Chapter 5 Five

Chapter 3: A Drunken Mistake (02)

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Minutes later, Kimberly stepped out of the showers with her head freshened up a bit. Her mind was half-way out of the mud. When Kimberly looked outside the bathroom, her mother was nowhere to be found.

‘Probably in her room already.’

She walked to the fridge and took a canned juice. Glancing at the clock on top of a door frame, Kimberly realized that she bathes for less than half an hour. Her best time yet.

She popped the can open.

“Hey, kids.” She greeted me as soon as her feet stepped inside their room.

“Hi, mom!”

“You are late!”

Hearing the two collective different responses, Kimberly smiled. Two identical faces looked at her with opposite expressions. They looked at her with the eyes that reminded her of one person.

Discarding the can on a random surface, she gathered the two cute boys inside her arms. She heard one groan while the other happily accepted her hug. “Did you miss your mother?”

“Yes!” Alvin responded, bobbing his body up and down.

“You stink!” Kelvin tried pushing her away, but what can a little kid do to an adult person? Kimberly hugged the two tighter, teasing Kelvin. She already took a bath, but her boy dares tell her that she still stinks? The little boy snapped. “Get away from me!”

“Fine, fine!” The mother held her hands up, surrendering. Her eyes observed them, seeing Kelvin’s red and annoyed face, she chuckled.

‘This kid,’ she shook her head and remembered what her mother said. Harley told her that Kelvin was like Kimberly when she was his age. ‘I don’t know if I want to be proud about it or be worried.’

Thinking up there, she turned and picked up the can of juice again. Before seeping the sweet and sour liquid, a memory passed by her mind and she remembered why she tried coming back home as fast as she could. “Oh yes. It’s past your bedtime already. Why are the two of you still awake?”

“Because we have assignments!” Kelvin yelled at his mother, his face conveying these exact words; ‘Isn’t that obvious?!’

“Kelvin can’t sleep because mother’s not here yet.” Contrary to Kelvin’s statement, Alvin gave a different reason.

“Hmm?” Her right eyebrow unconsciously rose, smirking at her other child. “Who can’t sleep without me?”

“I-I- Alvin is lying!” As if Kelvin bathed on the sun for hours, her son’s face was totally red. “He’s lying!”

“You are the one who is lying!” Alvin finally stood up from his seat. “Stop lying to your mother!”

Alvin is not the one who raises his voice normally, so when Kimberly saw that the two were getting heated up, she had to step between them. “Okay, okay. I get it now. I get it now. So, do you want to sleep already or continue answering your assignments?”

Their faces were like the cheeks of a hamster. It was so cute that she was tempted to let them fight again.

I mean—no.

She cleared her throat. “Okay! Then I will wait for the two of you to finish up, got that?”

“... Okay.” Kelvin turned his small back on her and went back to his desk.

“Okay,” Alvin mumbled, also going back to where he was, a separate table a meter away from Kelvin’s.

Kimberly watched the two of them bury themselves in their homework while lying on the sofa next to their mini tables.

She sighed, finally feeling the exhaustion in her body.

The day was long. She had to wake up early in the morning to bake with her assistant, wait for the customers to arrive, and then close the shop at six. She was tempted by her employee to loosen up a little and got dragged to a beerhouse, but before that, they stopped by a salon. Honestly, Kimberly enjoyed her time there. She told her mother that and that she would be late, she also told her that she won’t get drunk, but alas, she still did.

‘I had a shit show while trying to get here.’ She can’t help a laugh coming out from her lips. Kelvin gave her a glare, she mouthed sorry. The little boy soon went back to face his assignment and Kimberly was back at her own little world again.

Ah. About that vomit outside…

Anyway, Because she can’t still sleep without the twin sleeping, Kimberly decided to do something:

Scroll on her phone.

But what about the puke outside? She gave it a little thought. ‘You know what? Fuck it.’

She fished it out and opened a certain social media app. While scrolling through it, she had so much fun that she didn’t notice the time passing by so quickly. She acted like a couch potato.

“What’s this?” Kimberly said, her fingers pausing from its automatic scrolling.

It was a video about calling out somebody they met in the past. She clicked on the sound and knew that it was a trend, and the trend was getting too much attention.

She laughed, Kelvin yelled at her to shut up, but she ignored him. “This is fun!”

Flashbacks from six years ago flooded her mind and Kimberly got giddy in excitement.

“What’s fun?” She didn’t notice that the two had crept on her back.

She doesn’t have a picture of that man, but she has… Kimberly looked at them and her smile widened.

They flinched.

“What are you thinking about?!” Kelvin assumed a defensive position. “Don’t tell me you are thinking of coloring our hair like yours! It’s disgusting!”

Although Kelvin’s words hurt her money, Kimberly ignored him and turned to Alvin. “Son, get me her tripod!”

“Eh? Tripod? W-why?” Alvin looked at her with reluctancy, slightly avoiding her gaze.

Kimberly pouted, trying to get their sympathy. “Please.”