Outside of the normal shenanigans, nothing much else happened. Everyone got that pleasant workout burn and was worn out. The endorphins were flowing.

Post workout dinner was suggested and turned down. Nayeon fled first, still embarrassed. She’ll get over it, but not tonight.

JooHyun had an early morning, evidently someone special was coming into work and they needed to get prepared.

The Twins had their own thing to do, too. They didn’t say what, their elders didn’t pry.

Since the majority had already declined, they went their separate ways.

Seulgi asked Bhuwakul if he would join them for dinner, to her surprise, he declined. He had some pressing matters that needed to be addressed. She accepted this as he would never say ‘No’ unless it was important. Both Yeji and Alfred mocked her pout behind her back. Bhuwakul stifled a laugh at their mockery. Seulgi whipped around to see what they were doing, but by the time she had turned around, both of them had politely attentive looks on their faces. Patently false looks mirrored back at her.

Seulgi huffed and stormed off. Alfred, Bhuwakul, and Yeji all laughed at her retreating back. Bhuwakul side hugged Yeji and shook Alfred’s hand before he left. The two left behind scrambled after Seulgi before she left them behind in a fit of pique.

When they were all in the car, Seulgi found the hard rock radio station and had it loud enough to make conversation impossible. Yeji and Alfred just grinned at each other, much to Seulgi’s continued annoyance. These two were getting along much too well for her comfort or peace of mind.

They stopped off at the grocery store on the way back and got makings for dinner. Seulgi, much to their amusement, was still ignoring the other two and got all of her favorite things, not asking their opinion about anything.  Despite this, they both noticed that she had enough for three.

They tagged behind Seulgi like recalcitrant children. Seulgi felt like a beleaguered mother of two naughty children. Those two chattering and giggling behind only exacerbated the situation.

Seulgi did not get why her father was so good with the more introverted ladies in her group. Yeji and JooHyun never opened up to strangers. Yet, both of them were talking with her father as if they had known him for years.

Well, Yeji kind of did know him, she knew him from her stories. He was not the stern monolith that Seulgi had portrayed him as. Then again when he was full on Father Figure, he was a different person. Yeji saw a glimpse of this when Bhuwakul popped up next to Seulgi without warning. So, she did believe in the stern description, as well.  But, she liked this laughing and joking man very much.

Seulgi was not sure that she did. After all, most of the laughing and joking was at her expense. She did her best to pretend that they were not with her. This didn’t work as both Yeji and Alfred – mostly Alfred – kept slipping things into her basket. Things that she knew they were not supposed to have. Sweets. Chips, Popcorn. There were even two different candy bars!

Still, she did her best to ignore them. She got to the checkout and paid for everything after slapping her father when he reached for his wallet. He started to say something until he met her softly heated glare. That’s when he decided to tone it back down as he was fairly close to actually annoying his daughter.

He backed away from the payment center, hands raised in surrender. Yeji started saying something until Alfred caught her eye and gave a tiny shake of his head. Yeji took the hint and swallowed whatever she was about to say. As it has been mentioned before, Yeji might be young, but she was not in any way stupid.

Everyone was quiet on the way home, though the music was at a much lower setting.

They got into the apartment with little happening. Seulgi did stop and say hello to some of the guards. She introduced her father to them at the same time. He was the perfect gentleman while being introduced.

Once the front door was open, Alfred slipped in like a wraith while Seulgi and Yeji waited for him to clear the apartment. Seulgi was looking into the apartment while Yeji watched the hallway. Seulgi was holding all the groceries (Including three candy bars) while waiting. They worked so well together, that it was almost as if they had practiced it beforehand.

Once cleared, Seulgi and Yeji came in. Seulgi deposited the groceries on the counter, found her cat, and kissed her head. Then she went back into the kitchen and started preparing dinner. Yeji assisted.

That was when they heard a yelp coming from Alfred.

“Everything OK, Dad?”

“No! I just took my phone off silent and there are about fifty messages from your mom! Oh, crap, she is on her way..”

Her doorbell rang. All three shared a look of terror.

The doorbell rang again. Then a third time.

Alfred gulped and said, “I guess I should go look.” After all, he was the security here, it was his job.

He stalked down the hallway to the front door. He flipped on the camera and said, “Oh, crap. She’s here.”

He opened the door, the door was slammed into the opposite wall and a voice called out “SEULGI!!”

Seulgi was in shock. She used one of the precious few times that she allowed herself to swear: “Oh, shit. It’s my mom.”

Yeji grabbed her as she started to slump in panic as her knees gave out.

Seulgi’s mother swept in, Alfred trailing behind her holding two suitcases.

The squirrels inside Seulgi’s head went into full panic mode. Suitcases. Plural. She was planning on staying. She looked at Yeji and wondered if she could stay at her pace until her mother left. She didn’t care that this was the coward’s way out, but she needed to bolt before her mother Did Something to her.

Seulgi was teetering on becoming a mess. Her nerves were already shot from recent events, she was literally in a bad way and didn’t need this nonsense.

Yeji figured that no one had told her mother to tone it down a notch, so she became Seulgi’s knight in shiny armor and stepped in front of her mother, and interrupted the gathering tirade.

“And who are you to stand between my daughter and I?”

“Hello, I’m Hwang Yeji. Nice to meet you, ma'am.”