When A Woman Loves
Love on the Rocks
When I woke up the next morning, I was alone in my bed. I sat up slowly and rubbed my eyes. I pulled my hair up into a messy bun and got out of bed to get a cup of coffee. My arm was still in the cast and for some reason, my shoulder was killing me.
I opened my door, and a black blur flew past me and Eli came right behind her.
"Morning babe. Ummm why are you chasing my child?" I asked before turning to make my coffee.
"Oh she's your child now?" Eli said before giving me a kiss while Mercy squirmed on his shoulder. I laughed and nodded. "I like that, you being the mother of my child."
"Mommy!!" screamed Mercy. "Good Morning! Daddy let me help with breakfast!!"
Eli put her on the counter in front of me and I snuggled into her. "Oh really?"
"Un huh! We made yummy food!" she said before scrambling out my arms and pulling me to the kitchen. A huge spread of American breakfast sat in front of me.
"I wanted to thank you for sticking with me, helping me out last night and even calling her your child. You've only known her for a day and she told me this morning that she likes her new mommy better than her old mommy. She said her old mommy was mean." Eli said in Korean so that Mercy couldn't understand. He pulled me into a hug and kissed my forehead.
"I could say a lot, but all I need to say is I'll always be here. Even if we break up, which I'm not planning on, Mercy is still my little girl. She tugged at my heart and I can tell she won't let go." I said softly. "Let's talk later?"
Eli nodded and pulled me to the table. He filled my plate with chocolate chip pancakes, a spinach and cheese omelet, hash browns and turkey sausage. Then he gave me a glass of orange juice.
"Sit and eat." he said with a big grin. I smiled and sat down. My first bite of pancakes made my heart sing. I chewed slowly as Eli helped Mercy into her seat and cut her food into tiny pieces. It made me smile the way he acted with her. He poured her a little glass of orange juice and then grabbed a straw so that she wouldn't spill the cup trying to drink from it.
He sat down next to me and played with my hair as I ate.
"This is really good," I said before eating my last bit of omelet. "I haven't had an omelet like this since I was back home in America."
"I'm happy you like it," he said before kissing my cheek. "hey sweetie, go watch TV in the living room, ok."
"Okay daddy." she said with a grin. She scrambled off the chair and skipped to the room.
ELI POV
I watched my daughter skip off to the living room. My daughter. I had a daughter.
I sighed softly and I turned to Imani. She was staring intently at the glass of orange juice I poured for her.
"Imani ..." I said. "Are you mad at me?"
She squinted and shook her head no and just kept staring.
"Are ... Are you sure?" I asked.
She nodded again. "I just ... I started thinking during breakfast and -"
"You don't love me anymore." I said stupidly. I knew it was wrong thing to say, it just tumbled out of my mouth
Her head whipped around. "I did NOT say that! Are you serious? Do you think I'm shallow enough to leave when something gets rough?" she all but screamed.
I sat back, shocked. Imani stood up and went into our room. I jumped up and followed her. She was pacing the room when I walked in. I shut the door and sat on the bed. Then she exploded.
"I love you! I would never leave you in times of trouble! When I said yes to dating you, I made you a promise that for as long as we are together, I will stand behind you and push you up when you fall! Just because I'm shocked or upset doesn't mean that the love I have for you has stopped! And if you really thought that I could just stop loving you, you're sadly mistaken."
I don't think she knew that she was crying and it killed me inside not to pull her into my arms and hold her until she was fine.
"Tell me the truth.... Did you really think that? What have I done that made you believe that?" she asked, her voice warbling as tears fell freely.
I stood up and wiped away her tears. She turned her face from me and I gently turned it back to face me.
"If I just held you and kissed away your tears, would that answer your questions?" I said softly. "But if that doesn't fix it, I'm sorry. I just doubted that I was actually worthy of being loved. I just felt like you wouldn't want to be with me anymore because I have a child. I remember you said you didn't want to be with someone with a child."
