"kim!"

kim turns at the call and sees katrien dashing towards her. the kid's parents, along with jane, are entering the waterski entrance.

"wow. someone looks excited to see you, huh?" says suzy. "you know, if she wasn't a kid i'd feel jealous."

"she's just a kid. and don't deny you find her too cute too," says kim. she bends down to receive katrien jumping into her arms. "hey, sweetie. you're here to ski too?"

katrien nods. "daddy promised..."

"hello, baby. looks like you're already prepared, huh?" says suzy, noticing the purple rash guard the kid is wearing.

"hello..." katrien gives suzy a kind smile before her curious eyes catches kim's already damp hair. "you've already skied?"

"yeah. with some friends." kim nods at the direction of zee and some of their previous sau comrades.

"whaddup, kim?" says jane who comes after katrien. "hello, miss suzy. i'm jane, kim's friend."

"no need for formality..." suzy offers a hand. "it's a pleasure to meet you. i've heard a lot of things about you from kim."

jane raises an eyebrow, shaking suzy's hand back. "didn't know kim talks about me."

"course i do. i'm proud of my doctor friend," says kim. "will you be joining us?"

"hmm. well..." jane's eyes scans the area until she spots eunji talking to zee and yam. "yeah... i'm here to try waterskiing..."

kim sends her friend a knowing smirk. "that's good. you can join eunji and the others now."

"oh. i surely will. catch you later..."

"... the water seems deep..." kim hears pie's voice as the woman approaches them along with her husband.

"it's fine. they have life vests," says peter.

pie clasps her hands on her chest, coming closer to tidy her daughter's hair. "is it safe here?"

kim isn't sure if pie intends the question for her. but since she's carrying the kid in her arms, she answers, "yeah. a lot of kids are even doing it on their own." she gestures towards the water.

pie's eyes wanders to observe the kids up on the waterskis and her anxiousness increases. she turns to her husband. "i can't allow katie there. it's too deep, and it looks dangerous."

"hey, relax." he puts his hands on her shoulder. "let's watch first so you can calm down, okay?"

"captain! it's your turn again!" shouts eunji. "come join jane here!"

"coming!" kim shouts back. she puts the kid down. "you stay with your mom for now and be a good girl, okay? don't come near the water unless your mom allows you. you hear me?"

"okay." the kid nods and smiles.

kim looks up at pie who's still pouting. she secretly smiles knowing that's how the woman looks when she's worried.

"i'll go for another round. catch you later," she tells suzy.

"go ahead. enjoy!"

the next thing happening is jane's screams echoing through the island and far off in the distance.

---

kim is drying her face with a towel when she hears footsteps approaching.

"hey..."

she looks up and sees pie. "oh. hey..."

"um..." pie fiddles with her fingers nervously.

kim knows there's no way pie would approach her first in this situation so she shifts her eyes to where pie's family is and sees katrien crying, throwing tantrums while her dad tries to calm her down.

"what happened?" she asks.

"they... um... they went for it but peter had cramps... the instructors brought them back..."

"oh. and katrien still wants to go back into the water?"

pie nods with a pout. "she's persistent, and she's using the promise card against her dad."

kim pulls the towel from her hair and stands up. "i can go with her..."

pie's face lightens up. "only if... if that's okay with you...?"

"yeah. sure."

"y-you sure? if we're interrupting something, just let me know. i mean, i know you went here with someone. we'll just head back to the room if ever."

"ahh. no. suzy's having a mini-meeting with the management of this resort to discuss a project."

"oh. that's nice." pie scans kim until her eyes zooms on something on the taller woman's head. "you got something here," she says, reaching out to pluck two leaves from kim's hair and dropping it after.

"oh. thanks."

"i'm sorry for bothering you. it's just that i don't want to entrust katie to other people."

kim feels something warm inside her chest. "don't worry. i got her."

"thank you." pie finally smiles. "we initially planned to go back, but she's being stubborn. it's hard to handle her when she's like that."

kim hums. "sounds like someone i know."

pie smirks, the smirk kim always finds seductive. "aren't you tired yet? you've gone around for like ten times now..."

