The Writer's Romance

Mr. White takes his Schedule copy while his hands are trembling.

Since they arrived at work, they can"t even look at each other properly even if Mr. White tries to throw his professional self, he can"t resist feeling shy around Sheen.

They haven"t talked about what happened last night and if they won"t, they can"t have a good workflow today.

Sheen wants to clear things but she"s at work and talking about it may not be good.

"Prepare the files I need, I sent it to your e-mail," Mr. White turns back and was about to enter his office when Sheen called him out.

"Sir, about last night, I didn"t mean to be disrespectful. I just got my hopes up," even if she tries to keep it until she can speak with Mr. White outside work, she can"t work properly if she"s uncomfortable and she needs to let it out.

"That"s fine, let"s talk about this later," Mr. White didn"t bother facing Sheen and went inside his office after replying to her.

Sheen takes a deep breath, "I said it, no need to be overthinking, we"ll talk about it later. Now, I have to prepare those files," she went inside her office as well to do what she was asked to.

The day went on, meeting after meeting, Sheen felt tired at the end of the day.

It was only then she saw Bea.

"Hey! Really? You"ll leave me because Dan was with you?"

Sheen fakely acts like she"s angry at Bea who just looks at her with a poker face while drinking soda.

"You"re the one who suddenly disappeared, and comes on," Bea elbowed Sheen, "You"ll be the bride"s maid on our wedding, just let it slide, okay?"

"Whatever," Sheen rolls her eyes as she was about to leave the building she suddenly b.u.mped into Mr. White with Cj.

"Hi, Mo-- Miss Sheen!" Cj almost called Sheen "Mom".

She looked at him with wide eyes and forced smile to signal him, "Hi, Cj! Your nanny took you to school?"

"Yes! She also picked me up yesterday because she said she"s feeling fine already," Cj excitedly started telling stories while Bea looks at him bitterly.

Cj beats Bea whenever they are around each other.

Since Bea and Mr. White knew each other, Mr. White usually asks Bea to take care of Cj when his nanny can"t make it.

But then, Cj doesn"t fancy girls except for his nanny.

"Sheen, can we talk for a bit?"

Sheen, who"s talking to Cj on bent knees, looks up to Mr. White.

"Bea, take care of Cj for a bit," Mr. White went out first, waiting for Sheen to follow him at the parking lot.

"Bea, just follow us after a while," Sheen stands up.

"Hey! Don"t leave me alone with this devil!" Bea was about to follow but Cj suddenly pulled Bea"s cardigan.

"Hey!!"

Sheen can hear Bea and Cj but she just followed Mr. White who stops at the light post beside the parking lot.

"Wow, you"re fast!" Sheen tries to catch her breath for a while.

"You really feel comfortable talking to me like that outside work," Mr. White"s tone was, as usual, Sheen can"t read it whether he"s annoyed or he"s fine.

"Sorry, Sir. I just got used to my officemates before and to... my boss," Sheen was at the brink of saying Kady"s name.

She did have informal conversations even with the higher-ups outside or inside work.

Mr. White got shocked with Sheen"s apologetic look, his words came out differently from what he meant to say.

"That"s fine, I"m glad that you don"t feel too tensed around me, I mean, your boss," he specifically said the word "boss" since it may come out different again.

Sheen just looks at him thinking, "So, it"s fine? He"s not angry that I talk like that to him?"

"About yesterday," Mr. White started the conversation, "I didn"t mean to say that I didn"t miss you."

Sheen once again thought, "So he missed me? But why did he said that he didn"t?"

"I mean, I didn"t miss you these past years, but when I found out that I"m already on a different city and I won"t be able to see you anymore, I cried," He looks up at the stars, remembering his childhood.

"I cried days and nights, I didn"t play with anyone anymore, I grew up like that. I didn"t have close friends, just... acquaintances. I grew shy around girls and I focused on studies," Mr. White"s breath suddenly became fogs as the temperature got colder.

"I missed you so bad that I forced myself to forget you, I buried my regrets," Mr. White looks inside the building to see if Cj and Bea are doing fine.

