27

Now that I had control over Ethan, it began to feel like I was committing some sort of felony.

A part of me suggested I withdraw from my revenge plan, but another part of me had this kind of vengeance that could not be sated until I brought Ethan down.

I fidgeted with the seemingly harmless-looking device that Mr. Varny had delivered to me. Unknown to Ethan, his movements and actions are now under my watch.

It was normal to feel so elated having possessed a great weapon against a great enemy, but I wasn't elated, I just wanted to put him in his place, that was all, and particularly get back what was mine.

"What is your next plan?" I heard Henry's voice behind me. He went around the sofa and sat next to me.

"I'm awaiting Mr. Gould's response. Meanwhile, I will keep a record of Ethan's every movement, particularly his mysterious lover. I doubt Chloe knows about it, but I wouldn't be surprised if she knew...they are birds of a feather." I reclined on the chair. He was staring into my face.

"I've done a private research about Mr. Gould," he began. "My source says he used to be a lawyer for a cryptic mafia group..."

"That's new. So what you are saying is, he is not innocent after all."

He nodded in affirmation.

"I'll have to change my ways with him."

"You'll have to be careful with him," he emphasized.

"I didn't know you had a private source?" I arched my brows at him.

"Well," he leaned back on the sofa. "He's a distant cousin." He smiled.

"Perhaps he could help in the near future..."

"Perhaps... he's a busy man."

I chuckled.

"Let's go to a party." He announced, out of the blue.

"What party?" I laughed.

"It's a wedding, actually." He clicked his tongue.

"A wedding? Where, when? Maybe I could make time?"

"A colleague at work, next weekend at St. Peter's," he responded.

"Nice. I'll check my schedule and see if I can come with you..."

"I want you to come with me, I need you to come with me...I need a date."

"Oh really?" I chuckled and leaned closer to him, his eyes were on me, wondering what I was about to do, and I found myself dropping a quick kiss on his lips.

I pulled back immediately, my face was flustered, and my cheeks were burning with heat.

"That's new," I heard him say amusingly, and I fidgeted with my fingers.

I don't even know why I did that in the first place.

"I'll take that as a yes." He let out a little laughter.

"Mm," I assured him, and then I sniffed. Something was not right in the air. "Do you smell something burning?"

"Hell!" He leaped up, dashing to the kitchen.

"What?" I called from the living room.

"Nathan's favorite pie is a black lump of flour!" he yelled. I laughed.

"It's fine, he can do without dessert."

Leo

He was the most curious one among the other children, the boy I was surprised to meet again at the least expected place ever.

"A baby kicked a ball in my grandma's tummy..." He was saying to me while he clasped my hands. The other children were murmuring behind us.

"A ball?"

"Yes." He chirped.

"In your grandma's tummy?" What he was saying wasn't clear to me, and all I could derive from his statement was that his grandmother was pregnant.

"Yes!" He said excitedly, clutching tightly at me.

"Okay, that's great."

"Will you buy me chocolates?" He asked and seriously, I had expected him to say ice cream, not chocolates.

"Sure. After the game, I will."

"Pinky promise." He stopped walking, popping out his stubby pinky finger.

"Promise." I crossed mine with his.

"Have you two met before?" Mr. Harvey, a senator and a member of the COOPER CORP.board, was passing by.

"Yes. Not too long ago," I responded.

"What is your name?" He asked Nathan.

"I'm Nathan." Nathan chirruped.

"That's short for Nathaniel." Mr. Harvey nodded smilingly. "He's a charming boy...and come to think of it, there's a striking semblance between you two." He added, much to my surprise.

"Really?"

"Of course...I wanted to believe you were his father, but I had doubts since you were not even married, and seriously, everyone would have been aware if you had a child. Celine confirmed my doubts not too long ago." He explained.

"Are you my daddy?" Nathan cried.

"What is he talking about?" Mr. Harvey was curious.

"Nathan," I bent." "What are you saying?"

"Are you from Hogwarts?" He asked. By then I had become quite confused.

"No, I'm not. Why?"

"My mummy said my daddy is from Hogwarts." He replied, pouting.

"O-okay..." I was trying to figure out the situation. The other kids chanted past us. Mr. Harvey's insightful pair of eyes were fixed on us.

"But I told mummy I want to have two daddies." He probably blurted out of his naivety.

"Two daddies?" Mr. Harvey asked.

"Yes!"

I felt I needed to meet this little boy's mother very soon.

"Please be my daddy." He cried, clutching my hands tightly. I could only stare mutely at him.

"Mr. Cooper?" Mr. Harvey's cool voice caught my attention. "I think you should see the guardian of this little boy. He shouldn't go about asking people to be his father. I think it is a situation you must attend to," he advised. I rose to my full height.

"I'll see to that, sir," I assured him and he left.

"Come, we are lagging." I urged Nathan, but he refused to move an inch.

"Will you be my daddy?" He cried again. "The other kids have their daddies bring them to school." He crossed his arms in defiance.

"Don't you like mummy taking you to school? I think it's great!" I tried to convince him.

"No!" He was adamant. "I want my daddy too." His voice shook. I felt he was on the verge of tears as his head hung down from his neck.

"Nathan? Look at me," I tilted his chin to my face. "You'll have your daddy bring you to school, all right?"

"But he's back at Hogwarts..." He cried.

I was indeed in a situation I didn't bargain for. Who were the parents of this boy?

"He'll return soon, all right?"

He shook his head profusely.

"He won't!" He cried again, this time not only the shriek came but also hot tears. "He didn't come for all of my birthdays and all of Christmas. He won't take me to school!" He sobbed.

