They walked past the butler just in time to hear a high‐pitched scream echoing through the vast hall.
Lisa jumped while Jennie only shook her head.
The scream grew louder and they saw the boy running down the stairs with the old man chasing him, waving a comb in his hand.
"Mommyyyyyyy~!!" Inho saw Jennie and changed direction. He ran towards her with arms open, ready to pounce.
Jennie laughed as she let go of Lisa's hand and squatted down to welcome the charging boy. She held him tight and lifted him in her arms, breathing in the powdery shampoo scent from his damp hair.
"What are you doing, Ahboji?" Lisa asked the panting man.
He showed the comb in his hand and the pants in the other. "He had barely put his shirt on when he decided to make me chase him around the house."
Lisa noticed the pantless boy and laughed. She slapped his butt lightly. "Put on your pants, Inho-yah! You made poor Grandpa tired."
The boy turned to look at Lisa and grinned.
"You little mischief," Lisa pinched his cheek. "Now get down from there."
"No." He tightened his arms around Jennie's neck.
Jennie was barely holding herself together. She just stood there quietly, nuzzling her nose in the boy's neck.
"I assume it didn't go very well?" The old man handed Lisa the pants and comb.
"No ruling yet," Lisa said.
"Let's just pay her and get it over with," he said. "Or we could just move to New Zealand, take everybody with us. I'll let my lawyers handle everything here." It hurt him to see his daughter so sad and shaken.
"It's no use, Dad," Jennie finally lifted her head and spoke. "We can't run away and she doesn't want the money." She let the boy down and handed him over to Lisa who quickly helped him put his pants on.
"Sigh..." The man hugged his daughter. "I'm sorry you have to go through all this again."
Jennie said nothing.
"Where's your noona?" Lisa asked Inho.
"With Grandma."
Lisa had barely finished combing his hair when he sprinted out of sight, heading towards the kitchen.
"Yah! Inho! Where are you going?" Lisa shouted after him.
"Probably to the kitchen. Heeryung's in there with her grandma."
"Baking again? She should be a chef," Lisa said.
The man chuckled and started to walk towards the kitchen, his arm still around his daughter's shoulders. "Why not?"
They made their way to the large kitchen where the boy was now calmly perched on a stool at the tall counter, nibbling on a cookie.
"Hey..." Lisa ruffled the busy girl's hair. "What are you doing?"
"Grandma taught me how to make cupcakes!" The girl proudly showed the misshapen batch of treats.
Lisa grinned at the woman who was putting another batch into the oven. She mouthed a quiet thanks and the woman smiled.
"Nice job. Can I have one?" Lisa reached out for a cupcake and the girl slapped her hand away.
"Not that one, Umma!"
"Ow... why are you so much like your Mommy?" Lisa rubbed her hand with a slight pout on her face.
Heeryung reached for a cupcake in a yellow paper wrapper. "This one is yours." She gave it to Lisa.
Lisa had to smile when she saw the decoration on the chocolate treat. "Is this supposed to be me?"
"Yes. See? The hair is shorter than Mommy's. I even used yellow paper because you like yellow."
"Aw... it's so cute. Thank you." Lisa kissed the girl's cheek. "Look!" She showed the cupcake to Jennie.
"That's cute," Jennie said. "Where's mine?"
Heeryung took another cupcake that was sitting in a pink paper wrapper. "This is yours."
Jennie laughed. "Where are my eyes?"
"Right here." The girl pointed out the two curvy lines.
"That looks about right," Lisa grinned, planting a quick kiss on Jennie's cheek. "Great job, Ryung‐ah!"
The girl proudly grinned. "I made Grandpa, Grandma and Inho too." She pointed at the other cupcakes.
"Can I eat it now?" Lisa asked impatiently after she let Jennie take a picture of their treats with her phone.
"Yes."
Lisa peeled the paper and cautiously took a bite, bracing herself for whatever taste she would have to chew and pretend to like. Her eyes widened as she realized that it tasted normal. Could use a bit more chocolate or sugar but definitely edible, she thought. "This is good, Heeryung-ah!" She took another big bite and turned to look at Jennie's smiling mother. "Did you...?"
The woman shook her head. "I only helped her read the recipe, mix the batter and set the oven. She did the rest herself."
"Wow." Lisa grinned proudly. "My little chef!" She gave the girl another kiss on the cheek.
"Umma..." The girl wiped her cheek. "You're sticky."
Lisa laughed and finished her cupcake. "Can I have one more?"
"No." It was Jennie's voice. "You'll spoil your appetite."
