Stranger! Please be my Child’s Father
.Chapter 4: hide no more.“Where’s Dada, Momma? I thought you said that we could talk later? I wanna ask him about everything!” Hudson chattered, swinging their joined hands together.It was the happiest she had seen her son in a while--the little boy was filled with her usual youthful excitement. Arabella sighed, wondering what she did to get into such a mess of things. She couldn’t help but shoot a wary look over her shoulder before tugging her little one to a stop, kneeling down to face him. “Let’s have a little talk, okay?” Arabella murmured gently, not quite wanting to scare her son, but knowing damn well that there was a discussion to be had.Maybe the way home wasn’t exactly the best decision, but Arabella knew that her curious boy would continue asking until he had the opportunity to get the answer or someone gave it to him. “First things first, Hudson, we talked about this this morning. You cannot use your hands to solve an issue, okay? You shouldn’t push, shouldn’t pull, or anything of the sort.” Arabella reminded, gently. “I know I told you so why did you forget?.” “Momma, I-I know.” Hudson’s face became downturned, so sullen, and Arabella hated, hated seeing her son so sad. Often times, she wondered if she was being too strict.But if she didn’t instill it in her son that physical contact was never a way to solve an issue, then she wasn’t doing her job as a parent. But she knew when to relent and when to pull back. Arabella sank down, gently running a hand through her son’s dark curls, pressing a soothing smile to her lips. “I know, baby bear. It must have been frustrating with that other boy, huh?” Hudson nodded, still glancing down. “And that’s what happens sometimes, bear. Sometimes, people are frustrating. We won’t agree with them.” Arabella murmured, thinking how she had just been in the same situation with that meddling singer, “Sometimes, people just don’t get along. And that’s okay. But the solution is not to raise your hand, okay? We talk it out, or we let it be. If we use our hands, we’re sinking down to their level. And we don’t want that, do we?” Hudson shook his head vehemently. “No, momma! We’re on our own level.” “That’s right, baby bear! What are we?” Arabella extended her fist out, met with her son’s smaller one. “A team.” Came the answering reply. Arabella planted a kiss on her little bear’s forehead before standing up, taking the smaller hand in hers. “Come on, baby bear. Let’s go home. I’m hungry.” “Can we have some ice cream?!” Hudson chirped excitedly, swinging their joined hands. “Mmm. Let’s make a deal. You eat all the vegetables with the pasta tonight, and I just might give you some of that ice cream.” “Deal!” Arabella grinned, Hudson pointing something out along the road as they walked, mindlessly listening to the chattering of her son while mentally reviewing the day and prepping for dinner.Maybe that’s why she didn’t notice immediately, but it was kind of hard to remain oblivious when there were so many people starting to stare. Call it fate, call it intuition, call it his dad instincts--Arabella knew that something was very, very wrong. Most of the time, she got noticed for her looks, yes, but her having a son deterred anyone from approaching her. But this? This was unusual. People are blatantly staring, glancing down at their phones and whispering, and Arabella’s gut indicated that this was not okay. She sank down very quickly, pulling her son up to perch on her hip, and curled her arms tightly around the little boy. She patted her pockets for a minute, and after being reassured that she had everything, broke out into a dead sprint, Arabella cushioned against her chest securely. Good timing. Somewhat. Right as she sprinted, the entire horde of people were suddenly attuned to her. “You’re right, that’s her! That’s her, that’s her!” She heard, along with the absolutely terrifying sound of footsteps rising in noise and frequency behind her. Shit, shit, shit. She was being chased, and by the looks of it, people actually knew who she was. Was this one of those things again where people posted good-looking people on their socials and then everyone got interested and made it a whole thing to find them? She sure fucking hoped not. She felt her son tremble against her and the anger swelled up in her. They were scaring her son, and that was unacceptable. Whatever they were chasing her for, it better be a matter of national fucking emergency, because if there was one thing she didn’t stand for, it was when things interfered with her son, and not in a good way. Two