A/N: Half of this chapter contains Minho and Lena talking about fictional men... good luck.
~
I groaned slightly when Jessy's cries woke me up. Minho moved beside me too, but before he could do anything, I shot straight up.
"I'll do it." I assured him. "Just go back to sleep."
He ran a hand through his messy hair, grunting a bit. Then he nodded, smiling at my caring. I smiled back, placed a kiss on his mouth, and got up to check Jessy.
She slept in a tiny bed next to ours. Her arms tossed around while tears ran down her cheeks. I sighed, taking her in my arms and slowly rocking her back and forth.
Why are you crying? I wondered every time. I was sure I fed her, cleaned her diaper, and tucked her in nicely. But, then I did smell a... not clean diaper.
With more sighs, I cleaned her up. It took twenty minutes because she never stopped moving and crying, letting me know there was still more she bothered. Soon it came to my mind she was hungry, so more minutes passed by feeding her. I did all of this on the couch in the living room, so Minho wouldn't wake up. Then I held her in my arms for more than half an hour until she completely fell asleep, lay her back, and crawled under the sheets myself.
03:00, said the clock. Two and a half more hours sleep for me.
~
I woke up by the alarm again, putting it off fast so Minho wouldn't wake up. I jumped in the shower. A cold one, so all the sleep would be gone. I brushed my hair and teeth, made sure lots and lots of concealer covered the dark bags under my eyes, and headed to the kitchen.
I made myself a coffee to stay awake and not doze off every second of the day that was about to start. After, I took the already crying Jessy onto my lap, got her dressed and cleaned, then talked so she would get a better vocabulary.
Then I started to make breakfast. Most of the time, except for the weekends, we didn't have time to walk all the way to the Haven and have breakfast there. The twins had to go to school, that was why.
I got some sandwiches ready, put plates on the table, yawning in between, and then woke the twins up. Minho was up by the time too, doing his hair and making himself ready for the day.
"Five more minutes." Charlie groaned into his pillow. "Please, Mom."
"Charlie, no."
Less sleep made me get irritated fast, apparently.
"I'm not doing this again. School starts in like an hour. I made you a sandwich with bacon and-."
"Bacon?" He gasped and jumped up. "I'm up."
"Abby, you too." I turned to her as I sat down on Charlie's bed, rubbing my temples. "Please."
"Okay." She stretched her body. "Can you make a braid today?"
"Yeah." I just nodded. "Go get your breakfast. Dad's already got you some clothes, too."
As six-year-olds, they somehow didn't want to pick their own outfits, so we had to. Not that I minded it. I liked taking care of them as much as I could.
"Morning, Princess." Minho passed me on my way to the kitchen, too.
"Dad, not the nickname." Charlie buried his head in his hands.
"You want me to call you King Charlie?" He mocked.
"I'll stick with Char, thank you."
He laughed and sat down, taking his own sandwich. I looked at Jessy, noticing she was asleep and well, then exhaled deeply, dropping my tense shoulders. We survived half of the morning.
"What if I don't want my hair like this?" Charlie asked ten minutes later, when Minho was doing his hair in the bathroom. "Maybe I want it messy."
"I've got a whole storage of hair gel that'll be expired sometime, so that's too bad. Sorry." Minho apologized, but laughed under his breath.
I made a braid in Abby's hair and got her dressed along with Charlie. Minho quickly put their shoes on, told me a bye, and got them to school.
It was basically just a small hut they built where all the kids that belonged in the Haven got education about multiple subjects for a few hours long.
And it didn't surprise me when Minho came back with Thomas and Newt. They were usual visitors for when the kids were at school.
And Thomas had some kind of obsession with holding Jessy.
"Yo, Lena." They greeted, casually sitting down on the couch.
And by the way, I was not saying I had to work my butt off for the kids and Minho did nothing, because that was not the situation. I just felt like I had to give them equal amount of time and a nice way of growing u- oh. Maybe the reason I worked so hard to make it 'perfect' was because I didn't exactly grow up the happiest.
"Beer? Water? Soda?" I raised my eyebrows at them.
"Beer."
That was... not surprising.
I got them three bottles of beer and glasses, receiving some thank you's.
