“Did you have fun, Liam?”
I passed off our skis to one of my guards as I kneeled down to help him unclasp his helmet. With how cold it was in Gstaad at peak season, Jane had made sure that he was well bundled up for the weather, leaving not even a single inkling of frozen toes. The only problem was that he had practically been turned into a marshmallow with by the time she was done dressing him, making it quite difficult for him to handle any item with his thick mittens.
As the hard cap popped off of his little head, a bright smile beamed up at me as he cheerily replied, “I did! Did you see how fast I went on the last run?”
I chuckled softly as I helped him out of his ski boots, remembering how he barely turned and basically barreled his way down the mountain. “I did see. You are quite the daredevil, aren’t you?”
“Yup!” He twirled around in the snow freely now that he was back into his normal boots. Jumping into my arms all of a sudden, he excitedly exclaimed, “I can’t wait to show mom the videos!”
I easily caught him before he could fall, tightening my hold, as I kept the both of us from toppling over. He looked so happy at the moment that my heart couldn’t help melting at the sight.
It was the complete opposite of his sullen state back from when he had unexpectedly run into that vile birth mother of his. And I would do anything within my power to make sure he could continue smiling like this forever.
Securing his hyperactive little body in my arms, I started to make my way toward the village attached to the ski resort and told him, “Your mom said that she would be waiting for us near the ski rink at four o’clock. We still have a bit of time, so do you want to get something to eat first or go straight there?”
He placed his finger on his chin, delving into deep thought as if I had asked him some sort of centuries-old philosophical question.
I chuckled softly at his action and offered, “There’s supposedly a shop that sells very good Belgian waffles near the ice rink. Why don’t we order from there while we wait for Jane? I’m sure she would like to try one too.”
His eyes lit up at my suggestion, immediately agreed with an energetic nod.
Smiling warmly at his antics, I carefully weaved my way through the crowded village, following the signs for the ice rink and ignoring the fact that my guards were struggling to keep up with me from the sheer amount of people.
As we arrived at the center of the village, a delightful scent of caramelized sugar wafted through the air, making it quite easy to pinpoint the waffle shop. I easily made my way to the front counter and ordered two Belgian waffles through the kiosk.
I wasn’t sure if it was my towering height or if the little boy was nearly bouncing out of my arms in excitement, but several people had turned their heads to look at us as we waited for our number to be called.
Although I was used to being stared at in public, I didn’t really do much business in Switzerland and wanted to assume that most people wouldn’t know who I was. I wanted to spend the holidays with my new family without being turned into a zoo exhibition, which was why I had instructed my guards to keep a bit more distance than usual.
Luckily, it didn’t seem like they knew who I was. Based on the snippets of French and Italian murmurs around us, they were mostly just commenting about the “handsome father-son pair.”
I wasn’t sure if they knew I could understand their words or just simply didn’t care, but I brushed off their words as I turned my focus back onto Liam’s animated chatter. I didn’t care about anyone’s opinions besides my two angels anyway.
Liam watched the workers through the window in awe, excitedly commenting on the chunks of sugar crystals in the waffle batter and all the other ingredients they put into the batter. Exclaiming that he planned to reverse-engineer the recipe with Jane once they got home, which only made me chuckle softly at his antics.
Once our number was called, I set him back down on the ground and picked up the two waffles. Handing him one of the piping hot waffles, I warned him not to burn his tongue again like how he did with his hot chocolate earlier today and told him that we would look for Jane now.
I held Liam’s free hand securely within my own and carefully made my way toward the center of the plaza where the ice rink was. Liam was so mesmerized by the waffle that I was worried that he might accidentally bump into someone, but luckily, people seemed to part ways when I walked closer, making me thank my abnormally large stature for once.
Being taller than the majority of people, I had no trouble looking over their heads and easily spotted Jane from far away. The only problem was that she wasn’t alone, making me furrow my eyebrows in confusion.
She had a little boy, probably no older than Liam, latched onto her waist as a taller man who seemed to be just a few year older than her, fretting about her and trying to coax the boy off of her.
Although she didn’t seem frightened by this man, I couldn’t help feeling a messy knot grow in the pit of my stomach.
As I got closer to the trio, I heard snippets of the boy stubbornly refusing to let go of “his guardian angel,” the man apologizing for the boy’s actions, and Jane’s lovely voice stuttering softly as she tried to calm down the two.
