My Perfect Lady

Miya was a thousand times thankful that there was almost n.o.body on the street, and that the car was parked directly before the library. So when Jimmy Hunter had acted like a completely unreasonable gentleman and put her into the seat himself, tied her seat belt, and almost made her stop breathing from the zero distance between them, he finally went away.

It was only then that horror filled Miya"s face.

She hadn"t noticed it before, but behind the driver"s seat, sat a well-built man dressed in a formal attire. He wore black sungla.s.ses, had an expressionless face, and in his hands, he held Ben like a football.

Miya"s reaction was immediate.

Quickly turning around, Miya was almost about to scream, when she saw the young master go to the back seat. The man in the formal suit instantly walked out once he saw Jim. Then he bowed slightly, handed over the kid to him, and scurried away.

Jim finally took the driver"s seat.

Miya rapidly spread out her hands, an indication that he pa.s.s over Ben. Jimmy however frowned, then placing the kid on his lap, huffed in disbelief.

"You do you know you"re very heavy, for someone so small right?" he said with a lot of accusation in his eyes. Miya" mouth fell open.

"I am not!" she retorted, immediately indignant, "And I didn"t ask you to carry me!"

"Exactly. I did it so that you –"

"Don"t you dare repeat the monkey thing again!"

"Oh, okay. Then it saves me time! My point is, I carried you here because your knees are still bleeding. Why would I give the child to you now?"

Miya didn"t know whether to be thankful, or go with her urges and smack Jim"s face. And before she could react, someone cleared his throat beside her window.

Miya quickly turned around, nearly jumping up when she saw the formally dressed man from before stand there. His eyes weren"t visible, and that disoriented her, but the guy simply handed over an ice pack to her, through the window. When he did, he said one simple word.

"Madam."

Once again, he bowed slightly and then scurried away.

Miya was so shocked, she took the ice pack numbly and blinked for a whole minute. Her expression was gormless, and when her eyes shot up to Jim, she saw him looking at her amusedly. The man was even smirking.

His sheer guts!

But, really, he was too careful!

He had a man take care of Ben before he came in to check on her, while she simply blasted off into a violent frenzy at the library. Now, he was careful enough to get her an ice pack, and he had even carried her to the car.

Argh! How would she hold a grudge against him in such a scenario?

In fact, she should be thanking him. For the beach, for Ben, for that b.a.s.t.a.r.d man too, and now this…

The idea however, didn"t go down well with the girl. She had a swollen cheek because of him after all. She would have to enquire about that later. So to balance things out, she decided to do her best and not argue with Jim. In fact, she"d be good enough and sit silently through the whole ride.

As Jim witnessed a range of emotions flicker through the wife"s face, he was positively beaming. And when he saw her simply hold the ice pack, and stare nonsensically, he rolled his eyes.

"It"s there for a purpose, you know. If I just wanted you to get wet, I would throw you into a river, not get you an ice pack." His voice was dripping sarcasm.

Miya"s lips were drawn into a thin line.

This man… was he purposely provoking her? She had just sworn not to fight!

Biting her lip, and thrusting the icepack against her swollen cheek, she looked resolutely at the front of the road. Jim ignited the car.

His one hand remained on the steering wheel, his other placed properly around Ben. He glanced at the missus from the corner of his eyes, and somehow, that irritated Miya.

Exactly eight minutes later, she howled.

"What!"

Jim pressed his lips to restrain the laughter that almost escaped his throat.

"Nothing," he said simply.

"Say it!"

"You look like a gorilla."

That was it.

Miya had half a mind to throw the icepack in the jerk"s face. But then, she breathed in, breathed out, and said in her most possible reasonable voice.

"You"re being especially mean right now. Are you mad at me?"

Jim spared her a glance.

"Do you care if I am?"

"Of course!"

"Then I"m not. And sorry about earlier."

With that, the young master beamed, turned around, fixed his gaze on the road, and didn"t bother her any further.

Miya wanted to pull out her own hair.

This man… he was just so d.a.m.n annoying!

They didn"t speak to each other for the whole ride. The air was filled with the sound of Ben"s soft breaths as he slept rather comfortably on Jim"s lap, his face resting against the man"s torso. In Jimmy"s opinion, the silence was very comfortable. In Miya"s, it was rather a test.

It was only when they had reached their six star hotel that Miya managed to throw all her resolutions to the wind.

She refused to budge.

Jim"s own face tightened.

"Will you stop creating a fuss?" he said agitatedly after a while, "It"s just a hotel! And you"re with me! Just come on out."

"No!" her voice was shaky, on the verge of tears, "Please. It"s so gorgeous. I can"t come into a place like this!"

Had Jimmy not been holding Ben, he would have carried the missus inside. But now he was torn. After a second though, he scowled, and slowly patted at the boy"s back.

"Ben," he said in a calm, yet tender voice, "It"s time to wake up."

The little boy frowned in his sleep, then shrugged slowly. He wiped his face with the back of his hands, and lifted his head from Jimmy"s torso. Leaning back slightly, as the young master held the boy with care, Ben looked up into Jim"s eyes.

Jimmy smiled, as Ben"s own lips spread into a cute smile. It surprised Jim, how much the boy resembled his mother in that moment.

Miya"s face screamed disapproval, when Jim just shrugged at her.

"Ben is a big boy," he said nonchalantly, "Of course he can wake up if his mommy needs help."

That sprang the kid into action. The sleep was shooed away by Ben as he rigorously rubbed his eyes and then he stared at his mum. And worry of the acutest kind spread on his face as he saw her swollen cheek.

Miya hurriedly leaned over to the boy, covering the wound with the ice pack. Then she spoke gently, "Don"t worry, baby boy. Mum just met another bad person and had to teach him a lesson."

Ben looked like he would cry, so Jim quietly ruffled his hair. Then he slowly said, "She was awesome you know. Won two fights, all alone."

Albeit the young master was very much against the idea of discussing violence in front of a child, but Ben was an exception. He didn"t know how much the child knew about his mother"s fights, but he seemed to have been exposed somewhat. Kept aloof from the actual thing, yet exposed.

And when Jim told him that, Ben looked up at him again, his expression almost relieved. He raised his brows slightly, as if to confirm if Jim himself was alright.

Boy, oh, boy. This lad was cute.

Jim slowly nodded, and ruffled the kid"s hair again.

"Next time," the child then told him seriously, "Wake me up, Jimmy. I"ll help you too."

Jim held back another laugh.

Then nodding to him with similar sincerity, Jim got Ben out of the car. Ben clutched onto Jim"s finger, and then they both dragged Miya out. Jimmy put his hand around the woman"s waist, and pulled one of her own arms across his shoulders. Then, supporting her in her walk, he began to move.

Ben held Jim"s other hand.

Miya was very, very reluctant, almost on the verge of tears, but she didn"t dare pull up a scared-of-building face before her son. She was very close to Jim though, and had the urge to stomp on him. Only, her legs were wounded.

Grudgingly, she hissed in a low voice.

"Don"t lie to him again!"

Jim was confused.

"I said don"t lie to him again! I didn"t win both the fights! And first one –"

"Quiet, girl." The young master was exasperated.

��You…! No, I won"t! You know –"

"Miya. Do you want me to carry you inside the hotel as well?"

And just like that, the conversation was over.

Jimmy had won the fight.