Gregory started to whine as I continued to dress him for school. “I don’t like school. The kids there are all so childish. They don’t even know what binary is… “
I nodded at his words, though deep down, I was feeling very amused. This little guy knew so little about basic life skills, yet he was so advanced when it came to computer expertise.
Oh, Gregory. Your classmates aren’t the only ones. I don’t know what you’re talking about either.
Worried that my self-esteem might get crushed even further, I hurriedly finished dressing Gregory and ushered him out of the room. “Hurry, hurry, hurry! Don’t be late!”
When we got to the door, we ran into Ashton, who was just about to leave for work.
An awkward silence ensued when our eyes met. I stayed rooted in the spot, not wanting to move any nearer to him.
“Look, Daddy!” Gregory ran up to Ashton and twirled around for him. “Ms. Stovall helped me get dressed!”
Ashton hummed in response before looking back at me. “Today’s Sunday.”
“Okay. So?” I was still upset by what had happened this morning, so my tone was brusque.
“Which means there’s no school today.”
My face darkened as I turned to look helplessly at Gregory, trying to convey how hurt I was to have been tricked by him.
Unfortunately, the boy thought I was making faces at him, so he grinned cheekily back at me.
I was so frustrated I wanted to scream and pull my hair. I wouldn’t be surprised if I had to endure more of these in the future.
“Oh, right.” I suddenly remembered my date with Emery, so I decided to change the subject. “I’ll be going out later.”
“Where to?”
“That’s personal.” Does he not understand that I’m informing him and not asking him for permission?
After pondering for a while, Ashton finally said, “I’ll be going to the neighboring city in the afternoon. You have to be with Gregory. It’s my right to know of your whereabouts.”
I was surprised that Ashton would allow his son to be alone with a woman he had barely known for a month. “I can bring Gregory along?”
Or has he once again mixed me up with the Scarlett he knew so well?
There was a flash of annoyance in his eyes as he grumbled, “Do you want to leave him alone instead?”
“No… That’s not what I meant,” I quickly explained. “If you must know, I’m just going to meet Emery.”
“I’ll get the car and chauffeur ready,” Ashton answered as he made his way down the stairs.
With Ashton gone, I turned my attention back to Gregory. He had fetched his tablet and was now taking photos of himself.
Is he that narcissistic? ”Gregory?”
The boy hummed in response but continued to strike poses while looking in the camera. From where I was standing, I had to admit he did look rather handsome.
I smiled and crouched down in front of him. “Your father said I could take you out to play today. Are you excited?”
“Really?” Gregory’s face immediately lit up. “Yay! I can go out with Ms. Stovall!”
I rubbed his head lovingly as my eyes darted over to his tablet.
Piqued by curiosity, I reached out for his tablet, and Gregory handed it to me without any hesitation.
Gregory had registered a personal Facebook account and posted a status update with the selfie he had just taken.
The caption was just a simple phrase: Don’t worry about me. Love, Greg.
I didn’t need any explanation to know that he had written this for the late “Scarlett.”
As I scrolled through to the earlier posts, they all had the same caption with Gregory in different poses. An inexplicable sadness came over me, and before long, tears were streaming down my face.
I could only imagine how sad Gregory must be to be mourning for his late mother in his little private corner.
I hugged him tight and patted him gently. “From now on, I’ll always be with you.”
Gregory couldn’t understand why I had such drastic emotional changes in a short span of time. He listened quietly and patted my shoulders, comforting me like an adult. As we stayed hugging each other, the sorrow I felt inside me started to spread like wildfire.
