Mira stayed tucked against her chest for the rest of the night. At one point, after getting them all into bed, Celine had Rumi tucked under her arm. Now both girls had a wet nose against her neck and were awkwardly crushing her chest.

Celine did nothing to change that though. Instead she scrolled through listings in Yeosu. A few she marked for later, but she wouldn’t do anything until she had more information from Eun-Kyung. She’d take the girls over to introduce them to Zoey. Reassure Mira as much as she needed. Hold Rumi back from playing to rough. Maybe she should offer to take them all out? Burbank had to have some decent park nearby. A good run would do her pups some good and give her an idea of what Zoey knew.

Actually. If Zoey was going to be around, Celine would need to work on a playground for them. Mira and Rumi would love it too. It’d need some tunnels, so she’d probably put it near the pond. The soft ground would work for when they inevitably taught Zoey how to dig too. Miyeong had loved swinging out over the pond, but that old rope had snapped long ago.

By the time Celine had compiled a list, her alarm for the day was close to ringing.

…

Mira was not happy about going to see the new pup. She’d dragged her feet in every way she could. Refused her shoes, hid her coat, and even tried to convince Rumi to talk Celine into a theater.

But. Eventually their rental car was in the driveway of a small but nice neighborhood. It was a bit more, drab in daylight. But a fresh coat of paint and some garden care would fix it.

“Girls behave.”

“Yes Celine,” two voices replied. Celine would have said something else but the door opened at that moment.

Eun-Kyung blinked at her with no sign of recollection. Her hair was pulled back neatly but only one eye seemed to have make up. Her clothes clashed as well, a bathrobe thrown over a blouse and sweatpants.

“No Girl Scouts today. Late for work.” She said in a brisk tone before trying to move around them. Celine reached out, to stop her, to grab her, to pull the girls aside? She wouldn’t be able to tell.

“So-yee, behave for the sitter!”

“Mama, wait!” Celine’s heart broke as her mind caught on to what she was seeing. Zoey latched onto her Mother’s waist, speaking in rapid English for her to stop, to go inside, to remember.

Celine coughed to interrupt. “Eun-Kyung, I’m Kang Celine. I’m here,”

“Gods I did it again, didn’t I?” Recognition burned across the woman’s face like a flare. “Zoey, baby,”

Celine felt like an intruder as she watched her lift her child to her hip and mutter soft apologies. “Let’s take this inside.”

“Right, yes.”

It wasn’t Celine’s place to do anything to the woman, even if it was to help. But she’d never forgive herself for letting a pack member suffer. She needed to get Eun-Kyung and her pup help. It didn’t matter if she had Zoey or not. This woman had been left alone in declining health. That was wrong.

Seong-woo was failing and had been for years, but regardless of what she’d done to Celine’s pack, she’d made sure the old Hunter was cared for.

“Girls go play,” Celine felt eyes linger before Mira hummed and tugged them away.

“Rumi and I watched Gremlins. Have you seen it?” The question opened a whole conversation as the trio left the entryway.

“I’m so sorry,” Eun-Kyung repeated. Celine let her. She didn’t have the experience or knowledge of what was happening but she could imagine how terrifying it was to suddenly be aware of things changing to fast. Actually. She had experience with that.