"Omma! Is that you?" Nichkhun called out.

There she was. He could not see her clearly, but she was right beside him. So close to him. He held onto her hands tightly, never wanting to let her go. Ever.

"Omma, don't leave me, please. I love you, omma, and I miss you so much," Nichkhun told her.

She did not reply. Her face was still a blur. Why couldn't he see her face? Why?

He wanted to look at her, to hug her, to talk to her. He had so much to tell her. He missed her so much. Does she have to leave him yet again?

Why did she leave him the last time? Oh right, she drowned when he was little. It was so long ago he would not be able to even remember how she looked like, if he did not occasionally take a look at the photos he had of her.

He remembered the emotion he felt after her passing. The feeling of loneliness. As if his heart was pierced by a thousand needles. No... it was something far more scary than that. He was totally alone. His father had made him learn how to swim, perform CPR and other emergency knowledge, but he did not hug him. Not ever since his mother died anyway. Was it because he reminded him of her? His father never remarried, and he was almost never home, choosing to have business trips almost everyday, only returning back home a few times a year. Was it even considered a home? His father figure since young had been Hoon, his butler, and Nichkhun considered him as a family member.

He looked at the figure next to him again. How he wished that she was right next to him. How he wanted to kiss her on her forehead to signify their mother-son bond. How he wanted to be able to hold her hands tightly.

"Wait a minute," Nichkhun frowned, "if my omma has passed away, who is this next to me?"

She feels so real.

"Is she really omma?" Nichkhun wondered.

Come to think of it, how can her face be so blurry? Was he dreaming?

He pinched himself; there was no pain.

"If I wake up, would you still be with me?" Nichkhun asked the figure next to him.

The figure was not speaking, but somewhere from a distance, a voice could be heard.

"Omma will always be with you. Omma loves you... You'll always be loved, my son..."

Nichkhun woke up.

"Omma," Nichkhun whispered.

Slowly, he began to take notice of his surroundings. He felt something on his forehead, and when he was about to lift his hand up to take hold of the mysterious object, he discovered that he was holding onto something warm.

He looked to his side and saw a sleeping Taeyeon, who was smiling peacefully in her sleep. And they had been holding hands.

Nichkhun smiled at the sight in front of him.

Without thinking, he brought his face closer to her, and kissed her forehead.

Suddenly, he realized something. He looked out the window, and whispered, "thanks for showing me the way, I understand my feelings now, omma."

He smiled.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"That's my teddy!" Taeyeon woke up with a start. She looked around, confused at the strange surroundings. Slowly, she realized that she was in Nichkhun's room.

Nichkhun...

"Where's Nichkhun?!" Taeyeon stood up with a start. He had been sleeping on his bed, but he is nowhere to be seen now. She noticed that she had dropped the blanket that had covered her up previously. Did Nichkhun place it on her?

"That Nichkhun... not resting when he is unwell!" Taeyeon muttered, "stupid Kim Taeyeon! Falling asleep when you were supposed to take care of the patient!"

And she left the room to look for the said patient, not realizing that she could have used the intercom to find him, and save herself the trouble of looking into every single room and getting lost in the process.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"There... you... are..." Taeyeon was so exhausted she sat on the bar stool right outside the open kitchen at the third storey.

"Why, have you been looking for that long?" Nichkhun was amused, "you seem really out of breath."

Taeyeon cooled herself down before replying, "of course I did! You must know that your house is huge! You never left any notes saying where you were, or at least which floor you went to. I climbed the stairs so many times, not to mention getting lost... Why is your house so much like a maze?!"

"Calm down, girl," Nichkhun laughed.

"I will not calm down! You! You are a patient! You should rest while I cook dinner!" Taeyeon scolded him, when she saw that he was preparing a meal, "you made the food for picnic, I will make the food now! Shoo~ Go to rest at the sofa outside!"

Taeyeon quickly took over the control of the kitchen, and Nichkhun was chased out by her. Instead of listening to her, however, he sat on one of the bar stools and looked at her while she cooked.

Without knowing why, Nichkhun realized that he was tearing. He quickly wiped it away before Taeyeon saw him crying. Luckily, she did not seem to have noticed it.

About an hour later,

"There you go, a complete and nutritious meal for a sickly person!" Taeyeon exclaimed, after she had placed the plates on the dining table.

"Hey! I'm feeling better already! Don't call me a sickly person!" Nichkhun pouted.

"Haha. Go on, try the food..." Taeyeon pushed the food towards Nichkhun.

Nichkhun took one mouthful, but there was no change of expression. Then he took another. And another.

"Well?" Taeyeon asked, worried that it was too bland. She did not add any seasoning so that it will be a healthier dish. Instead, she had used fruit and vegetable juices to flavour her dishes.

"Well... take it easy after I tell you truthfully how the food actually tastes like," Nichkhun began. He looked at her hesitant nod before telling her, "it's... hmmm... quite... no... SO DELICIOUS!"

"KYAAA! Really?" Taeyeon was so happy, she stood up and danced around like a little kid. However, she suddenly realized that Nichkhun had just tricked her, and caused her to be so nervous.

