Chapter 127 Uncle Maurice

Chapter 127 Uncle Maurice
Elara's POV

He let me go.

Not like I gave him any other choice. But Jayden insisted that I take a car and driver with me. He was right. I couldn't be too reckless. Hillary was still watching me.

He was definitely planning something. I had made him mad the last time.

The most sensible thing for someone who knew how dangerous going outside was would be to stay inside but, I needed to breathe.

Less than an hour later, the boys and I were in the car Jayden had assigned to us.

The ride was quiet, or maybe I was the only one quiet. No matter how hard I tried to get it out of my head, the picture of Zia's lips on Jayden's refused to leave.

It kept replaying, over and over... haunting me.

Forcing me to relive the early hours of that day when my lips had also been on his.

The thought made me cringe in disgust, and I shuddered.

I could feel two pairs of eyes staring at me, as though I had suddenly grown two heads.

A sigh left my lips.

"What?" I turned to look at my kids.

Both of them instantly blinked, as though they weren't expecting to be caught in that manner.

Jake looked away, shaking his head. "I don't know." He tried to feign innocence.

His brother, on the other hand, kept looking at me.

"I think you're supposed to be happy when you're going to the park," he said, tilting his head slightly. "You look like somebody took something from you."

He hit the nail right on the head.

A scoff left my lips.

"How can they take what wasn't mine in the first place?" I muttered under my breath, another sigh leaving my lips.

Leo raised a brow at me. "Mum?"

I was certain he didn't hear what I said.

Even if he did, he could never know what it was about. He was smart, not Einstein.

I nodded, forcing a smile to my lips.

"It's alright. I'm fine."

Yeah. I said those words more to myself than to my kids.

I had been reassuring myself a lot for the past few hours. It helped in dealing with the pain.

I noticed Jake open his mouth to speak.

There was no way I could handle any more questions about my mood now, so before the words could come out of his mouth, I said something else.

"Aren't you excited to see the park?" I asked in a fake excited tone, which they shouldn't be able to notice.

"I heard that this one has roller coasters that are so high, they touch the sky."

"Wow." Jake gasped, his eyes growing wide.

Leo just blinked. He pursed his lips into a straight line while giving me a stare that seemed to say, Really, Mum?

His gaze made me feel guilty, so I avoided it and kept talking about the really amazing park we were headed to with Jake, who nodded, enjoying every part of the conversation.

In less than twenty minutes, we arrived.

I wasn't kidding when I said the park was huge. Even I had no idea that it would be this huge. I had only told the driver to take us to a park.

The kids got down excitedly, giggling and jumping all over the place. By the kids, I meant Jake. Leo stood next to me like he was my bodyguard, his eyes roaming over the place. They seemed to brighten as he watched.

He was happy.

Jake ran back towards me, grabbed my hand, and began pulling me.

A giggle fell from my lips, and I allowed myself to be led.

"Mummy, you have to..." He wanted to say something, but I heard my name.

"Elara?" The familiar voice called as though he wasn't sure whether or not it was me.

Recognizing the voice immediately, I turned to look at him.

"Hey, Maurice?" A huge smile involuntarily tugged at my lips as soon as I saw his familiar face. "I hadn't seen you in..."

Before I could finish my words, Maurice crossed the distance between us, pulling me into a tight hug.

"O...kay." I said, my hands hanging by my sides awkwardly.

How could I respond? Hug him back?

I blinked.

The hug felt strangely comforting. It was tight, but it felt nice.

Everything about Maurice felt nice.

"Uncle Maurice?" Leo called as he stared at Maurice. His look had a hint of skepticism in it, his eyes darting between me and the man who wrapped me in his arms, hugging me tight as though I would disappear anytime soon.

Maurice pulled away from the hug, and I heard a sniffle.

"You know him?" I asked Leo, who nodded.

"Yeah, of course we remember him."

Even Jake too?

"He used to bring you home from work every day a while ago."

Oh.

I nodded to myself before returning my gaze to Maurice, who so happened to be... crying?

His eyes were red, as though he was trying to stop himself from crying.

I blinked twice in surprise.

"Wait, are you crying?" It was obvious he was. I shouldn't have asked.

Maurice shook his head, bringing his hand to his eyes. "Of course not," he said, sniffling again. "I just... I just got something stuck in my eye."

A cheap lie.

He was crying.

"You don't need to tell me that you missed me. I can see how obvious it is." A smile appeared on my lips.

At least someone valued me enough to cry just from seeing me. The only other person who could do that was Helene. But it had been a long time since we spoke. She probably thought I was back in Korea like we had initially planned.

"What are you saying?" Maurice scoffed before looking away from me to Leo. "I missed the boys more than you." He stretched out his hands to Leo. "Come here, little man."

To my surprise, the kid didn't resist.

Leo had always loved being independent, and for a while now, he preferred walking to being carried.

The only other person who had carried him was Jayden. He didn't easily warm up to strangers.

But he did with Maurice.

It wasn't just me, Maurice made everyone feel comfortable.

Jake ran over to him, raising his hands while jumping up and down. "Carry me too," he said with a pout.

Maurice chuckled. "Okay then." He leaned down and carried Jake as well. Both of them sat perfectly on each of his arms.

I shook my head, crossing my arms over my chest. "Maurice, you don't have to indulge them."

Carrying both of them together was stressful. I had stopped doing that since they were two. But Maurice made it look so easy.

He didn't look like it, but he was strong.

"Why wouldn't I?" Maurice retorted before facing Leo. "Call me... call me that again."

One of my brows went up, and so did Leo's.

"What? Uncle Maurice?"

Maurice smiled. "Yeah, that."

Not wanting to feel left out, Jake yelled, "Uncle Maurice!"

I couldn't help but chuckle at how cute they looked together. The way Maurice held them both... my heart fluttered. I felt warm inside.

A thought snuck into my head.

What if.

What if Maurice had been the one I ended up with that night and not Jayden? What if he was the twins' father and not a man who was about to be married to another?

It would save me the pain and heartache. Plus, I could guarantee that the children would have a wonderful father.

From the way he interacted with the twins, it was obvious that he would have been an amazing dad.

"Uncle, we have an aunt too now." Jake chatted with him as though they had known him all their lives and weren't meeting him again for the first time in almost two months. "Two of them!" he exclaimed, showing Maurice two fingers.

"One of them is our father's sister. She is stunning..."

"And crazy bold," Leo nodded.

Not only was he listening to the conversation, he was also speaking.

Just like Jake, he seemed excited to be talking to Maurice as well.

"You need to have seen her wedding on Saturday."

Jake tapped his brother so he could stop talking, which Leo did. Then he continued.

"And the other one... Uncle, the other one is a witch. Not a good witch, a bad one." He made a face.

Leo continued from where his brother stopped. "She keeps glaring at Mummy all the time. She calls herself Daddy's fiancée."

Okay.

That was enough.

"She doesn't just call herself that, that's what she is," I interrupted, butting into their conversation.

All three pairs of eyes turned to face me.