"Don't drink beer when she's in your arms, Thomas." I commanded before giving him Jessy.
"Of course. Don't want her to get bad examples, right?" He grinned. The other two laughed.
As they were talking (and probably grabbing more beer when I didn't look), I cleaned up the place; made the beds, did some laundry, put away the trash, dishes, and-
"Lee, come sit with us." Minho interrupted just when I was about to get cleaning spray. "You've cleaned like two days ago. I'm sure the bathroom doesn't get dirty that fast. And I don't like to see you not get any rest."
"I've been getting enough rest." I assured him, though I sat down anyway. "And you smell like beer. It's morning! Please don't become an alcoholic."
I was afraid they wouldn't get the joke for a second, but then they burst out of laughing... that made clear they definitely had a few beers.
"And now I'm gonna take Jessy." I muttered, grabbing her away from Thomas.
"You know, Lena." Newt started. "I think you might have baby fever."
I scoffed. "Baby fever is when a woman is desperate to get a baby. I don't have that."
"Maybe you have baby fever in different context."
"Like what?"
"An obsession."
I almost choked on air. "Obsession?"
"Yeah. Not in a way of being addicted to babies or having an actual obsession with them, but more like..." Newt paused. "Like taking care of them. You seem to spend a lot more time in that than a usual person would."
"Don't think that's true." I confirmed. "And I am well aware that you are not supposed to know how many time I spent on taking care of them."
"I think you should rest." Minho added. "Rest more."
"Why?"
The irritation was growing.
"We have a nice routine."
"You wake up at five thirty."
"No, I don't."
"I see you check if the alarm is set every night and I hear you get up every morning, Lee."
"Okay, maybe I do. But that doesn't make me obsessed. It's nice to have some time for myself in the morning before the rest wakes up."
"Five thirty is not exactly the healthiest time to wake up with. Especially not when you have a baby that doesn't sleep until it's three a-."
"Okay, then!" I got up from the couch in a rush, almost letting the glasses fall of the table. "I get it."
Maybe my period caused it?
Anyway.
I lifted Jessy in my hands again, staring at her beautiful face as I sat down on one of the crutches we had in the kitchen.
Five minutes of rocking her back and forth, and muttering sweet stuff later, her hands reached to my hair. "No, no, Jessy. Don't you-."
I cut myself off when she already pulled the black strands. I winced, knowing it would take a lot of effort and time to make her let go.
"Ow." A pause. "Ow." Another pause. "Jessy, let go."
About a minute later, Minho freed me by unclenching Jessy's fist and pulling her out of my arms. "That's not nice." He mimicked at her. "You okay, Princess?"
I ran a hand through my hair. "Yeah. Thanks."
Thomas and Newt said a goodbye after chatting for about two hours, clearly a bit sloppy by the beer. I sighed long (again), and rubbed my temples (again), and sat on the couch (also again).
"Lena." Minho sat down in front of me, on his knees. The way he said my whole name and not a nickname made me realize he was serious.
"Yes?"
"You're stressed and-."
"Am not."
"Don't interrupt me." He gave me a sharp glance. "You're stressed and overworking. I'm serious, and-."
"I've noticed you're ser-."
"Lena." He pressed a hand down on my knee. "I really am serious. I know I've been sitting, drinking beer with those two, but you have to know that I do care and-."
"I know you care."
His mouth opened, then closed, just as his eyes. He took a deep breath, opened them again, and talked. "Please don't interrupt me again."
"Sorry."
"Don't say sorry either. You don't have to be-."
"Sorry for saying s- oh. No more sorry's, got it. Oh. I did interrupt again. Sorry."
He bit his lip. "That was kind of proof you're definitely tired." He waited a few seconds, seeing if I would interrupt or not. I didn't, so he continued. "Look. I know you want to take good care of everyone, and I'm not saying you're not doing it well, but..."
"But...?"
He seemed in a loss of words for a while.
"But change the routine. Let me clean. Let me wake up at night to take care of Jessy. Let me make breakfast. I can assure you I have some cooking skills. Let me wake them up."
I blinked away tears that had came fast, probably from exhaustion.
"But then you're doing everything."
"No." He shook his head, on the verge of laughing. "Then the tasks will be divided."
"The tasks already are divided."
