𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙡 𝙜𝙪𝙞𝙙𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚 / 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙣𝙖

. 𝙖 𝙗𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙙𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙞𝙩𝙮

The first month of looking after the triplets was many things. Long. Strenuous. Damaging to Sooyoung's mental health. But above all, it was rewarding. In that first month, the roommates had tried to establish some normality for the children in their temporary new home... emphasis on 'tried'.

Haseul had managed to get the kids to settle for a 9pm bedtime in Jinsol's- their room. Much to her best friends' annoyance, Jinsol had now officially made the living room into her own temporary bedroom which meant having all her clothes and junk placed everywhere while everyone had to hear her laugh loudly at the animes and kids' cartoons she watched before work. Sooyoung had become the designated food provider for the household which meant she started going on nights out less since she was always exhausted from cooking for Haseul and the four picky kids in the apartment. But between all the chaotic mornings and out of proportion arguing, they'd actually been having a lot of fun with the triplets too.

Tonight was a Friday night. Typically on a Friday, Sooyoung would have been making her move on some random girl she met at an even more random bar but no. Friday nights had now become game night, meaning Sooyoung was instead wearing a Post-It note on her forehead as they played a DIY version of Heads Up. They were in teams of two and Olivia was on her final nerve as Sooyoung had been having a hard time guessing this particular word. "Am I an animal?"

"No! I've told you that three times now, god, why don't you listen to me you stupid hag!"

Sooyoung looked to Haseul for assistance but the younger girl simply shrugged and gave her a reminder. "Hey, we all agreed we'd monitor one kid each. That's a you problem, Soo."

"Ughh, fine. Am I... something festive?" Sooyoung guessed out of the blue but she was surprised as Olivia nodded and prompted her. "Kind of, think of something Christmassy!"

"A tree? Santa? Egg nog? Candy canes-"

"Yeah! But now-" Olivia stopped her sentence before getting up and walking around the room like a hunchback, making Choerry and Haseul laugh. Sooyoung was too busy trying to put the pieces together in her head. "Candy cane... hunchback... candy cane posture, oh, oh! Jinsol!"

"Yes!"

"Hey?! I do not have candy cane posture." Jinsol tried to defend herself, unconsciously unfolding her upper back. Everyone except Jinsol laughed at her sad attempt to cover up her concerning posture, Choerry shook her head at her older friend before showing her a picture she took on Haseul's phone as evidence. "Jinsol, you definitely do. Look, you were even wearing a white and red striped sweater here!"

Everyone laughed even harder but Jinsol simply shook her head before sighing and getting up off the floor. "Whatever, I'm going to bed." As she only walked two steps before arriving to her makeshift bed on the sofa, Jinsol felt like she needed something to make up for the dramatic effect of a door slam so she slammed her hand on the coffee table before enclosing herself in the blanket. Choerry frowned as she looked to Haseul. "Is she mad at us now?"

"Aw, no honey. She's still a bit sad from what happened with Jungeun but it's okay, I'm sure they'll fix it soon."

Haseul was right, Jinsol had been in a mood for the past month but it was that night that it had been exactly four weeks since she'd spoken to Jungeun. Her master plan to clear the air didn't go so well as Jinsol had frozen up and said to Jungeun that she knew the kiss was only because the swimmer was out of it from the anaesthetic and they should just forget it, but they both knew that was a lie. And it was due to this awkwardness that they had stopped their little routine of walking to class together and Jungeun and Jiwoo no longer dropped by the trio's table at lunch, all the little things that made their days just that one bit better had come to a stop.