"Err... I'm not the kid here." Lisa pointed at Heeryung and Inho. "Even Inho's having a cookie."
"Yes, that's right. A cookie. Singular. One. You've had one cupcake. That's it."
Lisa sulked and the children laughed.
"Haha!" Inho pointed at Lisa with his crumb‐coated finger.
"What are you laughing at?" Lisa bit the finger playfully and tickled the boy. "Can I have a bite from your cookie?" She whispered to the boy who possessively covered his cookie with his hands.
"Lisa...."
"Sigh... fine." Lisa searched for some tissues to wipe the boy's mouth and fingers.
"I'm saving mine for after dinner," Jennie said, placing the cupcake back on the plate. "Great job, Ryung-ah." She put an arm around the girl and squeezed. "I'm proud of you."
"Thanks, Mommy."
Jennie sighed quietly, trying her best to remember every moment for she knew that it might not ever happen again. She watched Lisa joke around with the boy and gulped.
-‐-‐-‐-‐
Lisa stood up from the bed and turned off the lights. She leaned on the doorway, watching the sleeping girl.
"When should we tell her?" Jennie suddenly whispered in Lisa's ear, making her jump.
"Yah! Don't scare me like that!"
"Sorry..."
"Is Inho asleep?" Lisa returned to watching Heeryung sleep.
"Yes. All the running around finally tired him out." Jennie placed her chin on Lisa's shoulder and wrapped her arms around Lisa's waist.
Lisa leaned back against Jennie, taking a deep breath and closing her eyes. "Can we not tell her until we really really have to? I don't want to upset her for nothing."
"But losing her brother in an instant would hurt her a lot," Jennie said. "I don't want her to misunderstand. She might think we're sending Inho away or back to the house."
"I've thought of that too but..." Lisa opened her eyes. She really didn't know what to say or do next.
"Can't we at least explain what's going on?"
"And tell her that her brother might be taken away at any given time?"
"We'll use other words, of course, but I don't think we have a better choice at the moment," Jennie said, holding Lisa tighter. "I really don't think she should wake up one day and realize that her brother's no longer here." She sighed at that thought.
Lisa stepped back, pushing Jennie a bit, and closed the door.
She turned around in Jennie's hold and hugged her. "We'll be fine." She gulped. "Whether we have Inho with us or not, he's still our son. We'll just have to make sure that he's well taken care of and still has everything he needs."
Jennie nodded, feeling her eyes warming up with tears once again.
They stood there quietly, holding on to each other for whatever extra strength and comfort they could get from one another.
The door suddenly opened and they jumped.
Lisa let go of Jennie and turned to see teary eyes staring at her.
"Where is Inho going?"
Uh‐oh. "You heard?" Lisa reached out to hug the girl but the latter swatted Lisa's hand away.
"Where are you sending Inho?!"
"Nowhere!" Lisa took another step forward and pulled the girl in for a hug. "We're not sending him anywhere."
"Then why did you say that he wouldn't be here anymore?" Heeryung tried to break free from Lisa's hug. Her eyes were filled with fear and brimming with tears.
Jennie took a deep breath and stroked the girl's hair to calm her down. "There's something we need to tell you."
Lisa finally let go and took hold of Heeryung's hand, guiding her back inside the room.
Jennie closed the door and pulled up a chair next to the bed where Lisa and Heeryung were sitting.
"Ryung-ah..." Lisa began to explain. "We don't want to send Inho away. You know that he has another Umma and Appa, right? Just like you did?"
The girl nodded slowly, rubbing her wet eyes.
"Well, Inho's umma misses him." Lisa gulped, feeling her heart being painfully stabbed by those words. "And she wants to take care of him just like we've been taking care of him."
The girl looked at Lisa and Jennie with a confused look on her face. "Why?" Lisa looked at Jennie since she didn't really know how to answer that.
"Well..." Jennie tried to find the right thing to say. "She had to go away so she... err... placed... Inho at the house to stay with Mrs. Baek and Miss Park. And now she doesn't have to go away anymore. So she wants to take care of Inho." Jennie swallowed hard.
"But you are taking care of Inho now." Heeryung kept looking at each parent. "Will she come live with us too?"
"No, Ryung‐ah. She lives in Jeolado, near where the house is," Lisa said.
"So we'll move to Jeolado?"
"No."
"Then how can she..." The young mind tried hard to grasp what was going on. "I don't understand, Umma."
Lisa took a deep breath. "Inho might have to go with her, Ryung-ah."
The small eyes widened in shock. "For how long?"
