Chapter 6 Like Fire, It Ignites

• M I R A N D A
• "Why don't you stay here at home for the night Hugo?" Landon offers and I quickly turned my attention to him.
• My brows are meeting at the center of my forehead and I am undeniably shocked by what Landon is trying to say right now.
• What the hell is Landon planning?
• Hugo takes a bite on his food and glanced at me. I know he feels awkward with this situation and I know he knows that I feel a bit awkward with Landon’s offer too. We were having a peaceful dinner at home and I wasn't feeling anything great about Landon's idea.
• "I mean, it would be great for Ben to spend more time with you. You can tell him bedtime stories and sing him to sleep." Landon adds.
• I kept my eyes on my food while I am eating dinner awkwardly and Ben was too happy about Landon's idea. He's giddy on his seat and he sounds so excited with it.
• But I wasn't.
• After what happened at the exit staircase a while ago? I wouldn't want that to happen again. I don't wanna be unfaithful to Landon again. I don't want anything to do with Hugo anymore even if what I feel deep down inside is the complete opposite. He is married. I am married. If we pursue being together, there will other people who would get hurt because of our selfishness.
• If he does that again I'd be tempted when he attempts to kiss me once more and I know I couldn't stop what I feel whenever Hugo touches me. I just totally hate myself every time I feel so unfaithful to Landon. He doesn't deserve this kind of act at all.
• "That's a great idea daddy Landon!" Ben chimes.
• Landon smiles. "See Hugo? Your son wants you to stay here."
• "But Landon--"
• "Oh come on Hugo." Landon cuts him off.
• I don't like this. I certainly am against this.
• "You're already like a family to me." Landon adds.
• He turns to me and smiles so I gave him a weak smile.
• "Linda!" Landon calls out the housekeeper.
• "Yes Mr. Thompson?"
• "Could you prepare the guest room for Hugo? Thank you." Landon instructs before smiling.
• I take a long drink from my glass while I feel my heart pounding inside my ribs. I'm nervous that Landon is actually letting Hugo stay here at home with us, making me think what could he be planning to do. But I know there is nothing wrong with this, maybe I'm just thinking of too much that would happen when Hugo's here. I watch Linda walk up the stairs and did what Landon instructed her to do.
• I sit here, cursing.
• "Daddy's going to sleep with me." Ben says.
• "Of course he is." Landon smiles.
• "Together with mommy too." Ben adds.
• I choked on the drink I had and I quickly wiped my cheeks with the table napkin. Landon grew silent. Really awkwardly silent. Hugo was just taking a small bite from his food while he glances at me. The entire table grew quiet and it was weird. It was freaking awkward.
• "Benny." I hollered as he looks at me with his innocent eyes. I cleared my throat as I reasoned out, "The three of us wouldn't fit on your bed."
• Landon just looked terribly remorseful right now and I could tell that he's jealous. But he's hiding it from me and in front of Ben even though it's already pretty obvious on the look of his face.
• "B-b-but mom!" Ben whines.
• Landon clears his throat. "Why don't you give Ben the opportunity?"
• I'm shocked.
• What?
• Seriously Landon?
• "I'll be busy in my office the entire night anyways and I think Ben would really want to have that kind of moment with his parents." He says so seriously.
• I glance at Hugo and he is looking intently at me before he looks over his food while Ben chimes happily.
• Landon moved his head to Ben. "Right Benny?" He cooed and flashes a smile at Ben.
• I sigh.
• It pains me so much witnessing this. It hurts me when Landon is being like this. I think it's unfair for him and I'm hurting for Landon right now because I know how much this would take on his part.
• I feel terrible right now.
• I quickly placed my hand over Landon's knuckles and he looks back at me. He smiles calmly and tells me, "It's okay."
• He eyes me and kept that smile on his face but I know it is hurting him too. It's not okay Landon. I answered him mentally. This isn't okay. This is totally not okay.
• Ben was asking for this and Hugo doesn't really come to New York that often too and I know he is doing this for Ben and for Hugo. I wouldn't want to devastate my son over this matter but this is so hard for the three of us. Ben asked for this but I'm too uncomfortable for his favor. I mean come on, I'm married to Landon and Ben's asking me to sleep in one room with Hugo.
• Hugo doesn't say anything at all and he's just sitting there silently eating his food. He's looking at me though but I don't want to look at him right now.
