Taemin is rarely late to appointments but today is an exception. He had woken up to the sound of pots and pans in the kitchen. For a normal guy of 25 years old, it might have been normal but the fact is that he moved out of his parents' house years ago and he has no roommate. Last night was also peaceful at home in which he watched some variety shows. So it made him rather anxious and confused.

Regardless of the strange occurrence, he made his way to the kitchen to find his mother preparing breakfast. Her brows furrows as she stares into the fridge. Taemin can almost hear his mother's thoughts. Probably along the lines of not taking care of his health with all the instant noodle cups found in the ajar cupboard near the fridge and absolutely nothing edible in the fridge.

"Good morning. What a nice surprise, mother," he says making his presence known. His mother quickly turns around to examine her son. Her scrutinising eyes roam all over his body and her lips thin in disapproval.

"What have you done to my precious son? Taemin, you're so thin. What are you eating for the last few months? Grass? Why isn't there anything to eat in the fridge? You should have never moved out. Your father and I …"

"Mum, I'm fine. I've just been a bit more busy lately so I don't cook. I eat out. OK?" He interrupts her.

"Not OK. You never know what preservatives are in those foods. I'm just worried for you," she responds with concern while he makes his way towards her with a warm hug in mind. She pushes him away before he reaches her. "Go brush your teeth. I don't want that mouth anywhere near me,"

He chuckles as he pulls her into a hug regardless of the protests and plants a kiss her left cheek. He runs towards the bathroom before she has a chance to hit him.

"I'm going to the supermarket to get some groceries to make you breakfast. And don't you dare not eat it," she shouts in his general direction, causing his eyes to roll but he smiles in satisfaction. His mother's cooking is no culinary masterpiece but it does taste like home and that's what is most important.

So not only did his special guest cook him breakfast, but also declared that he must eat everything or else he wasn't leaving the apartment. The thing is, his mother always cooked enough to feed a family greater than five. So by the time he rushes out the doors of his apartment, he was stuffed full and also on the brink of being very late. He has a client meeting at a café that is 20 minutes away and there was no way he could make it during peak traffic.

By the time he arrived at the café, he was already 10 minutes late but luck was on his side and lo and behold, a parking space just outside the café. He parallel parks as quick as he can to find that perhaps luck wasn't with him after all as he hears the screech of metal on metal as he backs into the space. To make matters worse, he can see the owner of the damaged car staring in shock at the scratch mark on the car.

There was only a handful of things that Taemin was more scared of than his mother's wrath and one of them is walking with determination towards his car. He gulps hard as he sees that the woman walking towards him has a hand placed on the slight bulge of her belly. Why does this scare him? Because he once had a painful experience with a hormonal pregnant employee who has taught him to never underestimate an angry woman's aggression.

The woman knocks on the glass and lowers the window for him to hear her. The next words that comes out of might give strangers a different impression of what she meant when spoken out of context. In fact, Taemin almost made that mistake and was going to reply that he has never seen the woman before but thought better of it.

"Take responsibility for your actions," she says with determination but his eyes seem to travel to the hand holding her belly and can only think that his mother will kill him. She follows his gaze and soon realises her mistake and corrects herself. "I was talking about the car,"

His shocked face falls into relief as he stares back at the scratch on her car. "Ohh thank goodness it was the car and not the baby," he laughs awkwardly as he meets her annoyed eyes. "What I mean to say was that I will pay for all the damages," he scrambles to look for his wallet and pulls out his driver's license and business card, "Here are my details and call me if there are other issues. I'm terribly sorry about the accident but I'm currently running late," he explains while trying to leave the car but the woman was having none of that. She continues to block him from opening the car door. "Excuse me, ma'am but I really need to go. Could you please move aside?" he asks patiently but his patience is thinning.

"I really need a car right now. I will also be late to my appointment because of this. And how do I know all these details are real," she points to the business card and continues on, "I want to call the insurance company and sort this all out but this isn't even my car,"

"Ehhh. It's not your car? Then why are we having this conversation?" he interrupts.

"Let me finish. It's not car but my friend's car and now it's damaged. What if she kills me?" Taemin watches as the woman's face begins to contort into panic and he obviously can't allow that to happen but he glances at his watch in anxious energy. He is now officially 20 minutes late and by now, his client would probably have left but the situation right in front of him is approaching a critical stage. So against his better judgement, he places his hands in the woman's hands to bring her out of the spiral of panic and looks up and into her eyes.

"I will take care of everything. Damage costs, transportation and anything else related to this car. So right now, I need you to step away from the car so I can get out and we shall straighten out everything. OK?" the woman looks slightly dazed at his conviction but follows wordlessly with a weak nod. Holding on to her elbow to steady her, he speaks patiently to her, "So now that I'm out of the car, we can talk properly. You said you had an appointment. Where is that?"

"The hospital for a check-up," she answers meekly and looks up at him. His height was not apparent when he was stuck in the car but now that he's standing before her, she feels slightly intimidated by height and the authoritative aura he gives off.

"OK. Let me call for a cab so you won't be late and I shall leave you my wallet that contains enough cash for the transportation and anything you need to purchase. It will also contain my address and phone number so you can call me after your appointment so we can arrange a meeting time and place," he hands her his wallet and walks towards the street to call for an unoccupied taxi. The woman watches him in slight wonderment thinking that it was rather rare for anyone to give up their wallet as collateral in a situation such as this but maybe the situation calls for such actions.

The cab stops in front of the man and he gestures for her to enter. "Thank you for cooperating in such unideal situations, Ms. …"

"Son. Son Naeun," she fills in while she gets into the cab.

"Can I call you Naeun?" she nods as he continues, "I will make it up to you and we'll sort everything out later, after your appointment, " he turns to the taxi driver and asks him to take Naeun to the hospital while Naeun continues to look up at him in awe. "I'll see you later, Naeun,"

"See you later, …" it is at that moment that she realises that she does not know his name but the taxi was driving away already and she could only watch his back as he makes his way towards the café.

"What a loving husband, young miss. How long have you been married?" the taxi driver asks as he looks at her via the rear-view mirror.

"Ohh. He's not my husband. Just a stranger," she answers while her face heats up. Her mind follows the thought of him being her husband and blushes even darker. He can't possibly want her as a wife, she thinks to herself.

"My apologies but you look rather good together," the taxi driver apologises with honesty and says no more, leaving Naeun to her own thoughts of the polite but mysterious stranger.

Sorry about today's late update. Hope you've enjoyed this chapter and please leave a comment of constructive criticism or even a smiley face. I would greatly appreciate it.