“Aunty Hyun!” Destiny greets my Mama when she sees us at school parking lot.

Mama spreads her arms and then hugs Destiny, “Hi, beautiful!” She kisses her crown head.

“Aunty Hyun,” Desire calls her with a pout. “Why did you take Squirt’s walkie-talkie?” He protests. I already told him using Mama’s phone last night, and as I predicted, our communication is limited to a certain point. We can’t talk freely like usual.

Mama chuckles and Destiny still clings onto her. “Well, Mirae understands that it’s his punishment.”

“Can you just take away his Hot Wheels collection instead?”

“Hey!” I shove him. He knows my Hot Wheels collection is valuable for me. I treasure them a lot.

Mama softly laughs, “His Hot Wheels collection has nothing to do with it. That would be wrong for me to take them away from him.” She explains, “But on the other hand, the walkie-talkie helps him to communicate with you so you two can conspire behind your parents’ back.”

“But –”

Destiny cuts her brother off with a scoff, “Kids.”

Mama laughs again, “You’re still a kid too, baby girl.”

“No, Aunty Hyun, I behave better than them.”

‘Ty Joy jumps in before her twins start to argue, “You three are still a baby, even Yerimie is still my baby.” She says. “Go to class now before the witch hunts you down – especially you two, boys.”

“Mum!” / “Sooyoung!” Both Destiny and my Mama scold ‘Ty Joy, but me and Desire laugh. At least there’s an adult on our side to call Mrs. Miller ‘the witch’.

We bid goodbye to the adults and head together to our class. Nothing’s great happened during our first period until a lunchbreak. We don’t go to school cafeteria but stay in class. I share meals with the twins like usual, because Mama always makes three to four servings – in case my other friends want to join.

“Do you know anything about puberty?” I start the conversation as we enjoy our meals.

“What’s that?” Desire asks, chewing his meals.

I shrug, “I don’t know. That’s why I ask.”

Destiny chuckles mockingly, “It’s a part of growing up.”

“Really? How do you know?”

“I read, therefor I am.” She smugly says. Usually I find it annoying. Mommy said Destiny is a mix of ‘Ty Wannie’s intelligence and ‘Ty Joy’s sassiness. I don’t like this attitude of her, but I need her knowledge right now. I want to know what she knows.

I swallow my Cheese Meatball Bombs – it’s a biscuit dough filled with meatballs, tomato sauce, and Parmesan cheese. When you take a bite it will explode in your mouth with rich flavor – hang on… why am I rambling about food? Anyway…

“Care to share what you know about it, Ney?” I ask Destiny.

“Since you ask nicely,” She grins and Desire rolls his eyes. “You and Desire will be hairy!”

“What do you mean?” Desire asks his twin.

“Boys will grow up with more hair.”

I gasp “Like Mr. Jay?”

“Or like gorilla,” Destiny shrugs nonchalantly.

“I think you’re lying.” Desire squints his eyes.

“Why would I lie?!” She glares. “Listen, you will grow hair on your face, armpits, chest, and everywhere else!”

“That’s not true.” I deny her. “Gramps don’t have hair anywhere you mentioned and he’s an adult.”

“Exactly,” Desire sides with me.

Destiny scoffs, “Just watch until you hit puberty and you become hairy!” She says confidently, “Oh, for your information, you will stink too.” She scrunches her nose in disgust. “But I will become more beautiful and smarter when I hit puberty, just like Yerim.” The bell for next period already rings before we could say anything else to her. I can’t stop thinking about what Destiny told us throughout the rest of class.

When the school is over, Mommy’s already there to pick me up. She told me Mama is quite busy today because her restaurant gets a lot of orders for company event. That’s why Mommy picks me up today, but she’s also busy. Mommy keeps talking on the phone with her client or something and while driving! I will make sure to tell Mama later.

But because she’s busy, I can’t ask Mommy about puberty. I know when to not bother her, so I let her do her job or whatever. I just sit there and look outside the window, thinking about puberty on my own. Will I really be hairy and stinky? But every grown up man I know isn’t hairy or stinky, for example: Gramps, Uncle Han, Uncle Sungjae, Seojun (he’s Yerim’s ex-boyfriend), Chanyeol (he’s Mommy’s friend at work), and Ray (he’s Mama’s employee).

Wait… I think I know Mama’s employees who are hairy and there are… three, four, five of them – I think. Also Gramps’ gardeners and driver got beard, and, oh no… his guards too! I cringe thinking about the possibility of me being hairy and stinky. I should ask some tips to Gramps!

“Mommy,”

“Hold on a second,” She mutes the call and then glances at me while she keeps driving. “What, kiddo?”

“Can we go to Gramps?”

“Uh, sure, sure,” She says, “But not right now, alright? We need to ask Mama and Yerim first so all of us can go there together.”

“Okay,” I say. Mommy just nods and then continues talking to her client on the phone. We arrive at home and she quickly faces me.

“Do you need anything?” She asks.

“No?”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah,”

“Okay, look,” She grabs me by the shoulders. “I will stay at home but I have important meeting through video conference, so I’m gonna be in my office.”

“You can just go to your real office, Mommy.”

“No, kiddo,” She chuckles. “Your Mama will be mad if I leave you alone at home, so please, don’t even try to go anywhere.”

I huff, “I will be just home, Mommy!”

“That’s my boy.” She ruffles my hair, “Do your homework if you have any, or take a nap, just stay at home, alright?”

“Okaaaaayyyy…”

“Okay then, I’ll be in my office. Knock if you need anything.” She heads to her little office in our home, but then puts a brake. “I almost forget.” She chuckles, “Please clean yourself and change your clothes.”

“I always do that, Mommy!”

“I know. I just try to remind you in case you forget.”

I roll my eyes and she just chuckles. I walk to the bathroom to clean myself and then go to my bedroom to change my clothes. I empty my bag, taking out my lunchbox and books. Groaning in annoyance when I remember I do have homework.

It’s a science subject and the teacher is fun. She allows me to use my drawing in her lesson. And the homework is about ‘controlled variable’ (the