Unwilling To Hate You (MAJOR EDITING)

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Charlie's POV

The door in front of the three of us opened to welcome us in, but none of us moved. I suppose it was taking time to settle in. This was the life that most of the world dreams of having, the great life, the rich life, but I wanted to truly know whether living here, or growing up here was as good as it was made out to be. I'd love for it to be as amazing as it sounds, but most the time it never is. It's called a dream for a reason after all.

And the woman I was looking at could only be described as a dream. She was beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. She wasn't necessarily dressed to show off her wealth, but she held a certain elegance in her stance, the way she guided the door open, as if the door following her command. Her face held a stern expression, one that could knock your confidence completely. But there was something soft hidden behind her eyes too, an understanding, an acknowledgment, an invitation into her feelings. Maybe I was just seeing things, but she seemed shocked for a moment at my appearance, maybe not expecting me to be the mother of the child that she's been looking after, maybe not expecting someone who looked completely and utterly incapable of leaving a child, and yet here I was.

"You must be Charlie?" She walked out the door a little, offering her hand. I shook it, her's sporting a strong grip, and then released it, nodding.

"This is Mr Henderson and Jake." I gave a name to the strange faces that she would have waltzing through her house soon enough. Her eyes seemed to narrow on Jake and then grow happy with Mr Henderson, offering them both a nod and moving aside, inviting us in.

"This is very nice." I mumbled as my eyes travelled around the interior. Just like the outside. The only way you could tell it was owned by someone who had money was because of the quality of the furniture, it wasn't flashy, but you could tell that someone created it by paying attention to detail, and that stuff doesn't come cheap.

"You could say that." The woman said next to me, moving in front for us to follow.

"Sorry, I don't think we ever got your name?" I grabbed ahold of her arm gently to gain her attention.

Her eyes flickered down to my hand still holding her arm, then flashed up to my face, as if accusing me of something, in which I let go immediately.

"Sorry." I muttered, looking away from her expression.

"It's fine. I'm Caz. Casandra seems too old for my age." She said, as if making a joke but not managing to pull through due to her expression. Was it a joke or was she being serious. I certainly couldn't tell.

"Er-yeah-I mean sure." I nodded, my eyes catching onto movement through the gap between the door we just walked past. I came to a halt, Mr Henderson, Jake and Caz carrying on, nattering about something or trying to. But I stayed, rooted to the spot as I met eyes with a little boy playing on a games console.

"Who are you?" He said, maybe intimidated, maybe not. "Mum! There's someone in the house!" He sprung up, chucking the controller at me, hard may I add, and it bouncing off the space between my eyebrow and my eye.

"Ah-fucking hell-shit me." I muttered, bending down holding my left eye.

"Cole what did you do!?" Caz muttered towards him, grabbing ahold of his arm and bending down to him.

But I wasn't listening to anything else, the telling off, the padding of his feet as he walked over to me, or Caz's voice as she told him to apologise properly. I was still caught up over the fact that he called her his mum.

I might be being irrational, because she had, unlike me, looked after him his whole life, but it wasn't a nice feeling to have. She deserved such a title, she had done what I hadn't, she had bought him up in a world that a child couldn't do alone, and I was thankful for the life that he had, but it made me feel useless. Like there was no point in me being here.

I had decided to show up in his life so late on, what affect would I have now?

"Charlie, are you alright?" Mr Henderson spoke, putting his arms around me, as if protecting me from what was right in front of my eyes.

"I-er. I just-I'll be back in a minute." I said, pulling away from him and walking straight back out the way we came, wandering off to the car we had come in. My hand hit the bonnet in frustration as I leaned against it, folding my arms and looking at the other houses that played a bigger role in my boy's upbringing than I did.

My phone rang in the few moments I had.

"Hello?"

"It's me Charlie, the judge called me because he couldn't get ahold of Mr Henderson. Your dad's pulled out Charlie, he doesn't want the trial anymore, he's pleaded guilty. No way out." He rushed, knowing that I was clearly busy.

"Thanks." I said slowly before ending the call and placing the phone back in my pocket. What was happening?

Shaking my head in disappointment at myself, I brought my hand up to squeeze my eyes shut, trying to hold in everything I wanted to avoid.

"I know how you feel." Caz's voice interrupted my downfall, her feet clicking against the ground as she came closer, only stopping when I could practically feel her body heat. She leaned against the car too, turning to take in my state.

"How?" I asked, looking up and meeting her gaze.

"My child's heart went to someone else. When the poor kid woke up I could only think that he was mine, he had my girl's heart beating inside of him. It didn't seem right that he was calling his mother mum when he had her heart. I felt lost too." She spoke, her voice breaking a few times, yet she still managed to hold herself together.

"I'm sorry." I said, looking away.

"You don't need to be, our situations may not be the same, but I felt the same way. But you don't have to. You're his mum, and even though he doesn't know it yet, you'll get to fulfil that part in his life. I won't stand in your way." She admitted.

"He doesn't know?" I asked, my voice going hard.

"No." She dismissed, as if I should have known that.

"Why does he not know? What am I going to say, oh sorry your mum didn't think to tell you that she wasn't your real mother, it's actually me?" I spoke aggressively turning on her.

"Do not blame me for your wrong doings. It is not my place to tell him that his mother left him." She spoke sternly back.

I scoffed, turning away.

"I didn't leave him. He was taken away from me." I admitted, not giving her the satisfaction of meeting her pitying gaze.
"I'm only here because I found out that he wasn't dead."

"Why would you think he was dead?" She asked, turning her body to face me, giving me her full attention.

"Because I was told that he was." I snapped, most likely at the fact that I was not ready to share such details with the person who fulfilled my son's life in the way it was meant to be.

"You don't have to do everything today you know. It'll take a while for him to come to terms with it. Don't run away if he doesn't understand." She said, grabbing ahold of my hand.

"I don't plan on it."

"No one does, but sometimes when it gets a little too real then it feels as if there's nothing else to do but run." She said, rubbing her thumb across the back of my hand. "Promise, for Cole's sake that you won't run." She said.

"I promise." I said, finally looking up at her, a smile beginning to blossom on her face.

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Here you go again!! Enjoy reading.