In His Arms

Chapter 12: Protective and Selfish (Eli's POV)

"You said you'll only play with her! But look at what happened?! She got lost!" I yelled at one of my female staff. I couldn't contain this anger that I'm feeling. "Get out of this room right now!" I pointed at the door but she just stood there ashamed. "I said leave!" She ran away. "Eli, calm down. We already found her, right? Just chill. The child can hear, you might scare her." My manager said. I looked at Bea who's sitting in the couch. I tried to calm myself and approached her. "Bea, baby, please don't ever do that again, ok?" I caressed her head. "You got daddy so worried." I lifted her chin to make her look at me but she's crying. I only got more worried. "Sssh. Baby, sorry. Please stop crying now." I hushed her. I'm not sure why she's crying. Maybe she realized she did wrong. Or maybe she's crying because it's the first time she saw me this angry. "Baby, stop crying, please?" I plead.

"You didn't have to punch him daddy. Why did you punch him?" She asked. Wow, she's talking about Baekhyun? Is she concerned about that bastard? "Bea, baby, I was just protecting you." I said. "But he wasn't doing anything wrong." She said. I held her hand. "Baby, sorry. daddy is already sorry. I was just so worried about you and when I saw him with you, I thought he took you away from me." I said. "You thought he took me away from you?" She asked as she tried to stop crying. I nodded. "When I noticed that you were not around, I got worried and scared. Daddy doesn't like it when you're not around." I told her. "But you were so busy. No one even talked to me." She said. "But hey, that doesn't mean that I don't want you around baby. Daddy just needs to do his work. But you are worth more than this." I told her. So she escaped because she felt alone? Noted. Next time, I won't make her feel alone whenever she comes with me.

"But daddy, don't you think you should say sorry to the man earlier. The one you punched." She said. There's no way I would do that. "Bea, baby, I'm sorry but I can't do that." "But why?" She asked. Because he deserves that punch. "Well, let's just say I just can't. And besides, he might have already forgiven me anyway." I said. "You think he did?" She asked. I nodded. "I heard he likes punches. He likes getting punched." I told her. "Really?" She asked in disbelief. I nodded again. "Yes, yes. He loves being punched all the time." I assured her. "So next time you see him, greet him with a punch, ok?" I asked and she nodded. I suddenly saw my staff hindering their laughs. I, too, wanted to laugh already. Bea actaully believed.

I carried her as we went to the studio room. Today, I'll be filming a little interview. "Bea, stay here, ok? Daddy will be filming right over there." I pointed at the set. "And the whole time I'll be filming, I'll be looking at you from time to time. So always smile, ok? Because when I see iu smiling, it makes me smile, too." I told her. "Yes daddy, I'll be right here." She said eagerly. "Promise?" "Promise." She lifted her right hand. "Good girl." I pat her head gently then we began filming.

It was already pass 12nn when we ended filming. Bea fell asleep. My manager is carying her right now. She must have got tired crying her eyes out earlier. "I can take it from here." I said as I took her from my manager. She woke up though. "Daddy?" She weakly called out. "Yes baby? I'm here, daddy's here." I said as she embraced me. She tried to continue her sleep but she got fully awaken when she realized we're infront of the elevator. "Daddy, I don't like this thing." She freaked out. "Huh? But why baby? It's just an elevator." I tried to calm her. "I don't want it, I'm scared." She hid her face on the crook of my head. "There, there. Just hold on tight to daddy, everything will be ok." I said as I rubbed her back. "Daddy will protect you. You don't have to be scared." The elevator opened and we entered it. The whole time, she just closed her eyes and hid her face. She also covered her ears.

We safely got out of the elevator. I walked, while carrying her, in the dark parking lot. I opened the door of my car and made her sit inside. "Daddy, don't leave me." She seemed to be really afraid. "Don't worry baby, we'll be leaving this place together, ok?" I said and closed the door. I walked half-around the car until I got to the driver's seat. "We're leaving now baby. You ready?" I asked. "Yes, yes, yes! Hurry, daddy, hurry!" She exclaimed. Only then I realized she was just afraid the whole time. I drove fast till we got out of the parking lot. Bea sighed in relief as soon as the sunlight lit our car. "Bye bye scary building!" She waved farewell to the establishment. "So baby, are you sure that man didn't do anything to you?" I asked her. "Yes daddy, he didn't do anything." She said. "Bea, didn't we tell you not to talk to strangers? Please don't do that again, ok?" I lectured her once again as I tried to remove my worry. "Yes daddy, I promise I won't do it again." She said.

