JENNIE

"So Nicole?"

I was leaning against the door, dressed in grey shirt with dark sweatpants and socks. Kuma felt cornered, he was on dish duty tonight and was so far the only one in the kitchen with me.

I watched as him slowly turned around. "Lego snitched?"

"If I say no, would you believe me?" I chuckles, head resting against the door frame.

"Not in a million years."

I laughs and walks into the kitchen, taking a seat on one of the stools in the kitchen. Kuma rinsed his hand and wiped it off with a towel. He takes a seat beside me and just smiles.

"You look proper gooey."

"Look who's talking. I saw the bouquet of flowers in your room." Kuma shoots back. "Daffodils and a sunflower."

My cheeks heat up and I just playfully nudges him with my shoulder. "You know more about my love life than I do about yours."

"You shouldn't want to know about my love life."

"I don't want to pull the you live under my roof card, so..." I trails off and Kuma just laughs.

"I met her two years ago. I was..." he start "I had a leaky nose and she gave me a handkerchief."

I listens to him, feeling a bit excited. I couldn't be blamed, this was the first time Kuma had romantic interest in someone.

"The first thing I noticed were her eyes." Kuma had a far away look in his eyes and I couldn't be anymore proud of my son. "We didn't start dating. It actually took a while for us to get to where we are now. I wanted to be friends first and then work out way up."

"She is not pressuring you, is she?" I asks.

"No."

I narrowed my eyes as I stared at him, watching for any tick that would show he was lying. "You aren't pressuring her, are you?"

"MOM!"

"Fine. Just take care and be careful." I said, ruffling his hair. I get up, my arm going out of Kuma's arm and squeezing his shoulder a bit. "I'm going to talk to Lego."

"Alright, Miemie, I'll finish here and check up on Lily."

"Thank you my sweety."

I made my way out of the kitchen and towards Lego's room. Lisa had me that afternoon and told me about Lego's visit to her office. I was happy they had called but I still had some concerns.

I finds Lego lying on his bed, playing an intense game of candy crush on his iPad. Im going to sit beside him who immediately sits up.

"You're here for the talk." Lego says, his back resting

against his headboard.

"Your dada told me you went to see her."

"I had to. I had questions and I needed the answers." He says, hand reaching up to nudge his glasses. Over the weeks, Lego had stopped wearing his glasses to school and instead used contacts. Him wearing glasses made me feel warm inside.

"You could have called her."

"I could have but you know how I am. Once I had an idea in my head, I go for it."

"I don't like you leaving school like that. What if something had happened and no one knew?" I say, watching as his expression fell. "If you want to talk to your dada or to me, you can call or text and we'll come and get you. You don't need to sneak out of school."

"I'm sorry, Miemie."

"You are grounded. One week, no gadgets, no books besides homework and dish duty for a week."

"Mom!" He protested.

I merely raised a brow at him. "Do you want more?"

"Fine." He pours as he hands over his iPad and phone as well as his laptop. If he needed something, he could use borrow mine or Kuma's laptop. Lego didn't go out a lot so grounding him by telling him to stay in would feel more like a vacation not a punishment.

"Did you get your answers?" I asked, once I had gotten it all from him. My eyes doesn't leave him, my gaze shifting from his dark hair, brows, blue eyes and full lips. I misses my son's blonde hair.

"I did. It's going to take me time to be comfortable with this but trying again is making you both happy and there might be a time where we would live together again and... I want that. I miss that."

I smiles albeit wobbly. I shifts the gadgets to the bed and reached for him, pulling him in for a hug. Nose buried in his hair.

"She has this crazy lady working for her too. She claims she's her best friend." He says, voice soft. "But Dada said, you were still her best friend and implied you always will. That was all I needed to know."

We talk a bit more before I wishes his good night. I takes the gadgets with me to my room and places it on the table. I quickly changes into a pajama bottom but left the shirt and socks on. I checks the time, it was just 10:30pm.

Rosé had called earlier saying she had a date and didn't

know what to wear. An hour of FaceTime later and they had sorted it.

Luca has fallen asleep by eight thirty and Lily soon after that. I tucked them both in and pressed a kiss to their temple.

I grabs my phone as I crawls up the bed, settling underneath the covers. I smiles when I see a text from Lisa.

Fr[Lis]

You up?

I replied.

To[Lis]

Yup! Just finished talking to the little ones.

Lisa's reply was immediate.

Fr[Lis]

Luca and Lily or Kuma and Lego?