streets, Arabella. Two streets and they were home free. She skidded around the corner, rounding the bakery that she usually visited with Hudson when they had free times on the weekends--she didn’t know much about pies, but when the granny made her peach pie on Saturdays, Arabella could taste heaven.She thought about hiding in there for a moment, the old couple was very nice and would be more than willing to help her out, but the last thing she wanted was to bring the crazy horde in and disrupt the bakery’s atmosphere. Plus, she didn’t want to be too much trouble. She could hear them gaining, their excitement only making them go faster, but finally, finally, Arabella saw her complex, the beaten down beige colored building that looked so ugly, the side door that only residents had access to.As Arabella ran, she yanked out her keys, opening the door quickly and locking it shut, before running up the black-wired stairs along the side of the building to the third floor, slotting her key in and practically throwing herself inside and locking the door shut. She heaved a sigh of relief and gently pulled Hudson away. “How are you doing, buddy?’ She asked, trying to keep her voice light. Kids were particular--if they saw that their parents were scared, they would be too. Hudson nodded, fingers clutched in the fabric of Arabella’s shirt. “‘M okay, momma. We ran.” “Yes we did! And momma’s gonna figure it out, ‘kay? Why don’t you go play for a lil while she investigates and makes dinner, hm?” She planted a noisy kiss on her son’s bubbly cheek, eliciting a pleased giggle from the young boy, before setting him down, the boy running in the direction of the bedroom.Arabella watched him go with a fond smile, the edges of her smile wearing as the reality of the situation crashed down on her. Her first move was to call her best friend.She pulled out her phone, hearing the ringing noise as she pressed the device to her ear, reaching out to check the lock once more before heading into the kitchen. She glanced down at her hands--they were shaking--but some cooking would do her some good, would keep her distracted. “Hello?” The sound of Faye’s voice, regardless of the fact that it was tinny through the phone speaker, was enough to elicit relief out of Arabella. Her best friend was always there, even as things became so ridiculously rough for her, this too would be something that they would solve together. “Faye-ah. You won’t believe just what happened to me.” “What happened, Bella?” “I was walking down the street that I usually take to go home, and all of a sudden, I noticed that there was a shit ton--” Arabella paused and glanced warily in the direction of her bedroom, hoping that Hudson was not listening to the conversation, she had curbed her swearing habit to ensure her curious son wouldn’t pick up on it, and she’d hate it if Hudson started swearing left and right just because she cursed one time. “--a boat load of people. And then they were kinda looking at me, and then looking down at their phones. I didn’t know what to do so I bolted out of there--but they started to chase me!” “What?! Are you and Hudson okay? Do you need me to come over?” Faye’s anxious voice came through the device. “No, no. We’re okay, we’re in the apartment now. Don’t bother coming over right now, there’s a massive horde of people out front and you might get swarmed too. Your company said you had to keep a low image before your next single, remember? Don’t come, we’re all fine. I’m just kinda confused as to what happened.” Arabella soothed, slowly pulling vegetables out of the cupboards.Her best friend went silent for a moment, and Arabella was able to run the tomatoes, carrots and cucumber under the water and begin the slow slicing of the carrots before she tentatively decided to break the silence. “Faye-are you there?” “I’m here. I was just trying to look into it. It was strange that you got swarmed like that, and I think I know the reason.” Right on cue, Arabella’s phone buzzed from where she had set it on the countertop.She reached, patting her hands dry on her pants before swiping her finger against the screen, cursing slightly at the cracks on the screen pinched slightly at the pad of her finger.She tapped on the message notification, eyes widening as she saw the Twitter article that Faye had linked. A quick press led to the app being opened: it had been dormant for a very long time, Arabella was very much anti-social media when it came to her parenting.But even she could see the article, the pictures of her and Gael holding hands, the trend of #GAELMYSTERYWOMAN and #HOTMOM ranking high. She could see the pictures that the horde had snapped of her, fans clamoring over her and Hudson in the replies. Arabella staggered, curling her hand against the edge of the countertop, ears ringing. Compromised. Her privacy was compromised.They’d find her. He’s going to find her.