My Perfect Lady

After the mind boggling meeting with the Chairman, everything had suddenly turned to a rush. Becky had things to take care of, whereas Jim rushed to the office to settle the deal with S/R Designs. The only ones left without a lot on their shoulders were Miya, Ben and Simon Hunter.

And because Miya was too numb to have faced the Chairman again, and she was afraid he would come find her in the room, she just went over to the public library to stroll, until it was time to leave.

When she did reach over there though, a strange sensation filled her.

The library… it had just been a hub of knowledge, a rather simple place just days before. Now, it stood for so much more. In it, she could see Uncle Jonathan"s pa.s.sion, Adrian"s scribbles as he wrote his little scripts, and Aunt Meera"s cheerful face. This one place, that had become a symbol now, that the family had existed, and had existed for good.

Miya sat in the furthest corner of it, and took out a crime mystery called "Constellation".

It was the first story she had ever picked up when the Freemans had taught her to read. She read it all over again.

She didn"t know when she would ever have the chance to come to this place again.

When she received Jim"s call, Miya picked up Ben and left the library. And she took the book, for her own peace of mind.

Cold silence hung between all of them, as they sat in the airplane.

Albeit this was Miya"s third flight, but this time, she didn"t even remember to feel afraid. Everything felt so foreign, so strange to her, as if she was part of a sequence of events that had pa.s.sed, involved her, and yet didn"t occur at all.

Ben sat on her lap, while she was seated beside Rebecca.

Jim sat in the opposite column, whereas the Chairman occupied the seat directly before him. None knew what to say.

Ben looked at one person to another, confused by the two new faces. He hadn"t been informed who these people were. But he knew the Aunty was the librarian and she knew his mommy. The other person sitting in front of Jim… Ben was sure he had seen him on T.V. too, but he couldn"t recall who he was.

The little boy frowned.

Again, n.o.body was talking to anybody.

So it was up to the child to break the ice.

Puffing his cheeks, Ben finally looked at his mommy, and asked, "Mommy, can I go sit with Jimmy?"

Albeit the question took Miya by surprise, but she couldn"t immediately say "Yes". Jim was accompanied by Simon after all. She hesitated for too long though, for before Miya could make a decision, Jim"s bored voice came from the corner.

"Of course."

He was talking directly to Ben.

Miya carefully removed the little boy"s seat belt, and he hurriedly ran off to Jim.

That small sound was enough to relax everybody present. At last, someone had spoken. And it had not been about a cartel or a f***ing plan.

Once Ben reached Jimmy, Jim picked up the little boy and seated him on his lap. Ben adjusted his position to the most comfortable one, and then fell back into the big guy"s tummy.

"Jimmy," he said excitedly, "Tell me about the String Theory again, please? The one on how the universe was formed."

Jim gave the small chap a smile, then placed one hand around the boy"s stomach, and the other against his own head. Then leaning back comfortably, he began to explain.

Simon Hunter, who had immersed himself into a magazine, looked at his own son with interest. He also glanced at the boy, and something twitched in his eyes. And it was exactly when the five year old asked for the "String Theory of the Universe", that Simon Hunter raised his brows.

What?

Now that, he found interesting.

If anything, he had to credit his son with finding a useful daughter-in-law, one with ex-connections in crime, with the Freemans, and well trained in fighting. Now, as he discovered, she even came with a prodigy son.

The old man was amused to no end.

It took only a half hour for Jim to sort down some of the complicated stuff for the little boy to understand. He might be smart, but he was still only five. So when Jimmy had droned on, and Ben had grasped most of it, the boy"s brain was exhausted and he immediately fell asleep.

Honestly, Jim was relieved.

He wasn"t sure he could have went on simplifying stuff to the level of a five year old anyway.

However, with the boy falling asleep, the cold silence between the four of the adults returned and everyone resorted to not speaking again.

It was a little less uncomfortable between Rebecca and Miya.

It was Miya who took the initiative first.

"Are you okay?" She asked the older girl.

Becky, who had been staring fixedly at her hands, looked up at her junior in surprise. The words registered in her head, and she smiled softly.

"Yes," she said.

"Really?"

Becky didn"t speak. Then in a very low voice, which was barely even a whisper, she said, "Honestly, Miya? No. I feel like a f***ing fool."

Miya looked at Becky guiltily, apology evident in her eyes. Becky smiled at that, and gave the girl a small laugh.

