Chapter 2

"Even if you take a while, that's perfectly fine with me. I'll take care of your adorable son!" she cheerfully interrupted me.

Maybe what I'm doing isn't right. I have a son, and I'm going to enjoy myself at a bar? Irithel told me to loosen up and just enjoy my life.

I'll do it, just this once.

I left the house and got into my car, which was parked in the one-car parking lot beside the house. The houses here don't have fences, except for a few very large ones. This is a subdivision, after all, so the houses have similar designs.

My car isn't that expensive; it's a middle-class car.

The drive to the expensive bar isn't that long. I didn't know this bar was for wealthy people only. It turns out this was the location and suggested bar Irithel mentioned.

Oh, that woman.

I have no choice. I don't know any other bars around here. I'm not really into this kind of thing, and luckily, it's the last day of the month tomorrow, which means I'll be receiving my salary from work.

after finding a space here in the parking lot on the side of the bar, I immediately got out of the car.

I'm wearing a skintight maroon tube dress, thigh length with a five inches nude pumps.

The DJ's pounding music from inside the bar gives me chills. my heart beats together with the noise.

I was in the middle of walking here in the parking lot going to the entrance of the bar when I saw someone kissing on the side and someone was fighting in front, I also saw a man cornering the woman in an expensive car.

it's dark but I can still manage to feel or see what's happening in my surroundings. There are also a few standing lampposts here so it's not too dark either.

I was even outside the bar when something terrible happened, what else if I was actually inside?

I was about to enter the bar but I was stopped when a bouncer guarding its spacious entrance blocked me. There are neon lights in every corner of the entrance.

"ID miss?"

I frowned because of his request.

Why didn't the other girl who came in here check your IDs? Do I look underage?

I pulled the zipper of my rectangular shaped black shiny wallet and took out my ID. I presented my ID in front of the oversized bouncer.

he took my ID and looked at it.

"Twenty-two years old? Sorry, Miss. I thought you're underage 'coz you look like seventeen," frowned when the bouncer handed me back my ID and stepped back to let me in.

Seventeen huh? I was sixteen years old when Lazarus accidentally got me pregnant. What did I look like when I was sixteen years old? Do I look eleven years old?

I continued walking until the inside of the bar opened up to me.

sweat bodies grinding each of here, actively dancing on the dance floor, flickering lights are all over the place that might make me blind, the smell of the smoke irritates my nose mixed with some strong scent of alcohol and unaffordable perfumes. some group of people just stayed in their place, a round sofa with a glass center table where the bucket of alcoholic beverages was put up.

There are many expensive sofas on the edge of the dance floor. I looked up at the metal rails on the second floor when I saw people there, looking down at it.

I think it's the VIP floor and rooms.

I haven't even had a drink yet, I feel dizzy from what I smell.

I came here alone because I don't really want to drink, I told Irithel that I will also meet someone here so I don't need someone to come with me here. Just going to stay an hour here and go home. Nothing caught my interest here at the bar.

This is dangerous, yeah, I know. I don't get drunk so no one can take advantage of me. I don't have anyone to take me back home, I might get sick.

I don't want my baby to get worried about me. He cried once when one day I got sick, just a fever.

I sat on a stool near the male bartender who was busy mixing drinks. Behind the bartender are lined up different kinds of drinks such as whiskey, vodka, rum and more.

I looked around bored and my eyes widened when I didn't think I would see him here.

He's on the second floor while holding a glass of alcoholic beverage. he was watching from below, everywhere his deadly gaze landed so it was possible that he could see me too.

I nervously faced the bartender who had just poured a drink that he had mixed with any drink.

Without saying a word, I took the glass and sipped, nonstop.

the bartender's eyes widened and the man next to me got angry because the drink was meant for him.

I blinked twice when the alcohol immediately hit me. What kind of wine is that? But it hasn't swallowed my whole sanity yet. It's just that my eyes are getting a little blurry and the alcohol hurts my throat a lot.

It felt cold in my throat at the same time the alcohol was burning my system.

"M-Ma'am, it's uhm—hard liquor. I suggest—"

"I don't need your suggestion."

the bartender kept his mouth shut and just made a new drink for the angry man.

