For Your Failed Unrequited Love

His first child with Lucy was a set of twins, which he had long wished for.

When they first discovered they were expecting, they enjoyed talking about their anticipation of the baby’s characteristics each night.

However, those idyllic days were brief.

Lucy struggled more and more as her stomach filled up.

Lucy kept throwing up. She struggled to eat properly, lay down, or sit without feeling the weight of her body.

There were numerous nights when she moaned while sleeping and shed tears while claiming to have headaches.

Felix, who was standing to the side and watching, was also unwell.

Above all, he couldn’t believe it was Lucy’s body when he looked at her bulging stomach. He feared that something would go wrong.

A child was a blessing, wasn’t it?

However, neither Lucy nor Felix had considered the process of bringing the child to be difficult.

During this time, his mother cared for Lucy and kept a quiet, calm eye on her. She was aware of her suffering; she remained silent, but Felix could tell.

Looking at Lucy reminded her of the past.

Did mother experience such pain while we were inside her stomach?

He felt sorry for his mother for the first time.

As his mother dozed off, Felix stood beside the chair, turned around, and fixed his gaze on her.

the instant he tried to leave after opening the door.

“Felix.”

His mother called for him.

His mother was looking at him as he turned around, holding a bouquet in her hand.

“I would like to see Knox and Eston’s faces again after a long time, so kindly send them to my room tomorrow.”

His mother spoke in her customary collected manner. Felix soon quietly nodded.

“Yes, I will.”

His mother clapped her lips again, as if she had something else to say. But in the end, she was unable to say it. Instead, she placed the flower in her hand close to her nose tip and inhaled.

He deemed that to be sufficient.

Felix went outside after leaving his mother in the room.

***

Children’s laughter could be heard coming from his bedroom, as opposed to his mother’s room, which was completely silent.

When he went inside, he saw Lucy and the children lying on the bed. The twins’ antics, which included hiding under a blanket with their faces protruding, were what made it so amusing.”

“Knox! Eston!”

“Daddy!”

As soon as they saw Felix, the children came down from the bed and jumped into Felix’s arms.

“You weren’t bothering your mom, were you?”

“I didn’t bother you!”

“I played with my mom!”

Compared to their peers, Knox and Eston were unusually energetic and quick to develop. Although it gave him relief to know that they were developing normally, the troublemaking kids are also giving him headaches.

Now that I think about it, I believe I also caused problems that alarmed the adults around me.

I do, however, have a quiet side.

Felix rubbed the back of his head as he grinned ferociously at his two sons.

Eston tugged on Felix’s pants and protruded something as he recalled his childhood. It was a letter,

Even before he asked where the letter came from, Lucy recognized it first and said.

“Eston! Where did you get that?”

Eston pointed to the table with an innocent look.

Eston handed the letter to Felix; it was from Adrian.

Lucy got out of bed, approached and took the letter back.

“I can’t believe it. I was wondering what happened to it!”

As he listened to her, it seemed that the letter had already arrived a few days ago. Perhaps the children sneaked away what was placed on the table to read later.

“Eston, Knox. You shouldn’t take other people’s letters carelessly.”

The kids appeared to shrink for a moment before saying with an unfair look as Felix reprimanded them in a firm voice.

“But it could be a letter to us!”

“That’s right! Uncle Adrian said he would write a letter!”

“Knox, Eston.”

This time, when Lucy sang in a low voice, the twins closed their mouths and looked at their mother.

“Then you should have asked your mom right away. How can you take it without saying anything? What would you gonna do if it was an important telegram?”

“……I wanted to read it with mom…….”

The children quickly lowered their heads.

“I’m sorry, Mom….”

Lucy’s expression softened as the twins spoke with soft eyes.

“You can’t do this from now on. Got it?”

“Yes.”

“Yes.”

Lucy tucked the children to bed.

“Well, I’ll read it for you.”

The children lay down on both sides of Lucy as if they were crying, and fixed their eyes on the letter.

Felix also took off his jacket and hung it on a chair, and lay down beside Lucy and the children. After confirming that everyone had settled down, Lucy slowly began to read the contents.

“……Felix, Lucy. And to Knox and Eston.”

“Look! I’m right, it came for us!”

“Shh!”

Lucy quieted Knox and read the letter again.

“……How are you all doing? I arrived in the capital of Bertha last night.”

“Where is Bertha, Mom?”

“It’s an island country far away.”

“How far is it?”

“Very far.”

“Then which one is farther, Brom or that?”

Lucy struggled to read the letter calmly. This is due to the fact that each line kept going and the kids kept asking questions.

Felix and Lucy responded to all the inquiries.

Because of that, Adrian’s letter, which was only two pages long, took them a long time to read it all.

The letter concluded with the information that he was currently residing in the Kingdom of Bertha, the land of art, that the journey had been enjoyable, that he had enough money, and that he was completely safe.

Adrian appeared to be faring better than he had anticipated. Felix sighed in relief.

When he first expressed his desire to travel to the continent, Felix felt anxious.

He was afraid and concerned that he would leave like this and never return and that he might get into some sort of accident as a result of his carelessness with himself.

However, Adrian told him this after realizing he was thinking that way.

“I’m going to be more selfish than anyone else now, so don’t worry. I’m ashamed to say it, but please take care of our mother instead of me.”

He actually did leave.

Adrian, however, delivered the information regarding him on a monthly basis, as he had promised.

And Felix could sense it each time he read his brief letter. His brother is finally enjoying the freedom he has been granted.

“Mom, we’re going to Bertha, too.”

“When you grow up a little more.”

“How long do I have to grow?”

“To the point where the top of your head comes to your dad’s waist.”

The words made the twins cry at the same time. Knox immediately lay next to Felix and even looked at his height.

His dad was very tall. So it was like her mom said, “Don’t even dream of traveling until you grow up.” The twins’ mouths pouted out.

Looking at the expressions of the dissatisfied children, Lucy suddenly became silent as if she were lost in thought. It wasn’t long before she opened her mouth again.

“All right.”

Lucy changed her words by tapping on the twins’ hips.

“Then let’s go this far, not the waist.”

She said, pointing to Felix’s middle thigh.

“When you grow up to here, I’ll go with you wherever you want to.”

“Really?”

Suddenly, the twins who had been sulking, quickly brightened up.

After making a promise with their pinky finger to their mom, the twins fell asleep as if they were very tired.

“Why did you change your mind all of a sudden?”

Felix asked, gently sweeping the sleeping children’s backs.

“I just thought it was unfair to not allow them to travel just because they’re young.”

“But you said they are too young to go on a trip.”

“That said…….”

Lucy looked at the ceiling as if she had a memory.

“When I was only nine, I went on a trip that changed my life.”

He looked at Felix who had a face that he didn’t understand what she was saying, but Lucy just smiled.

“Our kids might experience something like that too when we are traveling, right? I can’t take that opportunity. Right, Knox? Eston?”

Lucy whispered, sticking her lips to the children’s heads.

Night was falling quietly outside the window while the family talked about their future trip.

Felix put a blanket over Lucy, who fell asleep like a child, and closed his eyes quietly.