His Sweet Girl

Chapter 05: Seeing him again

It has been nearly a month. Anabella put all her efforts into the online platform and managed to get a decent amount of work. She started to like the freedom she got from the platform. It was hard in the beginning, but she endured it. She knows she did not make much money in the past month, but with all the work she has on her hands, she is sure that she will earn more in the coming months to compensate for the last month. With Pallavi’s advice, she turned one of the empty rooms downstairs into her new office. She also put some advertisements online and got a few customers to come home. She knows that there are still some people who do not entirely trust the online platform. She is happy and proud of what she has achieved so far. She is sure that with time, she will have more projects. She may possibly hire an assistant or an intern when she can afford it.

It is a Saturday morning. Her little ones do not have school today. She promised to take them to the park. Pallavi prepared them a picnic bucket in the morning for their lunch. Pallavi knows that the kids will be there in the park the entire afternoon. Normally, Pallavi accompanies them and spends some time out with her favorite people, but she has to visit an old friend of hers in the neighborhood, who got into a small accident a couple of days ago.

After several hours in the park, Anabella arranges the picnic blanket under a tree. The Park is not crowded like other weekends and has many great spots for picnics. She asked her little ones to wash their hands and join her for lunch. What Anabella does not know is that someone else is also watching her and her kids carefully from a short distance.

Paul had a meeting with some of his business partners in the nearby city. When he was driving back to the city, his car was broken down on the way. He called Loki to fetch him up and asked to send his car to a garage for repair. Unfortunately, Loki had another meeting on the other side of the city and would take some time to pick Paul up.

Paul took the opportunity to see around. He saw a park nearby and walked there. He wanted to find someplace to eat. He is hungry and thirsty. He normally goes out with his security team, but today, he left early in the morning and wanted to have the day as normal day as possible. He walked into the park and observed parents interacting with their kids. He is not much of a kids’ person. He barely had any chance to interact with them. He thought that they are annoying and irritating little creatures.

As Paul walks through the park. His eyes capture someone interesting. He never thought to see her again. He touches his hand remembering the day at the restaurant. In some ways, he has the feeling that he knew her or met her somewhere. He just could not figure it out. Absentmindedly, he follows her from a distance. He sees her arranging a picnic blanket. He is wondering who she came with. He sat on a nearby bench and lazily looked in her direction. Paul feels a small cold touch on his hand. When he deviates his eyes to see the cause of this feeling, he sees a little girl, around 5-6 years old, touching his hand. She is the most beautiful and cutest baby girl he has ever seen through his eyes. For some reason, his heart softens with her touch, a feeling he had never experienced before.

“Hello Sir, are you alone here? You look tired and sad”. Maya asked. She has a kind heart like her mother. She does not want to see others get sad, a trait she inherited from her mother.

“Hello baby girl, what is your name? I was tired, but I am not now, after seeing this cute girl in front of me”. Paul holds both of Maya’s hands in his big hands. She looks similar, but Paul could not point out how.

“I am Maya. What is your name, Sir? Are you alone here?”

“I am Paul. I am very pleased to meet you. Yes, I am here alone. My car was broken down, and I am waiting for my assistant”. Paul gently dragged the little girl toward him. He really wants to kiss her little forehead.

“It is nice to meet, Uncle Paul. Do you want me to keep you company?”

“I would like that, but where are your parents?” Paul really likes to meet the parents of this cute girl. Before Maya could answer Paul, a boy of similar age to Maya speaks to Paul.

“You are not allowed to touch my sister, Sir. Only I, our mother, and grandma have the right to touch her”. Paul is surprised to see the boy with the dominant voice. He looks very similar, too similar to someone who dears to Paul.

Paul is a detail-oriented person with keen eyes. It only took him a couple of seconds to realize the similarity. The boy looks like Paul’s younger brother, Mark, when he was the same age. When Paul looks back at Maya, he realizes that she also has similar traits to her brother and his own brother. The boy is the twin brother of Maya. Paul is dumbstruck.

“Does Mark have secret children that he and I do not know about?”

“When did that happen?”

“Why does nobody know a thing?”

Paul has many questions in his own mind. Before he could linger on his thought, the girl talked back at the boy, which broke the chain of thought in Paul’s head. He really wants to see the mother of these kids.

“Manura, please don’t talk like that. Uncle Paul is tired, and his car is broken down”.

“You are stupid, Maya. How can you trust a stranger? Do you want to make mom angry?”. Paul is surprised by Manura’s words. He talks like Paul is not there in front of them.

