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“Mom?” I hear a knock sound lightly on my door.

“Kookie?”

Janna swings my bedroom door wide open as she enters my room.  “No, Mom.  It’s me.  Janna.  You know that Jungkook lives on the other side of the world.”

“No.  Kookie’s my son.  Your twin brother.”  I’m waiting for her to confirm this.

She just shakes her head at me.  “Look, I know that you like to refer to him as your South Korean son, but really, Mom, he doesn’t live with us.  That’s all in your head.  He’s certainly not my twin!  He’s seven years older than me!  And he’s still on the other side of the world.  If that ever changes, you’ll be the first one I tell.”

I laugh weakly.  She’s pulling my leg. 

“But, Janna, we just spent months preparing for Christmas with him.  And he and Emmie kissed on Christmas Eve.  And…”

“Mom?  Are you feeling all right?”  Now she sounds concerned.  “I know that Emmie has a crush on Jungkook, but I’m pretty sure she’s never kissed a K-pop idol.  Surely, she would have told me about it if she had!”

I narrow my eyes at her.  “You kissed Lyric on Christmas Eve, right?” I ask, testing the situation I’ve fallen into.

“Technically, he kissed me, but yes.”

“Kookie kissed Emmie too.  But he didn’t share the song he wrote for her.”

“Oh, that’s rich, Mom!  You know Emmie would faint if Jungkook ever wrote a song just for her.  Even if he did, every other girl in the whole wide world would think he wrote it for them.”

I frown at her.  If this is a joke, she’s been carrying it on for quite a while. 

“Look.  Stop messing with me and go wake Kookie up.  We need to head to school soon.”

“Mom, what are you talking about?  We don’t go to school.  You homeschool us.  Remember?”

“Then how do you know Lyric?”

“Duh.  I met him at church.  Really, Mom, are you okay?”

I glance at my phone.  I unlock it.  A picture of Jungkook greets me.  Not my eldest son.  The K-pop idol. 

No!

I close my eyes.

“I don’t have to drive you to school?  In that case, I’m going to sleep in.”  I can’t bear to wake up to a world without Kookie.  Not quite yet.  This is going to require another hour of sleep.

I fade into unconsciousness…only to be awakened fifteen minutes later by a gentle knock on my bedroom door.

“Mom?” calls a soft, deep voice.  “We have to leave for school in fifteen minutes.  Are you ready to go?”

Kookie!

I fly out of bed as I call to him.  “Kookie?  Come in!”

He opens the door and steps into my bedroom.  “Mom?  Can I borrow the car tonight?  I want to take Emmie out for dinner.”

I sigh with relief.  Everything is as it should be.  Kookie is dating Emmie.  And Kookie is still…

…my eldest son.