Not a charity case

Stranger! Please be my Child’s Father

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Chapter 3: Not a charity case

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If there was one thing that Gael didn’t stand for, it was when people in power abused their dynamic.

There was no reason for half of these rich people to act so high and mighty--and sure, okay, fine. Maybe the kid’s super adorable eyes were a part of the reason he stepped in.

Maybe because he was so fixated on that, he didn’t notice how the kid’s mother’s eyes rounded in recognition, then fear.

A small hand tugged at his sweats, and little Hudson Miller extended his hands upward to him. Gael blinked, before realizing that the little kid wanted to be carried by him.

Interesting.

Kids were usually really scared of him, so it was nice to see one that was undeterred by his scary man-in-black demeanor. He bent down and hoisted Hudson onto his hip, holding the little one close.

“You came! Dada’s here now.” Hudson announced gleefully, patting his cheek.

Well, fucking goddamn hell. This little rat child was absolutely adorable, all teeth, in a boxy little grin.

The principal raised a brow, hands braced on the table. “Is that true, Mr Laurent? Are you his father?” The man glanced at the kid’s mother, then back at him, before scoffing, and that action itself made Gael’s blood boil.

The blue shirt woman started to stand up, hastily choking out a, “Wait, I can explain--” but was immediately cut off by Gael’s cold, “Yes. This is my kid. My number’s on the emergency contact sheet, isn’t it?” He stepped forward, wrapping his free hand around the kid’s mother’s waist, pulling the poor blue shirt woman closer to his side.

His hand cinched the material, pressing the mother so close into his side he could feel the other’s breathing.

He had no fucking idea how his number got into her hands, but she didn’t seem like the stalker type, and Gael was going to be damned if he let this poor woman kneel in front of those vultures. “I expect a certain goddamn level of respect attributed to my fucking kid and wife.”

Somewhere below him, blue shirt choked at the use of the title. Meanwhile, her kid clapped, planting a sticky kiss on Gael’s cheek. “Dada’s a superhero, momma!”

“That’s--that’s very fair, Mr Laurent. But you have to understand that Hudson has been caught in a disciplinary infraction, he’s been caught pushing another child, and these two mothers are very upset at the physical contact that’s occurred.” The principal looked a lot less confident now, almost nauseated at the confirmation that Gael was in fact the child’s father.

The women were looking very much along the same lines--green faced and regretting their decision.

“No, I think--” One of the duo spoke. “I think it was our child that was wrong. We’re sorry for bothering you, Mr Laurent.” The women bowed hastily in his direction.

“It’s never a bother to come and defend my kid,” Gael growled, raising a brow. “I think you owe a goddamn apology to my wife and my child.”

The women bowed, though it accompanied a moment of hesitation. “We’re very sorry, Miss Arabella, little Hudson.” They stepped past them, rushing out, leaving their cloying perfume behind.

Chanel, and way too much of it, based on how Gael’s nose wrinkled immediately.

Gael turned his gaze to the principal, who bowed hastily.

“I’m sorry, to all three of you. It seems the situation has been resolved.”

If that wasn’t a cue to get out of his office, Gael didn’t know what was, so he grabbed Arabella’s hand and walked out, Hudson clapping and bouncing on his hip.

(He swore he heard a little “Don’t sue me” from the principal, but that could have been his imagination.)

“Mr, um, Laurent, please, I can explain,” The mother whose hand he held sounded a bit panicked, but he squeezed the other’s hand.

“Not here. Too many people around. Let’s meet up at a spot where we can talk in peace.”

***

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Arabella opened her mouth to speak, then glanced at her son, who was looking at her intently.

“Hudson, can you do me a favor and go play? Momma just has a few things that she has to discuss.”

“But I wanna talk with dada, momma!” Hudson pouted, glancing over at Gael, who gently patted his head.

“We can talk later. Listen to your momma, Hudson. Go play, dada have a few things to talk about with her.” He gently said, and watched as Hudson nodded sluggishly and slid off the stool with a little difficulty, before heading to the booth he usually sat at and pulling out a coloring book.

Well, shit.

Maybe parenting was easier than he thought. He turned to glance at Arabella, but the woman was looking at the display with a pinched expression, as though she had eaten something sour, before turning back to him.

“You have to be shitting me, Mr Laurent, this entire play is going a bit too far! And you’re making it go too far!” Arabella sputtered next to him.

Gael had noticed, as she grew more and more panicked, the less reserved she was and the more...panicky she was.

“Relax, Miss Arabella. I saved you from a tricky little situation. No harm no foul.” Gael spoke up, to save himself from an ass whooping.

Seriously, he didn’t really care. It was a great distraction from track seven, and it wasn’t like he had anything else to do.

And besides, he wasn’t the kid’s dad.

“What if it gets out, Mr Laurent? What then? Can you guarantee any of those three people in the office can keep their mouths shut? What about the fact that there could have been people listening in, people following you to the school. You can’t guarantee anything, Gael Laurent. You should have left this alone. Now our privacy is compromised.” Arabella fired back at him, anger clear in her eyes.

