Ding-dong, ding-dong. When the doorbell rang, Adrian carried Emma and adjusted his shirt before he went to the door. He smiled as he greeted, “Hi, Kate.”
Kate was about to pounce onto him with open arms when she noticed the little girl in his hands. “This is?”
“Oh, this is Emma,” Adrian introduced, then added, “my daughter.”
“Your… Your… Your daughter?!” Kate stuttered and widened her eyes as she was in disbelief.
“Why? Do you think… It’s unusual for a 23-year-old guy to have a daughter who’s roughly 2 years old?” Adrian asked seriously.
“No… I… You…” Poor Kate was still dumbfounded.
“Okay, I’m just kidding.” Adrian laughed out loud. “Emma’s not my daughter.”
“Eddy!” Kate, who realized that she was tricked, immediately yelled and punched him. “How could you do this! How could you!”
Following that, a sharp voice was heard from Adrian’s arms. The little girl who had been checking Kate out quietly suddenly shrieked and swung her arms at her. As such, Kate who was taken aback stopped as she was flustered.
“Calm down, Emma, calm down. It’s okay, she’s only joking with me, okay? It’s just a joke.” Adrian quickly soothed the little girl, and he rocked and patted her from time to time. Emma finally calmed down after a long time, then she glared at Kate before she hugged Adrian tightly.
“Did I… Did I do something wrong?” Kate was slightly embarrassed when she looked at Adrian and Emma.
“No, nothing, it’s just that… Emma’s a little sensitive, don’t worry,” Adrian explained briefly, then suggested, “How about this, I was about to take her for a walk at a nearby park. Let’s go together, I’ll explain to you in detail on our way there.”
Subsequently, he turned to call out to Marsen, “Madam Marsen, we can leave now.”
Kate was still confused, but she just followed behind Adrian quietly.
Throughout the 2 hours at the park, Adrian explained everything to Kate, and since Madam Marsen knew about the incident too, Kate quickly understood what happened. In fact, she even felt so sorry that she wanted to comfort Emma who lost her parents.
Sadly, the little girl was not fond of her at all. Each time Kate tried to approach her, she would scream as a way of protest and would swing her arms to shoo her away. Eventually, Kate was so gloomy that she simply kept quiet, hence Adrian laughed at her.
“I don’t get it, I just punched you a few times as a joke, why does she hate me so much?” Kate leaned against the door as she watched Adrian take care of Emma on the bed. Although she sounded like she was unhappy about it, she was quite touched due to the warm scene.
Adrian signaled her to lower her volume, then he got off the bed after carefully moving the little girl’s arms away. After that, he left with Kate. “Let’s leave first, the little fellow will wake up if we talk too loudly.”
In the living room, the two of them were suddenly lost for words after they drank some water.
“Uhm… Since Madam Marsen’s hired by Mr. Russell to take care of Emma, why doesn’t she stay here?” Kate asked after a long while.
“It’s only today, because… You’re here.” Adrian shrugged.
Kate was puzzled at first, but she quickly thought of something, so she smiled strangely. They looked at each other for some time before they burst out laughing. Next, she buried herself inside his arms, then hugged her lover without any barrier in between.
“Oh, this finally belongs to me again.” Kate lamented as she leaned against Adrian’s chest, then arched her head to feel more of his smell.
“Why? Are you jealous of a little girl?” Adrian joked while hugging her soft body.
“That’s right. It’s fine if the little fella hates me, but she has been occupying you for the whole night, so that’s too much,” Kate mentioned madly, and she looked exactly like 2-year-old Emma.
Later, she sighed and placed her head on Adrian’s shoulder, then whispered to his ear, “I’m sorry, Eddy.”
“Sorry? Why?” Adrian was rather surprised.
“Just this afternoon, I was still angry at you for not calling me,” Kate mumbled, then sat up straight to look at Adrian in the eye with the intention of saying something, but she ended up not saying anything.
“Silly, you don’t have to apologize to me.” Adrian stroked her face. “This means that I’m very important to you. I’m the one who should apologize to you, I forgot to call you when I was busy.”
