Babies' Secret: My Ex Wants Me Back!-Chapter 87: Background character

Chapter 87 - background character

Katherine blinked repeatedly to see if her eyes were seeing the headlines clearly or if it was just a fragment of her thoughts as she stood still on her track.

Reading and rereading to digest the information—but wasn’t Amanda pregnant? Sex tape? Divorce? She felt her head wanted to split open from the news, then felt someone tug her and turned to see Hanith. freeweɓnovel-cøm

Hanith pulled her cloth. "Mom, are you okay?" he asked in a small, concerned voice, and Katherine smiled slightly, caressing his face.

"Yeah, Mommy is fine," she responded sheepishly—her voice sounded strange in her ears. Was she really fine or just faking it? While putting the falling strands back behind her ears.

The emotion whirling inside her like a whirlpool—she couldn’t pinpoint each rumbling inside her from anger, betrayal, confusion, and worst of all, hope and a little tinge of happiness.

Angry that it was so easy for her to believe Amanda. Confusion that Amanda was Aaron’s wife and was pregnant, yet her sex tape was out. Hope that she could still be back with Aaron after this news, and happiness because Aaron would be back to her.

Katherine wanted to slap her cheek to pull herself out from that stray thought but refrained because she didn’t want to worry her children anymore, because she could see concern marred on their faces.

Katherine willed herself and breathed through her nose harshly, giving her children a quick reassuring smile before waving down at a cab.

The cab ride passed in a blur. She brushed off half of what her kids were saying, yet she still gave some small nods, small smiles to show that she was following their interaction. When they got to the apartment, Mathew was already standing at the door.

And Katherine’s eyes widened a little—she wasn’t actually expecting Mathew here. She wanted to ask, but Mathew beat her to it, shrugged his shoulders, and gave her a charming soft smile.

"Uncle Matty," the kids squealed, seeing Mathew, and Mathew twirled each of them around then ruffled their hair. "How are my mischievous pumpkins?"

"We saw each other this morning," Jasmine responded, rolling her eyes. Mathew collected their bags, slung beside his shoulder.

"Ouch," he dramatically placed his hand on his heart. "Do you not miss me?"

"Haha," Jasmine laughed. "And we’ve been in your place since—" Jasmine started, but Mathew flicked their noses.

Katherine shook her head at their antics, unlocked the door, and invited Mathew in. Mathew immediately plopped on the couch, playing with the kids as they squealed.

A small smile tugged on her lips, and she went to the kitchen, brought out cold water and offered it to Mathew, then warm milk to the kids, and they mumbled a small "thank you."

After drinking and catching up with the kids, she took the empty glasses into the basin, rinsed them, and returned the cups back to the rack.

"Hanith, Jasmine—" she called softly, and the kids turned to her. "Go to your room and stay," she quickly glanced at Mathew. "Mom has something to discuss with Uncle Matty," she said gently, ushering the kids to their room.

"Okay," they said dejectedly while pouting, eyes staring at the ground. Katherine smiled and caressed their faces adoringly.

After Katherine watched the kids enter their room, she released a sigh she didn’t know she was holding and walked to Mathew, who was already staring at her with a softened gaze.

She sighed again, hunching her shoulders as she slumped beside Mathew, her head dropped, resting on the couch head. "I saw the news," she murmured, looking at the ceiling as if it was the thing that caught her attention.

Katherine turned to Mathew, who didn’t talk or respond, and saw he had a small smile. "You aren’t saying anything."

"What do you want me to say, Kathy?" he asked, his voice barely audible.

"Just anything," she gestured with her hands, frustrated. She didn’t know what to say or do or even think—it was like a blank state of mind.

Mathew tilted his head, his lips pressed in a thin line, his brow furrowed.

"Fine!" Katherine dragged out, rubbing her hand on her face. "What if Aaron was telling the truth? What if the baby was never his? What if Amanda lied to me? What if it was just a ruse? What if the media are just lying? What if—"

Katherine’s voice was shaky yet erratic as Mathew shook his head and put his hand on her shoulder to pull her out. "Calm down, Kathy," he mumbled, caressing her shoulder gently. "Breathe," he said.

And Katherine raised her head, tears rimmed on her eyelids. She sniffed, blinking back, not wanting to cry, yet her shoulders trembled. She wanted to believe, she wanted to hope, yet she couldn’t—something still pulled her back.

Mathew shifted to face her, pulled her trembling hands in his, and gently patted the back of her hand. "You okay?" he asked gently.

"No," Katherine whispered truthfully. She wasn’t. She hadn’t been okay since that day after meeting Amanda. She was lost, empty, and sad. "I don’t know what to believe anymore," she mumbled, her gaze fell on the joined hands of hers and Mathew’s.

Katherine wanted to tug the back of her hair to feel it sting—maybe it would pull her back. "What can I believe? What is true and what’s lies?"

Mathew sighed out softly, watching Katherine carefully like a word he said might break her. "Believe what you feel in the deepest part of you—that’s the truth. Trust your heart to guide you to the truth," he said. "Don’t let your fear override what you feel, Kathy."

But Katherine couldn’t. She couldn’t make herself listen to her heart—the two times she did, both ended with tears. If she let her fear override, it would protect her heart from hurting again and again.

What if believing Aaron made her look foolish again?

What if...? She shook her head, making her head fall on her lap.

Mathew smiled, standing up while patting her side. "I’ll leave now. Take care of yourself, don’t think too much and hurt yourself," he said. "I’ll drop by later."

.

Mathew looked back again over his shoulder, staring at Katherine, and his heart pulled in pain. He hated to see Katherine like this. It always pulled him back to those years when they first met.

How broken she was, and yet Katherine, as the strong woman she was, picked herself up for her kids, for herself.

Katherine had come a long way, a very long way from being a dropout college student to the top in her field, then worked her ass off. Yet now that her past was back, she was returning back to that shell Mathew saw that night.

Mathew wanted to help Katherine. He really wanted to. He wanted to hug her and kiss her and tell her that everything would be okay, but he knew she didn’t feel that way about him. Just a friend—a close friend.

And he was okay with it. At least he was there when she was picking herself up. He was there when the twins were born. He was there when the kids took their first steps. He was there when they said their first words. He was always there.

Yet when Aaron came back, he became a background character.

He was happy when this shitty thing happened that made Katherine distance herself from Aaron, yet his heart twisted in pain. Because it pained him to see Katherine in pain.

Tears on Katherine’s face were enough to put him in panic. Katherine didn’t deserve to cry. She deserved the whole world more than the world, and yet the world didn’t deserve someone as good as her.

Mathew clenched his hands on his side, walking out of the door, locking it gently, then rested his back on the closed door.

He released a shaky breath, his hand going to where his pounding heart was, and breathed harshly through his teeth.

The day the incident happened that Katherine called him, he couldn’t think of anything but anger—anger that Aaron made her cry again. Made her doubt herself again, made her wallow into that abyss. And he went to his house.

Mathew had punched Aaron—one for the tears Katherine spilled six years ago and that night, and a punch for not being enough for Katherine to look at him.

Then he went back, took the kids home to give Katherine space until the news happened. Mathew was torn whether to inform Katherine or keep it to himself. But he didn’t have it in him to make her sad, make her more heartbroken. And he informed her. Yet he didn’t think she’d cry again about it.

He wanted to face-palm himself. What was he doing wrong? Why was everything so complicated? Why can’t everything just be easy, and maybe why can’t she choose him?

Mathew pulled himself from the door, staring at the apartment number before going back to his apartment.

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