“You !”

“Language!”

“Sorry. You butthole!” 

Jihyo can only laugh at her friend, Dahyun never fails to amuse her. After Nayeon happened upon her at the park, there wasn’t much choice but to call everyone over and let them see her in person. It was nice to finally meet up and catch up with everyone, but she needed to care for the kids and couldn’t busy herself with preparations, so she had a chef and someone to help with serving everyone, finally acting like the rich she was. 

There were some teasing comments about everything, but everyone understood she wasn’t able to actually host like she did before with two children to care for. Little Yuna was excited to meet new kids, and Changbin was waiting for his friend’s mother to pick him up. The kids were quick to head into the playroom where the most unimaginable toys waited for them, Jihyo texted the mom friend who was supposed to pick her son up and learned they were about five minutes out, so she asked her guests to wait a bit while she walked her son down.

“Right, so you have a lot to tell us.” Sunmi prompts once her ex is back and seated.

“I guess I do, don’t I?!” Jihyo chuckled. “Where should I begin?”

“How about telling us why you didn't say anything once you got back to Korea?” Mina grumbled.

“Well, the kids had a rough time adapting and I wanted to be there to help them before introducing them to new people.”

“Your son just went out with friends not five minutes ago!” Tzuyu pointed out.

“To be fair, they go to an international school and the boy is half canadian, so they mostly speak english.”

“Fine, but why haven’t we heard a word about kids? Or you getting married again?” Dahyun demands.

“Well, Hyerim was very sick and we didn’t know how long we had together. She couldn’t fly or get overwhelmed so we figured it would be better to keep things discreet.”

“I get not having a big wedding, but the kids? Why are we just learning of them now?” The pale woman insisted.

“I guess it just felt right to not tell anyone about them? I don’t really have an explanation. Then after Hyerim was gone I wasn’t thinking much, just going through the motions.”

“I’m sorry you had to go through that.” Sana reached over and squeezed Jihyo’s hand. “It must be hard seeing someone you love go and be left with two kids.”

“Well.” Jihyo smiled kindly, she never really did have anything against the japanese. “It’s not like I didn’t have practice in losing people. And the kids were a blessing, to be honest.”

“We’ll let it go because you look well.” Tzuyu cheekily said.

“No, you’ll let it go because I’ll win every single time and everyone knows it.” Jihyo throws back just as smugly.

“Not really, I still have an out here.” Sana pipes in.

Jihyo can’t really say anything to that, between the three Momo was the only one to blame. But there was also Dahyun and Chaeyoung, who could make a case for themselves. The laughter at the nurse’s misery was good enough, so they went on with the conversation. It was nice catching up and learning what was new with all of them, telling about her life in London, about the kids, why she retired from law enforcement, how things were going. It was good to finally be completely at peace in her home country.

They spend the rest of the day talking, only being reminded of how long it’s been when dinner is announced. All ate between light conversation, parents feeding their children, Changbin had long returned and walked right in front of his mother, who only noticed he was back when he sat down to eat beside her. He felt it was nice to see his mother looking so at ease, she used to sport this worried look, like she was trying to spot something or someone before they got to her. 

Jihyo, well, she was finally satisfied with her life. Sure, romance still wasn’t for her, but she had two little ones to take care of, she had her parents, and she had her friends, who now she could actually call her friends, not just Dahyun’s crew. Jihyo felt right at home.

***/***

See yall in the next one, I guess.