“I haven’t introduced myself. My name is Mark Hunter. You can call me ‘Hun’ for short” Mark said in a business-like tone.
“Amanda North, and you already know my son Jack” Amanda replied while handing her business card.
‘Amanda North. Branch Manager – Green District. Heaven in a Spa’ Mark quickly read the business card before keeping it in his wallet.
“I don’t have my business card with me now but I can give you my number” he quickly dialled Amanda’s number.
“It suits you, you know” Mark remembered how concerned she was with Penny and he thought it’s her nature to take care of others.
“Which one?” she smiled while throwing him a confused look.
“The SPA, I think you have the talent to calm other people. You have that effect” Mark honestly complimented her.
“Thanks, well, professionally, I’m into wellness and health. But Penny here, is purely maternal experience” she feed another piece of pancake to Penny while tickling her side tummy making the baby giggle.
She finds the guy acceptable if he’s not flirting at her. She feels like she can relax a bit and the guy is exuding an aura of security.
Mark was just observing her interactions with the two kids and he felt an unexplainable warmth inside. He saw how carefully she sliced the pancakes and put it in Jack’s plate then turned again to wipe Penny’s mouth. It was a lovely sight for him.
“Mom, I’m a big boy now. I can eat by myself” Jack protested. He wants to show off to Uncle Mark so the big guy will take him seriously.
“I know, sweetheart, just let mommy do it for you when I can. You’re growing up so fast” she lovingly patted Jack’s head.
“So, what brings you guys to Northern Province? Are you from here?” Amanda finds it odd for a guy to travel without the baby’s mother.
“I have an urgent conference in Metropolitan and my nanny is on a month-long leave so I had to send Penny to my parents here while they’re on vacation” Mark explained his current situation.
“How about you guys? You seemed to pack light” he asked while eyeing both the mother and son.
“Yeah, it’s school vacation so we will stay with my in-laws for a week. And they usually take care of everything when we visit so no point to pack the whole house” she smiled.
The pleasant conversation continued on mostly about each other’s work and that’s when Amanda found out that Mark works at Windmills Hotel. He said he oversees the operation and Amanda assumes that he is a manager in one of the hotels.
Mark intentionally skipped the fact that his family owns the chain of hotels and his surname is actually MILLS.
But who exactly are the Mills family?
The Mills family is one of the four prominent families in Diamond Country controlling the capital city together with the Goldings of the North, Henleys of the West and the Smiths of the East.
They have long been influential in the government coming from generations of military men. Their family have successfully led the army to defend the country during the last war. With great strategy, the country’s damage was reduced to minimum making it easier to rehabilitate after the war cementing the MILLS family status as heroes in the country’s history.
Highest officials often seek their advice in terms of the country’s security. Those who wanted to further their careers in politics would request for the family’s support. If a politician is vouched by the Mills family, the people can be assured that the man is of integrity and can be trusted.
Every Mills’ child has a duty to serve and train in the military as a commitment to the country. After their service, they have the freedom to choose to stay in the military or to pursue other careers.
For Mark’s case, his father stayed in the military while his mother manages their hotel chains. After his service, he figured military lifestyle does not fit him well so he chose to venture into business which proven to be a right move. In less than 10 years, he has expanded their hotel chains making their presence in hospitality industry remarkable.
When one of their foreign investors made an urgent trip and wanted to finalize a huge business deal, Mark needed to be in his element to ensure the success of the deal. He couldn’t focus on his job while he’s taking care of Penny.
“Will your husband pick you up?” out of nowhere Mark suddenly felt the urge to pry into their lives.
“My brother-in-law will” Amanda felt uneasy when someone mentioned the word ‘husband’.
“I see” he gave a faint smile when he saw the uneasy look on Amanda.
“My father is dead” Jack blurted out.
He doesn’t want other people talking about his father. He never met his father and he felt it’s unfair that he doesn’t have one.
“Jack” Amanda gave her son a pitiful look.
“I’m sorry kid” Mark didn’t expect that Jack would be upset by his innocent question.
“It’s ok Uncle Mark, it’s just that I don’t think we should be talking about those who are not here anymore” he gave a faint smile and stuffed another piece of pancake in his mouth.
Amanda could feel the longing in Jack’s eyes but she couldn’t do anything about it.
She tried her best to be both a father and a mother but it seems that it’s a position that could not be replaced. It’s one of the reasons why she kept coming back to her in-laws. Her brother-in-law and father-in-law can be a father figure to her son.
“We’ve talked about this, sweetheart. You can always call your Uncle Henry and Pops right?”
“Mom, it’s ok.” Amanda could only sigh.
“It seems Penny will have the same problem when she grows older. She doesn’t have a mommy either” Mark wanted to sympathize with Jack.
When Jack learned that Penny doesn’t have a mommy, his eyes glowed and an idea comes in his mind.
“Really Uncle Mark?”
“Yeah”
“Mommy, can we take Penny home?” Amanda almost spilled her drink upon hearing her son.
“Sweetheart..” she doesn’t know how to explain to her son anymore.
“But the baby store is still closed and we don’t know when it will open again. I always wanted a baby sister and we already agreed that we will name the baby Penny. Mom, please. I will take care of her.” Jack continued with pleading eyes.
“Jack, it doesn’t work like that. She will look for her daddy. How about we wait until the baby store opens up. Can we do that?” her heart is breaking right now.
Mark could not believe Amanda could lie to her son like that and he does not approve of it. For him it’s important to tell the children the truth no matter how difficult the topic is. He eyed Amanda with a raised eyebrow like he was questioning her lie.