I laughs at this. I refers to all my children as little ones but only a few people noticed it. It makes me smile that Lisa was part of the few who did. Wanting a bit more, Idecides to FaceTime my woman. We didn't have a title and there was no rush to find one. My woman was just the perfect one.

Lisa picks up after a couple of rings and I just stares. All I could see was her sports bra and abs, the phone shook a bit and then I could see Lisa's face.

"Love?" She says, I grin wide.

Love. Huh. Oh my god. I just kept thinking about everything! I was feeling insanely happy and giggly just from that one word. I had stopped asking myself if it was meant to be like this.

"Hey. What're you doing?"

"I was exercising. It's something I took up a while ago." She says. She was panting a bit and I could see the sweat on her forehead.

Now this was a sight I hasn't seen in a while and wow. Wowww, I'm feeling blood rush south. So I had to divert and I goes with.

"I had a talk with Lego and Kuma. Thank you for telling me he came to see you." I says. She rolls over into my stomach, rests the phone against the pillow so I didn't have to hold it.

"Of course I'll tell you. I didn't want to you to not know or find out by the school calling you and you having a worry attack."

"Stop calling it a worry attack."

"You overthink and then scream punishments. I call it a worry attack."

"You are not cute."

"I beg to differ." Lisa says, angling the phone well so I could clearly see her pout. I giggles, my gaze shifting from the phone to the bouquet of flowers on the vase on the other side of the bed.

"Thank you for the flowers, oh cute one." We've had lunch everyday, well scratch that, for three days now and each day comes with daffodils and sunflower. That was the theme flower for the week according to her.

"Of course. Beautiful flowers for a beautiful person. Scratch that, gorgeous."

I chuckles again. "Flattery will get you nowhere."

"I beg to differ."

"You are silly."

"Silly isn't the word I'd use to describe a grown woman." She replies and I snorts. We talk for a bit, Lisa walking about the house as she got ready for bed, putting off the lights and making sure the doors were locked.

"have you double checked the kitchen door?" I asked.

"Yup and I need to take a shower."

The mental image of a naked Lisa pops into my head and I immediately squashed it to the back of my mind. I wasn't ready for that yet.

"Text me when you're done?"

"Alright, Love"

We ended the call briefly after that and I just stares at the ceiling. I get up from the bed and made my way into the bathroom, slides the mirror back to reveal the hidden compartment behind it and takes out the box there.

I takes out the ring and stared at it. I wasn't held this ring in two years but it feels alright. I turns the ring and reads the engraved words.

Love always. Love forever.

We had meant it. We might have been a bump, a huge ass bump on the road but we were going to make it. I was very sure of that. I put the ring back into the box and closes the compartment, pushing the mirror back in place.

When I goes back into the room and back under the covers. The door to my room was pushed open a bit and Luca pokes his head in.

"Little one, I thought you were sleeping."

Luca was in his pajamas with little trains on it, his hair already scattered. I pats my bed and he comes on, making his way closer so he could cuddle with me.

"Why aren't you asleep?"

"I dunno. I wanna cuddle with you." He says, resting his head on my chest, sticking his thumb in his mouth. Once he closes his eyes, he falls asleep.

I holds on to him as the phone rings. I picks it up again and this time isn't greeted by Lisa's abs.

"Is that our angel?" She asks. She's lying on the bed with a white shirt.

"Yeah. He wanted to cuddle." I replied, angling my phone the right way So she could get the perfect view of our little boy.

"He's adorable." She says. "He's like a mini you."

"I know. He makes me just want to hug him tight."

Lisa's smile was soft, her hair resting against her forehead. We talk a bit more, about work, about the books I was still editing and about the kids. I tells Lisa about Kuma having a girlfriend and even her was a bit shocked.

"When are we going to meet her?"

"I don't know. I'll ask and let you know."

"Ohh, speaking of meeting. Can we go to the beach next week? It's my turn with the kids and I want us all to go. It can be like a family date."

I wanted that. It would be wonderful to spend time with the kids and Lisa. Plus we haven't been to the beach in a while and it's warm out.

"That would be great. I'll inform the kids and get back to you."

"Okay! Now that's out of the way, can I take you out for lunch tomorrow? I'll come pick you up at work." She asks, teeth digging into her bottom lip like she was worried I would say no.

I agrees and give her the address to my work place. Lisa has never been to my new place of work, since I started after our divorce. Showing her where I worked would be an experience.

"Have I told you I like you a lot?"

I giggles. It feels like I'm sixteen again and meeting Lisa for the first time.

"It would not hurt to hear it."

"I like you very much, Jennie Kim."

"I like you very much, Lisa Manoban."

~~~~~~~~~~