I no longer have to buy fake designer clothes.

Or jewelry.

Bags, too.

Years and years of hard work paid off. If I want to, I could quit working right now and by the time I'm an old lady, still have enough to pay the bills and feed an always hungry man.

But I enjoy working, for once. I like waking up next to Minho. I like to take five minutes to cuddle him before getting out of bed.

Though usually, the five minutes turn in way more. I haven't really learned to take track of time yet, and never will.

Then I get ready in the bathroom as he sets the table. By the time I'm done, he could've eaten a whole meal. But he doesn't, because he waits for me. And then both of us head off to work.

Minho works for the USAR; urban search and rescue. Especially after disasters, he searches and rescues harmed people.

I've become a lawyer, like I've always wanted to be. I enjoy it, which is the most important, and as mentioned, it pays very well.

We're living in a house near the countryside, pretty close to where Newt's parents live. Sonya still lives there, too.

Newt moved to an apartment. With Lyndon, of course. We sometimes contact Eli. He lives a little further away. He also moved. Started taking care of his life and lives in something bigger than his apartment before.

Thomas and Teresa are probably that family.

They have a lovely house with a nice garden, some little shits running around, and dogs.

Duckie and Birdie.

Those are the dogs names, not the kids' names, by the way.

Wouldn't have surprised me if Thomas did name his kids that.

And guess what the name of his daughter is?

Leila.

My honest reaction was literally 'muhahaha'.

Leila Dana Edison.

Dana after his mom, Daphne.

Their son is named Ash Edison, after Asher.

Then Minho and Newt went a little like 'Man, aren't we your long time best friends, and not Lelia?'

And then Thomas said he named the dogs after them.

Once again, Duckie and Birdie.

Because 'Minho looks like a duck' and 'Newt looks like a bird'.

I think Lyndon is fine with the fact that no one is named after him. I swear it would give him stress.

Yeah, nothing's going to change Lyndon's stress.

Even in his thirties, he's the same. Because his mindset is just a part of his personality. The anxiety has faded a bit, but stressing out hasn't.

Wow, now I realize there's a lot to tell.

Lyndon and Newt got little Meira to take care of. She's a—

"Oh my God." Breathing heavily, Minho sprints into the room. Once he sees me, he stops.

I frown. "What?"

"It's three o'clock."

"Wow, never experienced that before—"

"Ash's birthday party started half an hour ago."

My eyes wide. "Oh, fuck—"

Well. This is why we should not have kids.

"Do we have a present?"

"He's turning six, right?"

"...I think so."

This is rude, too. But alright.

"Wait, yes. I got a present. Those swim toys and goggles," I say. "They're already wrapped. What do we tell them? We don't even have a decent reason to be late."

"Work."

"It's Sunday. We never work on Sunday."

"Uhm... grab those cupcakes we bought from the store and say they just got out of the oven because we didn't calculate the time it would take us to bake them."

Satisfied, I nod. "Good idea."

Quickly, Minho puts the cupcakes in a box as I grab the wrapped presents and put them in a nice little bag.

"What the hell are you doing?" I stare at the crumbs he's taking from the cupcakes and spreading around the box.

"Making it look like they're homemade."

"What's next, adding poop so it will taste like your real baking skills?"

He pulls a face. "Thanks again, ma'am."

"You're welcome." I place a kiss on his cheek. "Alright, let's go now. Newt will go absolutely mad if we even show up a minute later than necessary."

We rush to the car and drive off to the Edison's house, both of us in clothes that aren't really party worthy, but alright.

☀︎︎

"They're late," Newt complains. "Half an hour already."

"They'll get there," Thomas assures, probably way too confident. I think after fifteen years of knowing Lelia and like twenty years of knowing Minho, he shouldn't have this much trust in them.

Not when it comes to being on time, at least.

We were here like... an hour before three o'clock. As always.

All of us are sitting around the picnic table in Thomas and Teresa's garden. It's quite big. They've got a big lawn, a shed, and swings for the kids. Eight-year-old Leila's currently sitting on one.

"Daddy." Ash pokes Thomas in the side until he pays attention to him. "Can we get the cake now? Pleaseeee?"

I can't control it, but I smile at every single interaction they have. It might be wrong to do because the thought 'the abused doesn't always become the abuser' also flies through my head every time, and that cheers me up but also makes me sad because I can't imagine Thomas being this age and having a horrible father.

I wonder what his thoughts were when he first got called 'Dad' or 'Daddy'. Or every time they call him that. Or what his thoughts were on having kids in the first place.

I would, even though I know I would never abuse anyone, be afraid things would go wrong anyway.

"We've got to wait for Lelia and Minho first," Thomas tells him, squeezing his shoulder. "I think Newt's just about to call—"

"There!" Excited, Ash's little finger points at the gate. Just then, Minho and Lelia enter the garden.

Newt jumps up. "This is very disrespectful," he says. "I will—"

"Newt!" Teresa yelps. "You're holding a baby. Calm down."

Now more careful, he places Meira in my arms. He smiles sweetly and fixes the tiny amount of hair on her head. Then his smile vanishes and he walks up to our new company.

"Wait, wait, wait," Minho says before he can speak. "The reason we were late, is because we baked cupcakes. We didn't calculate it very well. They only got out of the oven at three and still had to cool down. Please don't kill us."

