Logan was feeding Lucas his bottle, and Hana was washing the dishes after finishing her late breakfast.

When Hana completed her chore, she came to the boys and saw them together. “Oh, you’re comfortable with holding him now?” She gently took Lucas from Logan. “You have to burp him after he eats.” She sat down and held the baby upwards on her chest and patted his back.

He exhaled and relaxed his shoulders. “Can’t they do it themselves? And how do you burp them?”

“You hold them like this and pat their back. When they burp, it’s a sign that their eating went down with no problems.” She gave him a good look to emphasize this vital habit. “When they suck on the bottle, not only do they take in the milk but also the excess air trapped in the bottle.”

Lucas burped after she finished explaining.

She smiled. “See, like that.” She held the baby horizontally. “Remember, always burp him after eating while holding him up.”

He opened his mouth. “Wow, that’s…that’s so cool!”

She rolled her eyes because she thought he wasn’t listening. “Not burping them makes them uncomfortable.”

He looked away and nodded sadly. “Yeah. Been there, through that.” He smiled at her as she scowled in disgust. “Oh, when you were asleep, I got a text from Hugo. It’s in a group text with you, but I don’t think you’ve seen it yet.”

“He’s gotten a hold of his mom already?” She sounded both worried and intrigued.

He frowned. “No. It’s some info he wants us to know. The brat’s real birthday is June 25th.”

“Aww, your birthday was weeks ago!” she said in a cute voice to Lucas.

Hana was about to kiss Lucas, but she and Logan bumped cheeks because he was also planning to place a kiss on Lucas too. They turned to face each other and brushed their lips together in the process. They jumped and scoot back in shock.

She looked away and acted as if nothing happened. “Did you reply back?”

“Yeah, I told him to contact us when he’s landed.”

“Why do you think someone would travel such distance to give a baby away?” she asked.

“Think about it. If you were planning to give your baby away, you wouldn’t want the person who finds your kid to track you down, right? The farther the baby is, the slower you’d get caught.” He reached for the remote and switched the channel again when it showed the commercials. “Well, that’s what I’d do.”

She nodded, accepting his theory. She looked down at Lucas. “I think it’s time Hana gives you a bath.”

Logan jumped up. “A bath? Do you even know how?”

She scoffed. “I raised over five kids before having this one, two which were from the moment they were born. Of course, I’d know.” She stopped talking when she realized she was speaking about her nieces and nephews, the kids she had abandoned.

He noticed this and decided to revert the subject back. “Can I help?” There was a tiny ounce of wariness in his tone.

She stood up. “You can watch.”

The two friends walked together side by side upstairs to her room.

“You need to watch so you can learn.” She stood in front of her enormous closet and picked up two thin baby towels. “That way, whenever I’m not home for whatever reasons and he needs a bath, you can do it yourself.”

“Where are you planning to go and leave me alone with the brat?” He sat on the bed. “You trust me that much?”

She entered the bathroom, and he followed behind.

“I’m just saying ‘if’.” She pointed to the blue baby bathtub. “Give me that.”

He looked around, found it, and gave it to her.

She one-handedly accepted it and placed it in the big bathtub and then headed back to the bedroom. “Turn on the water, and make sure it’s warm. Fill it up until it’s halfway.”

He shouted, “Where are you going?”

“I’m taking off his clothes.” She came back when the water was turned off.

He stopped talking and was intrigued at what he was going to see next.

“Okay, Lucas,” she said childishly. “We’re going to play with water.”

Logan smiled to himself. He helped her enter and sit in the bathtub.

After confirming the water’s temperature, she put Lucas into the baby bathtub.

Seeing this, he freaked. “He’s gonna slide out!”

Without looking back and using a hand to wet Lucas’s head, she answered, “He won’t.”

He sighed, relieved.

“Hmm, I think it’s too early to use baby shampoo.” She was speaking to herself.

His eyes widened. “There’s a thing like that?”

She laughed. “Of course. They can’t use adult shampoos. Well, at least, not that I know of. Well, Logan, here’s your chance to see what I mean.”

He immediately came closer and looked.

She gently splashed the water around his body and washed him, and Lucas started to whimper.

Logan panicked again. “He-he’s crying. He’s hurt! What are you doing?”

She laughed to herself. “I’m giving him a bath, that’s what.” She continued to do what she was doing. “It’s natural for him to cry. He’s not used to it yet.”

Logan started backing away when Lucas cried louder. “When will he?!”

“Whenever he wants to,” she blankly answered. For the next five minutes or so, Lucas’s whimpering was the sound that filled the bathroom as she focused on the bath and Logan prayed quietly for everything to go well. Moments later, she put out a hand to Logan. “Towel.”

As if Hana and Lucas were contagious, Logan cautiously handed her a towel from afar. “H-here.”

“Thanks.” She wrapped Lucas with the towel and stepped out. She heard Logan sighed in relief and looked at him. “He’s not hurt.” She exited and headed back into her room. Like the skilled mother she was, she one-handedly opened a drawer and took out a tiny, white bodysuit; a white bid; and a white, baby hat. “Let’s wear what I bought you.”

Logan came over and rested his body on the bed with his stomach lying flat. He rested his chin on his palm. “You bought him something? When?” He frowned. “Why didn’t you tell me to buy him something?”

She busily put the clothes on a shivering Lucas from his bath. “I bought it yesterday when Hailey and I passed by a baby’s store during our grocery shopping trip.” She waved the bid over the baby’s head and smiled bashfully. “Isn’t it cute?”

On the bid, there were the words, ‘I love Mommy!’

Logan scoffed. Angry at the word choice, he sat up and pointed at it. “You think he loves only you? Watch. When he grows up, he’s going to like me more than you.”