However, the issue didn’t last long when Liam’s eyes finally spotted his mom. His eyes darkened when they landed on the screaming boy.
He immediately tore away from my hand and bolted right up to Jane. Roughly shoving the boy off of her with a single swoop, he stood protectively in front of his mother- waffle no longer in hand-and angrily shouted, “What do you think you are doing to my mom?!”
Both Jane and the other man looked down at Liam in surprise, but Liam took no note of it as he continued to glare at the young boy, keeping his eyes trained on him like a predator to prey.
The little boy had landed harshly on the cobblestone, scabbing his palms on the rough ground ever so slightly. Even though he had tears brimming in his eyes, he still managed to look back up at Liam and shakily retort, “I just wanted to spend more time with her because she’s so nice to me…”
Liam’s jaw clenched at his words, still holding his arms out in front of Jane in a protective manner. “Well, you can’t! Because she’s mine! She’s my mommy, not yours!”
The boy’s bottom lip wavered. As if a dam had broken, he suddenly wailed, “How could you be so mean to me?! Why can’t you be nice to me? You’re nothing like her! There’s no way you’re her son!”
Liam’s eyes turned into an even dark shade. It looked as if he would tackle the boy at any moment and give him a good thrashing.
Luckily, I managed to break through the crowd and scooped Liam up into my arms before anything else could happen. Pulling Jane into my chest, I quickly placed a bit of distance between us and the chaotic pair. I gently eased Liam in Jane’s arms, trying to divert his attention from the other boy, and reassured him, “It’s okay, honey. You don’t need to listen to him. She’s your mom and only yours.”
Liam was still completely tense as he glared at the other boy from over my shoulder and ignored my reassurances.
But with a single touch from Jane, he immediately relaxed under her hand and turned his attention away from the other boy to look at his mom. His eyes softened as he latched himself onto Jane, making her sway ever so slightly under his weight.
She softly stroked his head as he wrapped his arms tightly around her neck. Giving him a tender but firm kiss on the side of his temple, she whispered gently, “Thank you for protecting me, honey, but you can’t shove people like that, okay? I know that what he said was not very nice, but you will always be my good little boy, no matter what anyone says. You can be the bigger person, right?”
Liam furrowed his eyebrows. “I don’t see why I have to… He’s the one who broke the rules. Only dad and I can touch you.”
Jane sighed softly and tried again, “He didn’t know about the rules, so please forgive him… If you can’t, at least do it for me… I don’t like upsetting people…”
Liam pursed his lips and reluctantly lifted his head from the crook of Jane’s neck, muttering a very forced “I’m sorry” to the boy.
I kissed the top of his head as a reward for listening so well. Wrapping my arms securely around my two treasures, I looked up at the chaotic pair. The little one was still sniffling in the arms of the taller man, but at least he wasn’t screaming his lungs out anymore.
I calmly explained, “I do apologize for my son’s behavior. He tends to be quite protective over his mother, like myself, but I believe your child was also at fault for behaving so rudely to both my wife and my son.”
The man nodded understandingly as he struggled to hold the wriggling child. “I admit that it was mostly our fault. I should’ve kept a better eye on my nephew before he ran off by himself, and I guess he became quite taken with your beautiful wife when she helped him find me again. I’m very thankful for her help and also very sorry for creating such a commotion.”
I clenched my jaw at his unnecessary comment about my wife’s appearance and lowly warned, “I hope he learns to keep his hands off of what does not belong to him, no matter how beautiful.”
He shuddered under my low tone. At least he was a bit quicker to understand than that nephew of his.
Tucking tail, he quickly nodded in goodbye before hurriedly walking off with the stubborn child who was still fighting against his uncle’s hold. That kid was really something, but I guess I couldn’t fully blame him for being enchanted by her.
She truly did look like an angel at that moment, bundled up in a pure white coat that I had gifted her at the beginning of snow season. Her hair fell gracefully down the side of her face like a luscious waterfall, perfectly framing her vibrant violet eyes that could capture anyone’s heart with a single glance.
Both Liam and I had already fallen deeply for her… her enchanting appearance… her mesmerizing heart… just everything about her…
However, we were very possessive over what was ours.
And we definitely weren’t about to let just any scrawny immature brat take her away from us.