Irene POV

What.... WHAT DO I DO?! OH MY GOD!! IM NOT READY FOR THIS!

"UMMAHHH!!" It's a baby. It's a baby. IT'S A BABY!! I run to the box and hesitate. I have like no experience what so ever with kids. Let alone babies. 

"WAHHHHHHHHHHH!"

On second thought, it doesn't hurt to try. Here goes nothing. I lower my hands into the box and hover them over the baby. Where... Where do I hold it?! I slowly reach for it's arms and tug at them, shouldn't have done that. 

"WahhhmmuhHhaaa!!"

"Oh my god, oh my god, I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" I let go of it's arms and tried holding it by it's sides. "Okay... Uh..." I lift it up and brought it close to me. I think this is how they do it, right? But it's so awkward. Guess it felt it too.

"Aaammaaahhhh!!" Hick "uhhhmma!"

Ok! Defiantly changing positions! I move one of my hands to it's bottom and placed the other onto it's back. "What did my mom do again?" Wait... It's not cryin-

"Maaaa..."

Still not there yet. Ok I can do this! You can do this! Irene hwighting! Oh I know! I rock from side to side, mimicking what I remember from a documentary I saw on TV once. "Shhh~" I pat it's back repeatedly, hoping this would calm it down. "It's... It's ok, I'm here".

It's still crying, but thankfully it's just murmuring and hiccuping. "Uh-uh-umma" there's that word again. I detached it from me and hold it out in front of my body. It looks at me with doe eyes and just states at me. It just stares at me. 

"Uhh..." I look around the room, trying to think about the next step to do. 

"Achoo!" 

"Ah Chincha!!" I jump at the sound and whip my head to look at the baby. 

"Hehehe~" hic "hehehe~" well that solves the sound, but....

"Where did you come from?" wait... These are Aunt Shoo's boxes, so that means... "Don't tell me you're her-"

"NO!!"

I almost fall over by the out cry of a new voice. I turn around and come face to face with a angry looking 6 year old girl. "NO!!"

"Wah-What?!" I takes a step back and looks around the room. I sees from the side that a medium size container has been opened roughly and I guessed the vandalized box was done by the little girl. "What are you doing here?!"

Irene who are you kidding,the toddler isn't going to kill you or something. I take a look back at the kid and ask, "what's your name?"

She stops glaring at me and stays in his place. She's hesitating, I can tell... 

"Ummaaa..." Gahhk, the baby.

"I'm not your mom" I can't have a baby. I'm too young! It stares at me and starts to whimper, tears welding at the corners of it's eyes. 

"Maa-HIC-ahhmmaauh...."

"No no no! Ok ok! I'm mommy! I'm mommy!" I shoos the infant in my arms and bring it back into my embrace. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry~" I continue to pat it's back as I resume questioning the girl.  The kid shifts around but doesn't dare move, as if the world would come to an end if he did. I speak up, "hey". She looks up and finally makes eye contact with me, "what do you mean by, "no"?".

She goes back into his previous character, ignoring me and my questions. I need to get her attention or else I'm going to be clueless as this baby.

"She's not our umma"

"Huh?" I turn back to the kid. 

"She's not umma"

"She's not... Then if she's not, then who is?"

I see her run to the pile of boxes and start opening one. "Hey! Don't open that, that's not-" 

"Joy! C'mon!" You got to be kidding me. The little girl reaches inside the box and pulls out a girl tounger than her. She finally shows her face and she looks petrified. Poor thing. The older girl tugs the girl to follow her and drags the younger to my spot. The older one looks at me with a hard stare. I feels so judged right now. I noticed the girl was clutching her hands so tight, her knuckles were turning white from the lack of blood circulation. 

The older whispered something in her ear, it was to quiet for me to hear what he was saying. She nodded as a reply and continued to find the ground interesting. "What are you two whispering about". I arch one of my eye brows and popped out my hip. Well, I would have looked more intimidating if I wasn't holding a crying baby that was wetting my shirt. More laundry. 

The first girl suddenly points at me, "you".

"Me what?"

"You're our umma."

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......

WHAT?!
"Woah woah, hold on, I can't! There's no way I can be your mom. I mean look kid, we just met, I doubt I gave birth to you an-"

"Uuuunnniiiieee...." The little girl starts wailing, rubbing her eyes as her tears stream down her face. 
"Sh-sh-she d-doesn-nt li-k-ke u-us!" 
If one crying isn't enough, how about a baby. The older girl looks from the younger girl to the baby in my arms and is stuck in place. She wants to reach out to both of them but it looks like this is to much for her. She breaks down and cries her frustration out.