“How come is Uncle Paul a stranger? He looks like you, big brother”. Paul is now really surprised. Paul never thought that Maya also would see the same thing as he saw. Before anybody could say anything, Anabella rushed back and dragged Maya forcefully away from Paul.

After setting the picnic blanket, Anabella waited for their kids. When they are late, Anabella looks around and finds two fellows talking with a guy. After what happened 2 years ago, Anabella does not trust anyone with her kids, besides her family, especially not with random strangers. She walks fast toward them. When she gets closer, she sees whom her kids are talking with. She becomes pale seeing Paul with her kids, especially when she sees Paul holding Maya hands. She is worried more than being angry. They don’t see her coming. Once she got to them, she dragged Maya away from Paul. She does not want Paul to have any idea.

“Didn’t mommy tell you not to talk with strangers?” Anabella asked her kids in French. She thought that Paul would not understand the conversation. What Anabella doesn’t know yet is that Paul is competent enough in a few European languages, including French. Maya and Manura both thought that Anabella is angry at them. Normally, she does not talk with them in French, but only when she gets really angry. Manura feels guilty.

“I am sorry, mommy. It is Maya who came to talk with Uncle Paul” (in French). Anabella is not happy that her kids know Paul’s name.

“Uncle was tired and sad. I wanted to make him happy and give him a little bit of company” (in French). Maya told Anabella in a guilty tone. Anabella very well knows Maya’s character, and Anabella cannot blame Maya for that.

“Say goodbye to uncle. We can have our lunches and go home” (in French). Anabella did not want to make her daughter feel guilty for helping someone. Anabella obviously can see that Paul is tired. Paul really had a very busy week and was looking forward to going home to relax.

“But Mommy, how about Uncle Paul? He is alone. We can give him company. Can we ask him to join us for lunch? He looks like my big brother” (in French). Anabella feels her lungs get emptied after hearing her daughter’s words. She did not expect her kids to see the similarity between Manura and Paul. She prayed that Paul did not pay attention.

Paul understood the whole conversation between the mother and her kids. He did not want to show Anabella his speculations. He has a plan, but he needs Anabella to have no doubts. He decided to pretend that he did not see the similarity.

“Go sweety, have lunch with your mother” (in English). Paul told to Maya.

Even though Anabella is angry at Paul, it is not his mistake that her kids went to talk with him. Anabella did not want to be impolite in front of her children.

“Do you want to join us, Mr. Robinsons?” Anabella asked. She thought he would reject her invitation as those foods are not from high-end restaurants.

“Can I really? I don’t want to interfere with your picnic. Do you have enough food for me? I can buy some and join with guys”. If it was a normal day, Paul would never agree, but today is special. He is hungry and wants to be around these two little guys. He has a strange feeling when they are around him. He likes this strange feeling he has. Furthermore, he never had a picnic before and got excited to join them.

“Don’t worry. Grandma always makes so many foods for us. She thinks that we are giants”. Manura told happily. Even though Manura does not want to show, he likes to have Paul with them for the picnic.

“You don’t need to buy. We have food, but they are not from a restaurant. They are homemade”. Anabella told Paul. She tried her best to be polite since her kids are around. She did not expect this situation at all.

“No problem for me. I can always adapt”. Paul said. He is surprised by his own words. Anabella gave him a polite smile and walked to the blanket. She is worried, but the look on Paul's face did not tell her anything. Manura held Anabella’s hand, and Maya held Paul’s hand. It is the first time after many years that Paul feels genuinely happy. He likes to be around these two little fellows. He feels this is the place where he should be. He feels like this is his home.

Anabella sits on one end of the blanket with Manura, and Paul sits on the other end with Maya. They look like a little family to anyone around. Paul sees that what Manura said is absolutely true. Anabella puts the food in the middle of the blanket. There are English sandwiches, potato chips, peeled vegetables, and some cleaned fruits. Being a good host, Anabella gave Paul a plate with some sandwiches and vegetables. It is a simple act for Anabella, but for Paul, it is something majestic. It is his first time sharing a meal with someone outside of his own family. Nobody besides his family has ever given him anything so far without expecting anything back. He knows that many around him are there because of the money and power he holds. He stared at Anabella’s face for a couple of seconds before taking the plate from her. Anabella does not understand Paul’s behaviors at all, but she decided to ignore them. Paul really enjoyed the simple meal and the company around him.

