JENNIE

A few minutes later, I throws Luca's empty bowl and sippy cup into the sink and lifts Luca from his chair.

I grabs Luca's bag that was hanging by the wall, it was the exact same place Kuma had kept it that morning. Inside the bag was a couple of Luca's colouring book and his crayons as wells as a couple of yoghurt and a change of clothes and a handful of diapers.

"I need a back-up plan, Luc." I told my son as we walk out of the house. I makes sure the door was locked and I had my wallet and phone before walking towards the car. I straps Luca and goes to the driver's side of the car. I presses the start button and adjust my radio until the baby channel and The ABC song comes on.

I sings along to the sing as I drives to Luca's school, Yongsan International School. I pulls into the parking lot and gets down from the car. I helps Luca out of the car and we walked to the doors together, Luca's backpack in my hand. I pushes open the door and Luca walks through, his legs going as fast as he could. I don't even know when I took out my phone and started recording. a couple of seconds later, Luca stops and turns to me. My little boy raises his hands up and pulled his lips into a pout as he stares at me.

"Come on, baby. We don't want you to be late, do we?" I asks as I lifts my little boy. I makes my way to Luca's class and walked in. The other parents were still around seeing as they had five minutes left. There was something different this time. Instead of Miss Blueberry walking around and saying hi to the parents. It was someone different, it was a man this time. A very familiar looking man.

It was the same man I had seen this morning while I was at the park. I makes my way towards Luca's table and helps my son sit. I places Luca's bag on the table and presses a kiss to Luca's head. I don't have time to think about strangers I meets at four in the morning.

"Have a nice day today, lovely." I said to my son who just smiles at me.

By the time I stands, the crowd had thinned out. I looks around for the man and finds him looking at me. My heart flutters and I had to look away. I blows a kiss to Luca who tries to do the same.

I walks out of the class and down the hallway. I however, comes to a stop when I heard the sound of footsteps behind. I turns around to check if it was him, the owner of the footstep heading towards. My eyes widened when I sees it's the same man from this morning.

"Um..." I don't know what to say.

"Hi, I'm Mino Song." The man says, stretching a hand forward. I stares at it for a few seconds before shaking it.

"Jennie Manoban." I introduces myself.

"I'm the new teacher. Miss Blueberry got transferred to another class." Mr. Song says with a smile and I nods. I briefly wonders if Mino remembers seeing me this morning.

"I hope you take good care of my son then, Mr Song."

Mino smiles at me. "I will."

I gives my a smile and was about to walk away when Mino speaks.. "You look a little better now."

"Sorry?" I asks as I turns around.

"It was you I meet at Seoul's Park this morning, right?"

I looked at Mino. I was bewildered and didn't know what to do. Instead I take one look at Mino and walked away. I walks as fast as my legs would let me towards the door. I didn't know what to do and leaving was my only answer. I sits in the car for a few minutes, bathing in the silence. I don't want to think about what just happened. I flips on the radio and MGK's Bad Things comes on.

The drive back home was shorter since I had no one to talk to. I cleans the house, fluffed the pillows and made sure the dishes were clean. By the time she settles down it was a little past twelve. I didn't have anything else to do. I makes my way to my bedroom and stands in front of the full length mirror in the bathroom

I stripped away all my clothes and stands in front of the mirror. I wonders what kind of person Lisa was sleeping with. Was she slimmer than me? Was it because of my c-section scare?Does she have blonde hair or maybe her hair was dyed? Was her tummy flatter and without any stretch marks?

I stares at myself. My hips were rounded, my thighs full. My stomach had small tiger marks. If I was to describe myself, I'd go with curvy and I truly was. Maybe the girl Lisa was sleeping with was slimmer with smooth skin and not curvy and -

I shakes my head. I shouldn't be doing this. This should be the last thing I should be doing. I hurriedly takes a bath and pulls on a pair of jeans that were ripped at the knees and a white V neck shirt. I runs my fingers through my long hair and let it fall into my face in a fringe. I needs a haircut.