"it's fine. really." kim shrugs. "it's katie. you know how she's got me wrapped in her palm."

pie rolls her eyes. "that's the reason my daughter likes you now more than she likes me. she sees you as her playmate. while me, i'm someone who always tells her 'no'."

kim raises her palms up. "not my fault. not my problem."

there was a slight smack on her arm after.

---

"mommy! daddy!"

the kid run towards her parents after kim puts her down.

pie immediately wraps the kid in a towel. "how was it?"

katrien jumps. "fun!"

"thanks for going with her," says peter. "i dunno if it's because of my lack of exercise or if i'm really getting old. but yeah, cramps got me. i hope we didn't bother you that much."

"you're not old." kim taps his arm. "you just need to stretch out a bit."

he chuckles. "guess you're right."

kim couldn't believe how she can talk to peter like they have been long-time friends now.

"kim is really cool, mom!" says katrien.

"oh, is she?" pie smiles as she dries her daughter's hair with the towel.

katrien hums. "she taught me how to ski properly."

"that's good."

"and she's dashing on the water like an action star in the movies!"

"mmm-mmm."

the kid turns to her dad. "daddy, why do many people want to sleep with kim?"

katrien's parents blink, and kim massages her temples in embarrassment.

"hmm? what do you mean, baby?" peter asks.

"while we were skiing, some women were shouting, saying, 'hey, kim, sleep with me tonight...'" says the kid, putting her fingers around her mouth to mimic the women from earlier.

"oh... that kind of sleeping, huh..." peter looks at kim, sniggering.

kim's face turns beet red.

"and what did kim say to them?" pie asks, raising an eyebrow.

"she laughed and continued teaching me how to ski," says katrien innocently. she tugs her mom's sleeve. "mommy, can i sleep with kim too?"

this time kim already wants to disappear from the surface of the earth.

"no, you can't, baby. you're too young for that," says peter with a cackle. "besides, kim's sleeping with her roommate tonight. you can't just barge in there like that."

"peter!"

peter laughs. "she doesn't understand it, babe. don't worry."

"what is it mommy?" katrien asks.

pie stands up, glaring at her husband. "nothing, baby. as what your dad said, kim's already got a roommate. you can't stay there."

"but i still want to play with kim..."

pie rolls her eyes at kim. "look at what you've done to my daughter."

"hey. i got nothing to do with that. i'm just being cool. right, katrien?" kim fist-bumps the kid. "anyway, i need to go back and change."

"you're leaving already?" katrien pouts.

peter crouches on the floor to level his daughter's eyes. "kim needs to rest, baby. you can play some other time, okay? and we need to go back now too to rest and ready ourselves for the jungle adventure tomorrow. we'll be seeing some baboons along the way."

"yes! and i want to eat banana roti!" katrien claps.

"yes. we'll buy you that banana roti you've been craving, okay?"

katrien turns to kim. "will you join us tomorrow?"

kim bites the inside of her cheek, thinking. "we'll see about that, kiddo. but i'll be around. i'm sure we'll bump into each other."

katrien turns to her daddy. "can we invite kim for dinner instead?"

"sure we can," says peter, and pie looks at him. "it would be a pleasure and honour if you would join us for dinner tonight. feel free to bring suzy if you feel like."

a small crease forms on kim's forehead. she's not sure why, of all the people, peter would invite her for dinner.

isn't he and pie having problems lately, which according to jane may be kim-related?

does that mean it's fixed now?

but why does pie looks uncomfortable?

"c'mon. consider that as our gratitude for skiing with katrien today," peter insists. "we'd love to have you around. i owe you a lot from two years ago. my family and i owe you a lot."

the expression on pie's face doesn't seem like she's agreeing with her husband's invitation. kim was about to decline but little katrien came over to hug her around her waist.

"dinner with me, please?" katrien looks up at kim with hopeful eyes.

and how can kim not melt into that? pie couldn't stop a smile from forming on her face either.

since it now feels right, kim agrees.

---

"kim, here..."

"ah..." kim lowers her head for katrien to scoop the food into her mouth. she chews and smiles at the kid, humming. "no need to keep feeding me, i have my food here. you need to eat too, katrien."

