The Return Of His Ex Wife
Chapter 15: A Real Mother

Chapter 15: A Real Mother

Arlo’s POV

It has been at least half an hour now and no matter what I say to Richard, he’s not even giving me much audience! Did I just observe a six years old kid get mood swings? But what did I do just now? He seemed happy to see me before?

"So what do you wanna do now? Or are you going to be busy soon? Maybe you wanna leave or something?" Richard’s whole expression looked depressing to me that I knew I had to ask now.

"Hey buddy, let’s take a moment to relax for a little bit." I signaled we go seat on his bed since we were entering his room now. He sat down, face still looking down. "Listen, if I’ve done something wrong, could you please let me know?"

He looked up to stare at me like I was supposed to be oblivious to what was happening already. "What do you mean? I know what you’re doing, Arlo. I thought we were friends."

I was so confused now so I pressed on. "Okay, what’s making you doubt that now? Of course we’re friends!"

"All those gifts, the piano, cooking? I know you’re doing all that to get my mom’s attention, Arlo."

This was still a bit puzzling to me...until I calmed down and thought about everything, stepping into his shoes. I felt ashamed. "Oh no, that--that’s not entirely true. I mean, you like the piano, don’t you? And food...food is good for you. For everyone. And you know...um..."

No, this was pointless. His big baby eyes dawned on me, judging me. I could have sworn his brows arched up as he listened through my bullshit. A deep sigh escaped my lips.

"Don’t lie to me. You like my mom, don’t you? She’s the woman you were talking about the other day." His words hit me hard like a fucking brick was thrown at me.

I blinked back regret, and a slight embarrassment too? "The truth is, yes. You’re right." I felt like a fool admitting that to him, but I didn’t think I could lie to him. "And I’m sorry, I didn’t tell you on time. Honestly, I didn’t even know she was your mother until that day!"

He nodded to himself, maybe he felt somewhat proud. "But stop. You can’t like my mommy."

This brought a frown to my face. "What do you mean?"

"She’s going through a lot, plus there’s still some stuff about her past wedding. My real daddy and all. Maybe we can call it trauma? Anyway, I don’t want her to trouble more on another man."

Mind-blowing.

Just crazy. This six year old kid is too grown up. I mean--! Somehow, I couldn’t believe I was afraid of being scolded by a kid. That was a horrible feeling.

"Of course." I quickly said, trying not to hurt his feelings. He must have summoned up so much courage to be able to tell me that.

"But hey, listen." I fixed all my attention towards him, and was glad he listened. "I saw you that day, and you were this really cool kid. I love kids because I always considered them very smarter than me. I mean, you literally taught me how to impress a girl I like. Something I’m too dumb to do!"

He chuckled, thankfully, he was coming back to his usual self. "I shouldn’t have taught you that."

"Oh no way. Now I can finally move on and find another pretty girl who will like me back."

"Maybe." He shrugged.

"But that’s it. I want to be your friend because I think you’re super cool."

His eyes lit up in excitement, "really?" I nodded and his smile brightened. "I think you’re cool too. And very rich. Think you can buy me many things my mum is too afraid to buy for me? Like a baby Leopard. They seem nice and pretty."

I decided not to think too much about that...a leopard??? "You know what, it would be my pleasure. But between you and I, I’m a little scared of your mother so we’ll just have to get her permission first."

He nodded, not too glad about that. "Yea, you’re right."

I was still trying to wrap my head about being scolded by him when he jumped forward and threw his arms around my neck. "Whoa...oh. Okay..." I hugged him back, then brought my hand to pat his head--what was I even doing now??

We hung out a while, along with Tara and her noisy friend, then it was just the kid and I again until I decided it was time to leave. It was nearly evening already anyway.

"I’ll be back again, okay?" I try to sound positive. The side glance his mother flashed at me was not helping at all, but I had to be brave, didn’t I?.

"Okay," Richard hugged me one last time before turning to leave.

"I’ll walk you out." Tara said to me, sounding like a threat.

"Alright come on, Richard." Tara’s friend excused us, leading Richard upstairs.

"Well, today was fun." I said, trying to ease the tension in the air. Tara’s face remained forever cold though. "I should get going now, don’t you think?"

Tara leaned forward, then pointed towards the door like it was a passage to hell fire, and she actually smiled as if telling me she was glad to see me rot in there.

"You’re not cool with me, love. I understand."

"Love? Excuse you?" Her nose crunched in disgust, "You need to be very careful around me, because I love my son so much and won’t hesitate to cut you off if you behave funny at all."

"This is so cheap if you’re trying to get to me because of Richard, don’t you think that would be dumb anyway?" She eyed me up and down.

I couldn’t believe her right now. "Oh, so this is you being a protective mom, right?" She folded her arms beneath her breast and fixed her eyes on me. Her delicate baby eyes shone with somewhat delight. "Well that’s good for you then I guess. But I’m not here for you. I’m here because Richard asked to see me. My own friend."

Tara scoffed, rolling her eyes. "Yea, a six year old is your friend? How cool."

"For some reason, I’m just going to start calling you sunflower from now on. Don’t ask why."

"This is pathetic, okay?"

"Okay, listen sunflower--"

"--don’t call me that!--" She snapped, but I ignored and went on anyway.

"If truly you believe you’re his everything, then how about you start paying more attention to him like a real mother should."

She looked offended. "Excuse me! I am a real mother! Pay attention to him, in what way? Come on, spill."

"Okay, all my life, I wanted to become an electrical engineer. I was a geek, always destroying stuff and fixing it, at least most of the time. But my old man?...he forced me to study some shit about hospitality and get my Masters in business administration! And that sucked for me."

"I don’t know what this has to do with me being a mother, or Richard for that matter. He wants to be a lawyer, like me. And his father."

"That’s so convenient for you to say, isn’t it? Well sorry to burst your bubbles, Sunflower. But Richard doesn’t want that!."

"That’s a lie! You’re just making this up now."

"Listen, it’s easy to deny. But you just gotta hear the truth right now. Richard loves computers, engineering, everything technology. The dude’s a nerd. He wants to come up with a machine that can be programmed to make his mommy happy. I mean, he’s thinking of making you happy he isn’t even living his life as the sweet little kid he should be."

She looked shocked by the revelation but still wanted to be stubborn. "He’s only six years old. All of that is probably just some fun stuff he’s fascinated about. I’m guiding him in the right lane and he’ll grow up to realize that soon."

"Can you even hear yourself right now? You don’t know what you sound like, do you? The kid hates art and even struggles, do you not know that? Yes, he’s only a kid but this is when you should be focused on him. At this tender age. You can try to find out by having an honest conversation with him if you please."

"You know what is even shocking?" I didn’t want to tell her before, but she needed to know what was really going on in Richard’s head. "He said that I should stay away from you because you’re still dealing with some past trauma from your marriage. A six year old actually said that. His whole life is tangled around your life, and he takes care of you instead of otherwise--"

I saw her wave her hand up in the air to stop me from going further. Her eyes were completely filled with surprise, "w--what are you talking about?"