“So, have the twins grown well in the past five years?”
"They have. Shane and Shania are now five years old, and they are very healthy and intelligent. They will probably start school next year.”Jessica still felt like it was a dream. Initially, she only planned to see her mother from afar, but then her mother noticed her presence. She thought her mother would try to throw her out like she did five years ago, but she was wrong because her mother had opened her arms to her.It was probably not exaggerating to say that a mother's heart was bigger than a mountain, and that was proven by how her mother was able to forgive her even though she made a big mistake five years ago.Right now, she could even stand next to her mother's wheelchair as her mother struck up a conversation with her, and it still felt unreal to her.Jessica could see how her mother nodded after hearing her answer, and it didn't seem like the older woman was going to ask h“So… they are my grandchildren, Jess?” Jessica still couldn't believe her ears after hearing her mother's question. Five years ago, her mother no longer wanted to see her and her children, which was why she went to China with her two babies so that she wouldn't accidentally show her face in front of someone who refused to see it. In the past five years, she even hesitated to tell stories about her mother to her children and was even afraid to tell them that they still had a grandmother who lived in a different part of the globe. Only when they returned to New York did she have more courage to tell the twins about their grandmother. She told her children that they still had a grandmother, but their grandmother was not feeling well and needed to be hospitalized. One time, the twins said they wanted to visit their grandmother in the hospital, but Jessica didn't dare to grant that wish. She didn't expect a day would come when her mother said
But, that was definitely just an impossible wish because time continued to move even if she begged it to stay. Proof that time continued ticking was how the scene changed when her mother said that she would frame the drawing once she was able to leave the hospital, and the children seemed happy after hearing that.Her mother then asked the children to make more drawings for her, and they vigorously nodded their heads before going to the sofa inside the ward and taking out drawing equipment from their bags. They then sat on the floor before happily drawing on the paper they brought from Tammy's house."They are growing into smart and well-mannered children," said Patricia, looking at her grandchildren proudly.“They grew up in an eastern country, and the people there really respect their elders. Both Shania and Shane learned a lot from their environment," answered Jessica.“That's good,” answered Patricia. “Children like them usually only like to p
“So, what do you think I should give my husband for his birthday?”“What did you usually give him on his birthday before?”“Err… actually, I've never given him anything on his birthday before.”Jessica facepalmed after hearing Tammy's honest answer, and she lazily glanced at the younger woman driving in the driver's seat next to her. This afternoon, she was sitting in the passenger seat while her best friend was driving next to her, and they were heading somewhere now."You're such a stingy ass," Jessica replied lazily.“Watch your mouth when your children are sitting in the back seat, sis! You taught them a bad lesson!”When Jessica glanced at the back seat, she could see Shane and Shania sitting there quietly. The children stared at her with wide eyes, and Shania even grinned widely at her, showing her her incomplete row of teeth.“You didn't hear anything, did you, kids?” Jessica asked the kids, and they simultaneousl
When they finally arrived at one of the biggest malls in the city, Tammy was confused by another question, “What brand should I choose?”That was what she asked right after they entered the mall, and Jessica once again rolled her eyes lazily. Her best friend then continued asking about what brand of running shoes were the best, and she also wondered about the latest models that would suit her husband. Of course, Jessica chose to ignore the questions, and she simply advised her best friend to check out each brand one by one.It was a very lazy suggestion, but Tammy was probably also too lazy to come up with a better solution, and that was why she carelessly accepted what Jessica had just told her. The four of them then entered a shoe shop not far from the mall entrance.The store clerk came to them eagerly, and she politely asked what they were looking for. Tammy answered that she was looking for a pair of running shoes for men, and the store clerk immediat
The twins stood in front of their mother, and their shoulders were held by their mother protectively from behind. It was as if someone was going to snatch the twins away, and even the twins looked confused. However, perhaps the protective measures they received from their mother were not the only cause behind their confused expressions. They were probably also confused by Noah's statement.If possible, Jessica actually didn't want to answer the question, but it would look ridiculous if she just walked away after hearing the question. Noah would probably have an opinion if she did that, and that was why she didn't take the option of running away this time."Yes. They are my children," answered Jessica without lying this time.Noah didn't reply immediately, and he quietly looked at the children who were also looking at him with a pair of curious eyes. He seemed to be thinking about something before he shifted his gaze to observe his surroundings, and his eye
