My Perfect Lady

With clenched fists and gritted teeth, she went up to the little guy, and without warning, lifted him up from the chair and into her arms.

Once Ben felt the book draw away from him, he was immediately reluctant. He turned his head to look into his mommy"s eyes, and frowned.

"Mum," he began indignantly, but Miya simply sat down on the desk and told him in a calm voice, "Once you eat, you can get back to the book again. And rest some. Don"t beat yourself up."

He was unwilling, but listening to his mother"s steel voice, he nodded.

Miya still had most of the food that she had prepared in the morning left. So she force fed the boy about three sandwiches and a half, till she was satisfied that he wouldn"t be fatigued. Then she gave him a kiss and replaced him in his chair.

When Miya walked back to the parlour, she wasn"t surprised to see Becky knocked out cold. She was half lying across the floor, while her b.u.t.t was still rooted on the chair. Feeling her heart go numb at the sight, she walked up to the older woman, dragged her up so that she was leaning against the chair. She then put another chair in front of her and spread out her legs, while removing her sandals. She put two chairs to each side of her too, just in case Becky fell down again.

Miya then walked back out, shrugging as she realized she would have to stay the night. She found the keys to the gate of the library near the counter, and locked it from inside. Then drawing the curtains, she was about to seat herself, when she saw that Ben too, had fallen asleep.

Shrugging, she smiled.

Then going over to the boy, she quietly picked him up so that he wouldn"t wake up. Then she seated herself in his chair, and spread her legs on another one in the front. Laying Ben on her stomach, Miya softly began to stroke his hair.

Her life seemed to have been rather dramatic in the last few days.

Her head and heart hurt from what she had learnt from Becky, and she couldn"t even organize her thoughts. She wanted to help, but she didn"t know how. Her mind tumbled from one possibility to another, until she was tired and depressed. Hugging Ben, as if her life depended on that embrace, she finally fell to sleep.

Jimmy had been working relentlessly all day. An emergency meeting had come up, as soon as he had reached Country S, and his work had known no end from then on. He worked for twenty six hours straight, without batting an eye. He had also struck terror in the employees of this branch of the Hunter Corporation. It wasn"t always that the C.E.O. visited them, or directed their work personally. They all dreaded the days when he did.

Because once Jimmy Hunter started working, he was like a demon unleashing wrath. The slightest of mistake in a proposal would make the employee want to bite his tongue and die. And all Jimmy Hunter would have done was glare at him.

Once the hours were gone though, and several proposals were drafted, contracts formed and the financials checked, Jim heaved a sigh of relief.

He hadn"t felt so good in days.

Boy, had he missed working!

His work had taken a backseat, ever since his father came up with that condition. He hadn"t been able to work since then, once the hunt for the bride had begun. And now that he was back, the workaholic in him had been pampered and satisfied.

Breathing while he contemplated on whether to smoke, his mind automatically flew towards Miya. His search for a bride had landed him to her, after all.

He was reminded that he hadn"t heard from the mother and son all day yesterday. It was nine "o" clock in the morning now. He wondered how they might have spent last night, and if they were having a good time. He had arranged for a maid for them back at the hotel. And David, though bothersome, was still trustworthy. They were in good hands.

Still curious though, he took out his phone and wanted to call. But then he wondered if they would have woken up yet. Instead, he settled on leaving Miya a message.

[Enjoyed yesterday?]

He wasn"t expecting a reply for a few hours, but when his phone buzzed, his heart leapt with joy. It was Miya"s message.

[Don"t ask.]

Jimmy frowned.

[Why? What happened? Something wrong with the hotel?]

Her reply was again instant.

[Nah. Didn"t get there.]

Jim was instantly on alert. But then, he received a text from her again.

The woman typed fast.

[But don"t worry. Ben and I wanted to visit the public library first and read. But then the librarian turned out to be an old friend and we stayed the night over.]

That took Jimmy by surprise. He hadn"t expected Miya to be fond of libraries! Or to like reading for that matter. Even the little chap! His surprise was immediately taken over by a scowl though.

[Stayed over at a library? Are you still there?] he typed in and sent.

[Well… yeah. There was a situation, so I couldn"t leave.]

When he read the words, Jim"s legs worked on their own.

He quickly put the phone back in his pocket, and picked up the coat that he had draped across the back of his chair. Putting it on, he walked out of the office with his car keys.

All the employees, who had stayed the night and worked all along, because the boss hadn"t left, felt like their good Karma had finally paid them a visit. The boss was leaving! Sighing with tears in their eyes, they rejoiced.

They could finally go home!

Jim drove to the public library, his GPS on.

It was still early in the morning and there was no traffic on the roads, so he was fast. Once he reached to the place, he almost didn"t want to go inside. The building was practically a ruin! He sighed.

Why did his wife always end up in places like these, even when he had six stars for her arranged? If it were books they wanted to read, couldn"t they have just gone to the store ad bought some? He had given her the card!

Full of accusations, he stormed into the library.

What he saw next though, almost knocked the breath out of Jimmy.

Miya was standing on a huge tripod like stand, which was built into a ladder between two of its legs, and had a metallic surface attached to its top. The girl was standing on an edge of it, and trying to reach out for a book, that was kept in one of the shelves near the ceiling. While one of her legs was placed on the metallic surface, the other was sprawled out in the direction of the shelf along with one of her hands.

She resembled a bat.

Jim was so scared, his heart began to beat in his throat.

"Miya!" he couldn"t help but exclaim, "What the h.e.l.l do you think you"re doing?!"

Miya was positive she could get to the book without moving the huge stand over to another place. She had had a difficult time bringing it to that spot itself. However, just when she thought she had got her aim, a huge voice startled her. She nearly jumped out of her skin.

It was exactly then, that she stumbled.

Oh f***! She was going to break her head.

When Jim saw what had happened, he raced over to her like a tornado. And before his missus could fall, he had launched himself across the floor to catch her with both hands.

The scene was theatrical, but Jim hadn"t expected the thrust from her fall to be so strong. Miya did land into his arms, but he fell back to the floor from the intensity of the catch. He didn"t let go of the girl though.

Miya had instinctively wrapped her arms around Jim"s neck, while he held her in his hands. He almost lay flat on the floor, furiously muttering, "F***. Sh*t." over and over again.

Miya"s heart was pounding. For a second, she had been so scared. Now though, she held onto Jim with all her might, panting heavily. When she heard the young master swear slowly under his breath, she was pulled back to reality.

Jim was barely holding up, trying to remain seated on the ground, when Miya removed her face from the crook of his neck and looked at him. The young master seemed aghast.

She slowly began to remove her legs from his hands and let go of his neck, when Jim realized what she was doing. She was almost out of his hold when he simply pulled her back, now so that she was kneeling on his own knees.

She was light, so Jim didn"t wince in pain.

However, at that exact moment, something hit the young master"s head. He cried out in alarm, when he noticed it was a book. Before he could move though, several books began to fall on him, as he howled in "Oww!" and "Aah!"

Some hit Miya too, and he tried to protect her, but they both got hit instead.

When the catastrophe was over, Jim was pale with shock and fury. Miya quickly removed a spongebob magazine that was covering his head. When Jim still didn"t react, only looked at her with extreme disbelief, Miya finally burst out laughing.

It was so comical, the young master"s face!

And in that moment, she felt all the darkness in her heart that had been brooding since morning, vanish away.

Just like that.