"You – You called him your son!"Miya"s eyes were accusatory when they fell on the young master. She had pumped her fists and backed Jimmy Hunter into a corner. He stood leaning against a wall, his arms folded neatly across his chest, his eyes searching.
Ben had just been taken out by the princ.i.p.al herself for a round of the school, and to introduce him to the cla.s.s he would be studying in. The special treatment was of course because he was Jim"s son. Jimmy and Miya had obviously wanted to follow like pestering parents, but Mrs. Tusk had firmly refused, very sure the children would be scared at the sight of Jim and his expressionless face.
She had then left the room.
Once she was gone, Jim too had proceeded to offer Miya a round of the school and to show her all of the secret, hiding corners where he used to study all alone.
One such corner, which was in the hallway, but sheltered by a pillar, had been perfect to incite Miya.
When Jim saw her snappish face, he smirked.
"Who else was I going to register him as? You"re my wife, we"re married and I"m sincere about our pact. Isn"t he technically my son?" he explained.
"You could have warned me! I almost gave you a horrified look!" Miya retorted back.
Jim looked at her earnestly.
"You"re worried what the princ.i.p.al would have thought about you then," he then stated, looking at her rather incredulously.
Miya shot him an obvious look.
"Of course I was!"
Jim eyed her for an instant, then let out a deep chuckle himself, "You nerd," he said, "Why do you care about Mrs. Tusk?"
"Because she"s so nice! And beautiful…"
"Beautiful? Are you blind? That was the sternest face in the history of Raven High that you just saw, woman. Tusk has made more boys cry than there are fish in water! There were times we were so scared of her, we called her a stomping elephant!"
Miya rolled her eyes.
"Of course she is strict! She"s the princ.i.p.al, isn"t she? And didn"t you see her smile? She"s gorgeous!��
"Miya… why are you always defending women and their beauty to me? First Rebecca, now Tusk! Do you want me to be attracted to other girls that badly? And really… try and throw in a good word for me too some days!"
"Hey! I did call you cute."
"That"s not the same as gorgeous!"
"Jimmy, why"re you so c.o.c.ky?"
"And you"re – oh s.h.i.t! Someone"s coming! Miya, quick – hide!"
Jimmy quickly grabbed Miya and turned her around, backing her up against the wall as he pressed his palm to her lips to shut her up. Jim held his own breath as he heard the sound of footsteps behind him, and the merry chatter of students. The pillar behind them was wide enough to cover Jim"s back, and he himself was colossus enough to hide Miya.
Once the kids had gone, Jimmy heaved a sigh of relief and smiled. Miya hit his hand lightly.
"Ow!" Jim shrieked indignant, immediately removing his hand from her face.
Miya frowned.
"Why were we hiding?" she asked him, and the young master fell into thought. Then ruffling his own hair, he gave the missus a goofy smile.
"It was instinct. I just realized, we didn"t need to!" he exclaimed.
Miya nodded, her voice tight, "Exactly."
Jimmy looked down at the girl, as she was ready to squirm her way out of the corner. A strange feeling surged in him, once he saw the missus in that tight spot. He remembered his own reading days, when sometimes he would just hide in the corner and escape everyone"s notice. He had always been the perfect, proper student.
Jim quickly looked around, happy to see no one in sight.
Then even more rapidly, he put a hand around Miya"s waist and pressed himself into the small girl"s body, backing her up further against the wall. Before she could get along with the pace of events, the young master put his other hand on the back of her head, and kissed her hard.
The moment was brief – hot and pa.s.sionate. And then it was gone.
Miya stood there, flabbergasted.
Jim gave her yet another goofy smile, scratching the back of his head nervously once he was done.
"I"ve never made out on school grounds before," he explained and then blushed.
Miya was speechless.
Her face turned scarlet, and her heart beat with dangerous intensity.
Well…
She hadn"t too.
Pressing her lips, and blushing even more furiously than Jim, she grabbed Jimmy"s hand. Then tiptoeing, she wrapped her hands around Jim"s neck and landed a small, soft kiss on his lips as well.
"I haven"t been to school before. So, I haven"t either," she blushed.
The act was too much for the young man"s heart. Losing a bit of his tight control, with her being too beautiful and too close to him, Jim didn"t let her go. His hands flew to her waist once again, and his lips landed on hers yet again.
They entered a world of their own.
And they would have stayed there for long, if it hadn"t been for one familiar voice.
"Oh – Jimmy, is that you? I thought I"d find you in one of these corners! I have to say, Ben is – Oh no!"
Mrs. Tusk, who was hyped on finding Jim once again in his hiding spot, forgot to pay heed to the fact that he couldn"t have been reading like he did all those years ago. She walked to the corner merrily, ready to praise Ben to his father when her eyes fell on the couple locked in a rather heated kiss.
The old woman"s soul left her body. She was quick to cover Ben"s eyes, as her own widened in shock, and she hastily muttered, "Oh no! Oh, no, no!"
Her wits left Mrs. Tusk, and she strolled away quickly, unable to believe.
Jimmy Hunter!
That was the idol of Raven High!
Meanwhile Jim and Miya had let go, only to watch Mrs. Tusk briskly walk away with Ben. The two froze.
F***.
On the other hand, Ben was thunderstruck.
The princ.i.p.al ma"am was busy trying to distract him with random information about the school now, but the child barely responded.
He had seen his mommy… and Jimmy…
They were… They were…!
They were!!!
Ben fell into deep contemplation, worried beyond belief now. Somehow, his small mind had not thought of it before. He was absolutely uninterested in fiction – but he still had read one book of every genre he could get.
Mommy had said it would help, after all.
And now that he had seen Jimmy and mommy in that strange state, Ben recalled the man kissing his mommy on the cheek before too. And mommy not fighting him like she always did. There was only one thing that fit this turn of events – it was explained in the absolutely useless category of books that he had read about before.
Romance.
Was it possible that mommy and Jimmy were in love?
The book had said so! When the main couple in the story kissed, they were in love!
Then… mommy… his mommy…
Was she in love with Jimmy?
Ben clenched his fists. He wanted to beat up Jimmy Hunter, but then he recalled that he was friends with him too.
But Jimmy had lied to Ben!
Suddenly though, the child remembered Jimmy calling him Benji Hunter.
Ben Hunter.
Hunter.
Jimmy Hunter.
And Ben"s face paled. His expressions ranged all the way from shock, to enlightened, to fury – and then to outrage.
Hunter!
Benji Hunter!
Could it be that mommy and Jimmy… had married?!
And if they had – why was he not told so before?!
This was bias, betrayal, a breach of faith!
This was war!