‘Oh my fucking Lord!’ Lavender exclaimed in her head. He hadn't changed a bit. She could see that he was visibly thinner and with a couple of early gray strands to his beautiful creamy blonde hair, but his face remained the same. Lavender thought he was still handsome, still breathtakingly and abso-fucking-lutely gorgeous. She thought she was over it, but his handsome face always brought tears to her eyes and it did at that moment. To Lavender, he was just too beautiful and it pissed her off to know that his beauty still affected her.
It was for a brief moment but when she locked gaze with his winter gray eyes, her heart skipped. She'd been staring at them through her children for years, but staring at the original made her feel different. She instantly tore her gaze away from his, but her eyes stubbornly shifted to his lips. They were slightly separated from surprise. She remembered that his lips were deep red. They were one of the favorite parts of his body she liked, so she always paid close attention to them. She could see that his lips were pale red which was usually the color it took when he was sick or undergoing stress. She returned her gaze to his eyes and noticed that they were darker, deeper, and almost lifeless. She started to feel concerned but quickly mentally slapped herself, reminding herself that he was the enemy.
"Laverne," he whispered. The only man who called her that name. She used to think that the name was special but hearing it slip from his lips made her body shudder with disgust and her face contort with irritation. The discomfort and disgust on her face and body reaction were so obvious that Stacy saw it. She wondered what was going on and who the woman was.
Stacy looked away from the mysterious woman looking at her boss with hatred and her eyes fell on the two boys standing at the other side of the room. One stood in front, his hands comfortably resting in his pockets and no expression on his face. The other boy was hiding behind his back and looking at Rominic from the side. What made Stacy drop her notepad and phone from shock was their faces. They were both identical. They had different colored hair with slightly different haircuts but their eyes were the same as her boss. No, their faces were exactly the same, especially the one who had his hair color as well.
While she was still trying to process this, her eyes caught the movement of another child. It was a girl but even if she was a girl, the resemblance between them was another shock. It couldn't be a coincidence.
Rominic tore his gaze away from Lavender when Stacy dropped her notepad and her phone. He saw the surprise and confusion on her face and then followed her line of gaze to see why she was surprised. Just like Stacy, the moment he saw his sons, he was dumbfounded. His mind raced with unbelievable thoughts and his heartbeat accelerated. The speed of the beat got too intense and a sudden wave of vertigo made him stumble forward. His main bodyguard was quick to catch him before he fell face flat on the floor.
"Easy now," Savia said, unable to stop herself from making a snarky remark. "We wouldn't want you dying before you prove yourself useful,"
Zach threw her a stern and warning gaze over his shoulder. "Watch it, Savvy. Zayne is here," Savvy scoffed and looked away, grumbling under her breath. That alone was enough to snap Stacy out of it. She looked at the three children and the woman and was puzzled by the hatred seeping out of them. Well, except for the shy one.
Zachary turned his attention back to his father and forced a smile on his face. "Hello, sir," he said with a sweet sarcastic voice. "Thank you for coming but can you sit down? You look like someone who's about to faint,"
Stacy looked between the boy and her boss and couldn't help but snort. He was definitely her boss's son. That snarky and sharp attitude runs in their family. Her snort drew attention to her. Savia frowned when she saw the well-dressed woman standing there. She was brunette with dark brown eyes and a slender body. Her work outfit was professional but it looked too good on her to Savia's imagination, though it did look good on her.
Savia instantly saw her as a threat and folded her arms arrogantly, glaring hard at Stacy. Unknown to her, she was using her family's signature glare, a look that Rominic's sister had only given Stacy once and she never wanted to see it again. Stacy gulped and looked away with a twisted smile. She didn't need to ask for confirmation. Her boss was a father.
‘Who's the unfortunate woman?’ She thought. She felt sorry for the woman that would never live up to his ex-fianceé. ‘Maybe that's why she hid the existence of her children because she didn't want them to be around a man who was only ever thinking about another woman,‘
"There's five of us," Zach said, turning his gaze away from his father. "The third is currently undergoing surgery and the fourth is receiving IMV at the moment,"
"IM the fuck?" Stacy blurted out. She gasped and covered her mouth, mentally cursing herself for losing composure.
