Repeat and Retribution

Chapter 60

“Lawrence no, please stop!” Larse voice was a mix of pain and frustration.

Opening the door Crystal was greeted by the sight of the man chasing the little boy who was running around, flailing his hands and wailing at the top of his lungs.

“Everything okay here?” She knocks on the door to get the man’s attention, amusement was written all over her face while raising an eyebrow at the scene.

Larse straightened up upon hearing her, holding his back as he stretched himself, he tried to catch his breath before turning to her.

“Oh, hey Crys,” His hand was barely rising as he tried to wave.

“You okay?” She suppressed her laugh seeing the man sweating like a pig and almost and worn out from running all over the place.

“Yeah, fine. I Just need to stop Lawrence from crying,” he lets out a half-smile, sitting on his table to try to rest for a moment.

Feeling bad for the man Crystal decided to walked towards the boy who was now slouched on the floor, bawling his eyes out as he kept kicking and thrashing his little hands in the air.

“Hi baby, how are you?” Rubbing the little boy's forehead, she then proceeded to give the child a few taps on the leg to calm him down.

“He’s having temper tantrums again, and It’s just driving me nuts,” Larse raised his hands in surrender unable to take all the screaming and howling of the little boy.

After a few more soft and gentle pats Lawrence finally stopped, sobbing as he sat up. He then raised his small little hands towards her.

Crystal proceeded to carry the boy in her arms, giving the child a few more gentle and caring strokes on the boy's back.

“Where’s his mother? Maybe he just wants a little mommy time.” Turning around to face Larse, she could not help but inquire as to where the woman was, seeing as how the man was totally drained.

Knowing a bit about children she was sure that the boy just wanted a little care and attention from his mother since the boy seemed to have calmed the moment she had carried him.

Massaging his head Larse heaved a deep sigh. “She should be here in two days or so,” he groaned at the thought of how long that was.

“You mean you’re all alone with Lawrence?” Crystal ended up raising her voice, brows creasing from being unable to keep her head cool after hearing that.

“No, he has a nanny, but it’s her off today, so I’m left all alone with him for the whole day, since he doesn’t like Rachelle, Areane, or Barry,” Larse grumbled while wiping his face with both hands.

It seems that the man was at his wit's end, not knowing how to handle the boys' temperament and uncontrolled behavior.

“Oh, I see. So where’d your wife go anyway?” she asks.

Wanting to know what could possibly be the reason why the woman would leave her boy alone with his father, even though they had a nanny for the child.

“She went to one of her beauty seminars again,” Larse voiced seemed so tired and uninterested at that point.

Crystal knew that Dana was selfish and messed up, but she could not believe that the woman was capable of this kind of deed.

“Is that much important than being with her kid?” Her jaw tightened because of her frustration and anger at what the woman was doing.

She knew that Dana was messed up, but she could not believe that the woman was capable of this kind of deed. But what really got her nerves was the reality that Larse just allowed such a thing.

She could not help but give the man a sharp look, knowing that he could have done something to stop it. The man seemed to have understood the reason behind her glaring eyes, immediately raising his hands in surrender.

“Of course not! But I didn’t really want to have another argument about it, since whenever I try to bring it up she’d just nag non-stop about things I didn’t even do and how I’m holding her down, that I don’t understand her needs etcetera. Do you know how hard I’ve been trying to keep this marriage afloat, I don’t even know what else do I need to do at this point,” Larse grumbled, pulling his hair in utter frustration.

Crystal somehow calmed down, she understood the man’s dilemma so she couldn't help but sympathize with him, seeing as how devastated the man was in trying to keep his marital relationship.

“Maybe it’s not you who has the problem,” she says with a soothing voice as she let out a sigh.

Larse let out a pained chuckle. “My parents don't think so, though I doubt you’d understand that,”

“Yeah, well since you seemed too tired to care, I think I’ll take Lawrence with me for a bit, so you can let your head cool for a while,”

“No, no! You don’t need to do that,” the man waved his hand disagreeing with the idea out of shame.

Crystal couldn’t help but roll her eyes. “We’re already done with all our work and we’ve got nothing to do anyway and besides it's obvious between the two of us who actually know how to take care of a kid,” she waves goodbye turning around to leave.

“Are you sure you’ll be okay?” Larse finally had a smile on his face again.

She turns to the man smirking. “I’ve handled worse than little Lawrence here, I think I can manage,” she tells him off before walking away.

“Thanks, I appreciate it!” Larse happily says shaking his head in relief.

“You better finish that up,” She reminds him pointing at the desk, holding Lawrence in one arm as she did.

“Yeah, yeah I know,” Larse let out a chuckle as he let out a deep breath.

Still feeling a bit uneasy and bothered with the man’s dilemma, Crystal halted after opening the door.

“Oh, by the way, where was Dana’s seminar again?” she asked not bothering to turn to look at him.

Larse frowned. “They went to this beach resort, I forgot the name, though it was starting with a ‘P’,” he answered unconsciously.

“Pendelton beach resort,” she scoffs remembering the name of the said place.

“Yeah that’s it, how’d you even know about that?” Larse had this awkward smile, suddenly curious about what she knew.

Grinning Crystal answers him. “It’s the only first-class island resort within the southern part of the country,” she shrugs.

That made Larse brow creased even more. “Wait, how’d you even know she was in the southern island?” he asks suddenly even more puzzled and confused after hearing that.

“A lucky guess, since my ex-boyfriend used to go there for his seminars,” Crystal says in an ominous tone, causing the man's lips to suddenly twitch into a straight line.

Not getting a question this time, Crystal knew Larse was starting to think thoroughly about what she had said. His face suddenly serious and stone-cold and his eyes looked grim as a sort of shadow loomed over the man as he contemplated.

“I’ll see you later,” she cheerfully states as he walked out of there.

“Yeah, I’ll see you later,” Larse said in a deep and slow voice.

Crystal felt much better knowing that at least she was able to give clues for the man to figure things out on his own. As she wanted to make sure that the man would find out by himself since she knew it was the only way to make sure if the man was truly different from Clyde.