PS I'm Over You

Opening the door of his apartment, Evan threw the plastic bags containing chips and bottles of cola on the nearest couch, took large strides through the hallway, and went to the kitchen. Following him inside, Ginny and Skyler noticed the messy clothes, wrappers of potato chips, and bottles of sodas piled up in the corner of his living room.

Ginny snorted at her fiancé's habit and attitude. She hoped that he would stop making this mess once they got married. She didn't want to be someone's maid to look after him. It's a good thing that they had already bought their matrimonial house with enough rooms to house his collections and figurines.

She took the dirty clothes to the laundry room and cleaned up his space. As a neurosurgeon, Ginny might not have enough time to do these things every day. She could only hope Evan learned to clean up his own mess. The nerve of him disliking children when he himself acted like a rotten child!

Skyler scanned the room with curiosity. This man claimed to be his uncle, his daddy's brother. Aside from the trash that was left in the room, he noticed huge glass shelves with its own lighting each on the left side of the room. It contained several action figures from famous video games and movies. Right above their head, he saw several aircraft from Star Wars hanging from the ceiling. His uncle was surely a big kid with all of those toys he had acquired.

Evan went back to the living room, his soiled pants changed into a pair of clean jogging pants. He noticed the little boy sitting at one end of his couch. His eyes checked out his precious collections on the glass shelves. Evan loudly slurped some noodles from the instant ramen he had in one hand and sat beside the kid.

"Are you really my daddy's brother?" Skyler asked. Evan nodded at him.

"Half."

"Half?"

"Yep. We have the same daddy but different mommies." Evan tried to explain without confusing the boy. Skyler blinked, trying to understand what his uncle said. His young mind processed his thoughts again. Same daddy? Was it possible?

"But Mommy said there are only one mommy and one daddy for each baby,." he finally said.

Evan almost choked on the food in his mouth. He started coughing, his right hand covering his mouth while the other one seeking for a bottled cola in one of the bags. Was this kid serious? Was there some deity that he accidentally disrespected lately? Why were these misfortunes falling onto him today?

No. Hell no. He refused to explain and give a four-year-old the well-known "The Talk." Never would he bring himself to that level. Ririna would surely bring out her big momma guns to kill him.

No. It wasn't his fault. Neither was it Skyler's nor Ririna's. It's all Eli's fault! Man, did the devil himself actually pass his torture ability/skill to this child? Skyler seemed to know what buttons he must push to trigger him.

He should have castrated that devil so he couldn't pass his genes to the younger generation. Look at what happened! The devil's child knew how to embarrass him, torture him mentally without knowing what he had done.

He drank almost half of the cola to help him cease his coughing fit.

"She's right. There's only one mommy and daddy for each baby. But your daddy's mommy and our daddy separated years ago, and because of that—see—here I am." Evan explained.

"I see. Does my daddy also have another baby aside from me?"

Evan shook his head. As far as he knew, his elder brother wasn't the type who would commit himself to a woman. It was usual to see women throw themselves at his elder brother, but he hadn't really seen him have an interest in someone or be in a serious relationship.

When he found out earlier that Eli fathered a child, he was not sure what to think of it. Of course, he was surprised. Eli wasn't the type of man who prioritized family—what more, kids. He actually felt bad for Skyler because he got an emotionally constipated father.

"You are the only one, Sky. I don't think there's someone else." He looked at the child. Skyler was actually smart for his young age. He hadn't met any child like him before. He wouldn't admit it to anyone—even to his elder brother—that he was very happy having Skyler as his nephew. Who wouldn't fall for this kid's gentle smile? Although most of his looks were inherited from his father, his expressive eyes and cute smile undeniably came from Ririna.

It seemed Ririna raised the kid well by herself. Based on Ririna's gentle and positive attitude before her so-called accident, Evan knew any man who could have Ririna would be too lucky to have her. Who would have thought that his selfish brother would stake a claim on that woman?

"Did your mommy tell you anything about your daddy?" he asked, noticing how the child's features turned sad and upset.

"Mommy said we couldn't be with Daddy," Skyler started, "because there are so many bad people who want to hurt Daddy. She also said these bad people will try to hurt Daddy by using us."

Evan listened to the child. Ririna's reasoning seemed acceptable. That's right, Eli got a lot of enemies out there. If they found out about Skyler, he wasn't sure if he could protect him. Yes, he knew that Eli was way better than him in terms of hand-to-hand combat and planning skills. He would instantly eliminate any threats that came his way.

As for Skyler, would Eli consider him as a threat? As his weakness? Was this why Ginny refused and looked afraid when he tried informing his brother earlier? Evan looked down at the cup of ramen on his hands as if it was more interesting than anything. Although they were brothers, they were always at each other's necks. Eli's deep-rooted hatred against him and his mother were undeniable.

Suddenly, he heard a sniffle beside him. Turning his head, he saw Skyler trying to stop his incoming tears with his two little fists while sniffling.

"But Mommy… Mommy is always alone. Always working hard for the two of us. Sometimes, she couldn't play with me." His tiny cheeks were flushed red and stained by the tears he failed to stop. "Mommy doesn't know… sometimes, I hear her crying while working on paintings at night."

Ginny joined them in the room, surprised to see Skyler crying. She gave Evan a questioning look. He shook his head, denying the allegation that he was the one responsible for the little boy's crying.

With all the activities and his sudden emotional outburst, he felt drained. He soon fell asleep on the couch beside his uncle, with his little head cushioned by his Auntie Ginny's legs while she stroked his dark locks.

"I'm sorry, babe," Ginny started as she leaned her head on Evan's shoulder, "I should have told you earlier about Skyler."

"Tell me the truth, she really didn't lose her memories, right?" After hearing the little boy's troubles, Evan couldn't help but think back to what had happened before Ririna's disappearance. "We're going to get married soon. Why would you hide this information from me? How can I protect you if I don't know what's going on?"

Feeling ashamed and guilty, Ginny buried her face in Evan's chest.

"I know. I'm really sorry. You are right. She didn't really lose her memories. The night when she woke up from her one-week coma, she was so surprised to see Eli on her bedside as if he was a different person. She was so afraid that he had already found out about their baby. It was the first time we saw her so terrified and cowering in fear because of Eli. I'm sure he was also surprised by her sudden change. I didn't give a second thought to use it to help Ririna to get away from him."

Evan didn't respond. He was thinking about what he should do now to protect Ginny and his newfound nephew. Let's face it, they couldn't keep the secret about Skyler forever from Eli. There would be a time that he would eventually find out about the child. He just hoped that he was strong enough to protect Ginny when Eli unleashed his wrath against them.

Crap, would this mean he has to sacrifice his playing time to train harder? He could always ask his dad for assistance, but could he really share this secret with him? Knowing Eli's attitude, he would only and unwillingly listen to what their father said.