Chapter 50 I don’t know him
Ophelia’s POV
“I can explain, please calm down and listen to me,” Ryan said, but I wasn’t having any of his bullshit.
“I just asked you a fucking question, Ryan. Why the hell are you here? Are you stalking me now? Is that it? You failed to kill me in Texas, so you’re here to finish the job, hmm?” I hollered at Ryan, backing away from him as he reached over to touch me.
“Bab-Ophelia, please calm down. I had no idea you stayed in London. I came here for a seminar, I swear. I would never do something as shallow as stalking you,” He uttered, to which I scoffed.
“Mummy, do you know the staingrass?” Jeremy tugged my arm, causing me to tilt my head sideways.
I darted a smile at him, rubbed his head, and shook my head in negation, “No, my love. I don’t know him,”
“But you said a bad word to him and you called his name. His name is Lion and you said it just now. Are you lying, mummy?” Jeremy pushed further which made me sigh in exasperation.
“I’m serious. I don’t know him,” I lied through my teeth.
Before Jeremy could continue his questions, I turned to glare at Ryan once more.
It was then I noticed his physical appearance had changed a lot. His usually wicked grey eyes looked tired, he had under-eye bags, and his cheeks were greatly sunken.
In short, he looked like a shadow of his former self. I almost felt sorry for him but then, I remembered how cruel he was to me, and I scoffed.
“You better be telling the truth, Ryan. You better be. And don’t you ever dare act as you know me in public, do you understand? I don’t know you and you don’t know me, okay?” I gritted out, nose flaring in anger.
“Ophelia, at least listen to me, please,” Ryan began.
“I don’t want to! Get out of my way before I call the cops and sue you for harassment. But then again, you are a bribery master, so there’s no use bringing the authorities into this,” I muttered, feeling a devilish sort of joy at the way my words bruised his ego.
“I searched everywhere for you. Every damned place in America but all my efforts were futile. I had no idea how to find you nor did I know where you were,” He stopped, took a deep breath, and continued.
“I did something utterly inhumane to you that night, and I’m sorry I did it. I know my apology is useless at this point, but I hope you forgive me one day. Not a day goes by that I do-”
“Stop it, I already told you I don’t care. Why are you telling me this? We are total strangers, so why are you ranting to me?” I scoffed before I bent down to lift Jeremy into my arms.Nôvel(D)rama.Org's content.
“I’m big boy, mummy. Don’t hold me,” Jeremy grumbled, but I was in no mood for his whines.
I was simmering with hot anger being in the same vicinity as Ryan, his dad.
Subconsciously, I shuddered with fear as a horrible thought crossed my mind.
What would I do if Ryan found out about Jeremy’s true identity, and tried to take him away from me?
I would never let that happen. I would protect my son from him in any way I could.
There was no way I would sit back and let Ryan ruin Jeremy’s life with his psychopathic tendencies.
“Excuse me,” I muttered, and walked past him, brushing against his shoulder in the process.
“Ophelia, please wait,” He grabbed my arm which I instantly yanked back, as I glared at him.
“Don’t you ever lay your filthy hands on me again? I’ll slap you if you do, and I mean it,” I hissed before sauntering away.
The butterflies I thought were dead suddenly awoke with renewed vigor at the slight body contact I had with him. I shrugged the useless feeling away as I tucked my hair behind my ear.
“Bye, Mister Lion,” Jeremy suddenly yelled, waving at him.
I stifled the urge to whip my neck around to see Ryan’s countenance at my son’s words.
“Bye, Jeremy. Be a good boy for your mummy, okay?” He yelled back, and the corners of my lips involuntarily quivered in a smile.
“Okay,” Jeremy replied.
I cleared my throat, pressed my lips into a thin line, and tightened my grip on Jeremy.
Only the heavens knew how Jeremy would react when he knew about Ryan’s true relationship with him.
Lately, I noticed he had been bugging me about his dad whenever I didn’t give in to one of his numerous petulant tantrums. He’d grumble about how Marvin, one of his classmates had a mummy and a daddy who gave him all the ice cream and cakes he wanted.
When he calmed down from his little display of childish anger, he’d ask me where his dad was, and honestly, I had made up my mind to tell him his dad was dead. But after seeing Ryan again, I was starting to rethink the whole thing.
Even though Ryan was dead to me or so I claimed.
“I have warned you against talking to strangers, haven’t I?” I chided Jeremy as we walked out of the amusement park.
“I’m sorry, mummy. I was feared when I didn’t see you. I thought you left,” He mumbled, hiding his face in the crook of my neck.
“I will never leave you, Jeremy. You are all I’ve got in this world,” I muttered, and placed a peck on his cheek as I keyed my car open.
“Promise?” He gazed up at me, stretching his pinky.
Momentarily, I forgot about my fears of Ryan filing for sole custody of my son, and I smiled down at him.
“Promise,” I said, locking my pinky with his.
“Mummy, can I ask you a question?” Jeremy inquired as I set him down into his car seat.
“Just a minute,” I said, strapping the restraints firmly around him.
Then, I got into the driver’s seat with a sigh and gazed at him through the mirror.
“Okay, now you can ask. What’s wrong?”
“Why were you mean to mister Lion?” He asked, and I exhaled sharply.
Of course, Jeremy would ask a question like that.
“He did something bad to mummy, a long time ago,” I replied, revving the car’s engine to life.
“How bad?”
“Like stealing your entire pokemon collection bad,” I said, to which he gasped.
“That’s bad of him,” He muttered, and I nodded in agreement as I steered the car onto the road.
“Right?”
“Did he apnotize?” Jeremy yawned.
“He did, but it’s too late to apologize,” I whispered.
“He should have done that a long time ago, maybe then, I’d have forgiven him,” I sniffled, and as if programmed, a stray tear rolled down my cheek.
I glimpsed at the rearview mirror and scoffed fondly when I saw that Jeremy had fallen asleep.
“So much for being a peacemaker,” I chuckled before turning my full concentration to the road, ignoring the emaciated vision of Ryan in my mind’s eye.