BEAUTIFULLY UNFINISHED novel Chapter 27

TWENTY-SIX

M I R A N D A

After staring at the sunset on top of Harry's private balcony inside his penthouse, Ben decided to stay in instead of going out with us for dinner. I was persuading him so bad that he's not allowed to stay here without us, but Harry was letting him do so.

Harry called in some maids, about three of them, to babysit Ben for the night and he specifically told them to give Ben anything he wants to ask. Though I know harry is being so paternal over Ben, I wanna allow him to do so. He's the father and he has the right to do what he wants to do with Ben. I'm just happy that he's giving him what he likes and every time that the three of us are together, I just feel shamed-face.

"Ben please promise me you'll be a good boy while they're babysitting you." I push his hair off his forehead. "Please sweetheart." I worried.

"Mom don't worry. All I'm gonna do here is play uncle Harry's video games." Ben says to me.

I kiss his forehead. "Take care sweetheart. I love you."

"I love you too mommy." He kisses my cheek.

I gaze at Harry and he was just waiting for me to say goodbye to Ben.

"I'm hoping you'll give him the utmost love and care." Harry tells the maids.

The three of them nodded.

Harry and I headed out of the penthouse and rode the elevator together.

"Good evening Mr. Styles." The female staff greets him and slightly smiled at me.

"Lobby." Harry speaks.

The female staff started operating the buttons and she was insanely quiet as she always take glimpse from me and Harry. I think she was sneakily observing the two of us because I could see from his glare. But then I didn't really care what she was thinking, I wasn't really doing anything wrong with Harry. We were just riding an elevator. We were just casually going out to have dinner together and that's it.

"Where do you wanna eat this time?" I hear Harry asking me.

I glance at him, "Well I promised you free dinner the last time you were here."

He smiles.

"Thanks for reminding me that." He chuckles.

The elevator door opens and Harry gestured for me to go out first. I gaze at the female staff before walking out and she was obviously giving me an eye. Harry then follows my tail and both of us headed to his car. Some people were watching but then Harry told me to just ignore them and so I did. The valet driver opens the passenger door for me and I hopped inside the same time Harry did.

"Thanks." He said before slamming the door close.

He turns on the engine of his car and started driving away from the hotel.

"So, where are we off?" Harry asked.

"Well I don't know if you love eating cheap-style." I begin to say.

"I don't really care where you take me tonight Miranda. I just wanna spend the night with you." He answers while he keeps his eyes on the road.

I don't actually know what to feel when he said those words. I think my mind stopped working and my lungs forgot to breathe in and out some air. He actually just want to spend the night with me wherever we go. He won't care where I'll take him. Oh goodness I should've recorded those words when he said it so perfectly. It could've been my ringtone on my phone for my entire life.

I kept biting my lip so I won't smile and hell it was hard since Harry is sitting next to me. I kept playing with my fingers and I tried to act like it didn't bother the hell out of me.

Sometimes I ask myself why Harry does some things that leads me to misinterpretations of everything that are coming from him. For example, a while ago when he said he just want to spend the night with me. Of course I would think of something else right after hearing that. My mind says to me that he might actually be into me or something. Maybe he might actually likes me. Maybe he just wants to try it out with me so he could cancel his marriage with Audrey.

Okay Miranda you're going way overboard. Enough hallucinating.

"Where are you going to take me?" He calls out my attention.

"Balaboosta." I answered with a smile.

His head moved towards me as we soon reach the stop light. His eyebrows were furrowing as he looks at me.

"What?" He asked.

I chuckle softly. "It's probably about two blocks away from here. It's on Mulberry Street. Good food and good service."

He nods. "I still haven't heard of that kind of restaurant name before."

I smile. "You'll love it."

Finally, when we arrived at Balaboosta, a waiter walked us to a vacant table for two. We quickly sat down while I gaze at the marvelous place filled with brilliant lights and eye-catching designs. The place was totally different from the looks of the outside. This place looks very comfortable and warm. The waiter started handing us two menus and we began ordering foods that seemed to sound delicious to our appetite.

Harry ordered a platter of Crispy Cauliflower, which to me sounded weird. I ordered Patatas Bravas and Grilled Octopus. He ordered Boneless Organic Half Chicken for our main dish and some sautéed spinach for our side dish.

