AIDEN


    I looked down at the small figure that was staring up at me withrge, innocent eyes, a colorful children''s book sprawled open on the floor between us.


    "Sorry!" she waved at me and said with a small apologetic smile, her tiny hand fluttering in the air like a butterfly.


    I couldn''t help but smile back at her. She had a really contagious smile that seemed to light up the entire hallway.


    "That''s alright," I answered as I bent down to pick up the book thaty at our feet, its glossy pages slightly crumpled from the fall.


    "Wow," I heard her gasp, and I looked up at her, puzzled by the sudden excitement in her voice.


    "I want that kind of pen," she said with cute puppy eyes, apanied by an adorable pout that could melt even the coldest heart.


    "What kind?" I frowned as I rose to my full height and looked down at the book in my hands, turning it over, wondering where she saw a pen.


    "That one," she said and pointed at my chest, her small finger almed directly at my breast pocket.


    I looked down and saw the silver pen nestled in my pocket. "Oh," I hadn''t even realized that I had absent-mindedly taken it from the reception hall earlier.


    "You can have it." I took the pen from my pocket and handed it to her, watching as her eyes lit up with delight.


    With a wide grin that stretched from ear to ear, her small delicate fingers wrapped around the pen as if it were a precious treasure.


    "Thank you!" she eximed.


    Muttering another ''thank you,'' she took her book from me, cradling it against her chest. She opened the first page and wrote in it with the pen, her tongue poking out slightly in concentration. "It writes so beautifully," she muttered, seeming mesmerized by the glide of the ink on her paper.


    I looked down at the ''A'' she scrawled in the book with an arched brow. To be honest, there was nothing particrly beautiful about that wobbly, childish scribble.


    "Uhh yeah, I guess," I replied.


    "It is beautiful," she said firmly, as if daring me to dispute her as she scrawled another curve with great


    care.


    "Thank you once again." Then her brows slightly furrowed into a cute frown as she added, "You should be more careful when you''re walking, though, so you don''t bump into people. People don''t really like getting bumped into, you know."


    My smile automatically widened, amused by her sudden shift into a scolding mode. So this little munchkin is lecturing me. Interesting.


    "But it''s not solely my fault," I countered, unable to resist engaging in this adorable debate.Content from N?velDr(a)ma.Org.


    Her frown deepened, creating little wrinkles on her forehead. "How is that?"


    "You weren''t looking your way either. We both bumped into each other because we were both distracted," I exined, trying to keep a straight face.


    She shrugged her little shoulders sassily with her brows hiked up her hairline. "I guess we are even then," she muttered as she started to walk away without a backward nce.


    I turned and watched her walk away. I wished she woulde back and talk to me more. Even if it was to scold me, I would not mind.


    Just as I turned, a young nurse who stood at the end of the hall with a worried expression on her face hollered out, "Amie!"


    I turned back to see Amie look back with an innocent expression. She locked gaze with me and shrugged. Then she turned and continued walking while admiring her "beautiful pen" "Amiel Get over here!"


    Amie looked back and when she saw the nurse walking toward her, she giggled and started to run, still giggling.


    "Oh my! This kid is a handful," the young nurse muttered under her breath as she fast walked past me, slowly easing into a run.


    "Amie!" She called once more before she turned the corner that Amie had also run through.


    I shook my head and smiled to myself. As I started to continue my walk out, my phone rang out again.


    I winced when I saw the caller''s ID. Amie had totally stripped my mind of every thought.


    I picked up the call and rushed out. "I''m on my way.


    I stopped before the tall gates and the security stopped their usual check halfway when they realized that it was me.


    "No need for all of that," I heard through the inte. "Open the gates."


    I drove through the gates as soon as they opened, nodding at the security''s team greetings.


    After I parked my car in the parking lot, I made my way to the building.


    The moment I stepped in, my face lit up as my gazended on her.


    "Mom," I called as I pocketed my car keys, I opened my arms for a hug when my eyesnded on the figure. behind her and my smile froze on my face. "Sharon."