“Well, unnie, what do you think?” Victoria waited for Miranda’s reply. She just told her cousin what she found out from Nichkhun about Nicholas’ parents, she was suggesting that they help out in looking for a way to save Nicky’s mom. Her Aunt, Miranda’s mother is a cardio - thoracic surgeon back in the States; Victoria was suggesting they reach out to her for possible treatments for Rachel.

Miranda looked up and gazed at Nicholas who was in Krystal’s arms at the moment, the pair was in the middle of reading a story, Krystal was pointing out to the baby the pictures in the book as she reads the story with different voices, Nicholas was wide eyed and was sitting still in her lap, totally engrossed.

“I will ask Mama to reach out to her colleagues, it may be a long shot, and they will need the patient’s case file that is of course if her doctors will agree to it. You need to bring that up first with the patient or Nicky’s dad at the least.” Miranda sat back on her chair and sighed, “Poor darling, I really do hope his mother pulls through.” She turns to her cousin next to her, “I wonder how long she has been sick.” She looks back to Nicholas, the baby was now reaching for the pictures in the book, and Krystal was patiently identifying all the things he was patting his tiny hands with.

Miranda shook her head, “Nicholas couldn’t be more than six to seven months old.”

“Yes, he is almost seven months old. She wrote his birthday on his journal.” Victoria confirms.

Miranda winced, “Then she may have been already sick while she was pregnant with him. Goodness, she must have chosen to continue the pregnancy that is why the cancer had progressed to this stage.”

Victoria nods, “That may have been the case, Nicholas is healthy enough, she probably braved through any discomfort for him.” She felt so awful that she had thought badly of the woman. Victoria hopes that Nicholas’ mom survives, she has to for the sake of her son, she had endured a lot just to carry him to term and then raise him until now. She felt sorry for both mother and child. She shivered at the thought of not having a mother, earlier she had vowed to help in any way possible, Nicholas had endeared himself to her in an intense way that she now can’t step away from this situation.

Miranda was watching Victoria stare at the baby with so much tenderness in her eyes. She closed her eyes and sighed, this is not what she wanted; she wanted Victoria away from these people. But it’s too late now, her cousin is already too attached to Nicholas, it will be hard to keep her away and not involved. She had warned her the night the latter came home and told her that she was staying over a stranger’s home to take care of the baby, she told her not to get involved and that there are professionals that they can hire to watch the baby, but Victoria is also stubborn – but only second to Krystal – so she was not able to stop her. Victoria has always been the soft hearted one, she was the child who would take home stray cats and dogs and care for them before she agrees to send them to shelters. But Miranda doesn’t want all this for her, she had always been the one to make sure that nobody takes advantage of her too kind cousin and this is one of the instances that she feels she needs to step in and encourage her to say no.

“Dearest, how long are we going to keep Nicholas with us?” she asks Victoria.

Victoria shrugs, “I don’t know, until his father is able to take him probably. I figured they will have to find a way to take him back. A few days perhaps, we will know as soon as they talked about it. Why?”

Miranda nods, “I just wanted to know, I am going to be away for about a month and you have this shop to manage too, I just think you are taking too much in. What I am saying is that you already have responsibilities; you are just supposed to be helping out temporarily. Don’t forget there are also people who depend on you.” She looks at Victoria, she shakes a finger at her, “I’m sorry but they need to figure out their troubles, you have already helped them enough. I want you to realize that it will be better for Nicholas to have a stable routine, not like this. He needs to be with someone who will always be consistently there for him, his father for example now that his mom is unwell, you are not his family.” She sighs, “This may all look good for now, but you have to think about this in the long run. He is going to feel like he is being passed around, and that is not good.”

Victoria was silent, she was listening and she knows that Miranda has a point, Nicholas needs stability and all he is doing right now is being like a nomad, he is being transferred from one place to the next and from one person to another, like a foster baby. Victoria was horrified that she may be making it worse for him.

“Oh unnie! I never thought of that! I just thought I was doing the right thing by staying with him.” She sadly looks at the baby. “I just didn’t want him to be in distress like that other night, it was too painful to see him like that.”

“I know, dearest, you were just concerned for him and I don’t blame you. He is very sweet and as you can see, even Krystal is very much enamored with him, but he needs his parents now more than ever, they need to figure this out, for the baby’s sake, they can’t pass on the responsibility of caring for him to a complete stranger, what will happen now when Nicky’s father comes and takes him away, will you go with him too?” Miranda says to her, her brows arched.

Victoria was regretting all her decisions now; she has just made everything worse for Nicholas when she thought she was doing the right thing.

“Oh unnie, what will I do?!” she was horrified.

Miranda sighs and pats her hand, “Don’t worry, I will talk to his grandmother later. They need to figure out something for him. We can help them with Nicholas’ mother too; I will call Mama and see what we can do for them. I think it will be best if you invite his father too.”

Victoria nods.

Miranda looks up and fixed her gaze on the baby. “Everything will be fine, you’ll see.”

Nichkhun was just about to sign the last document on his desk when his office door opens and his mother walks in and greets him. He finished his task and stands up and walks around his desk to kiss her cheek.

“Are you almost finished?” she asks after she received his kiss.

“I’m done.” He nods and passed the documents to his assistant, he nodded and gave instructions to Ga In before he turns and offers his arm for his mother.

“Ready to go?” he asks her.

Vera nods, “Yes, your brother will be waiting for us at the hospital lobby, it was really nice of Victoria’s cousin to invite him too.” She smiles widely.

Victoria had phoned Nichkhun earlier to tell him that Nicholas’ things had been delivered at her house and that Miranda was also inviting his brother for dinner.

“Yes, Victoria mentioned that her cousin wanted to talk about possible treatments for Rachel, her Aunt is a surgeon so they would like to help out.” He nods and pressed for the elevator car.

Vera smiles, “It’s really very kind of them, I am so worried especially since I have to fly back to Thailand in two days, there is not enough time for me here. Your dad told me I should stay but I also left some responsibilities there, I will try to finish my commitments as soon as possible and then I will fly back. I will at least be able to visit Rachel in the hospital before I go. I would like to make sure she has everything before I leave; your brother is already under so much stress.” She takes a deep breath and leans on her son’s arm.

Nichkhun pats her hand, “Relax, Mom. We’ll get through this.” he assured her.

When they stepped out of the building their car was already waiting for them, Nichkhun assisted his mom to the car and sat next to her at the back, the drive to the hospital was quiet and quick. His brother was already at the hospital lobby when they arrived and he walks out to the car and sat on the front passenger seat.

Nichkhun pitied his brother, the man looked tired and in dire need of sleep. When he arrived with Rachel earlier, Nichkhun was waiting with his mom at the hospital. They checked her in and talked to the doctors regarding her situation, the prognosis was not very good, although the cancer hadn’t spread to her other organs, and the doctors are predicting that it may happen any time soon so they are fighting against the clock. The doctors were handed her case file and told them that they will come up with possible treatments for her as soon as possible.

Rachel was really weak and was directly sent to her room. She had been asleep throughout the flight; Nichan told them that she was weakened from her previous treatments.

“How is she now?” Vera asked her eldest son as the car speeds towards Victoria’s home.

Nichan had his eyes closed as he leans back on the seat. “She is still weak, they had her go through tests and scans