To say that my mother freaked out when she saw the ring on Jane’s finger was an understatement.
Since we had slept through breakfast and would most likely be too busy to eat much during the gala, I took Jane out for a big lunch before bringing her back to my apartment and ended up arriving 30 mins past the agreed-upon time with my mother. She was fuming when we finally arrived and was more than ready to give me an earful, but all of her anger instantly disappeared the moment Danary stepped in front of me and anxiously waved her hands in front of my mother, trying to calm her down.
In less than a second, my mother’s eyes zeroed in on the giant diamond ordaining Jane’s finger and released such a high-pitched squeal that dogs down the block probably could’ve heard it.
She bombarded Jane with a series of non-stop questions ranging from where the proposal occurred to the exact words of my proposal. She spoke so quickly that Jane’s mind was visibly spinning, but my mother paid no mind to it and simply exclaimed that Jane could give her the details while they were at the salon.
She dragged my fiancee out before I could remind her not to overwhelm Jane and all I could do was hope that my mother wouldn’t trigger another panic attack from my little angel. Even though Jane had my number and knew that she could call me at any time if she even felt the slightest bit of discomfort, I still couldn’t help feeling worried about the whole situation.
Instead, I tried to keep myself distracted by going over to Jane’s house on the upper side and picking up Liam from my guards.
After getting Jane’s permission on the drive back from the countryside mansion, I planned to take Liam with us to my gala as long as he didn’t have any qualms about it. I wanted to show off not only my adorable fiancee but also our little boy, who was on the way to fully accepting me as his father.
I nodded at the guards hidden around Jane’s house as I walked up the front steps of her house. Knocking on the door, I waited for the usual series of tiny footsteps leading up to the pop of bright eyes at the lower left window of the doorway. I chuckled at Liam’s little routine and waved at him as his little black head of hair popped out as expected.
The door swung open in less than a minute, revealing said boy. He was trying to keep a straight face, but I could tell he was restless to hear my answer with the way his eyes lit up hopefully as he asked, “What did she say?”
I smiled and replied, “She said yes.”
His little hands scrunched up fistfuls of his shirt as a small smile broke out on his lips. “That’s great.”
I ruffled his hair and squatted down to his height. “Your mother and I are attending an event tonight in celebration of the opening of my new building. Would you like to come with us?”
He perked up at my question but then stared at me in confusion. “But I’m not your biological son. Wouldn’t that cause trouble?”
“Well… to some degree, yes… But I’m not too bothered by it. I already see you as my child, and I would much rather show everyone how wonderful my family is than hide you in fear of some worthless media.” I glanced down at him. “I hope you aren’t bothered by that…”
He paused for a moment before looking down at the ground. “Can… Can I really be your and Ms. Jane’s son?”
“Of course. Why wouldn’t we want such an intelligent and mature little boy?” I teasingly squeezed his cheeks, earning a soft whine from him, but he didn’t pull away. “Plus, I’m sure my parents would be more than excited to get a grandchild finally.”
His eyes widened. “G-grandchild? Are you sure they would accept me? I’m just a kid picked off the streets.”
Ah… there goes his low self-esteem again… The insecurities that he had buried deep beneath his hard exterior…
I picked him up off the ground and reassured him, “Yes, I’m very sure. My mother snatched your mother away from me at first sight, so I’m sure that she would take more than just a liking for you. If anything, I’m more worried about her snuggling you to death.”
His face scrunched up in distaste. “Um… okay… I guess I’ll go then.”
He wasn’t really one who loved physical affection but made exceptions for Jane and me. So, to hear that someone wanted to “snuggle him to death” left a bad taste in his mouth, but I could tell he was trying hard to be accepting of it.
I chuckled at how easily his thoughts could be read from his face. Maybe he was just opening up more to me to no longer hide his feelings as much, or I had just simply gotten better at reading them, but it brought a sense of accomplishment to me.
I carried him to my car and drove him back to my apartment, calling my tailor along the way to meet us at my place. By the time we arrived, the tailor was already standing in front of my door with a rack of child-sized suits and severely out of breath.
For the next two hours, we managed to get Liam fitted into a sleek black suit that matched my suit with all necessary adjustments finished. The tailor then insisted on having me put on my suit as well, just in case it needed adjustment. Only after he was satisfied did my tailor leave.
