The first day lasted forever.

     Carl woke up an hour after Matt and Tess left, and meanwhile, Mrs. Dowry told her more about the baby's needs, the house and what she should do. She was really understanding and kind. In a short time, Kasey grasped most of everything she'd told her and Mrs. Dowry was convinced that Kasey could handle the rest.

     Carl didn't cry when he woke up, and that was the first thing Kasey noticed. He just sat down in his bed and examined around with curious eyes. Kasey was nervous when she entered into his room, which Mrs. Dowry encouraged her, since she was going to take care of him from now on, and the baby's eyes immediately darted on her. For a while, he didn't blink or smile, just stared.

     When Kasey's lips tilted at her sides, he smiled back at her. Then, he took a hold of the side of his bed, and raised himself successfully, as if he was asking Kasey to take him up. She did so, and realized he was heavier than she anticipated. "Come here, big boy," she said, cuddling him, and felt happy that the baby was so friendly and didn't get scared or panicked at the sight of her.

     His eyes lit up when he noticed his grandmother though, and he started to try to reach her in Kasey's embrace. Chuckling, Mrs. Dowry hugged her grandson and kissed his cheek. "My lovely boy." Then, the woman looked at Kasey. "Do you see how friendly he is?"

     "Yeah, he's so cute," Kasey agreed, chuckling. When she took a better look at him, she also realized how alike he was to his father; despite a little touch of European genes. His eyes were wider than his, as far as she remembered.

     "I have to leave now," the woman said, putting Carl on the ground, and walked to the door. Kasey looked back at Carl, who was now crawling and pausing and repeating. "He'll eat dinner in an hour. Then, you can play with him, he likes to hide and seek. He should sleep before 12."

      "Got it, ma'am," Kasey said, noting them all into her mind. "See you."

      After Mrs. Dowry had left, she spun around to find Carl—who was nowhere to be seen. She immediately got panicked, and ran to the living room. There he was, found a way to reach her phone on charge and was trying to click it open. She remembered how Mrs. Dowry mentioned Carl loved plugs. "Oh boy, you scared the hell out of me." Well, maybe, hell wasn't a word you were supposed to use around a baby, she thought. Then, she cuddled him, putting him on the couch and looking at her phone afterwards—it was still working.

      She decided to turn the television on, and a cartoon popped up, to keep him occupied while she prepared his dinner as Mrs. Dowry ordered. Luckily, Carl was easily hooked in the cartoon she opened. Mickey Mouse and The Clubhouse. Who wouldn't like that?

     Getting into the kitchen, she looked around. She tried to remember what the woman showed her. Carl had his meals prepared in the fridge. She took it out and put into a bowl. Then, although the woman explained, she searched for food for 13 months old babies.

Try not to pressure your toddler to eat more.

Let them eat by themselves when they want.

      Mrs. Dowry didn't mention anything about Carl being picky at his food but she decided to keep it in mind. Taking his food, she walked back to the living room and smiled when she found him where she left, watching the cartoon. He was laughing and sucking his finger.

      Kasey suddenly wanted to see the world through his eyes. So innocent, so free. Sighing, she sat beside him and spoonfed him. Carl swallowed it without taking a look at the spoon and Kasey smiled. The things on the internet didn't quite work on him. When he finished his meal, it was around eight.

       Kasey left him to watch a cartoon while she checked her phone. Two messages and five missed calls from Henry. She suddenly remembered they arranged a dinner this evening but she totally forgot it. She called him immediately. "Henry," she breathed. "I'm so sorry."

       "Where are you?" Henry asked, a hint of hurt in his voice.

      "At work. I told you, remember?"

      "What kind of work is that?"

      "Babysitting at nights." She was nervous because Henry wasn't someone who showed his emotions off. If he was mad at her, he'd never let her know. "Look, the woman said I can start immediately and I'm looking after Carl,"—she looked back at the baby—"so the dinner totally got out of my mind."

        "That's okay," he said but Kasey sensed it definitely wasn't. "See you around, baby." Then, he hung up.

