Chapter 5

Sophia’s POV

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“These gifts are from dad?” Colton asked when I showed him his birthday surprises that we had packed last night.

“Yes!”

“Yeeee!!!! It means that you will send a gift for me too.”, Calvin said, getting excited. “I hope he will get me a Kids Scooter and Kids Selfie Camera.”, he added in a dreamy tone.

Thankfully, I knew what he wanted, so I had already bought his birthday gifts when I had purchased them for Colton.

I had observed that Calvin had an interest in taking pictures and exploring new things because he always sat beside me to learn how I upload online training on knitting over all the social networks or whenever I edit those videos. I was sure that he barely understood how all these things work, but he watched them with total interest.

While Colton was like his father, more into reading comics and technology.

I saw Colton opening his gifts that he was assuming from his dad and found Kindle Oasis 10th Generation. A small smile appeared on his lips when he saw it, and then he opened his other gift from fake dad, i.e., ME, of course, and found a tablet.

“But I needed a laptop.”, Colton said, looking at the tablet.

“On your fifth birthday, sweetheart. And just don’t misuse the tablet, or I won’t waste a second to take it back.”, I warned.

“Sure, Mom.”, Colton replied before dropping a bomb on me, “Can you please call dad so that I could thank him?” he asked, and trust me, I lost my voice.

“I… Didn’t … I tell you that your dad is on a secret mission without any gadgets? And no one can reach him in anyways.”, I replied nervously.

“Then how did he send these gifts for me?” Colton asked, arching his brow.

Damn! His father’s expression.

Both of my babies look so much like him. I wouldn’t be shocked when they would almost take over their father’s facial structure by their teenage. 

“We can’t reach him in anyways, but he can reach us because he knows our address.” I cooked up another fake story. 

Where the hell was Eden and Arya?

“Does he love us, Mom?” he asked, and for the first time in my life, I had seen a glimpse of DOUBT in his eyes.

“Of course, dad loves us, Colt. What kind of question is this?” Clavin replied confidently. “Now, come on! Let’s check your other gifts together.”, he added, which somehow diverted Colton’s mind for a while, but I knew if things kept going on in this way, then before the fifth birthday, Colton would somehow catch my lie.

By god grace, neither of them picked that topic again because they got engaged with other kids of their age in the park. While I got myself inviting the parents and the kid of the building in which I was staying to Colton’s birthday party at night. And Eden and Arya aided in the preparation of the party.

*****

Third Person’s POV

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“Mom lied.”, Colton said sadly while sitting on the one side of the see-saw while Calvin was on the other side.

“About what?” Calvin asked in confusion.

“About dad.”, Hearing him, Calvin paused and looked at him with a serious expression.

“I don’t believe you.”, Calvin said, stepping and standing on his feet. “I’m going to ask Mom about dad.”, Saying this, he started running toward Sophia to confirm that his mother didn’t lie to him because lying was a bad manner but all of a sudden, he fell down, and his elbow and knee got hurt.

“Aahhh!!!” he cried in pain.

Colton quickly reached near him and helped him to stand on his feet again. “You okay?”, He asked in concern and wiped the tears on his brother and then helped him in walking toward their apartment.

“The birthday card which mom said that was sent my dad is written by mom. I know her handwriting.”, he said in a low tone. Calvin gasped, hearing him but didn’t say anything this time. “Now, I will try to find dad on my own.”

“You can do that?”, He asked in surprise, and also, a tiny part of him was excited.

“No. Not without your help.”

“I’m in then.”

“Just don’t raise the topic of dad in front of mom and behave normally as if we are not planning anything.”, Colton said. Calvin thought for a while over it, not knowing how he would be able to do that because he had a habit of sharing everything with his mother.

“Okay!”, he agreed. ‘Anything for finding dad.’

Just like they had agreed, they acted normally except for showing the injuries of Calvin on his knee and an elbow. At first, it was hard for Clavin, but then, assuming it was an adventure of finding his missing father, he started enjoying it.

After the birthday party, though, both kids were tired, but they stayed awake because they were playing a spy game, where Calvin’s work was to see whether the mom, Aunt Eden, or Aunt Arya were coming toward the room or not while Colton had attached chair near Sophia’s wardrobe and was looking for any photo or something about his hand.

Colton hated the subject ‘social studies’, which was taught in his Kindergarten, in which ‘Family and self’ used to be taught.

All the students of his age knew the name of his father, but both he and his brother was clueless about their father. Even on his ID card, his father’s name was missing. Didn’t he doubt the fact about his father being on some adventure, but he wasn’t ready to accept the fact that when all the kids knew the name of his father, then why he couldn’t?

He was the smartest in his class. Still, he had no answer to this question.

