~Emerald~

vacive /● adj. empty

I froze as I stood in the middle, with accusing eyes, judgemental eyes, disgusted eyes, all looking at me, making me tremble.

How could I get myself out of this situation? The worst fear of mine had come true. There was no going back from here.

I could do nothing at all, my mind had gone vacive.

My life was going to go downhill from now.

~Kaylen~

I could almost hear a cheerful song playing in the back of my head as I baked with the little kid who was enjoying telling me to do this and that. It was a happy time.

"Just a pinch, Kay!" He yelled from his sitting position on the table, his nose buried in the recipe book. I was sure he couldn't read half of the words but he was trying really hard and I got to give him credit for that.

Honestly, he did know more than me about baking. His father had taught him well.

I laughed at his cuteness and put about a pinch of baking soda in the thing. It was my first time baking a cake. Or baking anything. Or doing anything in the kitchen. Well, except the quickie yesterday...

But this kid was something else, I was enjoying doing something I had detested since I was born and I still would, had he not been with me to give me company. Or rather, orders. He was so cute that in a matter of a few hours, he had even developed a nickname for me.

I had never felt it before, but the kid was filling up the part of my heart that had been vacive all along. Maybe this is what I needed. I smiled to myself as I looked at Jordon.

We were alone in the house as Emerald had got a call from the dean himself, asking him to come for an urgent discussion. I was happy actually, I wanted to have some quality time with Jordon instead of having sexual tension fill the atmosphere with Emerald looming around.

A question that never bothered to pop in my head decided to pop now.

What was the story of this family? Who was Jordon's mother? Was Emerald divorced? Or did he not marry at all in the first place? Was it a drunken mistake? A one night stand? Jordon couldn't have been adopted because he and Emerald resembled slightly. Maybe his maternal genes were more dominating.

I decided to ask Emerald about it once we get on good terms again. This subject could be a touchy one.

"Kay!" He called, snapping me out of my thoughts. He was now standing right next to me, looking at the mixing bowl which was at his eye level when he stood on his toes.

"I think it's done. Let's put it in the oven!" He ordered and I complied.

"Daddy loves chocolate. And cakes. He's going to love this!" He said excitedly as we seated next to each other on adjacent chairs around the table.

"I'm sure he will," I replied with a smile. He seemed to be lost in thought for a while but he maintained a good fake smile before shooting a very unexpected question at me.

"Do you love my dad?"

For a moment, I sat there paralyzed at what I had been asked. I had never ever imagined that this idea could possible run in the six-year-old's head. Had Emerald told him that we were dating?

"Um...Your dad and I are friends." I replied, trying to maintain a smile like he was.

"And now you and I are friends too." He added, grinning genuinely at me.

"Yes, kiddo." I replied, ruffling his hair.

Jordon and I spent the next hour watching TV. At one moment, he curled up to my side lazily and I wrapped my arm around his little body. Just being with this amazing kid made my heart happy and a smile creep onto my face. I didn't want to let go of him.

~

It turned out, I was pretty good at baking. But Jordon was the master chef. After all, I was only following commands.

The cake was pretty soft and delicious. We had even cooked some chocolate syrup to layer it with. We set aside a piece for Emerald and then got down to eat the rest by ourselves. Within five minutes, it was gone.

"This was so yum!" Jordon moaned dramatically with his eyes closed as he licked his spoon. I chuckled as I took the dishes to be washed.

"Thanks to me." I teased, scrubbing the plates.

"It was good, working with you, partner." He commented and I laughed out loud just as the bell rang.

"Daddy's home!" He cheered before sprinting to the door.

My smile faded a little. Was it weird that I was more comfortable around Jordon than Emerald?

I heard footsteps behind me so I turned to greet Emerald. But when I looked at him, I saw something completely different. Emerald's eyes were puffy and red, along with his nose and it took no genius to decipher that he had been crying. Jordon was looking as worried as me as we both looked at him.

"Is everything okay?" I asked softly, stepping closer. He flinched and took a step back, looking at the ground without uttering a sound.

"Emerald?" I asked, very seriously. My heart was beating as loud as it could and I was panicking on seeing him like this. Why was he stepping away from me? "What happened?"

A tear slipped from his cheek and landed on his shoe.

"Daddy?" Jordon asked, hugging his leg, his lips trembling. He was about to cry too.

The elder man's silence was unnerving the both of us.

"I was fired." He whispered, his head lifting. His red, teary eyes met my widened ones.

"What? Why?" I asked, stopping myself from stepping forward again.

"You know why," He whispered, his tears flowing even more rapidly. And then it clicked.

Professor Andrea Christie.

"No..." I whispered, incredulously. She had actually done this. The bitch.

"But what about the proof..." I spoke but was cut off when Emerald took out his phone and showed a picture.

A picture of us kissing in a college corridor. I had only kissed him once in the corridor, when he had been avoiding me the whole day because he was scared that his ex would catch us.

Shit.

"I'm so sorry." I whispered, starting to quiver myself. This was my fault. I had made a huge mistake. I just destroyed the life of the man I lo--the man I cared about.

"What's wrong?" Jordon cried as he looked between us, clinging to his father's leg even more tightly.

"Nothing happened baby, dad is just going to change his job." Emerald said, composing himself a little as he crouched down to his kid's level and wiped his tears. "I'm going to spend more time with my baby now." He said, trying to cheer his son up as he hugged him.

"Then why are you crying?" Jordon asked.

"I just had a small argument with somebody. Don't worry about it." He said, putting up a smile for his child's sake.

"Promise?" Jordon asked, sniffing his last. Emerald nodded and pushed him gently out of the door.

"Now go to your room, I'll be there in a while."

Jordon ran up to his room, leaving Emerald and I in each other's dreaded company. I was feeling so guilty, I didn't know how to start apologizing.

"I..." I trailed, not finding the words.

"I think you should leave." He said. My heart felt like it weighed a ton.

"I need to talk to them." I spoke confidently. There had to be something I could do. I could say it wasn't his fault and that I was coming onto him. I couldn't let him be humiliated for something consensual, just because his ex was a narrow minded, filthy, manipulative bitch.

"What are you going to say?" He challenged, his eyes glistening like two pools of water. I tried not to think that no matter what the situation, he was looking fucking beautiful.

"I...Leave that to me." I said, making up my mind and walking towards the door.

"Stop!" He said, catching my arm. I turned to him. He was looking so pained and helpless, I wanted to do all I could to end his misery. I couldn't see him like this, no matter how beautiful he was looking.

"Don't do anything stupid, Kaylen." He ordered and for the first time ever, he looked more dominating.

Before I could say anything in reply, my phone vibrated in my pocket. I pulled it out to see my papa calling. I paled.

"Yes, papa?" I asked, shit scared as I received the call.

"Where are you?" He asked, his tone eerily calm. The storm was coming my way.

"At a friend's."

"Get home asap, your dad and I have to talk to you."

A/N: Are they ever going to be happy???

I'm so tired.

(Updating today because I couldn't on Monday. Sorry!)