Adeline and I stared at each other for a moment as our eyes widened. I don't want him to peek under and see that two pairs of feet are inside this cubicle. I gave Adeline a signal several times to answer his question, but the only answer I got from her was a no."Come on Annika, give him a response!"“No, you should answer him.”“What?”"Mom? Where are you? Did you fall asleep?"With so much panic, I quickly reached for a bowl. Adeline's eyes were strangely looking at me. I'm already sweating cold. I see Adeline looks like that too. I signaled her again to answer Luke's question so that the boy could be reassured that I was still inside the cubicle. She vehemently shook her head while giving me a sign to answer her son's questions.“G-Give him an answer,” she whispered in a tone of urgency.“No, you should give him an answer now. From now on we've already switched, haven't we?” I whispered back struggling hard to hold my breath.She clasped her hands together. Begging.What the heck!
LUCAS POVI couldn't get rid of my playful smile while walking into the building. A while ago when I called Luke's nanny, she said they were at the school supplies and were going to buy something for a while. I just want to surprise Adeline that is why I choose to come here. It was not part of my plan. I've not been a showy person ever since especially in a public place, but now I thought of doing this for her. I feel like there is a dominant force pushing me to do this sweet stuff which is why I am here today.“I hope she likes what I bought...” I mumbled as I sniffed the scent of her favorite flowers.I couldn't help to feel nervous right now as I approached their side. Now, both of my hands are already behind my back to hide the bouquet. “I am sure Adeline will appreciate it as she was not hard to please anymore,” I added.My paces halt for a moment as I enter the entrance where they are. From where I was, I could see Luke and Adeline. She was carrying our son, but that was not wh
I stared at her in shock. It's not Adeline. She is not my wife. I believe she is a different person.“Why don't you want to be here?” Adeline tone of voice was high-pitched, it made Luke cry even louder. “Hey? Why are you crying?!”Hey? When did she start calling Luke hey?Luke tried to remove Adeline's hold on him while still crying loudly. I remained silent. Observing.“Madam!” Luke's nanny was in horror at her action, she was also shocked like me. “Please let him go and allow him to sit next to me. He looks sleepy that is why maybe he was a bit moody.” she forced herself to give a raw smile.“So what's the matter if he was sleepy? He can just be here and sleep with—”“Adeline!” I cut her sentence in a weak tone but full of authority, I saw how her eyes rolled.“Fine. Alright Luke, sit with Emily if that's what you want. I am sorry. Will you stop crying now?” she tried to wipe his tears but Luke pushed her hand harshly, making Adeline more irritated. When we arrived at the mansion
Full of remorse and anger, I hardly pushed away her hand that was holding my face. I didn't like it. I couldn't paint the look on my face as I rushed out of our room. Both my shoulders continued to rise and fall due to the weight of my breathing. I even messed up my hair violently as if I was going insane. I just kept walking out until my feet took me inside my dark office. My mind is still confused. I don't know what to do. I need to drink alcohol to calm down myself. With that thought, I called the intercom directly to the kitchen to ask the maid to send a bottle of liquor to the office.“Just a moment, Mayor Romanov.” replied the maid whose already in panic in her voice.I didn't wait long. After a while, the maid came and knocked on the door thrice with a tray of what I ordered. After she left the office, I didn't bother to use glasses. I drank from the bottle. I was out of breath when I put it back on the center table. I thought back to what Adeline said earlier.What? They will
Hurriedly, I slammed the door shut. I just got frustrated. I shouldn't be like this. That woman is a different person. I must love my real wife because we swore in front of everyone that we would live happily together in this lifetime. I don't even know how my heartbeat changed. How I'd learn to love others even though she has my real wife's face. Now that everything is clear to me and learned that she's a different person, I still want to be with her. I would still prefer her side compared to my wife.I was awake the whole night despite that I was a bit tipsy and my body and mind were exhausted. I continue to look for the solutions to my problem even if it seems that I don't have one. I just making it in my mind. I was awake planning the right thing to do. As the sun rises in the sky and dawn begins to shatter, I immediately deploy my men to the hospitals.“Mayor Romanov, did we hear it correctly? Do you want us to find the patient who looks exactly like Madam Adeline?”I called them
“Mayor Romanov, we took Madam Adeline to the hospital right now. She collapsed a while ago after suddenly having trouble breathing—”I didn't let Luke's nanny finish the statement. I hurried to get inside my car. I didn't even call the driver. I drove myself to the hospital. Even if I treat her coldly as my wife, she is still a burden on my conscience and I must take care.“What happened to her?”“Suddenly her chest tightened and stopped breathing until she lost consciousness.”I pulled back the curtain in the emergency room where she was. There is oxygen attached to her nose. Her color was pale as white blank paper. Currently, still unconscious but not comatose.“Mayor Romanov, you're already here. Just wait a moment and I'll call the doctor to talk to you.” the nurse who saw me coming stated.I tried to be calm. It's not like the last time I went to the hospital to see her in worst.“We ran some lab tests on your wife Mayor Romanov, we also took an x-ray. Soon we will know the resul
