Parenthood isn’t easy. It takes effort, time, and love. Often, it can become even more difficult as a single parent. Having to divide your life between your kids, your work, and maybe even love.

N doesn’t know how he does it, but he praises himself almost every day for being the wonderful mother he is. He manages to see over his boys’ schoolwork, get them involved in extracurricular activities, and maintain a clean home all while working as a dance teacher and going on the occasional date.

Really, he had this single mom thing nailed. Looking in the mirror, he wondered how someone could be so beautiful and talented. Was God not satisfied with just giving him a killer body? Must he also carry the burden of having an A-plus personality? Of course, it wasn’t all totally natural. He wore a dash of make-up and dieted when – wait.

Crap. Diets. Food. He forgot about dinner.

He rushed out the bathroom and into the kitchen of his family’s nice little apartment.

The apartment was styled to N’s, uh… unique tastes. He stayed in the master bedroom while his oldest son, 16 year old Ravi had his own room. The two middle children 14 year old Hongbin and 12 year old Hyuk shared a room across from Ravi’s. In N’s room was the baby’s crib. Little Leo was getting big for a two year old (being over 182 cm tall), but N wasn’t sure if he was ready to transition his precious little angel to a bed just yet.

N quickly opened the refrigerator and glanced around to see what ingredients he could throw together before the boys realized he hadn’t started cooking.

“Where’s food?” Ravi growled sleepily from the confines of his room. N was surprised he could hear his son over the rap music Ravi was blasting. All those lyrics were about girl booty twerking and drinking the drugs and doing the alcohol. N shook his head. Kids these days.

“Mom, Ravi hyung is talking in his sleep again!” Hongbin whined from his and Hyuk’s room.

“Can we splash water on his face?” Hyuk asked excitedly, earning enthusiastic noises of agreement from Hongbin.

“Sure,” N said before sniffing a soft orange and jerking back from its odor. “Just make sure he doesn’t drown!”

“Yay!” “Yeah!” The middle children cheered. N could then hear the sounds of them running to the bathroom, filling a hefty container with water, and then running into Ravi’s room.

Ultimately deciding there was nothing of worth for dinner, N closed the refrigerator with a sigh. He bit his lip in thought before glancing over into the living room where a soaked Ravi was chasing his giggling little brothers.

N put a hand to his cheek. Look at his family. So innocent, so sweet. And here he was unable to provide his growing boys with a meal. He was such a failure as a mother. How could he? If he was wrong about this, was he wrong about his hotness too? Nah, he knew he was dead y, there was no changing that.

His thoughts of self-pity were broken when he felt a tugging on his sleeve. He turned to see his bundle of joy, Leo, standing beside him with an emotionless expression.

“Hungry,” was all the baby said and N burst out into tears.

The sound of their mother’s crying caused the three older brothers to enter the kitchen and gaze at the sobbing N.

“What’s wrong, mom?” Hyuk asked after a moment.

“Oh, my Hyukie,” N said, sniffling and pulling the boy into a hug. “Oh, boys, I’m so sorry. I don’t have anything ready for dinner.”

“Is this really necessary?” Hyuk asked, squirming against his mother’s oddly strong hold.

Ravi and Hongbin glanced at each other before Hongbin suggested, “Well, I mean, grocery stores are still open. Can’t you just like… go get food?”

This notion had N wiping away his tears and saying, “You know what? You’re right! You’re right! It’s not over yet!”

“What’s not over yet?”

“Shut up. I’m going to go get the ingredients to make a delicious soup, then I’m going to come back, make it, and we’re going to eat it!”

“Do you eat or drink soup?” Hongbin questioned to no one in particular as Ravi cheered happily for food.

Hyuk raised his hand into the hair. “I want to go!”

“Me too!” Hongbin said shortly after.

“Family~ Outing~!” N sang while clapping happily.

Ravi began to ask, “Can I just stay hom—”

“Family. Outing.” N insisted, giving his oldest son a very sharp stare.

N wasn’t sure why, but shoving Leo into shopping carts’ infant seats always proved difficult. N knew all of his boys were on the bigger side, none of them having finished puberty yet all standing at least a few centimeters taller than him, but Leo had been his biggest baby yet. Every time he thought back to labor – Uhg, just thinking about it gave him painful memory cramps…

N pulled out the quickly jotted down list as they walked to the first aisle and he began giving out orders like a general.

“Ravi, go get the milk, eggs, and cheese.”

Silently, Ravi put his headphones in his ears and strode off, booming rap music from his iPod.

N gave his son’s back a distasteful look before rustling Hyuk’s hair and saying, “Our Hyukie is going to fetch the seasonings.”

Hyuk gave a salute and marched off, seemingly aware of his duty’s gravity. Soup without seasoning? That’s called water.

“What’s my job?” Hongbin asked eagerly.

“You’ll just stick with me and Leo,” N said with a smile.

Hongbin scoffed, “Boring.”

Despite having heard him perfectly, N tilted his head with a thin smile stretched across his face. “What was that?”

Hongbin gave his mother a dimpled smile back and said, “Fun. I said that sounds like fun.”

It wasn’t fun. Shopping with N meant the adoring mother would hold up various products to baby Leo who would then shake his head, proclaiming, “I don’t like it.”

