*****
Her shoulders ache, arms are throbbing, feet are swelling; but she isn’t complaining. At least the day is over; the event is over. She can now relax. She is back in her hotel room, the sun is setting, and most importantly, her tummy is full.
After a crazy day of activities, Momo can finally let loose. She makes herself comfortable on the soft lounge; breathing in the salty evening breeze as the sky turns golden red. Who knew people-watching from the balcony could be so satisfying? It’s beautiful. It’s peaceful. It’s—kkakkung!
Momo glances at her phone screen, reading the preview of the message; an emoji.
u201:
🤡
Ugh,annoying. Momo scoffs. She is still debating whether to reply or ignore it when the phone starts ringing. Yeah, she might get this conversation over with.
“Three.” The voice on the other line says, not even bothering to greet her.
“What?” Momo frowns.
“Three.” The other woman repeats, sounding impatient.
“Three, what?” What the hell is this woman talking about?
“I bet you cut your fingers three times. I hear they prepare knives especially sharp at those conventions.”
Ugh. “For—”
“Four times?! You cut your fingers four times? My god, Hirai. Do you still have any fingers left?”
“Forty dollars.” Momo clarifies. “You owe me forty dollars. No cuts. Not even a chipped nail. I got second place out of all seventy participants.”
“As you should. Your company didn’t send you there to bleed all over the place.”
“Did you need something, Jihyo-ssi? Something happened to my babies?”
“Calm down. I’m just making sure you're still alive.” Jihyo Park, who lives in the apartment next to Momo, is on the other line. “I don’t think BooDobby’s ready to go back to the shelter.”
“What?!” Momo sits up straight and quickly switches to video call mode. She waits until Jihyo's face is visible on the screen. “What do you mean shelter? So you’re not going to adopt my kids if I die?”
“Well, you didn't, so why would I?”
“They can hear you, you know. You're hurting their feelings.”
“They’re sleeping,” Jihyo rolls her eyes as she pans the camera to where two pups are comfortable lying on a makeshift dog bed. “They can’t hear anything.”
“Aww,” Momo pouts as she moves the phone screen closer to her face, missing her babies. “They didn’t make too much mess there, did they?”
“Not really. I guess their daycare training's paying off. They’re really well-behaved. Well, Dobby is. But Boo... he's a piece of work, really. Kind of like you. Like mother, like son.”
“Whatever. I’ll be back in two days. You won't have to deal with them anymore.” Momo leans back into the lounge chair. “Actually, you can bring them to daycare. I’ll just pick them up from there.”
“That's like an hour's drive away. Besides, they like it here. I think they like it better here than at yours.”
“Cause your place stinks. It smells familiar to them.” Momo scrunches her nose. “I bought you some scented candles. Might help with the smell, you know.”
“You need it more, Hirai. These two gremlins live with you.”
“Call them gremlins one more time—”
“Gremlins.” Jihyo teases, laughing. "They’re adorable gremlins though.”
“They’re adorable. Period.” Momo rolls her eyes, switching the phone to the main camera. Showing off the amazing Pacific Coast sunset. “You’re missing out on this view.”
“Wow…” Jihyo’s eyes sparkle. “That’s so beautiful…”
“Yeah. Too bad you’re not seeing this in person…”And now it's Momo's turn to tease the other woman. “You’re jealous, huh?”
“Yes, I am. I wish I’m seeing that in person. There. You happy?”
Clicking from Jihyo’s phone makes Momo burst out laughing. “I’ll take pretty sunset photos for you. Stop taking screenshots.”
“They better not be zoomed.”
“Come on, don’t you trust me?” But Momo starts zooming in on the sun setting, laughing when she hears Jihyo’s protests on the other line. Once she has had her fun annoying the other woman, Momo sets the phone down and grabs her digital camera to properly take photos of Jihyo’s favourite time of the day.
“Ya! Hirai! Look. This came today,” Jihyo holds up a small box, showing it to the camera. “I almost forgot I ordered this.”
Momo frowns. “What’s that?”
“Baby monitor.”
“Eh?”
“Unnie’s housewarming party’s tonight, right? And as much as I want to bring your gremlins, you know they don’t get along with Kookeu. Ray won’t mind, but Kookeu’s really territorial.” Jihyo explains. “I couldn’t find a doggy monitor that delivers within the same day, you know that one that spits out treats... yeah, so I got this instead.”
“Again, you can just take them to daycare—”
“Again, that’s an hour away. Unnie’s place is two floors above.” The woman on the phone screen reasons, scrunching her nose. “Just going to bring them the wine and take home some of Unnie’s pasta. Don’t want to leave BooDobby for too long. Two hours tops.”
Oh.
"I think they have separation anxiety, you know that?" Jihyo continues. "They're following me in every room. They even sleep on my bed."
"Eh?" Momo is really surprised knowing how Jihyo doesn't let anyone on her bed. "You let them sleep on your bed?"
"Hmm," Jihyo nods, gesturing to the baby monitor. “I’ll give this to you 25% off the price. It’s got really good reviews.”
“Huh?” Momo frowns (for the nth time), still thinking about Jihyo breaking her own household rules for the four-legged cuties.
“What? Fine, half the price then. You can use this when you go to CrossFit. Put your membership fee into good use."
Momo continues to stare at the woman on her phone screen; the orange sun setting in the background gives Jihyo's face an ethereal glow. And for some weird reason, it’s making her insides rumble. What's going on?
“What is it?” Seeing the perplexed look on Momo’s face Jihyo asks.
Thank you. I don’t trust a lot of people with my babies but you make me feel like I can actually put my faith in you… Is what Momo wants to say.
“Hirai?!”
“I hate you.” Is what came out of Momo’s lips.
“Tsk,” Jihyo scoffs. “I hate you more. Try not to die for the next two days. We need you back here in one piece.”
We…?
*****