"ARE YOU FINALLY COMING BACK? LIKE AFTER 10 MONTHS?" Karine yelled through the phone, forcing Nat to mute his excited sister.

"Yes, my dear little sister. I didn't think you'd miss me this much?" Nat teased Karine as Jamie climbed onto Nat's lap to join the video call.

"I think you’re overestimating yourself please, I miss my little cutie patootie niece, not you..." Karine rolled her eyes before brightening up at the sight of Jamie on the screen.

"KARINE! GRANDMA!" Jamie waved excitedly upon seeing her aunt and grandma.

"Hello, my precious! Grandma can't wait to see you soon! I've missed you!" Alice waved back to Jamie.

"We'll be reaching next Monday, at noon." Nat checked their flight details.

"I'll be there to pick you guys up. No buts." Alice knew that Nat wouldn't want to trouble her but she wasn't letting them take a taxi home.

"Yes Ma'am." Nat saluted jokingly, knowing that Alice couldn't wait to see Jamie.

"Wait, you haven't told us the most important thing! Is your girlfriend coming too?" Karine took over the phone from her mother.

"Ninang is going to the US to meet tita Jill!" Jamie answered for Nat.

"Really? That's such a bummer...I thought I could meet my future sister-in-law!" Karine sighed as Nat chuckled at Karine's words.

~

"Hey, just wanted to let you know that we're heading back to Singapore next week. Sorry for informing you last minute..." Nat and Jamie were at their usual Sunday meet up with Aly.

"How long will you stay?" Aly was slightly taken aback.

"Maybe 2-3 weeks? I have some things to settle and my parents miss Jamie too. It's been 10 months since they've seen her physically." Nat was apologetic for the suddenness of the trip.

"Oh no, it's fine. We can video call when you're back there. It's been a while since I've visited Singapore too. I think I haven't been back since 4 years ago..." Aly remembered the undergraduate days she spent with Nat in Singapore.

"Things have changed since then...I may not even recognise some things when I get back!" Nat joked, eliciting a laugh from Aly too. Nat had become more comfortable with Aly and found himself slowly letting go of the anger he had towards her.

"Can I ask you for a huge favour before you go back?" Aly plucked up the courage.

"Depends on the favour?" Nat gave Aly an amused expression, not knowing what she was going to ask.

"Can Jamie and I spend a day at my place?" Aly held her breath as she anticipated Nat's reply.

"Well, I'm okay with that but you've got to ask her yourself..." Nat looked over at Jamie.

"Do you want to come over to my place and play? Just you and me?" Aly asked Jamie carefully.

"Can I, Daddy?" Jamie held onto Nat's hand.

"As long as you're okay, Daddy's okay too." Nat assured Jamie with a smile.

"How about tomorrow? Its a public holiday so she doesn't have school right?" Aly couldn't contain her excitement.

"How does that sound, Princess?" Jamie nodded at the suggestion.

"I'll drop her off at your house tomorrow after breakfast then?" Nat suggested.

"Sounds great. Thanks for agreeing to this, I really appreciate it." Aly had contemplated for a long time before she broached the subject.

"It was about time anyways....1.5 months flew past quickly..." Nat himself was surprised at how well Jamie was warming up to Aly.

~

"We'll see you later, Princess. Have fun with Auntie Aly!" Nat and Aika were dropping Jamie off at Aly's house.

"Don't forget the things we made yesterday, okay? See you during dinner, sweetie, love you." Aika whispered to Jamie as she waved goodbye.

"Enjoy your date and don't worry, I won't let anything happen to her." Aly assured Nat.

"I know you won't. But if you need anything, I'm just a call away." Nat gave Aly a smile.

"Auntie Aly, this is for you!" Jamie pulled something out of her full backpack and handed it to Aly.

"Wow, you made this?" Aly looked at the card in her hand. There was a drawing of two girls holding hands, the smaller one labelled Jamie and the bigger one, Aly.

"I made it with ninang's help last night! Look inside the card!" Jamie pointed excitedly to the card.

"Wow, is this for me too?" Inside the card was a polaroid picture of Jamie and on the blank space was a "I love you" in Jamie's handwriting.

"Daddy took it for me, saying that you can look at it if you miss me when we're back in Singapore!" Jamie explained cheerfully.

"Aww, I'll look at it everyday and miss you so much..." Aly gave Jamie a hug.

"Come on, I've got lots of toys upstairs for you to play with!" Aly brought Jamie up the stairs.

"Is Mr Marco not at home? What about your daughter, where is she?" Jamie was wondering why Aly was alone at home.

"Oh, Marco brought her out to see her grandparents...they won't be back so early..." Aly hated to lie but there wasn't any choice. She knew Marco was going to mess things up so she purposely picked today to avoid having Jamie run into him.

~

"It's been so long since we've been out on a solo date..." Nat and Aika were at the mall. Aika had insisted on buying a few things for Nat to bring home for his family.

"Sorry muscles, I know I've been busy..." Aika felt bad that her busy schedule translated to home-dates for the past few weeks.

"You were busy but you always made time...and that means the world to me, sunshine." Nat rubbed the back of Aika's hand to assure her. He was more than grateful for her existence.

"Anyways, what do your parents and sister like? Would traditional snacks be good?" Aika wanted to make a good first impression.

"I'm pretty sure they'll like anything that you pick out..." Nat grinned.

"You're not being helpful...It's literally the first impression I'm making!" Aika smacked Nat's arm.

"I'm serious! Karine and Mum love you already! If you were actually coming with us, they'd pester you non-stop and won't even care about me!" Nat chuckled as he remembered the looks of disappointment Karine and Alice had on their faces when Nat mentioned he was returning alone.

