Desire | Shawn Mendes

TWENTY TWO

- Shawn's View -

Song of the Chapter: Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want - The Smith's

"See the luck I've had / Can make a good man turn bad. / So please, please, please, / Let me, let me, let me, / Let me get what I want / This time."
- x -

I'm sick.

I've thrown up somewhere in a bush along the side of the road before taking a ride in the cab that just so happened to find me. There's not a doubt in my mind that Jasmine's called it for me. Giving in, I hop into the cab and take out my phone, texting the pilot that I need the jet now, and then tell the cab driver where to go.

I can't think straight. My breathing is hitched. My hands are shaking; the only way to release this anger is with a punching bag. The jet would arrive in two hours and I kill time by taking the ride into the city, where I take another cab to the destination I wanted to go to.

The cab stops outside the house that had three lights on. I pay the fare, take my bags with me, and walk up to the house. I knock on the door and eagerly await for the door to open. When it opens, I look down and see the one person who would be able to cheer me up right now.

"Did you find my unicorn yet?" Mia asks me as she looks directly at me, her head tilted back as her big eyes stare at me. There's a smudge of blue paint under her left eye and yellow paint in her hair.

"I'm looking, baby." I reply.

"Mia! What did we tell you about opening doors to strangers?" Owen says. He comes into view and then smiles when he sees me. "Shawn, long time no see. How ya been?"

"Not too good. Is Michelle here? I need more than just your ears." I huff.

Owen steps aside and allows me to come in. I place my bags by the closet and lean down to scoop Mia up in my arms. She hugs me and I close my eyes while I hug her tightly to me.

Daughter. I had a daughter.

Would she be like Mia? Would she be like Jasmine? Or me? Would she be in love with dancing? Or drawing? Who would she look like? Would my genes push through, or would Jasmine's? Would she have had my eyes or Jasmines? My hair color or Jasmine's?

"Mommy's cooking in the kitchen." Mia tells me.
"What's mommy cooking?" I ask as I begin walking to the kitchen.
"Food!"

I emit a chuckle and carry her with me through the house. Mia makes her stuffed elephant bounce on my shoulder and mimics the noise the animal says.

Once in the kitchen, I see Michelle chopping up cauliflower and placing it into a little bowl that's for Mia. I set Mia down on the kitchen island and look at Michelle.

"What brings you to this side of the city?" Michelle asks me.

"He says he needs more than my ears." Owen says as he steals a piece of chicken from a pan on the stove. "My guess is it's about Jasmine."

"Uh oh." Mia says as she looks at Michelle. She has her hand at her hip as she looks at me with a tired, but also slightly angry face.

"Shawn...what did you do?" Michelle asks me.

"I reacted to what she confessed." I reply.

"And what'd she confess?" Owen asks.

"We shouldn't talk about it in front of Mia." I say.