Liar.

Minho and Lelia don't bake. Ever.

He puts a box down on the center of the table, revealing the cupcakes. My eyes scan the red paper that's wrapped around them. Then I look up at Lelia, eyebrows raised.

I need more than two hands to count the amount of times we've had these exact cupcakes when we were kids.

She presses a finger to her closed lips, eyes twinkling. I chuckle below my breath, then watch as Ash already steals one of the cupcakes.

"I didn't know Minho could bake," he says with his mouth full. Crumbs fall onto the table. Teresa wipes them away the second they lie there.

Minho grins. "I'm a natural talent. Did you already get your presents?"

"Yup."

"Well, then you'll immediately get ours. Happy birthday!" Lelia hands him a glittery bag and places a fat kiss on the boy's forehead.

Disgusted, he wipes it off. His face lights up after that. "Thank you!"

As he opens his presents, Lelia sits down next to me. One arm slips around my neck. "Hey, there."

"Hi." I look down at Meira to check up on how she's doing. Her eyes are closed, the long lashes hitting her cheeks. They're puffed, like they always have been.

For a baby, she actually has quite a lot of hair. It's just very thin. Dark and decently long, but thin. It sweeps across her forehead and covers her ears a bit. It luckily doesn't hit the eyes, which are also dark. Dark brown, but beautiful.

Meira Blake is only six months old. We adopted her about two months ago. Her original family in India was too poor to take care of her, and were about to abandon her. So we adopted her.

It wasn't as easy as it sounds, but alright.

Took me like a whole lifetime of thinking and considering if it would be the right option.

"Can I hold her?" Lelia asks.

I squint my eyes. "In a minute."

"So basically three hours."

"It's my baby," I defend. "And she's too adorable to let go of."

"Yeah, get your own kid," Newt adds, smiling. Thank god he is no longer annoyed.

"No, thank you," Lelia says. "I'm fine with that giant baby." She eyes Minho. "Do you know how much care I have to take of him?"

"The question is, do you mind?"

"No."

I smile. "Well, then."

Then we get distracted by Teresa putting Ash's cake down on the table. It's decorated with sharks and corals. Looks very nice.

The singing starts. Ash blows as hard as he can, nearly spatting the candle wax onto the cake itself, and then cheers.

Leila hops down on Lelia's lap after she has gotten her piece of cake. 'Perfect place to eat', she once called it.

"You can't give Meira cake," Teresa informs.

"Does it look like we're doing that?" Newt rises an eyebrow.

She snickers. "I'm just saying."

"Yes, please," I say fast. "Give me all the tips you have because I'm not doing this very well. All the books don't work."

"Lynn, you're literally doing amazing," Newt assures. "Don't worry."

"I'll still give tips. First of all, don't tickle them."

Offended, Thomas looks up. Teresa was already eyeing him while she said that.

"Why not?" I ask.

"Because Tom here," she says, "made Leila laugh so much I swear she almost suffocated."

"That's why I don't have a kid. They'd laugh the whole time just by seeing me," Minho says.

Newt snorts. "Why, because you're that funny-looking?"

"No, because I am amazing." Minho rolls his eyes. "They'll die from laughing."

"I did not attempt to kill Leila!"

"I never said you attempted to. But you did almost do it on accident." Teresa leans against Thomas's body. "Don't worry, I still love you."

His face grows red. "I'll never get used to that."

Ash then, out of nowhere, appears with his shark toy. "Daddy!"

"And I won't ever get used to that either," Thomas adds.

Neither will I. Of course Meira hasn't said a single word, but she will, and at the moment, I can't even imagine that.

If Thomas hadn't already stolen the name Leila and if Meira hadn't already been named, I swear I would've called her Leila. Or literally Lelia.

Because she will always be my light in the darkness. A lot of people have been added to that list, but she has been number one since the moment she was born.

"Hi, Lynn," Mom greeted, smiling proudly. Little beads of sweat ran down her forehead, but my eyes were focused on the tiniest human I had ever seen. "You ready to meet your little sister?"

I nodded heavily. My mouth was half open as I stared at her face. Big, brown eyes, like Meira's. Barely any hair on her head. She was still a bit dirty. Back then, I couldn't think of why.

Dad helped me climb next to Mom on the high hospital bed. She gently pressed my sister against my body. Mom held her, and I watched.

"You can touch her," Mom whispered. "But very softly, okay?"

My shaky hand reached out to caress the top of her head. It felt weird, touching such new skin. But it was amazing.

"Her name is Lelia," Dad told me quietly. "Lyndon and Lelia."

I nodded.

"You're a big brother now. That's very nice," Mom added, smiling.

I nodded again. Even if I was capable of speaking, not a word left my mouth during my visit. Well, one. "Lelia," I pronounced below my breath.

"Sebastian," Mom's whisper now sounded a tad panicked. "I don't feel so good."

Then the nurse took me out of the room. I have no intact memories of the rest.

I smile at Lelia. She's busy talking to Teresa as Leila sits on her lap.

Mom was totally right. It is very nice to be a big brother.

Even if it's a girl who's actions are one hundred percent untamed.

But, oh well, when are my feelings ever untamed?