Chapter 25

“WHAT if your agency found out about Vince?” Penelope asked Justin worriedly after preparing Vince’s breakfast and saw him going down the stairs in his semi-formal outfit. “Why are you’re dressed like that?” she asked, trying her best to hide her admiration for his simple yet strikingly handsome style.

With his charcoal black trousers, white V-neck shirt topped with a gray coat, Penelope would mistake him as a businessman rather than an artist. Nicholas also wore this kind of clothes, but not as fashionable as Justin. She curled her lips. It was as if whatever he wore would look good to him.

‘Is he really a singer? Or a model?’ she thought as she kept telling her mind that she’s not attracted to him yet, starting to cloud her thoughts with images of him being naked and wet.

“Why are you blushing?” Justin asked on a knotted forehead. “Are you sick?” He reached to touch her forehead, but she quickly swept his hand away.

“I’m not sick,” she said. “Just answer my question because it kept me awake all night.” But it’s just a lie because what kept him awake all night was him and his greatness.

When the man didn’t answer her, she remembered what happened last night when Vince suddenly went out of his room and found them on the floor. The kid cried immediately because he thought that Justin is hurting her.

That is when Penelope realized the reason why Justin was so eager to hire her as his son’s babysitter because even he can’t tame the child when having tantrums. But Penelope also doesn’t understand why Vince was so attached to her. Penelope ditched the thought that is starting to remind her again of the memories of her past. Why does she even think about it?

“What are you gonna tell them?” she asked again, watching Vince on the dinner table carefully eating his food because she told him to eat slowly to avoid splattering his food on the table. When the child looked at them, they both waved at him. “He listened to me when I told him that kids like him should eat vegetables.”

Justin smiled. “Vince hated vegetables. I’ve tried feeding him with some mashed potatoes, but we ended up messing the table.”

Penelope laughed. “Did you explain to him why a child needs vegetables? Or did you just serve the greens on his platter?”

“Do I have to do the lecturing first on the dinner table?” Justin asked in raised brows.

“Of course!” she said and pointed at Vince, who was now eating the carrots on his plate. “Look, I told him that carrots have Vitamin A that helps our eyes see clearly. If he eats it, he could see the colorful shades of the rainbow without the use of glasses.”

Justin looked at her impressively. “So that’s how you talk to a child,” he said and laughed. “But I doubt he’ll believe me if I say that to him. He knows that I’m an actor and…”

“Everything was scripted?” Penelope finished his words then looked at him. “Was it?”

“Of course not,” he said, then heaved a sigh. “It’s just that everything was still complicated.”

She knotted her forehead. “Complicated? Why?”

Justin put his hands in his pockets. “My agency knew about Vince, but they didn’t know that he’s staying here with me now,” he said in a low tone. “For now, I don’t have plans on telling them.”

“What?” she asked in disbelief. “He’s your child, Justin. It’s just normal that he stays with you.” She caught her forehead. “I didn’t expect that this is much complicated than I thought.”

“It’s a long story,” he said and looked at Vince’s door. “I’ve wanted to take him home, but because of my job, I can’t just do that.”

Penelope drew her brows together. “Because your fans believe that you’re a bachelor?”

“I am a bachelor,” he said, brows furrowed. “What makes you think that I’m not?”

Penelope gave him a questioning look. “Wait for a second—”

“Mama!” Vince called her. “I-I want more tarrots!”

She chuckled at Vince’s wrong pronunciation of ‘carrots. “Baby, I told you, it’s ‘carrots’ and not ‘tarrots,” she said and dashed to the dinner table to assist Vince’s food. For a moment, Penelope forgot her question to Justin.

___________________

JUSTIN watched the woman went to Vince’s side and gave him everything that he needs. He didn’t expect that Penelope could be this caring towards Vince, she helped him prepare and eat his food without noise, but mild requests to stay still and eat the food they prepared.

There are some times that Vince would refuse what she’s giving him, and Justin expected that Penelope will get mad. Still, he was wrong because the woman that showed him impatience on other things is now patiently and lovingly babysitting a child with mild autism.

Sister Coleen told Justin that Vince is one of the children that can’t be tamed easily because of his different behavior. Still, even so, Justin pursued adoption. He sees himself when he was an orphan and was forced to different families that didn’t want him because of his weak health condition as a child. It took years before Justin finally met the family that will accept him and loves him despite his weaknesses.

“What now?”

He blinked upon hearing Penelope’s voice in front of her. He looked at her and saw that she’s giving him again a questioning look. “What, what?”

“What’s your plan?” she asked, propping her hands on her waist. “What if they found out about Vince? About me?”

Justin looked away from her and focused his gaze on his son, Vince. “I don’t know…”

“What do you mean you don’t know?” Penelope asked him, brows furrowed in confusion.

Justin scratched the back of his head. “Well… All of them were against my decision on taking him home because they’re afraid that the public might found out about it—”

“Who cares about the public?!” Penelope cut off. Justin can see in her eyes that she’s starting to lose her patience towards him.

He reached to her hand. “Wait, let me explain—”

“Are you afraid that the public might know that you’re a fake bachelor?” she asked, clenching her fist.

Justin’s brows furrowed. “What?”

“Justin? Yoo-hoo! Manager Archie told me to pick you up for your new endorsement—” Cherry stopped on her feet when she saw Penelope and Vince on the dinner table.

Justin tried to block her view, but she had already seen them. “How did you enter my house? I changed my passcode!”

Cherry looked at Penelope, eyes wide in shock. “You’re the Clinic Girl!” she shouted and gazed at Vince. “Holy molly, Justin!” 

“Che, Che, listen to me—”

“You processed the adoption without telling Manager Arc?” she caught her head. “You’re dead, my gosh!”

Penelope walked towards them. “Wait, did you say adoption?”

***