CHAPTER 42

ALPHA MARK'S POV.

I was still yet to get over their charming, adorable character. Their liveliness made me regret not being part of their life.

Ava excused herself as she stood up to hug them, wiping the traces of tears away from her face thoroughly.

After they have had a brief hug with Ava, they turn to my direction, Kenny screaming Daddy!

At the top of his voice, Kendall giggled excitedly as they both raced against themselves to meet me.

I swiftly got up and squatted, stretching out my arms widely to catch both of them simultaneously in my embrace.

“How are you two lovelies doing?” I asked as Kendall brushed her small, soft face against mine, and Kenny tugged gently at my hair.

“We are doing great!” They both chorused delicately.

“And school?” I asked.

“School is fun, we learned about dinosaurs today,” Kendall answered.

Nodding his head enthusiastically, “Yeah! And our teacher also made us paint pictures of them.” Kenny added.

“Alright kids, enough jumping around. It is time to get to bed, it’s getting late, and you know you have to be up early tomorrow to get ready for school.” Ava interrupted the father and children moment.

“No!” The children both protested, “We want to spend more time with him,” as they spoke, their grip on me tightened.

Ava darted her gaze away from the children towards me, her eyes silently pleading for me to help her out.

I nodded my head, understanding her unspoken request for me to help her talk to the children because they might harken into my voice at this point.

“Hey sweethearts, why don’t you both listen to your mother?” I started softly, “You need to get some sleep now so you will be able to get up on time tomorrow.”

“We don’t want to go to bed just yet,” Kenny whined, “But we can consider going to bed if you put us to sleep and read our bedtime story.” He added.

“Yes, I agree with that.” Kendall chipped in.

I turned to look at Ava, waiting for her response because I was willing to do as they had said.

After all, I wasn’t in a rush to go back home. I needed some kind of activity to distract me from being alone with my thoughts.

Ava sighed tiredly, her expression softening, “Okay then, that is also fine by me.” She gave in.

The children cheered excitedly, jamming their tiny fingers together before reaching out to grab my hands and lead me upstairs to their room.

Once we got inside their cozy room, they excitedly ran over to their bookshelf that was resting at the end of the wall and brought out the book they wanted me to read to them.

I took the book from them, feeling a little unsure of the routine they went with and what I was expected to do.

Ava noticed my hesitation and immediately stepped in to explain how things should go to me.

“First of all, you need to tuck them properly into their bed,” She went on, and I looked around the room, noticing that their medium size bed was right next to each other with a little space in the middle dividing them.

I nodded my head and swung into action, following her instruction.

I gently swept Kendall off her feet, dropped her carefully on her bed that she pointed out to me and I tucked her in while Ava helped in tucking Kenny into his.

Once they were all snug under their blanket, I took a seat beside Kendall on the bed, opened the book before me and Ava sat beside Kenny.

I went to the chapter they informed me they stopped in, and I began reading in a fine, audible voice. “Once upon a time, in a far, far away land…” I started.

I read on, gently stroking Kendall's hair as I did so, imitating what Ava was also doing to Kenny.

I went on and on, enjoying the story as I read it to them and I also knew they did so because they giggled at intervals at funny words or when I mispronounced the name of the main character.

Slowly, after a long read, their eyelids began to drop, and soon they were already on their way to the dreamland, but I continued reading until both children were fast asleep.

Ava flashed a warm smile at me, the expression on her face was impressive.

She took the book from me and returned it to the bookshelf before we both slipped out of the room, making sure not to wake them up.

Once we got back downstairs, I took a deep breath, a sense of peace and accomplishment washing over me.

“Thank you for giving me a chance to do this,” I whispered to Ava.

She smiled again at me, “I couldn’t deny them what they wanted because they wouldn’t have listened to me and done otherwise.”

“I don’t mind getting another opportunity like this,” I turned to look back up the stairs like I would be able to see how they were sleeping peacefully, “I loved every bit of it.”

“I will think about that,” Ava said, but not in a discouraging way, but in a way that sounded like she would think about it.

“I would like to take my leave now,” I stated after a brief pause, “The night is already far spent,” I added.

“Yeah you should, it is getting late, and I know you have had a long day, you need to rest your head,” Ava replied quietly, and with this, we both found our way out of the house.

She didn’t stop by the door as usual to close it behind me, she followed me out to the parking lot, where my car was parked.

We chatted a little more about random things, and I added to the conversation, telling her not to ponder too much about what happened tonight and the news I broke out to her that whatever was happening only meant things would get better.

I got into the car, and she waved me on until I drove slowly out of the compound.