May, 2006, NYU

Chanty was walking down the hall when she saw Liam laughing with a girl.

She raised an eyebrow.

“Hey, Chanty!” Zach called from behind her. “What’s up?”

“I didn’t know that guy is dating Shirley,” she said.

“Who? Liam? Oh, well, I don’t know. They’ve been dancing around it for quite some time now.”

She just nodded, took one last look at Liam and his new friend, and walked away.

“Well?” Liam asked Zach the moment Chanty was gone.

“I don’t know, she was curious, but not curious enough,” his friend answered. Liam frowned

“By the way, thanks, Shirley,” Zach added to the girl Liam was laughing with earlier, causing her to blush.

2013

“Hey, ladies,” Beth’s purring voice said as she neared.

Chanty, Cassandra and Angelica slipped their sunglasses down to look at the lady and then placed them back in place, feigning disinterest.

“Ah, Beth, it is nice to see you out in the sun,” Angelica said with a sigh, leaning back with her arms resting on the armrest of her chair. She crossed her legs as she looked down at Beth up and down.

“It has been so long,” Cassandra agreed, sipping her drink.

“If you’re here for Philip, you know you came to the wrong place,” Chanty said dryly. “My brother’s very preoccupied right now." Memories of Beth chasing after Philip the same time Angelica did years ago almost gave Chanty a feeling of nausea. It seemed that it was just yesterday. And now, Beth was still here, reminding her of more things that bothered her.

Beth gave a fake laugh as she flipped her black hair back. “You very well know who I am with right now, Chanty.”

“Oh?” Angelica, Cassandra and Chanty asked at the same time, this time, leaning over to look at Beth. “Who?”

Beth raised an eyebrow. “And I know it was you behind the article written about him a few days ago.”

“Oh?” the three girls chorused once again. “Who?”

It was clear that Beth was getting pissed. Just a little more and she would blow, Chanty thought. Beth looked down at Chanty, her gaze hard and menacing. She scoffed before saying, “You know who I am talking about, Chanty.”

Angelica turned her head to face Chanty. “She must be talking about that douche bag, Cameron, Cameron, Chanty.”

“Oh!” Cassandra exaggeratedly gasped out loud, her hand flying to her mouth.

Chanty rounded her eyes at Beth and followed Cassandra’s loud gasp. “Oh, yeah, him. What about him?”

“I know it was you behind that article.”

“What article are you talking about?” Chanty snorted. “Did you really come all the way here just to ask me that? Or do you have other things to talk about?”

“I do, as a matter of fact,” Beth said, squaring her shoulders.

“Really? Let’s hear it then. We are so itching to look at the view behind you. You’re blocking it,” Angelica said with a sigh.

Beth shot her a look before she returned her gaze at Chanty. “Can we talk alone?”

“Whatever it is, just spit it out, Bethany,” Cassandra uttered.

Beth snapped her head at Cassandra, her twin brother’s ex-fiancé. “I wasn’t talking to you, Cassandra.”

“You know, I am still friends with your brother, right? He might hear of this.”

“Just spit it out, Beth,” Chanty butted in.

Beth crossed her arms over her chest. “Fine, if you all insist.” She fixed her gaze back on Chanty. “If you are trying to use your son to make Cameron go back to you, Chanty, it is not going to happen. We’re engaged and whatever fantasy you have in your head about getting back together with Cameron, get rid of them.”

The three women gave out a genuine laugh this time.

“Oh my God, I can’t believe it,” Chanty said in between laughs.

“Really? You came here for that?” Angelica chortled, slapping the table with her palms.

Cassandra was the fastest to recover and she addressed Beth saying, “Are you even aware that it is your fiancée who is going after Chanty? But not in a way that will alarm you, of course.”

“He only wants his son.”

“Who?” The three of them asked once again.

“Just stop lying, Chanty. We all know who the father is.”

“Oh, so you were there when I was making Willie?” Chanty asked. Deep inside, she was cringing. The question just popped out of her head and then out her mouth.

“But don’t worry,” Chanty continued. “I am not ever going back to your fiancée. He’s all yours.”

Beth raised her eyebrow.

“You can now go back to your second-hand fiancée, Bethany,” Angelica uttered, waving her hand to dismiss the lady.

Beth gasped and before she could say anything, Cassandra uttered, “You really do like hand-me-downs, do you? Enjoy them while they last. Philip’s not included, by the way,” turning her back at Beth to return to her drink.

“I very well understood your intention today, Bethany. So, if you wish to go home with your integrity intact--if it still is--just go,” Chanty finished.

“This is not the--”

“End?” Angelica cut in. “Come on, Beth. This is the freaking sequel. And in case you haven’t heard, you just lost it. Again. Go hibernate somewhere else. See you next season.”

Beth squared her shoulders ones again, looked at the three of them with her deadly eyes that could have almost delivered them to the front door of hell itself, and left.

The rest of their day went well. Zach and Julianne arrived and after they shooed him away from Julianne’s side, Zach left them alone to do all the work.

“You know you cannot use these paints,” Chanty reminded her sister-in-law.

“My husband will do all the painting. And you guys can help to if you want. Except Julianne, of course.”

When they were done, Cassandra was picked up by Philip after she threatened to do all the work by herself if he didn’t come. Henry was unavailable so Angelica went with Zach and Julianne, telling them to drive her wherever her husband was because she wanted to kill him before his enemies could.

“I can’t imagine how Henry could live with Angelica’s outrageousness,” Liam commented, shaking his head.

