HERSHE - WINRINA

Deal

"Aunt, just call me aunt. You can freely call me that as long as you take good care of my Jimin, okay?" said the older lady, grabbing the knife again.

Winter pressed her lips together and nodded. "I... I surely will."

Out of the blue, Karina chuckled. "Mom, will you drop that? You're scaring her."

And in just a snap the older lady's face shifted from a killer to a sweet angel now. She put down the knife and said, "I'm just kidding, okay? It's really my pleasure to finally meet you, Winter. Now give me a hug."

Winter hesitated first but the sweet smile on Karina's mom's face is as irresistible as her daughter's. She hugged the lady. "Pleasure is mine, ma'am."

Karina's mom pulled back and raised an eyebrow. "Didn't I just tell you to call me aunt?"

"Ahhh, yeah.. sorry.. aunt.." Winter stuttered as she absently scratched her head.

"I have to admit you smell nice, huh?" the older lady said, still with her terror eyebrows raised.

Winter feigned a smile, unsure of how to respond.

"Make sure my daughter's home every day before 10 pm, okay? And please let her have dinner with me at least twice or thrice a week."

"Mom--"

The older woman turned to her daughter. "You're still my only baby, Karina, Of course, I still want to see you here often. I think Winter here agrees on that too, right?"

Winter nodded right away, completely understanding the point. "Don't worry. I'll make sure of that."

"Anyway, you guys can have dinner here as often as you like. I actually prefer that."

Winter glanced at Karina and saw her smiling back at her. "That would be great, ma-- I mean.. aunt.."

Karina went closer to loop an arm through Winter's. "And Winter is a great cook, mom. We can have her cook for us even every night, right?"

"Yeah, yeah, it'll be my pleasure to serve you both," said Winter.

"Oh, thank goodness..." Karina's mom brought her hands to her temples. "At least we could save ourselves from the troubles of thinking of what to eat." Winter and Karina chuckled.

The older lady turned to Karina again. "By the way, you can sleep at her place during weekends only, got it?"

"Mom... I'm not a teenager anymore."

The older lady chuckled at her daughter's expression. "You may not be but you still act like one." She turned to Winter and said, "But you can sleep here as often as you like."

Karina couldn't control her happiness. She threw herself to hug her mom.

"Eeeee! I love you!"

"I'm not yet done. She'll sleep on the couch."

"Mom!"

"I'm kidding, okay?" Karina's mom chuckled. "Gosh, I can't believe I have competition with my baby now."

"It's not a competition, okay?" said Karina, hooking her chin on her mom's shoulder. "Why are you talking like I'm gonna leave you soon?"

"Well, aren't you?"

"No. I won't do that. You're the only family I have. And I'm not leaving you. In fact, I'm just adding another member to the family, right?"

The older lady smiled at Karina. "Why don't you give us time to talk while you prepare the table for lunch?"

Karina immediately looked at Winter to make sure she's okay with it.

"Um, yeah, it's fine with me.." said Winter.