"But not in the good way." He sighed. "You're doing way too much. Superfluous stuff, I mean. There really is no need to wake up at five o'clock. Or five thirty, to be exact."
"But then I won't have any time for myself. I'd like that."
"We'll make time. You don't have to clean. I can do it too. And it's not necessary to do it everyday anyways. I suggest that if the twins are at school, you take those hours as your rest time and I take care of Jessy. I'll be the... housewife for Newt and Thomas." He waited before continuing. "But you can have rest time whenever you want, though, not just when they're at school. All you have to do is put Jessy down and tell me. Got that?"
"I think so."
"Good. Good." He nodded. "Because I don't like seeing you exhausting yourself. I can do all the tasks if you want to rest. Except for feeding Jessy, but unless she's Gally, she hopefully isn't hungry all the time."
I laughed slightly, though I was still blinking away tears. "Got it."
He took my hand in his. "They have an amazing mom, did you know that? Maybe the best one."
That was not helping me by trying not to cry at all.
So all I did was nod, and smile, and rub away more tears.
"But unfortunately neither of the task dividing will stop Jessy from waking up at night. That's too bad." He pouted dramatically. "But, it does make sure there won't come a fourth."
I stared at him, squinting my eyes closer to make an impression. "That was a really bad joke. Like, really, really bad."
Minho smiled playfully. "And sadly I have to take care of Jessy, Newt, and Thomas during your rest time. So I won't be free at that point either."
A smile begged to get put on my mouth.
"What's this with you and making dirty jokes?"
"I don't know." He smiled even brighter. "When will we make time, though?"
The dimples appeared.
And his eyes disappeared.
And he smiled even brighter.
Oh god. Oh god.
"Don't say it, Lena." He ordered. "Don't you dare say it."
"You're cute."
He threw his head back in annoyance, though his eyes twinkled. "I am not."
"You are."
"Stop saying I am."
The corners of my mouth curved up. "You're cute and hot."
"I am n- I'm hot, though."
"And cute."
"If you don't stop right now I won't be cute anymore."
"Bet."
"You're gonna regret that."
"You're still cute."
"Lenaaa."
"Cutie-pie."
"That's too far."
"Mhm."
"I will never be cute again now. Because of you."
He leaned in closer.
"You're always cute."
And closer.
"Won't be anymore." His voice lowered.
"Mood switch?"
Even closer.
"I'm always in this mood."
"Pervert."
"Or I'm just unbelievably bad in love with my woman that I can't take my eyes off."
"Cheesy."
Even closer.
And closer.
And-
His lips.
Touched my.
Jaw.
My breathing hitched in my throat. My body froze for a second, but I didn't want him to be in control as always. "Still cute."
"I don't feel like using these stupid praises that the men in your books do. Just admit that I'm not cute anymore."
"Have you been reading my books?"
"Only the special chapters."
"Did you seriously go through the pages just to find the spicy scenes?"
"No. You marked them with that small sticky note. Bright red. And you marked certain sentences with a marker. And may I ask why the hell you put hearts around that one name? What was it again? Noah?"
"Nate." I corrected.
"Nate Shuckins, right?"
"Hawkins."
"Imagine being named Nathaniel Hawkins."
"Did you read the whole book?"
"No. The marked parts. And where you put hearts around Nathaniel Shuckins."
"Did you know what he once said?"
"I'm suspecting it has to do something with 'good girl'?"
"Surprisingly enough, no." I grinned deeply. "He said, 'anything you read, I'll do to you at home.'"
"Well, I am not that guy."
"But you did do the things I r-."
"Alright. You've crossed the line." He shook his head, dramatic. "My mood has changed."
"Though you didn't do the Uber thing and-."
"Do not speak about the Uber in this home. I swear to god, Lee. I'm gonna kill this Nate."
"He's a fictional character."
"I'll burn the damn book."
"It's a good book."
"It's not."
"I bet you enjoyed the scenes."
"I didn't. I may hope you don't either."
"I kind of did. You know there's this super long one in The Love Hypothesis?"
"I hated that one. The guy said he had to set an alarm to remind himself to stop working and go to sleep!"
"He's hot."
"I'm practically your husband. You can't say that in front of me."
