JENNIE

Mino shows up at five pm, a large shopping bag in one hand. I shakes my head at my friend as I followed him into the kitchen.

"I only told you to get milk."

"I got milk." He said with a smile.

"And...?" I trails off, a brow raised.

Mino's cheeks heat up and he starts to pull stuff out of the bag. "Eggs, bacon, salted butter, wheat bread, cookies and custard filled donuts." He said as he placed each item on the table.

"You are unbelievable." I says with a shake of my head. "Thank you. I'm not paying you back for these." I adds as he spout the various items in their rightful place. I pulls open the paper bag of donut and grabbed one.

"Are the kids gone yet?"

I shook my head. "They're in Lily's room. She didn't pack like I told her to."

"Even Luca?" Mino asked as he walked to the fridge. He took out a bottle of water and twists the cap open.

"He was telling me about his day before realizing his siblings were in Lilys room. He practically ran there." I replied with a snot. Luca truly was his little ray of hyperactive sunshine.

"So what are the plans for this evening?"

"I was thinking Chinese food, ice cream and reruns of F is For Family."

Mino was about to speak but was interrupted by the bell going off. I gives Mino and small smile before heading to the door. I looked through the peephole then pulled open the door when I saw who it was.

"Hi." Lisa said. A small smile on her lips, her fingers playing with her car key.

"Hi. The kids will be done soon. Would you like to wait for them inside?" I asked, opening the door a little wider.

"It's okay, I'll wait for them out here." She replied. Not once in two years had Lisa entered the house and I wanted to know why.

Lego and Kuma come out first, a small backpack hanging off their shoulder. They don't say anything to Lisa and made their way to the car. Lily comes out after, dragging a small duffle with her and I knew was full because she didn't fold her clothes but shoved them in.

Mino walks out with Luca on his hips and a small bag with his favorite blanket in it. I watched as Lisa's eyes widened and her expression turned vulnerable for a brief second before her face closed off and the smile fell.

Mino gently placed Luca on the floor and Lisa's smile returned when Luca ran to her, wrapping his small hands around Lisa's legs.

"Bye kids!!" I called out to my children who were waiting by the car. I gets a couple of waves and screams from both Lily and Luca.

"Bye Mommy! Bye Mino!"

"Bye Jen." Lisa said. "It was good to see you..." Lisa trailed off as she stared at Mino beside me.

Mino.

I realized this was the first time Lisa and Mino have met. They've managed to miss each other for two years. I wondered what Lisa was thinking. I snapped out of my thought when Mino wraps a hand around my waist and led me inside.

It just felt wrong.

There were times when I thought about myself and Lisa, it felt wrong giving Lisa the children for a weekend each month. I shouldn't have to. We were married, happily so before Luca. We were meant to live together, me, Lisa and the kids.

Not doing this divorced dance we had going on.

"Hey, you okay?" Mino asked and I almost wants to snap at him. To yell at him for putting his arms around me. But I can't. I knew he was just trying to be a friend.

"As good as I can be. I'm going to miss them." I huffs as I falls into the seat.

"You say that every time."

"That's because it's true."

"I know." He said as he takes his seat beside me. "Do you want a cuddle?" He asks and I nods. "Okay, before I do that. I'm gonna order our food. What do you want? Its my turn to pay."

"Fried rice noodles with beef, spice ribs and prawns in lobster sauce."

He hawks at me for a second. "Your appetite astounds me."

"It was worse when I was pregnant." I chuckles. I reached for the remote and flips through Netflix until I settled on a Korean drama named Snowdrop.

Once Mino was done with his phone call, he wraps a hand around my shoulder and tucked me into his side. We both watch the show, despite Mino complaining about having to read subtitles eventhough we understand the language you can't help to ignore the subtitles below, I'm fan of Kdramas, my favorite actor was Gong Yoo. His characters felt realistic and his acting was superb. I remembered how me and Lisa would sit in front of the small tv we had back then when we lived off campus.

We've cuddle under a blanket and Lisa would spoon feed me ice cream. It had been one of my happiest days.

"Hey..." Mino falls and I looks up at him. "Where's your mind?"

"What?" I asked, still looking up at him.

"I meant, what are you thinking about?"

He was staring at me, worry etched on his face. It was times like this, when he was holding me that I wondered why I couldn't fall for him. I wondered why after everything, I still wanted Lisa. Lisa's arms around me, Lisa cuddling me, Lisa holding me, not Mino.

He was staring at me with worried green eyes and I want to make the worry go away.

"I'm thinking about how I'm going to pop the button of my short and eat till my tummy is round and big." I says with a smile, poking Mino in the tummy.