• Later that night, I was watching Hugo reading Ben some of his bedtime stories. I tell you, I think I've already memorized Ben's favorites and he just loves to listen to it over and over again. I think he even loves it more this that Hugo is the one reading it to him. Ben just loves Hugo so much and he's always in the good mood when Hugo is around. Hugo has this kind of effect on him and I'm glad Ben is calm today.
• I stood here by the doorway, making sure there was enough space between me and Hugo. I don't want to get too close.
• Like fire, it ignites. I am the flame and he is fuel.
• "Don't just stand there mom." Ben called out as he looks at me.
• Hugo glares at where I was standing and then he continued reading to Ben again.
• "I'm fine here honey." I answered Ben softly.
• Ben focuses his eyes back on Hugo and he asked him a few curious questions that were sort of related to the story that Hugo read to him. I stare at them for a little while and Ben was already looking sleepy with droopy eyelids. I know he's afraid that when he wakes up, Hugo won't be here anymore. He's scared that his own father will leave him again for London. Actually, I'm scared too. I feel what Ben is feeling. I know how Hugo does everything to be a father to Ben while he's spending time with his son and I love how he gets back to him.
• "I'll be back." I tell them.
• I walked my way to where Landon's office room was and I knocked on his door and gently opened it. He pulled his head from his laptop and stared at me. He greeted me with a smile.
• "Hey." I greeted my way inside.
• "Hey." He answers.
• I walked closer to Landon and stood behind him as I wrapped my arms around his neck. I stare at his laptop and it was some business he's doing with it.
• "Busy?" I kiss his cheek.
• He rubs both of my forearms. "A bit. Just a little more edits to do and I'm done. I think."
• I smiled.
• "Ben's asleep?" He asks.
• "About to. Aren't you going to bed yet?" I ask him.
• He shakes his head. "I need a few more lyrics to do and some beats to drop to finish it off. You can go ahead." He kisses my forearm.
• I sigh, "Why did you do what you did a while ago at dinner Landon?" I finally asked him.
• He looks up to me. "What do you mean?"
• "Letting Hugo sleep here. Allowing me and Hugo to be in one bedroom." I blurted.
• He's quiet for a while, "Should still that make me worry?" He asks.
• I sigh.
• I'm afraid so Landon. Sometimes I can't stop myself from not wanting to be with Hugo. It's like I'm under his spell when he touches me, when he talks to me and when he's around, it's just different. I'm sorry.
• "I just felt like you're putting me in some test. Like you're making sure you can trust me again by letting me share a room with Hugo." I stated.
• "Why are you making a big deal about this? I'm doing this for Ben. Ben needs you and Hugo to be around him and Hugo visits Ben very seldom that's why I think you two should be with your son." He explains.
• I could not answer because this is so selfless.
• His grip tightens, "And I trust you this time."
• I sigh heavier inwardly because I don’t feel that I am worth it. I pulled myself away and moved my way in front of him. I stood in between his legs and sat down on top of his desk. He placed his palms over my thighs ad rubbed them gently on my skin.
• "I'm not putting you in some test or anything just so I can prove to myself that you're faithful because I know you are now. I'm doing this for Ben's sake." He cups my face.
• I smiled ruefully.
• "Go back to Ben's room." He commands before he smiles softly. "I know how it feels to be in a broken family. I'll be fine here."
• "Love." I cooed and held onto his wrists.
• He smiles. "I'm fine."
• I sigh again and carefully pulled myself up from the desk. I hugged him as tight as I could and kissed him for a long while before leaving.
• I was on top of the bed next to Ben who was fast asleep beside me. I push his hair off his face and just watch his chest go up and down as he breathe. Hugo's out to the restroom and he's been out for a while now. I think he's taking a shower or whatsoever.
• I hum a song to Ben while I run my forefinger over his nose bridge. The room was quiet and Landon has been in his office for a while now too.
• Suddenly the door swings open and I kind of jumped but then recovered by it. It was Hugo, wearing a pair of black jogger pants and some white shirt. Damn he's still good on that. I swear he looks hot on this jogger pants. He walks closer to the bed while he rubs his wet hair against the towel. He just took a shower. Damn I could smell the scent of his shampoo from where I was. I quickly fixed myself on top of the bed, the minute Hugo was close enough to me.
• He stares at me.
• "You can go to your room with Landon now. I'll guard Ben while he sleeps for the night." Hugo instructs.
• I eyed him and he's looking at the floor now. He smells to good and it's quite distracting. I gently slipped myself off the bed and sat down.
• "Let me dry your hair for you." I offered.
• What?!
• What in hell did you just fucking say Randy? Are you for real flirting with him? You cannot be flirting with him. I mentally cursed at myself.