"But if I told you last night that I loved you despite all of that and even called that little girl my child, what makes you think I want to abandon you with a 3 year old?" she asked, tears flowing quickly down her face. I pulled her into me and lI could feel her body shaking against my own as she cried. I sat down on the bed and pulled her into my lap. She curled up and laid her head in the crook on my neck, her tears dripping on my shirt.
"Come on," I said before picking her up bridal style. I put her in our bed and kissed her gently. "I'm going to call Xander. Out of the members, he needs to know first."
She nodded, rolled over and covered her face with the blanket. I sighed and mentally kicked myself; why would I say that to her? I went into the living room and snuck up on Mercy.
"Boo!" I yelled before picking her up and swinging her around. Her little girl squeals filled the room and lifted my mood.
"Daddy!!" she giggled. "Spin faster!"
"Not right now," I said with a laugh. "Wanna meet daddy's best friend?"
"Yes!" she said with a giggle.
"His name is uncle Xander and you're going to play with him for a while today. Okay?"
She nodded seriously and motioned for me to come closer to her. I moved down to her level and looked at her.
"Daddy, are you a famous singer?" she asked, seriousness written across her face.
I laughed a little, "Yes, why?"
"My old mommy said that was why you wouldn't talk to me." she said with a pout. "But my new mommy said that wasn't true."
I stiffened. "Your old mother was mean and didn't tell me you were born, your new mommy is right. I love you very much and so does your new mommy.
A smile lit up her face and she jumped into my arms and hugged me. I didn't need her to say that she understood me, because the hug said enough. I carried her to the phone with me and called Xander's room.
"Hello."
"Hey, I need you to come to my room. Now."
"What's wrong?" he asked, panic in his voice.
"Nothing serious, just come to my room." I said before hanging up.
Within a few minutes, there was a knock on my door. I still had Mercy on my hip and we went to get the door. When I opened the door, Xander zeroed in on Mercy and smiled at her.
"Hi sweetie! What's your name?" Xander said.
"My name is Mercy and I'm 3!" she said.
"Hi Mercy!" Xander said. "Why is Eli holding you?"
Before I could stop her, she cried out. "Because he's my daddy!!"
Xander's face paled but he covered it well. He gave me a pointed look and then took her from me.
"Imani knows?" he asked in Korean.
I nodded and brushed Mercy's hair out of her face. "I'm talking to her now, just keep her busy and don't tell the guys yet."
He nodded and then smiled at Mercy. "What do you like to do?"
The sounds of her chattering echoed around me as I went back to my room.
Imani was sitting in the bed with her back to me. I walked over to the bed and climbed behind her. I put her between my legs and pulled her back into me. I could sense her thinking so I just sat there silently until she decided to talk.
"I'm not mad at you. I just ... I don't think you understand how much it hurt me that you thought that. I love you, not because you are perfect, because no one is perfect. I love you because of your imperfections. I loved you when you told me that you messed up and slept with her, I loved you when you told me she was your daughter. So what makes you think I would love you less if all of a sudden I'm thinking about something during breakfast."
"I truly can't even tell you. I didn't mean to say it." I said before hugging her tightly.
"And I didn't mean to blow up at you like I did. I was just so shocked." she said, snuggling into my chest.
I smiled down at her and kissed her softly. She smiled into the kiss and kissed me back with a gentleness I'd never known. It was then I realized that nothing was better than the love of a woman.
Nothing.
later that day - Imani POV
Eli and I managed to get over our problem quicker than I expected. We told the rest of the guys and Micha what happened and that we were going to legally adopt her. We were leaving Japan tonight and heading to Hawaii and would be there for Christmas.
Mercy had been playing with Xander and Kiesop for most of the day and already had Kibum wrapped completely around her finger. Kevin, SooHyun, DongHo and Micha went to buy clothes for her and all the things a 3 year old would need while touring North America with her parents.