“Bella?! Bella baby, are you okay?” After a few minutes Arabella realized that her best friend was nervously calling for her attention, the voice growing frantic through the phone. “Faye-ah,” Arabella knew her voice came out strangled, she was 0.3 seconds away from having a full on mental breakdown, but thankfully, her best friend knew. “I’m sending you his contact information. Talk to him, okay? There has to be a way we can work around this. Stay home, okay? Don’t go out. Everything’s going to be okay.” As Arabella was left, staring down at the contact that read GAEL, wondering if she had just destroyed her entire life. Again.********Thousand of miles away from Arabella and her unfortunate predicament, a door opened, a figure rushed through, and a phone was presented. The figure looked down at the article, then pinched his fingers on the screen, zooming in to the face he saw.A face he recognized. Satisfaction curdled in his stomach. He found her..TBCStranger! Please be my Child’s Father .Chapter 5: non-existent family. [FROM Louis Avian MANAGER: Gael i swear to god i’m going to fucking sue you for stress, i’m about to drop dead with all this goddamn STRESS you’re giving me. I’m going to die from heart related issues, and then i’m going to put the blame on you, and you only, and then take the workman’s comp for my non-existent family, and rob you of your millions. And then i’m going to make sure the next manager you get is the most insufferable bastard you’ve ever had the displeasure of meeting. I’m going to make sure he’s loud, chews loudly and doesn’t leave you alone. And also i hope he thinks that rap is just speaking fast. This would be prevented if you could just OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR!][UNKNOWN NUMBER:Mr Laurent? Please help.]THIS CONTACT IS NOT IN YOUR ADDRESS BOOK.BLOCK?oOoGael blinked at the unknown number--sure, there were always spam calls and those people that trolled the system and ran numbers to get to his,
Stranger! Please be my Child’s Father .Chapter 6: Dada to Daddy. “Who the hell is that?”“That’s Arabella.” Gael rushed to say, glaring back at the woman herself, who had raised her head to glare balefully at Gael. “Your wife?! YOU’RE WITH YOUR wife?!” Louis shrieked.“No!” Arabella stood up, grabbing the phone, and spoke very fast into the receiver. “No. Look. I’m Bella. My son got into trouble today. The school called Gael because my son had written his name down as his emergency contact. Gael, being a major fucking asshole,”“Major fucking superhero,” Gael grumbled, before withering under Arabella’s burning gaze at being interrupted.“Decided to come around and pose like Hudson’s dad. And then, when we went out of the office to talk about what just happened, the paparazzi snapped pictures of us. And now, I’m being mobbed, and my son is scared. So FIX IT, MANAGER SIR. Er.. sorry. I’m usually not that tense. It’s been a long day.” Arabella looked a bit remorseful at shouting at
Stranger! Please be my Child’s Father .Chapter 7: a little slip . “Your momma will still be with you, you’ll still go to the same school.” Hudson pondered that wording a bit more carefully. “And I’ll get to see Daddy!”Gael laughed, wrapping his arms around the little boy, tucking the little frame to his chest. “Absolutely, little tiger.” Hudson shook his head. “Bear! Tae’s a bear.” Gael pinched the end of the little one’s nose lightly, not enough to hurt. “Mmm, maybe you’re your momma’s bear. But you can be my little tiger. You even look like a tiger.”Hudson seemed pleased with that explanation. “Rowr.” He growled, a small squeaky imitation of a tiger. Gael couldn’t resist grinning, planting a kiss on his curly hair. “There you go, my tiger cub.” The two delved into growling at each other, practicing their roars, before pausing as Arabella came to stand in front of him. The sight of her son growling at her pulled a weak smile to the woman’s face, before she set her phone do
