Lesley ran her hands through her hair as her eyes travel across the large park. Gary took out his phone and punched in a number. Stacy and Lesley discarded the cups of ice cream in a bin. Gary spoke into his phone and hung up.
“Oh Lord!, she was right beside me. I–I was holding her hand before she…. pulled them out of mine.” Lesley stutter. She was almost loosing it.
“Calm down brunnie…. could be she wandered away”. He didn’t seem bothered or perturbed about it. Stacy holds Lesley palm and squeezed at it.
“Lesley try not to panic, as long as he is around nothing’s gonna happen.” Lesley nod as they wait close to a man displaying kid toys.
She kept biting her lip as she looked at every kid that passed by. Yet no sign of Hazel.
what if she has been kidnapped?. What if she has wandered away and was now lost. what if she has wandered out of the park and was crossing the busy roads. So many ‘what ifs’ brainstormed her mind as she prayed silently for Hazel to be fine.
She hung her head down. Gary glanced at his watch continuously, cussing under his breath while stacy eye searched the park
. A man in black and white suit make his way towards them. They all looked up as he came towards them with Hazel eating her ice cream and holding his hand.
“Oh jeez!, thanks heaven” Lesley squealed in relief as she rush to Hazel and scoop her up. she kissed her all over her hair.
“Where the hell did you go Hazel!, I was so worried about you!.” She blurts out. Hazel wiggled out of Lesley hands and pouts.
“Lesley, you’re making me feel like a kid!. There’s no one here scooping up kids” She roll her eyes and resume eating her ice cream. Gary puffs out a breath.
“You can go manx… keep in sight”. He nods and walks away the crowd engulfing his retreating figure.
“Hazel…. Why did you wander away”. Gary stuck his hands in his pants pocket and stare down at her. She shrugs.
“A man playing a tambourine and dancing caught my attention so I decided to watch. Why the fuss?.” She knotted her brows, acting like she didn’t give everyone a heart attack minutes ago.
“Hazel, the next time you let us know wherever you are going to okay?” Hazel flip her hair as she eat up the last of her ice cream. She smacked her lips.
“Come on dad, I’m not a kid. I will be clocking eight in two months time, treat me like one.” Stacy widen her eyes and laugh.
Gary shook his head in exasperation. Lesley, happy Hazel has been found, giggled as she held Hazel hand.
“Woah!, is that the grand ferris wheel??” Hazel squealed as she stared in awe at the giant ferris wheel.
“Yeah munchie, wanna have a ride?” Lesley asks.
“Nah…. I don’t wanna have a ride…. I’m gonna ride it till forever, ome on everyone let’s go get our tickets.” Hazel says as she drag Lesley to the ticket man.
“You guys can ride that, I’m not cut out for this”. Gary brings out some dollar bills and hand it to the ticket man.
“Umm, me too. I have a phobia for heights.” Stacy says. Lesley shrugged and Hazel rolled her eyes.
“Whatever, I and Lesley would ride.”
They bought two tickets.
“We would wait here for you Lesley. Please make sure Hazel dosen’t wander away again.”
“Sure.” Lesley says as she stride quickly to catch up with Hazel who’s already skipping away.
Gary and Stacy starts to take small steps.
“I guess you like her Mr Gauthier.” Stacy asks. Gary raises his brows at her.
“Yeah, I do, A whole lot” she nod and let’s out a smile.
“So how you holding up with…. your breakup?.” Stacy shut her eyes briefly before sighing.
“Quite well…. if you mean not ending up in the hospital with a slit wrist.” She roll her eyes and Gary chuckles.
“How long have you known Lesley?” Stacy shrugs.
“As long as you’ve known her.”
“Ever told you about you know, her family and all?”. Stacy shook her head almost immediately.
“Apart from being a good friend, Lesley seems kinda distant from me sometimes. I don’t know, but she just acts like there’s more to her. When she says something I feel like there’s more to what she says. She never tells me about her family, She only told me that she came to work in Newyork for a couple of months and she would go back to her family who lives in Boston.” Gary frowns.
“She….. told you that?” What she’d said was entirely different from what she had told him.
“Yeah, that’s all I know about her. All she said” Gary runs his hand down his face. Lesley was surely hiding something from him. He’d find out from her. He would surely do so.
“Goodness Dad!, today was fun!.” Hazel squeal as they got out of the car. Ben goes over to the booth and took out some bags.
“So you mean spending two hours in the park and an hour in the mall is the definition of fun right.” He groans.
“Yes Dad, it sure is!.” Hazel giggles.
They all walk into the mansion. With Stacy trailing behind. His guards bowed in greeting and he acknowledged with a small nod.
They took the lift and stop at Gary’s apartment. Hazel skips into the living room and plump down on the couch. Stacy sits beside her.
“Brunnie, let’s go into the room okay?” Gary holds her by the waist and pulls her to himself. Lesley smiles and they walk into the room. She sits on the bed. Gary squats in front of her.
“Hazel is one heck of a smartass.” Lesley puffs out. He only smiles.
“And she got that from you.”Lesley pokes his chest playfully.
“So I’m a bad guy right?” He smirks and he leans down to kiss her.
“Yeah, you are Gary” She entwines her hand in his hair.
“Then why stay with the bad guy?.”Gary winks. Lesley hums.
“Cos I love bad guys.” She says and smirked. He pulls her close lowering his lips on hers. She smiled and kissed him back.
“You’re are naughty brunnie.” He stands up and pulls her up with him. He wrapped her arms and lean into her.
“I want you to know you could trust me okay?” Lesley blink her eye and smile. They sway slowly.
“I wanna ask you something.”Gary says.
“Alright, I’m all ears.”
He pulls away gently to stare at her.
“And I want the truth, and the truth only okay?” Lesley frowns and nod.
“Who are you brunnie. I mean, I wanna know the truth about you, where you came from. The real you. Are you hiding anything from me?”.
“Huh?” She says nervously as her face goes pale.
.
.