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• Arsenio •

I didn't even realise the extent to which I missed her untill she stood six feets apart from me.

She was here. After nine fucking long and torturous months, she was here.

She was the first thing I saw when I stepped out of my room, standing in the middle of my penthouse in the morning and for a moment I thought I was dreaming, I thought, I was seeing an angel.

I wanted to say a million things to her, I wanted to apologise, I wanted to have her back, I wanted to ask her how she was, I wanted to ask her where she was and if she missed me too. And above all, I wanted to kiss her. Again. This time with no regrets cause I missed her damn much.

Yet, each thought came to a halt when my eyes travelled down her body and fell on the baby she was carrying in her arms. The baby she was holding so protectively. The baby whose hair was exactly the same shade as mine.

The baby who let out a sharp cry and was hugged to her chest immediately in a motherly manner as she silenced him.

I am a fucking CEO, I run a billion dollar company, I ain't stupid. I joined all the dots and the realisation made me stumble back.

"Arsenio." Her voice so soft, so angelic floated to me and I wanted her to keep speaking but this wasn't the time.

Clutching the baby, she walked closer until her sweet smell wafted up to my nose and I smothered the urge to sniff her neck.

Fuck. I needed to focus. She has a fucking baby in her hand, who when I saw from up close didn't look much older than a few days.

My brain ran at a fast speed, doing all the calculations and my jaw clenched.

"I..." She paused, her eyes not meeting mine. "I know this is a huge shock but this is your son. You can do all the tests you want but I am not lying."

No, she wasn't. One look at the baby and anyone could tell it was mine because he fucking looked like me. In every aspect. Plus, she never really lied to me.

When she extended the baby towards me, my hands automatically clutched him but I was numb.

I just woke up for fuck's sake! Give me a break.

My baffled face urged her to speak, "I can't...I just can't...I am not capable of raising him. You have everything, you can give him everything. Please, I request you to take care of him." A tear slid down her eyes which she wiped away.

"What the fuck?" I whispered not quite understanding.

She still didn't look at me properly and said softly, "His name is Izan. He was born a week back." There was a bag in her hand which I didn't notice before and she kept it on the floor. "This has everything that he needs besides I am sure you are capable of providing him with more. More than I ever can."

Then she leaned down and pressed a lingering kiss on his forehead, more tears falling from her eyes and she murmured to him, "I love you. Please don't hate me."

Before I could even comprehend what was happening she was already on her way and getting inside the elevator.

As the elevator doors slowly slid close, her tear filled eyes finally met mine. The sadness, the longing, the pain everything was like a slap to my face.

"Ezlyn!" I shouted finally getting back to reality, all the information crashing back.

She came and left me with a baby. A BABY. And now she is gone again.

She left her own son. She fucking left her own son alone? How the fuck could she do that?

A feeling of hatred unfurled inside me, slowly consuming me and in that moment, for the first time in my life, I hated her. I hated my best friend or whatever the hell she was, I hated her for making such a fucking foolish and huge decision.

My eyes fell down to the baby who was now sleeping peacefully in my arms. My son. I am a father now. I have a son. A freaking son.

Okay, I am going into full panic mode now. I never wanted to have babies. It's not like I hate them but I just never imagined being a father in the future.

It was only yesterday that I promised Zen that I will bring back Ezlyn but today she was here herself but only to hand me a baby and leave once more.

What do I do now?

With him still in my arms I sat down, in the middle of my living room, on the floor cross legged and stared at him for a long time as if he might answer all my questions.

A hysterical laugh escaped my mouth. "I fucking hate your mother." Great, now I was talking to a baby. "She left you. She left you with me, how could she do that?"

The elevators dinged and as if on cue, my best friend appeared, my only best friend and I swear I have never been so happy to see Zenith before.

His eyes fell on the baby, his brows furrowed and he didn't even bother to get out of the elevator as his hands went to the panel of buttons. "Guess I got on the wrong floor. Sorry."

"Don't you dare leave." I said in a low, cold tone, demanding him to stay.

His eyes did a double check and then he rubbed his eyes twice as if not believing what he was seeing. "You have a baby in your hands. Last time I checked you don't have any siblings that have kids or cousins with kids either and no friends besides me of course. So, who's baby is that?"

"I would tell you gladly if you will just come inside."

His nose scrunched up in disgust and I knew what he was going to say and I mentally groaned. "That sounded extremely wrong."

"That's because your head is always in the gutter!" I gritted out.

He finally made his way inside and glanced down at me, more specifically at the baby and his face blanked. "Nope. No, no, no. Why does this baby look like you?"

"Because he is mine."

It took him ten seconds to register what I said and in an extremely dramatic way, he slammed his palm over his mouth, his eyes widening. "No. Fucking. Way."

His other palm went over his heart and he took a step back. Dramatically again. "How could keep this from me? Your best friend? You didn't even tell me that you were going to be a father? How could you keep such a huge thing from me?"

Maybe I was better off dealing with this alone cause his dramatic ass is no help to me.

He is a fucking idiot. Can't he do all the calculations already?

Gradually, his brain started to work again and his palm dropped from his mouth and his jaw dropped. "No, no, this is bad. This is really, really bad. Is this... Ezlyn's and your son?"

