Transmigrated Into The Body Of The Cursed Prince Wife-Chapter 322: Destiny

"You won’t tell Mom that I had one?" Ian asked him with suspicious eyes. novelbuddy.cσ๓

"How can I tell her when I don’t even know her? Nobody will know, it will be a secret between us." Lucian smiled as he promised. This was the first time of his life being with a child this age. Strangely he didn’t find the boy annoying like he had believed kids his age were.

Ian grinned and then reached out a hand to seal the deal. Lucian, however, stared at his small hand stretched across the table and slowly reached out to clasp it. At the same time, he felt a sense of déjà vu but then shook it off as the boy pulled back his hand and reached out for one of the ice creams.

Ian’s eyes almost rolled to the back of his head in pleasure when he tasted the cold sweetness. "Holy smokes! It’s delicious!"

Lucian also reached to pick up his spoon, then scooped the same flavor as the boy. He studied the thing in his spoon and then brought it to his nose to smell it before he hesitantly brought it to his mouth.

When it melted coldly and sweetly on his tongue, he didn’t know when he scooped another and then another and then another until both of them finished everything in their ice cream bowls and stared at each other guiltily for taking more than they had initially promised to take.

"What else do you want to have, Ian?" Lucian asked him when they left the ice cream shop and got back in the car, but not before Lucian had ordered many more of the ice cream with the black card, which he realized was given back to him when he had handed it over as payment. He brought many of them because he thought he couldn’t get enough of it, but since they got in the car, the boy had fallen silent, whereas inside the shop, he had been talking nonstop and asking many questions that made absolutely no sense to Lucian.

To cheer him up, Lucian asked him where he would like to go next. They were taking him to where Cal suggested, but Lucian could see the boy wasn’t happy. His features seemed like they were molded with sadness, a look that wasn’t supposed to be on such a young face and eyes.

Without turning to even look at Lucian, as his eyes were looking out the window, he replied, "I want my Dad back..."

His voice was so low that had Lucian not had good hearing, he would have missed his words. Unable to hold himself back, he reached out his hand and stroked the boy’s disheveled hair that fell messily on his forehead and face.

Ian turned to look at Lucian with slightly trembling lips as he subconsciously leaned into his stroking hand, but then he hastily stopped himself, hardened his face again, and moved away from Lucian’s touch.

"I don’t like being touched..." he muttered.

Lucian had noticed that and didn’t question why because he had been like that at a certain age. He hated to be touched or hugged, not even by his own mother, whom he loved with all his heart. So he brought his hand back to his lap, even though he wanted to smooth back the boy’s hair.

"What happened to your Dad?" Lucian questioned softly as he regarded the boy fondly.

"Mom says he’s dead, but Uncle Daniel says he left me because he didn’t want me. Uncle Daniel also says I should never ask Mom about him again because it breaks her heart when he’s mentioned. He didn’t want her and me. That’s why he ran away with another woman..." Ian said indifferently as his fingers clenched into fists on his lap and his features darkened.

"I don’t want to miss him, but I can’t. And I hate it and him. I beat up Red when he laughed at me today in school about him. Dad doesn’t want me, and I don’t want to want him too. He is a piece of trash, like Uncle Daniel says!" he gritted through clenched tiny teeth and raked his fingers through his hair to get them back to the disheveled state they were in before Lucian smoothed them earlier.

Lucian just stared at him wordlessly. He knew any form of pity and sympathy wouldn’t be welcomed by the boy as he tried to deny that he was a kid and needed consoling, so instead, Lucian asked, "Who is Daniel, and why did you beat up this Red?"

