Chapter 28 Upgraded
The ride back to the hotel was quiet. Not the comfortable kind. The kind that had tension in the air... Where each person in the car had different thoughts but couldn't voice any out.
By each person... Nelson and Irene. William had fallen asleep halfway through, his head resting against Irene’s shoulder, his small hand still clutching the fabric of her dress like he was afraid she would disappear if he let go.
He was always afraid of that.
He had been left alone so many times by his mother; it was only right that the child was scared.
Irene adjusted slightly, careful not to wake him. She exhaled slowly, her gaze dropping to William.
She brushed his hair back gently, her fingers lingering for just a second longer than necessary.
Her chest tightened.
'He trusts me so easily…'
That thought alone was enough to make something twist uncomfortably inside her.
She still remembered the first time she saw him. She had thought he was a scammer's pawn of some sort, and somehow, fate made her his mother.
Across from her, Nelson sat with his elbow resting against the window, his fingers pressed lightly against his temple.
He hadn’t said a word since they got into the car.
After the conversation they had. That weird conversation.
She insisted it wasn't an act. Nelson was starving to believe it.
Not even an award winning actor would be this good. He had been looking for loopholes since the hotel, but she kept to her story.
She kept to her act. Insisting that she wasn't from this universe.
How could she not be? Time travel? How was that even possible?
Irene Nelson knew and read a lot of novels when she was little, but she matured and changed before they got married.
She didn't believe in things like this anymore... So what was this? Why this? Of all the excuses she could stick to, why this one?
He had watched as the tear slid down her face at the performance of the pianist.
It had been a long time since he had seen Irene cry for something like that. The only times he had seen her cry for the past two years were when she was begging him to divorce her.
Irene had liked music once like that. Nelson knew that.
He also knew that she had originally intended to go to a college where she could study music as a major.
But then she didn't.
She went to his college instead, and instead of music, she went to something he had never expected... Catering.
She acted as though she didn't care about it anymore. So why the sudden change?
Nelson was tired of trying to guess what was going on in Irene's head. She had proven to be more complicated than she could understand.
Nelson let out a small sigh, his eyes fixed on Irene's beautiful face. He watched the way she gazed at William... Their son was like the most beautiful creature in the world.
He watched her part his hair softly, drawing circles on his chubby cheeks. She was so gentle and loving.
It brought a warm feeling to Nelson's chest as he watched.
She was changing.
She had changed suddenly a few years ago. She was doing it again... But this time was different.
She wasn't changing back to the woman he married, she was...
Nelson didn't know how to put it.
But this felt familiar to her.
The car came to a slow stop.
The driver stepped out first, opening the door quietly.
Nelson moved before Irene could. “I’ll take him.”
Irene blinked, startled slightly as Nelson leaned forward, carefully lifting William into his arms.
The boy stirred, his brows knitting slightly, but he didn’t wake.
He simply shifted… instinctively settling against Nelson’s chest.
Irene watched them for a second too long.
Something about the way Nelson held him…
It wasn't forced, or strange. It just felt right.
The more Irene stared at them, the more she thought of her Nelson, back in her universe.
Could he ever be like this?
She had only seen him soft a handful of times, and even less when he was being soft towards her.
While this Nelson was an amazing father, her Nelson back at home was more likely to commit murder than become such a sweet father.
And my committing murder meant he would more likely murder her. Because Irene was sure she would snap one day and attempt to kill him.
He would overpower her, and murder her.
Maybe if she were in some kind of situation where she was in a hospital, and Nelson just got out of jail for putting her in the hospital... She would have thought it was the future.
But this...
This mind Nelson? The Nelson that had emotions in his eyes as he stared at a kid, even though it wasn't at her... It couldn't he the same person who bullied her in high school.
Irene's chest tightened again.
She quickly looked away, stepping out of the car.
When Irene got to the room she had booked, she brought her purse forward, about to reach into it to get the key, when someone walked towards her.
"What are you doing ma'am?" The person asked Irene, and she raised her gaze.
The face seemed a bit familiar... Then it hit her. It was the guy from the front desk who had checked her in.
"Em... Hello." She waved with her free hand. "I'm about getting into my room." It was only after she said that that she remembered that Nelson had gone ahead of her.
'He must already be in the room'
She thought, and raised her hand, about knocking on the door, when...
"Wait.. why are you doing that?" Irene heard the man suddenly ask, moving closer to her as though to stop her from knocking on the door.
A small frown appeared on her face. "I told you. I want to get to my room." She said, giving the man a skeptical stare. "Isn't this the room you checked me in at?" She asked, tilting her head slightly to the side, with a brow raised.
"Yes, but don't you know?" The man asked, genuinely confused. "Your husband upgraded it into a suit... The penthouse." He said.
Irene's brain took a few seconds to process it.
All she heard was... Upgrade. Penthouse and suit.
"Nelson upgraded the room to a penthouse?!" She yelled when she finally found her voice.
What the...
That was huge!
A penthouse?
Weren't they leaving tomorrow? Why would he upgrade it to a penthouse?
"Rich people do waste money." She muttered under her breath, still in shock.