“Mom’s coming.”, Calvin whispered and quickly climbed onto the bed, holding the bedsheet and looking at Colton. At the same time, Colton kept looking for something important which could be helpful for him or a clue to reach near his dad.

“What are you doing, Colton?” he heard his mother’s voice and turned around to face my mother, who was suspiciously eyeing him. Then Sophia looked at Calvin, who was acting of being asleep. “And I know that even you’re not sleeping, Calvin.”

“Now, both of you, tell me what you were doing instead of sleeping?”, She asked, eyeing her both babies. Both Arya and Eden had sensed that something was wrong with the babies after they had returned after playing in the park but ignored it because of the birthday party but then again now, they sensed both the pups were still awake and by observing the sound that Colton was making some silent sound in the wardrobe as if he was searching for something.

Sophia saw the scared face of both her babies, but she knew that Colton was hardshell. No one could get the things out of his stomach even though he was a child, so there was no use in pressuring Colton because the more she would try, the most he would hide.

Maybe because of fear of her mother’s warmth or scolding or maybe slap.

That’s why she focused on getting the truth out of Calvin, the one who was easy to crack.

“Calvin, Tell me. What’s going on?”, She asked, glaring at Calvin.

Calvin gulped his saliva nervously. He was scared of his mother’s angry glare. It was enough for him to pee in his pant. He looked at Colton as if he was saying ‘Sorry’ silently.

“Mom, actually, Colton thinks …..” immediately, his and Sophia’s minds were distracted when they heard the loud sound of a chair falling on the floor.

“Colton,” Sophia screamed when she saw both the chair and her baby on the floor. Her heart almost came out of her body, seeing that. Colton started crying because of the pain, and Sophia quickly ran near him. Even Calvin reached near him to check on his brother.

Eden and Arya also came into Sophia’s room, hearing her scream, Colton’s cry, and the loud sound of something falling on the floor.

“What happened?” Eden asked Calvin in a worried tone.

“Colton fell down on the floor along with the chair.”, Calvin replied and cried at the same time.

“Oh, baby!” Aryan hugged him to calm him down while Eden reached near Sophia and Colton. Colton was crying loudly, while Sophia had embraced him, close to her heart and cooing to him at the same time. She couldn’t smell blood, so she was positive that he was not bleeding.

****

After an hour!!

Sophia looked at both her babies, who had finally slept after crying for at least half an hour. And then she looked at the time. It was 12:21 AM.

‘What a horrible day for my babies. Both of them cried on their own birthday’, She thought.

“I know what you are thinking.”, Eden said, placing her hand on Sophia’s shoulder.

“I almost stopped breathing when I saw Colton in that state.”, She said, wiping her tears.

“It’s fine, Sophia. It’s their age to get hurt and learn for those pain.”, Arya said in a positive way. “From this year, they will start going to school, and I’m sure that they will get a lot of new scars on knees, elbows, chin, or any other places of their soft skins, but that’s the way of growing older.”

“Yeah! You’re right.” Sophia nodded, understanding her point.

“Now, come on! Help me in packing the gift that we got for both Calvin and Colton.”, Eden said, dragging her out of the room. Both Arya and Eden had planned to gift both the kids together.

‘Should I tell Sophia to talk? Is Colton still awake? And just acting to sleep?’ Arya's mind linked Eden.

‘No.’, Eden quickly denied. ‘It seems like the kid has sensed something. And it doesn’t look like he is going to stop. Just let the things in the way it is. We shouldn’t play with kids’ minds. Just keep an eye on him to know what is he up, and he doesn’t end up falling in some danger.’

‘And why do I feel like that? It has something to do with HIS father.’, Arya responded. ‘And it looks like that if they won’t get a chance to meet their father, then they would start searching for HIM on their own.’

‘Let’s see who will win? A mother who wanted to keep her kids hidden from her Ex-husband or the kids who wanted to meet their father. Let’s see what all new surprises Moon Goddess has hold for all of them this year.’

Once everyone left the room, closing the lights and the door of the room. Colton opened his eyes and waited for a while on the bed. Once he relaxed that no one was near the room, he quickly sat on the bed and rubbed his forehead, which was hurting him like hell.

He left the bed silently and walked into the washroom. Sophia always used to keep the light in the washroom on so that her kids' heights were too small to reach near the switch.

And then he pulled out something from his pocket.

A black card that had some different name from his mother. He was checking her wallet with the hope that he could find any picture of his dad or anything related to it. After all, he had seen in my movies about people keeping the pictures of their loved ones in their wallets.

But he was disappointed when he didn’t find any picture. Instead, this card landed in his hand.

He read the name of the card, ‘Brandon Haysbert'.

‘Who is he? Why has mom kept the card with his name? Can he be our father?’

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#TBC