Okay, wow. So the mum was definitely a bit more than upset. Maybe the woman was really wary of making it on tabloids or something--usually people would jump to be photographed, be seen with him.

He really didn’t understand why this was such a big deal--he had saved the woman’s bruised knees and begging people who didn’t deserve to be begged.

So why was she so fucking mad?

“Look, Miss Arabella. There’s nothing to be worried about. Whatever issue arises, my team will take care of it. No one will even know that I was there. We have PR teams that work through it, that pay off the people that need to be paid.” Gael said--this mother’s worrying was really starting to get on his nerves.

Seriously, it wasn’t that deep. It was only when she didn’t cooperate that things spiraled out of control.

He should know, he just had that scandal.

“It can’t get out. I can’t be seen with you .” Arabella repeated, firmly.

Gael wanted to bristle, what was that even supposed to mean? Was Gael some type of bug or something to be flicked off like that? While sure, he was really scary, he had just helped this woman out.

What, was there no ounce of graciousness in people anymore? What had the world come to?

“Oh, trust me. I won’t give you that boost of being associated with me anymore.” Gael sniped. If this woman was so picky with who she stole clout off of, then there was no need to be nice to her.

Arabella raised a brow. “What boost? I saw and heard about that scandal, Mr Laurent.”

Okay, wow. Now things were fucking getting personal. “Well, that scandal definitely didn’t inhibit anything when I came and saved your ass from sitting on the floor and begging for your son to be pardoned when he didn’t even do anything wrong.”

Arabella bristled immediately, and Gael felt sick satisfaction that he had managed to hit a nerve in the poised other.

“I didn’t ask you to come. I’m not a charity case.”

“Could have fooled me, based on how you used my name to cover up for Hudson’s absent father. Seems like you’ve been needing me and my name quite a lot.” Gael snarked back.

Arabella’s hand slammed down on the table, the woman’s eyes closing for a moment to reign in her temper before she opened them, speaking in a measured, controlled voice. “I’m not a damsel in distress for you to save. My son and I aren’t fucking projects for you to come and meddle with just because you were bored. Mind your goddamn words, and take your privilege and shove it in the trash. Some of us have to toe the line because not everyone kisses our asses even without us doing anything meaningful. Keep my family out of your goddamn mouth and out of your life, Me Gael Laurent. Thank you for today, but in the future, I don’t wish to be associated with you. Stay away from my fucking son.”

The woman stood before striding over to her son, scooping him up and neatly taking their things in a small bag, before stepping out of the coffeeshop, the bell dinging to signal their exit.

***

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Returning back to his studio, Gael now realized why going out wasn’t exactly the wisest decision. Not because he agreed with the mum--come on now, the other woman was an absolute idiot--but because now, he couldn’t really think of anything other than her apparent rat child and that meddlesome school.

Not good, especially considering that he was supposed to be concentrating on his album.

But maybe he was staring a bit too much at track seven. It will come later to him, naturally, right? Later, later. He just had to be a bit more patient with himself.

Gael switched tracks for now, deciding to work with the Chanty track.

She was coming in soon to discuss lyrics--while he had worked with his fair share of collaborations that definitely worked with ghostwriters, he found it refreshing that she was so invested in the track as much as he was. It was hard to find in this industry nowadays.

He just had to pen his rap down, deciding to feature in the song, but he already had half-composed lyrics in his head.

He scooted over in his chair, grabbing a pen, trying to pen down the thoughts he had, the basic brainstorm that Chanty and him had worked on. The song was supposed to be melancholic yet transformative, a coming of age number.

Inland yeah, this is a small inland we make in unity / yeah, mm, continually younger, the word forever is a sandcastle/

Where to go from there? Usually the words flowed quite easily when he grabbed a pen, but maybe he was a bit more shaken up from the earlier incident than he thought. He sighed and set the pen down, pushing back in his swivel chair and spinning around once again.

Damn. He was really starting to memorize the pattern of his ceiling tiles, he even knew how one of them had a little chip in it, how there were 30 spots on one and only 12 on another. This had to be some type of block.

His phone buzzed, and he picked it up, hoping Chanty sent more inspiration for lyrics. Instead, he swiped open the lock screen to his manager texting him.

[FROM LOUIS MANAGER:

GAEL, what the fuck is this?]

[ATTACHMENT: 1 LINK]

Gael clicked on the link, heart hammering in his chest. He had a strange feeling he knew what this link was about.

LEGENDARY POP-STAR GAEL HAS SETTLED DOWN?!

INSIDE HIS LIFE WITH HIS WIFE AND CHILD

Earlier today, Popular hit maker GAEL was seen at Erin Academy with his wife and son!

We don’t know who they are yet, but they’re adorable!!

His wife has already captured support--people are saying she’s the most gorgeous woman they’ve ever seen?

We don’t know who you are, mystery woman, but we’re totally in love with your relationship with your pop star husband!

More details on this kid and woman coming soon--

you know us, when it comes to juicy gossip, we’re always on the hunt.

Gael let his phone drop to the floor.

Well, fuck.

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TBC