At Jas’ ho, as Caryn headed to bed, she noticed Jas standing by the window, looking outside. The mild rain had already started.
She knew him well and couldn’t help but ask, "Anything troubling you?"
He kept quiet for a while before replying, his expression and voice solemn and regretful, "Today, when I saw Natalie and Justin, I thought how it would have felt to be by your side when you were having Natalie. I should have been by your side to take care of you... to take care of our child..."
There was a silence between them—a silence for lost things that couldn’t be returned.
"I’m sorry," she said. "I can’t return those days to you."
He finally looked at her. "I’m not blaming you. Just a regret that you had to do it all alone, while I was unaware of your struggles."
"I have indeed kept you deprived of that happiness," she admitted. "But, if I had to go back in ti, I would do the sa..." Her voice trailed off as the next words were her admission of how much she cared for him. "...I had to keep you away from the dangers I brought with ."
He turned to her and just hugged her. No words were needed, no need to recall the past. "I know. No need to explain anything more."
She hugged him back, though her hands moved a little hesitantly. "You have to make up by looking at your daughter’s kids. I’m too old to give you that happiness again."
"That ans if you were any younger, you would have another child with ?" he asked.
Caryn didn’t respond to him, as she knew where he would take things.
He let her go and looked at her, only to see her avert her gaze. "I wouldn’t want a second child. One was enough."
He held her chin and made her look at him. "You at least had a thought of finally accepting , didn’t you?"
She brushed away his hand. "If not, would I have been living with you?" she turned around to head to bed. "It’s late. I’m sleeping."
In response, Jas back-hugged her and whispered in her ear, "I’m talking about the other kind of acceptance. And you seem to have recovered really well under my care."
"Don’t act like a pervert at this age," she said in a warning but soft tone. "Let sleep."
"Are you sure?" he said and started to kiss the crook of her neck. "We’re not that old yet."
"Jas..."
"Don’t you really want it, now that we’ve finally t? I don’t even rember what we did that night. Isn’t it unfair that only you rember?"
Caryn swallowed hard at how he was sounding, but...
"Jas, I really want to sleep," she said, her voice hesitant.
Jas sighed inwardly and let her go. "It’s really late," he said, and then asked—his playful tone entirely changed to a serious one—"Did you take your dicines?"
She humd.
"Alright, let’s sleep then."
They headed to bed, Caryn feeling guilty in her heart. But she had her reasons.
As they lay in bed and Jas closed his eyes, she looked at the man for a long ti before she closed her eyes, her thoughts unknown.
-----
The next day, it was Sunday, and everyone was free—except for Justin, who was busy working, and even Noah had arrived to work with his boss.
"These workaholic people," Natalie sighed as she looked at the two and settled on the sofa. "And here I am, going to turn into a couch potato soon."
"You’ll look prettier even as a couch potato," Justin said while going through the file.
Just then, ira arrived, holding a paper in her hand. She saw Justin and Noah working and then turned to the only free woman.
"Sister-in-law," she called out, "I need your help."
"What is it?" Natalie asked as ira handed her the paper while explaining, "After two weeks, my class is going to attend an art event by the most famous painter. The professor has asked us to fill these forms so they can apply for the visa for us."
"Visa?" Natalie comnted. "Where exactly are you going?"
She told her they were heading to the neighbouring country.
Natalie looked at her. "You can fill it yourself. It’s just basic information."
"I might make a mistake, so..."
"We can get another copy of this form, don’t worry," Natalie assured her. "You shouldn’t be afraid of mistakes."
ira humd, and Natalie gave her the paper. "You can fill it here, and if you don’t understand anything, you can ask."
ira nodded and sat on the carpeted floor as she placed the paper on the center table and started to fill in her basic information.
Natalie smirked playfully.
Just then, Natalie said, "Honey, all of a sudden I want juice—the one you made during breakfast."
Without saying a word, Justin went toward the kitchen, while Natalie stood up as well and said, "ira, I’ll be back in a while," and then looked at the busy man. "Noah, help ira fill her form until I return."
"Yes, Ms. Natalie," he replied and looked at ira, who was carefully filling the form.
In the kitchen, Justin handed over a glass of juice to Natalie and said, while looking into her mischievous eyes, "Looking for so fun, huh?"
Natalie understood she was caught. "Our babies and I get bored, you know..."
He simply shook his head and sighed. His wife was showing another of her sides—the naughty one.
Just as Justin was about to return to the sofa, she held his hand. "Don’t spoil my fun," and dragged him toward the dining table, from where she could see and hear Noah and ira.
As expected, the little girl had a problem. She looked at Noah, unsure whether to disturb him.
Sensing her gaze on him, he looked at her. "What is it?"
"Umm... it asks... marital status..." she replied hesitantly. "What should I check?"
"Married," Noah replied normally.
She nodded and checked the box. And then mumbled, "Husband’s... na..."
She realised she only knew his na as Noah. What about his full na?
For her, he was only Mr. Noah.
She looked at him, her gaze hesitant. But Noah had heard her and said, "Noah Bryden." He pulled out his national ID card and placed it in front of her. "My national ID is there."
She nodded and accepted the card. She looked at it for a while, observing his picture and then reading his na. Noah Bryden.
Finally, she knew his full na.
She wrote it on the form.
Natalie was smiling ear to ear, while Justin simply sighed, letting her enjoy it. As long as she was happy.
"They’re cute together, aren’t they?" Natalie asked.
"I would advise you not to think too much about it," Justin said.
"Why?" she asked.
"Noah might have sothing else in his mind," Justin replied.
"What do you an? He doesn’t want our ira as his wife?" she asked, sowhat displeased. "Did he tell you?"
Justin shook his head. "No. And I’ve told him already—it’s up to both of them to decide what they want to do."
"Then how can you—"
"Aren’t you going to drink the juice?" Justin asked. "And we shouldn’t ddle in their matter."
As he said it, she quietly sipped the juice, while her gaze wandered toward the couple who were busy with their own task.
Once ira was done, Noah even checked the form to see if everything was right as if he was just doing another of his work task.
’I can’t really guess what’s in Noah’s mind,’ Natalie thought. ’Is he truly not willing to give a chance to this marriage? Is it because ira is too young? I can’t really tell,’ She sighed inwardly. ’Maybe Justin is right. I should not pay attention to them, or it will just stress out.’
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