“He is used to it by now. He once told me he had mastered how to omit some things Angelica tells him. And he had mastered the art of knowing when to take her seriously.”

“She’s quite a handful,” Liam agreed.

“You don’t like that?” Chanty asked.

“I like things simple,” he said, giving her a quick glance as he drove. “No complications. Just a simple relationship.”

“Define, please.”

“You know, just going out on dates, talking, laughing and fighting from time to time. And utter honesty.”

Chanty almost choked so she gave a series of cough as she stared out the window. Utter honesty. Simple for him to say.

After they picked up Willie, Liam took a different route.

“Where are we going? This is not the way to the house,” Chanty observed.

“Hey, buddy,” Liam called out to Willie, peering over at the child through the rearview mirror. “What do you think about going to a very large aquarium?”

Willie, who had been almost asleep at the back, slowly came to life as Liam’s offer slowly sank in his sleepy brain.

“I want to!” the child cried out excitedly. “We went there, mommy, right?”

Chanty shot Liam a look. He had always been planning things without telling her lately. “Yes,” she answered her son, her eyes boring holes into Liam’s temple.

He reached out to grab her hand and squeezed it. “Relax, it is going to be fun.”

“I don’t think I’ll have the energy, Liam. You don’t know what we girls went through today.”

“You don’t have to do anything. Right, buddy? Mommy can just stay and sit on a bench while we go around the aquarium, right?”

Willie looked at Chanty with worry. “Mommy is sick?”

“No, honey, I’m just tired.”

Willie’s face lit up. “Then you can sit!”

Chanty sighed. So much for hoping her child would at least suggest postponing the trip for mommy.

“Just sit here,” Liam ordered when they neared a bench just by the entrance of the aquarium. There were only a few people around since it was a weekday and mostly, they were young couples going on a date. Willie had already walked near the entrance but Liam called after him to come back.

“What?” Willie asked excitedly, his feet restless and his face aglow with joy.

A sudden surge of warmth filled up inside Chanty’s chest as she stared at her son looking up at Liam.

“Let’s go buy something for mommy first. We don’t want her sitting here hungry, right?”

Willie turned his brown eyes at Chanty. “You want hotdog, mommy?”

“Why don’t we surprise her, huh? Let’s go?” Liam suggested, grabbing Willie’s hand. He gave Chanty a wink before he walked to the different stalls of food nearby outside the entrance.

The two of them returned with some hotdogs and drinks for the three of them.

“Let’s eat with mommy first,” Liam told Willie. “And once you’re done with your food, we can go.”

Chanty was surprised that Willie nodded his head and attacked his food with gusto. And he actually finished everything which he rarely did.

“Please remind me to call you whenever it is meal time,” Chanty said to Liam with amazement.

He chuckled and stood up. “Sure you’re not coming? You can change your mind.”

She shook her head. “I’ll just wait here. You guys enjoy.”

He didn’t press her and took Willie’s hand to enter the entrance to the aquarium.

Chanty watched them as they walked away. Why did it seem okay that Liam was taking Willie away from her when she barely knew him and not okay for her child to meet Cameron?

Seeing Liam with Willie felt right and wrong at the same time.

Liam walked around the aquarium with Willie in his hand. He watched the child look up in awe as a whale shark swam over them.

“Look!”

“It’s huge, isn’t it?” he asked.

“Huge!”

He couldn’t help but smile. Chanty had entrusted Willie to him. It was a great improvement on his part. He didn’t have to spend a lot of time talking her into it. But it bothered her that she was looking uncomfortable earlier. He wondered what she was thinking.

When he was done answering all of Willie’s questions, those that he could answer, and when the child had had his fill of the mysteries of the ocean world, they went back to Chanty.

She spent the next half of the hour listening to Willie’s narration of everything they had seen inside the aquarium. Liam couldn’t help but join in, telling her about the things Willie missed.

“Seems like the two of you had a great time,” she said to the both of them.

“We did. You should have come,” he said as he maneuvered the car out the parking lot. “But don’t worry. Tomorrow’s date night.”

“What?”

He gave her an amused look before he said, “I have to make up for the last one, don’t I?”

The next day, Liam got a call from Philip. The man wanted to have a meeting regarding the project.

“I have an important thing to attend to tonight, but I can send Zach if you want.”

“Okay. As long as he would know what I would be talking about.”

“He has been updating himself with the project lately,” Liam lied.

Five minutes later, he was talking to his friend. “Philip demands that you show up, man,” he lied again.

“What for? I thought you’re handling this project?”

“You should be doing it, remember? Your signature is need for this one.”

He was expecting Zach to say no as he always did, but he got a surprise when his friend said, “Fine. I’ll be there. What time would it be?”

“Eight. At their house.”

“Fine. I’ll bring Julianne. She likes the neighborhood.”

Now there was just one thing to settle before his date with Chanty: Chanty herself.

“What do I have to wear?” she asked even before he opened his mouth.

Liam beamed at her. “It’s good to know you are excited for later.”

She rolled her eyes behind her table. “Well, I know that it wouldn’t work if I suggest to postpone it so why not?”

“Just wear something comfortable.”

“You’re not going to take me to the amusement park again, are you?”

“No, never. We’re going somewhere better.”

He knew she was trying to hide a smile as she said, “Fine. Now go. I need to work.”

Liam closed her office door, ignoring the naughty looks Pete was throwing at him from the other side of the room.

This time, he was going to make it right. But first, he had to bring Willie to his grandmother.