No... Please... I-I don't.... I just need to stop thinking. I pat the baby's back and shoos her while walking over to where the duo were. I squat down in front of them and wipe their water works away with my free hand. "Shhhh~" I rub my thumb against the corner of the little girls eye, "hey, it's ok~ There's no reason to cry~ Look, everything's okay". I lean forward and wrap my arm around the girl, bringing her closer to me, allowing me to hug her. I let go and fix her hair which were stuck to her tear drenched face. I place her on my lap, then I look over to the older one, letting out a small smile. They always said big girls don't cry. I giggle at the fact that she was trying so hard to wipe her face clear, but her red puffy eyes gave her away. I move over to her and pat her head. Then I poke her cheeks. Then I tap her nose. Then she smiled. "There's the smile I was looking for~". She brightens at my words but remains quiet.

I tug on her arm and guide her over to the other side of my lap. 

---

3rd POV

Irene adjusts her position and places the baby in between the pair, having her face and lean on her stomach. Once she was sure she was in a comfortable position, Irene wraps her arms around the other two, making them fall into her embrace and rest their heads her shoulders. "It's ok~" she whispers in comfort. The meeting drained the kids energy, leaving them to fall asleep once Irene held them. She waited for a while in that same position to make sure the kids were asleep. Multiple thoughts suffocated her mind. She was in deep thought until the baby squirmed. She frozen, not knowing what to do. Thankfully she just needed to adjust, but she didn't know that. A minute or two passes and Irene relaxed again. She lets out a sigh, "what's now...". She glances down at the trio and shake her head. 

---

Irene POV

What now. I can't keep them. No matter how much they call me umma, I'm not their mom. I need help... "I know!". I try getting up but, whoops, forgot about the kids. How do I this. I move slowly and wiggle in slow motion to the couch. Almost there. I feel my heart rate pick up and man was it getting warm in here. I scoot a couple more times and make it to the safe haven. I slowly move my legs to get me to kneel. My hands secure itself around the body of the baby and I lift her gently off me. I place her on an open area on the couch and move on. I go to the little girl and snake my arm below her while getting my hand to hold her from under her thighs. Concentrating my strength, I barely manage putting her on the couch. Ok now for the big guy. I decided to carry her bride style since I have both arms to use this time. I lay the oldest down next to the her dongsang and make sure they wouldn't fall off. 

I step back and admire the view...

Ok. Now time to dip! I tip toe out of the room as fast as I can and into the hallway where the phone was located. 

"Who to call... Who to call..."

I look at the family photos in front of me. My eyes land onto a smiley face. Please... Please have the answers I'm looking for. I dial their number and wait for the ring.

RING
RING
RI- 

"Hello?"

"Hi Sunny Unnie"

"Irene-ie~!! How my cute little baby cabbage?"

"Unnie~" I whine, I mean come on, I'm how old now. I pout as I here Unnie laugh at me.

"Sorry sorry~" she giggles, "so what's up cuz??"

"Is your mom there?"

......

"H-hello? Unnie?"

"Irene you know she's not here, she hasn't been here for 11 years."

"But... But I just met her..."

"Irene this isn't funny"

"No I really mean it Unnie! I'm not joking here, I know this is a touchy subject, I'm telling you this very seriously."

"Then... What do you mean by 'you just met her'"

I start to feel nervous at the hostility from Sunny Unnie. But I have to tell her.

"She came over this morning. She wanted to drop off some boxes and asked me to take care of them"

"What's inside the boxes?"

"I don't know, she said that they were her belongings"

"..... Irene I can't believe you didn't tell me that she was there!"

"She said she was going to visit you guys next after she gave me the boxes! I swear! I'm not lying! If she didn't tell me that, I would have called you!"

I hear sniffling in the background and I feel the weight of guilt settle onto my shoulders. 

"So she's coming later?"

"Yes, I promise you that's what she told me!" 

"Irene you better not be lying to me..."

"Unnie why would I lie to you about your mom, my auntie, our family."

I hear silence, "sorry"

I relax at the confession, "Unnie there's nothing to apologize about. I know, I'm sorry for the sudden news"

"B-but she coming right?"

"That's what she told me"

"I should do something then! I need to plan! I need to make lunch and I need to clean up the house. Oh she coming when I haven't even done my summer cleaning! I'll just speed clean then! Oh and I have to buy her a welcome back present! I think she still likes the color red? Do you think sh-"

"Unnie! Take a breather first! You need to calm down!"

The sound of inhaling and exhaling fill my ears. "Ok I'm better... But still Irene!! She finally coming over! Oh my god she finally coming over!!"

I laugh at my cousin and this reminds me, "Unnie!" 

"Yah"

"When Auntie Shoo get to your place, tell her to call me, I got some questions about... Uh... the boxes."

Well that doesn't sound suspicious at all. Thankfully, Sunny Unnie's preoccupied. "Ok, I'll tell her"

"Thank you Unnie"

"No, thank you for telling me about my mom Irene, I'll talk to you later!"

BEEP
BEEP

She hanged up. 

I set the phone down and walk back to the living room. My eyes fall onto the kids. Well, looks like this is going to be one hell of a ride.