Ryan's POV
I sighed deeply as I stopped in front of Ophelia's door, inwardly battling with myself on whether to go away or knock on the door to ask for forgiveness for anything I might have done to warrant her sudden character change overnight.
"Hey, are you looking for something?" A voice drifted into my ears, causing me to crane my neck sideways to see who the bearer of the voice was.
It was an elderly woman who I often saw with Ophelia and Jeremy.
"Yeah. I wanted to see if she was around," I replied, to which she oohed.
"Oh, she's not. She went out earlier today," She supplied.
Disappointment rippled through me at her reply, but I managed to feign a grateful smile, "Thanks. I guess I'll have to check later,"
"Alright, then." She replied before trekking away.
I sighed once more before heading back to my condo to grab my car keys, and go for a long drive to clear my head.
I hopped into my car with a loud exhale, slammed my hands around the steering wheel, squeezed it, as if it was the cause of my problems before revving up the engine.
First, I drove to the amusement park where I met Ophelia again and leisurely roamed around it, inwardly hoping to see Ophelia again, just like I saw her that day.
I smiled, visualizing what it'd look like going on a family date with Ophelia and Jeremy. Playfully dabbing each other's faces with ice creams, running around, playing hide and seek, and just hanging out with my small family.
Soaking them with immense love to make up for my absence in their lives.
It'd surely be a great life for me.
"Hey, handsome," I heard someone utter beside me, I averted my gaze from the giggling toddlers playing at the center of the park to the person.
She was a young woman, who looked eerily similar to Ophelia. Or maybe I was merely imagining her appearance, since my mind was only filled with the thought of Ophelia.
"Hey," I nodded before steering my gaze from her.
She took her seat beside me, tapped my shoulder and offered me a ice cream cone, "Would you like one of these?"
I shook my head in polite refusal, "No, thanks,"
"It's alright," She chuckled, to which I nodded.
Silence ensued between us until..
"I'm Dana, what's your name?" She asked, breaking into the quietness.
"Ryan," I muttered.
"So, did you come here alone or with your family?" She asked which made me huff.
Family. I wish I had one.
"I'm sorry for asking. I was just curious," She mumbled which made me feel bad.
I realized me huffing must have seemed rude to her.
"Oh, no. I'm sorry. I wasn't huffing at you. I was just thinking about something," I confessed.
She seemed hesitant to believe me but she nodded anyway, "Alright,"
"To answer your question, I came here alone. I have no family to come with," I uttered.
"Oh. I'm sorry about that. I came with my daughter. I've got to go find her now before she gets missing," She rambled on, getting up from the bench.
"Alright then," I nodded which she mirrored before trekking away from me.
I had nothing to do at the park, so I hoisted myself up from the bench to my car.
I stopped by the mall to get some candies and a large tub of ice cream for Jeremy. I could only hope Ophelia would take them from me. I thought as I paid the cashier.
Afterward, I headed back to my car, placed the stuff I bought in the backseat before I turned over to the driver's seat, and started the car.
As I drove home, I saw a familiar silhouette staggering in front of a club, with a man's arm wrapped around her waist.
I drove closer to them to see if I was merely imagining things.
My eyes gaped in horror when I saw who it was. It was Ophelia, and she looked extremely intoxicated. Instead of helping her into the car first, the man who I presumed was her boyfriend or whatever kissed her passionately in the middle of the street.
What the hell was with their weird PDA? I huffed, with jealously seeping into my veins.
I rebuffed the urge to alight from my car, walk over to the man and punch him on his face for doing such bullshit in front of literally everyone.
I had no right to do so even if I wanted to. Ophelia wasn't mine…yet.
But she was my baby's mother, so I couldn't just stand by, watching her get molested by the strange man.
She struggled to walk properly to the car with the man still kissing her, and rubbing his hand all over her ass.
Rage simmered inside me as I watched them enter the car together to heaven knows where. I could feel the beast inside me gradually rising in anger as I watched the diminishing car.
Maybe he was the reason Ophelia was keeping my child away from me.
What if Ophelia and him were actually dating and planning on getting married soon?
That meant I'd automatically lose the custody of Jeremy if I didn't do something fast. My mind unhelpfully supplied to me.
I couldn't let that happen. I couldn't let such a dirty-looking asshole become Ophelia's husband and Jeremy's stepfather. I mentally noted it down to place a quick call to Damon tomorrow, asking him to get the necessary documents required to get custody of a child.
But something still seemed fishy about Ophelia's partner. She hadn't seemed quite comfortable with him earlier.
It was as if she was under the influence of something.
What if the man had actually drugged her? I thought, poking my inner cheek with my tongue.
As much as I tried to convince my gut instincts that Ophelia definitely knew the guy, and I was just overthinking it all, something inside me bristled with uneasiness.
I quickly switched the ignition on, and started tailing their car. Thankfully, they hadn't driven far yet.
I could only hope my gut instinct was wrong, and I was merely filled with paranoia.