"Yah!" Taeyeon smacked Nichkhun's arms, causing him to flinch in pain. She then remembered that he was the patient, and quickly rubbed the sore spot where she hit him, "OH MY GOSH! I'm so sorry! I am really, very, super sorry!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Yeah, so, she was trying really hard to swim, and she just couldn't! She almost drowned! At least... before I pulled her to stand up on her two feet, and the water was not even up till her knee... Yeah... she was trying to swim in the baby pool... and she almost drowned. And she was what, 10?" Taecyeon laughed while telling Wooyoung about Taeyeon's childhood.

It was Taecyeon's dinner break when Wooyoung found him, and he agreed to have a meal with Wooyoung when the latter invited him.

"Haha! Really? And I heard that neither you nor your dad managed to teach her how to swim?" Wooyoung asked.

Taecyeon calmed himself down before answering, "yeah... and we taught her for a few months! So she just used a float every single time we went to swim. Gradually, after she entered her teenage years and people started to stare at her with the float, she just sat around looking at us swim."

"Oh hey, there you are!" a voice called out.

The two turned around and saw a tall and slim lady walking towards them.

"Hey Yoona, you were looking for me?" Taecyeon asked her when she got nearer.

Yoona looked at him, "nope, I'm looking for your meal buddy." She turned to Wooyoung, "I heard from the staff that the owner's son is here, and I came to find you. And how'd you two know each other?"

"We kind of went to a trip together," Wooyoung explained.

Taecyeon was confused, "owner's son? Jang Corporation...? Wooy... wait... you're the Mr Jang Wooyoung?"

"The one and only! Who else would have such a funny name?" Yoona laughed, earning a glare from Wooyoung, "haha... sorry Woo!"

"I apologize for not recognizing you sooner, Mr Jang," Taecyeon quickly stood up and made a 90-degrees bow to Wooyoung.

"No no, please sit down. Don't be so formal to me! We're all acquainted in one way or another so just treat me as a younger brother of yours!" Wooyoung told him. Then he turned to Yoona, and scolded her in a joking manner, "it's all your fault! For revealing my identity!"

Yoona laughed, "I'm so sorry then, Mr Jang! Taecyeon, don't worry. Just be informal with him. You're his hyung!"

"errr..." Taecyeon was hesitant.

"Really, I just want to be friends with you," Wooyoung tried to reassure him.

"Okay," Taecyeon finally sat down, but he was still a little tense, "well, so... errrm... if I may ask, how'd you two know each other?"

Yoona spoke up before Wooyoung, "well... because our parents are business partners, they had to meet up often and so we did too. It was initially boring because during parties, we're usually the only kids around. Slowly, we warmed up to each other and started playing. So in a way, we're kind of childhood friends. But of course, I'm much older, and I grew out of it. But Wooyoung here is a kid... I bet even up until now."

"Hey! I'm not! You're the one who always try to tie my hair! I'm not even a girl!" Wooyoung complained.

"Yah! We girls like playing dress up! I can't help that you're usually the only boy around us girls!" Yoona retorted.

Taecyeon looked at them bickering and smiled. Wooyoung might be a nice person to hang out with afterall.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Go back and rest, don't be out here for so long!" Taeyeon tried to push Nichkhun back into the house, to no avail. Even though he was ill, his strength was still greater than hers.

"I will when I see you safely in the car," Nichkhun smiled.

Taeyeon pouted, then quickly entered the car in front of her, "fine. Thanks for asking your chauffeur to send me back by the way."

"Of course I must, it's already quite late... and you were lost just now. What if you only reach your house three days later?" Nichkhun joked.

"YAH! Even if I'm lost, I will definitely reach by tomorrow morning!" Taeyeon exclaimed.

"Okay okay, I know I know... Calm down, I'll close the door for you, so don't put your hands out or the door will slam it silly," Nichkhun told her.

They waved goodbye, and Taeyeon was on her way home.

She turned around and look at Nichkhun's back as he walked into his house.

Taeyeon wondered, "why was Nichkhun tearing while I was cooking just now?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Author's notes: I am so touched. Why? My dearest readers keep giving me so much encouragements and making me want to update this fast... And so, here it is! :) And now, my wish is to hope the authors who are on super-long hiatus of MY favorite fanfics (and by super long I meant more than 4-6 months... or maybe it just feels that long to me, I'm not too sure either...) will update soon! Okay, so in a way, I feel guilty whenever I have writer's blocks... I want to type and update fast, but my mind is just... sigh~ Haha. Hope you understand and enjoy this new chapter!

I finished this two days after I updated the previous chapter, but I just had to proof-read it a few times, so I dragged the update until today.

And OH MY GOSH! 78 SUBSCRIBERS?! I pressed the foreword button thinking that maybe I'll just have an additional subscriber, and make the number 76. BUT I WAS SO HAPPY WHEN IT WAS 78 INSTEAD! XD I'll try my hardest to update it soon. 2nd February is the one year anniversary of my fanfic! Okay, meaning I took a long time to finish this story... That's bad...

P.S. About the teddy part that Taengoo shouted when she woke up... Ahem... it just kinda fits her cute look. XD

And the nomination for the third party is still ongoing, so you can still vote! I'll only say the voting stops when I am starting on the outline of that chapter. :)