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

me again while in the middle of racing his cars into

“Yes Alex?”

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

with my eyebrows furrowed. “You’re home so

to the play area through the little white gate,

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

son, placing a big kiss on

1/3

Chipter

Alex was busy running the car over

1 gled

day let a little child run

Gabriel?”

was missing the

“And not me?” 11

pout.

it wasn’t as

from Gabriel’s hold,

shifts closer to keep a closer eye on him, dipping his feet

to him, sitting the same way. His

hand through his arm to be able to rest my temple on his shoulder. “Don’t lie to me. Why’re you

taking a deep breath over

“A

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

hold on

“I could save only one of you. You, or the

my thumb of my free hand, and he intertwined our fingers, bring

question I didn’t ask, and I shut my eyes for a brief second. “Since I woke

dream, Gabriel,”

“But if I was ever given such an impossible choice, yo know I would put myself through a hundred deaths before giving up on you or the kids,

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

think the twins will hate me when they grow up, when

little sharp. They will never find out. And even if they do, they wouldn’t hate you