Aunt Maila caught her forehead. "Is she troubling you, Jace?" She walked closer and as she was going to pull Hannah, the little girl hid in Jace's back and held the boy's waist tightly in a hurry. "Hannah!" Aunt Maila called angrily.

"It's alright. It's alright, Aunt Maila," Jace pacified in the middle. He could feel the kid behind him trembling. He rubbed her hair to calm her down. Hannah's height only reached the half of his back. She's too little.
"I approached her first. I'm sorry if I acted without your permission."

"W-was that it?" Aunt Maila simply scratched her head and clicked her tongue as she looked at her own daughter, who had suddenly gotten attached to Jace. She feels strange somehow seeing her own daughter getting close to someone so easily when it's even hard for her to approach her. 

"Is she your daughter, Maila?" Aubrey bent her body to look at Hannah. "Hi, Hannah," she greeted the kid with a bright smile. "You are so pretty. You're more beautiful than your mom. How old are you, sweetie?"

"I-I'm six," the kid answered timidly.

"I'm your Auntie Aubrey," she introduced herself, pointing at her chest. "I'm your mother's childhood friend."

Hannah blinked a few times. "Are you Jace's mommy?"

Aubrey nodded while beaming. "Yes, I am. Hannah, please come here. Let me greet you with a big hug." 

Hannah looked up at Jace like she was asking for his consent. Jace just pushed Hannah gently towards his stepmother as a response. She looked hesitant at first, but her wariness decreased when Aubrey cuddled her happily, as if she was holding her own child.

"Are you sure it's okay in your house, Aubrey?" Maila asked.

"Don't worry, Maila. I'll take care of her. I mean, we will." Aubrey looked at Jace and she knew that her stepson was on her side regarding that matter. 

Sniveling, Aunt Maila walks to the closet. She took out a small suitcase, then took a cashmere coat hanging inside the closet. "This is the only winter clothing I could afford for Hannah."

Aubrey passed Hannah to her friend when she gestured with her hands to take her kid. Maila put down her daughter and put the coat on her. She also put socks on Hannah's bare feet and covered them with newly unblemished snow boots. She had the child sit on her lap as she tidied her curly hair into pigtails and put a cute pink headband on her head. She then wrapped her arms around Hannah, her eyes welling up with tears. "I'm sorry, my child. Promise, I'll fetch you when West and I get married and I get the visa to stay here longer. When that happens, my work will be stable and I can properly support you. Even if I couldn't show it, I love you, Hannah, very very much."

Crying her heart out, Hannah hugged her mother back. "Mommy! Mommy!" 

With an aching heart, Maila stood up and passed her kid to Aubrey. She turned her back afterwards, as if she didn't have the heart to see Hannah leave.

"Maila, we're going." Aubrey wiped her tears away because she understood her friend's feelings. "You have to call us regularly to check up on your daughter, okay?"

Maila just nodded her head without turning her head.

When they left the apartelle, Hannah looked in the direction of the old building. "Are we going back in here, Auntie Aubrey?" 

Aubrey smiled. "Of course! We're going to visit your mom from time to time. And if you really miss her, you can talk to her on the phone." 

Hannah then looked at Jace.

Jace also smiled at the kid. Hannah's hand was being held by his stepmother, and her other small hand was grasping the hem of his coat. Jace ruffled the little girl's hair.
He soon put Hannah's suitcase inside the compartment of a black sedan. He sat in the passenger's seat beside Aubrey in the driver's seat after he secured Hannah in the backseat. Within just thirty minutes of the ride, Hannah was already dozing off.  

"Do you think your dad will agree, Jace?" Aubrey asked shortly, while her eyes were on the road.

"Of course," he answered with assurance. But then he sighed afterwards. "If Brianna doesn't freak out that much."

Aubrey frowned. "I can't blame her. I will always be a stranger to her. And now I'm bringing another one into the house. She would be cursing me for sure."

"Don't mind her, Mom. Dad won't be able to resist the cuteness of Hannah. She's really a charming kid." Jace threw a glance at Hannah in the rearview mirror. The little girl was sleeping like a baby. "I won't even mind if she becomes my sister." 

Aubrey chuckled heartily. "You call her a kid when you're a kid yourself, Jace."

He grinned instead of getting offended. "I don't know about that. You and Dad always tell me that I'm more mature than my age. Brianna called me an old man in disguise. Well, she's a brat for a seventeen-year-old." He shrugged his shoulders. "I think I was just brought into the world properly. Blame yourself, Mom."

Aubrey laughed hard. "Because teenagers your age already have a rebel side. But you don't have any."

"What do I need to rebel for?" 

"Uhm..." Aubrey rolled her eyes while thinking. "Your Dad is busy at his job. He only comes home once a week. In the survey here in the US, the number one cause of a broken family is the lack of parents' time with their kids."

"Dad's working for our sake. And I can't seem to understand why the heck my sister slapped that invalid excuse on Dad's face when she's spending his hard-earned money on crocodile-skinned bags and branded clothes. She's asking too much for an allowance, yet she had the nerve to tell our father to resign. She's quite a nag for a jobless teenager." Jace couldn't help but smirk. "She doesn't understand anything."

Aubrey patted his head. "It's not that she doesn't understand, Jace. Children have the right and privilege to complain to their parents. Brianna was just using it and she nags because she knows that's all she could do. Let's just say it's her way of venting."

"It's you, Mom. You find the best even in the worst people."

She gently smiled at him. "It's only for the people I care about, Jace." 

- to be continued -