Bonus Chapter: Part 11

**Bonus Chapter: Part 11**

**“Mama isn’t coming?”** Friso, who was sitting on the baby seat situated on the shotgun seat, asked when Hades sat on the driver’s seat, his slightly puffy eyes, now covered in small touches of concealer so he wouldn’t look exhausted in the entire episode, were staring at the latter with full wonder. He thought that his mother was in this game as well.

They had already begun taping for the next scene with the use of the camera and microphone arranged by the crew since they would be recording the conversations and moments that the father and son would do while spending time together alone. It was a bit of a relief for Jamaal and his assistants, they only had lesser time to carry the camera, and they didn’t have to walk around with the heavy device.

“Yup,” his father answered while fixing his seatbelt, “You don’t want to go on a joyride with dada, son?” Hades then asked, feigning a sad, disappointed face. He knew the kid was just curious why his mother was not going with them. They had been together alone several times but today would be their first time going on a joyride with no one else but just the two of them. He didn’t want to admit it, but deep inside him, he was happy that he was getting to have a father and son bonding with the kid the entire day.

“I do!” the boy immediately answered, realizing that he was getting to spend a lot of time with his father today. “Let’s jowwy ride, dada!” Friso began hopping on his seat, obviously excited.

“That’s the spirit.” Hades chuckled as he turned on the engine, rolling the window down over Friso’s direction to reveal Allison, who was looking at him with a tender gaze.

“Have fun today, baby,” the woman said to her son, leaning down to give him a big kiss. “And you,” she stated, looking at her husband who was jealously staring at them, wanting to be kissed too. “I’ll be watching you,” she said, pointing her index and middle finger to her eyes before pointing them to him.

“Yes, love. I will,” he chuckled, his nonsense jealousy replaced with amusement. It was obvious that she was anxious, but he had no plans of letting her down. Never.

The father and son bid their goodbyes to the people in the estate before Hades revved the car outside the estate with the production team’s van following behind them. Seeing that they were finally leaving, Friso pressed a button to roll down the window again and waved his hand out in the open for another goodbye.

“Hey, Friso—” the watchful father immediately felt his heart falling out of his chest and his head going in circles upon the boy’s actions. He loosened his step on the acceleration pedal and reached an arm towards the child. He was being stupid for not turning the child lock on.

“Bye mama, bye everybodyyy—” the boy’s bid goodbye was cut short when a strong force suddenly pushed his hand down from the window frame and the window rolled back up, with the buttons near him being locked.

“You almost killed me, young man,” the frantic father exclaimed with one hand on his chest. He thought he was going to die. He forgot that Friso was already nearly four, so, he could things of his own volition now, unlike when he was still an infant. The toddler was walking and talking baby in Hades’ view. “That was dangerous. Please don’t do it again,” he added as he now puts his other hand on the wheel. If something happened to the boy back there, he would never forgive himself.

“I’m sorry, dada,” Friso immediately apologized, realizing that what he had done was wrong.

“It’s okay, champ. Just don’t do it again, okay? You’ll get hurt if you do,” Hades said and he nodded obediently, and the ride proceeded on with dead silence.

The atmosphere was serenely silent, though there wasn’t any form of awkwardness invading such. But to Haroun and the rest of the production team, it was freakishly awkward that they decided to urge Hades to speak and improvise ways to keep themselves entertained while driving, but Friso beat them to it.

"Can I turn on the radio, dada?"

"Of course, son." The man enjoyed silence when traveling, but for his son, he didn’t mind. The kid could play tune up the volume to the maximum, and it’d still be fine with him. "Okay..." the boy trailed off and tried to reach for the stereo, but he was struggling due to his small stature. He tried to reach his short, pudgy arms but he still couldn't.

"I got it,” his father said, and with one press on the stereo, a familiar kiddie melody made out of the strings of a harp and piano. It sounded like a sweet, hazy dream of laying down on a soft, cotton candy-like cloud traveling in the dawn of the night with the stars singing a magical hymn. It felt like a haze developed into notes and tones accompanied by charming lyrics. It was a song no stranger to parents, a nursery song developed by ForKids Entertainment.

“Why play that song, Mr. de Vries?” Haroun’s question resonated in Hades’ earplug, intending to make the man speak.

"It’s his favorite song,” the latter answered. Just as the child began to sing along to the melody, Hades began recontouring his tale about how Friso was the reason that he invested in companies like ForKids Entertainment. He invested in the entertainment that created the song since their quality work kept his son and other people’s children happy. He mentioned several things that Friso liked the most, like the creator of the duck print on his shirt, the company that produced his favorite formula, and the likes, and how it led him to invest in them.

All was going good and well when Friso suddenly asked his father to halt. “Dada stop.”

“Why son?” Hades could do nothing and only as, but continued driving since they were in the middle of the road, they might end up bothering other drivers, especially those who were in a hurry.

“Just stop, dada,” the child answered him, repeating himself. He was no longer singing along with his favorite song, his eyes were firmly glued straight to the road.

“What's wrong? Can you tell dad?” he asked, aching to know why his boy wanted him to stop, and at an open road off all places.

“Granny wants to cross,” he answered, pointing at the straight at the lane.

At the pedestrian lane in front of them, an old lady was holding a cane, slowly walking in menial steps to reach the other side. She looked like she was having a hard time crossing since she was limping on her left leg. A fair share of cars were taking advantage of her slow pace and sped in the direction where she wasn’t present. As they passed by at a fastidious speed, the violent gust of wind caused by the accelerating cars made it hard for her to walk further. The kid had sharp eyes.

They were still a bit far away from the lane, not to mention that Hades was driving at a turtle’s pace since Friso loved riding a car being driven slowly. So, surely the granny would have crossed to the other side of the street before they could get there.

“You want to help the old lady cross the street, am I right?” Hades asked, now realizing what his son wanted to do.

The child nodded, confirming the man’s speculation. “Yes,” he said, and little did he know, he made his father prouder of him. It made the latter happy to know that he, his wife, and the entire estate got to raise the boy well. After all, it takes a village to raise a child.

Hades glanced at his son for a brief moment, then went back to looking at the street before saying, “Okay.” He revved the vehicle, accelerating his speed to get to the old lady faster, then drove to a nearby curb and parked it.

They then went off to the supposed pedestrian lane, holding hand in hand. The woman was already halfway to her destination, and more cars had already gone past her. Now, it was getting more difficult for her to step forward. Seeing that, Hades picked up Friso in his arms and jogged toward her.

The summer sun, exposed high in the sky flexed its hot and prickly rays all high and mighty, the heat was immensely copious, and the air blew a warm breeze. It was already uncomfortable for Hades being doused in extreme daylight like this even though it was still morning, what more would it have felt for a senior citizen with no umbrella or cap on? The poor granny must be feeling distressed right now!

“What are you guys doing?” Haroun asked him. The production van parked by the diner just by the crosswalk the father and son were getting into, having a good distance enough to shoot them perfectly, let alone get a good angle for a zoom.

“Helping.”