Nichkhun opens his eyes and was momentarily confused, he was alone in bed. He frowns and buries his face in the pillow; “Argh! It was just a dream!” he groans. He slaps the bed and grimaced, he sighs and decides he might as well get up and prepare for his morning run. He rolled back on his back and stared at the ceiling, usually at this time he would be hearing her voice as she talks to Nicholas, greeting the baby a good morning and sharing a giggle or two.

“This won’t do, I have to get to the bottom of this.” he said to no one in particular. He knows he got charmed by her and that he recognizes the effect she has on him, the only problem is she doesn’t seem to care for him at all. He sits up, shakes his head and then stands up and heads for the bathroom to freshen up and change for his run.

After his last lap he finally decided to call her and greet them a good morning, his excuse is to check on Nicholas and he knows that she will buy it. As the elevator climbs up to his floor he waited for her to pick up, he counted four rings before the line clicked and he heard her voice.

“Hello.”

He smiles, “Good morning!”

“Good morning!” he heard the smile in her voice.

He chuckles, “I just wanted to check on Nicholas, is he up yet?”

“Yes, he is. He is currently having breakfast right now. You already finished your run?”

His smile got wider, “Yep, I’m heading back to my unit now. How was he, did he adjust well with the move?” he wants to keep her on the line longer and he knows talking about Nicholas will do the trick.

“He is fine, I think he doesn’t know the difference, he woke up with a smile earlier, and I’m taking that as a good sign.”

“That’s good to hear.”He opened his front door and walks into the kitchen, he stops when he found it empty and there was no coffee or breakfast waiting for him. He made a face.

“Victoria.”

“Hmm?”

“There is no coffee or breakfast here.” He sadly says to her. He smiles when he hears her laugh.

“You can make your own breakfast!” her giggles were making his day.

“Or, you can come over and have breakfast with us, your mom is on her way, if you hurry you can still make it.” She politely offered.

He didn’t need to be asked twice, “Okay, I’ll be there in thirty minutes.” He said excitedly, his smile permanently on his lips, he hurried to the bedroom.

“Alright, we’ll see you then. Drive carefully.”

“Yes, okay. See you.”

“Bye.”

“Bye” he hangs up and basically ran into the bathroom.

Victoria smiles and shakes her head, “Your uncle is anxious to see you, my love!” she tells Nicholas. The baby was strapped into this high chair, they were in the kitchen, and Victoria was feeding him rice porridge that Miranda made for him. She turns to her cousin who was busy preparing breakfast.

“Nichkhun will be joining us, unnie. He complained that he didn’t come home to coffee and breakfast after his run.” She turns back to Nicholas and feeds him another small portion of his breakfast.

Miranda looks up from her chopping board with her brow arched; she rolls her eyes and goes back to cutting up fruits. “Sure, that is not a problem.” She stops mid-slice, her eyes narrowing suspiciously.

Goodness, I hope not!

Miranda looks up and gazed at her cousin who was busy feeding the baby, Victoria was praising Nicholas every time the baby opens his tiny mouth to accept the food. She shakes her head,

No, they are just concerned about the baby.

She shrugged her shoulders, she trusts Victoria will be smart about everything. There is a reason why their family decided on living a simple lifestyle despite their financial standing and the prominence of their grandparents in the elite society, why they were all brought up in the States under the pretense that they belong to the middle class, suburban dwelling families. Their parents wanted them away from the elite circle, they were all raised like normal average kids, who stayed away from the public eye and lived normal lives. They don’t have to be mindful of what they do and what they chose to be because they are not part of that lifestyle. She had emphasized that to both her younger cousins when they moved here, the anonymity they enjoy is brought about by staying under the radar, not drawing attention, and fortunately both Victoria and Krystal had agreed with her.

She prays that nothing changes, that they are still going to walk away unscathed and preferably still anonymous after all this. Hopefully, that’s what she envisions.

“Dearest as soon as you are done feeding him, could you go and wake Krystal up for me please. I want her presentable during breakfast especially since we are having guests over.”

Victoria looks up and nods, “Yes, I will. We are almost finished here, isn’t that right, Nicky?” she beams at the baby and started to wipe his face with the washcloth she prepared.

Miranda gave Nicholas a smile, “You can leave him with me; I imagine Little Miss will give you a hard time getting her out of bed since it’s your first day back.”

Victoria laughed and nodded, Miranda washed her hands and walks around to where the baby was, she lowers herself and smiles at him, “Isn’t that right, your cuteness!” She encouraged Victoria to go and get Krystal; they both watched her walk out of the kitchen and head up the stairs. Nicholas gave her a big toothless smile, Miranda gushed and rubs her nose against his; he lets out a delighted giggle. “Oh my, I am going to miss you!” She picks him up and blew a raspberry on his neck, his laughter made her smile wider, “Yes I will!” she tickles him, she watched as he cooed and excitedly claps his hands, she leans towards him. “Would you like to see how we wake up Aunty Krystal?!” she grins, “Shall we go up and ?!” her voice up a pitch, excited. “Shall we?!” Nicholas gave her a big smile.

Miranda laughs, “Let’s go!” she walks out of the kitchen and takes the stairs, when they both neared Krystal’s room, she can hear Victoria cajoling the girl to wake up, and annoyed whining followed, Miranda smiles at the baby and signals him to be quiet by pressing a finger to her lips, she wasn’t sure he understood, Nicholas smiles up at her and cooed loudly, Miranda laughs and walks into the pink bedroom.

“Come on, sweetheart, it’s already eight. Aunty Vera will be here any minute and Nichkhun will be joining us too, Come on, wake up! Wake up! Unnie made delicious breakfast just for you!” Victoria was shaking Krystal who was now buried in her blankets.

Krystal didn’t respond, instead she buried herself further into the blankets.

Victoria turns towards the doorway when Miranda walks in with Nicholas, “Well?” Miranda asks.

“No luck.” Victoria shakes her head.

Miranda chuckles, she looks down at the baby, “Would you like to have a go at it, Nicky?” the baby just stared at her, “What, you wouldn’t even try?” Miranda playfully asks him, her smile getting wider, Nicholas suddenly grins. She wiggles her brows at him and he lets out a delighted giggle. She walks towards the bed and sits on the edge.

“Princess, wake up. Look who’s here to give you a kiss?” Miranda said in her sing song voice, she puts the baby down on the bed and Nicholas automatically sits up and crawls toward the mass underneath the blankets. Victoria laughs. When Nicholas lets out a loud excited sound the blankets moved and revealed a still sleepy Krystal, her eyes barely open, she smiles when she saw the baby giving her a smile and suddenly snatched him and took him und