"We don't know. Maybe... forever?"
"Inho's not coming back?!" The girl was clearly panicking. "Is this because I called his toys stupid? It's not stupid. I don't hate it. I don't!" The thought of losing her brother and playmate broke her little heart. She started crying. "I'm sorry. I don't hate him. He's my brother. I'll call him my brother. I promise! Please don't send him to his umma..."
Lisa quickly hugged the girl with Jennie joining in, gently stroking the girl's hair.
"It's not your fault, Ryung‐ah," Lisa tried to comfort the girl, feeling her own tears trickling down her cheeks. "It's nobody's fault. We know you didn't mean what you say. We know you don't hate him."
The girl sobbed in Lisa's arms and it took everything in Lisa and Jennie's power to hold themselves together and not break down as well.
They waited until she had calmed down, freeing herself from Lisa's hold. "When is Inho leaving?"
"We don't know. We're trying to keep him with us but we don't know, Ryung‐ah." Lisa sighed. "I'm sorry. We're sorry." I can't keep my promise, I'm sorry. She clenched her jaws to prevent more tears from spilling out of her eyes.
"But we're not sending you away either, Ryung‐ah," Jennie added, rubbing the girl's back gently. "You should know that. We're a family. We'll always be a family. It's just that... sometimes there are things that we can't control. Things that we don't want to happen but still happen anyway. Do you understand me?"
The girl nodded, wrapping her arms around Jennie's neck and climbing on her lap.
Jennie held Heeryung tight and kissed her temple. "It's going to be alright. If Inho really has to go with his umma, we can always go visit him." She tried to console the girl.
"When will Inho leave?" She asked after she let go of Jennie, sitting down on Jennie's lap and leaning on her.
"We don't know yet. We're hoping that he doesn't have to leave but... we don't know, Ryung‐ah." Jennie wiped the tear‐streaked face.
"I'm sorry, Ryung‐ah. I know I promised you that we'd stick together. I'm sorry..." Lisa said. Her voice cracked. She then looked at Jennie. "I'm sorry..."
"Not your fault, Lili." Jennie reached out and gently wiped the fresh tears trickling down Lisa's cheek with her thumb.
Jennie felt the weight of the girl leaning on her grow heavier after a few minutes in the quiet room. She looked down and saw the closing eyelids. "Sleep, Ryung-ah." She kissed the top of her head and slowly stood up so the girl could lie down. "You've had a long day."
Lisa also stood up, letting Jennie adjust the blanket and tuck the girl in. She then kissed the girl's cheek before she left the room with Jennie's fingers holding on to her pinky.
Lisa closed the door and heaved a deep sigh.
"It's not your fault, Lili." Jennie let the pinky go and weaved their fingers together instead. "You couldn't have foreseen this. No one could."
They quietly walked back to their room.
Lisa changed her clothes quietly, still feeling like a total failure. She always had a solution for every case, a way around the lawsuits, demands or regulations. She could find loopholes in the most complicated cases. This was the first time she ever felt this helpless and lost.
Lisa was about to button her pajama top when she felt a pair of hands encircling her waist and resting on her stomach. She sighed and leaned back against Jennie, tilting her head to one side and let Jennie trail gentle kisses along her neck. She took a deep breath and relaxed.
"I love you, Lisa," Jennie whispered.
Lisa turned around in Jennie's hold and stared into the pair of gentle dark eyes. "Why?"
Jennie was caught off guard. "Why what?"
"Why do you love me? I broke my promise. I can't protect you." Lisa gulped. "I can't protect any of you." She looked down. "I wanted a family and now I can't even keep it together."
"What are you talking about?" Jennie tried to lift Lisa's head by the chin. "Don't talk like that. You've done your best and you're still doing your best. For me, for all of us. I can't ask for more."
"I don't have a solution, Nini. I don't know what to do." Lisa gulped. "I never not know what to do. It's... terrifying." Her voice faltered.
Jennie kissed Lisa gently. "Remember when you told me that you love me for me and not for what my body can or can't do?"
Lisa nodded.
"Well, I love you for you and not for what your brain can or can't do." Jennie poked Lisa's forehead and smiled. "I love you, Lalisa Manoban. All of you. From your kind heart to your sweet tooth to your unbelievable corniness to your genius brain to your obsessiveness... everything." She kissed her again. "Even when you can't remember where you put the remote or when you annoyingly leave the wet towels on the floor or when you forget to buy the things I told you to buy."
Lisa chuckled. "Sorry."