I know soon Adeline will know everything because it was her body, but right now I don't want to tell her about it. I want her to have a glimpse of hope that soon she will be alright. Adeline might become even weaker when she finds out everything. It's also impossible for me to bring Luke close to her right now, especially since her illness is her lungs. Our son might get infected if I do that. But I'll give her a day so she can be with our son. I don't want her to think that she is a burden to everyone.“Thank you, Lucas, as you have forgiven me...”The next day, I sent Luke over but because he had a phobia of her presence, he didn't want to come near her. He just hides behind his nanny.“Luke? Come close to Mommy. You will see, next time the child is not allowed to come here. You will not be able to visit her again. You like that?”No matter how hard I tried, he only just shook his head. It was the opposite when Adeline had an accident. Luke doesn't want to leave the room.“Come here
ANNIKA POV“How was your vacation with Iris, Madam? Did you two enjoy it?” Sol, one of the staff, asked me an opening question as I made my way inside.“Hmmm, yes. As usual. Look at my skin. I'll become tan. We are soaked in the sun almost the whole day. She didn't even want to get out of the water. I don't know if she has a breed of fish.” I replied with a tone of a joke.She laughed loudly at my response. I received the important documents I requested yesterday from her as she handed to me.“It's a good thing, Madam. It is good for mental health to sometimes relieve stress by going on vacation. You're always just dealing with stress here, anyway. Good thing that you were able to have a good time with Iris.”“You're right, we always need that in life.”I glanced at Iris who was now standing near the door of the shop with a small smile on her face. Some strands of her hair spread over her face. Seeing her face now relaxed and not frowning was new to me. She doesn't seem to be the Ir
ANNIKA POVWho would have thought that all the ordeals Lucas and I encountered in the journey we could overcome by moving to another country?“Mom, hurry up!” Luke got my attention as I looked after them from my instance. “We must take some pictures before the increasing snowfall destroys snowmen,” he continued.My lips parted to give them a genuine smile. It almost reached my ear. My parched and cracked lips became painful due to the freezing weather in the country. The season is winter.“Yeah, I'm coming.”“Be careful, Wifey! You might fall. It's slippery!” Lucas yelled, who was there with Iris and Luke.“Instead of worrying, why don't you come here and lend me a hand? It's dangerous, right?” “You need help?”I rolled my eyes heavenwards. Does that even require to be asked? He could see that I was struggling to step closer to them. Why are the snowmen they made so far from o
The next day, I decided to visit Uncle Elias in the prison. His sentence is life imprisonment, and there is no chance of parole, but for me, that's not enough. He deserved more agonizing and severe punishment for him after knowing what he had done to Annika. He never did anything reasonable in his life anyway.“Why did you do that?!” I yelled as soon as I saw him approaching. If I could have broken his bones at this moment, I would have done it. “What's done is done, Lucas,” he answered calmly. To my ears, it sounded like he was proud. Sitting before me, I hit my hands on the table. If there were no police guard in the area, I would have already broken his neck and killed him. “There's no benefit in any regrets—”“How many more innocent girls have you robbed of a chance to live a normal life? Aren't you ashamed of what you did? You are disgusting! Most of them are minors! Didn't your body even tremble after you did that horrible thing to t
LUCAS POV I was heartbroken, and my heart seemed to break into a million pieces as I scrutinized the anguish reflected on my wife's face. I clenched my fist while I couldn't help but tighten my jaw. I was devastated as I assumed we would have no more challenging situations. But look at this: I was dumbfounded to find out that there is more. Heart-wrenching is the best way to describe my feelings towards my wife, not pity. At this moment, I really want to punch Uncle Elias face until it bleeds and see wounded pain so I can get revenge on my wife's behalf. If I can do that now, I will undoubtedly do it without regret.“Don't do anything dangerous that you will wish undone later, Lucas. Let's just let it go. That will also give us precedence over other information about us within the country. I'm embarrassed to ask you this, but I don't wish everything to get major problem of our family.”I didn't make a reply, but at the back of my mind, I wi
In two weeks of our honeymoon, Lucas and I made the most of it. We truly made the most of every moment, indulging in delicious food and intimate moments, taking some rest, and occasionally, taking a dip in the seawater to restore our bodies for long endurance. We are sole, so having intimate moments was not that tough. By reason of that, on the day that we had got to leave the place and return to reality where our two children were waiting. We didn't have anything to regret. Coming to have a vacation in this place is worthwhile and also priceless, to be accurate. It is worth the price: money, ambiance, and precious time with my husband.“Tell me honestly, Wifey, did you enjoy our two-week vacation? Or was it not enough?”I nodded in response. We are packing our things now, putting them back in the traveling bag. Tomorrow, we have an early dawn flight.”Do you want to have an extension period?”“No, this is already enough.”
