[Ex-Boyfriend –Part Two]

"Riss, why didn't you tell me earlier that you were related to the Spardas?" The suddenly question that attacked me out of nowhere made me look up from my computer at my boss, also the Managing Partner of the firm.

"What makes you say that I am related to them?" I asked nonchalantly in reply. Over my years working in the firm, I had more or less developed a friendly relationship with Mr. Audrey. While the man himself was a bachelor and notorious for using his charms, wits and money to get him any woman he wanted, I was constantly grateful for the fact that he knew his professional boundaries very well. Ever since finding out about my status as a single mother, Mr. Audrey had never tried to flirt with me ever again.

"I just met one of them at court today, and he stopped by to ask me how you were doing. He seemed to know you on first name basis, and I know you don't allow anyone to call you by your first name unless you are comfortable with them."

"A Sparda man that calls me by first name and stops a managing partner at the firm where I work to ask about me... What did you tell Dante?"

"Wow, you must know the both of them well if you could pin down which twin just by my words. I told him that you were still your busy self, and that you've been an asset to the firm. He seemed glad that you were doing well, and he said he hadn't seen you in years." Mr. Audrey replied, then leaned forward on the desk –ironically in the same way a certain other Sparda man had done not very long ago. "So, how do you know the Spardas, and why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"Oh, I'm not very close with them anymore. We knew each other from long ago, and Dante was always the kind who pretends he is best friends with everyone. I didn't tell you anything because I wasn't in contact with them anymore." I answered nonchalantly with a shrug. "But what significance does the Spardas have with you? Other than the fact that you sound like a fangirl, I mean."

It was not a secret that Mr. Audrey had wanted to be a demon hunter when he was younger, but that had been before he discovered that he was much more skilled at using his mouth as a weapon than raising actual weapons to go against demons.

"I've been trying to get them to agree to advertise for us. The demon-hunting industry is booming with potential businesses for us. You know the sheer amount of lawsuits from people trying to claim from demon hunters when they wreck places up. The laws protect the demon hunters, but it doesn't stop people from trying to claim. If we could get our firm's name into the industry, we would be looking at a great potential profit." The man answered with a grin, ever the business-mind. Other than being a damned good lawyer that I one day wished to be, Mr. Audrey was also quite a business man in the way he had managed to pull Audrey and Yessen Associates into limelight with his strategic case-takings.

"That's a great idea, but unfortunately, I don't have anything to do with them anymore. Dante probably just remembered me distantly and asked you about me." I answered shortly before my boss's hope could be raised even more. "Sorry to destroy your hopes, but perhaps you can meet him in court sometime again in the future. He likes to drink, so you can ask him out for a session and drop the question."

"Well, it was worth a try." Mr. Audrey deflated against the seat, watching as I turned the computer off and began packing up. "You have a date?"

"Yeah, with Nero." I answered. "He made a fuss saying I hadn't been having dinner with him recently, so I promised him burgers today. I can't say no to his puppy eyes, and he wasn't afraid to use them."

"That boy really knows how to use his weapons well. Are you sure his father was not some sort of policemen or martial artist or some stunt man who happens to be skilled at using all sorts of weapons?"

"You know I won't entertain questions about Nero's father, Mr. Audrey."

"Yeah, but it doesn't stop me from trying. You're the picture perfection of how successful a single mother can be, and I can't stop trying to imagine the man who put you in such a situation. Even when you were dating him when you first came to our firm, you were either super secretive, or working so hard that we thought you were completely single."

"Then continue imagining and leave me with my son." I answered shortly, hustling my boss out of my room (in a completely non-hostile and friendly manner) and locking the door behind me.

"But you know, now that we're talking about Nero... I remember saying your son has the most striking head of natural white hair on any kid, and Dante Sparda's hair was like that today too. Is he the father?" The sudden association struck a sudden pang, but thankfully my trained instincts as a lawyer refused to let anything show on my face or actions.

