The Treasure She Never Asked For

Damien went to Julia's office while carrying Liam, who was reporting on how he was doing in school. Marcel had become quiet after it was determined that he had come to waste time in Julia's office, so he was silently sitting on the sofa while going through his social media.

When they walked in, Julia, who had been on her computer, lifted her head to look at the newcomers and directly stood up and walked towards Damien and Liam.

"Good morning aunt Julia," Liam said to Julia, who was tidying up his hair while Damien was still holding him. 

"Good morning my dear, come here, let me see how much you've grown," Julia said and snatched him from Damien's arms and carried him back to her seat. Damien stood in place and put his now empty hands in his pocket and watched Julia and Liam with a shallow smile on his face.

"It would have been so nice if it was your wife and son, right?" Marcel said in a low voice next to him and Damien glanced at him briefly before looking back at Julia and Liam. In his heart, he knew that if Julia was willing, he would have really loved that.

"Unfortunately, that's not your wife, and that's my young brother," Marcel said with a smug expression. Damien didn't even bother looking at him this time and just stayed silent. Marcel also didn't provoke him anymore and stood silently next to him.

"I haven't heard you harping about dating recently. Did you already find someone?" Julia asked, after putting Liam down.

"Oh? How did you know?" Marcel asked as he took Liam's hand in his.

"Really? Who is it? Do I know them?" Julia asked as she stood up from her seat.

"You do, well, I'll see you two the next time we meet," Marcel said, ready to leave.

"You still haven't said who it is," Julia reminded, but Marcel was already stepping out of her office.

"I'll ask him if it's okay to tell people, then I'll let you know," Marcel said with a cheeky smile and left with Liam. Julia looked at the closed door for a couple of seconds before turning away.

"He is already starting to look like a celebrity," Julia said while looking impressed.

"He is," Damien agreed, and turned the lock on the door. Julia turned around when she heard the sound of the door locking and looked at Damien, who smiled at her.

"Not now Damien," Julia said as she took a step back when Damien took a step forward.

"Why not?" Damien asked as he shrugged off his suit jacket with a devilish smirk as he took another step forward. Julia bit her lip and closed her eyes when she saw his expression. He knew he only had to look at her like that to get her to be in the mood.

"Aren't you going to ask for benefits today?" Damien asked as he caught her by the waist.

"Not really, I'm so busy I could die," Julia complained as she placed her hands on his arms.

"I would have left you alone," Damien started saying after he moved forward and whispered in her ear.

"But you just had to wear this skirt," Damien said and slipped his hands beneath it, showing his impatience blatantly.

"It's always something with you," Julia said and smiled when she was swept off of her feet. It was either her skirt, her shoes, or her lipstick that got him in the mood. .

*

Marcel left with Liam and went out to have lunch together. After lunch, he took him to shop around before they returned home together. Liam felt comfortable the moment the two of them were back in the apartment. 

"I'm sure you missed being home," Marcel said as he closed the door behind him and watched Liam excitedly move around as if to check whether something has changed when he wasn't around. Marcel took the things they bought to the kitchen to unpack.

"Big Brother Marcel, can I have some ice cream?" Liam asked after making a round around the house.

"Mmmh, give me a minute. Go clean up first, then I'll give you some afterwards," Marcel said as he arranged things in the kitchen cabinets and fridge.

"Okay," Liam responded, and went to his room. It was the one thing that he loved the most after leaving the orphanage, the fact that he could now have his own room, that was his personal space.

He remembered the way he last left the room and although things had been moved around to clean up, his things were left relatively untouched.

Marcel finished arranging what needed to be in the kitchen and went to Liam's room to go put his toys and other things they had bought earlier. Marcel was just placing them on his desk when Liam walked out of the bathroom in his pyjamas.

"Are you that tired?" Marcel asked him when he saw what he was wearing. It was bȧrėly past noon. Could anyone tell him why his family's youngest was already in pajamas? Marcel wondered inwardly as he looked at Liam.

"They are comfortable," Liam answered honestly. 

"Okay, you are home, you can wear whatever you want," Marcel said and ruffled Liam's wet hair.

"Let's go dry your hair first," Marcel said as he resisted the urge to frown at his wet hand.

"Okay," Liam said as he clumsily used his towel to dry his hair.

"You'll have to arrange these on your own," Marcel said and pointed at the box of toys he had brought.

"I'll do it later," Liam said and followed Marcel to the living room.

"Did you bring out your blow dryer?" Marcel asked him and Liam ran back to his room to get it as Marcel prepared the ice cream for him. 

"Come sit here," Marcel said to Liam, who had just returned from his room. Liam sat down and handed Marcel the dryer as Marcel gave him his ice cream.

"How is school going?" Marcel asked as he turned the dryer on. 

"Busy," Liam answered plainly as he took a mouthful of ice cream.

"What did you do last weekend?" Marcel asked him as he ruffled his hair to get it to dry faster.

"We went to the zoo last Saturday, then on Sunday we went to play at the park and had ice cream," Liam said and suddenly Marcel felt like he was doing such a lacklustre job at planning their weekends.

"So, where did your peers go today?" Marcel asked Liam.

"Aquarium," Liam answered. Marcel stopped with what he was doing and turned Liam around to look at him. Liam licked his lips as he looked at Marcel questioningly.

"Don't you feel like you are missing out?" Marcel asked him, he wasn't studying in his school but he felt that he was missing out.

"A bit?" Liam answered after carefully thinking about it.

"I'm not you, but I feel like I'm missing out," Marcel said as he pulled him back so that he could finish drying his hair.

"It's no big deal," Liam responded. It wasn't to him, but to Marcel, it was a big deal. He didn't have the time or ability to do these things with Liam, but he wanted him to fully experience them. Even he had never been to a zoo or aquarium, but it was understandable with the state the world will be in, in the future. But now that it's not so, the child should enjoy what he wants to enjoy.

"It is to me cause I want to do these things with you but it's going to be hard," Marcel said as he rubbed Liam's slightly damp hair.

"But I really enjoy spending time with you," Liam said, making Marcel feel a burst of happiness.

"I do too, so why don't we do this? If there is a place that you really want to go to and the school has arranged a weekend trip for you to go there, just let me know and I'll leave you to have fun. What do you say?" Marcel asked as he turned off the dryer. He was done drying Liam's hair, so he turned him around so he can look at him.

"That should work too," Liam said as he nodded in agreement at Marcel's suggestion.

"Mmmh, you finish your ice -cream first. What do you want to have for dinner?" Marcel asked Liam as he stood up from the sofa.

"I want pizza," Liam said without any hesitation. 

"I'll make it for you then," Marcel said and took the dryer back to Liam's room before going to his own.

He got on his bed and checked his messages. He found a text from Marie that was simply asking him to call her as soon as he was available and it was sent over an hour ago. Marcel quickly called her as he couldn't hold back on his own curiosity.

"Hello?" Marie responded from the other side.

"Hi! I just saw your message," Marcel said, getting straight to the point.

"Oh yes, the program group was looking for me today," Marie started explaining.

"They said they wanted to know if you will be open to promoting the show with the other members," Marie quickly explained.

"Talk to Julia first. Damien said that I shouldn't pack my schedule with long-term filming since he wanted me to audition for upcoming movies and dramas," Marcel responded.

"You'll listen to her?" Marie asked, wanting to know if Julia's decision was his as well.

"I will listen to her arrangements," Marcel confirmed, and after a few more pleasantries, they ended the call.

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