Can You Hear Me?

For a brief moment, Luhan abandoned the throbbing pain in his chest and aimed his gaze at the intimate scene in front of him. A family. Sehun's family now. That for him, was a perfect scene, making him speechless.

He just wanted his care - Sehun's care - but this kind of fantasy for him was merely unrealistic to become real.

Sighting Sehun comforting the little boy and Airin, Luhan held his breath as he shattered quietly from within. For Luhan, they looked like a real a family. Like Sehun was the husband, Airin was the wife, and Zhiyu was their only child. He used to dream of that kind of life, but someone else had seized the life he dreamed of having before he could even take the first step. Despite the difficulty, Luhan stared and stayed there for a few more seconds of torture even though he already knew it would damage him badly. He was angry, sad, and jealous. Then ultimately, all those feelings mixed together in his soul managed to kick him out of the intimate scene before Zhiyu could bend over to console him.

Stepping outside, his tears began to fall. He wished to be heard, to be held, to be comforted, to be noticed, and to be followed for the first time. And Sehun just ignored him easily. So like an idiot, Luhan just cried and then laughed it off. Unspoken words remained unresolved.

His mother's number called him through the phone afterwards. He was informed that she was in the hospital, so Luhan hopped on his skateboard and rushed to the said hospital. With his heart feeling heavier and his mind literally foggy now, Luhan effectively coped to fight the instability of his broken heart as he listened to his own silent prayer of faith and hope, hoping his mother's condition was not as bad as it sounded.

"Mom?" Luhan called, panting as he entered the room his mother was admitted in.

Lying there on the white sheeted bed was his mother, whose lips were pale and both arms covered with a bandage. Luhan could barely speak when he witnessed his mother's state. He just ran to her side and held her hand eagerly as he waited for her to meet his longing gaze.

"Mom... I'm here. Mom, I-" Luhan stopped when she moved her tired gaze up to him.

"Thank you for coming, Luhannie," his mother mumbled with a sweet smile that resembled genuineness. "I thought you hate me, but after everything I've done, you still came for your stupid mother," she cried quietly, making Luhan somewhat inspired with awe as he carefully wiped the tears off of her face and shook his head sideways.

"You're not stupid, mom. You're my mother and I'm your son. You know I'll always be here for you no matter what..." He assured her, kissing the back of her palm tenderly as a tear slid down from his eyes to his mother's hand.

It's been a while since Luhan smiled. His mother thought, finally returning the love that Luhan deserved.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Airin was scared. She could not even sit still without fidgeting with her fingers or biting her nails anxiously. Ever since she met and recognized Luhan at the bar, she could not calm her nerves down so she kept questioning herself the 'what if's' that she feared. Because no one else noticed it but she did. She had always been watching Sehun. Near or far, she admired him and treated him like her king and the man that she'd like to spend the rest of her life with. Thus it was impossible not to see in Sehun's eyes; the tint of sadness, worry, and longing when he glanced at Luhan after getting shoved away by Airin.

Later that night, Airin went to visit her mother at her stepfather's mansion. She didn't even eat dinner nor cook dinner at home. She just needed her mom at that moment, she just needed to let it all out so she could calm down. Once her mother stepped inside the living room with a surprised expression, Airin suddenly advanced towards the elder and wrapped her needy arms around her mother's petite body before sobbing on her shoulders.

After she calmed down a little, Mrs. Lee motioned her daughter to sit down as she rubbed her back lovingly. "What is it, sweetie? Did you and Sehun fight again?"

"Mommy," Airin tried to say it but the words won't come out easily. "It-It's..." She faltered as she closed her eyes, finding the strength and confidence to say it out loud.

"Airin? Tell me what's wrong. You're scaring me, sweetie. Please," Mrs. Lee begged.

"I- I saw him mommy," Airin eventually blurted it out, earning a small gasp from her mother. "T-that p-person. Sehun's ex, mommy. That man, h-he came. He was in the bar earlier. He met everyone, and Sehun, including Zhiyu. Mommy, I'm scared. What do I do?"

Drawing her breath in fright, Mrs. Lee asked, "They don't know, right?"

Airin impatiently swayed her head as she asserted with a trembling voice, "No. No, he doesn't know." Maintaining the unstableness of her voice, she continued with her desperate pleas. Then just like a child, she clung to her mom and uttered, "I don't want Sehun to know. Mommy, help me. He's gonna leave me if he finds out. I don't wanna lose him, mommy. I can't live without him. I love him. I love Sehun, mommy."

