"It's alright. She can stay here if that is what she wants."
I said. Walking closer to him, I softly pet her small back; she continued to look the other way, hugging her father tightly as if I would try to take her away with force.
Whenever Cole would leave, and we went to drop him off at the airport, she would wrap her arms around him, not wanting him to go. But then I would pull her off of her father making her cry as he dragged his luggage to get inside the gates.
She must have thought it to be one of those moments. Not having anything else to say, I turned around to leave before the awkward silence could engulf all of us.
Walking towards my parked car, I felt tired at the same time. I could not understand where my life was heading.
Emily was no longer going to blindly follow me around like Aiden. He was just a baby. She was the same three years ago. Her life revolved around me just like his now.
Things like that made me realize how complicated everything was going to be in the near future.
Sooner or later, she would come to know that her parents were no longer together and that Bianca was more than her father's best friend.
How was I going to make her understand about all of that?
What was I going to tell her in the first place?
What would she think of her mother?
All these questions flooded my head like a storm uninvited making me feel almost dizzy.
I took my time sitting inside the car, not knowing where I was to head next. There was no way I felt like going home so early, realizing how one day Aiden would also feel the same about returning home with me.
Was I going to end up alone?
The very thought made me shiver like it was freezing cold outside. I had a fair share of feeling lonely in the past. But the coming of the kids in my life made me somehow whole once again.
Coming to know that it was not going to last either made my soul weep. Rubbing the tears off of my cheeks, I started the engine to finally leave.
But then my eyes landed on the file again. It made me think about how if I allowed Arthur back into my life, it would only further make everything complex.
So, I could not accept this case as working on it could make me have rare encounters with him and his family. Something which I must avoid at all costs if I wanted the storm to not pass the horizon and crash against me and the kids.
Making up my mind, I drove away. I did not want any more complications in my life than what I was already dealing with.
Reaching home I let my son's nanny go and attend to his needs. His face was delighted seeing me home. At least someone was waiting for me back home.
Once upon a time, Emily used to be the same. It made me come to know how quickly things change.
After feeding the little bundle of joy, I went to take a quick shower and decided to order food instead of cooking at home.
Picking up Aiden in my arms, I sat on the sofa, scrolling on the takeaway app, deciding what to order when my phone beepe,d, flashing a text message on the screen.
It was from an unknown, making me frown, not knowing who it could be because the text was provocating.
"Did you start working on it already?"
I could not decipher it right away. Just when I was going to find out whose number it was, my phone started ringing.
It was Viviana. I answered it without pondering more on that stupid text.
"I'm coming to your place."
She said making me stand up. I did not know that she was in the States so soon already.
"When did you come home?"
I asked rocking baby Aiden as he played with the gold chain around my neck before he started getting annoyed.
"This morning. I am not staying with my parents before they suck all of my blood out of my body."
She replied from the other side. I nodded understanding she shared a very intricate relationship with her parents.
Mr. and Mrs. Stephenson were nice folks. And Viviana being their only daughter, their expectation stood a bit higher than usual.
They were hell-bent on only one thing from her after she had taken over the family business like a pro as if she was born for it, and that was to mend her relationship with Matt Wilson.
We went to the same school, and although there was something between them, things took a U-turn after the end-semester incident. It was safe to stay I was involved with.
Even though Viviana had told me countless times that I was not the reason she did not wish to start anything with Matt as her parents wanted of her.
It was something I could never fully believe her whatever she continued to say about it.
"So I'm coming to your place to crash indefinitely."
She spoke from the other side making me smile. It was something she would say always but never ended up following through it.
Her excuse in her word, "Too many good nightstands she could not ignore!"
She did not want young Emily to catch up on her aunt Vi's manners. No wonder she could not stay over at her parents either and they were not going to let her have her own place when they owned the biggest house here. She bought a penthouse either way not letting them know by telling Mrs. Stephenson that she was staying over at mine's.
Hanging up the call, I decided to cook her favourite instead of ordering. It was the least I could do for my bestie.
Halfway through cooking, when the door bell rang, I hurried out of the kitchen to open the door. She must be here already.
But when I did open the door, the smile on my face dropped, seeing him on my porch, the last person on earth I expected in the evening.
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