"If you're basing my child's father based on his hair color, then I think you have lots of theories going on." I answered casually.

"Millions." The short answer was paired with a charismatic grin that immediately made me wonder –once more –why a free swinging, available and desirable bachelor like Mr. Audrey was still single. Perhaps it might have something to do with his insanely high standards for a woman he would ever call a girlfriend or even have a chance at being named a wife. "Be safe on the road, Riss. And give my regards to that little devil of yours."

The casual conversation ended as I left the office, taking the elevator to reach the basement where my car was parked. The babysitter, Yenny, had promised me that she would bring Nero to the restaurant, but she had further plans for the night and that meant that she couldn't hold my boy for too long to wait for me. I couldn't afford to be late.

"Riss." The call of my name stalled me in my journey to my car, and a frown took my face on automatic when I spied the owner of the voice making towards me.

"I'm rushing for time, Vergil. Leave this to another day."

"We can talk on the car." The man answered, stopping in front of me and my car with his hand outstretched. "Keys."

I weighed my options quickly. Driving was a stressful exercise for me, and back when we had still been dating, Vergil had drove me everywhere. But allowing the man to drive me to meet my son meant that I would be stuck in the same vehicle with my ex, and most importantly, it gave him the slim chance of catching sight of my son.

I was saved from making a response when my phone chimed loudly. Delaying the inevitable need to make a response, I thankfully fished out the device and picked the call up quickly.

"Yenny, are you already there?" I asked since I had spied the name of the caller.

"Mama....... Please come home quick... I'm scared..." The soft whisper could not hide the immense fear that was saturated in my baby boy's words, and my heart dropped immediately. I wasn't sure at all what sort of expression had taken my face, but even Vergil looked distantly concerned within an instant at my sudden change of expression.

"What's wrong, sweetie? What happened? I'm coming over immediately." I promised anxiously, immediately moving towards the vehicle without care of the minor inconvenience that had appeared standing in front of me.

"Bad people are at the house next door again..." Nero's little trembling voice was the scariest thing I had ever heard in a very long time. "Yenny told me to hide in my room, but bad people... I'm scared, Mama. Come quickly!"

"Don't be scared, Nero. Be a brave boy for Mama, okay? I'm coming home now. Don't hang up the call, okay. Talk to Mama, I'll be here." I was so concentrated on talking to my son that I was barely aware of the fact that my car keys had been stolen from my hands. I didn't bother protesting when my ex jumped to the driver's side of the door and unlocked the car, sitting himself in quickly. I jumped into the passenger side on automatic since I didn't want to waste any precious time arguing with the man.

"Ok... But come home quick... I'm scared." The beg from my son almost broke my heart, and if there was such thing as a teleportation machine in the world, I would have emptied out my everything in my bank account at that very moment to teleport right to my baby's side.

It turned out to be a very good choice on my end to let my ex do the driving, because it would definitely have been extremely stressful for me to drive while talking endlessly to distract Nero, all the while freaking out internally at the imaginations of what could possibly happen to him.

The back of my mind made a very strong promise to move out of my place as soon as possible. The house had seemed nice enough when I first bought it, but nobody had told me that the next door neighbor was a gambling addict. Whatever the guy next door did wouldn't have bothered me, until the man's debtors started to pay house visits. It had only started in the recent months, and though I had tried my best to control the situation for the sake of my son by calling the police multiple times, it changed no fact that our neighbor had not paid off his debts, and that his debtors were still harassing him. And now, they were being a threat to my son...

"Be a good and brave boy, sweetie. Mama is coming for you. Just remain quiet and stay hidden in the room, okay? Mama will come quickly and chase the bad guys away." I promised, looking around wildly with deep-set disappointment to find out that we were still a few blocks away. I didn't even want to question how the man driving seemed to know exactly where I lived; I just wanted to be by my son's side soon as possible.