"Adam Carlsen is hot. And so is Nate Hawkins. And so is-."
"Aaron?"
"Which Aaron are we talking about? Please not the one with Nate."
"The Warner guy. He's blonde."
"Nothing is wrong with blondes."
"But I'm not blonde. Shuckins and Grumpy Scientist Adam at least have dark hair. That's less competition for me."
"Phineas has blonde hair too."
"Phineas? Wasn't he called Finn? Or Finny?"
I ignored that. "But the ending was too sad. I cried. And felt empty."
"But then you weren't empty anymore because-."
I smacked the back of his head. "Pervert."
"...Because I gave you cookies."
An innocent grin formed on his face. "Now who's the pervert?"
"Okay. Enough talking about the books. And don't read them again. They're mine."
"You're mine, so they're basically mine too."
A smirk grew on my lips. A big one.
"What?"
I laughed.
"Oh."
"That was kind of a preference to these men."
"It was a joke."
"But you still said 'you're mine'."
"I've said that before you read the books. I'm the OG."
"Mhm." I smiled and pulled him next to me. "I like these talks."
"You like fictional men, you mean."
"That too. But I like you more."
"I was hoping you did."
"If we ever get a fourth, can we name her Mila?"
"What?"
"It's the name of Nate's kid and-."
"Absolutely not."
"Okay. Then we won't. I don't want a fourth anyway."
"I didn't even like Nate or that whole book. Icebreaker."
I raised an eyebrow. "So you did read the whole book?"
"Maybe... and I read it to Charlie and Abby."
I almost got a heart attack.
"You did w-."
"Kidding." He quickly said. "Just kidding. But I did read it myself. And I hated it. It has like every single trope!"
"We have a lot of tropes, too." I admitted.
"We've always been lovers."
"Not exactly." I giggled. "Our tropes are, strangers to-."
"Everyone starts with strangers. You may leave that out."
"Right. We have childhood friends to lovers to strangers to lovers to enemies to lovers."
"They should make a book about us. It would be awesome and I would be super cool."
"Agree." I leaned my head on his shoulder.
"You know which man I did like?"
"Well?"
"Peeta."
"Seriously?"
"Yes! He's awesome."
"He tried to kill his- oh."
"I like him."
"Because you relate to him?"
"Maybe. I did try to kill my girlfriend."
"Don't make jokes about that situation. Neither of us liked it. And I still feel bad for you." I crossed my arms sternly. "And I didn't enjoy that you were acting like Peeta Mellark."
"I didn't either." He wrapped his arm around me. "But I do like to joke about it. That's the best way to hide how much it hurt."
"I have noticed."
"But you do like me the most out of all men? Right?"
I laughed. "Of course."
"Good."
"Can we ask Vince if we can get Ubers, though?"
His look shot daggers. "No. We can't. And if you do, just know that I will not act like Nate in the back of the car while Newt, Thomas, Gally, Brenda, and Fry are vibing to Cruel Summer by Taylor Swift and you're on my lap."
"Fine." I chuckled. "Wouldn't want it anyways. I was joking, hopefully you got that."
"Yep. But I do think you should wear dresses sometime though."
"No, thanks."
"Come on!"
"I've never liked dresses or skirts. There's a reason I'd rather not have Abby to wear unicorn skirts."
"But if she wants to, we'll allow it."
"Of course."
"Can you please wear a dress?"
"No."
"But when Olive and Anastasia wore dresses things happened. You should be happy to wear them since you wanted me to act like these men so badly!"
"I'll think about it."
"And when Juliette refused to wear a dress, Adam shot the meat on the table and called her love when she didn't want to. You better wear a dress."
"I'll see."
"Good that. Because this is my invitation to... a date."
"A date?"
"Yep. Dinner, together. I've heard they made a restaurant."
"No way."
"Yes! A big, fancy hut close to Brenda's hammock."
"A restaurant?"
"Yeah. So will you come with me?"
"Okay, then." I sighed, covering up a smile.
"Amazing." He got up from the couch. "I'll pick those two up from school now."
"Okay." I gave him a quick kiss. "Thanks, Min. I liked this talk."
He smiled at me. "Alright. See you."
"Bye."
"And don't forget to wear a dress on our date."