"Don"t be ridiculous, Miya," she said, even though Miya hadn"t uttered a word, "You don"t have to look sorry. I mean… it is true. I"ve been played left, right and centre. I"m glad your Hunter boys are so useful, and have decided to help me."

Miya"s lips drew into a thin line when she heard "your Hunter boys". Her heart leapt at the thought of one of them though, but it wasn"t at all happy about the other.

"They"re not mine," she said tightly.

Rebecca looked at Miya with an expression that clearly said "You"re impossible!". Exasperated, she teased, "With the way Jimmy Hunter takes care of you, I don"t think so."

Miya"s heart began to leap and bound again, and she had the urge to pound her chest thrice so that it would stop jumping around. She felt like she was back to five years ago, when she had been pregnant. Only, it hadn"t been her heart bouncing back then, it had been the kicking of the child.

"He"s just a very caring person," she defended plainly, hoping to cut the conversation off.

Rebecca, however, was persistent.

"Really? He looked at me as if he thought I was the biggest idiot on earth. I think he just saw through me, he didn"t even acknowledge that I was there, even though he was talking to me. That"s not the trait of a caring person."

Miya shut up at that, not knowing how to retort. Then the event of the last night, the embrace and the kiss crept through her heart and she involuntarily blushed.

The need she had felt in her own body last night had left her feeling confused.

When Becky saw the look on Miya"s face, she couldn"t suppress her laughter.

"Oh Heaven," she said between chuckles, "Did something happen last night? Junior Miya, did you have s.e.x with Jimmy Hunter?"

The soul was knocked out of Miya"s mouth when she heard Rebecca"s words. Her face automatically turned to a furious pink, and she looked at the older woman in horror.

"No!" her retort was automatic, "No, of course not! Why would you say such a thing? It was just a kiss! On the cheek! Why would you think s.e.x?"

Rebecca looked like she would explode from the laughter. From the side, the two men watched the two girls laugh and chatter and they shifted uncomfortably in their seats. Their voices were too low for the men to overhear, nevertheless, they gave each other a look and then decided to ignore the women.

Rebecca was beaming.

"Why," she said pleasantly, "Let"s see little one. I would think so because you"re married to each other. Because he publicly wants to declare you are his wife. And because you both so obviously like each other!"

Miya"s jaw dropped to form a perfect "O".

"L-Like… That"s not how it is! You-You"ve got it all wrong, sister!"

Rebecca shook her head merrily.

"I can"t believe it, Miya. I can"t believe you haven"t changed at all! Back when you were 14 and Adrian asked you to marry him, you were this freaked out. And thirteen years later, it"s still the same!"

"Adrian was a ch-child. I was freaked out because I thought of him as a brother. And I wasn"t all that nervous!"

"Oh yeah. You just almost fell into a river! Adrian was so scared too, though. I bet you never found out, but I put the idea into his head."

Miya was confused.

"What?"

Becky beamed.

"Well… it seemed perfect. I put the idea into Adrian that if he married you, he would have someone who"d listen to his nonsense stories for all his life. And he would also have someone he could always bully into learning new fighting techniques."

"Becky… you!"

"Yeah but you wouldn"t believe how easy it was! He agreed to it in a heartbeat. Honestly, I thought you"d agree too, and that then I"d have a right hand-man forever. You turned out to be the traitor though. You rejected my brother!"

"I did not reject him!"

"You said he was too young to understand!"

"He was 12, sis Becky!"

"And you, 14!"

"Teen. I was in my teens. Give my brain some credibility!"

With that, the two burst out laughing again.

They fell into a happy reverie of memories, until they just lay back together in the seat, holding hands.

"It was a good time," Miya finally said silently.

Rebecca nodded.

"Too bad it didn"t last, eh?"

The conversation moved on to the plan, the conditions of the Chairman, and then finally, to the party.

Rebecca was worried about Miya.

"You would be okay, right? Simon Hunter wants you to confront Thad Carver at the party."

"It"s just five minutes, he said. I"ll be fine. If not, I can always kick his b.a.l.l.s."

Becky grinned at that. And then, she was all mischief again.

"Hey," she said teasingly, "Remember the last masquerade party we attended together?"

Miya automatically blushed.

"Yes, Miya, the one where you had your first kiss?"

Miya turned a slight shade of red again, as she recalled the kiss with Rebecca. Her face scrunched into a frown and she sulked.

"I remember. It was the worst!"

And Rebecca laughed again.

The plane landed back to Country I.