Young Love

9

The morning after Alfredo stayed over, Ariana is absolutely exhausted.

She allowed Liam to stay up late to play a game with him, but when Fredo left all hell broke loose. Liam insisted that he wanted more cookies and that he wasn't tired, even at 9 o'clock.

Ariana ended up having to shout at him to make him obey orders. The young mother hates yelling at her son, because sometimes Liam stays upset with her until days after the incident and she feels like such a bad mother.

Ariana knows it is just a stupid toddler tantrum but it still makes her feel useless and unable to control her little boy.

The brunette quickly gets dressed into some black leggings, a sports bralette and a thin sweatshirt, ready to do some training down at the gym where she works most of the time.

"Mommy." Liam says sleepily, startling Ariana while she is straightening her long hair.

"What's wrong love?" She smiles, placing the straightening iron on the heatproof mat and pulling her son into her embrace, happy that he's not upset.

"I'm hungry." The little boy groans and Ariana sighs, lifting him up on her hip and carrying him into the kitchen.

"Let's go see what we have for little princes to eat then eh?" She tickles his chin lightly and pulls some pop tarts from the cupboard, knowing they're his favourite.

Liam's eyes widen and he claps his hands at the tasty treats as Ariana giggles and slides two of them into the toaster to heat up.

They pop up a couple of minutes later and Ariana leaves her son to eat his breakfast while she gets ready in her bedroom.

However, when she gets back to her morning routine, she forgets about the straighteners being on and burns her hand on the hot metal. She hisses from the searing pain and quickly turns the appliance off to prevent any more future injuries.

Unsure of what to do, the young woman walks to the kitchen calmly and holds her blistering palm under the cold water tap to numb the pain.

Liam looks over at his mom with his dark eyebrows knitted together and his tiny lips pouted.

"Are you ok mommy?" The small brunette asks worriedly and Ariana nods, trying not to let the pain show.

"Yeah, mommy just had a little accident." She replies to his question.

"You peed your pants?"

"No." Ariana chuckles at her son in amusement and shakes her head back and forth. "I just burned myself."

"Oh." Liam nods understandingly and goes back to consuming his pop tart. "Am I going to see Bella today?"

"Yep you have pre school." The young mother nods, but curses under her breath when she sees the time on the wall clock. "And we're gonna be late."

She dunks her son's empty plate in the sink and grabs his small hand in her larger one. "Let's go."

-

"LiLi!" Bella squeals when she sees her best friend and runs up to engulf him in a cuddle.

"Bella!" Liam giggles when he notices his friend and turns around to wave goodbye to his mom.

"Bye mommy!" The four-year-old hugs his mom's slender legs as per usual and turns back, running into the nursery with Bella attached to his side.

The young woman stealthily looks around in search of Justin, but not seeing anyone else, she sighs and starts walking through the playground, back to her car.