His Wife (A Contract Marriage Story) by Heer Mangtani

Chapter 86

Alex and Aurora: 2 and a half years old.

“Mama?” Alex called me, and I smiled at my little boy. He had spoken for the first time almost a year and a half ago, but it still made me grin every time he called me mama with his little voice

“Yes, baby?” I coord, picking him up in my arms and carrying him outside, letting his sister sleep,

“Play?” He blinked his huge eyes, and 1 nod.

“Of course, my love.”

1 carry him to the twins’ little play area in the house, and he happily hops out of my arms and into the soft area where his blocks and cars were kept along with Aurora’s dolls and a soft ball pit that they could jump into.

I watch as he puts a few blocks on top of one another, making a tower.

I

“Wow. That’s so tall.” I sit next to him, passing him the blocks one by one as he adds them onto his creation, careful not to topple them.

It w

was a quiet afternoon in our house. Gabriel was at work, and this was usually the time for the twins to nap but Alex had a sugar rush and couldn’t sleep. Even then, he wasn’t making noise, aware his sister was sleeping in the room next to ours.

“Mama… look!” He pointed at the tall tower, satisfied by how much he had managed to pile on.

1 was just about to praise him when he punched right in the centre of it, watching with a spark in his eyes how all of it fell down into many pieces.

“FUN!” He shouted, the grin of his mouth endless, his brown eyes showing so much sudden enthusiasm.

1 sighed, resisting the urge to face palm.

It’s bothersome how much destruction excites him.

“You’re supposed to build, my love. Not break.” I remind him gently, smiling at his antics.

“If no break, then how build again?” He pouts, and I nearly laugh

sweet, naughty boy. He had always been this way. Always inquisitive, always observing, always witty. And his knack for watching things break? It was concerning for Gabriel although I always laughed it off. He was just a child being

called me again while in the middle of racing his

“Yes Alex?”

the jiggling of the keys or the sound

my eyebrows

play area through the little white gate, kissing me softly “How come he

lunch,” I told my husband as he settled

cooed his son, placing a big

1/3

Chipter

car over Gabriel’s coat, dropping it

1 gled

met would one day let a little

you home. Gabriel?”

was missing

“And not me?” 11

pout.

it wasn’t as open as I had

Gabriel’s hold, diving into

shifts closer to keep a closer eye on

closer to him, sitting the same way. His shoulders were tense, and

through his arm to be able to rest my temple on his

over my

“A bad dream?

a fire,” he barely whispers. “In the house. I was coming back from somewhere from work, I think. And I came to

hold on his

one of you. You, or

striking his palm with my thumb of my free hand, and he intertwined our fingers, bring it closer to his lips to place a kiss

didn’t ask, and I shut my eyes for a brief second. “Since I woke up, there is a certain suffocation, a certain guilt

dream, Gabriel,” I reassure

away again, to Alex. “But if I was ever given such an impossible choice, yo know I would put myself through a hundred deaths before giving up on

course I know that,” I whisper. “You’re a good father, Gabriel And a

think the twins will hate me when they grow up,

And even if they do, they wouldn’t hate you