This time, Noah didn't answer Jessica immediately, he followed Jessica's line of sight to look at the children who were still sitting on the bench. Taking a deep breath, he finally answered, “You can assume what you want to assume.”That wasn't really the answer Jessica wanted to hear, and she frowned as she looked at him once more. It seemed like she asked him to choose between black and white, but he chose grey, and that confused her quite a bit.Unfortunately, before she could question the man's answer, the man was faster to speak again, “I have to go now. You don't need to think about what I said because it doesn't mean anything.”"Where are you going?" Reflexively, Jessica asked that question. “Are you going to visit my mother in the hospital?”“…” Noah looked surprised this time, and the pair of eyes looking at Jessica widened slightly at the question.The small change didn't go unnoticed by Jessica, and she decided to push him furt
“You ruined everything!”“What do you mean? I helped you to flirt with your ex-husband earlier, so you can't just say I ruined everything!”“I don't need you to help me—wait! I don't want to flirt with him at all, so you really don't need to help me!”Jessica almost ran out of breath while arguing with her best friend. She once again sat in the passenger seat, and Tammy returned to driving next to her. A person driving usually needed to concentrate on the road to avoid accidents, but Tammy was able to divert her attention to Jessica because she refused to admit defeat.“Oh, I thought you were planning on flirting with him, and that's why I helped,” Tammy said nonchalantly while shrugging her shoulders as if she didn't care how Jessica's head would explode after hearing her words.They had just left the mall, and Tammy had already gotten the birthday present she was going to give her husband tomorrow. Only Jessica felt like she had lost ev
Jessica drove Tammy's car to a busy area in the city, which was why she couldn't speed up because the roads were also busy at this hour. Moreover, it had been a long time since she last drove in this city, which was why she felt a bit awkward and chose to drive Tammy's car safely.From Tammy, she received information that the location she wanted to reach was in Midtown Manhattan, and because Tammy's residence was also in Manhattan, it didn't take long for her to reach her destination. However, she met with an obstacle when she wanted to park her vehicle in the building's underground parking lot."Sorry, ma'am. Only company employees are allowed to park their cars in the parking lot," said the security guard who came to stop her car as she was about to drive it to the building's underground parking lot.Jessica had rolled down the car window, and she glared displeasedly at the burly man standing next to the car before replying, “You came directly to me to s
“Mom, are we really going to stay overnight at Grandma's house today?” Glancing in the rearview mirror to look into the back seat, Jessica could see how her son kept swinging his legs while asking the question. His cute movements only showed that the blonde boy was very excited to hear his mother's answer. But, this wasn't even the first time Shane had asked that question, and Jessica actually had answered the same question before. Thankfully, Jessica didn't get tired of hearing her son's excitement, and she smiled while shaking her head helplessly before answering, "We're going to have a sleepover at Grandma's house for real, but why are you so excited about that, Shane?" Jessica could keep glancing at the boy because she didn't need to focus on driving. But, the answer to her question came not from her son but from her daughter, "That's because Grandma promised us that she would tell us more stories about Grandpa, Mommy! We wonder if Grandpa is more like me or Shane!" "Of cou
“What is 'proposing,' Mommy? Why do you keep saying that word?” Impatiently, Shane continued to pull the side of Jessica's shirt while asking the question. It was indeed the little boy who responded to Jessica even though the question was directed at Noah. But, that didn't upset the woman, and instead, she looked satisfied as she smiled at the boy before answering, “You'll have to ask your favorite Daddy about that word, Shane. He would know more than me about that word.” Jessica did direct her answer to her son, but her eyes glanced at Noah when she said her last sentence. Noah looked cornered, he even tried to look away from the mother and son pair. The artificial light around the area reflected on the man's forehead after he took off the cat head, and it looked glistening with sweat, either because of his cat costume or because of his nervousness. Jessica didn't know the reason, but that didn't stop her from staring intently at the man while waiting for his answer. "Proposin
“So, where is your Daddy now? Did he run away after giving my son a stup—a funny task?” Gritting her teeth to suppress her annoyance, Jessica questioned her son, almost failing to restrain herself from uttering the word "stupid." However, it was not her son who responded. Instead, it was her daughter who suddenly tugged on her sleeve, causing her to turn towards the little girl. “Daddy didn't run away, Mom,” the little girl said, and Jessica thought she would continue to say something. That's why Jessica remained silent waiting for her daughter to explain what she had just said, but the little girl didn't say anything and just moved her little hands towards the pink backpack hanging on her back. Jessica didn't know what the girl was doing, but she could see how the girl unzipped her backpack before taking something out of it. To Jessica's surprise, the thing the girl had just taken out of her backpack was a camera. To be pr