Amanda just shrug her shoulder like a helpless mother.
“Hey buddy, how about we schedule a play date? You can come to our house if you miss Penny and Penny can visit you during weekend” he knows they need to give him something so he will not be very disappointed.
He’s really interested with the adorable kid.
Jack immediately accepted the offer without blinking.
“Really Uncle Mark, really?” he leapt from his chair and immediately hug Mark. “Thank you, Uncle Mark. You are the best”.
“Whoah, hahaha yes, really. I think Penny will also miss you so you need to promise to be good to your mom. Okay?” he didn’t expect that the child’s mood will brighten up as soon as he mentioned the play date.
“Thank you” Amanda sincerely showed her appreciation when she saw how happy her son is.
Mark just smiled at her as if it was nothing.
Before they left the café, they asked the waitress to take their photo. As Mark said, ‘one for Penny’s books’. Mark immediately sent her the photo for her copy and if anyone unfamiliar would see it, they would think that it really is a picture of a happy family.
When they went out of the airport, she immediately saw her brother-in-law and the four of them walk towards the man.
Both men held a staring contest until Amanda broke the awkward silence.
“Brother-in-law, this is Mark Hunter”
“Hun, this is my brother-in-law, Henry” both men shook hands then quickly withdrew.
“Hun? Is he your new boyfriend?” Henry’s eyebrow immediately raised when he heard ‘hun’ is it short for ‘honey’?“Huh? Oh no no..Hun for Hunter. We just met. Shall we go now? Grandma and Pops might we waiting for us” Amanda just wanted to escape the awkward scenario.“Well, it was a fun flight. Thanks again for Penny” Mark gave his sweetest smile while patting Jack’s head.“Thanks for breakfast” she replied.“Until next time, see you” Mark felt optimistic of their next meet-up.As soon as they went inside the car, Henry started bugging her again about Mark.
The week went by quickly and it was time for Amanda and Jack to go back to Metropolis. She was arranging their luggage for the next day’s flight when her phone started ringing with an unfamiliar number.Thinking it might be a client, she answered without thinking then she heard a distant but familiar voice.“Young Lady” her hands immediately trembled as soon as she heard the voice.“Sorry, I think you dialled the wrong number” Amanda quickly ended the call and sat on the bed for support. She was trembling and she felt her heart stopped beating for a moment.It’s been five years when she was last called by her title. Not that she misses it, but it took her great pains to erase her past life
“Are you guys moving in?” Amanda could not help but ask while gesturing for Mark to come inside.“I’m not sure what we might need so I thought I’ll just bring everything” Mark replied her shyly.“Give her to me” she immediately checked her temperature and was relieved that it was still in the 38C.She settled the baby in the nursery and then led Mark to the guest room opposite her master’s bedroom.“You can settle your things first then come out for dinner. You must be starving” now that she’s looking it seems like Mark haven’t slept at all.“You have no idea” Mark chuckled.
As soon as he enters his office, Adam West, his friend and trusted assistant immediately followed and reported the day’s itinerary while placing a sandwich in his table.“You can take this one, I’ve had breakfast already” Mark said while pushing the food tray to Adam.“…”He immediately went to the conference room to meet his business partners and after confirming the finalized the details, both parties signed the contract and shook hands.He went back to his office for the next meeting when Adam reported to him.“Boss, the representative from Dark Desires is running late and requested to move the contract signing at 11am&r
The rest of the day went smoothly for Mark and he decided to go back to pick-up Penny. He brought the cake back for Jack hoping the dark chocolate would appeal to the picky child.As soon as he enters the house, he heard the excited voice of Jack.“Uncle Mark, do you know Penny is already talking. She said ‘Jack’ ‘Jack’ ‘Jack’. She’s calling me” Jack was ecstatic.“Really? Wow, that’s great Jack. It means she knows you already” he could not break the little boy’s heart.“I have something for you. Let me know if you like it then we will keep the cake vendor in the hotel” Mark suddenly felt he wanted to train the boy in decision-mak
“If you know what’s best for the mother and her son, you would stay away from them” Uncle Ben smiled coldly. After working with the old Master for so long, his ice-cold temperament has rubbed off to his subordinates.“And if I don’t?” Mark was not easily intimidated. He is a Mills after all.He wouldn’t be able expand their business if he is a weakling who would back down at every threat.“Let’s just say, this is not a very good community. A single mother and her child alone in their house. Tsk tsk. Who knows what might happen?” Uncle Ben gave him a smirk.“The mother is very pretty and very young, no?” the old man was taunting him.
“The Goldings have secured the monopoly of gold-mining in the Northern Province. They’re inviting interested business families for joint-venture in exchange of future business deals” Grandma Mills explained.“What does it have to do with us? Our business is in hospitality. Why are the Goldings suddenly interested in Mills family?” he felt something was off.The Goldings does not need any joint-venture, with their wealth, they can develop the Northern Province on their own. It’s like giving the Mills free-lunch. But everyone knows there’s no free lunch in this world.“What did the Henley say?”Henleys from the West Province is another prominent family in the country that e
The next morning, the dining table in Mark’s villa was still tensed. His parents are observing his behaviour and not a single word was spoken.He was considering Amanda’s words but he thought he should let them reflect on their own first.He left without having breakfast and without uttering a single word.When he reached his office, he immediately requested for a breakfast and Adam gave his daily report.“No breakfast from the weekend nanny?” he just stared coldly at Adam.He is still in a bad mood because of his parents but when Adam mentioned the weekend nanny, he suddenly felt bitter when he remembered that Amanda is dating regularly.