4. Chapter 4 #2
Constantly for the few months after Theo finally started talking to me.
The heartbreak in his eyes haunted me for weeks, and the cage of my childhood I’d locked in the very far back of my mind, always came to surface whenever she was mentioned, which is why I had to force myself to stop thinking about it otherwise, I’d be seconds away of clutching my drink so hard, it shoot upwards, like a cartoon and stain the ceiling with Coca cola syrup.
“Are you still going to help the ladies?” Theo suddenly asks, thankfully snapping me out of my thoughts as I turn to see he’d devoured his burger and his fries, now happily munching on a nugget, as he always left them for last.
“…Yeah, I’m still helping the ladies, bud,” I respond, feeling a flutter in my stomach. I loved how he worded it.
To others, I’m known as a grumpy, arrogant asshole. Not that I care, but Theo’s opinion of me is what matters most. Especially since I still have no clue if I’m doing this whole raising a child thing right, there have been small moments that give me that validation.
A little over a year and a half ago, when I returned from an international pro bono case, Min-Joon would have the weekend off to watch Theo.
The day had gone on like normal, but an hour after I came home, Theo asked me why I always left every other week, and I sat him down to explain that there were mostly ladies or people who needed my help because they were being picked on by the human version of ‘Bowser’.
An odd way of putting it, I know, but it was the best way for him to keep him innocent and for him to understand the situation, plus there was something oddly satisfying about my little brother picturing me as a hero.
Because the way he smiled in response once I was done explaining, followed by the biggest hug and him telling me to ‘go get’em’, filled me with pride. Especially because every other time I returned from a case after that, Theo would always ask if I crushed it, and I did, every time.
Theo would never know what I actually did, not until he was at least eighteen. At his current age, he wasn’t to know that I help women and others escape from abusive partners and/or help them regain custody of their kids from a manipulative, toxic asshole.
A job I do with free will and has no ties to my day job whatsoever; if anything, I protect men and women from the very people Buckley in fact, I’d denied several similar cases daily, but then came along a woman named Sandy Bloom.
A woman living in a shelter with her three-year-old son because her monster of a husband scammed her out of her entitled fortune and took the sick pleasure of treating her like a punching bag.
At first I brushed it off, like the other cases I’d received in the past, it’s wasn’t my expertise and an extra workload I didn’t want to deal with but after the woman had somehow tracked down where I lived, noted that Nigel ensured it never happened again or he’d resign on the spot, regardless I oddly couldn’t say no to the woman who stood on my doorstep, covered in bruises and clutching her son for dear life, in the January cold for god knows how long, knocking the door until I finally answered.
To this day, I’m not sure if it was because her little son gazed at me as I was about to close the door, and I immediately pictured Theo in the same situation, so I took on her case, and for the next few months leading up to the case, she and her son lived in my other spare room.
Having spare rooms has come in handy once or twice, as it was prior to Min-Joon moving in, and when things got too busy, she took care of Theo; he and her son ended up becoming really close, and even after we’d won her case, she moved back to LA, where her parents were based.
But would always get in touch when she was in town for her job, and we arranged for the boys to have a playdate once a year.
After researching in a new field, you could say I caught the bug because she also introduced me to a few other women she knew at the shelter, and my Pro Bono services have been open ever since.
It turns out there is a disturbingly large number of women and men who migrated here to be with someone who turned on them, and they either needed help getting their life back or wanted entry back to their country.
After about a year, I was getting contacted by people, mostly women, all over the world, many of them referred through Sandy. Just the other day, there had also been a couple in Scotland who reached out and just last week, I’d been getting tons from South Korea.
It was only a matter of time before I had to start turning some cases down, or better yet, handing them off to other attorneys I trusted, as I was only one man.
The international cases alone were a whole other kind of commitment.
Ones that made things ten times harder when things like Visas and international rights came into play. Being a corporate lawyer was exhausting enough, but having this on top of my usual workload did complicate things a bit. But I had a meeting with Kaine and Buckley.
Being named the most ruthless yet top firms in the field, they weren’t exactly happy to hear I was offering my services and skills for free, but after I kindly reminded them that I was the best at what I did and they didn’t have the right to dictate what I could and couldn’t do, they reconsidered.
Because they couldn’t deny it, I was responsible for 85% of their top clients, and if they made the mistake of letting me go, you best believe I’d be taking every single one of those clients with me, so the meeting ended with them explaining as long as I didn’t let the pro-bono work interfere with my corporate cases, I could do as I please.
And I have been.
I go to the office every week and do the work that needs to be done, then when I come home, I work on my pro-bono cases. Granted, that doesn’t leave much room for sleep, but work was all I had aside from Theo, so as long as I functioned enough to make those two things work, I see no issue.
Becoming a junior partner of K it was rare for him to do it twice.
“…How did you know, bud?” I question, drinking the last of my Coke whilst he worked on swallowing his third nugget.
“I heard you and Uncle Nigel talking, and Joonie is gone forever, too,” Theo reveals sadly, bowing his head as he reaches for another nugget. I took a deep breath and scooted a little closer to him.
“Min-Joon isn’t gone forever, bud,” I correct him, messing up his curly locks.
“Remember? He told you he’s gone to help people like him. He’s gonna come and visit soon, and he’ll be back before you know it.” I add. Theo knew all of this already, but he still nodded and ate the last of his food in silence.
“…How do you feel about getting a new nanny?” I ask gently, looking down at him.
“I don’t like new people,” he replies, looking up at me. I bit back on my lip and nodded.
“I know you don’t bud, but Nigel and I are working really hard to make sure we find the best person possible for you,” I retort, hoping it would reassure him, but he just had the same sadness in his eyes as he looked away from me.
“I know meeting new people is hard, but remember your first day of school? You cried and wouldn’t let go of my leg, but then you met Joseph and Marcus, and all of your other friends, and now you love school?” I add, bending my neck to try and get him to look at me, but all I get is a curt nod.
Things stayed silent between us for the next few minutes. I knew what it meant; he needed that time to adjust to the situation, so I started tidying up our mess, stacking the two trays because Theo always insisted on having his own.
Then I piled all the rubbish on top, handing Theo his meal toy. He accepted it but just held it, when usually it was his favourite thing to rip it open the moment he was done with his food.
“Let’s get going, bud. You want to go and get our ice creams?
” I ask, hoping he’d scream yes and run to the counter and start the order whilst I threw the rubbish away, but instead, he just nods and waits until I stood up with the tray in one hand.
Wrapping his tiny hand in mine, and follows me to the bin.
Then remained tucked behind me as I ordered our ice cream and headed back to the car.
Theo took his time, dragging his feet as he climbed into the backseat. I secured his seatbelt and handed him his Smartie ice cream that had extra toppings, thanks to the girl behind the counter, who was happy to do so after I offered her a wink.
I’d eaten mine pretty quickly, much like I did with most things, but what hurt was when I noticed Theo had barely touched his when I pulled out of the parking lot.
“…Ollie?” Theo whispered five minutes after we set off for home.
“Yeah, bud?” I replied, making eye contact with him through the rear-view mirror.
“…C-can I pick my nanny?” he asked, looking down whilst rocking his ice cream spoon back and forth. For the third time today, he surprised me. He was starting to get unpredictable, and I wasn’t sure if I liked it or not.