Laurice gasped sharply. The man's warm breath spread across her shoulders and neck down to her bare arms. The tingling feeling lingers there. Shock was also reflected in her clear and wide opened eyes.
'What was that? What did he just say? She did not catch it.'
His voice was low and she was initially distracted by their closeness so she was not able to process the words that escaped his mouth.
Laurice tilted her head to her right to ask him again and was welcomed by a handsome structured face instead, his expressions filled with yearning and warmth. Even her heart swelled for him. Sid's well-defined jawline, brows and nosetip are already filling her vision completely. She stared unknowingly at the man who was leaning over her shoulder. The weight was bearable but the sight of him was just too much for her. She quite envied the man's sideprofile which was way eye-catching while she herself did not quite like hers. She had that distinct but round cat eye look and not so prominent jawline, the only saving grace according to her friends was her mesmerizing pair of dimples whenever she smiles. She inherited those from her father. Almost every part of her face resembles that of her father's. The eyes, the nose and the lips as well as her unusual habits she picked up from him when she was a bit younger. On the other hand, people don't really recognize her as her own mother's daughter. Besides her shapely figure that is, nothing else is comparable to her mother's.
Laurice was baffled when the man swept his gaze across her own face. The usual sharpness was apparent in his eyes which somehow spelled trouble. She shivered in her thoughts.
...
'This woman really.'
Sid almost glared at Laurice when he didn't hear any response from her after he spoke. It's been a full minute already when he noticed the woman's gaze. His heart skipped a beat when he realized that she was indeed staring at him. But putting that aside, he was a bit disappointed still. The woman wasn't listening attentively at all.
Sid squinted his eyes and asked her, "Did you hear me just now?"
Laurice gulped in fear and answered, "I did."
Sid deepened his gaze towards her, his eyes narrowed in slits and was looking at her rather suspiciously. "What did i say then?" He said.
Laurice: " !!! "
She's dead, alright. Why did she have to lie?
Laurice cleared her throat before responding clearly with, "I heard you but i didn't understand what you've said. What was it again?" She bit her lower lips afterwards. Blood rushed from her pursed lips all over to her cheeks. She was blushed pink in embarrassment.
They were both staring at each other's eyes. One glaring cold gaze over another's pitiful and pleading look.
'Spare me, young master!' Laurice almost purred. Until she felt her neck was growing stiff every passing moment. Noticing her discomfort, the man finally lifted his head over her shoulder and stood properly only to do something more unexpected. Suddenly twisting her swing seat in front of him, Laurice's back was now facing the playground and her sight was only filled with the man himself. Sid lowered his head towards her while Laurice gaped at him in return. Amusement flashed across her beautiful face.
Continuing on, Sid repeated his exact same words at Laurice. His face leveled and was hovering hers. If she still didn't hear it, then he was just going to smack her lips right here, right now in punishment.
"It would have been amazing if he was our own son."
His words left the woman stunned for a good few minutes.
...
Eeehh??
'What does he mean by that? Was the man regretting now because she wasn't Little Louie's biological mother? This is not her fault. But why does it sounded like a masked proposal instead? Like he was purposely trying to lure her to bear him another son? Would that possibly satisfy him?' Laurice trembled in her own train of thoughts.
She pondered in depth.
'Wait, nothing was quite right here. If her assumptions are correct, then the man was clearly insinuating that there was actually no wife around. And he was eyeing her as a candidate to be the mother figure for his own child. But where is Little Louie's mother, really? There was no mention of her since the beginning. Was Sid had some bad blood towards that woman? Most importantly however, was the man even married?'
Laurice was feeling restless inside. Her heart was completely unsettled.
She would never date a married man, that's a given.
But there was no ring on Sid's finger. She noticed that for a long time already. A flash of relief crept inside her heart but she was still a bit bothered by it.
'Ask him!' A part of her mind was urging her to speak already. A round of ringing bombarded her mind it was deafening.
Sid: " ... "
Laurice was still wearing a complicated expression. She was obviously overthinking this, and was unaware that the man himself was already calm on the inside and was amused by her instead.
He sighed and stated without a pause, "Little Louie wasn't born from my own seed. He was the son of a close friend of mine. A few months following his birth, his parents died in a car crash. It was a head-on collision, both his mother and father did not survive from the incident. I knew i had no custodial rights back then. Since there was no will left by his parents. But i decided to firmly adopt him without thinking the consequences. Both the couple's families even objected and were unwilling at first to hand him over, but i was the only godfather of their grandson and Little Louie's parents were both an only child of their respective parents. So i persisted nonstop just to father the child. I was only twenty six then. I did all means to persuade them. They relented after some time."
Laurice: " ... "
Sid stopped for awhile and swept his son from a distance a glance that is so tender and warmhearted. He felt a lump on his throat with the sight of the child but he still continued. He told Laurice in detail, "Little Louie's parents were like a brother and a sister to me. I owed them my life once and i've thought it was only right to return them the favor. Atleast that's what i believed from the beginning. But only now was i able to decipher my real intentions, my own desire of making him mine."
Sid felt an indescribable joy for letting it all out at once. He have never revealed this to anyone else before. Not even to his own family. He never speak about it. One day, he just decided to register a baby under his own family name, hired him a nanny and took Little Louie home. Shocking both his own mother and his brothers. Even the elders of his family and his closest friends opposed his decision for reason of lack of experience and they worry it might affect his future married life. But Sid Walsh, the man that he is right now, have proven himself worthy as a father. Despite his cold demeanor, he showered his son with his love and attention and raised him quite lavishly. Only he felt he was a bit lacking on the intimacy department. But he thought he would work on it. With Laurice by his side.
With a triumphant look on his face, he shifted his gaze from his son back to Laurice only to find her looking rather wretched on the inside. Tears looming around her eyes. She was pursuing her quivering lips as if restraining herself. Sid's heart squeezed with her reaction. Suddenly, one solitary tear fell across her sullen face.