In the end, Jessica decided to give Noah a second chance. Yes, a second chance to be closer to her children.The reason behind her decision was that her children really liked Noah since the first time they met at the mall ice cream shop when she accompanied Tammy to buy a birthday present for her husband. It could be said that the ice cream succeeded in buying the kids' love, and they really liked spending time with the person who bought them the ice cream.Actually, that was not a bad thing, but Jessica was quite annoyed by the stubbornness of her children who kept calling Noah "daddy." It was clearly Noah's fault for casually confirming that he was indeed the twins' father, and Jessica continued to curse the man in her heart from that day on.She didn't even realize that a week had passed since her mother left the hospital and started living again in Noah's old apartment. Due to her mother's pleading, she ended up staying in that apartment as well rather
“That… that's too cheesy! Aren't we going to buy food for my mother and children? We better leave now or they will eat us alive if they get too hungry," Jessica tried to change the topic of their conversation when she started to feel nervous because of what Noah had just said to her. She even averted her gaze to look at anything as long as it wasn't Noah's face, and that was why she didn't notice the hopeful expression on the man's face. "You just said that what I said was too cheesy, but you didn't say that you didn't believe what I said," Noah replied, ignoring the fact that Jessica was trying to change the topic of their conversation. Finally, Jessica could no longer avoid the man's face, and she once again looked at him with her pair of blue eyes. At this moment, she could finally see a glimmer of hope in the man's eyes. "To be honest, Tammy has told me everything related to you," Jessica finally said the truth.
“Why didn't you remarry after we divorced five years ago?” Jessica's voice was finally heard in the car. "Is it because you still can't get over Tyler?"Suddenly, Noah sneered before replying, “Do you think I love that man so much that I can't replace him with someone else? I don't know if this information is useful for you or not, but the truth is that I didn't really love him when we were together.""You didn't really love him but you still wanted to be with him even though it meant betraying our marriage," Jessica answered sarcastically, and Noah looked stunned by her answer.For a moment, Noah could only stare at the blonde without being able to utter a word with his mouth, but then he took a deep breath before saying, “I believe love and guilt are two different things, and I differentiated them clearly when I was still with him. I betrayed our marriage because of my feelings of guilt, not because of my love for him.”Jessica was the one who d
Jessica didn't know what to say after hearing Noah just say what was on his mind and heart, but for some reason, she felt familiar with the situation. The familiar feeling she felt in her heart made her anxious, her hands even moved to grip her jeans tightly as if asking for support from the blue fabric.“You probably think that my situation is similar to your children's situation, right?”Jessica felt her heart stop beating for a moment after hearing what Noah had just asked. It was actually impossible for her heart to stop beating while she was still alive, but she was truly surprised by the question. She finally understood why she felt anxious about Noah's story. That was because the story reminded her of her children.“I am the illegitimate child of that billionaire, and your children are the same even if their father is not a billionaire. They are very young now, but their lives are probably as full of drama as mine. Their lives will be full of lies a
After everything that happened to her five years ago, Jessica really didn't like surprises. Back then, many unexpected things happened to her, and none of them were pleasant surprises. That was why she felt traumatized by unexpected things, but today, she kept getting unexpected things since she came to the hospital to see her mother.First, a surprise came in the form of Noah, and second, it was in the form of the fact that her mother ended up living in Noah's old apartment. As if that wasn't enough, Noah then told her that he wanted to discuss a matter with her alone, and in the end, Jessica could only follow the man's lead.They were once again in Noah's car, and Jessica had fastened her seat belt. She prepared to look for something for her mother and her children's lunch, but she was puzzled because Noah did not start the car immediately.“Did you forget your wallet?” Confused, Jessica asked the man while looking at him.Her thinking was indee
In fact, Jessica had no plans at all to get into her ex-husband's car. Even her ex-husband's appearance at the hospital was not her plan at all, but in the end, she could only surrender and agree to get into the vehicle.Her mother first sat in the second row of seats with the twins, and she had no choice but to take the passenger seat next to the driver's seat. On the way to her mother's house, Noah, her mother, and the twins continued to chat happily about everything, but Jessica remained silent. None of those people seemed to notice her, and that was why she was lost in thought during the journey.She was actually drowned by the fact that she was passing through a route that she used to travel in the past. She didn't know her mother's new address, but she was sure that every street the car took was familiar to her eyes. It brought a feeling of nostalgia that both warmed and chilled her heart.At first, she ignored the familiarity she felt, assuming that