Running Away with His Wife's Child

Kai decided it would be best to hide somewhere else in the meantime.

It was hard enough to move around inside that mansion without getting spotted. Harder when the cause of his stress was incapable of staying in one place.

"Ohh, this is so exciting~!" Aria's daughter chirped ecstatically from the front seat of the car while Kai settled down in the driver seat and quickly started the engine. "Where we going, Daddy?"

"Listen, no matter what happens, don't ever remove your hat and glasses," he warned, ignoring her question.

She nodded, gripping the pair of shades on her eyes and the black cap on her head for emphasis. "Sir, yesh, Sir!"

When she asked for food earlier, he recalled that neither of them had eaten anything yet, and it was already nearing noon. He couldn't risk taking her to the kitchen or the dining hall. While he knew they could just eat in his bedroom, he feared that she would run off again right after getting her fill, so he came to this decision.

Kai snuck her out of the mansion and brought her to his car.

Until his wife came back, he would take her child somewhere no one would recognize her. He couldn't go to any of his friends or relatives, so he'd have to put on a disguise and stay at a hotel for now. But before that, he would stop by the mall to buy a few stuff for himself and his wife's kid.

'Ugh, the things I do for you, Aria.' Kai shouldn't be going through all this trouble.

After all, he just discovered he was being cheated on. Not everyone would have the patience to take care of the child of their lover from another man, a troublemaker at that, and a more sensible course of action was to get help to return the kid to their parent. But as it was, he found it unacceptable to just leave things that way.

More than anything, Kai didn't want to give up on learning the whole truth first and foremost. 'I have their child with me, so if they don't talk, I'm afraid I'll have to use her-'

"Ohhh~ I know this song!" the girl piped up and began humming, which put a stop to his slowly darkening train of thoughts. "Tralala~ Lalalala~"

'Since when did she turn on my radio?' Without him noticing, loud music had started filling the inside of the vehicle. What followed was a singing toddler standing on the front seat and making a stage out of it, much to his annoyance. 'Can't she get any more extra?'

She sang a familiar tune, her tiny hands clenched around an imaginary microphone. As her innocent voice flowed through the air, she swayed in the same manner as her mother.

"I dedicate this song to my Daddy!"

"Sit back down," he muttered, hating how much she reminded her of his wife.

"But Aria promised to sing for you!"

He let out a deep, exasperated sigh. "I don't want it. So, just shut up for once."

"Daddy-"

"SILENCE!"

She recoiled, scared by how he suddenly raised his voice at her. He made no attempt to comfort her this time. With that, she slowly sat back down, a crestfallen look on her face.

It seemed that did the deed. Finally. The rest of the car ride was quiet.

From the corners of his eyes, he could see her sulking, with imaginary dark clouds hovering over her head. She looked so sad she was making the entire ambiance feel gloomy. But he preferred this over her disobeying him, and besides, he was sure she would get over it later when they got to the mall.

Or at least, that's what Kai thought.