Ian scoffed. "Daniel’s my mom’s boyfriend. I used to think he was my Dad, but Mom told me he isn’t. And Red," he clicked his tongue in disgust, "is my classmate. He’s a bully, a big bad bully with a Dad who gyms a lot. He has thighs for arms. I don’t like him. Red called me a fatherless boy and said my father is a fat pig and his father will beat up mine. Today is Father-Son Day in my school. Since I had no father, I didn’t let Mom know, or she would embarrass me by dressing like a dude to attend. When I didn’t bring my non-existent Dad, Red started to laugh, and his father, the gym guy, said something mean about my Mom. I punched his son’s face and sneaked out of the school before Mom was called. I needed to go far away to clear my head, and then your freaking car almost hit my sorry self. Tsk, I hate my life, but I don’t want to leave Mom behind."

Ian said all those words in one breath, so Lucian needed to pay extra attention to absorb everything. He used hand gestures as he spoke, and when he was done talking, he turned to ask before Lucian could speak, "Do you have a kid, Mr. Pendragon? Perhaps I could tell Mom to switch my school to your kid’s school so we can be friends. I hate my school."

That question brought a fresh bolt of pain to Lucian’s momentarily peaceful heart and mind. Being with the boy had caused him to forget about his own biggest problem, and now that Ian had asked him that question, he painfully realized that had that disaster not fallen on them and torn them apart, he and Ave would still be looking forward to welcoming their first child. Though as scary as childbirth was for him, he would have been by her side all the time until the day.

He cursed the Moon Goddess and his fate internally as he tried to remain collected to answer the boy’s question.

"No. I don’t have a kid..."

Ian’s face fell. He had hoped his new friend would have a kid his age. He wouldn’t have cared about the gender and would have told his Mom to switch his school. He didn’t want to be in the same school or class with Red, nor did he look forward to his mom knowing he had fought in school and ran away. She would be sick with worry...

None of them spoke again after that. While Ian was worried about facing his worried mother, Lucian was drowning in his fears and dread. He had no idea what identity his wife was in and in what state. There was no Aveline Eamon the actress in this time—none of the images online were hers. She was a different person now, so how was he going to find her? Where would he start?

The more he thought about it, the more anxious he was getting, as every second and minute counted before his time was over here. Without her, there was only death for him.

"You don’t have to take me to the authorities. I know where I live. Take me home instead, that is, if you’re okay driving me there," Ian said softly, breaking the silence in the car.

Lucian nodded and then asked him where he lived. He gave the address to Cal, as he wasn’t familiar with any part of the city. Ian lived in an enclosed, gated estate where many of the buildings were alike. When they reached the gate of the estate, Ian said, "You can drop me here. I know my way from here. Uncle Daniel won’t like that I got into a stranger’s car if he happens to see me."

Lucian told Cal to stop, even though deep down, he wanted to meet this so-called Daniel for the bad things he was saying about the young boy’s father instead of letting him believe what his mother wanted him to. He could already sense that this Uncle Daniel was someone he wasn’t going to like after everything the boy had said about him. He didn’t want to have to fight anybody for taking a kid in his metal carriage.

When the car stopped, Ian didn’t step out of it immediately. He turned to Lucian but didn’t meet his eyes. He looked everywhere but at his eyes, then finally, he met them and stared fixedly at the amber color that seemed to burn before he cleared his throat. "Will I see you again some other day?"

Lucian wanted to say never because Ian’s presence reminded him not just of his wife but of the child they never had. If possible, he wished he would never come across another kid again. But then, seeing how Ian was gripping the door handle like he was anxious about what Lucian would say, he couldn’t quite tell him what was on his mind.

"Perhaps. If we are destined to meet again before my time is up, nothing can stop that, Ian. Don’t ever wander off alone. It’s a big world, and it’s dangerous for a boy your age. Go home to your mother."

Ian didn’t say anything but hastily looked away from Lucian as he got down. But before he could close the car door, he looked at him with glossy blue eyes. "You sound just like her. Always talking about destiny that makes no sense. Destiny didn’t give me a father who wants me, and I hate it. Goodbye, Mr. Pendragon." Then he closed the door, and the car started again before Lucian could say anything.