"There was an accident up front." Vergil answered when I glared at him for slowing the car to a stop on the sidewalk, setting the car into park. "We run the rest of the way."

"Are you mad?" I demanded, leaving my bag in the car but automatically following my ex's lead when he unbuckled his seat belt and exited the car. "We're still blocks away!"

"Mama... please be quick... I'm scared..." Nero must have heard my words through the phone, and the pieces of my broken heart shattered even more. Where the heck had Yenny the Babysitter gone to?!?

"Your mother is going to come to you real soon, Little One. Be strong and brave, and I promise I will get your mother to you before anything can be done." Vergil's strong voice was loud so that he could be heard through the phone as he rounded the car to my side.

"What is your plan to get us- Wait, what are you doing?!? Vergil!" I protested as I was swept off my feet and held in a bridal carry between the man's strong biceps. I swatted away the quick memory of back when Vergil used to use me as a weight while he did his squats, ignoring the fact that I must have gotten much heavier since giving birth to Nero.

"Hold on to me, and don't bite your tongue." The instructions were given evenly, and there was no time for me to force in another question before he started to run.

I began to comprehend his chosen course of action when the man brought us almost flying down the street at a breakneck speed that could have easily matched the speed of a cruising car. He passed the accident site within moments, and took the turn so sharply that I couldn't help but squeal and grab a good chunk of his shirt to remain safely in his arms.

"Mama!" My poor baby boy must have heard my squeal, and I reacted instantly to replace the phone by my ear.

"Sweetie, don't worry about me... Mama is doing fine! We're coming for you, just stay calm and quiet." I rushed to say, though the heavy jostling as the man held me while we dashed might have muffled some of my words.

All in all, I was completely startled at how fast the entire process was when Vergil turned the last street and charged up the steps to my apartment building. He was barely panting when we reached the elevator lobby, and I jumped off him, charging for the stairs instead of opting for the elevator. I assume my ex understood my desperation and anxiousness as I left him to charge up the stairs with him chasing closely behind.

"Sweetie..." I was thankfully healthy enough to be able to make audible words even while taking the stairs two-by-two. "Mama is almost here, but she didn't bring her keys. When you hear everything settling down, can you open the door for me? I will deal with the bad guys outside."

"O-okay..." I thanked my ten thousand lucky stars that my baby boy was a brave one as I dashed the final set of stairs, then continued my sprint down the corridor to where I could see a crowd outside my -and my neighbour's door. I also found Yenny sitting dazed on the floor, with blood running down her temple and a growing bruise on her cheek.

"You fucking bastards, how many times must I tell you to leave us the fuck alone!" I might be a lawyer equipped with sharp words for a living, but civilities were not required for assholes that terrorized my son and hit women.

"It's that bitch again! That bitch that keeps calling the police on us!"

"Yes, that bitch is here. Get the fuck away from my door!" The sheer anger made me roar as I stopped to assess Yenny's situation. "And how did she offend you assholes? She's just an unarmed woman!"

"She was interfering with us." One of the asshole answered, grabbing my arm roughly. "And you're doing the same."

"Get your disgusting hands off me." I warned, shaking my arm but clearly not being able to win the strength of a man who looked as if he weigh-lifted every day just for the fun of it. I knew better than to be intimidated by his shape (I had dealt with many different kinds of people in my job), but I also knew that I was no match for this guy in terms of strength.

"Maybe we should teach you a lesson, Miss Little Nosy." The guy raised his other hand in clear signal of what he was planning to do, but I refused to flinch or show weakness.

But there was no need to flinch or brace myself. The fist was stalled in midair, and I became aware of the fact that a famous demon hunter had installed himself beside me.

"Hands off my wife." Vergil warned.

It was no time or place to be correcting Vergil for his assumptions.

"You better consider your odds carefully, man. There's five of us and only you and your bitch." One of the assholes – I wasn't even keeping track anymore which -spoke.