So proud of myself. I gave back a cheerful and broadened smile at Lucas for his every word of acclaim. Am I mistaken in my response? I am different from other women because I have him. Why did he respond like that? Does he have a twin without me knowing? It might be as cliche as it may sound, but for me, he was the only Lucas Romanov in the world. “Am I incorrect?” I asked him and was almost about to crack up at his surprising and unimaginable reaction. “I have you, Lucas, which made me unable to be typical of another woman. Is it difficult to figure out?”“Yes, sure. You are right, Annika. I'm only only.” Lucas replied, slightly ripping off my cheeks. Despite the fact that the beginning of our love story was not significant in most people's eyes, I can only say one thing. We both felt love that was pure, even though it transpired at the wrong time with the wicked reasons behind it. Lucas and I were wounded in our cores and separated for quite a while. It taught us countless life le
Seizing for air, my eyes darted away while turning red. I'd instead stare out the car window to cover up my face. Lucas surely knows a lot of gibberish things. He kept getting on my nerves even though it was not his intention. As I spoke, my heart pounded with pressure. I felt Lucas motion to my side, probably to continue what he was doing, but I ignored him. My eyes remained outside as if he was not with me. Unhurriedly, I bit my lower lip to reduce the uncertainty that I felt. My body reacted and heated up at Lucas actions. If anyone else saw that, they might think he was out of his mind and a maniac. Lucas cannot close his pointed tongue and does not know the boundaries about speaking such things. I mentally roll my eyes. He cracked up so hard when he saw my response to what he spoke out. He was very pleased with the unexpected retort he got from me. Consistently, I ignored him. I didn't dare to look him in the eye as I learned my whole being was bewildered.“Don't worry, Annika.
As I expected, Luke's nanny Emily still resided in the mansion. Her appearance did mature but she was still the affectionate nanny of Luke. I didn't know if she knew my real identity because she always smiled at me from the day that we met and every time she made eye contact with me. To think about it, that seems impossible. My face is now reversed. I'm in my real appearance. There are no specks that once in the past five years, I pretended to be Adeline. Not unless Luke who is chatty like Iris, will tell her who I am. In that case, the reason was acceptable. “Mom, don't worry about my sister. I can take care of her too. Just enjoy your vacation with Dad. You don't need to think about us.” Luke stole my attention by expressing that as he rubbed his sister's back presumably to comfort her. “I'm a big boy now. I won't leave her alone or behind. You can depend on me right, Mommy?”“Alright Luke, thank you for your concern. I appreciate that.” I replied and
Our honeymoon vacation is organized for two weeks. At first, I did not approve when Lucas told me to decide which country I wished to go to. To be honest, I don't like to go out of the country, especially without our children so Lucas chose to have a honeymoon on one of the well-known beaches within the country. If we ever go and schedule to have a fun vacation in another country, the children must be with us. In my honest opinion, we don't require this. It's not necessary to do this after all we are already old. I believe the honeymoon is only for newly married couples who don't have children yet. And we are not counted among them. “We already have a child, Lucas. Is that still essential for us?” I appealed to him when he opened up about this concern to settle in. “Yes, that's a normal thing Annika to the couple after marriage. Even if we have a child, we can still do it. There is nothing wrong with that.” “But, we won't be required to
Adeline's parents also attended with so much excitement at our wedding. They never criticize me as a replacement for their daughter in Lucas and Luke's life. Lucas was correct. He already dealt with everything before he set a dinner with his entire family. They cannot stop saying gratitude and compliments for the greatness of my soul. At this moment, I feel like they are genuine for saying those words. They're not acting up just to please me. Unlike when I was in the shoes of Adeline, their words were full of bitterness and remorse towards me. I did not expect that their behavior would not as tough and rough as before, especially Lucas's mother. The level was diverse then.“Welcome to our family, Annika!” she exclaimed, she kissed me on both of my cheeks after hugging me.I just emphasize a slight smile. I couldn't halt my lips from trembling as I was frightened of them on the day that Lucas introduced us. Like even if Lucas told me to calm down because h