Husband With Benefits
Chapter 329: Against the World

Chapter 329: Against the World

Caius crept into the room slowly to observe the man whom his mother had called a friend. The man lay sprawled on the couch in their living room, snoring softly. His mother had warned him in the morning to not startle or wake up the man while she’d gone to buy groceries. He was supposed to be in his room.

But he’d already finished all his homework and even studied some more. And he was bored. He knew his mother wanted to protect him but if she’d allowed to let the man stay here, then he couldn’t be very dangerous, right.

Curiosity written all over his face, he walked to the man and peered over the man’s sleeping form. And frowned. This man looked familiar. Was he some movie star? He was pretty sure he had seen him on television. Also, he looked so huge. He wasn’t even able to fit on their couch.

As he stared down at the man, he eyes suddenly snapped open. Startled, Caius yelped, jerked back so vigorously that he lost his balance, and comically tumbled backward like a clumsy acrobat.

Erasmi, who’d just woken up, blinked in confusion, wondering what had just unfolded as he saw the little bow sprawled on the floor.

Erasmi’s initial confusion, however, turned into a bemused smile as he gazed at the disheveled Caius on the floor. "Well, well! Looks like I’ve got myself a little ninja intruder," he chuckled, his deep voice resonating through the room.

Caius, still on the floor but now grinning sheepishly, quickly scrambled back to his feet. "I-I’m sorry, sir. My mom told me not to wake you up, but I got bored," he confessed.

The mixture of innocence, mischief and curiosity in his eyes made Erasmi smile and he patted the little guy’s head," It’s alright. It was time to wake up anyways."

As Erasmi stood up, he loomed over the little boy and tousled his hair," And don’t call me Sir. Makes me think of an old grey professor. You can call me Erasmi."

"Erasmi?" Caius asked with a cute little frown.

"What? You don’t like my name?"

"Isn’t it very girlish?

Erasmi chuckled. "It is, isn’t it? I suffered quite a bit during my school days for it. But I think its quite unique. Like your name."

"Its alright."

"You don’t like your name?" Erasmi asked as he started to walk towards the bathroom and washed his face.

Caius followed behind and answered," I like my middle name better. Its also unique and no one can tease me about it."

"Really? What is your middle name?"

"Demetri."

Erasmi paused and smiled. "Demetri is a good name."

"Thanks. When I grow up, I’ll use my middle name." Caius proclaimed. Erasmi chuckled at that. If Caius really did that, his brother would gloat no end. That smug smile would be pasted on his face permanently.

"Your mom is not home?"

"Nah. She’s gone to town to buy groceries." The boy said slowly, a bit of worry in his eyes.

"Why does that make you worried?"

Caius sighed. The anger and helplessness in the little boys breath made Erasmi narrow his eyes as the boy explained," Some people in this town are bad..."

"And they trouble your mother?" Erasmi asked quietly.

"Yes."

Erasmi paused as the boy followed him to the washroom and paused. It seemed little Caius had something to say. " You want to say something?"

Caius seemed to be considering his options as he tapped his fingers against his thigh.

"Are you really here to help mother and me?", he asked in a rush.

Erasmi paused," Of course. What is it?"

"I... I didn’t tell mother yesterday because she said we were going away but now..."

"What happened?"

"I’ve been suspended from school. They said I cheated in the exam." Erasmi watched the little boy struggle to say that as he shuffled his feet and tears glittered in his eyes.

"And did you cheat?"

"No! I did not. Not even a bit."

Erasmi nodded and gently patted the boy’s shoulder," It’s the weekend. You’ll be going to school on Monday as normal. But you have to tell your mother later. Then she will know but won’t have a chance to worry. Right?"

Caius gave him a gratified nod and quickly raced away as he said," I’ll make some coffee for you while you go to the bathroom. My mother needs coffee before she can even talk in the morning. And she said I make the best coffee.

Of course, Erasmi knew the problem. His little boy was being tortured in school and this must have been the final way they could have thought of getting rid of him and pushing his dignity into the ground. But they were mistaken if they thought that he would let anyone get away by harming his son.

Erasmi nodded and watched the boy skip away. The next few days were going to be critical. On the one hand, he would need to convince Mrs Mercer to let him integrate into the little kid’s life. On the other, he would have to do a balancing act for Caius. The boy loved his mother a lot. Which meant that any chance of using pressure had dwindled to negligible.

It seemed he would have to use the Frost name to give these people a taste of real power and suppress them once and for all.

As he walked out, engrossed in planning a perfect counter attack on the school, he walked out to see the little child standing there, waiting expectantly with a cup of coffee.

Bemused at the muddy color, Erasmi wondered what kind of coffee would have such a color and took the cup quietly thanking the kid. Caius looked at him and then at the cup as if asking," How was the coffee."

Erasmi took a sip of the coffee and choked on the thing, the urge to throw up. What kind of horrible coffee was this? Why did it taste of... mint?

However, as he moved to spit out the coffee, he noticed the boy’s dejected gaze and quickly swallowed it. " Its correct. You do make somereally good coffee."

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