Unwilling To Hate You (MAJOR EDITING)

53

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Charlie's POV

"Are you coming back in with me or...?" Caz said next to me after a few minutes of just staring between us, most of which being me at her.

"Yep." I puffed out, standing up from the car and motioning for her to go first, considering it was her house, and her son, that we were going to see.

"Don't fret about it, he'll warm up to you, just play some games with him and you'll be his new favourite person. I never really have the time of day to play with him on his console. I work from home but that means he can't be around to distraction on certain occasions, maybe that's when you could have him?" She rambled on.

"Erm-yeah-sure. I'll take him whenever. What do you do anyway?" I posed.

"As in?" She asked, baffled by the approach of the question.

"Your job." I made clear where I was headed.

We made it in from outside and she closed the door behind me, pointing towards the room where I had stumbled across my son earlier.

"I'm an agent. I work with celebrities when they're looking to be cast in a film." She gave the bare minimum of an explanation, which I took anyway, I know how confidential upcoming events could be with keeping it out of the media.

"That explains the house." I muttered, coming to a stop outside the doorway, seeing Mr Henderson and Jake playing hide and seek with my son. It brought a smile to my face seeing how they'd already broken the barrier between them.

"Your friend, Jake is it?" Caz asked beside me, her breath hitting my neck causing me to shiver. I nodded, but didn't look away from the scene in front of me. "Is it more than that?"

My head spun in her direction, stepping back a little before hitting the wall behind me to try and give an appropriate distance. What a private question.

"Of course not. He's family." I quipped at her, almost offended by her line of questions. She nodded, offered and unsure smile, as if she knew she'd stepped over boundaries and then crept into the room, grabbing ahold of the boy and tickling him, making him thrash around, trying to escape her grasp. He managed to break free but that didn't stop her from chasing him, they ran round Mr Henderson and even knocked Jack over, but it all came to a stop when he ran behind me and grabbed on for dear life, as if he knew I'd protect him. And even though it was just a game that Caz had created, it felt like a connection had been formed or an understanding had been made, where he felt that I was his option of safety. And it felt unreal. It warmed my heart, it truly did.

I looked down at him, then back up at his mum, asking for permission. All I needed was a small nod, hardly noticeable to anyone else but I had focused solely on the motion that it took me barely a second to dart off away from her, the little boy over my right shoulder as we ran through the house, narrowly escaping Caz a few times.

"Go in there." He whispered at me, pointing towards a wardrobe.

"Alright, but we have to be quick." I whispered back, bringing him off my shoulder and placing him in the wardrobe, me slowly crouching and going in after him, closing the door on us both as we were surrounded by darkness.

I felt a little tug on my shirt, "I don't like the dark." He whispered, his grip staying on me.

"How about we put the torch on from my phone yeah?"

"Yeah."

The light from my phone lit up the wardrobe, making me realise that this wasn't his, but Caz's. What a fabulous place to be caught, in amongst all her snazzy clothes.

"Is that better?" I asked, looking down at his big doe eyes, a frown etching across his face.

"Yes...who are you?" He asked, looking even closer at me, as if he'd recognise me at some point. The question seemed to hang in the air, creating a loud silence between us. And before I could even think of a way to answer the question sensibly, the door flew open and light flooded into the little space between us. But he didn't look away.

"Mummy?" He asked, not turning so not knowing whether it was her or not.

"Yes sweetie." She replied, then shuffling down to sit with us. She grabbed ahold of his arm to pull his stare away from me, finally allowing me to breathe.

How was I meant to tell him that I was his mum too?

"Who is she?" He asked, now putting his stare on his mum, as if she'd crack under it as I nearly had done.

"She's someone very important. You treat her nicely okay?" She said sternly, but with a soft undertone. He nodded rapidly and stood up, coming towards me and opening his arms, unsure on whether to proceed or not.

"You can." I whispered, nodding towards him and opening my arms for him too. He moved forward and dropped on me, his small arms wrapping around my neck.

"I'm sorry for being rude." He said quietly.

"That's okay, that's how you should be when a stranger comes into your house okay? If you don't know them, don't let them in to your heart." I said, pulling back and tapping over his chest.

"Okay. Mummy?" He turned back to Caz. She nodded and waited for him to talk.
"Do I let her into my heart?" He asked, innocently, putting one of his hands over his chest now.

"Her name's Charlie sweetie, and yes, you can let her into your heart, I'm perfectly certain you're already in her's." She said, brushing his hair over to straighten it out the best she could considering his little curls, and smiling between us.

"Charlie?" He then turned to me.

"Yes."

"I'm Cole, welcome to my heart." He said, not fully understanding the concept but understanding enough to let me in.

Cole. For all these years I had waited to know him. And now I know him.

My little Cole.