Was Edward Kyle's son, or was he the son of a neighbor? Who am I kidding—he just called him "dad." That meant Kyle was the irresponsible father. He really did look a lot like Edward.
"Aunt, it's really you! Did you come to see me?" Edward asked me innocently. I was still speechless over the fact that Kyle was Edward's father, but I would deal with that later.
"Actually, I came here to see Alexa because she is my friend. I didn't know you lived here," I said, looking down at him. He looked so innocent, which made me calm down. He smiled at me, showing his cute little dimples—just like his father's.
Alexa tapped me, making me remove my attention from Edward and direct it to her. "How do you know him?" she asked. I then turned my eyes to Kyle, who was looking at me with expectant eyes.
Taking a deep breath, I asked Edward and Alexa if they could leave me with Kyle for a while, which they did without questioning. I knew I was going to tell Alexa about this later, but right now, it was Kyle I needed to talk to.
After they left, I glared at Kyle. I would have never imagined he could be the irresponsible father I'd been wanting to give a piece of my mind to.
He noticed my glare and looked confused. "Why are you staring at me like that?"
I snickered at his comment, which made him look even more confused.
"Last week, you were at the park, right?" I asked.
"Yes," he replied curtly.
Before I could ask another question, he beat me to it. "What is this about?"
I clenched my fist at what he just asked. He really had the nerve to ask me such a question, but I wouldn't let my anger get the best of me.
I smiled at him and immediately frowned, which, by the looks of it, freaked him out.
"What's wrong? Just tell me what you want to tell me. Your frown is giving me goosebumps."
"You really want to know what I'm thinking about you right now?" I asked calmly, though i was fuming on the inside.
"Of course I do." He looked really curious about what I was saying.
"You lost Edward at the park," I stated.
"Excuse me?" he instantly asked.
Okay, this man was really getting on my nerves. If not for the fact he had deep and cute dimples like Edward's—which I could have noticed before but didn't—I definitely would have punched him.
"You lost Edward at the park," I repeated before continuing. "Last week, I went to the park, and I was on my way home when a little boy approached me. Guess who he was? Your son, Edward. Yes, it was Edward. How could you leave him alone in the park, all alone? What if he approached some bad person or, even worse, had an accident? How were you going to handle it? Honestly, that was very irresponsible of you, and I have been wanting to give you a piece of my mind for a long time. You didn't even care to ask who found him. Is this how you always neglect your son? You should—"
"Shut up!!!" Kyle shouted, which made me flinch a little before I regained my stance. Who did he think he was to shout at me? And shut up? Was he seriously telling me to shut up? If anything, I should be the one shouting at him. I was about to do so before he spoke again, this time calmly.
"Yes, I left Edward at the park, which was very careless of me, but I had to—"
Hearing him give a reason annoyed me. "Had to what, huh? At least you could have taken him with you."
He took a deep breath, then ran his fingers through his hair. "I made a mistake, okay, and I feel sorry to my son . But making a mistake like that does not warrant you calling me irresponsible or saying I neglected my son."
I chuckled at his little speech. "Wow, don't you have any shame? Why are you trying to defend yourself when you are clearly at fault in this situation?" The nerve of this man
Maybe I was wrong for saying he was neglectful and irresponsible, but I don't see any reason why he should be defending himself, he clearly left Edward all on his own at that park. Remembering the helpless look on that little boy's face made me think so.
"Maybe if you would just let me explain, then you wouldn't be saying mean things to me." He gave me a serious look which obviously meant I shouldn't interrupt whatever he was going to say, which made me huff and turn my head away from him.
"The day I lost Edward at the park still haunts me till this day, and losing him is something I would never repeat as long as I live. Actually, that day, my ex-wife called asking for an enormous amount of money I didn't have and threatened to take Edward away from me, since she technically had custody of him but allowed him to stay with me due to an agreement we made out of court. Obviously i couldn't allow that . So out of anger, I left the park to go give her the money, completely forgetting about Edward—the one I was actually trying to protect."
He looked like he was about to tear up, which made the anger in me die down. I didn't know why, but I immediately pulled him into a hug, which he returned. I was so blinded by anger that I didn't ask why he did what he did, and now I feel so bad.
He pulled away from the hug and wiped his eyes to prevent the tears that were on the verge of dropping "I'm so sorry. I shouldn't even be crying."
That made me feel worse than I already feel, I misjudged a man I knew nothing about and accused him of things and also called him irresponsible and neglectful, yikes I'm the worst.
"No, I should be the one telling you sorry. I said all those bad words to you without thinking. I feel so terrible right now. I didn't even know what you were going through. I just jumped to conclusions, which was very wrong of me."
He gave me a small smile before saying, "It's okay. I was also at fault for leaving Edward. I don't know what would have happened if you hadn't found him. Thank you so much. I'm sorry I didn't say it earlier."
He was such a nice person. Why did I think otherwise?
"You're welcome. But why were you in a hurry that day?"
He smiled again, this time showing his dimples that I couldn't get enough of. Honestly I am a huge sucker for dimples "I was just so happy to see Edward, and I didn't want to stay in the park any longer."
I nodded, understanding where he was coming from and how he would have felt seeing someone he thought he had lost, I actually lost someone and he won't be coming back to me. It hurts.
"So, we are good now?" he asked with a hopeful smile.
It should actually be the other way around—I should be asking—but nevertheless, I smiled and nodded at his question, which caused him to smile, showing his cute dimples that I had grown a huge liking to.