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

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

He called me again while in the middle of racing his cars

“Yes Alex?”

pointed behind me. Having somehow missed the jiggling of the keys or the sound of footsteps, I turned around just in time

called him with my eyebrows furrowed.

area through the little white

after lunch,” I told my husband as he settled across from me,

cooed his son, placing a big

1/3

Chipter

the car over Gabriel’s coat,

1 gled

knew the man I met would one day let

home. Gabriel?” I

missing

“And not me?” 11

pout.

it wasn’t as

Gabriel’s hold, diving

on him, dipping his feet in the soft

him, sitting the same way. His

arm to be able to

over my head as

forehead creases “A bad dream?

“In the house. I was coming back from somewhere from work, I think. And I came to

hold on his

one of

and he intertwined

my eyes for a brief second. “Since I woke up, there is a certain

just a dream, Gabriel,” I reassure

me only briefly. “I know.” He looks 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

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

hesitates, “Do you think the twins will hate me when they grow up, when they

little sharp. They will never find out. And even if they do, they wouldn’t hate you because you’ve been the best dada