Stranger! Please be my Child’s Father .Chapter 8: congrats, Laurent family . “Okay, Mr Laurent. We’ll move in with you. Can you please, please, make sure my two conditions are acknowledged? I promise we’ll be good houseguests, the second this entire thing dies down we’ll leave you alone and let you be. But I’m unwilling to part with any of my conditions. I can’t.” Arabella tentatively broached the subject, and Gael could see how tired the woman got just by talking about their situation. “Okay.” Gael acquiesced. “Okay. We’ll figure out a way around it. I’ll accept the two conditions.”[to Louis Avian MANAGER: Louis. We have an answer.Arabella is willing to pose as my spouse, but she has two conditions.She’s using another name, and she’s not doing any publicity with me.She doesn’t want her face to be seen.][from Louis Avian MANAGER: That’s not looking good at all.][from Louis Avian MANAGER: It won’t look believable.][to Louis Avian MANAGER: I know, but I don’t know what
Stranger! Please be my Child’s Father .Chapter 9: memories bring back memories. Lines had been drawn. The house, after the first day the two others had moved in, had grown quiet, save for when Hudson was home. Arabella and Gael retreated to opposite ends of the home, an imaginary line sliced through the middle of the house, neither party to ever cross. Arabella sank back onto the bed, her back thankful now that her endless nights of sleeping on the floor had somewhat come to an end. But still, for how long would she be able to enjoy this luxury?Her gaze drew to the bag in the corner, the very single duffle bag that had held all of hers and Hudson’s possessions, save for Hudson’s school backpack that was filled with loose sheets, remarks from his teacher, and odd rocks that the child liked to grab. Arabella had been living out of that bag for years. She rotated the same clothes, didn’t unpack, because there was no confirmation that she’d ever be able to stay. When she had her ap
Stranger! Please be my Child’s Father .Chapter 10: miscommunication at worst . She stepped out, intending to make her way to where she could see Hudson’s teacher, collecting all the children, but a hand in her path stopped her. Arabella glanced down--it was Gael’s, but the producer wasn’t paying attention to her, instead staring off at one of the bushes. It wasn’t extended to stop her, but--what was it for?“Well, do you want to carry Hudson?” She asked, tilting her head in confusion. Gael didn’t answer, instead taking Arabella’s free hand and lacing it with his own. Their fingers tangled, and Arabella tried hard to not think about when the last time her hand had been held like this, aside from all the times she held hands with her own son. “Let’s go, we’ve got a few more minutes before school begins.” Gael hummed, as though his hand wasn’t the warmest and his thumb most definitely wasn’t resting so comfortably on top of Arabella’s hand. The elder trailed after him, making the
Stranger! Please be my Child’s Father .Chapter 11: fight fight fight! . “I never thought you’d go so low, Arabella.” Gael drawled as he approached the other. The elder whirled around, hands on her hips. “What’s that supposed to mean?”“Exaclty what I said. Breaking our agreement, using your son to get me home, forcing us to have dinner, trying to appeal by cooking my foods, immediately answering that I’d make it to his play. You’re overstepping.” Gael huffed. Arabella seemed to recoil for a moment, before firing right back. “I can’t believe you! You think I’m doing this to get on your fucking good side or to be a model husband? Hudson was asking for you. I felt terrible, so I asked. You could have said no, at any time, by the way. And I made your favorite foods as a fucking apology, Gael! As an apology for disturbing your work time! And I answered for you because it’s the second thing I’m asking of you. It’s for Hudson. It would mean the world if you could make it, Gael.” The ot
Stranger! Please be my Child’s Father .Chapter 12: a colossally screw up. Speaking of--there was a firm knock at the door, and Gael rose to let her in. Chanty Starr, or Chanty as the industry and fans knew her, was a sweet faced woman, known for her clever songs and a personality that drew people in. Gael himself had talked to her during a few awards shows, and he found that he definitely did not hate her presence. She was polite and private, and she had a similar drive and enthusiasm that he enjoyed working with. She grinned at him, and god bless, knew about his aversion to hugs, instead reaching out for a shoulder pat instead. “Hello Gael! Let me tell you how excited I am for this collaboration. I’ve been talking about it all day. I’m sure my managers are tired of hearing me talk about it. But it’s true. The track is there, the lyrics are just how I envisioned it to be. Now it should be easy for us!” She cheered, her enthusiasm immediately picking his own up as she gifted him