Chapter 89 Call His Name
“I don’t want to.” Sebastian looked at Buddy lovingly. “I haven’t slept in the same room as my son before.”
So I’ll sleep in the guest room then? But that just sounds wrong. What if they got used to this and shove me away? What if he takes the boys for himself without me realizing it? She shivered and killed the idea of sleeping in the guest room.
“Let’s sleep together.” Sebastian pointed at the other side of the bed. “It’s a big bed, so you can sleep on the other side of the kids. When they wake up tomorrow and see us sleeping with them, they’ll be delighted.”
S-Sleep together?
Sebastian noticed her shock, and he smiled. “Don’t worry. I won’t do anything.”
That’s not the problem. I mean, a man and a woman alone in a room? And sleeping on the same bed?
“We’re a legal couple now, and we’re going to have to do even more intimate stuff for the kids. What are you afraid of?” Sebastian cocked his eyebrow at her.
Even more intimate stuff? Something even more intimate than sleeping on the same bed in the same room? What is it?
“Alright, stop thinking about it. Just get in the bed. I’m turning the lights off.” Sebastian lay down on Buddy’s left side.
Madeline lay down on Aldo’s right.
Sebastian turned the lights off.
The bed was big, and with the kids between them, Sebastian indeed couldn’t do anything. His presence also felt weaker with the kids sleeping between them, and her heart finally started to calm. It was late, but she couldn’t sleep. Too many things had happened that day, and it seemed really long for her. She kept thinking about them, and they flashed across her mind like a virtual carousel. The more she thought about them, the less she felt like sleeping.
A long while later, Sebastian whispered, “Are you still awake?”
“I can’t sleep,” Madeline said, “You too?”
“Yeah.” Sebastian looked at Buddy. He could only make out a faint outline of Buddy as it was dark. “It feels different sleeping with your own kid. I keep wanting to look at them.”
I just can’t close my eyes. He smiled. “It’s my first time doing this with the kids.”
Madeline didn’t know what to say. A long time later, she said, “I’m sorry.”
“Sorry?” Sebastian smiled. “What did you do to me?”
Madeline answered, “For giving birth to the boys without you knowing. For making you miss five years of their childhood. You became a father without even knowing it, and now you have to take up the responsibility of fatherhood. You did nothing wrong. I dragged you into this.”
“It’s not your fault.” Sebastian complained, “It’s my Dad’s fault. He’s already a grownup, but he keeps pulling things like this without thinking about the consequences.” He sounded really close to his father, however.
A smile curled Madeline’s lips. “You get along with your Dad really well.”
“Our Dad,” Sebastian corrected. “We’re going to act like a real couple. Aldo is the smartest kid I’ve ever seen. If you can’t get in character, he’ll know we’re a fake couple.” He paused for a moment. “Well, not a fake couple technically, since we did get registered. What kind of couple are we then? Dutch? In-name? Acting couple? Business partners?”
Madeline was having a headache. “We can break up when you meet someone you like.” She emphasized, “I don’t want anything but the boys.”
“But I want the boys too.” Sebastian sighed. “Looks like it’s going to be hard for us to break up.”
Madeline sat up and looked at him. “I can give you anything, but the boys are off limits. As long as I am alive, I won’t let anyone take them away from me.”
“Calm down.” Sebastian held her shoulder down. “Go back to sleep.”
“Just remember. Never try to take the boys away from me.”
“Okay. I promise you.” Sebastian said, “If I find someone I like, we can break up, and you can take the boys with you.”
Madeline eased up and lay back down. “Thank you.”
Sebastian smiled silently. Buddy was holding his hand instead of the other way around at that moment, and it felt magical for him. It was like someone needed and depended on him.
It hadn’t been long since he met them, but he loved them from the bottom of his heart. He kept wanting to be closer to them. He wanted to make them happy and give them the best the world had to offer, and he wanted to be close to them. Perhaps that was a magic exclusive to children. They could make grownups like them so they could survive in this world even though they had no survival skills at all.
He kissed Buddy’s cheek. “I have no idea why I like them so much either,” he said lovingly. “I’ve never loved someone so much before, aside from my parents.” And it hasn’t even been too long since I met them.
“I have no idea either,” Madeline said. “Maybe it’s because fate smiled on you.”
“I think so.” Sebastian accepted that explanation. Madeline gave birth to the children in an extraordinary way, and yet he bumped into them just by chance. Fate probably did smile on him.
“Se-Sebastian…” Madeline felt awkward calling his name for the first time.
“Yes?” Sebastian answered.
“I want to know about Harriet,” she said.
“Ask away,” Sebastian replied.
“Everything you said about her… Was it a guess, or do you have proof?” Madeline asked.
“Some parts are my conjecture, the others are backed by evidence,” he said.
“Which part is a conjecture? Which part is backed by evidence then?” she asked.
Sebastian answered, “There’s proof for her barren affliction and her investing in a clubhouse with Cindy. Also the money she spent on Cindy all these years. Everything else is a guess.”
“Huh?” Madeline was shocked. “You’re saying that you guessed the part where she caused my grandmother to fall? The part where she refused to call a doctor for my grandmother and caused her death was a guess?”