“I understand. After all, it’s such a huge incident.” Kate smiled.
“No, no, no. I’m serious, Kate.” Adrian held her face with both his hands. “I actually had many opportunities to call you, but I’ve been contacting the others at Los Angeles through a videophone to work on the film’s post-production work remotely, and I totally forgot that someone’s waiting for me in London. Without Madam Marsen’s reminder, I don’t know when I’ll remember.”
He sighed. “So I’m the one who should apologize. For cases like this, a man shouldn’t let a lady apologize.”
Kate listened to him quietly, then shut his mouth with her lips. With that, they began kissing passionately since they had not seen each other for more than 2 months, and they began touching each other all over.
Before long, Kate who was sitting on top of Adrian sensed his reaction, thus she looked at him seductively while breathing heavily, then reached her hand to unfasten his belt before she began putting her hand inside his pants.
“Sometimes… I really think that it’s so hard to satisfy you…” Her breathing was getting faster.
“Is that so?” Adrian who was enjoying the sensation from Kate’s fingers chuckled, and he touched her delicate body everywhere too. “It’s okay, you have hands, your mouth, and…”
“What are you doing!” Kate suddenly screamed. This was because Adrian’s hand moved from her butt toward her butt cleavage, and although she still had her pants on, she was not used to it.
“Is there a problem?” Adrian teased her, then moved his hand further down.
“No… Not there… No…” Kate gritted her teeth. “Or… I won’t go easy on you!”
She tightened her grip.
“Ha… You’re really… Looks like we both have something to use against each other, would you like to make a deal? Ms. Beckinsale.”
“Of course… What kind of deal would you like to make, Mr. Cowell?”
“Oh, it’s simple, you’ll find out soon…”
Just as their lust was rising to the peak, a wail was heard coming from upstairs, which instantly extinguished Adrian’s fire of desire like a bucket of cold water.
“Jesus, it’s time.” He smiled bitterly as he helped Kate up, then adjusted his clothes.
As soon as he was done, a weeping little girl appeared on the stairs, so Adrian could only hug her to comfort her. They remained like that for a few minutes before Emma stopped crying, then he shrugged at Kate, and carried the little girl back to her room.
The odd life continued, but Adrian had Kate’s company now, and Russell welcomed her too. Emma’s condition improved after days, and apart from having more expressions, she began talking more, and also eventually accepted Madam Marsen as she occasionally accepted her hugs.
However, Kate was an exception. Each time she tried to please Emma, the little girl kept her guard up against her, and hid in Adrian’s arms. She was even gloomier when Emma kept trying to get in between her and Adrian when they became too intimate, and the little girl would glare at her as though she was declaring that Adrian was hers.
“I don’t know what to do.” As such, Kate complained to Adrian multiple times.
“Be more open-minded, it’ll be fine,” He always comforted her like that.
Since the doctor mentioned that the treatment was effective, it meant that Emma would recover sooner or later. In fact, she behaved very well at the funeral. The Watson couple was buried at the end of June, which was a dark and rainy day—one should never expect London’s weather to be good—Adrian could not be bothered why the funeral was only held so late. He carried Emma to sit at the front row, and listened to the prayers from the pastor, then mourned for the deceased.
Emma remained solemn throughout the process and was always at a daze but she did not cry. Despite that, Adrian clearly remembered her crying like there was no tomorrow when he brought her to see her parent’s dead bodies a few days before the funeral. That night when he accompanied her to sleep, she held onto his pajamas so tightly that she did not let go even when she was sound asleep.
“The accumulated negative emotions are too much for the young child to take in, so it’s hard for her to adjust herself. Similar to poking a few holes on a rubber hose for water to flow out slowly, the same should be done for her, but it’s good if she vents the emotions once in a while too. The alternated adjustment will help the child recover in the shortest time possible,” Dr. Sean, who suggested letting Emma visit her parents’ dead bodies, explained.
‘You’ll be better, Emma, and your future will be spectacular, I promise.’