In His Arms

Chapter 27: One Added, One Subtracted (Kendra's POV)

I kept touching my neck the entire ride. Looking at my reflection in the mirror, I kept on thinking of ways on how to hide these purple marks on my flesh. Baekhyun, who was driving the car, kept on stealing glances of me from time to time. Constantly, he would take a peek of what I was doing then return his eyes on the road. Caught up in traffic, he stopped the car as his foot stepped on the brakes and finally got the chance to talk to me. "Babe, you don't have to worry about those marks." He said, trying to calm me down. "But babe, it makes me uncomfortable. It's our first public appearance and I'm embarassed to show up like this." I admitted. "Are you embarassed because of me?" He asked with a sad tone. "No, ofcourse not. I'm embarassed to show up like this with you because everyone will know what a total beast you are in bed." His straight face quickly vanished to what I said. He started to smile like a fool. He placed his right hand on my thigh while the other hand stayed on the stirring wheel. "I'll take that as a compliment." He smiled. I lifted his hand away from my thigh. "Ofcourse you do." I sarcastically said.

Baekhyun smirked to my tone. He knew I was starting to get annoyed. With the traffic we're in and the time we're trying to catch up, he tried his best to calm me down. He clasped our hands as I stared out of the window. "What time is it already?" I asked. Instead of an answer, the thing I received from Baekhyun was a kiss on my hand. "We'll make it, don't worry babe." He said. His soft lips pecked the back of my hand again. His action made think if I should be more worried or should I relax. First, I like how he's all lovey dovey with me since early morning. Second, he sure knows how to calm me down. But on the other side, I really have this bad feeling that something will happen. I looked at my phone to see what time it is. All the more did I get worried. "Babe, two more minutes before ten." I panicked. I looked at the road and the traffic is really heavy. "Is there some other way we could use to get there?" I asked. "I doubt it babe. And even if there was, it's probably far from here. This is the shortest way to get there." He answered. I sighed heavily. I was too annoyed with the situation we are in. Baekhyun didn't like how ruffled I was. He reached out to me, his hands cupping both of my cheeks and pulling my face halfway to meet his. Baekhyun's lips landed on mine, his tongue swept on my lower lip making it damp, asking for entrance. I naturally welcomed him and he gave me this short yet 'enough to distract me' kiss. He pulled out quickly and the tips of our noses touched. "Hey. It'll be fine, ok? I promise you, it will be fine." I felt his warm breath as his thumb caressed my cheek. I just gave him a small nod, telling him that I'm feeling relieved because of his assurance. We both heard engines starting up and tires rolling. The road finally got wider. Baekhyun continued to drive our way to the restaurant with one hand on the wheel and the other holding my hand.

As soon as the engine stopped as Baekhyun parked the car, I immediately unbuckled my seatbelt and stepped out of the vehicle. Knowing that it was already ten minutes pass ten, I unintentionally slammed the door of the car and hurried my way into the restaurant. The bells of the door clung loudly as I stormed in and started searching for Eli and Bea. I didn't care if the attention of some customers were on me, all I had in mind was my daughter. Not too long, Baekhyun entered the restaurant as well. He approached me quickly. His arms wrapped around me as I looked from left to right in search for Bea. "Baekhyun, they're not here." I trembled as I continued to look around. Baekhyun started looking around, too. For a minute, he got nervous, too. But then his eyes stopped moving when he saw this little girl sitting on a restaurant sofa all alone. She was wearing this cute little ivory dress and her tiny legs constantly kicked up then down. Baekhyun gripped my arm, slightly shaking me. "What?" I asked as I looked at him. He didn't answer, he looked so stunned so I just looked at the same direction he was looking at. And there, I saw our daughter sitting all alone. "Bea." I called out as I quickly pulled Baekhyun with me and approached her. "Mommy!" She happily exclaimed as she saw me. "Baby, why are you all alone?" I knelt down and hugged her. "Ma'am." A female intervened. It was Bea's nanny. I stood up and the nanny came closer to me and she placed a slice of cake before Bea. "It's good that you finally arrived. I can leave now." She told me.

"Wait. I don't understand. Why are you leaving? And Eli, where's Eli?" I asked not noticing my tone. "He already left ma'am. Sir Eli already left." She answered. "Where? Where did he go? And why did he leave the both of you here?" I asked. The nanny just shook her head at me. "I have no idea. All he said was that he has somewhere to go. That's all he told me." She said. I don't know why but I suddenly had the urge to follow him. I quickly dashed out and looked around. He can't be that far from here, right? He might still be around. Feeling all puzzled and frustrated, I breathed heavily. My sobs turned to pants as I tried to realized what was happening. I unlocked my phone then dialed his number. It's ringing but he's not answering. I kept on redialing until he eventually picked up. "Goddamn it Kendra, you're so hard to resist." Eli cursed from the other side of the line. "Eli, where are you?" I asked with a voice that demands an answer from him. "Somewhere." He said. "Eli, I'm serious. Where the hell are you? And why didn't you wait for us? You left Bea alone, like really?" I was getting furious. "Woah. Calm down Kendra. Bea isn't alone, she with her nanny." He said. I let out a frustrated sigh, enough to let him know how I felt with the current situation. "I don't understand. Why? Are you leaving?" I asked. "Yes." As soon as I heard his answer, all I felt was pain. "But why? And this sudden, really?" I asked still uncontented with his little sentences. "Isn't it obvious? Kendra, I'm letting go." He said.

"I called you to come over because I wanted to see your family be complete again." He paused a little. I heard him breathe heavily. "I wanted to see what I'm sacrificing for before I totally let go and leave." He said with his voice almost cracking. "But you were late, so what could we do." He smirked with disappointment. I squeezed my hand in my forehead as I felt bad for not being punctual. Only if we made it on time, this wouldn't happen. Maybe, we could have talked things out and made everything right. "What about Bea? Have you thought on how she's going to react to this? Have you thought on how she would feel?" I asked. "Eli, you don't have to leave just-" "Kendra, she knows. Bea knows." He cut me off. "what do you mean she knows?" I asked surprised. "I already told her. Well, not everything. Just some. It's up to you to explain further." He said. I was about to say something when I suddenly heard a female voice announcing some numbers, time, and countries. "Kendra, I wish you and your family all the happiness you could have. Do me a favor? Take care of yourself and Beatrice. Don't let Baekhyun do something shitty that could hurt you again." He said.

"I might not be around for quite some time, so our communication might be off for a while, too. I want to apologize as early as now because I might not help you with your upcoming problems." He said. "But when I'm already ok, I'll come back and face you and your family happily. I just hope you'll face me happily, too." I could feel him smile to what he said. "I'll see you soon, ok? I wish you well. Goodluck to your reconciled love, my love. I love you, always remember that. Goodbye." I suddenly felt a bite of pain in my heart as he bid farewell. "I'm so sorry Eli." That's all that I could say. "And thank you for your never ending kindness to me and Bea. My family owes you so much." A tear fell from my eye. "I wish you well, too. May you find happiness in your new journey." I wiped my tear away. "Goodbye." I whispered weakly before he hung up. So it's true, you only realize one's worth when you lose him. Eli will always have a special space in my heart, maybe not the way he wants, but the way it was meant to be. I gave myself a moment to realize how painful it was, and a moment to let myself endure it. I took a moment for myself before I decided to go back inside.