She let out a laugh in disbelief. “Oh, really? Let’s see how that’ll happen when you panic every time you’re near him.” She put the bid around Lucas’s neck and carried him again. “I’ll always be your favorite, huh, Lucas?”

Lucas sucked his hand.

“See, that’s his answer.” She walked out the door to avoid Logan say anything else.

Logan followed them downstairs. “Sucking his hand was his answer?”

She nodded, and they walked to the couch and sat down together.

“Then, what’s mine?”

“Whenever he poops.”

“Actually, that’s a good one.”

She opened her mouth, surprised that he was accepting it.

“I’m pretty sure he’ll be pooping more than sucking his hand.” He smiled as he crossed his arms across his chest. “I win.”

She breathed out. How could he think so positively? “Hey, put on the previous channel. I want to watch it.”

He pretended to glare at her and seconds later, he obeyed, and the family spent their Sunday being couch potatoes.

*

“I can watch over the brat while you take a shower,” volunteered Logan. He had come upstairs to grab something and happened to see Hana in her bathrobe. “Where is he?”

She pointed to the bed. “You don’t have to. He’s asleep.” When she spoke, she didn’t look at him.

He caught that but didn’t ask. “Did your homework yet?”

She nodded. “Over there.” She went to the bathroom.

He walked to the papers and searched. He took out his cell phone to take pictures of the answers, and her unguarded laptop exposed some e-mail content that caught his eyes. He sat down to read them.

Hana, is it true? you have a baby? since when? With who? How come you didn’t tell us? we want to see the baby! do you think we can? We know about mom and you but I still want to see you and our cousin.

We love you and miss you, mommy Hana!

He now knew why she didn’t make eye contact with him—she had been hit with another battle.

A battle with her kids.

He felt guilty that he had a major role in the disconnection of the two, so he jotted down the e-mail address onto his phone and drafted a message.

Hi, Im Logan. Im a friend of your aunt’s and I don’t think she’ll respond to your e-mail so im doing it without telling her. She changed her number and I don’t want to give it to u w.o her permission so heres my number. Call or text me anytime.

He hesitated to press send. He closed his eyes and dropped his thumb onto the screen of his phone, sending the e-mail. He crouched down and became worried.

About ten minutes later, Hana stepped out of the bathroom, and she was surprised to still see her friend in her room. She questioned him.

“Nothing. Just wanna watch over the brat even though I didn’t have to.”

She looked at the rosy-cheek baby on the bed. “I’m horrible, aren’t I?”

He waited for her to continue.

She sat on the side of the bed, not bothering to dry herself or to get dressed. Her back faced him. She looked down. “I realized…I’m using Lucas as a guinea pig for something so stupid.”

He walked to her, grabbed a dry towel, covered her, and started drying her hair for her as he stood in front of her.

“My intention is wrong, and I wasn’t thinking about him at all.”

“Even if you are using the brat to see where you stand with your love-hate relationship with kids, what will be important for him if he were to ask why you kept him, no doubt that part of your answer will be because you wanted to give love to someone.” He looked down at her.

She slowly looked up at him.

“I’m sure he wouldn’t care about how he came into the world or who brought him into the world. At the end of the day, I think he’ll be glad that you never gave up on him.”

She quickly wrapped an arm around his waist and pressed her head on his abdomen. “Thanks, Logan.”

*

“So, how long’s it been since Lucas’s arrival?” asked Hailey to Hana in the hallway at school.

It was lunchtime, and Hailey and Hana were walking to the fountain to meet up with the boys.

“About two months, I think.” Hana took out her phone and showed Hailey her lock-screen picture of Lucas. Every day was a new picture of him. “He gets cuter and cuter.”

“I know, right?” Logan hopped in front of the girls with a peace sign. “Tell me straight out. No need to hide.”

Hana pushed the screen to his face.

“Oh, him?”

“Thought we meant you?” She shoved him to the side.

The three of them walked to where Seth and Jake were at. Jake was scarfing down everything in sight with haste. Soon, Logan joined him in the same manner.

Hana frowned. “Jake, you’re gonna choke. No one’s stealin’ your food.”

Jake flashed a shy smile. “I missed breakfast ‘cause I didn’t wanna be late.”

“You were late by an hour,” stated Seth, trying to make a point.

Jake flashed a shy smile. “Blame this girl.” He took out his phone and showed them a picture of a girl he had secretly taken in front of their school. “She left without looking at me.”

Hailey took the phone from Jake’s hand. “You took this from behind a tree. Of course, she wouldn’t see you.”

“Oh, that’s right.”

“Sometimes, you prove yourself to be dumber than Logan.”

“Whuh wah dat?” muffled Logan with a stuffed mouth, and the friends scowled with disgust.

Hana wiped the corners of his mouth. “Don’t talk with your mouth full, and slow down too.”

Logan sneered at her and continued to eat.

“Hey,” began Seth. “You guys got plans for winter break yet?”

“Can we not talk about winter break right now, sweetie?” said an unamused Hailey, and the boys eyed Hana to help ask the question they were afraid to ask because of Hailey’s sudden change of mood.

Hana received the hint. “Something wrong, Hailey?”

“My dad and his ugly witch are going on a trip to celebrate their three-hundred-day anniversary.”

“Where they going?” asked Jake.

“Paris.”

“You going?” asked Hana, and Hailey shook her head.

“You’re gonna be alone?” asked Seth, and Hailey nodded. “Come to my place. We can celebrate Christmas too.”

“I’d love to.” She hugged and pecked him on the cheek.

Jake cheered at the side. “Whoo! I think Lucas is gonna have a playmate next year!”

Everyone playfully shoved him.

Hana then realized that it would be the first holiday she’d be spending with her new family. She smiled. She had to make this count.