• He gazes at me on the corner of his eyes and he's not saying anything to me at all. I'm beginning to get shy now. Damn Miranda Rose. Damn lips! Stop saying things that aren't to be said! You're too careless.
• Mental facepalm.
• “Never mind.” I continued to say shyly.
• He stands in front of me and he was kind of in between my legs. He stares at me for a while and I thought he was going to face his back to me but I was wrong. I was terribly wrong with it. Instead he sat right across me facing his entire self to where I was.
• He hands the towel to me and I nervously grabbed it from his hand. He begins to bent his head down while he run his fingers through his wet hair. He waits for me to do something and I was just sitting here, staring at him. Staring at how his long fingers take through his wet mops of curls. I began to gather some courage and began to rub his wet hair with it. We were both quiet again. I didn't want to talk and he's just awkwardly silent.
• "I feel like a stray dog when you're doing this." I hear him chuckling while telling me.
• I grinned.
• "Your hair's longer now. Need to visit the barbershop." I tell him as I continue rubbing his hair with the towel.
• He shakes his head. "I want my hair to grow longer and I'm too lazy to go. Don't have time."
• "You're just like Ben."
• Hugo grins at me. "Like father like son."
• I smiled sheepishly, "Does Audrey do this to you?"
• "Nope. Only you." He answers.
• My heart is on the edge.
• "What did Audrey say when you told her you were coming here in New York?" I asked again.
• "She allowed me to. She knows I need to visit you and Ben." He answers casually. "And she knows how badly I missed you both so very much."
• I quickly bite my inner cheek so I would stop myself from smiling like a total idiot. Damn Saintclare, you always get me every time.
• Suddenly, our eyes met.
• Suddenly my body feels completely frozen. I didn't know why we stopped what we were doing but we synchronized. We didn't move and we were just looking at each other as if time froze for us. We stared at each other silently. We're too quiet and it's kind of deafening now.
• "Don't look at me like that Rose." He tells me.
• I gulped.
• Why is it so hard to swallow my own saliva in front of Hugo when we're this close? I thought.
• "You're making me want to continue what we stopped on doing at the fire exit staircase a while ago." He adds.
• I shake my head sideways and bent my head down as I continue on rubbing the towel on his hair again. He didn't say anything anymore. He's just looking at me while I was doing my thing.
• "Do you do this to Ben too?" He asks. Trying to keep the conversation going, differently.
• I nod. "Sometimes."
• "Do you wonder why Landon did this to us?" He asks.
• I paused and stared back at Hugo. I don't know too. If he's surprised and curious why Landon did this, so am I.
• "He planned for us to share a room with Ben and we clearly know he gets jealous when I'm around you. After what happened, he still allows you to be around me. But why did he do this?" He asks.
• I didn't answer him and just rubbed his hair. Suddenly he holds my wrist and pulled my hands down on his lap.
• "Don't you even ask yourself why?" He adds.
• "He's doing this for Ben." I answered positively.
• Hugo eyes me.
• "Landon's a nice man and I know he trusts me again after that awful thing that happened." I added.
• "Awful." He snorted.
• I ignored him anyway. "I want to make sure that I won't fail him this time. I want him to trust me and I'm glad he still does. So I don't want to do something stupid again that will hurt the man I love the most."
• Hugo didn't answer me and just grabbed my arms again as he placed my hands over his head once more. He tells me to rub his hair again and I did so.
• We went quiet.
• Awkward quiet.
• H U G O
• I honestly couldn't sleep.
• I sigh.
• I watch Rose sleep on top of Ben's bed and I have been awake for so long now that I lost count of the hours I've been up. I couldn't sleep even if I want to, even if I try to but I don't feel sleepy at all. I know the flight I had a while ago tired the fuck out of me but I wouldn't want to miss this opportunity to watch Rose sleep so beautifully and so peacefully on top of that bed.
• She lays there, perfectly. She's not even doing anything but she's still the most beautiful to me. She's innocently slightly snoring her way to sleep and I love the view of her.
• Suddenly Rose's phone beeped.
• I quickly glanced at it since it was placed next to me on top of this drawer. It was a message from Paris. This late?
• My brows creasing.
• I'm so curious why Paris would message Rose this late. What would she want to tell her? Out of curiosity, I tried to open it and hoped her phone didn't have a passcode. Even though I know it's not my business I still couldn't help it.
• Thankfully it had no passcode on!
• My eyes widened as I read Paris' message.
• What is she even talking about?