“Eomma?”

Cho Hee Young turned her head towards the direction of that small voice and saw her son standing by the door.  She beckoned for him to come closer as she set her book aside on the nightstand. When he was within reach, Hee Young cuddled him and rubbed her nose against his cheek.  She then noticed his slightly worried face and immediately concluded that he probably had a nightmare.

Squeezing him tighter, she asked her little darling what was wrong.  He then looked up at her with those strikingly familiar doe-like eyes and murmured, “Can I sleep here with you?”

Hee Young smiled gently and scooted towards the middle of the bed. Placing her son amidst the fluffy white pillows, she then wrapped her arms around his tiny frame.  

“What did you dream about?” She remembered asking after the both of them have comfortably settled down.

Her son, who she named after her late grandfather, seemed hesitant at first.  But after a few seconds, he started relating strangely connected scenes of fighting dragons and pandas, along with some swamp creatures and zombies.

“But what frightened me the most was Appa.”  Jaejun added in a whisper.

Hee Young’s brows automatically furrowed at this because she had never shown him a picture of Lu Han, much less bring him up in conversations. The only thing she told Jaejun about his father was that he was gone and that they will never see him again.  So hearing her son even say the word appa was truly surprising for her.

“W-what about your Appa?” Hee Young tried to sound casual about it but failed.  She can never really think of Lu Han and not get nervous at all.  He just had that effect on her after things got awry between them.   Hee Young then heard Jaejun sigh before answering.

And how she wished she never asked, for his reply broke her heart.

“In my dream, he said he hated me.”

…

A/N: Hello readers! This is my first story here so please be kind and give constructive criticisms.  I'm kinda scared but I'm going to give this a try, okay? Wish me luck! ^^)