CHAPTER 9

Riggs’s arms are on my neck while I am carrying him. I stopped in front of him, his eyes is on his son now. Sometimes I think it must be okay if I didn’t asked Riggs about the Papa thingy. But then part of forgiving me is to fix my wrongs. I want to be fair to my son and to be fair with Ridge.

I remember his drawing I got teary eyed again. When I plan about this I thought this will be easy. I’ll just tell Ridge about Riggs and let them meet and then we’ll leave and go up north where Ridge didn’t know about. Now, it’s now in front of me I now realized it’s not as easy as I think. It’s a process and it definitely doesn’t evolve only around my son.

It’s past four in the afternoon I think my son is tired from the trip, but I know Ridge won’t allow this moment to pass without even talking to his son.

I looked at Riggs when both of his arms loosen in my neck. My son fell asleep in my arms. Ridge step aside so that I can went outside the house. I have to put him in his bed so he can be at ease.

Ridge opens the door for me, I looked at him but his eyes remained on my son. I went inside and went up to the stairs to go to Riggs bedroom. I was about to go outside to talk to Ridge but Riggs calls me,

“Mama, where are you going?” he asked while his voice sleepy.

“Listen… I want you to know that someone is in our living room right now…” I can’t tell him. I closed my eyes and bow my head a little bit. My pause stretched until my son probed it.

“Who is in the living room, Mama?”

“Your… father.” I said with a strained voice.

“Papa?” excites and hope in his voice is evident.

“P-papa? Is really Papa?” I can sense the happiness in his voice every time he speaks.

“Yes. Can you wait here? I’ll just go down and talk to him a bit. Okay?”

“Okay.” He answered thrifty.

“I love you.” I reminded him.

“Love you, Mama.” he smiled at me after he said that.

I went downstairs to Ridge. I want to breakdown and cry now but I have to be strong not just for me but also for my son.

Ridge is waiting for me in the last step of the stairs. I looked at him and he looked at me intently, my heart hurt more when I saw that expression. I thought he has something to say but he didn’t say something.

“Ridge, listen to me.” I told him while calming myself.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked me. I scoff at his question.

“How can I say that to you Ridge, how?” my eyes got tears now, he doesn’t speak so I continued

“I didn’t know you at all and you didn’t know me too. You are just my target because of my mission. And I also didn’t know you got me pregnant. Our story started as you being my target and me being a traitor to you. You are the key to my escape. I needed to success my mission in able to go home. All I want is to be back here in the Philippines and to live peace all by myself.” I said while hiding the pain in my voice.

“I know you from the start” my senses came back to reality after he said that. What does he mean by that? Impossible, I don’t remember him in my entire life.

“Maybe you don’t remember me, but I remember you so well. I waited fourteen years to meet you again but after holding you tightly and holding you in the right places you slipped away again. And now, I waited for another three years to hold you again to have you in my arms again.” He said while he walks towards me.

“I hated you for hiding him to me but I will understand you and accept your reason now, tell me about our son.” He snaked his hands to my waist and whispered it to my ears.

Our son, it sounded perfectly when he said that. He is so attentive even when I wasn’t talking to him. He went silent after he said that waiting for me to talk about Riggs.

“His name is Riggs Kenji Acierno. He is only three years old.” He swallowed hard. I saw tears in his eyes so I avoided my eyes on him so I can continue what I said. I cleared my throat.

“He speaks English most of the time. He prefer beaches than city, he hates the noise of the car and the busy highways. He likes singing but he is not that good at it. He smiles a lot, laughs a lot. He has a lot of questions. He is a curious kid because he’s smart maybe because his second name means smart in Japanese?” I chuckled after saying that he didn’t say anything so I continue.

“Does he ask for me?” he was hopeful.

“Maybe? His face is full of questions every time we watch a complete family in the television. So yes, he asked for you but I know he is just afraid to ask me about you. I know how my son’s mind works.” He nodded the deafening silence made the beating of my heart profound.

When I turned my back at him to take the stairs, there is growing sense of panic in me. I want to take a step back but I know this is the time. We are here now and there is no turning back.

I opened the door of Riggs’ bedroom. I looked at Ridge and he is so serious. He eyed me with a faintly hostile glint in his eyes. Riggs is sitting properly on his bed. He looked so serious that I can see Ridge on him. He looked at me but it’s only in a short while because his attention went to the man behind me.

I went to him and leveled my eyes on him but it’s still useless because his gaze is still on the man behind me.

“Riggs, th-this is your Papa, Ishaq Ridge Armani.” My son’s gazed remain at Ridge who is now in my back. His eyes watered so much and he’s holding his breathing to stop himself from breaking down. My heart aches after I saw my son’s emotion. I stood up to make a way for them. His attention never left his Dad while Ridge is slowly walking towards him.

Ridge is shaking a little when stopped and knelt in front of Riggs. He smiled but only drowned by his emotions. My tears left my eyes.

“Hi, Riggs.” formality is on his voice.

“P-papa” my son’s voice cracked even though he did his best to compost it firmly.

Riggs is about to cry when his father pulled him for an embrace tightly. My tears are like a river, it flows continuously. Ridge turned to red as her cried on my little son’s shoulders and my son’s arms wrapped around his father as he cried more on his shoulder too.

“Papa, I waited for you. I waited so long for you.” Riggs cried loudly and threw a punch on Ridge’s arm. After a long while Riggs calmed down, Ridge kissed him in the forehead and hugged him again. It was a long moment of peace and quiet inside the bedroom for us.

The way Ridge held my son, it was like he’s holding on for his dear life. I always saw Ridge as an intimidating man, I saw his eyes bloodshot, angry, but I never saw him shed such tears. The menacing and ruthless look softened a bit for my son

“I’m sorry.” He whispered to Riggs before settling him on the bed.

“Don’t go anywhere Papa. Don’t leave us.” Riggs said in a strained voice after calming himself from crying.

After a long while my Riggs fell asleep he got tired after all the crying. I went to my bedroom to change my clothes I thought Ridge will stay on his son but to my surprise he is on my room now.

“What are you doing here?” I asked him angrily, he’s such a pervert.

“Marry me.”

“No.” I said to him, he has a girlfriend I don’t want to ruin their relationship. He doesn’t have to marry me for my son’s sake. I can’t get into marriage if there is no love, we don’t deserve a relationship like that.