Both of them are beating each other while Sheen just looks at Mr. White, shocked by what she heard.

"I regretted fighting with you the last time I saw you, I regretted eating your fries from IED, I regretted burying your dolls on the sand and making you cry... I regretted not telling you that I..."

He suddenly stops, his words got stuck on his throat.

It"s like it doesn"t want Sheen to hear what he has to say.

He gulps and looked at Sheen.

"She"s still small," he thought.

From his view, Sheen looks like the little kid she was.

Looking up at him, he wanted to hug her.

He missed her so bad.

"How about you? Did you miss me?" He didn"t continue what he was going to say and choose to change the topic to her.

"Yeah," she directly answered.

"I cried lots too, I never thought I"d see you again. And same here, I almost forgot about you. Honestly, if I didn"t see CJ I think I will not remember who you are," she smiles while rubbing her hands together to warm it up.

Mr. White"s wearing a thick trench coat and a scarf with gloves on.

While Sheen wears a knitted sweater.

"Here," Mr. White takes off his gloves without Sheen noticing and gave it to her.

"It"s obviously too large for you but at least, your hands won"t freeze. The temperature these days can"t be predicted, during the days it"s so hot and during the night, it"s freezing," He watches Sheen put his gloves on and his giggles suddenly came out.

"What?" Sheen raises her eyebrow while looking at Mr. White.

The gloves made her hands look like it"s swelling from the size.

"Anyways, thank you, sir." She smiled and she turned around when she saw Cj running towards them.

Bea follows with Dan but they waved goodbye at them before leaving.

"Nice to see you again, Sheen," Mr. White genuinely smiles at her.

"Nice to see you too, Clark," Sheen returned the smile.

"I regretted not telling you that I loved you," Mr. White thought while watching Sheen went to Cj with a wide hug.

"And I think, I will continue to love you," He went to the car while Mr. Roger"s waiting for them inside.

"Mommy, what were you and Daddy talking about?" Cj asks while Sheen was holding his hand and followed Mr. White when he was already beside the car.

It"s too far for Mr. White to hear what they are talking about.

"Nothing," Cj saw Sheen"s smile and he knows it"s not "nothing" but he just smiles as well when he saw his father smile at them.

Mr. White rarely smiles.

And this made Cj feel happy and excited to see his smiles in the next days since Sheen, somehow, makes Mr. White smile easier.

"Mommy, can you come with me tomorrow in school?" Cj whispers and stops walking half way from Mr. White.

"Why?" Sheen bends her knees to see Cj easier.

His neck might break from looking up to see her.

"It"s Mother"s day and they told us to bring our mother, usually it"s nanny who"s with me but I want to go with you tomorrow because nanny also has her son and I don"t want to take her from her son again," Cj pouts while looking at Sheen.

He brushes her cheek softly.

It made Sheen feel like he"s touching her heart and from the pout, his cuteness can"t be handled by Sheen, "Yeah, but ask your father about that since I am working for him."

Cj suddenly runs to Mr. White and made him bend his knees to hear him clearly.

As Mr. White listens, he looks at Sheen with wide eyes.

Sheen just slowly walks to them.

"So? Will you lessen my pay if he borrows me?" Sheen smiles at Cj who"s waiting for Mr. White"s answer.

"Dad?" Cj called Mr. White who"s standing beside him with his hand on his chin, thinking.

"You"re taking too long to answer!" Cj pouts.

Sheen just giggles while watching them.

It"s obvious that Mr. White"s teasing Cj into thinking that he won"t answer according to what Cj wants.

"Hm~" Mr. White fakely thinks.

"Hm~ will you pay me if I let you borrow my a.s.sistant? You won"t have internet for the whole week if you insist," Mr. White, still hand on his chin, looks at Cj who got shocked in the payment.

It took at least 2 minutes for Cj to answer.

It"s as if he was traumatized with what his father said but still, he nodded slowly.

Sheen almost laughed out loud with how Cj reacted.