“I don’t like it,” were Leo’s first words and now, his favorite words. On the off chance that Leo did like something, he would stare at it in silence for no less than 10 seconds before giving a soft nod. Regardless of Leo’s disapproval, N would still put the needed items in the basket – each receiving a ceremonial complaint about the price.

After weaving 5 aisles in, a man passed by while looking at N up and down. N had been contemplating the purchase of cereal when the man had given him the combing look. Feeling the prowling eyes, N glanced up to watch the man walk off but not without giving the mother a playful wink.

“Oh my,” N mumbled, a hand flying to his mouth and cheeks tinting pink.

The flattered mother then looked to Hongbin who just stared back blankly hoping that the moment would be over and the shopping would hurry to an end.

“Did you see that?” N asked.

“No,” Hongbin lied feeling increasingly more awkward.

“Your mom’s still got it,” N said, placing a box of cereal in the cart and giving a little wiggle.

“Please stop,” Hongbin laughed nervously, covering his face. People were in that store. People who could see them.

“I’m still,” N his finger, touched his bottom, and made a hissing noise. “Sizzling hot.”

“I want to die,” Hongbin groaned.

“Don’t be ashamed that you have a – what’s the word?”

“Please don’t—”

“MILF! Don’t be ashamed that your y mama’s a MILF,” N assured his son, Hongbin’s soft locks before pushing the cart forward. Hongbin silently wished that the memory would be magically erased from his mind.

As they pressed on, the three passed by the rows of instant coffee causing the baby in the basket to violent kick his legs.

“Coffee!” Leo demanded. “Coffee, coffee!”

“Okay, okay, calm down, my little angel,” N cooed, reaching for a package of coffee beans.

Hongbin grabbed his mother’s arm.

“He’s 2!” Hongbin scoffed.

N gave Hongbin the stankiest of faces before saying, “Don’t be so selfish.”

“…what?”

Not too much later, Hyuk was found making symbols with his hands before tossing red seasoning across the aisle floor. He later explained that he was Sasuke performing the fire jutsu as the family hurriedly shuffled away from the scene of the crime.

Ravi was then found amongst a throne built from milk cartons. He sat proudly upon it, sleeping comfortably as though he belonged there. Without any of the slowly spoiling milk making its way back into the refrigerated area, Ravi was woken up, the milk jug with the oldest date was picked, and the family hustled their way to the check-out line.

As the cashier rung up the items, she couldn’t help gazing up at the five beautiful men before her. They were all tall and handsome with a freshness about their faces. One of them was in the baby seat of the cart –which was weird- but she wrote it off as a punishment game. She imagined these gorgeous guys proposing to her, protecting her, fighting over her and then

“Mom,” Hongbin whined, “Leo keeps poking me!”

“Let it be, you’re the older brother, Beanie, he’s just a baby!” N snapped.

“Ravi hyung, I’m serious,” Hyuk growled, futilely slapping his brother’s arm. “Don’t do it!”

“It’s too late I already posted the status,” Ravi replied with a hardy laugh and a press of his cell phone’s keys. Said status read something like “My little brother ran around the grocery store playing Naruto. He’s a nerd, believe it! LOL.”

Silently and suddenly, two smooth streams of tears ran down Leo’s face. N immediately became alarmed, knowing that despite the lack of screams most babies belted out, this was how Leo cried.

“What’s wrong, little Leo?” N asked in baby talk (“Wut’s wong, wittle Weo?”). “Did you go potty?”

With a sniffle, Leo quietly nodded his head and N promised to change him upon their return home.

The cashier stared at the scene in complete and total silence. She wasn’t sure she was registering what she was seeing properly. As she gaped there, food all rung up, N handed her a card.

She stared at that too, not trusting anything to be real.

N simply smiled at her and said, “It’s debit.”

Upon their return home, the older boys immediately began roughhousing for no reason in particular while Leo clung to his mother’s sleeve and demanded to be changed. Ravi groaned after being told to change Leo, complaining that Leo always kicked him.

“I know he’s doing it on purpose,” Ravi said, glancing at the baby’s smirk.

The disagreement didn’t last long, it taking N just one look to get Ravi to storm off to the bathroom with Leo in tow.

“Ow, stop! Ow!” could be heard soon after with a following, “Dammit, Leo, if you don’t- ow!”

N ignored the cries of pain to lay out the ingredients on the counter. He smiled thinking about how to go about this recipe. He would have to cut the carrots and potatoes, cook the peas, bake ingredients that were meant to be fried (he’s watching his figure), slap up some side dishes… steam the rice… his smile began to fade. Cooking seemed like so much work at this point really.

Ravi stumbled out the bathroom, dotted with a couple of bruises. He was followed by a proud-looking Leo who emerged asking for food.

All the boys gathered into the living room, pre occupied with one thing or another (manga, K-drama, music, blocks), N walked up and joyfully asked, “Who wants to order take-out?!”

His inquiry was met with sincere cheers and happy tears.

The family later sat around, slurping up ramyun and talking loudly.

“Did you just steal some of my egg, Ravi?!”

“I’m a growing boy, I need the protein.”

“I need protein too! Haha!”

“Don’t you take some too, Hongbin hyung~!”

“I want eggy.”

“Are babies even allowed to eat ramyun?”

“Give. Eggy.”

“…here, take it. Dammit.”

Ah, the bliss of brothers sharing. So pure. N relished in the love of his family. Yes, he truly had it all together, from his kids to dinner and even his sizzling hot bod. Life was good.