Irreplaceable

Part 19: What is he up to?

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Straight away they started to drive out of town. Mihawk said it was safer to start from the easy part first. She followed his directions and answered his questions about the rules of traffic. He seemed to be impressed by her good memory, since it had been so long since she last drove. They stopped sometimes to practice things like parking and filling the tank.

They finally arrived to a small rural town and Mihawk seemed to be looking around searching something and keenly following his map. Finally they arrived at their destination. It was a rather large bath house. Mihawk told her to park there and they got off the car. She looked around with her mouth hanging open. All the cars seemed to be expensive and she nearly gasped when they got to the reception. It was so high end.

- "Why?" Perona asked in agony as they were walking to their rooms.
- "Because today is my birthday and I wanted to to something nice and not worry."
- "Eh? Your birthday? Why didn't you tell me earlier? I could have gotten you something."
- "And ruin the surprise? Your face is a gift enough." He chuckled.
- "Ru-rude! And what about Zoro? He doesn't get to participate."
- "Sometimes it's good to spend time just between us adults." He hummed. "Also he's a bit too young for this place. All the time would go according to his needs and I figured a whole day of activities would be more fun than changing diapers and hoping he doesn't get a tantrum or pee in the kiddie pool."

Perona could not argue back. The rare day off from parenting was more compelling to the alternative.  Mihawk gave her a list of activities and she felt giddy reading through it. She compared hers to Mihawks. There was a few things that seemed to collide such as dinner, sauna, swimming and sleep.

Swimming?

She didn't have a swim suit and just as horror started to settle on her face Mihawk chuckled and dug her swim suit from his bag.

- "I hope this fits."
- "Thanks a lot! You're horrible." She snatched it off of his hands.

He just laughed and went to his room. Perona went to hers and was in awe of the luxury. She jumped on the bed and realized it was a water bed. She had never been on one. She carefully eased off of it and then tried on her swimsuit, a frilly spotted bikini.
It seemed to fit perfectly which was a small miracle since the last time she's used it was before her pregnancy. She did have a newer one piece she had used at baby-swimming classes with Zoro, but Mihawk probably hadn't found that one. She looked at the silver lines on her belly and sighed. She felt self-conscious, even after she had been able to loose all that baby fat, but there was no way she would miss out on the pool. She looked in the locker and took the bathrobe from it putting it on. She tied her hair in a bun. She exited the room and Mihawk was waiting there for her since the first thing they were going to was the pool. He too was wearing his bathrobe and flip-flops that came with. Perona blushed. She was slightly angry to have been tricked like this.

- "You liar." She hissed.
- "The only thing I lied about was the motel, nothing else." Mihawk looked at her amused. "We did go practice driving, didn't we?"

She blushed a deeper red as she followed him. There were people there that took care they would stay on schedule as it was a popular resort. They took their bathrobes and flip flops as they entered the pool.

- "What if I want to dry myself?" She squeaked.
- "You ask one of the workers for a towel." He didn't really look at her.

Perona felt now extremely self-conscious. All the people around seemed so beautiful and rich. Meanwhile she was so basic and had scars and was dirt poor. If anything she should be working here.

- "I shouldn't be here." She whimpered.
- "What? You can't swim?" Mihawk looked at her slightly worried.

Just as he looked at her, her hands shot over her belly and she blushed the same pink shade her swimwear was. She looked away embarrassed. Mihawk looked her over. The way she tried hiding her stomach was a tell tale signs of bad body image. He felt bad for surprising her like this.