"Sit here, baby girl." Mr. Ellis held the chair out for his daughter and then took his own chair beside her.
"This is my daughter Dinah…" he bragged again and again to anyone who was in proximity and who would listen to him.
"Finally we get to meet your daughter… How do you like being a doctor?" An elderly woman asked.
"Oh… of… well it has its own challenges and rewards of course…" Mia answered safely.
"Mr. Ellis, did you take your medication?" Jayden interjected getting the focus off of Mia. He could tell that she wasn't quite comfortable with pretending to be someone that she was not.
"Of course Markus… You know I made a promise to you and daddy always keeps his promise to his children." He proudly said as he took a scoop of his oatmeal. Mia's eyes went directly to Jayden. Ouch, that had to hurt because it hurt Mia's feelings to hear a man telling a son whom he had never acknowledged or accepted that he always keeps his word to children who were not of his making. That was a callous thing to say, even if it were said unknowingly.
Jayden quickly averted his eyes. He looked down into his bowl at the warm mushy oatmeal. He stirred it around and dipped his spoon in and out of the soggy mush. He didn't think the man was capable of hurting him anymore, but again that old man had proven him wrong. Worse of all it was in front of Mia and he didn't like being vulnerable in the present of others. He wanted to get up and run away, but he knew that Mia would guess why. He didn't want to show her this weak side of him. So instead, he piled up his spoon with a big goop of dripping oatmeal and stuffed it inside his mouth. It was heavy in his mouth and he couldn't push past the lump in his throat to swallow it. Therefore he held it inside of his mouth taking small swallows of it, until it was all gone.
"Mm, tasty eat up…" He said with a choked voice while failing to look up. Mia gave a small smile while watching him and she didn't miss the sudden small sniffling sounds he were making as if his nose had begun to run. She knew he was trying to hold back his tears.
"Markus… you've got time today right?" Mr. Ellis suddenly looked up.