"Mom, why is he talking?" Seungri cried, flinging his arms around his mother. "W-why is he calling me m-momma?"

Seungri's mother stood rooted to the spot. She had no even the slightest idea about what's going on here. She wanted to laugh, seeing her spoiled son was being called as momma by the baby. Mrs Lee was sure Seungri was a man the last time she checked. Did Seungri change his uality behind her back? Oh well, that wasn't important. She needed to focus back on the little baby in the room.

"Momma ... Momma ..."

Kwon baby was trembling, his hand tried to reach out for Seungri, but the youngest adult in the room was still clutching on his mother tightly. He was scared of the sudden change of situation.

The baby was supposed to be Jiyong's responsibility, not him. He should have called Jiyong his mother instead of Seungri.

Why me?

"Hey, hey, baby! Look at me, okay! Look at uncle." Jiyong said as he crouched down and held onto the baby's reaching hand.

"This man here ..." Jiyong pointed with his free hand. "... is not momma." Jiyong shook his head lightly, trying to have a serious talk with Kwon baby.

For a moment they thought it was successful try, because Kwon baby seemingly understood what Jiyong said, until ... he let out a small whine.

"Annnyiiii ... momma!"

Kwon baby pulled out his tiny hand back from Jiyong and started reaching out once again.

"Momma! ... Momma! E-elp!"

"No, no, no!" Seungri finally regained back his senses as he stood up straight and faced the baby.

"I'm. Not. Your. Momma." He said slowly while pointing at himself. 

One second.

Two seconds.

Three – 

He cried.

Oh damn!

"Momma! Momma!"

It's getting even louder when others tried to soothe him down.

"No, no, no, baby! You can't go down, okay?" Jiyong was panicking when the baby was crawling and trying to get down from the sofa. He then picked the baby and stood up, facing the maknae. 

"Ri ..." Jiyong looked at Seungri, more like giving him serious glares.

"Don't give me your leader stare, hyung!" Seungri grunted.

"I'm not going to do this. I shouldn't have said yes. This should be your own problem, you're the one bringing yourself into this."

"Seunghyun!" His mom warned.

"But that's the truth, mom! I don't get it why do you want to take care of him by yourself, hyung. Even if I do, I don't want to be roped further into this."

Seungri ignored his mother's protest. He knew he was being rude to the older man, but he couldn't help it. 

“What's your problem, maknae?” Jiyong asked. “You said you'd help me. Why did you suddenly back out from the deal.”

“There's no deal in the first place. I agreed to help because I was worried about you. I didn't know that he was like this.”

“Like what?” Kwon Jiyong was dangerously close to him, Seungri could hardly stand his ground but he managed.

“Ugly? Disgusting?”

"I – I didn't say that!”

"THEN WHAT?” 

Everyone jolted in surprise at Jiyong's sudden scream. Kwon baby was struggling to get free from Jiyong.

“M-momma! E-elp!”  

Seungri who noticed the baby trashing, without much thought, he seized the baby into his arms.

“Why did you yell? Don't you see you frighten him?!”

"Oh now you care.”

“I DO CARE. I'M JUST SCARED!”

“And I told you it'd be fine!”

“Yah! Both of you, Kwon Jiyong and Lee Seunghyun, stop your argument now!” Mrs Kwon said strictly, both boys got silent in instant. They were glaring at each other.

“What's wrong with you, Jiyong? You are not like this. I didn't raise you to be like this.” Mrs Kwon heaved a sigh. “I can understand if Seunghyun is scared, everyone does in their first time taking care a baby. Moreover, this wasn't yours neither Seungri's. You can't blame him if he feels that way. It's a huge responsibility to take care of a human being, especially a broken one like Kwon baby. I thought before you decided to take him, you had already thought thoroughly about it.”

“I did think thoroughly about it.”

“Then tell me why do you want to adopt him?”

“Reasons.”

“And you don't want to tell us about it?”

“None of your business, Omma!” Jiyong snapped.

“Fine! If you all don't want to help me, I can do it by myself.”

Jiyong wanted to take the baby back, but then he stopped midway. Everyone slowly took notice that the baby has stopped crying and been calmly his thumb in Seungri's arms. Seungri was perplexed.

“See, Seunghyun. It isn't that bad, is it?” Mrs Lee whispered while carressing the boy's thin hair gently. Seungri nodded, agreeing.

“Er – I hope you all didn't forget that the baby hasn't worn any clothes yet.” Dami said fitfully after the short argument between Jiyong and Seungri. She gave them an amusing look while showing them baby clothes that she has been holding since God knew when. 

“L-let me do it.” Seungri said, avoiding Jiyong's stare. He quickly mumbled, “Hyung, go take a shower. It helps to clear your mind. I'll take care of him tonight.”

But Jiyong didn't move, so Dami had to drag him out from living room after she gave everything on her hands to Seungri and the moms. She could no longer stand this awkwardness around the room. So she left, with Jiyong in tow. 

“Mom and omma, can you help me?” Seungri asked, slowly putting the boy back on top of the sofa. Kwon baby was giving him an empty stare again. Seungri has just noticed, not only his body was full of scars and bruises, but also he looked so tiny.

He didn't exactly know about Kwon baby's actual age since he forgot to ask Jiyong, but he was sure the baby was suffering from malnutrition. They surely needed to work hard if they wanted the baby to be healthy again.

“I'm sorry.” Seungri whispered as he looked at his trembling hands carefully giving a sponge bath, following Mrs Lee's instruction. The baby winced in pain, but he didn’t cry like before. Instead he was feeling sleepy under Seungri's touch.

x

“How old is the baby, Jiyong?” Seungri heard Mrs Kwon asking his son, as he gently laid Kwon baby on Jiyong's bed. They hadn't bought baby cribs. Seungri thought it would be just a waste of money because they were only keeping the boy for a month, as instructed by YG. He didn’t want to imagine what's going to happen if Jiyong failed to find the parents before his busy schedule started.

“He didn't speak, only cried when I spoke up to the doctor. We only guessed from his body weight and length. He was about nine to eleven months old, but I think since he can slightly perform words and understand what we say, he must be a toddler already, am I correct?” Jiyong explained.

“I think so, honey. Well, most of nine months baby can actually know and call his or her parents with mom and dad. But this child was like asking for help when he called little Seunghyun earlier, so he must have understood the word instead of just making weird sounds.” Mrs Kwon said. Jiyong nodded.

“He's at least sixteen to eighteen months old if he can say and make one word sentence like that.”

Seungri felt his heart wrenching. Kwon baby was a toddler but he's still too small as one. His weight must be way under average if the doctor said he was only about seven or nine months younger than his actual age.

“Hyung, do you think we should check him up again to the doctor tomorrow?” 

Jiyong was a bit surprised at Seungri talking to him after he let his temper controlled him in living room, the latter could see it on his face. The leader nodded.

"I'll make an appointment for tomorrow.” 

Seungri hummed.