"A daughter hey?" Simon wondered out loud as he scratched his head in confusion. He rested his elbows on the desk in front of him and began to think about what he had just found out. There was nothing that could have prepared him for finding out that the love of his life had a child. His heart was shattering into a million tiny pieces, he knew that was it. There was no hope for them. He figured Lola's father was an exotic French model and that was the reason Cheryl now lived in France, so her daughter could see her father.
He thought about the little girl, she was stunning; she looked just like her mother. There was no mistaking that they were related, she had Cheryl's natural brown curls, her massive chocolate eyes and her dimples to match. Simon also got a sense from the brief five minutes he had spent with Lola that she had inherited her mother's feistiness and outspokenness.
"Aye a daughter" Cheryl sighed as she sat down opposite Simon at the huge desk she had once become accustomed to sitting at. She ran her hands across the familiar feeling wood, nothing here had changed. The furniture was the same, the people were the same and the decorations were the same yet Cheryl felt like she was entering an unknown world. One where she didn't have the comfort of her family, of Lola, there was no PR to hide behind and no one would be able to release a statement to explain things to Simon, that was one thing she knew she had to do herself and it terrified her more so than ever.
Simon watched as her eyes began to lose their sparkle, her hands were shaking slightly and her tongue darted across her lips in a manner that she only did when she was nervous. He was nervous too, he wanted to ask her so much but he wasn't sure if she would talk to him. She had guarded herself from him for a reason and he didn't know if she would ever open up to him again.
"Si, you deserve some explanations and so many apologies" Cheryl whispered as she stared down at the floor, Simon shifted in his seat as the tension in the room reached an all time high. He wanted her to talk but he didn't know if he was ready for the truth, he could see in her eyes she was willing to tell him and if he didn't let her speak now then she might never do it again.
"Cheryl all I want to know is why? You don't have to tell me anything else, I just want to know why you left" he explained as she brought her watery brown eyes up to look at him properly for the first time. A new wave of confidence was running through Simons veins, he could feel the adrenaline pumping deep within him and he guessed it was because Cheryl looked so vulnerable right there in front of him. They needed one of them to be able to handle this, and it clearly wasn't going to be her.
"I left because..." she started barely louder than a whisper but failed to finish her sentence, she couldn't do it. Her heart was literally in her throat, swelling bigger and bigger until she physically couldn't speak anymore. She rocked in her chair to try and soothe the sobs that were escaping from her frame, Simon watched on in horror. The woman he thought was happier than ever was in fact crumbling right in front of his very eyes. She wasn't pretending that everything was happy in her life, she wasn't putting on the show she did for the cameras. This was her, at her most brutal honest and Simon admired her more so than ever for that.
He leant across the desk and placed his masculine hands protectively over Cheryl's petite ones. They looked each other in the eye for a moment before Cheryl removed her hands from his grasp and shook her head, "when you find out what I've done you're gonna hate us forever" she sobbed quietly.
Simon jumped up out of his chair and walked round to her side of the desk and knelt down next to her, he took her hands in his own once more and refused to let them go despite her best protests. "Cheryl I could never hate you, I still care about you so much it scares me" he told her honestly as he tried to wipe away some of her ever falling tears.
"Even after I just left? Without telling you why? I just ran away and left everything we had, there is no way you can care about us. I've been a complete bitch to you, there's just no way..." she shook her head sadly not believing that he could care for her after all this time.
"Cheryl I'm going to tell you straight and I don't want to scare you or make you think you have to repeat it or anything, but I still love you." Simon refused to let go of her hands as she wriggled in her seat at his revelation. He needed to tell her, he had wanted to tell her and he felt so much better that he finally had. She looked at him and smiled slightly and squeezed his hands once she had taken in what he had said. She knew that she had to tell him the truth now, he had just confessed his love to her and she couldn't keep his child a secret from him for much longer. It wasn't fair on him. It wasn't fair on her. It wasn't fair on their daughter. It wasn't fair on their family.
Cheryl pulled Simon up from the floor next to her and ushered for him to sit next to her instead of across the desk like her had done previously. "I left...I went because...the reason was...I moved to France...I left our penthouse" she stuttered as she tried to find the right words to explain to Simon, she felt the tears thick in the back of her throat and closed her eyes momentarily to try and muster up the courage to tell him. "Lola" she croaked as she found no other way to explain.
"Cheryl I don't mind that you have a daughter, it doesn't change how I feel about you" Simon replied as he rested a hand on her thigh.
Cheryl shook her head at him, "Simon, she's seven" she tried to elaborate. Simon looked at her and saw the guilt laced in her eyes. "And a quarter" she continued, refusing to look at Simon as her body shook with nerves.
"Cheryl, what are you trying to tell me?" Simon asked with a raised eyebrow, he could feel her legs shaking as he continued to rest his hand on her exposed thigh and he wanted nothing more than to hug her to comfort her. She lifted her head up, so she was no longer looking at the floor and gazed at him, she bit her lip and shook her head slowly in embarrassment.
"You left eight years ago" Simon thought out loud when she spoke no more, "you left because you were pregnant with Lola, didn't you? Who's her father? I know I went to America for six months Cheryl but you of all people should know what it's like to be cheated on. I would never have expected you to do that" Simon bellowed at her as he removed his hand from her body and she broke down in hysterical sobs.
"Simon I didn't fucking cheat on you!" she screamed at him as he back away from her with a menacing glare, "she's yours. She's your daughter, your fucking child, don't you dare accuse me of cheating on you. I would never do that"
"You ran away with my daughter?" Simon asked her and she nodded with more tears falling down her face. "You've made it clear your whole life you never wanted kids and there I was pregnant with yours, I thought I was protecting us. Protecting me and our baby from being abandoned by you" she cried softly.
Simon punched the wall next to him and Cheryl shrieked as his fist cracked the paint. She had never seen him so angry, she didn't blame him though. She was surprised his fist hadn't been directed at her head. He turned around and strode towards her, she cowardly shuffled backwards until she collided with the wall and there was no means of escape for her. Simon placed his hands either side of her head and leaned closer to her, their noses were millimetres apart and he could feel her hot breath on his face. Her breathing was becoming more and more erratic, her sense of fear becoming heightened with every passing second. He leant forward some more until his forehead was resting against her own, their bodies pressed as close as humanly possible, and he stared into her big beautiful brown eyes. He could see the guilt, hurt and confusion in them and he wanted nothing more for them to sparkle like they used to.
"We'll talk about this later, there's one thing I need to do first" he grunted into her ear. She expected him to leave, to go and find Lola or to run. He did neither, he stayed and before Cheryl had time to rationalise the situation his lips were on hers.
She could have stopped him. She could of. But she didn't. Her lips parted on their own desire, but every part of her was humming in agreement. His soft tongue sought entrance into her mouth, and she granted it willingly, revelling in the pure and sweet intimacy of this kiss. His hands left her head to slide down her sides, his rough palms causing pleasant friction on the denim of her shorts.
When they finally had to break apart, both of them were panting heavily, and he reached out to her, crushing her against his body. Murmuring soft nonsense into her ear, Simon held her tightly to his body, and her warmth melted his heart.