Zachary looked at her with a brow raised. "Intermittent mandatory ventilation," Stacy blinked, a sign that she didn't get it.
Zayne giggled, the first sound he'd made since their arrival. "Mechanical ventilation," he said, teasingly. Stacy nodded, clearly still not understanding it. She was slow to things like this. Her sister who was a nurse often teased her for forgetting everything they talked about even if it had been repeated a hundred times.
Zayne laughed this time. "She's receiving artificial air,"
"Oh!" Stacy exclaimed with wide eyes, hitting her fist on her palm. "That's more like it! You should have started with that. I'm Stacy by the way and I'm his secretary," she liked Zayne immediately. He was the only one who spoke nicely and had no disdain in his tone or eyes. "What's your name, young lord?"
"Young lord?"
"You know, because you're cute, short, and well, him," she inclined a nod to Rominic.
Zayne blushed and shyly put his finger in his mouth. "I'm Zayne. Zayne with a 'y' in the middle, Z-A-Y-N-E. Mom said she likes the unique spelling or something like that,"
"There's also other alternative spelling, you know,"
"Yeah, I like Zain too but I like Zayne better,"
"Me too. I had a classmate who was Zane in high school, he was an ass– er, jerk. He was a big bully,"
"I'm not a bully," Zayne cried out distraughtly.
"You're too cute to be a bully. How can there be an adorable version of that bas– ur, I mean, my boss? It's like your face is created as the embodiment of cuteness and you're a walking cupid arrow," Zayne turned red in the face. Lavender watched her son and the woman interact. She strangely didn't feel wary of her. She took an instant liking to the woman. Savia thought the same way as she already got a misguided hint of what Stacy thought of her father. It was clear their relationship wasn't like that.
Rominic, on the other hand, kept thinking about the fact that the woman he had been mourning and pining for was alive and that he was suddenly a father and two out of them were sick. He couldn't get his thoughts straight so he sat down and buried his face in his palms. He remained silent throughout the wait. The only people conversing were his cheeky secretary and his possibly youngest child.
The whole thing felt like a nightmare dressed like a daydream.
A few more hours later Zyaire was declared out of danger. Rominic couldn't stand it any longer. He needed a place to clear his head, a moment to himself to think. He couldn't shake off the gaze of his children and the obvious disdain from the woman sitting next to him. He suddenly became claustrophobic.
"Stacy, don't we have that dinner meeting?" He asked, trying to come up with an excuse to leave.
Stacy who was busy smooching her cheek with Zayne's paused and scowled. She tutted disapprovingly. There was no way she was allowing her boss to take away her special time. Savia was a huge fanatic for male children, especially one with Zayne's level of cuteness. There was no way she was throwing away a chance to cuddle one free of charge.
"What meeting, sir?" She asked with a polite smile.
"The—"
"What are you talking about, sir?" She tightened her smile. Rominic who knew about this finally understood. He wasn't in the mood to argue with the persistent and cheeky woman so he sighed and stood up. "Are you leaving, sir?" Rominic knew she meant, "Don't you dare drag me along, I'm busy."
He exhaled. "I'll come back tomorrow, my head is killing me,"
"You don't have to come back," Lavender blurted out wistfully. Rominic felt his heart plunge but he didn't bother to look at her.
"I need to calm my head. I'll leave first. Stacy, please take care of them,"
"With pleasure, sir. Do remember to eat. You wouldn't want to die before you get to the bottom of this now, will ya?" Lavender stared at Stacy in disbelief. The woman was cheekier than she expected. None of his past secretaries could talk to Rominic like that. After all, what was their true relationship?
Rominic wasn't sure if he should bid the children farewell. After contemplating it for a few seconds, he thought against it and left. He'd be back, that was one thing he knew for sure.