“He really is cute!” Luna cutely compliments the baby.

The gang has taken the train and subway station to stay at Lay’s family resort for the week until everything is settled. As for school, well, they got Xiumin’s older brother to individually pretend to be the parent of the gang to excuse them from school in return for not ratting out that Xiumin’s older brother is dating a married woman.

“You told him to say it’s because we’re sick with ‘babyitis’?” Lay asks as he winces.

“Yeah, what’s up with that?” Luhan laughs. “If you are going to make things up, why not tell them the truth that we all have summer-itis?”

Hearing this, everyone but him cracks up.

He frowns. “What- why are you guys laughing? What’s so funny?”

“You’re stupid, that’s what’s funny!” Hana shouts in between laughs.

Everyone else laughs even louder.

Scowling, Luhan walks over to the baby when he sees it flinch at the loud laughs. “Shh, you’re going to make him cry!”

Everyone calms themselves down.

Xiumin takes off his shoes and rests on the bed. He looks up at Luhan. “So, now that we’re here, you can tell us, right?”

“Yeah, whose baby is it?” Luna asks as she goes to sit next to Lay. “It can’t be your guys’.”

Hana comes over to where Luhan is having trouble picking up the baby. “You can tell them. I’ll watch over him.”

“Ne, speaking of the baby, does he have a name?” Lay asks as he glance over.

Hana and Luhan shake their heads.

“Well, anyway…here’s what happens…” says Luhan.

*

“So, what was Plan B?” Luhan has just finished explaining what had happen so far up to the current moment. He directs his question at Hana who exits out of the bedroom after placing the baby to sleep. She sits next to Luhan after forcing him to make space for her.

“Yeah, how will it allow Luhan to go back home?” Xiumin asks.

“You can tell us.” Luna inserts. “We’re here for you two.”

Hana scratches her jaw, something she does whenever she is hesitant or uncomfortable.

Being the only one who knows this because he has seen it many times, Luhan helps her. With a gentle and assuring voice, he says, “Okay, okay. Fine. We’ll wait.” He looks at her. “I’ll wait.”

*

“Luna, your cell’s ringing!” Lay shouts.

It is seven-something in the evening, and the boys have ordered room service and rented a few films and games to entertain themselves. At the same time, they have to deal with Hana popping her head out every now and then to hush them from the bedoom to remind them that there is a baby sleeping in the room.

“She’s really using her mother’s instincts on us, huh?” Xiumin asks as he looks at the screen. He is playing a game with Luhan while Lay goes to see his girlfriend, who is in the bathroom fixing her hair, to give her the cell phone call she had missed.

“Can’t blame her.” Luhan says, without mercy to Xiumin in the game. “It must be her way of panicking.”

“Nah.” Xiumin says. “I think it’s because there is a baby in there…and she just knows what to do with it and we don’t.”

Luhan glances over at him, “…Yeah, it’s more that.”

The two boys laughs.

The bathroom door opens, and out comes a very pissed off Luna with Lay following her around to calm her down.

The two gamers receive the subtle hint from Lay that the caller is Luna’s father, so they crowd around Luna to remind her to not yell or shout if she is to speak because that is always how it is between father and daughter.

Xiumin gives up after Luna squeezes his ear, and Luhan backs away.

Luhan says to Lay, “It’s your girlfriend, so you calm her down.” He heads to the room where Hana and the baby are in. “I’m going to check up on her.”

He gently opens the door to the room and enters. He sees Hana lying on the bed on her side. She kept popping her head out to hush us ‘cause she just wanted some sleep. He thinks of an idea to scare her by shoving her off of the bed.

He stops walking when finally he sees the baby sleeping closely next to Hana. They’re sleeping together. Seeing this scene makes his stomach flutter in happiness. This is the best scene he has seen of all…and he knows why. It has his best friend Hana and an angelic baby cuddling together, fast asleep.

Before he knows it, his feet drags him to climb onto the bed to lie on the opposite side of the baby. When he is comfortable, he sees that the baby is holding onto Hana’s pinky. He continues to laugh to himself. What a mother she is to him.

When he looks at her, he sees the bruised cheek and becomes curious. He doesn’t want to push her for an answer because it would’ve been insensitive, but he really wants to know what had happened. Using his left hand to balance his head, his right hand reaches over to move the hair that is covering a part of her face.

At this, Hana wakes up in shock from seeing him on the same bed, so she falls over. He is about to get up to help her when his abrupt movement makes the baby flinch, and he becomes too scared to move.

Hana’s head pops from under the bed. She hisses at him. “What are you doing? You scared me!”

He raises a hand to apologize. “Sorry. It’s just—I don’t know!”

She gets up and taps her clothes free of dust. “Oi, why are you in here?”

He slowly gets off of the bed, “Ah, Luna’s talking with her dad on the phone.”

Hana becomes alert. “No, we can’t have her shouting and screaming.”

“That’s why I came here to check in on you.” Luhan says, in a sing-song voice. He stops and says to himself, “Oh, that’s what I was going to do.”

“No time for that! Luna first!”

