Chapter 144
"Wow! So it's true!"
Although Nina had already guessed it, she couldn't help but cheer out loud when Emily confirmed it herself.
She jumped down from Emily's arms, bouncing around happily.
Seeing her like this made Emily feel even more heartbroken.
The children needed a father, but she had deprived both kids of their father's love. Emily always felt she owed them.
Although what happened back then wasn't entirely her fault, Emily still felt guilty about it.
William left and didn't come back until two days later. Though he contacted Emily during that time, they only talked about trivial matters.
He didn't bring up anything else, and neither did Emily.
When William left, she said she would think it over carefully, but didn't say when she'd have an answer.
It seemed William wasn't in a hurry either, just waiting to discuss it after he returned.
Two days later, William came back.
As soon as he walked in, he wanted to ask Emily about her decision, but Emily stopped him. After sending the two kids back to their room, she pulled William outside.
"I've made up my mind."
Emily took a deep breath. "You're right. Although I'm their mother, I don't have the right to deprive them of their father's love."
"So I want you to officially claim the children. I've already told them you're their father. Both kids are pretty happy about it and like you a lot."
"That's good."
William breathed a sigh of relief.
These past few days, while he was busy away from home, he'd been worried about this.
When he was their uncle, he got along great with the two kids.
But now that his role had changed, whether the children would accept him was hard to say. But now he didn't need to worry.
"However, there's one more thing I need to tell you."
Emily's expression became serious. "You can take Oscar and Nina back to live at the Brown Mansion. They're Brown family children anyway, and at their age, it's time they went home. But I won't be going."
"Why not?"
William's smile vanished. "Didn't we agree? You and the children would go back together. No one gets left behind."
"Count me out."
Emily smiled lightly. "I'm not that fortunate. I never thought I'd be with you - not before, not now."
"Whether it's dating or marriage, social standing matters. Our family backgrounds are too different."
"There are things you understand that I don't, and things I understand that you don't. How could we possibly live well together?"
"Rather than make each other miserable later, it's better not to be together from the start. That way we'll both be more comfortable."
"How do you know we're not compatible?"
William looked disapproving. "We've been getting along for several months now. Do you think there's a huge gap between us? Why won't you come back with me?"
"That's exactly the reason."
Emily raised an eyebrow. "Unless you think there's something else? Then you're overthinking it. This isn't that complicated. Don't read too much into it. I simply don't want to be with you."
"And this is the result of my careful consideration these past few days. I won't regret it."
Emily spoke every sentence seriously, clearly not joking. She was in no mood for jokes.
The Brown family was wealthy and powerful - how could they not care about social status?
If she really got together with William, forget about whether they could make it work long-term; just the scheming within the Brown family would be enough to drive Emily crazy.
Looking at William, even someone as smart as him couldn't handle it all - how much more so for her?
Better to stay far away.
As for letting the two children go back home, there was no choice - they were Brown family members to begin with.
Not knowing before was one thing, but now that she knew, she couldn't very well stop the kids from going home, could she?
"Emily, have you really thought this through?"
William still didn't understand. "Why do you think being with me would be a disaster? Is there something I'm not doing right?"
"What do you want me to do? If you have any concerns you want to share, you can tell me. I'll do my best to fix it."
"No, you're wrong."
Emily calmly shook her head. "Some things can't be fixed just by trying hard. I think you should understand what that means."
Of course, William understood. He was two years older than Emily and had seen more of the world.
He didn't want to lecture Emily in a tone as he knew better, but he truly couldn't refute what she said.
"We won't be happy together."
Emily answered easily. "Rather than walk into a disaster we can already see coming, it's better to cut our losses now."
She glanced toward the house. "You can take the two kids and leave today. I won't stop you."
"They haven't seen Aiden in a long time anyway. If they knew they were going to see Aiden, I'm sure they'd be very happy."
"Oh, and one more thing."
Emily changed the subject. "Is Aiden my child?"
She'd wanted to ask William this question during their last conversation, but never found the chance. Today, she needed to get it clear.
William shook his head. "I'm not sure. I found him."
"At first, I tried to find out who his parents were, but the hospital had no record of his birth, not even any files. There was no way to know who his parents were - I was completely in the dark."
"Later, as the child grew up and looked more and more like me, I thought about what happened between you and me, so I went to the hospital for a paternity test. To my surprise, he really was mine."
Emily's breath caught. "So you're saying he could also be my child?"
"Probably."
William didn't speak in absolutes. It really was too much of a coincidence.
That day, he went to the hospital for work and unexpectedly found a child, letting him experience fatherhood early.
And now he seemed to have found Aiden's mother, too. It was truly surprising.
"Then let's do a DNA test."
Emily didn't show much surprise when she said this. So many things had happened these past few days that she was used to it and mentally prepared.
William nodded. "You're right. Aiden does look a lot like you, and Oscar looks a lot like him, too."
"I remember when Aiden first came to my place, Oscar confided in me that he thought Aiden looked very similar to him."
At this, Emily lowered her head with a slight smile.
"Now that I think about it, it's pretty funny. Back then, I was so close to the truth, but I only just found out what was going on. What a waste of time."
"You really won't come back with me?"
William seemed not to have heard Emily talking about the children, and asked persistently, "You're really okay with letting me take Oscar and Nina home?"