"Sweetie, he's not gonna leave you, okay? It's alright, everything is as planned. You don't have to worry about Sehun leaving because Mommy is not gonna let that happen-"

"What if he finds out?" Airin couldn't stop worrying about it either way. "If-if he finds out that Zhiyu is not mine. If that Luhan comes to take them away from me. What am I gonna do? What will happen to me, mommy? What if Sehun still loves him? What if he's just with me because of Zhiyu? What if he changes his mind and not marry me? I've been waiting for so long. I won't be able to take it anymore if I lose him one more time. I wanna go back to Busan, but I know Sehun will reject again. I just wanna make sure that he stays with me because if he won't... Mommy, I- I can't. I just can't." Her voice broke as her breath hitched in , then almost instantly, tears unfailingly dampened her face.

Mrs. Lee once again encircled her arms around her daughter's shivering fit physique, unable to find the right comforting words that would soothe her daughter's disturbed heart and mind. Instead she just said with little hesitation as she tightened her hold, "You are safe, rin. Neither of them will know. Just keep Sehun's son away from his mother, and tell Sehun to avoid Luhan. I'll handle the rest. Then everything's gonna be alright. Always remember, mommy always saves her baby..." And that's when the older woman allowed her own tears to fall.

Ever since her daughter Airin was born, making her baby girl feel happy and loved had always been her most principal goal. Making sure that she would get the best out of life was always leading before anything else.

Then five years ago, Airin's own child couldn't survive against all odds and Mrs. Lee was there to witness how her daughter's world practically crumbled with grief, fear and anxiety when she held a dead child- and therefore, Mrs. Lee decided to do what she thought was selfish yet fair.

It all happened before Sehun's return. It was when Mrs. Lee heard of Sehun's previous lover being in the same hospital not long after the tormenting news. She found out that the male - Sehun's ex-boyfriend - was miraculously in labor.

Dying to know why or how it was possible, Mrs. Lee asked her husband - who was also a doctor in the hospital - to obtain informations about the male patient in labor. As she skimmed through the data her husband secretly showed her, she discovered that Luhan was the pregnant male's name and that she used to be friends with the latter's parents. What happened next was Airin begging her to make sure Sehun doesn't see that person and to keep Sehun from knowing that 'Xi Luhan' was bearing a child whom they were so determined to be Sehun's. Mrs. Lee could still recall that day. When she transferred her daughter's pain to another person, and watched as the genuine smile re her daughter's lips with gratitude and satisfaction.

"You're a good person," she remembered saying to her friend who was standing at the door after helping and presenting to her a sleeping child who was Luhan's newborn baby. Mrs. Lee carried the child in her arms with a sad smile plastered on her face, then she glanced at the person before her. "My husband will take care of the rest. Just take the money, and do whatever you want with it. We'll pay the hospital bills for your son and the funeral f-for..."

"You don't have to say it," the person who - as a matter of fact used to be her lover - said sympathetically, placing a hand over her shoulder. "Please take care of him. The baby, I mean."

"Of course. My daughter would love to do that..." She smiled. "Thank you," she barely whispered without meeting the latter's intent gaze and walked away slowly - doubting her sinful act for a second.

Sehun, who had been running around the floor searching for Airin's room finally found Mrs. Lee carrying a baby - in which he assumed was his and Airin's child. Since no one told him about what happened nor heard of it from selected staffs paid for their silence the news that literally broke his girlfriend down - he, without worries, eagerly hurried towards Mrs. Lee to see his baby. Sehun's smile was so real as he looked at his baby sleeping peacefully. He was dazzled by his own tears of joy and the sight of his baby boy that left him speechless. A few seconds later, he held the baby in his arms. "He's so cute," Sehun had said before sighting the man who was positioned at a slightly ajar door across them stealing glances at them.

Sehun paused there. Because he recognized that man, he pondered what he was doing there. Why was that person in the hospital? Why was he looking at them? Did he recognize his face as well? Who was in that room that made the man seemed so worried? Could it be Luhan inside? Or someone else? Sehun thought. He wanted to see. He wanted to make sure. But before he could gather the courage to do so, Mrs. Lee had already dragge