Golden Compa.s.s.It was a gorgeous hotel, with a cold beauty that reminded Miya of Jimmy Hunter"s palace Jade. It was a subtle place, that was almost invisible in the buzz of an outside world so cheerfully lighted. Contrary to its name, Golden Compa.s.s was painted in a dull metallic grey, that was indifferent to its surroundings, it seemed, and yet stood out.
Miya was practically pressing into Jim the entire way into the hotel.
As the young master held her by the waist, and almost dragged her inside, Miya was aware of the strange looks she received. However, these looks weren"t of immediate disapproval. They were of mild surprise. And once she heard someone whisper that Jimmy Hunter had never brought along a woman and kid with himself before, she sighed in relief.
They weren"t complaining about her. In fact, the only discomfort she raised was by her outrageous state and bleeding knees. And of course, the swollen cheek. Thanks to her dress, n.o.body deemed her out of place.
Miya managed to cross the ground floor, hiding profusely beside Jim"s gigantic self. And when they had finally stumbled into the hotel room, she almost jumped with joy.
The ordeal was over!
She wasn"t surprised to see that the room was oversized, or that it was painted a dull white. It seemed as if gloomy colours were Jimmy Hunter"s style. Not to mention, the room could easily be another one of Mr. Hunter"s apartment. For it held two huge king size beds, had the most exquisite couches together with a dining table, too many door to floor windows that had a gorgeous view of the city outside, a walk-in-closet, and of course, an aquarium.
Overwhelmed, the girl just sighed.
For the thousandth time, it occurred to her that Jimmy Hunter was too rich.
It had been a good decision to not arrive at the hotel alone.
When Jimmy saw Miya glance at the room with intimidated eyes and sigh, he was thoroughly amused. Why, he knew she was mentally accusing him for having too much money! She sure was fun to watch.
Ben was looking at the room with wide eyes too. He had also left Jim"s finger and run off to stare thoughtfully at the aquarium.
Jim decided he liked the boy right then. Sure, they had started off wrong, and the boy was still as haughty as they came, but they were at least learning to deal with each other"s presence now. That was a good start.
The mother, however, was still as disobedient as ever.
Jim helped Miya sit carefully on the bed. Once she was seated though, he stared angrily at her injured self. He just glared daggers at her for quite a while, before Miya finally was unnerved by his stare.
"Fine," she ultimately said, uneasy as she twiddled with her thumbs, and stared rigorously at her thighs, "I won"t fight unnecessarily again. I"m sorry!"
Jim was impressed. She was getting better at reading his frowns.
He immediately took a deep breath.
"Well, give me an alert beforehand, at least. Why did you start hitting your friend suddenly?"
Miya"s face turned steel. She didn"t look up, but murmured viciously.
"I was angry. She"s dating that – that kind of… sc.u.m."
The words were low, and Jim did hear them, but he chose not to make a reply to the latter part.
"You can"t turn violent every time you"re angry, Miya," he did tell her though.
Her eyes immediately shot up to meet his. They were full of defiance.
"You don"t understand the situation! Becky is… Becky isn"t like this!"
"You don"t understand the situation, Miya. And what Rebecca is or isn"t, is not the point here. My point is, stop falling into a violent frenzy every time you"re angry. It could eventually lead to trouble."
Miya immediately fell silent at that.
Jim wasn"t wrong. She did after all beat the c.r.a.p out of Becky, and had almost killed her a.s.sh*le boyfriend. She however, didn"t want to remain quiet.
"What can I do?" her meek defence came after long, "I… I try. But I don"t know better!"
Jimmy"s heart dropped at her words.
He looked at her with intense eyes, and then walked over and sat beside her on the bed. Then putting an arm around one of her arms, he stopped her from poking at her thumbs, and gently held her hand.
Miya didn"t resist.
"Don"t be too troubled by it," he said calmly, "You"ll learn, eventually. You"ll have to learn, to be honest, now that you"re married to me."
"Does that mean you"ll have to learn to be violent too because you"re married to me?"
Albeit her question was almost innocent, Jim"s eyes sparkled playfully.
"You"re forgetting the pressure cooker, my dear," he told her with a smirk.
To his surprise, Miya didn"t frown at his endearment. In fact, it slipped from her notice, and she laughed out loud. Now that he thought about it, it was funny that he had hit a man with a pressure cooker to save the wife.
He chuckled too. He really must be prince charming.
Jim smirked in self love, whereas Miya laughed heartily, recalling the young master hit the man in the ribs with a cooker. She also remembered how he had kicked the a.s.sh*le from today and thrown off his huge body with a single foot of his.
Curious, she looked at Jim again.
"You"re not all that weak, are you?" She asked. Jimmy knew what she was hinting at. So he simply smiled and replied, "I can"t afford to be."
Miya smiled back, and then got up, staggering a little.
She then eyed the young master light heartedly.
"I need another bath," she declared to him, and then pointing at her cheek, said, "And when I return, Mr. Hunter, I hope you have a suitable explanation for this."
Jim"s face darkened as he watched the wife turn around and leave on shaky legs.
Then walking over to the other bed, he picked up his laptop, which was placed neatly on the side table. Flipping it open, he sat down and quickly went through all his emails. The one he was waiting for had still not been sent.
Just then, Jim felt a slight tug at his sleeve. He looked around, and saw Ben stand beside him with an expectant face.
"Yes, Ben?" he asked.
The boy seemed to be glowing with excitement.
"I recognize the baby shark, Jimmy!" he said excitedly, and it felt weird to Jim, hearing the word "baby" come out of the baby boy"s mouth, "But I cannot recognize the others. Will you help me, please?"
Because Jim was still waiting for the email, and the boy was practically jumping from excitement, and he himself had nothing to bother with, he graciously complied.
After about ten minutes of lecture on the kinds of fish and their breathing system, Ben looked satisfied and giddy with happiness. Jim"s laptop, too, pinged signalling the receipt of a new mail.
Leaving the boy standing entranced at the aquarium, Jim quickly walked over to his laptop, and opened the mail. There he saw it was, t.i.tled: Rebecca Freeman Storm
It took him barely five minutes to read through.
And once he was done, he fell into deep thought.
When all thoughts and ideas had crossed through the young master"s mind, he was finally at ease. Though a little surprised, he smiled at his own contemplation.
Rebecca… this woman was not just a foolish mess after all.
He had been wrong, and yet right all along. Kids from his cla.s.s never really were without contacts.
Jim"s smirk widened, and he felt a familiar, sudden rush within. The antic.i.p.ation of thrill, of conquer made him beam, and he finally picked up his phone.
It was time to call Chairman Hunter.