"it's okay. i want to feed you." the kid smiles brightly before taking a bite of her food.

"awe. she's really fond of you, isn't she?" says jane across the table.

"try sleeping over with us one night and you'll get tired of hearing her talk about kim," says pie's mom, shaking her head. "especially now that kim's endorsements are everywhere. she even brags about it in school."

"wow. if she ain't a kid i'd really think of her as a competition, kim," suzy jokes. "for some reasons, she's so attached to you."

pie clears her throat. her mom looks down at her food. peter stays silent.

"it's just a typical reaction," says jane. "these two shared a traumatic experience two years ago--which they survived together--causing a bond to form between them. it has a stronger effect on katrien because she was still little and helpless. it was only kim, zee, conan, and yam who comforted her. won't blame her if she looks up at them as heroes."

"aside from that, katrien has been admiring sau even before that accident," pie's mom adds. "so, after what happened, she can't get enough of them, particularly kim."

"wow. how did katrien get to know about sau at a very young age?" suzy asks.

"tv," says peter, looking at his wife. "her mom was a big sau follower. they watched together for updates."

pie has a stoic expression. she continues eating her food in silence.

"wow. that's cool," says suzy. "i mean, no offence to kim here, but i haven't been following sau or aef updates before."

"none taken," says kim. "i understand. we don't expect everyone to follow the updates. the government created that channel for the families and loved ones of the people involved in the operation, and for anyone who wants to get updates."

suzy nods. "ah. that makes sense. i never had a relative, or a loved one involved in aef, a reason i wasn't interested. were any of your family members part of aef before?"

there was a brief silence after that. pie's mom eyes her daughter.

"uh... well... pie and i were close friends with kim and conan way back college," says jane. "we all studied in aef university. i and pie were focused more on the medical side while conan and kim were on the military side."

"oh, really? you never mentioned that to me." suzy looks at kim. "i only know conan is a long-time friend. i didn't know you shared a lot with her and these gals way back before."

"yeah. we got a lot of history together," jane adds.

katrien turns to pie. "mommy, is it true that you and kim were roommates?"

"mmm? who told you that, baby?" pie asks, fixing her daughter's hair.

"grandma told me. she said when you were a student you used to share a room with kim."

"yes, we did. but that was a long time ago now, baby. and you'll get the chance to do that too once you enter college."

"ahh." katrien nods, taking it all in. "so, does that mean you slept with kim too?"

kim coughs and pie blushes profusely.

"what did she say?" pie's mom asks.

"i'm sorry, it's my fault." peter chuckles. "while they were skiing earlier, katrien heard some women asking kim to sleep with them and i didn't give her the proper explanation about it."

"look at what you're teaching your daughter." pie glares at her husband.

"c'mon. you know katrien won't understand stuff like that."

"daddy also said suzy and kim are roommates now so they are sleeping together too," katrien adds, much to kim's horror. jane and suzy both laugh.

"bright kid!" says suzy.

"kim seems to sleep around with a lot of women, huh?" jane adds.

"can i go home now?" kim says in a very little voice, covering her ears.

"baby, stop saying things like that, okay? it's not proper," says pie.

"why is it not proper?" katrien asks. "you and daddy always say sleeping a lot is healthy."

"yes, sleeping is healthy especially for growing kids like you," says pie, trying to divert the topic into the more wholesome side.

"if you slept with kim before and suzy sleeps with her now, i want to sleep with kim too, mommy."

this made jane and suzy laugh harder.

"okay, kiddo. let's stop talking about that sleeping thingy, shall we?" says kim, making the kid turn to her. "you better finish your food now so you can rest tonight and be ready for your adventure tomorrow, okay?"

katrien smiles. "okay!"

pie lets out a relieved sigh.

"that was fun," says jane. "it's awkward hearing it from your own kid, right?" she asks pie.

pie smiles. "yeah."

"it's even more awkward when your daughter made it sound like you actually slept with a former roommate," suzy butts in, chuckling.

the other four adults join in the laughter, pretending nothing like that happened before.