"Call Riss a bitch again." Vergil threatened again, and a quick flash of memory came. Vergil had said the exact same words before, back when we were in college, and a bunch of guys had been trying to hit on me. They had been turned off and called me a bitch when I turned them down, and Vergil had been very unhappy about that. The whole incident ended with all of them in the hospital and Vergil suspended for an entire term. Lucky for my ex-boyfriend, he had been smart enough to make up for the suspended term by taking double load in the following term.

But the whole point of that story was that Vergil hated anyone calling me a bitch.

"What? You don't like me calling her a bitch? Well, tough luck for you, pretty boy, but you've gotten yourself a bitch. You better dump her while you can, or she might bite your head off any time."

"I warned." That was the only words spoken before the man went into action.

I wasn't entirely sure how it all happened, but minutes later, Vergil stood alone amongst a crowd of men groaning on the floor. He also had a foot firmly placed on the chest of the man who had insisted on calling me a bitch.

"Riss is not a bitch. She is my wife." Vergil declared sternly to the man who seemed to be much more preoccupied with his elbow that seemed to be bent at a wrong angle.

"Alright, alright! Your woman is not a bitch! Fuck, what kind of monster are you?" The man demanded between groans.

"Your worst nightmare if you ever show up to terrorize her child again." Vergil's answer held so much promise that I watched as the men gave each other signals to run. Thankfully there weren't any more fights before the assholes went running with their tails tucked behind their backs.

There was a moment of silence when Vergil and I made eye contact.

Then my door opened, and I forgot about the heroics of my ex-boyfriend as I immediately scooped up my poor terrified little boy into my arms.

"How old is he?" The quiet question came when it was finally clear that I had everything settled in the house.

After the whole situation, I had gently brought the stunned Yenny back to reality and called a cab for her, instructing her to go home immediately to rest and consult the doctor once she felt well enough to move on her own while promising to pay for all her medical fees. Yenny had still been a little out of it when she left, but at least she did not seem to be showing signs of concussion.

Afterwards, it had been a matter of calming my baby angel down, making sure he was completely safe and putting him to bed after quickly putting together a light dinner for him. My poor boy had been so terrified at the whole happening that he didn't have much appetite and my heart broke even more when the usually lively boy still looked a little scared and unsure when I tucked him under the covers, promising him that Mama was by his side and would definitely protect him no matter what.

Now that I had finally emerged from Nero's room, I found Vergil sitting by himself on the couch in the living room, having helped himself to one of the books on my bookshelf. Considering what he had just done for me and my son, I didn't have the heart to chase him out the house, though I was not completely appreciative of the man's one-sided claims.

"He turned five not long ago." I answered, finally collapsing on the couch as well. I might have put on a brave front for my baby angel's sake, but I was still a woman who had gone through a stressful event.

"He grew up very well. He takes after you."

"Save it, Vergil." I knew what the man was trying to lead the conversation to, and I had no energy to entertain his thoughts. "I'm not going to tell Nero that you are his father."

"Is he the reason why you left me?"

"I didn't leave you." I corrected, putting my hands over my eyes for a break. "We separated on good terms."

"Because you wanted to leave me. I didn't want you to have any regrets leaving me, so I said I was fine."

"It was a matter six years in the past, Vergil. There's no point in bringing that up. Sure, if you want to make it out as if I left you, then fine. That's up to you. But I'm not taking our breakup back. I don't have time for a relationship right now. I'm caught up enough with bringing Nero up and holding down my job as it is."

"I'm not asking you to carve out time for me. If you marry me, then I can dedicate my time to watch over Nero and protect the both of you. You just have to allow me to do it."