I glanced again at his location on the second floor and instead of being surprised to see him staring at the side where I was sitting, I just stared.

I am not bitter. I just don't really like him and I don't want to see his face like he told me six years ago.

He doesn't want to see my face, so I do. Our feelings are mutual.

We don't have a past or anything. We never had a relationship or anything. we didn't even become friends, I just hate his guts.

I really can't believe that I begged him to give me even a little time to talk to him and I was about to tell him about the baby but he didn't give me time.

after I saved him then that's all he did to me? Is that his way to say thank you?

Gosh. It's depressing.

Looks like I need some wine. It's okay, I'll just call Domino to pick me up here. I can't go with Irithel because she's watching over my son right now. Laki can't either, because Lazarus is here.

"I ordered the hardest liquor you have here," I commanded the bartender, who seemed hesitant about whether to give me what I wanted or not.

What? Do I look seventeen again? Sure, I'm not that tall or a long-legged girl, but the bouncer earlier was clearly overreacting, thinking I looked like a seventeen-year-old.

Tss. Maybe he was just trying to be overprotective.

I crossed my legs and rested my elbow on the counter.

I've consumed almost five glasses of hard liquor in the past half hour. My vision is getting blurry, and the drinks I've had are making my throat incredibly dry.

"O-One more, please."

"B-But Ma'am, you seem quite intoxicated."

"Oh shut it, I want more," I retorted sharply at the bartender to get him to comply. If I begged here, I'm sure he wouldn't serve me.

Annoying. He's really stressing me out. Every time I glance at the second floor where he is, I catch him still staring at me. He's not avoiding eye contact at all.

I thought he didn't want to see my face?

I can also feel a few guys stealing glances at me from the side, whispering. Probably because they think I look underage. Maybe that's how I caught his attention?

What I'm wearing is not childish. Why do I look underage to them?

I don't care.

When I glanced at the second floor, I was surprised not to see him there anymore.

Where is he? Maybe my vision is really getting blurry. I don't want to see his face anyway.

"H-Here Ma'am."

The bartender caught my attention and handed me a glass of alcohol.

I tilted my head and was about to drink it straight when a strong, large hand gripped my wrist and pulled my hands away, almost causing me to spill the alcohol on my own clothes.

"What the—" I turned to my side, quickly covering my mouth when I saw who it was.

I followed his tightly gripping hand to my pulse. He removed the glass of hard liquor from my grasp and gave it back to the bartender.

The bartender accepted it, looking unsettled.

I turned my gaze back to the man who ruined my evening.

His disheveled brown hair had a bit of sweat, he was wearing simple black clothes and pants with a black leather jacket. His eyes, nose, and lips reminded me of my son.

"Let me go!"

"Get down," he ordered in a gruff tone.

I tried to pull my hand back, but he wouldn't release it.

I'm just sitting quietly here, and he wants to pull me off the stool? Who is he again, and why did he decide to approach me or even just look at me? He must be looking for trouble.

It reminded me of what happened last month at the bank.

Luzon was tailing him, and my son also claimed that he is his father. The child even had a picture, and I didn't know who he got it from.

It's either Laki or Irithel.

Maybe that's why he approached me? Who wouldn't be curious, right?

Does he even care at all?

He really hasn't changed even though I haven't seen him in years. I only see him in new magazines, and who would've thought he'd become one of the youngest chief executive officers in the world? In just a month since he claimed his position in their company, they earned billions of dollars. In just a month.

He keeps his background information hidden on social media. No one knows except for his CEO position at the age of twenty-one. Three years have passed, and now he's twenty-four.

I didn't get off my seat. I sat on the stool like my backside was rooted to it.

His face is still grumpy, like someone is always bothering him.

"N-Need something from me?" I ask, avoiding looking at him. I look at the people dancing on the dance floor, then to the bartender, and finally to the people who are comfortably sitting on their seats. "Sir?" Lastly, I looked at Lazarus Cavanaugh's snobbish yet handsome face.

"Yes, Miss Belmonte. We have business to deal with," he stated in a businesslike manner, as if we were in a press conference.

"You're with the wrong person, Mr. Cavanaugh," I formally stated.