Take My Breath Away

Joshua and Terilynn already had a little third wheel on their date. Joshua figured, 'What's one more? Nothing amazing is going to happen tonight anyway.' "Hello, Sheffield, I'm going to see my idol. Wanna come along?"

"Your idol? Since when do you have an idol?"

"Terilynn's bringing over the little girl in my WeChat profile photo. Come on, man. You gotta meet her!"

Having just been tortured by little Nastas the whole day, Sheffield felt his head spin. He was still nursing a headache from that little encounter. "No way."

"Blowing me off just like that? The baby is part of the Huo family. You wanna get in good with these guys, then you need to learn to like them. All of them. At least try to be civil." Joshua wasn't going to give up so easily.

"Piss off! You want to be a punching bag for a little kid, be my guest. Not my style, sorry." Evelyn had to take his surname. Their kid wouldn't be a Huo, not technically, anyway.

Joshua insisted, "You need a break. A little R and R will do you some good. Come on, meet the baby girl with me. We can hang out while we watch her."

"Leave me alone! I feel like crap!"

"Fine! I just helped you out and you can't help me? See what happens next time you need help!"

Of course Joshua had it all planned out. He would play with the little girl for a bit, then pawn her off on Sheffield and go on his date, sans kids.

Sheffield rolled his eyes and gave in reluctantly. "Fine. Where?"

Joshua grinned. "Nice! The north gate of Shining International Plaza."

"I'll be there," Sheffield said, wearily. Sheffield thumped his pen on the desk. But when he thought of who got it for him, he picked it up, blew off the imaginary dust, put the cap back on and lowered it gently into the pen holder.

At the north gate of Shining International Plaza

Joshua and Terilynn were there, but Sheffield hadn't arrived yet.

"She is even cuter than the photo. You need to take better pics, Terrilynn," Joshua commented when he saw the baby girl. He brushed her hair affectionately. She was wearing a mask. Her big eyes blinked adorably.

Then he asked curiously, "

ing.

To Sheffield's bewilderment, Terilynn finally realized that she was too excited. She took a few deep breaths and said, "Joshua and I have tried everything, but she's still crying. Can you give it a try?"

"Me?" Sheffield pointed at himself in surprise.

"Yes, you're handsome. Gwyn likes handsome boys. Come on, give it a try!" Without giving him a chance to refuse, Terilynn put Gwyn in Sheffield's arms.

Sheffield was forced to take the crying baby. Her eyes were filled with tears. "Hey, what's up with the mask?"

"To hide her from the press. Why do you ask?" Terilynn asked.

"She's short of breath already from crying so much. The mask makes it more difficult for her to breathe. We gotta take it off." Sheffield eased the straps off gently, then took the mask off.

The baby's face was covered with tears and snot. Terilynn took out a tissue to mop the little girl's face.

Gwyn continued to cry as she looked at Sheffield's face. With one arm holding the little tyke, Sheffield took the tissue from Terilynn to wipe her nose. "Sweet little girl, don't cry. Uncle Sheffield is here with you. It's all right..." Sheffield was never so patient.

After wiping her tears and snot, Sheffield finally saw her little face clearly. He nodded and said, "Cute and pretty. She'll be a heartbreaker when she grows up."

Hearing his voice, Gwyn never moved her gaze away from Sheffield's face again.