"Babe!" Eli yelled from our room. "Where is your suitcase?"
"Closet!" I screamed back.
I walked over to where Kibum was sitting and plopped down next to him.
"Tired?" Kibum asked.
"Yes, I have always loved children, but having one of my own is so tiring." I said before leaning on his shoulder.
"Just wait until you and Eli have your own. You'll be even more tired because it'll be Mercy and the baby." Kibum said while watching Xander swing Mercy around while making airplane noises.
I sat up, "What do you mean?"
"Don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about. Everyone knows that you two are getting married one day." he said before leaning over into my face. "I called it now."
"Okay bummie... Whatever you say." I said before sticking my tongue out at him.
He laughed and shoved me a little. "I'm serious, just wait. You two are so getting married."
I laughed and rolled my eyes playfully. "Well then I guess I should go and help my husband pack."
Kibum started laughing and that was the sound that followed me into our bedroom.
Eli was going through all the drawers and was putting my things neatly into my suitcase.
"Need some help?" I asked before hopping on the bed.
"No, I'm good. Im done actually. Once they come back from shopping and we put her stuff in a suitcase, we can leave." Eli said. He moved all the suitcases to the door and laid on the bed next to me. He had just closed his eyes when there was a loud banging on the door. His eyes popped open and he said come in.
"They're back. Let's hurry and pack this up so we can go." Kiesop said.
"I'll help," I said before Eli could complain. "It shouldn't be that much."
He nodded and I pulled him off the bed and out the room with me. I stopped in the doorway and stared at the 20 bags of clothes that sat in front of me.
Micha grinned sheepishly. "We got carried away?"
Eli groaned and grabbed the massive suitcase they bought for her. "Let's get started."
5 hours and 3 mishaps later, we were walking into the airport. I was carrying the little bag of things for Mercy to play with on flight to Hawaii and Eli was carrying her because she fell asleep on the way to the airport.
"Here, cover her face." Eli said. "No! Wrap her in the blanket and make sure you can't see her face."
I did as he asked and made sure her head was on his shoulder. He draped the blanket over her face and we hurried to our gate.
Suddenly, two members of the paparazzi approached us and one tried to take the blanket off of Mercy. Kibum grabbed him and shoved him away from us. That allowed us to hurry away from them and to the jet.
Manager started talking to us as soon as we were all on the plane. I sat down first and Eli placed Mercy in my lap.
"You two need to get married as soon as we land in America. CEO said he is okay with you two as long as Eli continues to focus on work more than anything. I told him that his family is always going to be first."
I nodded and looked at the sleeping girl in my arms, and then I looked at my boyfriend, her father and my soon to be husband.
"Not that I mind, but why do we need to be married as soon as we land? Can't we wait a while?" Eli asked before taking Mercy from me and laying her on the couch that we had on the jet.
"You could but I want this as legit as possible, and the fact that Imani has that ring on her left hand makes you guys look married anyway, " manager replied.
"My purity ring?" I said before looking at it. It did look just like a wedding band. "Oh it does... But Eli doesn't have a ring. Right?"
"No, I wear that ring my Grandma gave me a few years ago. See." he said before shoving his left hand in my face.
I laughed and turned to manager. "So we're married, Mercy is adopted and -"
"No, I'm not ashamed to tell the world that she's my biological child." Eli said. "I inadvertently hid her for the first 3 years of her life. I want the whole world to know this is my baby girl."
My heart swelled with pride. Eli was becoming a better man as each day passed.
"So it's all decided?" DongHo asked.
"I'd say so," Kibum said. "All that happens now is that you guys get married." he said with wink in my direction.
I squinted at him and pursed my lips. "Well aren't you happy."
"Ecstatic," he said before laughing. I shook my head and sat down in my seat. Eli sat next to me and leaned on my shoulder.
"Are you ready for this?" he asked me softly.
"I think so.... I hope so." I said
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