"I love you." Jennie leaned her forehead against Lisa's. "And there's no one else I'd want to go through all this with but you."
Lisa kissed Jennie gratefully. "Thank you. I love you too." She paused. "You complete me," she added in her accented English.
Jennie laughed. "Jerry Maguire?"
"I couldn't sleep last night and you gotta admit that the boy in that movie is absolutely adorable."
"Yeah, Tom Cruise was handsomely sweet in that too." Jennie grinned. "See? I even love your cheesy, lame jokes and random movie quotes." She kissed Lisa again. "And your cute accent."
"It's my Jeolado charm." Lisa pushed Jennie back, still kissing her. "You have your Kiwi thing and I have my Jeolado thing."
Jennie laughed out loud. The back of her leg hit the edge of the bed and she fell back, pulling Lisa with her.
"Thank you," Lisa said, breaking their kiss and pushing herself up on her hands.
"For what?" Jennie scooted higher on the mattress, placing her head on the pillow.
"For simply being you." Lisa crawled on the bed towards Jennie, dipped her head down and recaptured Jennie's lips.
"Cheesy." Jennie smiled. She then pushed Lisa back a bit and looked into her eyes. "Don't blame yourself, please? You did what you could and I'm more than grateful for that."
"Thanks." Lisa gave Jennie a quick peck.
"We'll get through this, Lisa." Jennie pulled the parted edges of Lisa's top. "Together."
-‐-‐-‐-‐
"Enough, Inho‐yah." Lisa pulled the stick with the remaining cotton candy from the boy's hand. "Your tooth will hurt if you keep eating too much sweet stuff."
The boy sulked and kept pouting when Jennie cleaned his face and hands with the wet tissue.
"Stop sulking, Inho." Jennie stood up and threw away the dirty tissue. "It's for your own good." She took hold of his hand and started to walk again, catching up with Lisa and Heeryung who were finishing the cotton candy.
"You two!" Jennie called out.
"Quick, finish it before Mommy throws it away!" Lisa hissed as she and Heeryung frantically pulled large pieces of the pink sugar cloud and stuffed them in their mouths. The two sped up their pace to get away from Jennie.
"Yah! Lisa!" Jennie couldn't catch up so she decided to just carry the boy to be able to walk faster.
"Hurry hurry hurry..." Lisa and Heeryung were laughing and choking as they stripped the paper stick as fast and as clean as they could. "Quick, throw this away!"
The girl ran to the nearest trashcan and threw away the evidence.
"Manoban Lalisa! Choi Heeryung!"
"Yes, Miss Kim?" Lisa grinned innocently, trying to cover the girl who was still chewing and holding a piece of cotton candy in her hand.
"You two are going to the dentist for a check up tomorrow."
"Mommy!"
"Gasp!"
Both culprits exclaimed simultaneously, looked at each other and laughed.
"Don't worry, Ryung‐ah. We'll brush our teeth until they glow tonight." Lisa winked.
Jennie sighed. "I'm surrounded by kids. Three kids." She glared at Lisa.
"Don't sulk. This is a public place."
"What?"
"You look cute when you sulk and when you look cute you know I would want to kiss you and this is a public place and there are innocent kids around." Lisa grinned mischievously.
Jennie was speechless. "Yep. Three kids," she muttered under her breath. She then set Inho down.
"What should we go on next?" Lisa asked the two children.
"Horse!" The girl said.
"Train!" The boy said.
"Hmm... Let's ride the merry‐go-round first and then ride the train. Okay?"
"Yay!"
"Okay!"
Lisa took both Heeryung and Inho's hands with Jennie holding the boy's other hand. They started to walk towards the merry-go-round at the other side of the amusement park.
Since it was a weekday, there was barely anyone queuing so they could immediately get on the ride.
Lisa lifted Inho up on one of the horses as Jennie helped Heeryung climb the horse next to it.
The ride started not long after and they stood between the horses, making sure that the children wouldn't fall off.
"I feel like such a bad parent," Lisa said in Jennie's ear and laughed.
"Why?" Jennie smiled.
"Skipping work and taking our kids to the amusement park on a school day? You don't see anything wrong with that?"
Jennie shrugged. "We can always make an exception." Her eyes inadvertently traveled to the boy who was happily bouncing on the fake horse and her smile faded.
Lisa kissed Jennie's cheek and gave her a reassuring smile. "He's still ours, Nini."
"Yeah..." Jennie tried to smile again and fixed Heeryung's messy hair with one hand.
"Train!" Inho pulled Lisa forward as soon as they left the merry‐go‐round.
