#THE_LAST_MINUTE_GROOM
©Sir_Zach
EPISODE 33
*Inside Valen’s room…*
The child just came out of the bathroom looking flushed. His milky white skin had red patches from the hotness of the water and his hair was dripping.
He had a white towel wrapped loosely around his waist.
Getting into his room, he was shocked to see Jeslyn sitting on his bed with a leg crossed and a maid standing beside the door with her head bowed.
“What are you doing here?” Valen asked, looking guarded.
“Relax, little plum…”
“Don’t call me that!” It sounds too girly. He thought.
Jeslyn chuckled and shrugged. “Little Plum, I’m here to apologize.” She smiled.
Valen furrowed his brows. ‘Apologize? When has Jeslyn ever apologized to him?’
The more Valen thought about it, the more he felt suspicious of her.
“You can leave now,” Valen said, not accepting or rejecting her apology.
“I should, but I can’t.” Jeslyn shook her head and got up.
With every step she takes towards Valen, he takes an equal step back.
“What do you think you are doing?” Valen asked, a little flustered.
“Nothing. I just want to help you out. I heard you don’t allow servants to wash you or dress you up. It’s either Rex or Mulan, but since they aren’t here, I should take over. Besides, your hand isn’t well.”
“No! Stay away from me, don’t come close!” Valen panicked.
Ever since he got injured because of her, plus seeing her lie in bed, looking peaceful for days, Valen started to feel something he didn’t understand and for that, the boy had been trying to stay away from her, but this vixen…
“Relax, I’m not going to hurt you, not that I can anyway.” Jeslyn stretched a hand and forcefully yanked Valen towards her before she dragged him to sit in front of the large mirror on his dressing table.
“Let me go!” Valen struggled against Jeslyn.
Feeling annoyed that her kindness was being taken for granted, Jeslyn picked up a pair of scissors and held it against Valen’s long hair.
“Move one more time and I’ll cut your hair,” she thr_@tened.
Valen stiffened after that, giving Jeslyn enough time to admire his hair.
Jeslyn gave the hair a second look and pursed her lips. His hair looks beautiful and soft. When made into a side swept, Jeslyn was dead sure that the hair would form a bang to cover his eye.
Jeslyn had never paid close attention to his hair because he never styled it. Except for the first time she saw him in the dining room where he had his hair in a messy back swept, Valen always left his hair tied in a man bun.
How would she pay attention to the child’s features when they are always at loggerheads?
“Your hair looks beautiful,” she subconsciously fisted the black wet hair.
“Let go of my hair,” Valen slapped her hand away with his left hand.
At this point, the boy was regretting why he tried to save her. If not, his right hand would have done a lot more than just slapping her hand off.
“Ahem!” Jeslyn coughed after seeing him glaring at her.
“You see this pair of scissors I’m holding, if you don’t allow me to do what I want, I’ll cut your hair. I believe you know I’m capable of that. After all, I’m your mother… stepmother.” She winked while beaming.
Valen felt shivers at her smile. He somehow felt she was capable of doing so, besides, it’s just hair and not his life.
Valen sat there unmoving while gritting his teeth. He would have protested but he loves his hair more than anything… except three people.
Jeslyn smiled brightly. She didn’t know why or when she learned how to give a haircut, but one of her hidden talents was giving good-looking haircuts, which she had never done for anyone except the handsome men she loves drawing on her books, back in college.
Jeslyn closed her eyes and hoped she would be able to put her ‘talent’ to practice or else, Valen would skin her.
Looking at his thick, long, dark, and full hair in the mirror, Valen felt a bitter taste in his throat.
He loves to get a good haircut, but ever since that incident where he was kidnaped under watch, Maverick never allowed him to leave the house unless Maverick was in Country M.
When Valen was two years old, Mulan had taken him out when Maverick was out of the Country. According to Mulan, she had taken lots of guards along. On their way, they got ambushed and little Valen was kidnaped.
When Maverick rushed over, he flipped the Country upside-down until his son was found with the Xu family.
Ever since then, Maverick forbade anyone from taking Valen out of the mansion unless he was in the Country.
Valen wasn’t supposed to know about the incident, but Mulan told him about it, creating fear in the child’s mind, and preventing him from mingling with people.
So for that, Valen doesn’t go to salons, not even the private ones made for him.
If his hair was getting too long, Mulan or Rex would trim them.
“Your hair is already low on one side. There are a few styles that your hair could make, but I’ll only give you one that would make you look like an obedient child.” Jeslyn said while blow-drying the messy hair.
Valen rolled his eyes at her words.
“Should I give you a high, low, or temple taper fade haircut? Or should I give you… Skin?! Hahaha… no, that’s not good. An undercut would look better, or perhaps a pompadour haircut? Quiff haircut? Combed over?… That’s right! It would make you look responsible.
However, your hair will be cut to a medium length, would you like that?” She looked at the child in the mirror.
Valen had a dead look, but when he heard his hair would be cut to medium length, he shook his head vigorously.
He didn’t want to open his mouth because he’d say something he didn’t want to utter.