"I think that would be all. Thank you." Harry says as he hands the menu.

I did the same.

"Your orders will be served in about ten to fifteen minutes. For the meantime, we have some live band to entertain you. Excuse me." The waiter says.

He leaves us.

"Are you sure we could finish all of the foods we ordered?" I asked.

"We will. And if we wont, I just want to say I'm sorry for ordering too much."

I chuckle.

Harry takes a good look around the place and the lights around the restaurant glimmered against his green eyes.

"What does Balaboosta mean?" He asks.

"It's a Yiddish term that means the perfect housewife, homemaker, wonderful mother, cook & gracious hostess." I answered.

"You memorized it."

I shake my head. "No." Then pointed to the signage right behind him. He looks at it over his shoulder.

"It's written there." I say.

He laughs softly while he looks back to me.

"You come here often?" He asked.

I shake my head, "Once. My friend from work asked me out for dinner."

His brows started creasing a little bit. "A man?"

I nod, "Yeah. He's been a very very good friend of mine."

He nods, "So that means he's from Alfonso's?"

I chuckle.

Damn that word. I wanna write that word on the burn book. I wanna stop Harry from saying that word when he's with me. I don't wanna hear that coming from him cos it will only remind me that he's really going to get married someday.

"What?!" Harry spits.

My heart heat raced when Harry looks at me like we did something terribly terribly awful. This is not good. I wonder what Audrey is saying on the other line but I sure do know it's something serious just the way Harry looks.

"You're here in New York?" Harry asked in disbelief.

My eyes widened. She's here? Holy shit she's here.

He pushes his hair back. "I thought you were going to Germany? Why didn't you tell me ahead of time? Where are you?... Airport? Right now? You just arrived?" He asked.

Shit. This is fucked up.

She's really here.

Audrey. Why did you have to ruin the moment? I was having a peaceful date with Harry and I was about to tell him that Ben is his son. Damn perfect timing!

Way to ruin the moment!

"Alright. See you." Harry hangs up.

"She's here." I say.

He nods. "I'm sorry. But we need to go. Audrey is here. I need to pick up my fiancée from the airport." He pulled something out from his pocket.

And when I heard it coming from Harry's mouth that he has a fiancée, it made me feel like I was being thrown hard to the ground and I was shattered into pieces. It hurts when it came from him but I know I had no right to feel this way.

Harry threw me his key card, "Pick up Ben from my penthouse and I don't want you and him to be there once me and Audrey arrives. Leave immediately." He demands.

It wasn't an order but a demand.

Ouch.

He's pushing us out of his place like we're some stray dogs.

I take a deep breath in.

"Here's some cab fare." He says while throwing down bills in front of me.

"Leave immediately. You hear me? She can't see you there." He reminds me again as he stands from his chair and fixed his blazer.

I'm so offended by what he did. I watch while Harry runs towards the main door and leaves me all alone on this table. I stare at our foods right before me, we weren't even finished eating yet. We weren't even finished half way through.

I bite my lip.

Don't cry Miranda. It's not worth it. You'll look very stupid in front of these people.

Harry leaving me and choosing to pick his fiancée up from the airport isn't something I should be jealous of. I don't have the right to be like that. She's his priority. Main priority. I'm just someone who hangs out with him. I'm just someone who thinks that me and Harry could be something more than what we have now. I guess I was denying to myself that I was already setting my hopes up for me and him since he's been very sweet with me. He comes to New York and sees me right away. He does things that sets my hopes up, now I hate myself for it.

He just showed me who's more important to him. I know he doesn't know about the truth just yet but then with what he just showed to me a while ago made me realize that he's not worth to know that Ben is his son. He pushed me and Ben out from his penthouse like we're some kind of beggars. He threw me money like I needed it. He threw the keycard cos I need to leave. You hurt me Harry. You really did hurt me for the first time.

I take a deep breath in, asked for the bill and asked for the foods to be taken out. I paid everything grabbed the cab fare, shove it inside my pocket and headed out of the room. Like what he ordered me to do, I had to pick my son up from his place before they get there.

"It's okay Miranda." I tell myself. "It's okay. Don't take it seriously. You're okay."