         Kasey immediately called Tess. "Baby," her friend said. "what's wrong?"

        "I promised Henry a dinner but ditched him. I mean, I didn't do it intentionally."

         "Oh my God, this is great news. I was dying of boredom."

          "Shut up, Tess," Kasey hissed. "I'm serious. What will I do? I think he's mad."

          "If he's an understanding boyfriend, as he claims to be, he wouldn't be mad. You need this job, Kase. He knows it, too."

       "Anyway, gotta hang up." Shutting off, she went back to Carl. "Baby boy." He giggled. "Do you wanna play?" He clapped his hands—Kasey assumed he approved. "Hmm, what do you want?" He giggled again. "Let's play hide and seek. You hide and I'll find you."

      Carl loved the game for sure. Whenever Kasey asked where he was, he giggled and gave it away. Then, he pulled his head up from where he hid, usually behind the couch, and crawled his way back to Kasey's lap. When Kasey played with him, she forgot about her coursework or Henry. That was why she loved babies—they required ultimate dedication.

      Carl's eyes started to shut around 12 AM. She tried to sleep him earlier but he rather played the run and chase with her. Therefore, she found a storybook in his room and read it—after a few pages in, he was already sleeping. Smiling at the sight of him, she covered him with a comforter and closed the door, leaving it slightly ajar. She turned the television off when back to the living room and pulled out her lecture book from her bag.

     She received a message from Tess two hours later: bored as hell. help.

     A smile tugged at her lips, Kasey replied: same. Carl slept an hour ago and I'm trying to study.

     She was making herself a coffee since Mrs. Dowry told her she could use the kitchen as she wished when Tess called her. For an unknown reason, she was whispering, too. "Hey."

      "Hi," Kasey replied, unable to keep herself from laughing. "Why are you whispering?"

      "Wait, am I—gosh, you said Carl's sleeping and mentally, I felt like I should whisper." Then, she said, "why aren't you whispering?"

      She filled her cup with hot water and mixed with a spoon. "My tone is ideal, actually, and his door is closed." When her friend sighed, she chuckled. "Why are you so bored? And it's late—why awake?"

     "I'm staying up with you."

     "Tess, you don't have to."

      "I know," Tess replied. "But this is your first night and I'm not leaving my best friend alone. Also, I can take you home, if your gentleman, the amazing boyfriend won't do it." In the mention of Henry, Kasey pouted. She didn't know if she should tell her friend about the fight.

      "He will probably take me," she lied because she didn't want to give her another reason to hate him while she passionately disliked Henry. Why she hated him was a long story but of a misunderstanding. "And you should sleep. You're not supposed to stay up because you aren't even used to. I'm always a night owl, you know."

       Tess yawned over the phone. "Yeah, but I'll try. Keep me awake."

        Kasey walked back to the living room with her cup in hand. She sat at the desk and stared down at her book. She wasn't in the mood for studying at all. "I noticed something when I took Carl to his bed," she started off. "I was searching for a comforter and I realized there are no women clothes in the wardrobe."

       "And?" Tess urged her to continue.

       "And where does his mother live? I thought he has both of them."

        "I think he has a mother; didn't we see the girl at graduation?"

       Kasey sighed. "Yes, I remember but it doesn't make sense. Is Jian married? And if they live together, where's she? Where are her clothes? In fact, this house has nothing women related."

      "I see you made your research, Kase," her friend teased her.

       "No," she denied quickly, but she realized she may have put a lot of meaning into things she'd noticed so far, "I mean I just noticed these things."

        "Ask Jian," Tess simply said, "speaking of him, when does he come?"

        "Didn't you hear Matt? He said he comes around 5 AM."

         "5 AM," Tess breathed. "It's just 3 now. Wait, it's three. Time flies. I can stay for another two hours—yay me." Kasey chuckled at her enthusiasm and took a gulp from her coffee. Since she forgot she made one, it was already cold.

