A sharp pain tore through her heart, and it hurt so much that even breathing felt painful.
Having lost whatever feelings of excitement she had earlier, Sasha placed the items back on the shelf.
âWould you like to purchase this item, miss?â the salesgirl asked.
âNo, thanksâ¦â Sasha replied emotionlessly and dragged herself out of the mall.
She was so absent-minded that she didnât even know how she got home. All she remembered doing was
locking herself up in her bedroom straight till nightfall.
Lance soon returned home with Vivian and was surprised to see an empty living room.
âWhereâs your mommy? Is she still out?â he asked as he had bought a lot of ingredients to make their
favorite dishes.
Vivian climbed off him and went looking for Sasha in her bedroom.
âMommy? Are you in there? Itâs me, Vivi! Uncle Lance bought us a lot of ingredients today! Come on out,
Mommy!â she shouted in her usual childish voice while knocking on the door, but there was no response.
Lance quickly came upstairs and carried Vivian in his arms as he said, âI think your mommy isnât home
yet. Sheâs probably busy running some errands outside. Come on, letâs wait for her downstairs. Iâll make
you something delicious!â
âOkayâ¦â
Vivian could only pout as she went downstairs with Lance.
Little did they know, Sasha slowly opened the door after they left and slowly dragged herself out of the
room.
âWill Mommy come home for dinner tonight, Uncle Lance? You even bought her favorite crabs!â
âHmm, Iâm not sure⦠If she doesnât, weâll just keep it in the refrigerator and cook it when she comes
back, okay?â
âOkay!â
Vivian clapped her hands in satisfaction.
Lance smiled back at her as he continued unpacking the daily necessities that he bought.
âVivi, if your mommy doesnât come home before we go to bed tonight, I want you to tell her tomorrow that
I bought you two all these stuff. They were mailed all the way here from Clear, got it?â he said while
waving tubes of toothpaste and bottles of childrenâs shampoo in front of her.
Those were all stuff that Sasha had wanted to purchase from Clear. As Vivian had sensitive skin, most of
the commercial products available in the market werenât suitable for her.
As such, Sasha had no choice but to purchase them all from Clear Hospital.
I appreciate that heâs helped me with the purchase, but⦠Why did he have to buy so much of it at once?
Three months is a pretty long time, so he could just wait till we run out before placing an order for itâ¦
Sasha thought to herself as she looked at them from the corridor above.
After instructing Vivian on the daily necessities, Lance then pulled out his wallet and handed her a few
credit cards.
âAlso, could you hold on to these for me?â
âWhat is this?â Vivian asked innocently.
Wait, those are the credit cards that I gave him! Iâve always been busy with work, so I had no choice but
to task him with managing everything in the house. I gave him the credit cards so he could purchase the
daily necessities and groceries. The money isnât much, but itâs enough forâ¦
Sasha narrowed her eyes and trembled slightly as she was hit with a sudden realization.
âYour mommy gave me these. Letâs play a game tonight, Vivi. Your goal is to keep these safe for me,
okay? You can return them to me when I come back tomorrow morning.â
âOkay!â
Vivian naively clutched those cards tightly against her chest like they were some sort of precious
treasure.
Lanceâs eyes reddened a little, but he fought off the urge to sniffle and gave Vivian an affectionate pinch
on the nose before heading into the kitchen.
Having witnessed everything from upstairs, Sasha teared up as she ran back into her room and shut the
door once again.
She never knew he was by her side the whole time, let alone the fact that he had let go of her by fulfilling
her wishes.
Six months later, it was almost time for the birthdays of Ian and Matteo.
âSebastian, where do you plan on celebrating the boysâ birthdays? This is Matteoâs first birthday with us
after returning to our family, so we have to make it a grand one!â
Frederick had come all the way to Frontier Bay in person just for the event.
Sebastian was putting on his coat before leaving for the office when he heard that. âSure, you can make
the arrangements,â he replied with a nod.
Frederickâs face was instantly filled with joy.
âOkay, weâll have it at a hotel, then. Iâll invite everyone from the Hayes family over and get them formally
introduced to Matteo. As for his motherâs sideâ¦â
âThat wonât be necessary!â Sebastian cut him off the moment he mentioned Sasha.
The look on Frederickâs face changed immediately. âWhat if people ask about the childâs mother?â
âWeâve got Roxanne, havenât we? You can just invite her family over instead. Weâre engaged, so sheâll
be the mother of those children from then on. Donât you stir up any trouble now.â
Sebastian grew impatient all of a sudden, and his tone grew a lot colder too.