Instead of playing, Manura and Maya talk a lot. They told Paul about their school, what they do in their free time, and much more. Maya told Paul about her dolls, and Manura asked a lot about Paul’s cars. Like Paul, Manura also likes cars a lot. Manura told Paul about his collection of pet cars, which surprised Paul even more. When Paul was a kid, he also used to collect cars like Manura. Paul gave his full attention to both kids. He enjoys knowing more about these cute fellows. He cannot believe that he actually enjoys these silly talks with these two kids. His tiredness soon disappeared. Once in a while, Paul steals glances from Anabella. Anabella could not help but notice that Paul is really good with her kids. It pains her a lot. She is afraid to know the truth or any of Paul’s intentions. She silently let her kids play and talk with Paul.

Paul really wants to take a picture to cherish the moment. He took his phone out.

“Can we take a photo together, Miss Bebel?” Paul asked. Anabella is surprised that Paul knows her name. Before Anabella could reject Paul’s request, Maya and Manura sat beside Paul for the picture.

“Sure”. Anabella reluctantly said and sat beside them. Paul took several snaps.

“Mommy, where is your phone? We also need a picture with Uncle Paul?” Manura asked. Anabella gave her boy the phone. Paul took several other images using Anabella’s phone from the same angle.

Paul has shared his location with Loki. After he came to the place, he asked some guards to take Paul’s car to a garage. He tracked Paul’s location and followed him to his new location. He was surprised when he was guided to the park. After several minutes of wandering in the park, he spotted Paul. He cannot believe what he is seeing. He has never seen this side of Paul before. He never thought that Paul would ever be soft with children. He slowly approached them. He had his eyes out of their socket when he finally came to see Paul's company on the picnic blanket. It took only several seconds for Loki to remember who the woman sitting along with Paul is. She is the same lady Paul kicked out of the company the other day. They look like a real little family. The boy is the spitting image of Paul when he was the boy’s age. The baby girl has the women’s big doe eyes, hair, and many facial features of Paul. It is obvious that they are twins. For someone outside, they really look like a happy little family. Loki did not want to bother them. He is happy to see Paul happy. He took some pictures of them from distance and decided to wait for a while. He sat on a bench and kept his eyes on them.

“Are they really Paul’s children? They are indeed related. No doubt about that. How is that even possible? When did it happen? Did Paul know about them before?” Loki’s mind is filled with a lot of an-answered questions and doubts.

Loki knows Paul for a very long time. He even trained young Paul when Paul's grandfather was the CEO of the group. Loki always saw Paul as the young brother he never had. He always tried his best to protect Paul. Loki knows how broken Paul is. He knows Paul does not trust anyone besides his family, especially women. After that incident which happened 6 years ago, Paul become more cold-hearted. He has no friends and dedicates his entire him to the group. Loki tried many times to take Paul out, but Paul never agreed. Loki and Paul's grandma planned many blind dates for Paul. To please his grandma, Paul went on those days, but nothing happened after. Loki and Paul’s family were afraid that at some point Paul would break completely. Seeing how happy Paul is around this small family made Loki happy. He wanted to send several of those pictures to Paul’s grandparents, but still, Loki wants to hear Paul’s side of the story. It is still not sure that they are Paul’s children. Loki had collected much evidence to prove that it was not Georgianna who slept with Paul that night. Loki hates Georgianna more than anyone in the world.

After another half hour, Loki decides to bother Paul. Loki does not want to be too suspicious about his choice. Paul completely forgot why he was in the park. He likes to be around those two little fellows. Paul knows that Anabella is so young. According to his mental calculation, Anabella should have given birth to them when she was around 19-20 years old. When he looks at Anabella’s hand, he sees no rings on it, which made him think further that Mark should be the father of these two little fellows. Mark is 1-2 years elder than Anabella. It was the time Paul had to rescue Mark from a lot of troubles with girls and bad relationships. Mark still has not given up his playboy behaviors, and Paul always has to drag Mark out of trouble.

Paul is not happy to see Loki. He is reluctant to leave the two kids. He wants to play and talk more with them. Manura even asked Paul to play balls with him. For the first time in his life, he kissed the little foreheads of cute fellows and stood up. Anabella and her kids did the same. Manura and Maya do not want Paul to go, but they do not want to tell it out. They are afraid that it would make their mother Angry. Paul extends his hand to Anabella.

“Anabella, you have two wonderful kids. I enjoyed your time and food. Thank you again”.

“No problem, Mr. Robinsons. Kids also enjoyed your company ”. Anabella took Paul’s hand and gave it a little shake.

“We will meet again”. Paul said to Anabella. She thought that Paul said it by a mistake. Manura and Maya hugged Paul to say goodbye.