Calm down my ladies...Interlude...

The air was chilly.

A biting wind swept through the space, but it wasn't the cold that sent shivers down Riley's spine—it was the weight of the moment, the suffocating tension that hung heavy in the air.

Everyone's thoughts seemed to converge on a single word.

"Mama?"

"Mama…."

"M-Mama?"

Three distinct voices, three very different reactions. Yet the same word spilled from their lips.

Seo's soft tone carried innocent confusion, her red eyes wide as she tilted her head ever so slightly.

Snow's trembling voice was filled with heartaching confirmation, her hands balling into fists at her sides as if bracing herself for something unbearable.

Alice's voice, on the other hand, quivered with thinly-veiled denial, like her mind refused to process the implications of what she had just heard.

Eventually, two pairs of eyes turned toward him.

Snow and Alice.