A Weekend With The Alpha
A Weekend with the Alpha Chapter 29

9

Almost an hour later, I stepped out of my bedroom with Diya behind me and I made my way to the front door. I opened and my eyes glanced around to see where he was, and when I didn't, I wondered whether he had gotten tired and given up the fight, but Aaron wasn't one to give up that easily. Not the Aaron I'd gotten to know these past few weeks.

My eyes travelled down the street and I saw a Black Mercedes parked there and as soon as I caught sight of it, the car turned on and it moved toward my front door. It packed and out came the dashing Aaron in simple khaki trousers and a White polo. He had glasses over his face and his hair was in the same bun it was when we met yesterday. He closed the car and locked it before approaching the front door, where I stood with Diya. With every step he took, my heartbeat increased. I was certain I could not face him. I was still a mess on the inside and he looked prepared for chaos.

"Zera, good morning."

"It's hardly a good morning since you ruined it as fast as it started." Diya didn't let me speak because she did, snarling at him.

His attention moved past me and settled on Diya, who stood behind me. "You must be Diya, Zera's best friend," he spoke with a still calm and friendly tone despite the venom Diya's voice had earlier.

"I am and I hope you know that means I don't like you." she bit out at him, not treading lightly with him.

He smiled, and his deep dimple showed, and despite the tension, I felt myself melt on the inside.

"I don't expect you to, but I hope that one day that would change. I hope you understand I am doing what every reasonable father would do if they were in my shoes. I want to be a part of my son's life and that's all."

"There is a fine line between wanting to be a part of your son's life and wanting to cut him off from his mother, the woman who had taken sole responsibility in raising, caring and providing for him against all odds in the last four years. That is cruel." Diya wouldn't even let me speak. Why would she? We had been friends for over a decade and the state I was in last night was the worst state she had ever seen me in. I was a mess, and I was past the point of no return. No one had ever done that to me before. Aaron's new proposal equally affected Diya. She was Zion's godmother, and she had been involved in his life since the first day he came into this world. Aaron would cut her out of his life with the plans he had set out, and that was enough to make her mad. "I am sorry," he spoke, sounding more reasonable than he did last night at the restaurant or this morning on the phone. Perhaps Diya possessed the strength to make him yield, one I didn't have over him. "I was denied the choice of being in my son's life for five years. I missed out on those essential years and I will never get them back. What I offered her last night was me trying to be considerate despite everything."

"You do not even know your son and you're already putting those he has known and grown to love so far away from him," I spoke up finally. My tone could not conceal the sadness and pain I felt any further and his gaze drifted to me and the emotions in his eyes were unreadable.

"Zion," he calls and his eyes travel past me. His eyes lowered, and they grew weak with mixed emotions. Mine followed, and they caught sight of my son in his blue pyjamas.

"Mommy? What's wrong?" he called out, his voice low and confused.

My heart clenched, not liking that Zion had woken up and walked into this commotion. I raced over to him, for a moment forgetting about Aaron and wanting to protect my son from the unfortunate fate of him being taken from me by his father. "Mommy, why are you sad?" Zion asked, his eyes looking suspicious as he stared at my wounded face.

I should have done a better job at concealing the emotions on my face because now he had seen them and looked scared.

I couldn't answer, so I pressed my lips together, and I took him into my arms, hugging him as if it was the last time I'll get to do this.

"You." I heard the accusation in Zion's voice as the words came out.

"I saw you yesterday at school." I turned around to face Aaron and held Zion in one hand so he can still see Aaron, whom he currently spoke. "what do you want with my mommy? What did you do to her? She's sad."

Aaron opened his mouth to speak, but I beat him to it because I couldn't trust him to say anything good. Not at the point that we were.

"Um, Zion," I started, bending and dropping him on his feet, but staying there so we had our gazes locked.

"You know mommy always loves you, don't you?"

He smiled and nodded. What a lovely son I have.

"Remember when I said you belonged to mommy and no one else?"

He nodded again, and I pressed my lips together. This was getting harder than I expected. Looking him in the eye was the hardest part.