I goes back down and heads straight for the kitchen, I grabs a yoghurt from the fridge. I grabs my keys and made my way out of the house. It was almost time to pick up Luca. The drive to school was filled with silence, I didn't put on the radio nor did I connect my phone to the car's Bluetooth, I just didn't drove in silence. I parks at the available spot I finds. Most parents were already there and waiting for the doors to open. I joins the parents and smiled politely at the familiar faces. I checks my watch for the time and sees that I had enough time to take Luca home, clean him up and start lunch for Kuma, Lily and Lego. As I waits, I wonders what to make for dinner. I couldn't decide between Chicken Tikka and ordering Chinese.

I was still indecisive when the doors slid open. I walked in, following the lead of the other parents in front of me. My heads straight to Luca's room, I am behind a couple of parents but patience is what has gotten me here and I'll wait a just a little longer to see my boy. The parents rush in and I follows, looking around for my last born. I finds Luca colouring happily with a big grin on his face. It was so contagious, it made me smile. I kneels beside Luca.

"That looks amazing..."

Luca turns around so fast, he wraps his arms around my neck. I coos as I hugs my little boy back.

"How was school, honey?"

"Good." Luca says and then points at the book in front of him. "Colour."

I looks at the book. Luca had coloured a bear. Giving it a red fur and yellow eyes and I don't know if I finds it creepy or just... there are no words to describe it. Instead I presses a kiss to Luca's forehead.

"It's pretty." I told to my son. "Let's pack it up and go home. Your sibling will soon be back." I helps Luca to his feet while I grabs his book bag. I stuffs the colouring book into the bag and lifts Luca into my arms. It's been a while since I felt the heavy weight of my child in my arms.

The room had grown slightly empty, with only a handful of parents in the room. I was about to walk away with my baby boy when I'd stopped by a hand on my arm. I turns around and finds Mino standing there. The teacher offers a wave and smile. Luca seemed to like him because he reaches out for Mino with one hand.

"Minoooo." He scream with glee. It seems by the glee on Luca's face, that he likes his new teacher.

"Good afternoon, Mr Song." I says politely. Mino looked just the same as he did this morning but I couldn't help but think he looks...better. I don't know how to describe it. It felt like I was actually seeing him for the first time.

"Ms Manoban. I hope your day was good?" Mino asks as he reaches forward to tickle Luca. Luca giggles and tries to wiggle in Jennie's hold.

"It was great. Thank you for asking and Mrs. Manoban." I corrected as I holds onto Luca a little tighter so he doesn't slip out of her hold. "I hope little Luca didn't give you any trouble."

"He was exquisite. Very quiet but also very smart." Mino says and then a frown settles on his face. "He didn't really eat much during lunch time and that worried me a little. Is that normal or just a one-time thing?"

I nods. "Luca doesn't eat much and doesn't talk much either. It's normal. We just make sure he eats enough." I replies. I looks at my little boy in my arms and nuzzles my nose with his. "Isn't that right, Luca?"

"Yes!" Luca screams and claps his hand. He grabs my cheeks and pulls me close enough to steal a kiss. I laughs and peppers kisses all over Luca's face, revelling in each squeal my little boy lets out.

"Well then, Mr Song, have a good day." I was almost tempted to wave but I don't. Luca on the other hand waves like crazy. I don't look back as I walks away but I tempted to. I could still feel the ghost of Mino's touch to my arm and it's confusing. I wasn't sure what was happening nor did I want to understand it. So I chooses to ignore it.

I straps Luca into his seat as carefully as I could and then goes back to the driver's seat. I connects my phone to the car's speaker and let one of the many nursery rhymes I downloaded play. Luca tries to sing along while I does a little calculation in my head.

Since Luca didn't eat much during lunch, I had to give him something to munch on. I got a couple of diced watermelon in the fridge, that would keep Luca filled up a little. The drive home took a little time due to traffic.

Mino had delayed him a little and it messed up my plan. The time was already three and I had less than forty minutes to get Luca cleaned up, feed him and make snacks for my kids. Hell, I didn't even get the things for dinner sorted. Calm down, Jennie. Calm down. I starts with giving Luca a quick shower and dressing him in comfortable clothes, I then fed Luca little bits of watermelon that were mashed a little. My snacks for the kids when they return from school was a bowl of fruit salad each which was made from the fruits we had at home. For dinner, I settles for asking the kids what take out they wanted, pizza exempted.