"Yes, we'll go ride the train. Take it easy, Inho-yah." Lisa tried to restrain the eager boy.
Jennie followed quietly with her arm resting lightly around Heeryung's shoulders.
"Mommy?" The girl suddenly grabbed hold of Jennie's waist.
"Hm?" She looked down.
"Don't be sad," Heeryung looked up at Jennie and gave her a smile.
Jennie smiled. "Don't worry, I'm fine." She stroked the girl's hair lovingly. "Thanks, Ryung-ah."
Jennie pulled the girl close to her side and took a deep breath as they walked on and watched Lisa and Inho running around, laughing happily.
-‐-‐-‐-‐
"Hello?"
"Hey, Lis."
"Hey, Shorty. What's up?"
Jisoo took a deep breath. "The clerk just notified me that the judge wants us back in court tomorrow."
"Tomorrow?"
"Yeah."
"He's made a decision?"
"I don't know. I think so. It's been a week so the investigation must be done by now."
Lisa sat down on the bed. Her hand started to tremble so she clutched the blanket to steady it.
"Lis? Still there?"
"Y-yeah..."
"We can always appeal if we disagree."
"Yeah, I thought about that too but I'm afraid that it will only prolong the uncertainty. It's already taking a toll on Jennie and Heeryung as it is."
"You told Heeryung?"
"She accidentally overheard us talking and freaked out a bit, which is understandable. We had to explain everything."
"How did she take it?"
"Like any seven year old kid. She cried and blamed herself, at first. I don't think she fully understands what's going on. All she knows is that Inho might have to leave." Lisa tried to maintain her composure.
"I'm sorry, Lis."
Lisa didn't reply to that. "By the way," she cleared her throat. "Should the judge rule in that woman's favor, I want to set up a trust fund for Inho."
"Sure. Monthly distribution to the mother?"
"Yup, only until he turns 18. I will keep his college fund so that it will only be put to use afterwards."
"Okay."
"Can you help me take care of it?"
"Consider it done."
"Thanks."
"Don't mention it." Jisoo paused. "You did good, Lis. Very good. Don't blame yourself. I'm proud of you and Jen. Inho's lucky to have you two."
"Thanks. We're lucky to have him too." Lisa wiped her eyes.
-‐-‐-‐-‐
Jennie kept fidgeting with her fingers, looking down but registering nothing in her mind as she clasped and unclasped her hands and flicked her nails.
Lisa put her hand on Jennie's to calm the latter down.
Jennie looked up and saw the same fear in the eyes behind the small smile. She squeezed Lisa's hand.
"All rise."
They heard a man's voice and stood up.
The judge walked in and sat down, sighing heavily.
He took his time looking from one table to the other, from Aesook's tense face to Lisa's and Jennie's anxious and fearful ones.
"The investigation to the birthmother's living condition shows that it is indeed possible for her to raise a child in that environment. It's stable, safe and the people who are willing to assist are found capable to do so."
Lisa and Jennie gripped each other's hand tightly.
"However, I do realize that it will require a lot of adjustment from the child to be able to live in that environment." He looked at Aesook. "I do not wish to look down upon you. You've shown your sincerity and honest determination to turn your life around and pay for your mistake. Yet we can't deny that raising a child requires not only love, care and attention but also money." He paused and turned to look at Jennie and Lisa. "As of now, the adoptive parents are clearly more than capable to fulfill all of the child's needs. They have proven themselves to be commendable parents regardless of what people may think of their relationship."
He paused again, looking down at his hands. "This has been a very tough decision for me but I'm a person who believes in second chances and love and commitment above money." He looked up and saw the fear stricken expression on Lisa and Jennie's face and felt genuinely sorry for them. He took a deep breath. "I hereby reinstate the parental rights of Miss Jung Aesook over Jung Inho..."
Lisa couldn't breathe and Jennie felt everything spin.
"... with visitation rights for the adoptive parents."
Aesook clasped her hands and closed her teary eyes, trembling with relief and gratitude.
Lisa and Jennie were frozen in their seats, still not believing that their worst fear had come true.
"Now I know that the boy will need time to adjust so I'm giving both the birthmother and the adoptive parents a few weeks to ease him into this. Let him get to know his birthmother before he has to leave his current home," the judge continued.
Jisoo hugged Jennie who had finally burst into tears.
Lisa was still frozen in her seat. She wasn't even blinking.
"I'm sorry, Miss Manoban, Miss Kim." He banged his gavel somewhat quietly and apologetically looked at them before he stood up to leave.