𝗨𝗡𝗟𝗜𝗞𝗘𝗟𝗬 | minsung

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 : 𝐋𝐢𝐚𝐫, 𝐋𝐢𝐚𝐫 ²

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"Mei!" The child excitedly greeted, walking up to the unfamiliar woman and hugging her as he knew that this would most likely be his last time he'd ever get to see her due to his father and mother's rather harsh rules.

"Aw, did you miss me that much?" She cooed, pulling away from the hug to pinch his little cheeks which could practically fit in the palm of her hands. "Mhm!" He nodded eagerly. And although she may be seen as a non-threat to the child, she was certainly still a threat to his father, who watched on with both concern and jealousy. The jealous part would be obvious to explain but the concern part of it was yet to be answered.

"******, you only said you were going to stop by to say hi. Nothing more." His son pouted upon hearing his father use his real name to call attention to him as he never really liked being called by that and would much rather preferred to be called by random, fun nicknames. But he knew that it wouldn't matter now as he did say that all he was going to do was hi and leave. Then again, his father never really enforced that idea onto him until now, so it was really at a neutral standpoint.

"Why, leaving so soon?" Mei said, pouting purposely to draw back any interest left in the two to turn right back around and stay. Which, it worked, but just on the generally more curious one out of the two. "Can I stay for just a few more minutes then?" The child said, looking up at his father and giving him his irresistible little puppy eyes.

The puppy eyes had no effect on his father this time around but for the sake of his child's happiness throughout the remaining time they'd have for the rather dangerous yet boring trek, he decided against showing no emotion and simply let out a sigh. "Fine. But the next time I say that we're going to leave, we're going to leave. Okay?" His son nodded, promising his father that he absolutely would as long as he'd get just a few extra minutes to play/roam around the flower shop as he hadn't done so in a long time.

"Oh! I just remembered that I just so happened to have picked out some lavenders and passion flowers just the day before. Would you like to take a look at them?" She asked, earning an instant nod from the curious soul as she guided the young one towards some flower pots that rested by the windowsill, almost all the way in the back of the room.

"Wow! They're really pretty... but... my mommy said she doesn't like these kind of flowers. She says they're dangerous." Mei simply couldn't help but to roll her eyes at that. It was a rather unexpected and not-so-seen piece of detail coming through but she knew of his mother's origins long ago her own child ever had and knew that she'd never treat him to anything fun whatsoever.

"Nonsense. These flowers are perfectly safe to handle. It really just depends on what you use them for though, I will say that." She added the last part in, in hopes of opening an eye to the child's father which it failed to do so. And in return, only raised his suspicion and guard immensely as he was yet to properly trust her. In fact, he never trusted her. It was the gut feeling he had that held him back from doing so, really.

Whilst the child eagerly ran around the shop in excitement and curiosity, Mei figured that the most reasonable thing to do would be to address differences and complications with the child's father as she always knew that he hated her deeply. But for the reason? It was genuinely unknown. At least, to her, it was.

"What is your reason for your hatred towards me? Going so far as to cut me out from a young child's life and ruin such connections?" She asked, in a not so pleasant tone as she was genuinely curious as to why he was doing this but also rather impatient as well.

"That is for a personal reason. You know why I'm cutting you out of my own life and my son's life. You're no good and you're much more than just a bad influence. You may be skilled at being a master manipulator but you won't get to me so easily. I'm not blind to the fact that you take advantage of my son's young age just to keep a firm connection between you two. You won't get past me so easily, Mei."

"And if it weren't for my son's kind heart, I wouldn't have stopped by to visit you at all." He said, attempting to pierce invisible knives through her heart but failing to do so as there were to be a strong shield put up around it. "Really? Me? A master manipulator? So that's what you think of me as? And me, taking advantage of your son's young age just to keep a connection between us? What are you even on about?"

She found it to be absolutely hilarious with what he was saying along with his mostly invalid points. Never had she truly chose to keep a connection between herself and his son as she was always alone and shut in until his son came by one day and wanted to simply be friends. All because his father neglected him for a day and perhaps even more, leading the child to find her in her relatively known flower shop.

The master manipulator accusation may have been out of thin air but she had to give it to him and even admit that perhaps she might've manipulated people in the past. But it was no use since everyone tends to make mistakes after all. Plus, she was only a mere little soul at that time, proving his point to be further nonsense and invalid. Especially if he was implying that she was a bad influence and manipulating the child, no one else.

"Come on, ******, we're leaving now." He said, shooting a glare at the untrustworthy woman and walking over to forcefully take his son's hand into his own. "H-hey, let go! That hurts..." The child said, close to tearing up due to the sudden harsh grip and squeeze on his right hand. Mei noticed this and slapped his hand away from the child, the child instantly thanking Mei whilst trying to relieve his abused hand by rubbing it.

"You accuse me of such things and now you're inflicting pain on the person you plan on drawing away from me? I'm starting to think that those accusations might just be about yourself instead." She said, patting the child's back to reassure him that nothing was wrong as he was still very much young to understand any of what they were talking about.

"Come on, we're going." He repeated, ignoring Mei entirely as he took the poor child's hand into his own gently this time whilst proceeding to walk out without saying another word. But on their way out, the sad yet confused brunet turned around to wave goodbye to Mei as he knew that whatever happened would greatly affect his chances of ever seeing her again.

"G-Goodbye..." He mouthed to her, earning a nod from Mei in return as she smiled sadly whilst waving back at him. "Have a safe journey." She said, hoping for the child to return to her someday if not later as she knew that chances were slim that she'd be able to see him again as well. And knowing how his father was didn't help much. They had a long history together and no part of it was ever light nor easy to take in for both sides.

As much as she despised and hated him, she could never ever go through such lengths to say what she really wanted to say to him. Especially not in front of his very own child, who was seemingly just like her.

"Oh, ***, how I wish I could've simply told you the truth... I'm sorry... I just hope you'll stay safe like the old times. Please do..."

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