"I can protect Nero and myself, thank you." I retorted with a heavy sigh. "I don't know why you suddenly chose this time to pop up in front of me, Vergil, but you are way past the time to be coming back. If you came back when I was pregnant, or when Nero was born and I was so messed up trying to get used to have a baby, dealing with the post-natal depression and still holding down a job, I would have taken you back in a heartbeat. But you didn't come back to me. So, I learnt how to do things myself. I learnt how to be a single mother. I learnt how to do my job and bring Nero up myself. I learnt how to be his mother and father, so that he doesn't need you."

My ex-boyfriend finally let me escape his unwavering eye contact when he looked down at the palm of his hands.

"I'm back after six years because I thought I had improved myself to be a better version of the man who let you go just because he thought you wanted to be left alone. I wanted you to be happy no matter what, so when you said you felt you would be happier if we went separate ways, I swallowed my feelings and let you go. I took six years to improve myself so that I could come back to meet and take you back by my side."

It was a touching, ambitious story that might have struck the heart of a maiden, but I was a single mother tired of waiting, so I didn't answer.

"I came back, and I found out that you had given birth to a child... Dante said he saw Nero with you outside and I couldn't believe it... that you had given birth to my son and not told me a single word. But I sat down and thought hard, and I realized that it was exactly in your character to be like that. You were always a strong woman, Riss, and it was my fault for letting you go through pregnancy and childbirth and bringing up Nero alone. But now..."

"Don't try to say that Nero needs a real father." I warned before the man could go further. "I am more than enough to be his mother and father. Nero doesn't need you."

"I know." It was another rare moment of soft weakness displayed on Vergil's face. I knew that I was the only person Vergil had ever allowed his weaknesses to be shown to, but I no longer felt happy, honored or grateful for that.

"Call me selfish, but Nero doesn't need a father when he has me. It's nice to see you again after six years of silence, but let this be the last time we talk about-"

"Mama..." The sleepy voice that pierced through the silence of the room while Vergil and I conversed took our attention, and I turned to find my baby boy standing at the door of his bedroom, one hand curled around the door knob while the other rubbed his eye sleepily. "Mama, don't be angry with Mr. Hero. Mr. Hero saved us from bad people."

"Sweetie," I rushed to the innocent boy, scooping him up. "What are you doing up? Didn't you just go to sleep?"

"I wanted to thank Mr. Hero for saving you, Mama. Mr. Hero is nice." Nero rubbed his cheeks against my shoulder, yawned then turned to face his father with a sleepy smile that used to be reserved only for his mother. "Mr. Hero, thank you for saving Mama. I like you."

"I like you too, Little One. Listen to your mother and go back to sleep; you've had a long day." Vergil's reply was evened and soft, but as his ex, I could read the subtle changes in his gaze that spoke of his internal meltdown.

"Noooo." Nero protested when I turned to bring my baby back into the room, tiny arms reaching out for his father. "I want to sleep with Mr. Hero."

"Mr. Hero needs to go save some other kids." I excused hastily. "Be nice and say goodbye to Mr. Hero."

Clearly sleep was stronger than wanting to sleep with the stranger, and my baby boy yawned again, resting his head against my shoulder as if he had no more strength to hold it up by himself. "Ok. Bye bye, Mr. Hero. Please take care of Mama and me. Promise?"

"I promise." The short reply held a stronger promise than the words could ever mean, and I shot my ex a glare that meant that things weren't done before entering into Nero's room to put the boy back to sleep. It didn't take long this time since Nero was already ninety percent in dreamland, and it was less than five minutes when I stepped out of the room again.

"I know he called you Mr. Hero, but he is at the age where he calls everyone-" My starting defense statement was cut short when I turned fully back to the living area, and found no man.

"Vergil?" I ventured to ask, looking around just in case the man had decided to visit the toilet. There was no reply, and a note left on the table with my car keys as paperweight.

With a sigh at how silently the man had taken his retreat despite how insistent he had been just moments ago, I was obliged to read his farewell words as I picked the piece of paper up, the familiar handwriting flashing back at me.

Call me selfish, but even if Nero doesn't need a father, you need me.

That self-arrogant prick.