"I hate that I can't visit your family with you and Jamie..." Aika really wanted to join them but she had already booked her tickets to join Jill and Patty in New York and there was a project she had to personally oversee before she flew off.

"Me too...I wonder how I'm supposed to sleep without you beside me..." Nat pouted.

"I swear, you're more clingy than your 4 year-old daughter!" Aika laughed at Nat's whining.

"I would be a your baby koala if I could..." Nat joked as he grabbed onto Aika's arm.

"Thanks but I prefer human babies..." Aika lightly pushed Nat away and ran ahead.

"Human babies? I'm totally up for that too! Jamie would love to have siblings!" Nat chased after Aika, latching onto her slip of the tongue.

~

"Are we not done yet?" Nat lifted up two full bags of souvenirs that Aika had picked out.

"One more thing...be a good boy, muscles." Aika squished Nat's cheeks playfully as he trudged behind her.

"Oh wow, these are beautiful!" Nat's eyes widened at the array of traditional woven outfits displayed before him.

"These are made from the communities that Anghat Buhay works with, beautiful aren't they?" Aika beamed proudly.

"Indeed...I should get one each for Mum, Karine and Jamie! Do they have kid sizes?" Nat knew that they would love it.

"mayroon ka bang laki ng children? mga 4-5 years old?" Aika asked the employee, who nodded and pointed towards another rack further away.

"Nice, let's pick Mum and Karine's first before getting Jamie's!" Nat scanned the entire selection, not knowing which one to pick. After some input from Aika, Nat had finally decided on two.

"I wonder which one would my little sweetie pie like..." Aika and Nat were browsing through the kids section.

"If you tell her that you picked it, she'll definitely like it." Nat chuckled. Jamie was 100% an Aika lover.

"How about this one?" Aika held up a pale pink option.

"I can totally picture her in that!" Nat nodded in approval.

"Oh gosh, these are adorable!" Aika pointed to a table displaying a series of hand-sewn baby dresses.

"They remind me of the clothes that Jamie used to wear when she was just turning 1..." Nat picked up the tiny piece of clothing and looked at it.

"Wished they had them in bigger sizes so we could get one each for Jamie and Natalia..." Aika's eyes lingered on a pale blue dress with a simple pattern.

~

"She fell asleep a out 45 minutes ago..." Aly invited Nat and Aika into the house.

"She must have exhausted all her energy..." Nat chuckled.

"Do you guys want some coffee while waiting?" Aly offered since Nat and Aika decided to wait for Jamie to wake up before heading off.

"That sounds great, thank you Ms Carlos." Aika grinned.

"By the way Ms Robredo, you can call me Aly...I was wondering if we could be friends?" Aly was sincere about making friends with Aika.

"Definitely! Just call me Aika too!" Aika gave Aly an assuring smile.

"How about Ate Aika? If you don't mind?" Aly bit her lip awkwardly.

"Of course you can!" Aika patted Aly's hand gently, like what she'd always do with Patty and Jill.

"Ninang!" Jamie ran out of the room down the hallway and made a beeline for Aika.

"Hey sweetie!" Aika opened her arms and Jamie jumped right into her embrace.

"This girl asked me where her ninang was the moment she woke up. Didn't even say hi to Daddy..." Nat complained as he trailed behind.

"Did you have a good afternoon nap?" Aly asked.

"Yep!" Jamie nodded, looking energised.

"Are we going for dinner now?" Jamie turned to Nat, who nodded.

"Aly, do you want to join us for dinner?" Aika offered.

"Maybe next time? Marco said he'd be back for dinner..." Aly wanted to but she knew it was better if she didn't.

"Goodbye Auntie Aly, I'll miss you..." Jamie gave Aly a goodbye hug as they parted.

"Love you, little one." Aly kissed Jamie's cheek, holding back her tears.

~

"She's asleep already?" Aika asked as Nat came out from Jamie's room.

"Yeah, she was telling me about all the fun she had today with Aly." Nat joined Aika on the couch.

"It's so great to see them bond." Aika mused.

"You aren't worried?" Nat asked.

"About?" Aika looked at Nat.

"Uh...I..." Nat didn't know how to put it in words.

"I think I get what you are going but don't worry. In fact, I'm so happy that Jamie is having a relationship with her mum. Aly will always be Jamie's mother but that will never change the way I love Jamie. Loving a child isn't a competition." Aika assured Nat, knowing that he was just concerned about her feelings.

"God, what did I do to deserve you?" Nat kissed Aika on the cheek.

"Same for me." Aika held Nat's hand.

"Anyways, I got something for you." Nat grabbed a paper bag on the couch.

"What's this....No way...you bought this?" Aika gasped as she took out the item in the bag. It was the exact baby dress that she was looking at earlier this morning.

"I'm not saying this to pressure you or anything but I bought this hoping that one day, you could dress your daughter in it." Nat confessed.

"Remove the y." Aika ordered.

"Huh?" Nat was confused.

"Remove the y from your" Aika repeated.

"Our..." Nat was buffering.

"Now rephrase that sentence you just said? One day, I could dress..." Aika waited.

"Our...our daughter?" Realisation struck Nat.

"Unless you don't want to?" Aika teased.

"I DO!" Nat unknowingly yelled.

"Shhh, you're going to wake Jamie up!" Aika smacked Nat's arm.

"Sorry but YES! I DO! A million and one times!" Nat whisper-shouted.

"I love you." Aika cupped Nat's cheeks and kissed him on the lips.

"I love you too..." Nat smiled before pulling Aika in for another kiss.

This chapter will stretch over a few parts!

Comments are always welcome🥰