By four, Lily bursts through the door first with a big smile on her face and paint under her nails. I could already pick out why she was this happy. Panting has always been Lily's favourite thing to do. Lego's favourite thing to do was read while Kuma's favourite thing to do was eat.

Lily runs straight to my legs and hugs my legs. She was bouncing and feeling every bit like a princess and she was, with her being the only girl in the family.

"Mommy I painted you a picture!" she squealed. I began struggling to pull her backpack off but Lego stops her before I could.

"Let me say hi to Mommy too..." the boy whines as he finds enough space to give me a hug. I kneels down and wraps my arms around my two children. I presses a kiss to Lily's head and then Lego's.

"There's enough love for both of you. For all four of you." I says, making sure my children understand there's enough of me for everyone. "Why don't you go and shower while I get the kettle going?"

"Chamo tea?" Lily asks, staring at me with wide blue eyes.

I laughs and runs my hand through her hair. "Yes, love. Chamomile tea."

"Can I get hot cocoa instead, Mommy?" Lego asks and I nods. Of all my children, Lego was the only one who wasn't fond of tea. He finds it disgusting, no matter the amount of milk and sugar added to it. It's so wrong, Mommy and it taste wrong.

It takes the kids a few minutes to freshen up and I had to scrub the paint off Lily's finger and pick out the dry ones from under her fingernail. I helps her into one of her many gowns, this one yellow with a pink hem. For the first time this week, she lets her hair fall.

A few minutes later, I was sprawled out on the floor with Luca sitting on my stomach, Lego's head on my thigh and Lily's hand in my hair as we watch Adventures of Gum Ball on Cartoon Network. They were still in the same position when Kuma comes home at five thirty. His piano lesson was cut short due to some emergency his instructor had to go home to settle. Kuma falls to a heap near me and lets out a loud sigh.

"Tired?" I asks, looking away from the television to my son. I places my free hand on Kuma's hair and strokes

"You have no idea."

I pouts. "You do know I was once a student, right? Not the full on stay-home mom I am now." I says, pouting harder when Kuma chuckles.

Kuma shakes his head at me. He lifts Luca from my tummy and places him on his own. He tickles Luca and laughs when they little boy did. And that was how the war started. I was tickled by Lego and Lily, the two were later joined by Kuma while Luca just laughed as he watched.

After picking Luca from school, I wasn't even thought about Lisa. Hasn't thought about what to do about the cheating. I just focused on my children because unlike Lisa, they were my entire world. Well, Lisa and our kids were my entire world.

"What do you want for dinner?" I asks, when everyone takes a break.

Like they all had one mind, they said the one thing I was against. "Pizza."

I frowned and shook my head. "What about Chinese? Maybe some Mexican food?"

"Mom, we want pizza. Just this one time. We won't ask again." Lego pleads and he's backed up by Lily who clasps her hand together. Kuma just gives me a knowing look and I knows. I does. I ends up being the one to order. I places an order for one half vegetarian and Hawaiian pizza, one half meatzza and pepperoni pizza.

Luca was the first to fall asleep like always. Kuma offers to take his little brother up while Lego and Lily help Jennie clean up. The pizza boxes were kept on the counter neatly and the small boxes that came with the chicken wings were squeezed tight and shoved into the bin.

It was after I had said good night to Lego and helped him place his glasses on the table, did she remember I hadn't left anything for Lisa to eat when she gets back. There was one slice each from each pizza. I places them on a flat plate, covers it and keeps it in the oven to keep it warm.

"Hey bud." I says, standing at the entrance of Kuma's room. I leans against the wall and stared at Kuma.

"Mommy..." Kuma replies. He's lying down, his iPad on and I could. see that the piano app was opened on it. "No waiting tonight too."

I pauses briefly before nodding in agreement. "No waiting tonight."

"No reading either. Just go to sleep. I'll make breakfast tomorrow, so you can wake up a little later, okay?" Kuma asks, his voice so soft that I had the urge to hug but I holds myself back. Instead I smiles brightly at Kuma.

"Thank you, darling."

"Anything for you, Mom." Kuma smiles back. The good nights were said with promise and I felt like I was floating as I made my way to my room. I quickly showers and changes into my pj. I slides underneath the duvet and flicks off my light. No waiting.

And for the first time in a year, I doesn't wait.

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