Black

XXXIX

I huffed, moving my leg up and down impatiently, and looked away from him.

The TV was turned on to a cartoon, and the floor had different colored trucks and toys scattered over it. I remember her saying something about a kid.

I lifted my head and found a few frames hung on the wall. I got up and walked to them, observing the people inside the pictures. Most of them had the teacher standing or sitting alongside a man with brown hair and hazel eyes as they carried a child that didn't look older than six.

"That's my husband and my boy; Kevin." I turned around in time to see her put down a tray that held three cups of coffee as Harry thanked her. She straightened, flattening invisible creases on the fabric of her robe and hugging it to her body. "He is currently sleeping. I was only cleaning his mess now, so sorry for the mess," she said, waving her hand in the air.

"It's fine," Harry said when I didn't reply. I avoided the glare he threw my way and nodded as I made my way back to the couch.

"I wan-"

Harry silenced me again by talking. I clenched my jaw.

"We were at the kindergarten a while ago, and your assistant said you called in sick. Are you okay?" He reached out for one of the cups and gave it to me, doing the same with the teacher, before taking another one for himself.

So, now we are going to have a coffee party and gossip about how Nigel broke up with Abraham.

"Well, I thought of taking a break for a day. You know, it gets a bit tiring having to deal with kids for seven hours every day."

"Yeah. Anyway, the colors-"

"Me and my girlfriend," he said, hitting my knees, "were wondering something."

I wore a poker face. Girlfriend. Am his girlfriend now?

"The colors-"

"The colors," he emphasized, putting his arm around my shoulder and pulling me closer to his body, "you gave to Black's sister, Zoella."

Don't punch him. Don't punch him. Don't punch him.

"Yeah," she said.

"Who g-"

He tugged at my hair, "Did you give it to her?"

"Yes, I did. Zoella is an excellent student, so I thought I'd gift her something." She smiled.

I pushed Harry's arm off my shoulder and placed the cup of coffee on the table as I sat at the edge of the couch, "You wanted to gift a kid, so you got her an expensive brand of color pencils?" I squinted at her.

"Yes, that's my technique for motivating the kids to behave well."

"I understand, but the colors aren't what you usually get for a kid who didn't pass five years of age. Artists use these colors. Unless you have got hundreds of dollars in your pocket that you don't know what to spend it on, this is absurd." She took a sip from her cup of coffee as she nodded.

"What Black is trying to say-"

I snapped my head toward him, "Babe, let me talk," I said, my voice laced with venom I didn't know I owned.

He clenched his jaw and smiled tightly, as he nodded.

"I know it may seem a bit weird, but I wanted to award her, and I know she likes drawing," she said. I searched her face for the signs of nervousness that I found yesterday, but her face held nothing but a smile.

"I will act like I believe you," I said, unlocking the phone and opening my photo library in an attempt to find a picture of him.

I found a picture of him standing in front of a tree we planted in our backyard when we were six. He had his red hat on backward, so his features were more distinctive than others.