Page 128 of From Angel to Rogue

Dropping the pink confetti to the side, I walked over to them, and Lily was the first one to pull me into a hug.

“Katy, so good to see you.”

She still pulled off her shoulder-length bob with violet tips and was clad in a tight black dress that showed off her strong swimmer’s body.

“You too.” I smiled, pulling back as I met her adorable daughters.

“Hana, Kaya, say hi to Auntie K,” Lily gestured to her daughters.

Kaguya gave me a firm nod of hello while little Hanabi gleefully greeted me with a hug.

My eyes turned to their last one, Keiko, who was busy pulling on her father’s hair. “Hey, little one,” I said sweetly to which she blinked and kept tugging her dad’s long blond hair out of his bun.

“Never a dull day with my Kei.” Mikey looked adoringly at his daughter who kept bullying him, before he turned to me. “Hey, K.” He pressed a kiss to my forehead.

“Hey, Mikey.”

We were interrupted by the next rowdy crowd. The Jameson family arrived with their army of kids, with Emmie carefully leading a very pregnant Evy to our backyard.

Emmie pulled me into a hug while his kids ran off in different directions. Some were already stealing from the dessert table.

“Please be careful,” Emmie yelled at them, looking like he had aged a hundred years managing his five kids and his pregnant wife.

I shook my head at him. “Don’t act like you don’t love being their overbearing father.”

His blue eyes softened. “I do.”

“Katy, thank you so much for doing this. I swear I have no juice to plan a party for my spoiled girl.” Evy was glowing in her pregnancy era wearing a mellow pink dress. She was still as beautiful and soft as she was back in the day.

“Anything for my girl.” I softly caressed her belly.

I wouldn’t say I miss being pregnant because I was happy with my little family.

I never got a period nor did I get pregnant after the birth of the twins.

In a way, those two were my miracle babies, and I was so grateful to God for giving me the chance to experience motherhood, both for the boy who needed a mother and for the boys whom I naturally became a mother to.

“Auntie K.” Jaelynn, Emmie and Evy’s third, was a blur of pink before she crashed into me.

I laughed. “Happy Birthday, my favorite girl.” I was a bit partial to her than the rest of the girls in our family because she was a spitfire like me. We were celebrating her birthday today, and I volunteered to host at our house.

I liked planning parties and being the cool aunt to all the children in my life.

At some point in my life, I realized that, in a way, I did like to plan and organize things. And when I confessed to Lan about it, he said it’s okay for me to like them and accept that not all days I spent as a band manager were bad.

So I thought more and more about it and came to the conclusion that while I did like the specifications of the job to an extent, I didn’t like the reason I did it or what it represented in my life.

I didn’t go back to my job, though. I still stayed looped with band duties, but that was about the extent of it.

“Thank you.” She smiled sweetly.

“Do you like it?” I asked.

Her eyes took in the backyard in awe, which looked like pink had thrown up everywhere. Pink balloons. Pink activity area. Pink banner. Pink decor. Pink cake. Even the presents were wrapped in pink.

“Yes, Auntie K,” Jae replied. “I love it! Where’s Aaron?”

“Inside the house somewhere.”

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