        Amidst talking to her friend and not studying, she heard the door getting open. "Oh my God," she whispered, gazing at the door panicked. "I think Jian came," she said, ending the call and left the phone on the table while she crept towards the door. She didn't know if that was Jian though—what if that was the mother?

       When she spotted the man entering in, she immediately recognized him. He was tossing off his shoes, his head down, and next, he removed his jacket while he tilted his head a bit to meet Kasey's curious gaze on him. Kasey blushed when she realized she was caught staring without a sound. "Welcome home, sir," she whispered, walking towards him and taking his jacket from his hands to hang on the hanger. What the hell? She thought simultaneously. Why did I just call him sir? But then, she couldn't just call him Jian since he was her employer and unless he let her call him by his name, she had to be polite.

         Instead of answering her, Jian headed right into the kitchen and started searching for something in the drawers. Kasey followed him suit after hanging his jacket and looked at him curiously as he looked into the drawers. When he briefly massaged his temple, she realized he was looking for a painkiller. Since she had time to explore the kitchen, she also knew where they were. Opening the first cupboard, she took one and extended out at him.

        Taken aback, Jian stared at her and then, the painkillers in her hand. He murmured a brief thank you when he took it from her grip and grabbed a glass of water. Sitting at a chair, he drank water and shut his eyes. From how he looked, Kasey assumed he was exhausted.

        She realized she was leaning against the door and watching him, so she felt like she had to do something, and abruptly asked, "Coffee?" This turned Jian's attention at her, with his weird glance at her since he entered, and when he didn't reply, she added, "Or tea." She was just trying to make this awkward encounter less awkward by something. Desperately, she added, "Anything."

       "No, thank you," he said firmly.

        "Really—coffee would be good for your headache." When Jian nodded in defeat, she gave him her best smile and made him and herself coffee again. She put his cup in front of him and sat across his seat. She didn't know what to say because he wasn't much of a talker. "So, I never introduced myself," she said awkwardly. "I'm Kasey Whitton—"

        "I know who you are," he replied sharply. Kasey's mouth hung open in the air when she was just preparing herself to say Nice to meet you, Jian. That was how normal people communicated, right? For a while, she shamelessly eyed him: not because she liked his sharp jaw—although it looked sort of hot—or his flawlessly pale skin—probably much better than hers. No, she was just eyeing him because she was trying to understand how someone could be colder than ice.

           He basically preferred her invisible and ignored her since the beginning of their conversation. She suddenly noticed she liked it much better when it was just Carl and her. At least Carl smiled or made a sound, unlike his father. "How's Huan?" He asked suddenly, and Kasey was caught off guard by his question.

        "Huan?" She repeated, the name so foreign in her lips.

        "Carl Huan Li," he slowly said, rolling his eyes.

        She should have guessed Carl also had a Chinese name. "F—fine."

         "When did he sleep?" He fluently continued as if he didn't realize her shock, or he simply didn't care.

        "Around twelve."

         "Next time, make sure he sleeps earlier," he ordered, taking another sip from the coffee she'd made him. Instead of thanking her, he was actually giving her a lecture about what to do. In a way, it was sweet how he cared about his son but on the other hand, it was drastic how he didn't seem to care about anyone else.

If he was someone else, someone who was aware of others' feelings, he'd—should've—asked about how her first day had been. He'd have asked if his son exhausted her a lot. Or if there was anything she wanted. But something nice.

          "Sure, sir," she murmured, her tone barely audible. He didn't mind though; she didn't think he was listening to her anyway. His gaze was locked at the rim of his cup as he drew circles around it with his finger. Kasey was actually mad but before she'd do something really terrible, that would both damage her reputation and her job, she raised to her feet and said, "I'd better go home if you don't need me, Mr. Li."

          Without sparing a look at her, Jian replied, "You may."

          "Goodnight." No reply.

           Up until she met Jian Li, she'd call her night perfect but now she didn't even know how to rate it—and she realized she was holding her breath when she was finally out. She let out a long sigh and walked back home in the dark.