The CEO's Proposal || PAUSED

prologue || 00

Nailea's POV

I have never understood why children have to be such troublemakers. Can their minds not cooperate with us for at least a few minutes?

Well apparently not. I have been sitting on this couch for god knows how long having a full-blown staring contest with a 5 year old.

Yes, you heard that right. He's only bloody 5.

Rhys, the little brunette boy sitting in front of me staring intensely with his big brown doe eyes attempting not to make any sudden movements, before sneakily launching forward using all his body weight in a form of attack towards me.

This kid is clever as hell.

But not clever enough.

I quickly dodge his movements and keep the hand with the fork up in the air out of his reach so he isn't able to reach it.

Why am I refraining this child from taking this fork, you ask? Well, not only five minutes ago, he was attempting to use it to dive right into the fucking toaster (how he reached it I have no idea) for a small toy. The type of ones you would usually get from the inside of your shoe.

I have been babysitting this kid since the day he could say 'mama' and yet I still don't know how to keep him stable.

Pretty sure there's a psychotic personality somewhere in that tiny body of his.

"Rhys, I have told you a million times not to touch the toaster with your hand. Especially a fucking fork!" I sighed.

But the same moment suddenly realising what I ended my sentence with I gasp and slap my hand over my mouth.

I guess sometimes I forget that I am talking to a 5 year old. Sue me.

Rhys eyes almost pop out of his small sockets and he points at me.

"NINI! YOU SAID A BAD WORD!" He exclaimed.

My eyebrows quickly furrow in fear as I try to get him to calm down, who knows if he'll snitch on me. This guy is so unpredictable.

"I'm sorry, it kind of- slipped?" I sort of ended it more as a question than I would have hoped.

Just as he was about to snark back a reply, we both turned our heads towards the door as it jiggles from the outside.

I swivel back to Rhys and place my hands on his shoulders shaking him slightly.

"If you don't tell your mum about today, I'll give you your favourite sweets."

He pondered for a bit placing his finger on his chin as if in thought. Probably mocking me.

I swear to god, Rhys.

"Okay, deal." He puts his hand out to shake and I drop my shoulders down in relief as I shake his hand while grinning at him.

This was the exact reason why I adored Rhys. We could get away with practically anything and never snitching on each other about it.

He was basically my partner in crime.

Just the other day, I let him stay a whole hour later after his bedtime since his parents were out in date night so he could watch a movie.

Am I not a great babysitter? Yes or yes?

The door suddenly swung open and in came Rhys' mother, looking absolutely soaked.

She was wearing a beautiful navy blue coat, unfortunately she probably had not seen the weather updates since it was raining the whole day and she did not have a hood with it.

But to be honest, this is England. It practically rains everyday.

"Oh! Nailea darling, you're an absolute angel. Thank you so much for taking care of him today at a short notice." She exhaled, while trying to shaking off her half-broken umbrella on the rug.

"Of course Mrs Parkes. Rhys and I had a great time. Right dude?" I look down at him standing next to me in front on the couch.

He looks up at me and grins, then wraps his tiny fingers around my hand.

"Right Nini." He smiles again, this time with his cute little dimples popping out.

Can this kid get any cuter?

"Lovely! I'm going to put my groceries in the kitchen, and I'll come give you your pay check for today Nailea." Rhys' mother grabs the plastic bags up from the floor and walks towards the kitchen.

I see Rhys go back to the couch and switch on the tv. So I go to Mrs Parkes to help her.

She thanks me, and I begin unloading her bags.

"Rhys recited the whole alphabet today. He's really excited to show you, Mrs. Parkes." I smiled at her.

She looks back at me with a soft smile. "Nailea love, I think we've known each other far too long for you to still be calling me 'Mrs. Parkes'." She emphasises her name with her fingers as speech marks. "Please, call me Lauren."

"Ah yes, sorry Lauren." Yep, still sounds weird coming from my mouth.

She smiles again, "That was actually very exciting news, his speech therapist phoned me the other day and told me he was improving his phonics. I'm not embarrassed to say I bawled my bloody eyes out."

I gasp. "Seriously? Last time they said he might need to go to extra classes."

She looks over at him and sighs while leaving her hands behind her on the counter. "Well, apparently my baby was trying extra hard the last two times he went because of a specific someone he kept mentioning that gave him a nudge to want to do more."

I'm so proud of him.

I smile in content and my eyes slightly water as I go to the couch and lean down, giving Rhys a tight hug from around his torso.

"Hey! You're squishing me. The lion is about to eat his buffalo!" He squirms, pointing at the tv and looking at me.

Yes, he watches David Attenborough documentaries sometimes. You gotta love him.

I lightly ruffle up his hair. "Sorry bubba."

I look back at Lauren and stand up straight again. I take my phone out my pocket to see it's 7:41 pm.

"I should go now. My mum might be wondering where I am." I say and tuck my phone into my back jeans pocket.

"Oh yes definitely. Hold on one second, let me get the money out first." Lauren turns to her purse and pulls out an envelope.

I thank her as she hands it to me, say goodbye to Rhys and even giving him a wave, but I only earn a slight nod back. Probably too engrossed into the documentary, which is obviously far more important to him than me.

I laugh and shake my head slightly as I slip on my jacket and put my hood up opening the door into the rain.

*********

HEY GUYS!! The prologue is here! I can't believe I'm doing this, it's so interesting and I never knew how much I love writing more than now.

Please leave comments about how you feel about this, don't be a silent reader! And also if you could, leave a vote because that would really help :)

So this was an introductory chapter sort of how Nailea really is, deep inside a comfy cute bear.

Any theories what will happen next? I can't guarantee I will be consistent with posting chapters due to my studies, but I will definitely try my hardest.

Until next time,

Rue xx