Hired To Be Mine

Chapter 3

Salim strolled through the park leisurely. Hands thrust in his pockets, eyes looking nowhere in particular, he missed the marvelous stone sculpture on the side. His steps faltering here and there, anyone could tell that he was actually enjoying the quiet walk in the park.

He had this unusual smile on his face. He was content. Not happy or top of the world, just content. He accepted his life. What was there to not accept anyway? His life was... fine. He sighed at the thought. He didn't want his life to be Fine, he wanted it to be, exciting, rocking and adventurous. Is it too much to ask for? He questioned the almighty looking up at the sky.

His upward glance almost made him trip on the rock which he didn't notice on the way. What the hell is a rock doing in the middle of the park? He thought. He steadied his step and shook his head at how clumsy he got. He never before tripped on a rock before. Except this rock seemed a little too soft. And it was..... wailing? Salim snapped out of his train of thoughts and looked down.

There wasn't a rock. Instead, there was this bundle of.... No, not a bundle, it's a kid. The realization dawned on him like a bucket of ice water. Panic engulfed him. He wasn't a kids person. He actually knew nothing about them. He crouched down onto his knee level, yet the kid looked smaller. "Hey buddy" he said slowly, carefully, looking at the boy's face. Examining his body for any signs of injury that he might have imposed on the kid, he breathed a sigh of relief as he found none.

But as soon as a broken whimper escaped from the kids lips, Salim heart started to beat rapidly. What did he do? Did the boy suffer any internal injury? May be a brain damage? Or a internal fracture? His mind ran at thousand miles an hour speed. Another sob came from the boy, and this time Salim had no clue what to make out of it.

He looked to his either sides in panic. Hope to find some help, may be the kids parents were around. He put his hands under the boys armpits and lifted him up to his full height. Salim straightened his back and tried to regain his composure as he held the kid at arms length, as away as possible. He remembered the phrase he somewhere read that Kids can smell fear. So he decided to scare the kid in retrospect to make the situation better.

"Okay, bud" he said with a serious look, and the boy stopped his whimpers and looked curiously at Salim.

"Where did you run away from?" he asked seriously, giving a, what he thought, an intimidating look. The little boy who was in Salim's arms was either excited with his newly achieved height or was extremely amused with Salim's so called intimidating expression that he started giggling.

Salim felt a new type of nervousness creep into his bones. Now what should he do? The boy was definitely not hurt. So should he let him be? With a little ounce of doubt, Salim slowly, but carefully started to lower the boy to the ground who was still giggling. When there were no complaints from the boy, as Salim lowered him onto his feet, he sighed. At least, he didn't have to fell guilty that he tripped the boy. Salim thought as he dusted the invisible wrinkles off his coat,

"Okay buddy, look. I am extremely sorry to knock you down. I wasn't looking. And it wasn't completely my fault, I haven't noticed you, considering there are some.. ahem.. altitude issues among us, so... I hope for your forgiveness, and good bye" he said looking down at the boy who had to bend his neck all the way back, to look up at him. He was just retreating when the boy cleared his throat, "Mister".

Salim stopped in his tracks as he heard a soft yet boyish voice, which could be hardly qualified as a kids and turned around. He looked at the boy for the first time. He had dark mop of hair and a round face. His chocolate brown eyes looked so innocent and adorable that he could easily be captivated by them. The boy wore a blue checked shirt which was neatly tucked into his brown pants. Black sneakers covered his little toes, whose laces were undone.

A small smile graced Salim's lips as he saw the kid, who looked around three years old, standing in front of him with his arms folded behind his back. Gone was the nervousness, the fear and the clumsiness, Salim felt an indescribable emotion. He crouched down on his knees, for the second time this evening and started to tie the boys shoe laces, "Oops" the kid said,

"Yeah, oops" Salim parroted with his charming smile, the kid smiled cheekily showing his fine dentition.

"Thank you. My mom says we shouldn't walk without doing our laces. We might fall down" the little boy said. Salim looked up, finishing tying two perfect bows on either of the shoes.

