Room for You
Chapter 65

Chapter 65

The young lady took a few more pictures and sent then all to Hayleywith a caption that read, “Miss Seymour, you may want to keep a closeeye on your man because this woman here is trying to seduce him!Hayley was lounging in her hospital room and scrolling through videoson her phone when she clicked into the new text. When she saw thepictures of Anastasia and Elliot, her eyes widened in disbelief whileanger rose in her chest. Anastasia is on a date with Elliot with her son intow!

She wondered furiously if it meant Anastasia intended to have Elliotbecome her son's new father. A single mother like Anastasia had littleto no prospects on the marriage market, and she could very well beusing Amelia“s sacrifice from all those years ago to trap Elliot in amarriage in the guise of repaying a selfless deed. Not only that, she'strying to get Elliot to accept her son as well!

Hayley thought she had already seen through Anastasia’s plot, and sheswore she would not let the latter succeed.

It looked like it was time for her to approach Elliot's family and let themknow that she had given up her chastity just to get Elliot out of a tightspot as well

Meanwhile, under the lights of the restaurant, Elliot was practicallyglimmering with elegance as he sipped on his red wine, the shadowsand lights interplaying over his delicately-chiseled features.

He looked up and gazed at Jared from across the table. At thatmoment, he had a sudden feeling that he and this boy met under themost particular of circumstances, which inevitably led to his affectionfor the little boy.

Likewise, Jared felt the same thing. He had only met Elliot on a fewoccasions, but he inexplicably warmed to him and found him very muchlike a safe harbor. As far as he was concerned, Elliot was a man he couldtrust.

Jared was only a child, and for a child to feel safe around someone theydid not live with was a rare situation indeed.

After dinner that evening, Elliot dropped them off at the apartment.Anastasia held Jared by the hand and helped him down from the carbefore turning to address Elliot, “Thank you for this evening.”

With that, she led Jared away from the car and toward the apartment.Just then, Jared suddenly piped up, “Mommy, since Mr. Presgravebought us dinner, shouldn't we at least have him up to the house fortea?”

Anastasia froze. She had no intention of asking the man to drop by herhouse for a cup of tea, but now that Jared had mentioned it, it wouldseem rude of her not to extend an invitation to Elliot. “Would you liketo come up for a cup of tea?” she asked, having turned around to askthe man in the driver's seat.

She had assumed that he would say no, what with his busy scheduleand all. It was only a matter of courtesy on her part to ask him to stayfor a cup of tea, and it was the only way she could get her kid off herback about being a polite host.

However, she most certainly did not expect Elliot to turn off the carengine and emerge from the driver's seat. His straight and tallsilhouette came down from the car and walked up to the entrance. “Isuppose I could do with a cup of tea,” he said as he approached them.All of a sudden, Anastasia felt pressured as she took in his toweringfigure. I shouldn't have asked, she thought darkly while regretting herdecision.

“Mr. Presgrave, you can drop by my house for a glass of water!” Jaredoffered with a happy jump like he was in a pantomime.

And just like that, Anastasia brought the man home. She rummagedthrough the cabinet for a spare cup, but when she could replace none, sheresorted to filling Jared's cup with water. When she handed the mugwith the cartoon printed on it to Elliot, she said, “I hope you don't mindusing my son's cup.”

The man wasn't bothered in the slightest as he took the cup and drankfrom it. Meanwhile, the little one was building bricks next to the couch.He glanced over at the boxes of toys stacked up on the couch, and atfirst glance, none of them looked cheap.

Elliot immediately guessed that the toys had been bought by Nigel.Without dwelling on it, he turned his attention on Jared, who seemedengrossed in building bricks, and the somber gleam in his eyesdisappeared as a look of warm compassion replaced it.

Meanwhile, it looked like it was going to rain soon. Anastasia wasbringing in the laundry from the balcony, but just as she was makingher way across the living room, a pink piece of clothing fell out of theheap in her arms. She didn't notice this, but Elliot, with his eagle eyes,did.

The pink fabric that had fallen was ladies’ underwear.

He rose from the couch and grabbed the flimsy garment off theground. Then, he

headed into the room after Anastasia and said, “Hey, you dropped this.”She turned around, and her pretty eyes widened by a fraction when sheregistered her underwear hanging on the tip of Elliot's finger. Shehurried over and snatched the garment out of his grip, blushing as shemuttered, “Thanks.”

At that moment, a purple streak of lightning flashed across the darksky, and this was followed by a deafening clap of thunder.

A childish scream sounded from the living room as Jared cried out,“Mommy!” He had abandoned his toy bricks and had both his handsclapped over his ears, looking terrified.

Elliot instantly walked back to the couch and scooped the little boy intohis arms, drawing the child close. The little one was pressed into Elliot'swell-toned chest, shrinking into the man’s embrace as he hid from thethunder.

When Anastasia hastily walked out of the room, she was greeted by thesight of Elliot protectively holding Jared close.

Another loud crack of thunder echoed in the sky, and this time, atorrential downpour followed. The gray slates of rain showered acrossthe balcony, and just as Anastasia was assessing the weather beyondthe window, a white lightning tore through the sky ferociously. Thethunder that came after was loud and violent, causing Anastasia toinstinctively cover her ears. She seemed to shrink into herself, lookingterrified as well.

At that exact moment, Jared clutched tightly onto Elliot, equallyterrified. It was then that Elliot realized with a tug of his heartstringshow the fear for thunderstorms was clearly a shared trait betweenmother and son.