Vincent was smiling brightly, waving his tiny little hands in the air.
"He reminds me of my young brother when he was little," Tessa commented with a smile.
They were in the garden, enjoying the lovely day. Kiara placed a small toy and the baby immediately put it in his mouth.
"That's not food! Don't eat it," she laughed, and the little one laughed along with her.
"We should have brought along his colourful ball," Tessa said. She was talking about going back upstairs to get the ball when Vine appeared. Both ladies were rather surprised to see him there, so they stared at each other, and then at him.
"A very good afternoon to you, young master Vine," Tessa greeted him with the utmost politeness in her voice.
Vine simply nodded and asked Tessa to excuse them. Kiara was scared. What had she done wrong again? She fidgeted and prayed in her heart for strength to face Vine's wrath for that day.
The man was dressed in all white. His jeans were pure white, together with a white golf t-shirt and shoes. The way the clothes were clean, it appeared as if they were all new, yet of all the items that Vine was wearing, none was new.
He sat down and smiled at his son who was in his baby chair. The little boy laughed and kicked in the air. He raised his little hands, motioning for Vine to pick him up. The young dad carefully took his son and kissed him on the cheek.
"He loves me," he said to Kiara.
"Yes he does," Kiara quickly answered and licked her lips, waiting for the horror to come.
Sensing that she had suddenly become tense, Vine started to feel bad. He knew that he was never nice to Kiara, yet he had never really taken time to watch her body language whenever he was with her. The young lady was seriously uncomfortable and scared.
"You are too tense," he commented.
"I…I am waiting to hear what I have done wrong," she said.
"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked, although he already knew what exactly she was talking about.
"You know exactly what I am talking about. I am tense because I am waiting for you to tell me that I am loose, that I jump into bed with the first man I see. You're here to remind me about how poor I am, how useless I am and unworthy of…"
"Shh, shh, it's enough Kiara. That's not why I am here."
"Why are you here, then?" Kiara wiped her teary eyes and looked straight into Vine's eyes.
Oh, those beautiful eyes. For a moment Vine's eyes drowned in hers, and he was captured by their immense beauty. He wondered why he hated her that much, when she was just but a beautiful girl and a mother to his son.
"I…I'm here because I want us to be friends," he said.
Kiara blinked multiple times, failing to believe what he had just said. Friends? Vine and Kiara? She let out a chuckle and said,
"Just say why you are here. I am used to it; you can just say it and go."
"No, Kiara. I'm not here to curse you. I gave a thought to the words that you said to me."
"You did?" Kiara's eyes bulged out in surprise. "Are you talking about that time when I asked you to be a good role model to Vincent, or you're talking about something else different?"
"That; what you just said. I want to be good, for the sake of my son. And then for you, I want us to be friends. But don't get me wrong, I do not love you."
"Vine Lucas Pinkerton, you have told me more than enough times that you don't love me, and I understand it. The feeling is mutual, and please, for the sake of my own dignity, may you not tell me one more time. I know. I heard it. I understand."
Vine felt awful. He told himself that probably he had become so terrible to the extent that each time he opened his mouth, he said bad words.
"Oh, I didn't mean it that way," he faced down and saw his son smiling beautifully at him. Vine smiled back.
"Ok," he broke the silence after a while. "Would you like us to go somewhere for three or four days. The three of us."
"No thank you." Kiara's response was so quick that Vine's mouth dropped open. What was the lady thinking about?
"No thanks? You have your answer so fast?" he asked.
"I…I wouldn't want to go anywhere with you. Three or four days is too long, Vine, because whenever you open your mouth to talk to me, you say very hurtful words. So no thanks, I cannot go anywhere with you."
"Oh," Not used to begging anyone for anything, Vine stopped after saying "oh." What more was he supposed to say? He wanted to say something, yet his ego refused. The words remained stuck in his throat, no matter how hard he tried.
Finally he opened his mouth and spoke, "If you want, we can go along with Tessa and Gareth. If you think I will be boring you, you can always have fun with Tessa."
Kiara looked at the man and wondered what had happened to make him want to try so hard.
"Where will we go?" she asked.
"It's a surprise," he smiled at her.
Kiara was thinking about it. The plan sounded good. With Tessa, she knew that she was definitely going to have a lot of fun. Tessa was always talkative and had many funny things to say. Besides, Kiara was tired of staying within the mansion gates. She was not allowed to go out at all costs. Even the new car which she got, she had not driven it out of the place. She felt she could use some fresh air.
"What do you say?" Vine asked, his voice hopeful.
"Ok, if Tessa and Gareth are coming along, then Vincent and I will come too."
Vine smiled. He looked at her and part of his mind wanted to curse himself for all the times he had caused her pain; yet another part of his heart justified him for all the acts he had done to torture his son's mother.
"Kiara, you and I can be friends, you know that?" he said.
"Yes, but we're two very different people. It might not be easy for us to become friends."
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"I mean, you are so very full of yourself, and you don't care a bit about other people. You can still be nice to me, Vine, even if you don't love me. Yet every chance you get, you remind me of the past, and you also say a lot of things that just make me cry. I don't know if you and I can become friends."
Vine lifted the little one into the standing position. He kissed him multiple times on the forehead, and the little boy was all smiles ad he enjoyed the attention from his father.
"When are we going?" Kiara asked.
"Umm, why don't I ask you to pick a date?"
"I don't know…what if I pick a date which is not OK with you? You're the one who goes to work and all, and you might not have days off."
Vine laughed. "Days off? I do what I want when I want to do it. If you say let's go now, then we will stand up and leave now. So go ahead and pick the date."
"How about Thursday? If we go on Thursday, we can come back on Monday. That way, we get to spend the whole weekend, including Friday, at the place. If it's ok with you."
"That's perfectly fine with me," Vine said.
***
Dear Kimmy
Vine kept repeating that he wants us to be friends. I don't want to be his friend. But I sure want to go away for a few days. I am tired of staying indoors, as if I am a prisoner.
Dear Kimmy, why does it sound like he was apologizing? He might be too proud to openly say the words I'm sorry, but the way I heard it, it sure sounded like an apology.
Why won't he just say he is sorry? Does he think he is too good? What makes Vine think he is a better human being than the rest of us. We might not have money, be surely we are also human. The way he treats me…sometimes I just feel like a piece of trash…