October 12, 2028
Six pairs of feet stealthily tiptoe down a hallway. They move slowly and quietly trying not to make a single sound. The person at the front of the human line carefully places their hand on the doorknob and twists it. They creep into a bedroom and land at the foot of a California King bed. The clock on the nightstand reads 5:28 AM. Once all twelve feet have made it inside the room and to the bed they stop and look at each other. They nod in unison.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!"
The hollering startles Roseanne awake.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!"
Roseanne scans the room with only one eye open and a scrunched-up face trying to get her bearings. It takes her more than a second to understand why the hell there are so many people inside her bedroom and why they're all screaming at her. Roseanne had resorted to taking sleeping pills a few months back when she kept failing to fall asleep naturally and as a result of the medication, waking up had become a slow and groggy process.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOMMY! (ROSEANNE!)"
Roseanne focuses on the group. Front and center there's a chipper Rose carrying a sizeable paper rectangle in her hands. Behind her, a half-asleep Annie and Coraline hold a cake topped with flaming candles with the expected disposition of tweens who didn't want to wake up forty-five minutes earlier than they normally do on school days. At either side of them, Seulgi and Jennie hold a precariously made banner clearly crafted by the baby of the family that reads "Happy Birthday Mommy". Then there's Lisa. She's standing next to Seulgi with the typical sour face anyone sports when they're forced to do something they don't particularly feel like doing.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!"
The deafening singing ends. The screaming and cheering begins. Rose jumps on the bed and wraps her arms around Roseanne while Annie and Coraline walk closer to Roseanne's bedside with the cake.
"Mommy it's your birthday!"
"It is baby. Thank you."
Roseanne gets out barely coherent because, to be completely honest, she is still mostly asleep.
"We put candles on the cake!"
Rose screeches excitedly. Only a seven-year-old would have this much energy before the sun is properly out. Roseanne kisses Rose's forehead and then rubs her eyes for a quick second.
"Blow them, mommy! Blow them!"
Rose chants and Roseanne is quickly reminded that birthdays are Rose's favorite "holiday". It doesn't matter if she knew the person or not, if Rose found out it was someone's birthday she would do her best to make it as special as a little girl could. Coraline and Annie bring the cake down to Roseanne's sitting eye level and just as she's about to blow the candles out her alarm clock blares like it does any other weekday.
It's a Thursday and Roseanne normally woke up at 5:30 AM during the week to have enough time to get herself ready for work and the kids ready for school. Most nights Lisa wouldn't come to bed until four or five in the morning, if she came to bed at all, which would leave Roseanne to deal with the morning routine alone and she needed all the time she could get.
"How does that not wake up everyone in the building?"
Seulgi yells over the bellowing sound at the same moment Roseanne leans over to turn it off.
"Mommy you have to blow your candles and make a wish!"
Rose insists. Roseanne smiles, kisses Rose's head again, and looks directly at Lisa before she closes her eyes and blows out the candles.
YOU ARE READING
Love isn't easy
RomanceTwo moms, four kids. What could possibly go wrong? The Park-Manoban family seemingly has the perfect life, at least until Lisa's (over?)zealousness as NYC's top young prosecutor means she starts making some very dangerous enemies whose only goal is...