They both jolt out the room and see Luna packing up. “What’s wrong?’ They simultaneously asks.

“My father proposed to the gold-digging wrench, and I’m going to stop him from marrying her!” Luna shouts.

Lay and Xiumin slap a finger at , but quickly shoves it away when she opens ready to bite any of it off.

“Sorry, I’ll be back tomorrow.”

“You’re going alone?” Hana asks. “Let Lay take you. He’s your boyfriend.”

“You guys don’t need him/me?” Luna and Lay ask at the same time.

Luhan laughs. “We only needed him to find us a place to stay.”

They laugh.

“Your safety comes first.”

“You know what.” Hana interrupts. “Xiumin, you should leave too.”

Everyone looks at her.

“I mean, it’s only Luhan and me that are in this. We shouldn’t have involved all of you.”

Luna pouts and walks over to give Hana a hug. “Pabo, you’re not involving us in anything! Even if you guys didn’t or won’t, I’d absolutely find a way to be involved.” She gives her a smile after pulling away.

“Told ya she’s scary,” Xiumin purposely says out loud.

Everyone laughs again.

“Thanks, guys.” Hana says as Luhan agreed. “But seriously, Xiumin…you should leave with them. I still think it’s best for you guys to be less involved in this. Friends gotta look out for one another.”

Xiumin sighs and drags his body to get his stuff. “Okay, if you’re that persistent.” He hugs Hana and then shakes Luhan’s hand before taking off with Luna and Lay. “I’ll see you guys first thing in the morning.”

“Well, duh,” says a scoffing Luna. “Where else are you going to go? We can’t go to school because we have ‘babyitis’.”

Lay corrects his girlfriend as he gives a look at Luhan. “No, it’s ‘summer-itis’, remember?”

The gang laughs again, uncontrollably.

Luhan blows out air to express his frustration at the inside joke he doesn’t understand. “Okay, seriously, what’s so funny?”

“Your—’

“Stupidity!” Luhan finishes Hana’s sentence before she could. It is something she always say when the time is right. “Tell me,” he cutely begs Hana.

Everyone waits for Hana’s answer. It is up to her whether or not she’ll tell him. After calming down and catching her breath, she says, “Luhan, ‘summer-itis’ isn’t a real sickness.”

Everyone but Luhan laughs again.

“But, but—” Luhan stutters. “All of you guys said that it is a sickness that commonly happens in the summer!”

Lay breaks free from his laughter. “Dude, it was a brain freeze, not summer-itis!”

“What, a brain freeze?!” Luhan feels like a fool…heck, he was a fool for almost two months. He knows who the real mastermind of this joke is and he is going to attack. “It is…YOU!” He immediately hugs Hana and starts tickling her as she pleads guilty. When she falls down on the floor gasping for air, he knows it is his win. He does his victory dance and then helps her up. Then, it is back to bidding their friends goodbye.

At the door, Luna says to Hana, “I’ll call you to tell you what happens.”

Hana nods, “Okay. Good luck.”

*

Awaken from his occasional dry throat, Luhan gets up from the sofa to get a drink of water. He notices that Hana isn’t in the room with him, sleeping on the bed with the baby. The lamp is on, so he figures that she is probably up somewhere. As he nears the slightly opens door to the living room, he hears Hana talking to someone. He looks carefully and sees that she is on the phone.

Who is she speaking with? A sudden realization hit him. Ah, Luna. Just when he is about to open the door, something shocking comes out of Hana’s mouth.

“I’m going to keep the baby…not Luhan.”

*

“Good morning!” Luna happily greets Hana at the door. She raises her hands to show that she has done some grocery shopping, much to Hana’s surprise.

“Thank you!” Hana hugs Luna and lets her in.

They head into the kitchen.

Luna pouts when she sees Xiumin playing game on the sofa. “Aw, you got here before me?”

Xiumin clicks his tongue. “Yep. I wants to continue my game from yesterday.”

Luna helps Hana wash the vegetables. “That’s why you’re here?”

Xiumin pauses his game and stutters. “N-n-no! Of-of course not!” He smiles to Hana. “I’m here for you, Luhan, and that cutie!”

The doorbell rings again, and Luna glares at Xiumin for lying. “Go get the door.”

Obeying, he does so, and it is Lay who comes in with more grocery bags. This time, he brought all sorts of desserts and junk food.

Luna goes to her boyfriend and rummages through the bags. “You know what I just realized?”

He raises a brow. “This is your family resort…why didn’t we just call for room service like yesterday?”

The group freeze in stupidity after that realization. They laugh it off.

“Oh, well. It’s better since you girls are cooking it yourselves. Besides, we’re having a barbeque, right?” Lay hugs his girlfriend.

Xiumin takes a cupcake from the bag. “Don’t you mean Hana doing the cooking?” He looks at Luna. “We all know someone here can’t cook.”

Angry, Luna grabs a celery stick that is nearby and starts chasing Xiumin around to smack him for teasing her.

Lay walks over to Hana and looks around. “Where’s…Luhan?”

Hana smiles, “He’s still knocked out.”