"Your mom's right bud, must be a smart woman" he said smiling at the kid.

The kids eyes light up at the mention of her mother, "Yup. She is smart."

"And where would this smart mom of yours would be?" Salim asked still kneeling in front of the kid,

"Hm...." the little kid pouted and looked like he was going to cry any moment. He looked from left to right and it didn't take longer for Salim to figure out that the boy was lost.

"Hey, it's kay buddy" Salim said gathering the boy up in his arms. He stood up to his full length and looked at the boy's face. Something pulled at his heart and he could feel the emotions welling up in him, "What's your name?" he asked slowly,

"Ray Thornton" the kid mumbled, looking straight into Salim's eyes, widening them to forge the puppy dog look, that he managed to master from his brother Zion. Salim was no cold hearted man. He was sensitive enough to melt for those adorable eyes.

Salim groaned loudly, "Come lets find your family", he grumbled and walked along the walkway, looking on the either sides of the road to find a miserable-mother-searching-for-her-lost-kid. What he didn't notice in the meanwhile was the mischievous smirk that Ray was giving to himself.

Salim's eyes searched the Park's perimeter in a scrutinizing way, suddenly he saw a small index finger pointing towards the duck's lake. He turned his head towards the boy in his arms and saw that the Ray was indeed pointing towards the lake. May be he is remembering something! Salim thought and proceeded towards the lake where Ray pointed.

******

"You three are going to be grounded for the rest of the month!" Nicole yelled at the two boys with an expression which she thought was frightening. Little did she know that her sons have gotten used to that look and saw right threw her. "If I don't find him in the next ten minutes.." he was cut of by Ryan rolling his eyes and Zion shaking his head at her.

"Momma! Ray knows his way very well around the park. He is fine" Zion said rather confidently,

"Oh yeah! Well if he is getting kidnapped, I am not paying a penny to free him" Nicole said as an elderly couple who have been sitting near the ice cream shop at a bench passed by and gave Nicole a disapproving head shake.

Of course, it isn't appropriate to talk about kidnappers and ransom with kids, but the elders didn't knew Nicole's style of parenting. Nicole believed that being a single mother, it was her responsibility to make her son's aware of the worldly wickedness, since there was no father figure in their lives.

A sigh escaped Nicole's lips as she thought about her kid's father. Ray Doyle was a good man. Good would be an understatement, he was too good for his own good. He worked as a fireman, married Nicole Thornton, whom her mother chose. Both families liked the couple and approved of them, so they got married. But none had anticipated the future. One week into the marriage and Ray passed away while on duty. Nicole and Ray hadn't gone to honeymoon, because they couldn't afford it. After all, Ray was a mere fireman and Nicole was a student and Ray didn't believe in accepting money from his parents or in laws as he was a man of pride. His goodness, pride and honor did him no good and pun included, it destroyed Nicole's life in a split second.

Not a couple of months after Ray's death, did she discover that she's been pregnant. The news should have made everyone happy, because a part of Ray has come back in the form of his kid. But none saw it that way.

Living in a small village of Canada, everyone believed that Nicole bought bad luck to Ray, the good Samaritan. So when she broke the news to everyone that she was pregnant with Ray's child, everyone, including her and Ray's parents asked her to abort the child. They didn't believe in Nicole's parenting skills and that they were disappointed in her as she couldn't be a good wife to Ray s they assumed she couldn't be a good mother too. And what was the use of bringing a child into the world when the father of the child wasn't even alive.

Nicole had had enough of it. She never said a word when Ray's mother had openly accused her of being her son's death. Never fought back when her parent's looked at her disapprovingly. But she never blamed herself for anything. She believed that things would get better and news of her pregnancy bought a ray of hope into her life. So when she heard the A word she took off.

Obviously her family didn't provide any financial support, neither did they know that they had not one or two but in fact three grand children. Nicole came to New York, with a friend's help. worked in between jobs, things got better and she finally owned her own cafe. Yeah! it was under bank debt but nevertheless, she was her own boss, as she hoped to be.

