𝒆𝒗𝒂 ➙ 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒘𝒏 𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒔

nine

adelaine miller
PICKERING, CANADA

"eva baby! we have to go, come on honey!" i yell as i enter my parents house, picking her up from her stay at grandma's.

i was nervous for this meeting, i had spent hours on the phone to alaina, deciding what to wear — in the end i just went for a simple pair of denim jeans, cuffed at the end and a white business shirt. "coming mommy!"

my daughter comes running to me, wearing this adorable grey dress with a cream sweater underneath, "eva put your shoes on!" i hear my mom yell which makes me chuckle.

"where are your shoes baby?" i ask her, she shrugs and that's when my mother appears in my line of sight with her shoes in hand, i take them from her and put my little girl's shoes on. "there you're all set." i say as i pick her up, resting her on my hip.

"thank you for looking after her mom." i tell my mother with a warm smile, she shakes her hand, tutting me.

"anytime, baby." she mutters as she presses a kiss to my temple, "good luck at your meeting."

she was meant to come with me but the label insisted that it was only supposed to be shawn, eva and i along with them so she couldn't.

we say our quick goodbyes before i go back into my car, placing eva in her booster and then getting in myself to drive back to toronto to shawn's offices.

∎ ∎ ∎

"adelaine miller, come in." one of men in suits motions, allowing me to get into the room, shawn, andrew and and bunch of other men were already there — was i late?

oh no, i hate being late.

"sorry if i'm late i had to go pick up my daughter from my mother's in pickering." i mutter as i take the empty seat, besides shawn, i notice that shawn furrowed his eyebrows when i said pickering.

"mommy, who is everyone?" eva whispers loudly in my ear, making me chuckle.

"don't worry baby, here take mommy's phone and watch belle, ok?" i say, handing her my phone which i already opened up disney on. i place her on the ground of the carpeted floors and she sits there quietly, watching her movie.

"can we begin?" another man asks, looking frustrated because we hadn't started yet and i nod my head. "ok, what evidence have you brought for us?"

my hand reaches for my briefcase, i place it on table and open it up, taking out baby photos, photos of me pregnant and a photo with a timestamp of me holding a pregnancy test. "i didn't know what exactly you wanted me to bring so this is the best i could think of." i mutter as i hand the photos to them.

"that's alright." they say, looking at the pictures. "do you have any video evidence, because for all we know these pictures could be photoshopped?"

i scoff under my breath, well so could videos morons, that what i wanted to say — and what i wish i could say but i just nod my head. "yes, on my phone but she's using it right now, can i show you later?" i suggest and they nod their heads.

"ok let's move into some questions."

∎ ∎ ∎

the meeting was over, thankfully and they believed me, i mean they had no reason not to, they saw my financials and they had photographic and live evidence that eva was shawn's child as well as mine.

however i did explicitly tell them that i wanted to keep the fact that eva is shawn's child under strict wraps, and thag i didn't want her in the public eye — to which they agreed, thankfully.

i was told to wait outside the meeting room for the label to talk to shawn in private, shawn also asked me to stay because he wanted to spend time with her, again.

soon after, shawn comes out the room, his face red — he looked angry but the moment he saw eva, it wasn't red any longer in fact he had this sparkle in his eyes of adoration. "hey, ready to go?" shawn asks me and i nod my head.

we were going to his apartment again, because i refuse to go out in public with both shawn and eva, not going to happen. he was also taking my car because he got a ride from andrew. "so i was thinking about getting some ice cream?" he suggests as we walk out the building.

"not unless it's sugar free for eva, she doesn't have sugar on weekdays." i tell him and he nods his head.

"lucky for you, i have sugar free ice cream at home."

shawn opens the main entrance door of the label and in the corner of my eye, i see flashes, oh fuck. shawn immediately shuts the door on them, running a hand through his hair. "fuck sake." he mutters, which instantly makes me slap his arm.

"eva is here." i hiss, making him apologize, even though she was a tad distracted off in her own little world. "so what do we do?" i ask him.

"where did you park your car?" he asks, looking directly into my eyes.

"right at the front, why?" he takes a deep inhale, nodding his head.

"ok, so uhm—" he begins, taking yet another deep breath, "we have two options, one, i get out and go into your car, driving off to the car park where you can get in without flashes, at least i hope or option two, same thing but vice versa, however the latter will cause the most suspicion."

i ponder the ideas for a second before reaching into my briefcase for my car keys, "do not scratch my baby." i tell him, handing him the keys, he chuckles at my response, "now where is this car park?" i ask.

"take a left into the elevator and there is a button labeled negative one, press it and that will take you to the car park." he says rapidly, i nod my head.

he opens the door again, once i've definitely moved out of the camera sight, and i begin to walk over to the elevators, eva besides me, holding my hand.

"god, this is stressful." we get into the lift and i press the negative one button like shawn told me to, then in a matter of seconds i was on the car park ground, with shawn waiting right next to the elevators.

i quickly put eva in her booster seat then get into the passenger seat, buckling my own seatbelt, "now you're going to need to cover your hair and eyes, because we're going to have to drive through them." he tells me and i nod my head, luckily i was always prepared for a situation like this.

eva was fine, there was tinted windows in the backseats so she didn't need to cover up but i reached for my sunglasses which were in their holder and then i grabbed my spare hooded jacket which i always kept in the car, besides eva, i throw it on and put the hood up, "good enough?" i ask shawn, he scans my body, nodding his head.

"yeah, we're good to go."