Then, I helped Liam sleek his hair back like my hairstyle. He had never seen men’s hair products before, so he was quite curious and dipped his finger straight into the gel, pulling out much more product than either of us would ever need.
After I cleaned up the slight mishap, I worked on getting him into his bowtie. He was quite put off the color of the lavender-accented bowtie at first but gave in as soon as I told him that I was also wearing a tie with lavender notes to match Jane’s dress, at least based on the little amount of information that my mother was willing to give me about the dress.
Right as I finished up on his bowtie, there was a knock on the front door as a low voice called out from behind the door, “Rafael, are you ready yet? The girls said that they would be done soon, so we should start heading over to them.”
I glanced down at Liam, noting the confused expression on his face. Answering his unspoken question, I whispered, “It’s my father. He’s probably here with my young brother, so we can go together to pick up my mother and Jane.”
His eyes widened in realization as he worriedly looked up at me. “Does he know about me?”
I shooked my head but reassured, “Don’t worry about it. I’m sure he’ll like you. You’re just like all the boys in our family. Intelligent and reserved, but still headstrong.”
He nodded in acceptance and squeezed my hand as I walked over to the door.
Opening the door, I found my father and brother standing in similar outfits as ourselves, a sleek black suit with a simple solid tie.
My father was looking down at his watch as he spoke, “Come on. We need to get going now. You know how your mother can be when you make her wait.”
“Ah, yes… I do know… But first, I want to introduce you two to someone.” I gently coaxed Liam out from behind my legs until he was standing by my side. “This is Markliam Ace Belcalis, Danary’s adopted son.”
Liam glanced up at the two men warily before introducing himself, “Hello, it’s nice to meet you.”
My father’s eyes widened as he leaned down to glance at Liam up and down. Then he muttered softly to himself, “Your mother is going to smother him… He looks like a carbon copy of when you were younger, only with Danary’s eyes…”
Even Reegan glanced up from his phone to look at Liam before nodding in agreement. “You know how mother is about getting grandchildren.”
I grimaced, remembering how she would usually pester me about giving her grandchildren before breaking out into a sob about how she was going to die before I even found a girlfriend.
My father straightened back up and asked, “I heard that you recently got engaged with Danary, so I guess you will be adopting him soon as well?”
I hesitantly glanced down at Liam. I haven’t spoken to Liam about signing adoption papers for him yet, but it was something I wanted to do. I just wasn’t sure if it were something he would want, especially when so many things were already changing for him.
But before I could come up with a response, Liam chirped up, “When they get married.”
His grip tightened on my dress pants as he stared up at my father firmly. My father had a bit of an icy aura from all his years working as the leader of the business world, but Liam didn’t seem to have any issues with him, just like how he ordered me around the first time we met.
My father chuckled at his willful attitude and broke out into a broad smile. “I like this one. He would do well as an heir.”
I nodded in consensus. “I believe so too, but I’m not officially introducing him tonight yet. I want to finalize everything before I introduce him as my son, and I plan to hold off on the announcement of an heir until Liam is certain he wants to take over the company. He has quite a knack for aerospace engineering, so I don’t want to put any pressure yet.”
Liam looked up at me in awe before bashfully turning his head away with the tips of his ears colored bright red when I caught him looking at me.
I patted his head gently and told my father, “We should get going then. We’re already going to be late at this point in time, and I’m sure that mother would only cause even more of a delay when she sees Liam.”
Both my father and brother nodded understandingly as we made our way down to the basement to meet with our drivers. Liam and I got into a separate car from them as we gave directions to my parent’s house since my mother insisted on getting Jane dressed at her house, where she had a couple of maids on hand.
Liam stared out the window in awe as we passed through the gates and pulled up to the multi-floor mansion. He mumbled several numbers to himself as he took in every piece of decoration along the house, “50? 100? No, that seems too little… 150 million?”
I chuckled at his attempts at guessing the price of my parent’s house and corrected, “167 million dollars, to be exact.”
His jaw dropped as he looked back at me. “You’re actually rich rich.”
Trying to hold my laughter in, I only managed a mute nod in return. He was just too cute, like his mother.
