Black Haired Gem

Trembling, her knees starting to ache from the kneeling, she peers up at him again to see how he runs his hand through his hair, exasperated, and scoffing before he looks down again.

“You really are shameless to be able to cut contact and disappear on me for seven whole years, and now you return, and the first thing you say to me, is not an apology but to ask me for money? Just how defiant are you?”

Mavis frowns, wiping her eyes. Then she stands to her feet, dusting off her knees. “It’s fine if you do not want to help me, it is fine if you do not want to give me the money, but do not ask me for an apology when I am the one that was wronged!” She exclaims mildly.

Lance gazes at her. Her normally cheerful eyes, so bright and full of life, now look like they have been worn out with age, as though she has seen much more than any average human should at the age of twenty-five. Her eyes look haunted and there are bags under her eyes that look as though she’d hurriedly dabbed some concealer on, just so he won’t see them.

He takes one step towards her, reaching out, but she takes two back, looking at his hands warily.

He drops his hand, grunting, “Fine then. If I don’t get an apology or an explanation from you, then there is no point having this conversation.”

Mavis pauses for a second before nodding, twice. “Fine by me. You still are the uncaring jerk you have always been. You’d never know just how much that time with you has cost me. Imagine what it’s like being—“ She stops herself immediately, afraid that she’s said too much.

Lance’s eyes cloud over. “I don’t know what it’s like being what?”

Mavis closes off, the fear climbing back into her eyes as she whips around and grabs her bag off the couch in the room. “It’s nothing. Thank you for seeing me.”

“Wait!” Lance finds himself ordering, the curiosity a little too hard to ignore. He walks around her and comes to a stop in front of her. He takes a step towards her, she takes one backwards, until her back hits the glass table, ending her capability to go any further backwards. But he takes one more step, before leaning into her. “You can’t start a sentence and leave the other person hanging, that’s rude.”

With her blood thumping in her ears seeing how close he is, she swallows deeply, finding her eyes flickering again and again to his lips and how much he had always been a good kisser, managing to sweep her off her damn feet every single time, until that time. He had always been good at evading her need for privacy and even now, that single act of his takes her breath away.

Breath away…

That phrase reminds her of why she’d come to see him, with her heart longing for those lips on any part of her body but her head in complete disagreement, she side steps out of his arm’s cage. “I have to go, I can’t play around with you, and you’re as insufferable as you’ve always been.”

“What if I agree to give you the five million dollars? And more…?”

Mavis stops in her tracks, then slowly, she turns around. “There is a condition, isn’t there?”

With that sexily sly smirk of his, “Of course, it’s pretty simple.”

Nursing one last smidge of hope in the man, she nods. “What is this condition of yours?”

Rubbing his finger on her bare shoulder in small, seductive circles, “Spend one week with me, just me. Same place as before, but this time, I’ll pay you by the day, by the hour, but your five million will be the down payment.”

The offer is tempting as fuck.

This man, plus so much money, enough to do everything she needs it for, is as tempting as getting as a lottery ticket, all paid, to Fiji island…

But—

“You’d be dreaming then, I will never, ever, choose willingly to have anything to do with you. Go after your famous red-heads, I am pretty sure one of them will find the offer more tempting that I do.”

Without any warning, he tilts his head to the back and bursts into laughter. He reaches into his coat pocket and pulls out a card, putting it into her bag. “Who knows, you might change your mind. It’s my personal number, give me a call if you ever consider my offer positively.”

Not sparing him another word, she turns on her heel and walks out there, happy that her dignity is still mildly intact at least, because whenever it came to Lance Wesker, she’d never been able to think straight.

She takes a cab home, and comes to a stop in front of a dingy apartment. She looks up at the window of the second floor, sighing before heading inside.

She makes her way up the stairs, opening the door to silence. Frowning, she goes inside, looking around, a look of panic slowly creeping into her face.

“Nate… NATE!” She yells, hoping he’s in there somewhere, possibly just sleeping. She enters into the room and there is no one in there. Suddenly, the closet door bursts open and a boy comes bouncing out, running into her hands with laughter and excitement.

“Nathan.” She whispers, catching him in her hands, pressing her lips into his jet black hair, one of the things he has so in common with his father.

“Mommy,” the boy starts, hugging her legs.

She picks him up with an easy smile, pressing more kisses across his body as he laughs in her hands especially when she gets to his ticklish part where he doubles over in laughter trying in vain to fight off her hands but she stops herself after some seconds, letting him finish laughing before she calms down.

“Why are you alone here?”

“Nancy left an hour ago, said she had to attend to something urgent.”

“Okay, what would my little prince love for dinner? Hm? Mommy will make you whatever you want to eat…”

“Hm… can I have cake for dinner?”

Mavis bursts into laughter, pulling his cheeks playfully. “The doctor said you should avoid sweet things for now, should we have some chicken instead? We can go buy it together?”

He nods, jiggling excitedly. “Yes yes. I’ll eat chicken.”

“Let Mommy go get freshened up then, get busy with some SpongeBob, okay?”

“I want to do my homework instead.”

Mavis smiles, her heart full of love for this sweet little boy. “Go ahead then, we’ll look through it after having dinner, okay?”

As she turned to go, “Mommy,”

“Yes love?”

“In school today, our teacher asked us to bring a picture of our Daddy and Mommy on a trip. Will Daddy come and take a picture with us so I can submit it?”

Mavis stops in her tracks, inhaling deeply.

His father…

His father does not even know of his existence.