Jeslyn chuckled at his reaction. “Don’t worry, I was only kidding. We have settled for a haircut. The good thing about it is that you can style it however you want if you are tired of combing it back. Also, I discovered you don’t have a clipper here, and ‘Comb over’ doesn’t need a clipper.
So let’s begin!”
Jeslyn started by blow-drying his damp hair before combing. She picked up the long lengthy hair carefully and braided it to give way for the sides.
After achieving that, Jeslyn picked up a small comb and combed down the short hair on the sides of his head while trimming off odd lengths.
Finally getting what she wanted with the sides, she applied hair gel to hold the sides down and blow-dried it a little.
Jeslyn loosened the braided hair and combed it before she started to trim off the tip. Her aim was for the length of the hair to rest on Valen’s brows rather than cover his eyes.
Once she was done, she applied cream on the long hair to give it a soft and shiny look before she combed the hair back to give a smooth comb-over look.
Thirty minutes later, Jeslyn was done.
“Ta-da!” She spread her arms and shifted to the side for Valen to see the outcome.
Valen looked at himself in the mirror and his eyes widened a little. His lips tugged into a faint smile but when he remembered Jeslyn was still there, he raised his gaze to look at her.
Seeing the bright smile on her face, Valen rolled his eyes.
“You ruined my hair, but I won’t hold you accountable, hmph!” He got up and was about to leave when the flabbergasted Jeslyn pulled him back.
“Young man, it’s either you appreciate me for using my ski|| on you or you sit back down and watch me barb ‘skin’ for you!”
Jeslyn sounded serious– almost angry. This ungrateful child was the first to taste her barbering ski||s and he dared to not be appreciative.
How dare he!
Valen looked at the handsome cute boy in the mirror and couldn’t imagine his pretty hair getting cut, so he mouthed the words, “thank you.”
“I don’t hear you say anything,” Jeslyn frowned.
“I said, thank you!” Valen said aloud and scoffed before walking to his black wardrobe.
“That’s more like it. You should show appreciation when you receive help. Also, you need to hurry up with this. Your treat shouldn’t get warm before you eat them or else you won’t enjoy them as you should.”
Valen turned to look at her, “what are you talking about?”
“I made some delicious cake and treats for you,” she smiled brightly.
“I’m not interested, take them back.” He said as he opened his wardrobe.
“Not like you have a choice. It’s a token of apology, so you have to accept them.” Jeslyn orated while walking towards him.
“Apology accepted, you can leave.” Valen didn’t want to accept the cake and wh@ťěver because he was warned by Mulan not to eat sweet things.
“That’s not how the world works dear.” Jeslyn opened his wardrobe and frowned at the outfit.
Everything was plain black with a few white shirts.
“Your wardrobe smells of doom,” she stated.
“Dumb,” he whispered.
He is the son of a mafia, so what did she expect?
Jeslyn glanced at the boy and gave him a soft knock on the head.
“I’m 20 years older than you, so you should respect me. Would you call your mother, dumb? And I’m old enough to be your mother.” Jeslyn narrowed her eyes at him.
She was expecting the boy to throw a tantrum like he used to, but the boy didn’t say anything or do anything. He only had his head down.
Jeslyn found it weird, so she lowered her height and squatted in front of him, then raised his jaw with her fingers.
The child’s face didn’t change but his eyes held pain.
“V– Valen?” Jeslyn softly called.
The child only looked into her eyes without uttering a word, but Jeslyn could see liquid slowly gathering In the boy’s eyes.
She looked around and spotted Maya still standing there with her head bowed.
“Riya, please excuse us.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Maya bowed and walked out.
Jeslyn turned her attention to the child and held his shoulders.
“No one else is here, you can cry if you want to. I’ll also listen if you choose to tell me what the problem is.”
“I’m fine, you should leave me alone.” Valen threw her hands off his shoulders and stretched his hand to pick up a random hanger holding black shorts and a black shirt.
Jeslyn watched the child’s back as he headed to his bed.
“I lost my mother while I was in a coma.”
Valen paused on his step without turning back before he started walking again.
“At that time, I was 19. I spent two years in a coma, not knowing when my mom died and what happened before I went into a coma.” Jeslyn stopped talking and sat on the bed, staring at Valen who was pretending to not care.
After a few minutes of silence between them, Valen raised his gaze to meet Jeslyn’s hazel eyes.
“Why are you telling me this?”
“For you to know that a lot of people are suffering silently, just like you are. Your eyes have too much pain for a child like you to handle. If you don’t let them out, you’ll suffer greatly.”
“Who are you to tell me that?” Valen felt he had been stripped off his cover. How did she know that he was hiding his pain only through his eyes? Was it because he almost cried just now when his mother was mentioned?
“I am…” she paused to search his eyes for something. “The older sister you don’t have.”
For the first time, Valen laughed. However, it was mocking laughter but it sounded rich and cute in the ear.
Jeslyn felt a stab of pain in her heart. The sound of the child’s laughter coupled with his overly handsome face when he laughed was an image she didn’t want to erase from her memory.
However, the laughter was too brief for her to commit to her memory.
“Jeslyn, you. are. my. father’s. wife!” He spelled it out for her. “You are almost like those girls running after my father and we both know the reason.” He smirked, hoping to see her raging like usual.