"Daddy, where are we going?" She asked. "I'm hungry. Can we please eat?" She asked. "Sure baby. Infact we're on our way to the restaurant, now." I chuckled. "Really? Can we eat fried chicken and ice cream today?" She happily asked. "Sure, fine by me. But we'll have to ask your mom about it first." Her happiness died down. "I'm sure she won't agree." Bea frowned. "Aww. Baby, don't be sad. Don't worry, daddy will make a way." I reassured her. "Anyways... Daddy, can I ask a favor?" "Sure, what is it?" I asked. "Umm.. About earlier, can you not tell it to mommy?" She said. "You mean, not let her know about it?" I asked. "Hmm yes." "But why?" I asked. "Well, because I promised mommy not to talk to that guy but I did.." She said. That's right! Last night, I overheard their conversation and Bea said something like this. 'I won't talk to him.. I won't be friends with him.. Sorry mommy for making you cry again.' She did say that last night. "Ok. But in ine condition." I said. "Never break your promise again, never talk to that man." "Deal." She agreed.

We made it to the restaurant and took a very comfortable spot. It's a table for four. When Bea's hungry, expect that she's really hungry. She'll be eating everything you feed her. As she wished, I ordered her fried chicken while I had some beef steak. I also ordered some quail soup. Her banana split will follow. My phone suddenly rang. "Hey. How is it?" I greeted. "Eli, you won't believe it but I closed the deal easily." Kendra said. "Really? I knew you could do it." I shared with her triumph. "And not only that, I am officially part of Lotte. I literally own 32% of Lotte. Eli, I'm major share holder of Lotte." Kendra exclaimed from the other side of the line. "Woah. That's great! We should celebrate." I offered. "Yeah, we should. Where are you guys anyway? Have you eaten lunch?" She asked. "Actually we're eating lunch right now here at the restaurant." I showed Bea my phone signaling her to say hello to her mom. "Mommy!" Bea exclaimed. "Hi baby." Kendra responded. I left the phone in loud speajer mode so I can continue cutting my steak, too. "I'll be on my way. See you later." She said. "Take care!" We said in unison then she hung up.

Ten minutes later, Kendra arrived. "Oh god! I'm starving." She said as she sat down beside Beatrice. "Mommy!" Bea.hugged her mother. "Hi baby. You should sit down now. You can't stand on the chair." She said. I lifted my hand to signal the waiter to hand us over the menu. "I think I'll have steak as well. And umm, a plate of vegetable salad." "Eeeew." Bea reacted. "And a glass of iced tea will do." Kendra finished her order. "Please give us a pudding each." Eli added. "Horay! Puddings!" Bea exclaimed. "Eli, no." She said. "Kendra, yes." I said and made the waiter leave our table. Soon, Kendra's steak and vegetable salad came. The pudding haven't arrived, instead, the banana split was served. "Uh. Who ordered ice cream?" Kendra asked. Bea slowly slid down from her sit and raised her hand. "I did." She admitted. Kendra looked at me. "Eli! Why did you let her?" She asked. "What? She's six so let her be." I said.

The banana split was bigger than I expected it to be. It would be sufficient for three people. Bea started digging in. "That is your last ice cream, young woman." Kendra said as she sliced her steak. Bea didn't mind what she said until.. "No more ice cream for your birthday." Bea automatically stopped eating. She dropped her spoon and looked at her mom. "What? Are you still gonna eat that?" She asked as she took a bite of her steak. She stopped chewing when she felt my hand touch the tip of her nose. I bet she felt that sticky matter starting to melt. Bea slowly bit two of her fingers to surpress her laughter. "If there's no ice cream in a birthday party, I'd kill you." I said while she just looked at me. "Oh so it's like that." She dipped her fingers ithe ice cream and aimed at me. I tried to avoid but I could feel the ice cream on my cheek. Me and Bea stared at each other. "Oh no." Kendra said before we both painted her face with ice cream. "Ok, ok. I surrender. There shall be ice cream in Bea's birthday. You can stop teaming up on me." Kendra said.

We all laughed at the end. Me and Bea exchanged high five's to out victory. We started wiping our faces. I reached out to wipe Kendra's face. When I was done doing so, I caught someone watching us from a distance. Who else would it be other than the bastard. It's Baekhyun watching us. He's with someone. And when he realized I caught him staring, they decided to sit across our table. Ofcourse, they passed by us and both Kendra and Bea noticed him. Bea, who's at fault, remained silent. But Kendra kept her cool and continued eating. What a mood ruiner Baekhyun is.