I was shaken by his reaction.

Did his mother know it had gotten to this?

That he didn't buy her lies and half-truths anymore?

What could have possibly happened to their family for a man to have left his son behind at such an age? I wondered to myself, contemplating how to pacify him.

"Enough now, let's go get chocolates."

He shook his head, sniffing. I wiped away his tears and patted his shoulders.

"Come on..."

"Please bring me to school," he repeated.

"Nathan?" A woman's voice came from behind. It was Miss Honey, the kids' teacher.

"I'm so sorry, sir..." She drew the boy to her.

"Never mind, it was no inconvenience," I said, my gaze still fixed on Nathan, and coming to think of it, I was starting to see what Mr. Harvey was talking about, the resemblance between us.

I thought I was the only one who noticed when I thought we both shared the same eye colors, but there was nothing there to think about.

Was there?

"I'm sorry, nevertheless. He didn't mean to be a bother." She pleaded.

"It's fine. Please take care of him."

The look in Nathan's eyes haunted me and made me feel guilty despite knowing nothing.

As Miss Honey took him away to join the other kids on the golf field, his wistful eyes lingered on me.

"Why were you crying?" She was wiping the tears from his cheeks.

"Are you hungry?" I could still hear her even when you were out of sight.

In my mind, I didn't think I could be of much help to him, though he clamored for it. I couldn't just waltz into someone else's life.

I didn't know what might have gone wrong in his family and I didn't want to interfere, although Nathan was pitiful.

Furthermore, I was confused and torn between polite non-interference in a stranger's life and the favor a child sought from me.

Layla

Nathan returned from his field trip with swollen eyes and I couldn't but panic, though Henry tried his best to calm me down.

Good Miss Honey personally brought him home, explaining how Nathan had caused a scene during the event.

"Do you think he's uncomfortable among the other kids?" I asked for the opinion of the teacher.

"I do not think so, Miss Carter...he has been cheerful and genial among them since his first day." She responded.

"What do you then think happened?"

Henry stroked my back as my voice shook. I couldn't restrain my anxiety.

"I believe he was just overwhelmed..."

"Overwhelmed? Nathan's never been overwhelmed to the point of weeping like he had been spanked." I glanced at him, he was sitting quietly on the sofa.

"Nathan? What happened to you? Did anyone hurt you?" I asked him again. He only shook his head, as he had previously done.

"Tell me what happened." I almost yelled at him.

"That's okay," Henry said, helping me to the sofa. I sat, wondering what could have gone wrong.

It bothered me so much.

"Thank you very much for taking care of Nathan, Miss Honey."

"It's my responsibility, sir. I'll take my leave now." She said and walked out of the room.

"Come on Nathan. Let's go take a warm bath." He took Nathan along with him, and then I was alone, with several thoughts swimming through my mind.

What could have prompted such an outburst? Something was not right and Nathan was not telling me.

Perhaps I should give him time.

Right after his bath, he had lunch and went ahead to sleep. He didn't wake up until late at night, the clock said thirteen minutes past three a.m., when he crawled in my bed, nuzzling against me.

"Mummy?" He whispered before he dozed off again.

In the morning, around six, Henry called to know if he was fine before he had breakfast.

"I want more peanut butter, mummy." I was so glad when he said that.

It was like a burden had been lifted off my chest. I felt he might have not recovered from the incident of the previous day. I couldn't bear him to be gloomy at all. And when I took him to school, he greeted his teacher, Miss Honey, cheerfully.

"I'm glad he is okay now. Did he say what was wrong?" She asked when he had skipped into his classroom. I could hear a loud cheer coming from the kindergarten.

"No, he didn't, and I do not want to bring it up anymore. It might make him sad or tearful again. I can only hope that he tells me himself very soon."

She nodded in agreement.

"Children need patience and time, and I think you are such a wonderful parent, Miss Carter." She smiled courteously.

"Thank you. Can I check up on him once more, then I'll be on my way?"

"Sure. This way..."

I had driven out of the school parking lot and quite far from the school when I realized I had given Nathan the wrong box of confectionery. I had given him the box of caramel I packed for myself instead of his box of chocolates.

I had originally marked it differently to avoid confusion, but it seemed my aim was not met after all. He had grabbed the wrong box in excitement, and he wouldn't be happy with the contents at all. I didn't know why, but Nathan hated caramel, of all things. I glanced at my wristwatch, it was still quite early, so I made a U-turn.

**

Leo

Nathan's aloofness throughout the entire field trip prompted me to visit him at school the following day.

"Mummy just left." He cried when he saw me.

"Yes, Miss Carter left a minute ago...she wanted to make sure he was comfortable in the class's incident." Miss Honey reported.

"You said miss?" I didn't expect that. Was she divorced or something?

"Yes, Miss Carter, sir. She's Nathan's registered guardian."

"I'm sorry, but does his father's name not appear on any of his documents?"

"As much as I know, it does not. And Miss Carter said that she was single." The woman replied politely. I understood.

"I brought you chocolates, Nathan. I hope you like them." I handed a box of chocolate bars to him.

"Yippeeeeee!" He celebrated. "Thank you, you are the best!" He smiled, running off to show his friends in the classroom.

"I must say you are very kind, sir. You have a fixed schedule, yet you make time for a little stranger like Nathan..."

"He's not a little stranger to me," I paused to think for a while. "He's someone I like to see."

She nodded smilingly.

"It's great to have great minds like you in the system, sir. It's also an honor to have you at our school. I'll take you to the Principal..."

"You don't have to do that, I only came to see Nathan. I'll get going. Take good care of him, please."