My expression answered his question and he dropped to the floor beside me, peering at the baby.

His eyes left the baby to meet mine. "Are you fucking insane?!" He yelled.

I flinched at his tone, Zenith is not the type of guy to lose his cool so easily and him shouting at me was a rare thing. "What?"

"Having sex with her was one thing but to not use any protection, are you a fucking idiot?! What the fuck did you do?!"

My jaw ticked. "I was drunk for the millionth time. I wasn't conscious enough to put on a condom for fuck's sake!"

He held his head in his palm and groaned. "What the fuck, Arsenio. You got her pregnant. Where is she?"

"She left." I lowered my gaze to the baby.

"She left? You let her leave again?" He seethed.

"I was too shocked to say or do anything. She left saying she can't take care of him and that I could do it better like I fucking know how to handle a baby."

"I am going to find her and then we will talk this out."

"No." I snapped. "I don't want to see her face again."

"What is wrong with you?! She is your child's mother."

"The child whom she left without any remorse." I argued. "She is not the same Ezlyn, she is not my little cupcake anymore. I don't wanna see her again."

Before he could argue back, the baby, disturbed by our shouting started to cry loudly.

"Oh God." I mumbled not knowing what to do and turned to Zenith. "He's crying. Silence him."

"What am I? A babysitter? I don't know what to do!"

"But we have to do something, he's crying!"

He seemed to be in a deep thought and said after a few seconds, "Maybe he is hungry...or he needs his diapers to be changed or maybe he needs something else."

Mother. His mother, that's what he needs.

I started to awkwardly rock him in my arms which did nothing to soothe him.

I told Zenith to check the bag Ezlyn left me to see if there is anything inside and he found some diapers and a baby formula along with a bottle and what not.

Somehow, we managed to check if he needed to get his diapers changed, which he didn't so the only option left was that he was hungry.

So with the help of YouTube, we made a bottle of milk for him which when I held to his mouth, he didn't drink.

"Why isn't he drinking?" I questioned to Zenith, in a complete panic mode.

"He's just a week old. He needs to be breastfeed.

My molars grinded together. I fucking hate Ezlyn for this.

"I don't know what to do." I whispered, on the verge of crying myself.

"We can try feeding him with a spoon maybe..." Zen suggested and we quickly worked on that suggestion and made Izan lie on the couch and I slowly held the spoon to his mouth and pried opened his mouth.

Carefully, I put the milk in his mouth and finally his cries subsided as he drank the milk and we both sighed in relief.

Ten minutes later, he was fast asleep and we collapsed beside him exhausted already.

"About Ezlyn..." Zenith started to speak but I cut him off.

"Not now, Zen. Not now."

.
.
.

That now never came. I refused to see Ezlyn. It was selfish of me but if she left him in my care, I wanted to prove to her that I wasn't heartless like her and I could actually take care of him.

A month old he was now. A month that I somehow managed to survive through but one thing was clear, I was not made for this and I can't do this without Ezlyn. This child needs his mother no matter what and a plan started to form in my mind.

Izan slept peacefully in his crib, early in the morning as I watched him, tracing my finger over his soft cheeks as a small smile formed over my lips.

He is my son after all, it was inevitable for me to fall in love with him.

Leaning down, I kissed his forehead. "I'll take care of you, Izan and I am going to get your mother back. I'll make sure she never leaves you again."

I heard my front door opening and shutting and I made my way out of his nursery. I left my penthouse and bought a new house, which seemed more homely and cozy, right after Izan came into my life.

Zenith walked in with coffee in his hands just like he does every morning and one look at me and he let out a low whistle. "Wow, man. You look like you need to get laid."

Exhaustion made me shout, "What I need is sleep!" And that was the truth.

He raised his hands in surrender, silently snickering to himself. "Okay, okay. But seriously you haven't gotten laid ever since that night."

My eyes narrowed at him. "The amount of knowledge you have about my sex life is awfully concerning."

He rolled his eyes and sat down on the couch in the living room with me sitting opposite to him and we sipped on our respective coffees.

"I have an idea." I said a few minutes later.

"I'm listening."

"I'll tell you the whole plan after the first part of it is done which is: find Ezlyn."

He raised his brow. "First of all, I need to hear the plan first. Secondly, how come you are remembering her all of a sudden?"

"I remember her everyday." I muttered.

Something mischievous glinted in his eyes but he didn't comment and said instead, "What's the plan?"

"First find Ezlyn."

"First the plan."

"Ezlyn."

"Plan."

"Ezlyn."

"Plan--"

"As your boss, I, Arsenio Draven, order you, Zenith Grey to do as I say and not to question me."

He glared at me. "Just because I am your assistant you can't order me around."

"Need I remind you that I pay you for all this?"

"Need I remind you that I am also your best friend?"

Okay, he had a good point. I rolled my eyes and he asked again, "The plan, Arsenio. I am waiting to hear it."

He is not going to like this that's why I didn't want to tell him but I had to anyway. "I am going to marry her. Whether she agrees or not."

Chapter completion on: 8/12/22
Published on: 26/1/23