I helped him out of the car and kept a light hand on his shoulder as I guided him up the steps of the mansion, entering through a set of heavy double doors. My father nodded at a couple of the maids loitering downstairs and asked them to inform my mother about our arrival.
Minutes just after the maid departed, I found myself drawn by an ethereal-like presence as she descended down the stairs in an a-line evening gown that flowed gracefully down to the ground. I stared at her in awe, unable to respond, until she finally stopped in front of me and looked up at me with a small smile.
I knew that the dress would be soft lavender-colored based on what little my mother was willing to tell me about Jane’s outfit, but I never knew that it would match her eyes so well. My fingers mindlessly reached out to hook around a strand of her hair that hung over the top of her off-shoulder dress. My mother had actually listened to my requests and left her hair down with minimal amounts of makeup, just enough to bring out the soft pink color of her lips.
She looked so delicate in the dress. So much so that I just wanted to hide her away such that no one would ever be able to lay a hand on her, and at the same time, I also wanted to kiss her senselessly until her makeup was completely ruined, leaving her in a dazed out state for only my eyes to see.
Before my thoughts could spiral down any further, I awkwardly cleared my throat, embarrassed from having such inappropriate thoughts at such a time. I reached into my pocket and pulled out a simple necklace with a diamond linear drop pendant and a similar set of diamond earrings.
Unhooking the necklace in my hands, I asked softly, “May I?
She nodded mutely with a slight blush on her cheeks as I walked behind her and gently brushed her hair off of her shoulders, revealing her bare collarbones.
With a heavy gulp, I draped the necklace over her bosom and quickly clipped it behind her neck before my mind could wander. Then, I hooked her hair behind her ears and carefully placed the earrings through her piercing, noting how dainty her earlobes were in comparison to my thick digits. I would have…
I swiflty shook my head to clear away my wandering thoughts and pulled away with a quick peck on her cheek, “You look beautiful, Jane…”
Her smile grew with my compliment as a soft blush painted her cheeks. “Thank you… You also look very handsome tonight…”
I nodded and rubbed the back of my neck anxiously. Why was I going haywire from such a simple exchange of words? I always complimented her every time I saw her, so why did it feel so different this time?
Luckily, Liam broke the tension by hopping out in front of me and calling out to Jane with starry eyes, “You’re so pretty today, Ms. Jane.”
Jane giggled at his adorable statement and leaned down to pat his head, “You also look very handsome today too.”
“Mhm! Mr. Cordova and I also wore ties to match your dress, so everyone would know that you were with us. I’ll be your protector and work extra hard keep you safe today.”
Jane laughed nervously as she glanced over at my father’s and brother’s confused expressions before looking back at Liam. “Um… Liam, honey, you still need to remember to be on your best behavior tonight. We don’t want to make Mr. Cordova look bad, okay?”
With a slight furrow of my eyebrows, I retorted, “But I don’t mind if he kicks someone for touching you without your consent.”
“But, Achilles… He can’t just do that to anyone and cause unnecessary commotion… People would think badly of you and… What if he offends one of your investors?”
I placed a hand on Liam’s shoulder to back him up. “I wouldn’t continue business with anyone who’d try to touch what’s mine… Besides, I’m sure that no one would even notice Liam’s minor misdemeanor after I break the fingers of whoever thought it would be alright to touch what isn’t theirs.”
Her eyes widened as she took in the devious grins on our faces. No one was going to hurt my girl in my presence. I wouldn’t be able to handle it if I saw Jane ever get that hurt again, and I’m sure Liam felt the same.
She shakily started, “A-achilles you should think about this a bit more… it could cost your company-”
However, the conversation was quickly dropped by a familiar boisterous voice cutting in, “Rafael, did you find your fiancee yet? I’m sure even you would be speechless from how gorgeous she is.”
My mother popped out of the living room in an energetic whirl, with her dress flowing wildly around her as she excitedly strode over to us. Right as she was about to compliment Jane haughtily again, her eyes zoned onto the little figure standing between us.
Her eyes darted back and forth between Jane and me before focusing back on Liam again.
“Is that… my first grandbaby?”
I nodded hesitantly, and that was all it took for us to be delayed by more than an hour before we were finally able to separate my mother from the grandchild she had been asking for all these years, much to Liam’s expense.