"Mommy" Ryan's voice bought her back from the memories.

"Yes honey?" she said focusing her full attention on her son.

"Ray" he reminded her of his brother who was yet missing. Nicole got an energy boost instantly at the mention of her missing son,

"Of course, how can we forget? He is my eldest after all" she muttered, "Come" she ordered her sons as she caught their hands in either of hers and walked towards the bench where they usually sat.

****

"Do you see your mom anywhere Buddy?" Salim asked as he neared the lake and looked towards the families who were happily picnicking in the park.

"Um No" Ray replied after a careful examination of the crowd. A frown etched on his small face. He knew that his brother Ryan was a sucker for the ducks, and he knew for sure that he might find Ryan here because he did every time before. So when he came to the conclusion that none of his brothers nor his mom was here, he understood that his mother must have got hold of his siblings and must be looking for him as well. This made him gulp in fear. He was well aware of his mother's wrath and he didn't dare risk it.

Salim sighed, "What do we do now, bud?" he asked with his own frown. Salim liked the boy, and there was no doubt about it. But what was he gonna do now? He can't take the kid with him, it will be kidnapping. And the kid's mother must be frantically searching for him too. He shook his head at that thought. Some mother she was! Leaving her small kid alone to wander by himself in such a huge park. He decided to give an earful to the woman when he finds her. But he needs to find her first.

"Come on bud. Lets find your mom" Salim told Ray with an encouraging smile and strode towards the benches, where he knew families sat in the evenings to enjoy the lovely view of the sunset over New York city.

As soon as he walked a few paces, Ray who started to wriggle out of his arms. Salim set him down and Ray took off in the direction of the benches, yelling for his mom "Mom!". A smile formed on Salim's lips as he heard the delightful cries of the child.

*****

"Mom!" Ray's voice couldn't have been any more overwhelming for Nicole.

"Ray" she yelled and held her arms open for her son who was running towards her. Ray ran right into her arms and hugged her, enjoying her mother's warm embrace. "Where were you boy?" Nicole asked, examining her son for any sign of injuries.

"I met a man" Ray said proudly, as if he achieved an award 'the best kid of the year'.

"And...?" Nicole probed knowing very well that her son was no good boy to have done something she should be proud of,

"And I made him carry me from the big statue to all the way here" he said with his chin held high. Nicole sighed and shook her head,

"Ray Ray, that wasn't a good thing. How did you make him carry you? And why did you make him carry you? Why weren't you walking?" She asked him. Ray frowned again, jutting his lip out. He didn't understand why his mother wasn't proud of him for pulling up the act of innocent kid so well and why she was upset instead.

"Forget it" Nicole mumbled as she studied a frowning Ray's face. "Where is this man?" she asked, deciding that it would be better if she apologized to him herself. There was no use to try and make her kids understand. Ray pointed a finger towards where he last saw the man whom he made carry him. Nicole looked at the pointed direction but found nobody.

****

A smile graced Salim's lips as he saw the reunion of Ray and her mother. He couldn't make out her face he only caught her left profile and that too her brown locks were covering her face, but he could feel the relief that she felt. He shook his head and the thought of giving her an earful on parenting. After all what did he know of parenting?

A chuckle escaped from his lips, as he imagined himself as a parent. Oh wouldn't that be a sight? He turned back towards the exit, and made his way out of the park, with a smile still etched on his face.

*****

"Where is he honey?" Nicole asked Ray when he didn't find any man, where Ray pointed.

"Hm.." Ray looked as lost as her. He shrugged his slender shoulders and a motherly affection welled up in Nicole.

"Oh my babies" she gathered all three of her son's into her arms and hugged them to her chest. A groan resonated in union from all three boys. "Owww" Nicole found their grunts cute as well. She couldn't help it, but she thought of her son's to be the most handsome kids ever. And she prided them.

The brothers suffered their mothers affection for the rest of the evening and Nicole missed the amazing sunset.