"-Thank you for coming, I know it's last minute, but I really did not have anyone else to call" says Lorraine whilst catching her breath.

"-It's fine" said Mandy, their babysitter

"-Beside I love spending time with the little ones, they are so well behaved.

I barely have to do anything"

Said the girl as she nodded her curls up and down, reinforcing her statement.

Lorraine raised an eyebrow as she offered the girl, one of her freshly made cupcakes.

"- Ok, fine I'll admit it. I'm here because of the pay that's the only reason that would make me skip my afternoon class"

Lorraine, who was putting away some clean dishes, froze.

"-You're missing class?" she asked her voice sporting a visible sense of guilt.

The red hair shrugged "-Yeah, but it wasn't an important one. It's not like it's the first time don't worry about it" she said grabbing an apple from the stationed fruit bowl

"-Are you sure ?" Lorraine asked once again feeling at fault for calling her over so abruptly.

The young girl waved her off.

"-So, where are the little beas- I mean my baby chipmunks' ' she said, saving herself from a disastrous statement.

Lorraine smiled amused before replying "-They are having their afternoon nap. They should be knocked out for a couple more hours"

"-Perfect " exclaimed the girl a s she clapped her two hands together "-I've got some time to do some work!"

Lorraine nodded along before making her way towards her closet room.

"-I am just going to change then I'll head out. The kids know you were coming so they won't be freaked out when they wake and see you. also, the baby monitor...

"-It's in the usual place" interrupted Mandy before grinning "-it's fine this is basically like a second home to me now"

Lorraine sighed in relief before she rushed to get herself prepared and meet up with her friends.

Caffe' Blanco

15:30 pm

"-Lorri! Lorri ! here" said a heavily accented voice as Lorraine rounded the corner of the fanciful cafe.

She scanned her surroundings attempting to pinpoint the direction of the voice when she finally spotted a little petite woman jumping up and out as she waved her arms around trying to get her attention.

Lorraine smiled in recognition before approaching the table.

There waiting in their baby pink attire (yes, they liked to give themselves dressing codes when they met up) was Hyolin, her own Korean twin; Monica the little ,spicy Latina who had been waving at her frantically.

Jade the feisty one of the group also the biracial one of the group, Aiseh the gentle Iranian soul who had just gave Monica a dirty look for her loudness and finally Ricky her best friend and soulmate from birth .The young British had dramatically flung himself over her hugging her tight as he exclaimed:

"-Girl! I thought you were never coming. I almost died here hanging around these clowns, " he exclaimed loudly as if the women in question were not sitting right across him.

Jade scoffed whilst Monica replied with a "-Bitch please, just sit down"

Lorraine giggled at their antics.

It did not matter how many designer clothes they wore, or at which places they ate , they were all going to still be boujee and still act like they used to.

Ricky rolled his eyes before beckoning her to sit next to him.

"Girl I missed you" said Jade

"-I missed you more!" Said Hyolin out of nowhere

Monica who was not one to back out of a group confession, started yelling

"-I missed you 3000!"

Mind you this is a mother of 4 kids acting like an 8th grader.

Aiseh sighed, before taking a sip of her chai latte. She did not have the energy to deal with the rest of them.

Lorraine simply giggled basking in the attention , before she finally sat down.

The table was already filled with different kinds of pastries and cakes, a mug of hot chocolate with piping cream was in front of her too.

There was no doubt that it was Ricky's doing. He knew her preferences like the back of his hands.

Lorraine gave him a little smile in thanks. The said man winked back at her before opening up the group's main conversation

"-So! now that we are all here let's start with some updates" he said

"-Oh oh! me first" said Monica excitedly "-I am getting a divorce!" she said like she with a wide grin

The group turned at her looking at her in shock , with their mouths gaping at the nonchalance in her words

"-What the fuck?" said Aiseh losing her composure for a second before she cleared her throat and spoke

"-That's so random " she said "-I swear you guys were doing fine" she added

Monica shrugged "-It's been 2 years we have quadruplets but it's not working anymore he's just so boring" she commented casually

I mean the group knew; the group knew that the only reason Monica had gone through her entanglement was because of the monetary benefit but still...

jade decided to change the focus of conversation "-I just started taking Yoga classes" she said

Ricky burst out laughing "-YOU?" he said looking her up and down as he poorly attempted to stifle his laughter "-exercise? how?" That earned him a punch in the arm.

He grimaced as he robbed the abused area

"-serves you right " she said as she flipped her long hair

Hyolin directed patted his hair softly as she shook her hair in fake exasperation

"-what about you Raine ?" asked Aiseh as she gave Monica a side eye given the woman in question was now ogling a bunch of young men at a nearby table.

Lorraine smiled, tightly but she smiled

"-Ah nothing it's just the usual" she said dismissively

"-Sungjae is back guys " said Hyolin "-He's been doing great things " she added

The whole table murmured their approval and surprise

Lorraine shifted a little, a bit uncomfortable with her husband being the subject of conversation especially when she was trying to come to terms with his current behaviour.

She knew it was probably temporary, but... it just felt so odd.

Her mind drifted off to a couple of days before when she and Hyolin finally had the scheduled dinner date for their kids.

They had been in Hyolin's house having a picnic in their backyard. The weather had been bright , the kids were in a good mood, playing with each other filling the air with sounds of laughter.

She had been relaxing under the parasol with Hyolin as Sungjae and Caleb worked on the barbeque.

everything had been so smooth; everything had been in perfect place until Sungjae received a phone call.

He had actually left his phone near the side table where Lorraine's recline chair had been put into, he had done so because him and Caleb had played some outdoor games with the kids earlier; a lot of it involving physical play so he had placed it there to avoid it having it fall and break.

When the phone rang, Lorraine had not recognized the ringing tone, it was some kind of rustic sounding guqin music from what she could make of it.

To be fair Sungjae had come back with a new phone, so it was plausible that the ringtone was different.

What caught her was the display number on the phone, it was an unusual name on it. One which sounded Chinese

'Zhi Ruo'

Lorraine had never heard of such a person

She took the phone but did not answer it just in case it was some business call, even though she was curious she could never do anything that might jeopardise or affect in any negative way the work of her husband.

She approached him where he was grilling some eels under fire.

With gentle voice she called him "-Sungjae"

He replied with a hum distractedly as he attempted to control the fire. Which was unusual in its own because he was a king at barbeques, and he knew his craft well

"-You have a call " she said "- It's from Zhi...

The Speed and the force with which he had snatched his phone from her had startled her.

What was worse was the intensity with which he had glared at her , before storming out.

Lorraine had blinked confused but also agitated a lump formed in her throat. Luckily both Hyolin and Caleb had been too distracted, so they hadn't noticed anything.

Lorraine had taken 3 deep breaths to calm her nerves down, as she continued with her day.

Sungjae did not come back after taking the call, luckily for her she had the car keys and drove herself and the kids' home.

When Hyolin had asked her about Sungjae she had replied that he had gotten an emergency call from the office, even though he was surprised, even Caleb bought it.

The company had several departments, anything could happen.

Lorraine was still reminiscing the confusion and disappointment when a pair of hands were right snapping in front of her

Lorraine blinked.

"Hey" said Ricky "-I have been calling you for the past 5 minutes, are you ok?"

Lorraine faked a smile, stretching in her seat.

"-Yeah,just tired " she replied

"- The Kids?" asked Jade

Lorraine nodded, not wanting to talk much "-Yeah the kids...."

Lorraine faked another smile as Aiseh stared at her quizzically.