Back at the airport.
'Phew! Got away.' Lina thought as she patted her chest trying to calm her heart down.
"Thank you, God. You've saved me from an hour-long lecture. "
Lina knew that the consequences of hanging up on her mother would come back to bite her in the ass later. But she also knew that her dad would placate her as always and save his baby girl from the fire breathing dragon also known as her mommy.
He was the only one who could calm her down in an instant. She wondered how he did that?
She had a sad smile as she thought of not being able to drop by and meet them as she pleased.
But then again thinking about the times she had dropped by unannounced and gotten a shock by their high energy levels, she thought it would be a nice idea to leave the house empty for them to enjoy without interruptions.
She awoke from her daze when the baby next to her started crying louder.
She then turned to the crying child in the arms of her ignorant father who looked clueless at what to do to calm her down.
'Tsk, tsk. Just cause you can have a baby doesn't mean that you should. The idiot doesn't even know how to calm his own daughter down. How irresponsible!'
After cursing him inwardly, she moved towards him.
The man looked like he was about to cry along with the baby. But seeing her move to him he put on an awkward smile.
"Gimme! " Saying so, Lina stretched her hands.
"Huh? " The guy looked utterly confused.
"Tsk!" She just took the now wailing baby into her arms and stood up holding the baby in a different way than how the guy was holding.
The guy tried to stop her but sat back down when she glared at him.
"What's your name baby? "
She asked looking at the baby who by now had quietened down and was making cute spit bubbles as she played with her jacket. Looking at her cute behavior, Lina smiled.
The guy looked up and was shocked to see her smile.
'Beautiful!' was the only thought in his mind. Then with twinkling eyes, he stammered.
"N... Noah" He smiled shyly.
'Weird name for a girl but whatever.' She thought.
Still looking at the baby she spoke, " Poor baby Noah, your daddy can't even handle you alone. What would have happened if I wasn't here? "
The man's smile froze the next second.
"What? No..! My name is Noah! Plus you were the reason the baby started crying." He said with a deadpanned face towards the end.
She finally looked at him to see his lip twitching.
"Pfft... Sorry. I thought you were telling your daughter's name. Yeah, I'm the one who woke her up so it's only fair that I help you out."
He looked so funny that she couldn't stop her laughter.
'This lady thought the baby's mine? Do I look that old? ' He touched his face then as if he remembered something he whiplashed to look at her again.
"Wait a minute. What daughter? " He asked, confused.
"Your daughter, the little one in my arms." Lina rolled her eyes.
'What an irresponsible man forgot his own daughter. '
"What? No! I think there's been a misunderstanding here. First, I'm not the father. Second, she's a he. I mean the baby in your arms is a boy, not a girl. And last, I'm the fun and cool uncle who's way too young to be a dad! " He said, rubbing his temples.
"Pfft… Wow. Sorry, I shouldn't be laughing. But you've got to agree this was funny." She then continued laughing.
Looking at her laugh without a care was like a breath of fresh air for him and he also started laughing with her.
Finally, he spoke,
"Let me introduce myself properly this time. Hi, I'm Noah. Noah Jin. This is my nephew Ian Feng, my sister's son. What's yours? "
"Hi Noah, hi baby Ian. I'm Lina Yang." She answered.
She just now properly notice Noah's features. Full head of curly brown hair which made you want to put your hand in them, black eyes and the glasses which made him give out the nerdy but hot vibes.
As a lover of aesthetics, she was pleased by looking at this beautiful specimen in front of her.
Lina would never deny that she was a vain person who loved beautiful things and thus she became friends with Noah easily.
"So Lina, tell me what brings you to the airport today? " Noah inquired, wiping the drool from Ian's chin which would have fallen on Lina's shoulder and she gave him a thankful smile.
"Well, I'm going to meet my uncle. It's been a long time since I've met him.!" She smiled as she thought of her uncle and all the weird and fun things they did when they all used to live together.
"Oh looks like you're close to your uncle. " Noah said as he saw her smile as she thought of something.
"Yeah. Absolu... " She paused and looked around as her shoulders straightened.
"What's wrong? " Noah asked as he saw her expression change as if she was vigilant and he too looked around to find nothing unusual.
'What was that just now? I'm sure I felt someone's eyes on me.' She wondered as she continued to glance around but couldn't find what she was looking for.
Lina had always been proud of her sense of presence. She could be called as the polar opposite of an airheaded person. She could always read the mood wherever she was and know when someone had ill feelings or malice towards her.
This pair of eyes on her made her feel like someone was putting her under a microscope but she didn't feel any malicious intentions. So she just shrugged this weird feeling aside.
She heard an announcement then turned to face the uncle and nephew pair.
"It was probably nothing. I think they just announced my flight. Looks like it's time to say goodbye. Bye baby Ian" She gave him a loud kiss on his chubby cheeks and passed him to Noah who was grinning at her.
"Where's my goodbye kiss? " He asked as he saw her pick up her luggage.
"Come meet me when you look as cute as Ian. Till then bye"
She waved at him and started walking to her terminal.
'Interesting. Looks like we'll be meeting very soon.'
Picking up Ian and their luggage, he made his way to the terminal that Lina had just entered.
Will Noah and baby Ian just be passerby in Lina's life or will we meet them again?