“What time did you guys go to sleep?”

“I went to bed before he did, so I don’t know what time he went to sleep.” She moves the vegetables to the side and turns around to open the fridge to put it away. “But anyone would’ve been exhausted after a situation like that.”

Lay yawns and stretches. “Yeah, I gotta admit. Suddenly becoming a father to a kid.” He looks at Hana. “I’m glad you are there for him.” He stands up straight. “Thanks.” He walks away to save Xiumin from the chase.

Hana gives a depressed look at her friends. I didn’t do it for him. I’m doing it for me. She decides to get rid of the thinking by cooking. Now, I’m the jerk.

*

“Yo!” Xiumin greets Luhan when Luhan bumps into him at the door of the bedroom. “About time you woke up. It’s nine!” Xiumin gives him a muffin that he was going to take for himself. “Here.” He grabs another one for him this time. “Everyone’s here.”

Luhan looks around. “Where’s Hana?’

With a big bite on his muffin, Xiumin points to the outside yard.

“Thanks.” He heads that way in search of Hana with Xiumin following. When he gets outside, the fresh smell of various grilled seafood and steak makes him hungry, but he has to put that away for he needs to talk to Hana, urgently. “Hey, how long are you guys staying here?”

Lay turns around after eating a sliced portion of steak given by Luna. “We’re staying over until everything’s solved.”

“Well, except for me…” Luna scowls. “I got a proposal to crash.” She looks back up. “Why?”

Luhan exhales, “You guys can’t stay over…at least, not tonight.”

Hana closes the lid of the grill and walks over to the group. “Why? What’s wrong?” She gasps. “Oh, the baby!”

Before she can take a step away, Luhan holds her by the elbow. “The baby is what’s wrong.”

“What do you mean?” Hana senses that Luhan isn’t in a good mood. “Are you okay?”

Luhan decides to cut to the chase because this is too important to beat around the bush. “I heard what you and Luna talked about last night.

*

“You’re planning to keep the baby?!” Xiumin and Lay exclais when Luhan explained every single thing from what he had heard last night between the conversations of the two girls.

Everybody has come into the living room to have a full-honest discussion.

Xiumin sits on top of the kitchen table and rummages through the bowl of fruits. “I get it that he’s one cute baby, and knowing you and your love for kids, but—”

“That’s not why I’m doing it.” Hana interrupts Xiumin. They deserve the truth, and I don’t want to hide it from them at all. “I’m doing it for me.”

“What do you mean you’re doing it for you?” Luhan asks. “That baby was dropped at my door, not yours.”

“Luhan…I hate kids now.” Hana finally breaks down as she spoke the horrific words.

Luna rushes over to give her a hug.

Luhan pulls back. “You..hate…kids?”

Luna pulls away and speaks for Hana because she knows it’ll be too painful for Hana to explain. “Guys…for a year now…she has been emotionally unstable.” She sees the boys’ shocks expression. “One side of her wants to continue watching over her siblings’ kids to return all the good deeds they had done to Hana, and she wants to have a bond with all her nieces and nephews, but another side of her feels used and emotionally tired because of all the house-hopping that she does. She rarely gets any time to herself because she’s always surrounds by kids that aren’t hers. Not only that…but the reason why she didn’t make it in the top ten this year is because of her babysitting obligations.”

The boys know about Hana’s not making in the top ten, knows about the house-hopping, but they definitely didn’t know that she is emotionally conflicted.

Feeling bad for never noticing, Luhan gives her a hug and patts her head. “You doofus. I told you are too stupid…” He then whispers, “…and kind.”

Breaking the sad atmosphere, Xiumin then asks, “So…why keep the baby?” He laughs when he realizes he sounds a bit insensitive when all eyes are on him. “I mean…what’s the baby for?”

Hana, still being hugged by Luhan, wipes her tears. “I want to see if I really do hate kids…”

“…and…by keeping the baby…?” Luhan asks.

“…I want to love kids again.” Hana honestly answers.

Luna pulls back. “I told her that she doesn’t need to worry about that now. In the future, she can start worrying about kids when she gets married.”

“But I don’t want to get married knowing that I hate kids.” Hana exclaims. “They’re sweet angels that are blessings…and yet…I hate them for no reason.”

Luhan moves Hana to look at him. “You’re not hating kids. You’re just hating yourself because you think you hate kids.” He wipes a tear away and gives her a smiling and calming look. “Yesterday, when I went into the room to get you, I saw you sleeping happily with him. What I wished you could’ve seen is the little brat holding onto your pinky.”

He links his pinky with hers, and she lets out a laugh.

“You’ve always loved kids, and you always will.”

A sudden doorbell rings and interrupts the scene.

The gang looks at one another. They are pretty sure that all five of them are here, and they didn’t have another person they are waiting for. They have also informed the workers to not bother them unless it is for an emergency.

Being the closest to the door, Lay opens it.

“May I come in?” The person asks. It is a male’s voice.

Luhan jumps up. He recognizes the voice.

Lay enters the room again. “Luhan, it’s your brother.”

*