Zendaya mimicked him and whispered, “Uncle Charles, let’s keep Benny company together. It won’t do if you keep running away, Uncle Charles. If we should apologize, then let’s apologize. One day, Benny will be touched by your apologies and forgive you!”
Charles’ face paled, but he patted her head and said, “This isn’t something that can be solved with an apology. Let me think of another way around this.”
Zendaya pouted and pointed out, “Uncle Charles, are you trying to avoid this?”
Charles fell silent.
He simply could not think of a way to face Benedict at the moment.
Whenever he saw the way Benedict weakly lay on the bed, the feelings of guilt and helplessness would threaten to drown him.
It crushed him.
“Uncle Charles,” Zendaya cried out, swinging Charles’ arm and pestering him. “Come in with me. Sometimes Mommy ignores Daddy because of his mistakes too. When that happens, Daddy will just keep pestering her. He’ll do anything to get back into her good books. I’m sure he wants to stomp his foot and start bawling sometimes as well.”
Then, Zendaya covered her mouth and giggled. “Uncle Charles, have you heard of a fruit called durian? Why don’t you get some of them? If Benny doesn’t want to forgive you, then you can just kneel on that fruit’s thorny shell. I’m sure Benny will be moved by that.”
Charles turned speechless.
No godfather ever went on his knees for his godson.
Even if they were not godfather and godson, he, as someone older than Benedict, would technically never kneel before a child.
Still, he was more curious as to why Zendaya would think of durians. “Zendy, why would you ask me to get durians and kneel on them? Did your daddy… do this before?”
Zendaya earnestly shook her head. “I don’t know. Mommy keeps the door shut whenever she scolds Daddy, so I wouldn’t know. The walls in our house are thick too, so even when I tried to eavesdrop, I couldn’t hear anything.”
At that, Charles’ expression darkened.
Closed door and a scolding…
When those two phrases were placed together in a situation involving a couple, he could not help but think about certain unpleasant thoughts.
Tucking those thoughts away, he asked, “Then why would you think of durians?”
Zendaya beamed, a crafty little look showing on her face. “That’s because durians taste great! I’m craving a little for some, and Benny likes it too. If you’re going to kneel on its shell, then we can eat the flesh of the fruit. We won’t waste a single bit of it!”
After a bout of giggling, she gave Charles another suggestion, “If you don’t like durians, we can make do with pineapples. Pineapples are yummy too!”
The corners of Charles’ lips twitched. “Zendy, you’re… so kind to me.”
While the two were chatting, they woke Benedict.
In an icy voice, Benedict asked, “Who’s outside?”
Zendaya froze with widened eyes. Then, she smacked her hand over her mouth and muttered, “Oh no! Was I too loud? Did Benny hear me?”
Charles thought, So what if he heard us? It’s not as if we were planning something nefarious.
Ruffling Zendaya’s hair, he sighed and said, “Zendy, go in and keep your brother company. I’ll go and get some durians and pineapples.”
“Yay!” Zendaya cheered.
After entering the ward, Zendaya merrily launched herself toward Benedict.
“Are you hungry, Benny? We’ll be having fruits in the afternoon—durians and pineapples!”
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