Chapter 12

A call pulled Damon out of his thoughts. It was from the store where he had ordered a bunch of toys, asking whether he had any special instructions.

"Yes. I would like a custom plush toy." He sent the instructions and a picture over. Soon after, the store emailed him to confirm the details and explained that the toy would be sent over once it was ready.

He thought that he would need to wait for a few days before the custom toy was made but to his pleasant surprise, it arrived along with the other toys at 2pm the following day. Sorting the toys took a while and he was waiting outside his company building at 4pm. Avery's car arrived exactly at 4pm.

"You are on time." He couldn't help being awed by her strict sense of time.

She didn't look like she intended to get down from the car as she cast him a glance to rush him. He circled over to the passenger side.

"The only two things I hate are making my son wait and giving him empty promises. So you know, you better not do that to him." She warned in response to his comment about her keeping time.

"I wasn't planning to." He stuffed the bags of toys into the back seat and signalled at the shotgun. "May I?"

She ignored him, which he took as a yes and entered to sit. Seeing her from up close, she looked even more beautiful. She was wearing a simple blue dress that matched the butterfly hair clip near her ear. No need to ask, Angel must have chosen that.

"You look beautiful." He whispered, earning a glare.

"Did I just hear you say that you are ready to get off the car?" She twisted his words into a threat.

"No, no!" He raised his hands in surrender. "I said, the sky is beautiful. I just happen to love blue a lot. Especially…" He was looking into her eyes that were captivating even when she was in a bad mood, but he knew better than to mention it. The last thing he wanted was to be kicked out when they had come this far.

"I'm glad that you know your place." Her hands clutched the steering wheel.

He was silent for a while before he finally said, "I'm glad that you are willing to let me see him."

The rest of the ride was silent, but it was only a few minutes so it was not entirely awkward. He had thought of it as an awesome coincidence when he learnt that his villa was in the neighbourhood right next to the one she lived in. It would be incredibly easy to access her villa later. Luckily, she picked him up at his office today. Who knew how he would react to him living so close by? She might just move out to avoid him.

When they arrived, he peeked out of the car to the large front yard that had several toys thrown carelessly in the grass. Was Angel playing around nearby? His pulse accelerated and his chest felt stuffed. This was the first time he was officially meeting his son.

Avery shot him a glance and he got down the car, looking around and waiting for a little boy to jump onto her.

She led the way into the villa and called a middle-aged woman over. "Is Angel asleep?"

The woman greeted Damon briefly before answering, "No, he is in the play room. Should I bring him over?"

She didn't need to. The boy who must have heard his mother's car pull over rushed down wearing one shoe. He jumped right into Avery's arms.

Damon couldn't help staring at the scene for a while. As soon as she picked her son up, the constantly irritated Avery was nowhere to be seen. All he could see now was a doting mother who had finally reunited with his son after a long day of work. He had the urge to pull them both into his arms but had no right to do so.

If only he had listened to his gut back then. If he had been more stubborn, they would be a family now. Angel would not just shout 'mommy' when he saw them in the living room. He would shout 'papa' too, and he would give him a treat.

"Where is your other shoe?" She asked the boy, completely forgetting about the man she had brought home.

Angek got down from her arms and ran back to his playroom, then returned with his missing shoe in his hand. She smiled and crouched to help him wear it. "The weather has been cold lately. Shoes and socks will help keep you warm. Don't throw them off, okay?" She dotingly explained.

Angel nodded and finally noticed the man behind his mother. He looked over curiously.