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“Eomma!”

I sighed and got out of bed, heading to my two oldest children’s room. I knew what was up.  Taemin had puked again.  I walked in to see him crouched over the metal bowl I had given him, and my daughter, Xia, was sitting on her bed hugging her stuffed bear.  I walked over to Min and picked him up, making sure not to put pressure on his stomach.

“Let’s go clean you up,” I walked over to his dresser and pulled out a change of clothes before turning to Xia. “You can go back to sleep now, baby.”

She nodded and snuggled back into the covers, hugging her teddy bear.  I smiled and took Min to the bathroom to change him.  I came back out a few minutes later, putting Min back to bed and taking the bowl to the kitchen to wash it.  In the kitchen I found my husband, pulling out almost every tea bag from a box of peppermint tea, and cramming them into a mug full of boiling water.

“Honey, what are you doing?”

“My stomach hurts…Jin told me peppermint it good for curing nausea.”

“Aw, Tae…I hope you didn’t catch the same thing Min did.” I paused before commenting, “And you do know you don’t have to use the whole box of tea bags, right?”

“Oh…I thought maybe it would make it stronger.”

I chuckled softly before taking the bowl over to the sink and rinsing it out, as it was mostly stomach acid at this point.  I placed it on the counter and walked over to Tae, who was clutching his stomach in pain.  I rubbed his back gently.

“Babe, do you feel like you might puke?” I asked, worry laced in my voice.

“A little…” His eyes widened and he smacked his hand over his mouth. “Never mind, make that a lot!” He mumbled through his hand before rushing off to the bathroom.

I sighed again.  This was going to be a long night…

“Eomma!” I heard my youngest, Yuri, screech from her bedroom.

I sighed.  What on earth was she doing up at midnight?  I headed back to her room, finding her attempting to climb out of her crib.  She grinned and held her hands out to me to be picked up.  I picked her up and placed her on my hip before heading to the kitchen.  Back in the kitchen, I pulled all the tea bags out of the mug Tae had put them in and threw them away.

“Eomma!”

And there was Jiseok.  I was surprised he was awake as well; it wasn’t often the whole house was awake at midnight.  I walked back to his room, which he shared with Yuri.

“What is it, sweetheart?” I asked, leaning against the door frame.

“My tummy hurts…”

“Oh no…” I took Yuri to her crib and picked up Jiseok, resulting in Yuri screaming.

“Eomma, Min threw up again!” Xia yelled down the hall.

I sighed.  I was half tempted to call Yeongjin, Namjoon’s wife, as I knew she was still up, but I figured she didn’t want to deal with a bunch of sick kids.

I headed back to Xia and Min’s room once again, taking Jiseok with me.  When I entered the room, I saw that Min had thrown up all over his bed sheets.  I knew I should’ve taken the bowl back to him.

“Do you need help?” I heard Tae ask from behind me.

I was startled by his voice, and turned around to face him.  He was holding the cup of tea he had crammed a box of tea bags into, and was taking cautious sips from it.  I shook my head in response to his question.

“Go rest, I can handle the kids.”

“But you look like you need help.”

I smiled softly. “Jagi, you need to rest.  You shouldn’t be helping me take care of the kids right now.  Trust me, I can handle them.”

He sighed. “All right…” He looked down at his mug and took another sip of it before heading back to our room.

I felt bad, because I knew he felt useless and he hated that feeling, but I wasn’t going to let him help me while he was sick as well.

I turned back to the kids, and took Jiseok to Xia, having her hold him while I dealt with Min.  It appeared I would have to give him a bath.  I pulled him out of bed and quickly stripped the sheets from it, throwing them in the laundry basket that I had put on the floor so I could collect all the clothing that had puke on it.  I silently thanked the Lord that I had done that, it would save me from having to collect everything later.  I took Min’s clothes off of him, leaving him in just his diaper.  I picked him up and turned to Xia.

“If Jiseok throws up, bring him to me, all right?”

She nodded, and I took Min to the bathroom to bathe him.  When I finally got him settled, Xia ran into the bathroom carrying Jiseok, and they were both covered in puke.  I sighed and took him from her, taking off his pajamas and diaper before putting him in the bath with Min.

“Xia, you should bathe too.”

——————–

I had finally gotten all the kids out of the bath and dressed, which had served to be more complicated than expected.  I had put new sheets on Min’s bed, and prepped everyone with metal bowls in case anyone puked again.  I was now sitting on the couch, holding a sleeping Yuri.  The house was peaceful once again, and I was hoping that peace wouldn’t be broken.  I was about to fall asleep, but a deep, raspy voice pulled me from my trance.

“Jagi, are you going to come to bed?”

I opened my eyes to see Tae standing in front of me, his dark eyes begging me to come cuddle him.  I smiled.

“All right, let me go put Yuri in her crib.  I’ll meet you in there in a minute.”

I got up off the couch and took Yuri to her room, placing her gently in her crib.  I gazed at her for a minute.  Despite the fact that I had four kids, it still amazed me that Tae and I had made this tiny creation together.  I smiled softly and left the room, closing the door gently behind me.  I headed for Tae’s and my room, finding him patiently waiting for me.  His face lit up when he saw me.

“I was lonely without you here to cuddle me,” he held out his arms to me.

I smiled. “Oh you were?” I jumped on the bed and crawled into his inviting arms, snuggling into him.  I leaned my head on his chest and wrapped my arms around him, feeling more tired than before. “Are you feeling better?”

He nodded and leaned his head on top of mine. “Jin was right, the tea helped a lot, even though it tasted terrible.”

“Ah my poor baby.  Well, at least you feel better.”

He nodded softly. “Let’s sleep, I’m really tired.” He shifted our bodies so we were both lying down, him under me.

“Are you sure you want me to lie on top of you?  I’m not upsetting your stomach?”

He shook his head. “No, Jagi.  I’m ok.”

“All right.  Goodnight.  I love you.”

“I love you too, goodnight.”

With that, we fell asleep in each other’s loving embrace.