"Are you sure? 2 hours with my a.s.sistant is a week without internet, so if you spent 4 hours with her in your school that"ll be..." Mr. White almost sounded like a math teacher asking his student.

"2 weeks without internet," Cj slowly answers.

"Aw, Come on, Sir, that"s too rough!" Sheen interrupted.

Mr. White signaled her to stay silent, "I"m joking," he mouthed.

Sheen just smirks, "And you have to give me food when I"m hungry," she added, making Cj almost cry.

"Now, if you want a free mother for tomorrow, I can play the role," Mr. Rogers suddenly said.

Cj looks at him in terror and started crying, "You"re bad, Daddy! I just want a mommy! I want Sheen!" He screams.

The three adults suddenly froze from what he said.

"I just want a mommy!" Sheen remembers Mr. White said that before when they were young.

"I"m just joking! You can have Sheen tomorrow, but not for the whole day I need her at work," Mr. White pats Cj"s back but he ran to Sheen and hugs her leg.

"Aw, we"re sorry, Cj. We"re just teasing you, of course, I"ll go with you," Sheen frowns from hearing Cj"s sobs.

It breaks her heart that they played around a child who is serious about bringing a mother for tomorrow even though she"s not a mom.

"I want Sheen to be my mommy!" Cj cries.

Making Sheen blush and Mr. White silent.

Mr. Rogers just smiles as he watches the three have trouble with each other.

"I want Sheen to be my mommy!" Cj shouts at Mr. White while his tears are streaming down.

"I want Sheen to be--" Cj was cut off by Mr. White shouting.

"Stop it! Don"t you know you"re embarra.s.sing Sheen?" Mr. White shouts, scaring Cj and shocking Sheen who"s blushing so hard.

Sheen waves her hand, "No! I"m fine, I"m fine!"

Her blush suddenly went pale when Cj screams at Mr. White, " I HATE YOU!" and ran inside the car.

Mr. Rogers went inside as well, leaving Sheen and Mr. White staring at each other.

Mr. White rubs his temples and closed his eyes while taking a deep breath.

"This is us, this is me as a father, I suck at it," Mr. White looks down while grinding his teeth.

He"s not angry at CJ, he"s angry at himself because he knows that CJ needs his mother but he tries his best for Cj to be contented with him.

"No, you"re doing fine, that"s normal for Cj, remember you did the same before right? You screamed at my mom and you got angry with me because I have a mom?"

Sheen walks towards Mr. White and looked at Cj who"s inside the car, sulking.

He was sitting on the right side beside the window.

Seem"s like he doesn"t want to be in the middle.

"That"s fine," Sheen a.s.sures Mr. White before entering the car.

Mr. White did remember what he felt that time he got angry about wanting a mom.

He knows what Cj feels.

He just wants to joke around Cj even just for once but it turned out bad.

"Hey, CJ," Sheen sits beside Cj.

"Do you want to see your dad"s picture when he was a kid like you?"

Sheen takes out her phone.

She messaged her mom to send a picture of Mr. White when they were young last night for Cj to see.

Cj didn"t look at her at first but after Sheen telling him that they look alike, he turned his head to see the photo.

"Right?" Sheen gave her phone to Cj while she takes her handkerchief to wipe Cj"s tears.

"Yeah," Cj"s vision is still blurred with the crying but he knew that they do look alike.

Mr. White enters the car and Mr. Rogers started driving.

"I"m sorry, Cj. I didn"t mean to shout at you, I was just shocked by what you said. I felt embarra.s.sed for Sheen," Mr. White was looking straight while talking.

Cj just looks at him with sadness because he knew that his father is also sad about him not having a mom.

"You can borrow Sheen tomorrow then, I don"t have many things to do. You can go with him Sheen, for the whole day, just do whatever you want," Mr. White was checking his e-mails again.

Sheen looks at Cj who has the widest smile.

"Thank you, Dad!"

"Thank you, Sir!"

They answered in unison, stopping Mr. White from scrolling and making him smile.

"You"re a great dad," Sheen whispered to him, "That won"t affect my pay, right?"

Mr. White just smirks and continued on reading his e-mails.