EASILY

24

Happy New Year!

"Are you crazy?!" Hwasa screeches. "You can't adopt a kid," She adds as she paces back and forth across my living room floor.

I take a sip of my mango lemonade and lock eyes with Mr. G, who looks like he's ready to attack Hwasa if she doesn't sit down.

"I mean Yeri is cute and all and trust me my heart goes out to her and her situation and yes we all know you're a softy for kids, that's no secret but you just can't," Hwasa says while shaking her head. "I mean you already took in Chef not to compare Yeri to a dog, but come on babe," Hwasa adds as she momentarily stops pacing.

I take a bite of my sandwich and simply stare at her. She throws her hands in the air and groans loudly. "Aunty Solxy is booming right now, booming Yong and you have to stay focused. You get like 10 new orders every day, you're always cooking or baking while Byul helps you by delivering for you and helping you with prep work and you and Moonbyul are just too busy to give a 5-year-old the love and attention they need right now. Well, maybe not the love part but definitely the attention. You both work at night and most of your catering gigs are at night, in which we all work for you, who would watch her? You barely let people watch Chef, so I know you will be crazy overprotective with a kid."

I take another bite of my sandwich and stare at Hwasa with a blank expression on my face. Hwasa has been ranting for the better part of 2 hours now, nonstop. If she were to take a moment to breathe, I would let her know that Byul and I decided against adopting Yerim. While she is probably the most awesome 5-year old I've ever met, we just don't have the time to commit to her fully. The past couple of days with Yeri have been great and I've learned a lot about myself and a lot about Moonbyul as well. While we both will be great parents one day, we just aren't ready for kids for now.

We had a long talk yesterday while Yeri took a nap, and Byul helped me cook appetizers for a party. We both have our own reservations about adopting her and agreed that if we have doubts and it's best if we find her a great home that's truly ready for kids. Moonbyul made some calls and we found a foster group that's ranked pretty high in terms of placement. Even after getting a placement and most of the kids are leading happy and safe lives. We took Yerim this morning to check it out, and they have an opening for her. So, at 6 pm tonight, we are dropping her off. We made a promise to each other that if no one adopted her after a year, we would. We would be more stable in our careers at that time and we would be in the penthouse with more space and we would be even deeper if that's even possible with us. We didn't tell Yerim of that promise and it was just something for us.

"Are you even listening to me?!" Hwasa says loudly while sitting down next to me on the couch.

I nod and take another sip of my lemonade. "I hear you loud and clear."

"So..." Hwasa said while raising her hands. "What are you going to do?"

"We aren't going to adopt her but not because of the 2-hour speech you just gave me. Moonbyul and I decided yesterday to find her a foster home but we plan to stay extremely active in her life. I love Yeri, she's such a sweetheart, and so full of life, but she deserves a more stable home than Byul and I have right now. We are just too busy."

"So, why did you let me do all that ranting and raving?" Hwasa asked with a frown.

"I wanted to finish my sandwich," I tell her with a smile.