My Perfect Lady

d.a.m.nit… Jimmy had been right all along!

She had had no idea that her boy would catch on to her words.

In fact, she knew he had heard them from her before. But she also remembered telling him once, that there were certain words that she used when she was very, very angry. And Ben was not supposed to say them. Ever.

The boy had nodded obediently then and said, "Yes, mommy."

What happened to his promise now?

The traitor!

Guilt filled Miya at once, and she couldn"t believe she had allowed herself to be this careless with her child. She was a horrible mother. That idiot from her civil society group was right. She was so bad at parenting, it was an abhorrence in itself that she was a mom. Somehow, the thought made her want to cry all over again.

She looked at the boy, who was still rigorously counting, almost as if nothing had occurred.

Her heart hurt.

How was she supposed to tackle this situation? Ben had never, for once, given her any trouble. Now that he had made a first mistake, she had no idea how to confront it.

Away from her, Jimmy looked at her like she was an idiot.

Glaring all the way for her to want to shrink into the sofa, Jimmy stood before Ben, his hands now clenched in his pockets. Then in a toneless voice, he looked at the child, and said, "Ben. Follow me to my room, now. We need to have a talk. You and me alone. Man to man."

Ben looked up at Jim with betrayal, but potent confusion.

Man?

Jimmy"s gaze hardened.

"You want to protect your mommy someday, right? Follow me."

The young master"s voice scared the boy, but his words were enough to put him into action. He climbed clumsily out of his other"s lap and walked out of the room. Miya too stood up seconds later, kind of fascinated, and walked behind them both.

When they had reached his room, Jim effectively shut the door, indicating Miya to stay off while he took Ben towards the couches. She didn"t though, she followed them after a few minutes. Jim rolled his eyes, and then motioned the boy to get seated. He himself though, towered over him, and folded his arms.

"About what you just said," Jim said in a hard tone, "Do you understand it was wrong?"

Ben"s eyes went defiant. What had he said? And wasn"t it Jimmy who had done wrong?

Albeit Jim didn"t understand the boy"s expression, he did recognize the haughtiness in his eyes. It made him want to snicker, but of course his face showed no hint of his amus.e.m.e.nt. In fact, his jaw tightened and his glare fixated on the child.

Somehow, Ben felt a cold chill run down his spine. He quickly averted his eyes from the man"s, almost ready to weep. He would have gone off to his mommy and complained too, but he didn"t dare move a muscle. Jimmy seemed like some sort of predator right then, angry at his prey.

Miya too flinched.

She had never scolded Ben, or been mean to him. But, Jimmy…

She quickly wanted to jump to the boy"s defence, when Jim let out a deep sigh. Then picking up the kid forcefully and placing him on the shoulders yet again, he walked to the furthest corner of the room, towards the floor to ceiling windows.

Then, he quietly began to say something to Ben. It made Miya nervous that she couldn"t hear him, but the atmosphere around the two boys grew darker for the ten minutes that Jimmy whispered to him nonchalantly.

What was he saying?

Miya was somewhat captivated.

Why was this person so good at handling all situations? The only thing she had been able to manage all her life had been her violent situations. When it came to fights, she always managed to get out of them alive.

That was it.

She wasn"t even capable of taking care of Ben.

And Jimmy Hunter… why was it that he could take care of it all?

Now that she thought about it, how had they even ended up together?

It was chance, yes, but it became evident to her that there was nothing between them at all. Nothing to bind them, and nothing that was alike. And if it wasn"t for one ridiculous condition imposed by his father, they wouldn"t even have met.

No… they had met once thirteen years ago. But what did that signify? Mere chance again. And the more she looked at this man, the closer they got, the more this hollow feeling erupted in her stomach.

She didn"t deserve to be with him.

He was way too good.

The thought almost choked her. She would have cried.

What the h.e.l.l.

Her own thoughts p.i.s.sed Miya off, and she realized she was being too hormonal, wanting to cry at the drop of a hat. But –

This situation, the circ.u.mstances… the way their lives had intertwined… It was all too much. How was she going to handle all of it?

She had never, ever been able to take care of anything. Not even the people she loved. How would she watch out for Jimmy Hunter? Manage whatever the h.e.l.l she had begun to feel for the man?

She had run into his arms involuntarily, d.a.m.n it! That was some sign of how much she had begun to trust him. Well… from what she knew, he was worth the trust, but her feelings were too conflicting. And Jimmy"s own background too astounding for her to accept that something existed between them.

Attraction was fine. More – no.

Still, no. They couldn"t coexist. They shouldn"t even try to. Yin and Yang were meant to balance – to cancel each other out at best – they weren"t meant to fall in love.

The thought clenched her throat once again, and she watched Jimmy"s back with an unspeakable emotion surging within.

d.a.m.n it.

d.a.m.n it all!

Meanwhile Jimmy had roamed about the entire room, whispering to the boy. Finally, he placed him properly on the headboard of his bed, and leaned in. His face was grave. Ben"s own expression was serious.

"Ben," Jim said solemnly, "Do you understand?"

The child nodded grimly as well.

Jim stared at the boy, rea.s.suring himself that he understood. Then once again, he repeated, "You have to know, champ. If you swear again, you will never grow up. Look at your mommy" he shot a sideward glance at the girl. Ben looked at her too, "The reason she is so short is because she curses too much. It puts a lot of stress on the body, saying those words. Then your body is unhappy and it refuses to grow."

Ben nodded.

The boy was well read, and he had never come across this piece of information before, but Jimmy had given him an elaborate biological explanation just now. He didn"t understand all of it, but he knew Jimmy knew everything about a lot of things. So he must be right.

And it was true… mommy used the angry words a lot. And she was short. Jimmy didn"t use them. And he was tall. Ben wanted to be that tall like Jimmy too, so that he could easily protect mommy.

It made perfect sense.

Meanwhile Jim was finally satisfied, impressed with himself. He had never made up so much c.r.a.p before, especially to explain a nonsensical fact. But that was the thing with smart kids – you just couldn"t tell them garbage and get away without explanation. Biology, however, always came to Jim"s rescue. It had many, many terms that could make you want to give up on life itself. Jim had simply spoken some of them to Ben.

"Don"t tell your mommy I told you though," he said to Ben again, "She gets angry every time I call her short."

Ben nodded, but frowned.

"Why do you call her short, then?"

This mommy"s boy…

"For fun," Jim said simply. Somehow, the kid revealed half a smile.

"Then she must be saying angry words again. Mommy gets angry very fast."

Jim"s eyes brightened at that.

"I know, right?" he whispered sneakily, giving Miya another glance, "You totally understand, mate."

Ben nodded again, this time happily.

"Champ, you have to promise me not to tell her though. She would get angry."

"Okay. Promise," Ben said sincerely. Then he decided to clear out just one other fact, "Jimmy... why did you kiss my mommy?"

The words startled Jim. He hadn"t expected that. He fixed his expression at once though and quickly shrugged, looking at Ben.

"Because we"re friends now."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"And… friends, um, do that too?"

Jim smirked at that. Then bending a bit more, he planted a soft peck on the top of Ben"s head.

"There. Get it now?"

The small gesture surprised the little boy, whose cheeks flushed. He nodded rigorously, smiling to himself. Then he motioned Jim to lower himself again. When he did, Ben quickly landed a peck on his cheek too and closed his eyes.

Jim pressed his lips and laughed out loud.

So cute!

A few steps away, Miya"s brows twitched.

What?

What!

Man to man, her a.s.s!

How come the atmosphere had turned around a 360 degrees between those two?

And what was with that sudden intimacy?

It was too suspicious!