three exchanged loving kisses, Dahyun's eyes were fixed on her wife. Her indecipherable expression changed the moment their eyes met: her impassiveness gave way to a smile and she found herself pointing to the happy family.

"Luckily I decided to take the bigger car or I wouldn't have known where to put all your suitcases" Chaeyoung was exhausted: being able to arrange all their luggage had been as tiring as climbing a mountain.

"Blame Momo, she's the one who brought the most things" Jeongyeon sat in the passenger seat and was looking out the window "maybe we should have left her at home"

The person directly concerned had pouted "you are unfair to me, it is not my fault that I need to carry more things. You are my wife, tell her something and silence her"

"I will not, if you feel you are the victim of an injustice you can very well defend yourself as an adult person with a thinking head" Jihyo had spoken with her usual kindness, kissing the cheek of her beloved and deliberately ignoring her disappointed expression.

"How's life here? We haven't been able to get back in the last few months" Nayeon had her head leaning against the glass, too tired to stay upright.

"Well I would say, I too have been back a few days ago and I still have to get used to this pace" Chaeyoung was so good at the wheel that she avoided a possible accident without batting an eyelid "I would like to know how some people get their driving license"

The three women in the back seats were clinging to each other in fear, more precisely it was Momo and Nayeon who grabbed poor Jihyo "you're hurting me"

"That's why I didn't want to sit next to those two" Jeongyeon's proud face quickly disappeared due to a slap on the forehead from her wife.

"In sickness and in health, you promised these things when you married me"

"I didn't agree to put up with your behavioral problems too"

And so it was that began a quarrel between the two, which was not interrupted by the others because they were so used to that at the point of being indifferent to it.

Chaeyoung was smiling "Sharon can't wait to be all together, she even did her homework a few hours earlier than usual to make sure to take advantage of every single second with us"

"That little girl is very sweet, in my opinion she has the same personality as Mina" Jihyo was proud to be her aunt, so much so that she wrote songs dedicated exclusively to her.

"I have to tell you, she also looks a lot like Tzutzu. That rogue can be much sweeter than Minari, even if she doesn't show it, and some behaviors she has certainly taken from that tall mountain"

Momo smiled amused "you managed to praise and insult Tzuyu in one fell swoop, I congratulate you"

Even the shorter one was smiling "it's my talent, I can't keep it at bay even by trying hard. Anyway stop fighting, we're here"

There had been hugs, kisses on the cheeks and the exchange of overdue gifts as the beginning of what was to be one of the holidays that each of them would keep in their hearts for a lifetime.

Showing mutual affection, after those ten years they had spent together, was no longer embarrassing and it was what could be most natural in a family like theirs.

None could exist without the other and to prove it was the bracelet that, although full of scratches and dents, was still on the wrist of each of them in a promise that, regardless of the strength of the metal of which it was made, would never break.

~~~
And this too has come to an end! I confess that I am not satisfied and that, unfortunately, I like this story less than the others for a variety of personal reasons, but it was a nice journey that has come to an end.

As Sana wrote in Time To Twice "if something goes, something else comes", so I hope that, of all the stories I have to write, the next one will give me the satisfaction, and the loophole, that I need.

Thanks to you who have read, I have enjoyed it immensely and I don't think I would have continued to write without your presence. Hope to see you again, thanks again.💚