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

We fall back into the comfortable silence, still cuddling. The food comes a couple of minutes later and Mino went to get it, paying for it with his card. True to my words, I does pop the button of my short and sunk to the floor, my food splayed out in front of me.

We eat and talk, the tv more of a background noise. I knows I should focus on the show but I'll get back to it once Mino was gone.

When we finished the food, I leaned against the couch and rubbed my tummy. I felt full.

"I don't ever wanna move."

He snorts and shakes his head fondly. "You will have to. Who's going to lock the door when I'm gone?" He said the last bit.

"Ugh. I don't like you anymore."

"You know you love me."

It was my turn to snort this time. "Like Dora loves Diego." That was easier and less painful than saying I love you like a friend. He grabbed the empty cartons and the cutleries, he takes them to the kitchen and carefully placed the used cutlery and dishes into the dishwasher before heading back out into the living room.

He falls into place beside me and placed his head on my thighs. My hand automatically woven through his hair, I was always doing this to my kids so I don't notice I doing it until Mino pushed closer.

"ג

We watch tv for a while until Mino breaks the silence by asking a question that made me tense.

"Will you go on a date with me?"

He sits up and spun around so he could see my face.

I squeezes my eyes shut and tried to find the right words to say, how to shut him down gently again. Mino has never straight up asked me out like this before. He normally says stuff like have dinner with me? Spend tonight with me? Let's watch a movie and have dinner afterwards?

Not ever had he said will you go on a date with me?

"Mino, I can't." I replies, I gets up from the floor and began to pace. "You have to stop asking me this. You are my friend, my very good friend who I don't want to lose."

Mino gets to his feet too. "One date."

I shakes my head. "I don't feel that way about you."

"You've been divorced for two years and you've only gone on dates four times in the past two years and ... I really just want to go on one date with you."

"Mino, no."

"Is it because of her? Lisa? You've been acting weird since she showed this evening. Are you still in love with her?"

I feel cornered, I rubbed my hands down my face and tried to calm down. I couldn't even look at Mino, I was shaking, my heart felt like it was about to fall out of my chest.

"You need to leave, Mino."

"Jennie..."

"Please leave."

Mino hesitates but he takes a step back and and walks to the door. Thankfully he doesn't look at me and just walked out the door. I falls back into the couch and tries to calm down but I just couldn't. It felt like my heart was going to burst out at any second and there's this feeling at the back of my mind and before I could stop myself, I grabbed my keys and walked out the door, locking it in my way out.

I got into my car and just started driving, my radio turned up high so the songs could block out the thoughts in my head. I drives and drives until I gets to where I was meant to be. I rushed out of the car and pressed the bell repeatedly until the door was pulled open.

"Jennie w-"

I rushes forward and tucked myself into Lisa and hugged her tight. I buried my face into her chest and just... cried. My shoulders shaking with it. I feels safe, my heart felt calm and I felt... really safe. She had always been and felt like home and safety. Thankfully she still is. I didn't notice Lisa locking the door.

"Jennie, what's going on? Are you okay? Did something happen?"

I don't know what to say, so I clenched my fists in Lisa shirt and just continued crying, ugly sobbing sounds coming out of my mouth. She held onto me tight until my crying comes to a stop.

"Hey. Why don't you come in."

I nods and mumbles something into Lisa's chest.

"What?"

"The kids? Are they okay? Have they eaten?" I asked, still wrapped in her arms.

"They're watching tv in Kuma's room." She said. She gently nudged me away from her neck and cups my face. She gently wipes away my tears and just looked at my face. "You don't have to tell me what happened. Let's get you in, into comfortable clothes and I'll make you soup."

Lisa leads me into the house, carrying me the same way she had when we had gotten married. Her hands were under my thigh and I had tucked my face back into her neck as I was carried. She lay me on the bed and quickly grabbed a shirt and a pair of sweatpants.

"I'll go and get you soup."

I nods and reached for the clothes. Lisa takes one last look at me before walking out of the room. I quickly takes a hot shower and slid into the clothes. The T-shirt was a large and I had to fold the sweatpants so they could rest on my hips.

I had just slipped into the bed when Lisa walked back into the room. Knocking before she came in. She laid the tray in the bed and I smiled softly at her.

"Thank you."

"Kuma knows you're here but Lego, Luca And Lily don't. I might come and check in on you soon." She said. I watched as I took sips of my soup, nibbling on small chicken pieces. Once I was done, I laid down and pulled the duvet over myself.

"You are going to be okay. You can sleep here, I'll stay in the living m room." She said. She pats the duvet and I just takes a deep breath. I felt safe. I was warm and surrounded by Lisa and my children were in the next room.

This was what I was needed.

Home.

~~~~~~~~~~