"Well mommy didn't tell you the whole story, you see for you to have a mommy, you need to have a daddy." if I was making a mockery of myself, neither Diya nor Aaron at the door said a thing about it as they remained silent and watched me. "He hasn't been around all these years, but you do have one and he's here now." My eyes travelled back to Aaron, whose keen eyes stayed on his son, beholding, observing.

It took a while for Zion to process everything I just told him, and I didn't rush him. My eyes stayed on him reading the waves of emotions from confusion to scepticism and unsureness and after a minute of silence, his eyes narrowed on me. "He's my daddy?" he asked as if that was the worse thing that had ever happened to him. Well, considering he's planning to take Zion away from me, he might just be the worse thing that happened to the both of us.

"Yes, Zion. He's your daddy." I said the last three words almost as bitter as vinegar.

Zion blinked a few times before turning around to face Aaron, who stood with his arms over his chest at the door.

"I don't like him, mommy." he blurted out before running upstairs, leaving the three adults in the room.

I wanted to run after him, but Diya stopped me. "I'll go after him." She left the living room at the same minute, leaving us alone.

I didn't want to be alone with Aaron. Not after last night. Not after he'd brought me to my knees and made me shed painful tears. I'd accept anything but being alone with him.

I folded my arms across my chest and chewed on my bottom lips, a trait I always exhibited whenever I'm anxious, tensed or worried and right now, I was freaking out.

If Aaron had left it to me, I would have introduced him to Zion as a friend and gradually work the way up to him being his father, but things were not up to me anymore. I doubt he came here today, wanting to be introduced as anything but his father. "He's beautiful," Aaron spoke up from beside me where he stood and I glanced at him, confused at first. "He's beautiful," he repeated, seeing my confusion.

'Well, his father, despite being an a*****e, is a beautiful man as well.' I replied in my mind.

"He is," I agreed, the tension I felt around me lessening. "He is sweet, smart, brave, and kind. He's also strong. I know he didn't take that from me because I'm not that strong."

He let himself into the house and closed the door. "Do not sell yourself short. You're one of the strongest people I know, and I know a lot of them," he said, and there was no form of mockery attached to his words.

I flashed him a genuine smile. "Thank you."

He just paid me a compliment. This was the Aaron I knew five years ago. The one that made me smile throughout the weekend.

'And broke your heart before you left. Do not forget that part!

Of course, I didn't tell him the entire story of everything that led me to cut him off completely after that weekend at last night's date. There was no need for him to know.

He smiled as well, and his dimple appeared. "You're welcome." he then stuffed his hands into the pocket of his khaki trousers, exhaling. "So he doesn't like me."

I pressed my lips together and flashed him an apologetic look, "He doesn't but for what it's worth, he doesn't like many people." 'which is why your attempt to take him away from me would hurt Zion more than anything else!' I completed the rest in my head. "Does he like your boyfriend?" he asked out of the blue and for a moment I wondered who it was he spoke about, then it clicked.

"He's known Daniel for the last two years and still doesn't like him very much." I chuckled.

A sad emotion flickered in his eyes, and I wondered why Zion's not liking Daniel made him sad. Then I realized it was probably because Daniel had gotten two years of getting to know Zion while he only found out yesterday.

"I am sorry," I said, hoping he believed me and know that I spoke the truth.

He turned away from me, "Zion needs me and he needs to be with me and that's why you have to consent to my proposal." His voice switched from the calm and friendly tone it had a while ago into a rigid one. Just when I thought we were finally getting on the same page.

"Zion doesn't need you. We have been fine on our own without you. He's been surrounded with love, affection and attention, just like every kid deserves."

"He isn't like other kids, Zera."

"Do not talk to me about my son like you know him better than I do!" I slammed and here we go. Back to the fighting. "You haven't even spent a day with him and you think you have everything figured out." "He's my blood. I don't need to spend a day with him to know what he's capable of and believe me when I say he's not like other kids."

"Then what is he like?"

"He's like me, and I'm not like other men," he answered, and that had to be the most absurd thing I have ever heard.

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah right."

Why did I think I could reach a sensible agreement with him? He did not differ from other men who were always trying to insert their dominance and take things by force from the weaker ones. "I'm not giving you Zion without a fight, Aaron," I told him.

"You cannot fight me and win," he said with utmost certainty in his voice.

"For Zion, I will die trying!!" I growled at him.