That night, Erin didn’t need to try to avoid sleeping with Leo and Maylin.
“I want to stay with my friends today!”
“I’d hate to part so soon. Can’t we just spend today together?”
Maylin and Leo clung to their friends, throwing a tantrum not to be separated.
“Can’t we just sleep together for one night…?”
Moreover, their friends also wanted to stay, leaving Erin and Aiden with no tricks up their sleeve to win this battle.
In the end, they gave in to the children’s wishes, offering a room with a good view of the moon and preparing beds for everyone.
When they checked on them for the last time, Leo and Maylin had completely forgotten about the two adults, fully engrossed in their fun.
As Erin prepared for bed, she sat on the edge of her bed and shared with Aiden, laughing, the fact she learned during the day—that Leo, far from being afraid of thunder and lightning, actually found it exciting to play with.
Listening to Erin with rapt interest, Aiden chuckled and commented,
“Clearly, Maylin takes after you.”
“Huh?”
Erin blinked her large eyes and asked Aiden,
“Leo resembles me a lot, too, but watching Maylin reminds me often of how you were when you were young.”
Erin was spirited, unyielding, and would charge headfirst recklessly for what she wanted. Maylin closely resembled her in that regard.
Aiden smiled, reminiscing about a long past but still vivid and precious memory.
“Huh?”
Erin’s large eyes still stared intently at Aiden. It was then that Aiden felt something amiss and nervously began to speak cautiously.
“Did I… misspeak?”
Wondering if he had said something that could be misunderstood. What explanation should he give? He was about to break into a cold sweat.
“Was I that cute no matter what I did?”
Erin blinked her eyes, the corner of her mouth rising slightly in a wily grin. She lightly placed a finger on her cheek, teasingly.
“….”
Aiden let out a nervous chuckle as the tension he’d been holding dispersed.
“I was pretty good at trickery. I need to be careful in the future. If I’m not, I could see myself getting fooled by Leo and Maylin every day.”
Erin spoke with a face full of eager anticipation. Watching her, Aiden felt pleased and said,
“I should have stopped by during the day. I’d like to see them play for myself.”
“Julia is coming to pick up the kids tomorrow afternoon. Until then, they’ll have plenty of time to play, so let’s watch them together.”
“Yeah. Let’s do that.”
Aiden chuckled lightly. Erin laughed along and then said,
“I was looking forward to being unyielding when Leo and Maylin came over today. But it’s quiet tonight.”
The children always acted beyond her expectations. Today had been a succession of such unexpected behaviors.
“I guess so.”
As they were winding down the day and about to go to bed, Aiden stared blankly at the empty space in the middle of the bed and then suddenly let out a shallow sigh.
“Aiden? Is something bothering you?”
“Not at all.”
“You just sighed, didn’t you…?”
“It’s nothing. Really.”
“Huh?”
Erin turned towards Aiden with a worried expression and tilted her head. Aiden averted his gaze slightly and opened his mouth.
“I guess they’re not coming after all. The kids said they would come over today but….”
Aiden murmured, unable to hide his disappointment.
The kids had insisted on not wanting to part even when evening came, hugging each other and being stubborn. In the end, only Julia went back, and the kids decided to spend the night together.
The children are probably all playing together in the room with a good view of the moon until they get tired and fall asleep. Therefore, there was no chance they’d come looking for their mom and dad today. Still, seeing Aiden feeling disappointed…
“Did you make a secret promise?”
Erin, with her eyes narrowed, stared intently at Aiden and spoke. It seemed last night, beside Aiden, Maylin whispered together something with him.
“Ha-ha. Well, Maylin was begging me so earnestly yesterday…”
“…”
“I miss the kids too.”
Erin gazed steadily, and Aiden avoided her eyes slidingly as he made excuses.
“Until recently, we were together all day, every day. I worry and think about them when I can’t see them.”
Aiden whined in a feeble voice, which eventually burst Erin into laughter.
Both Erin and Aiden loved the children deeply, but as the children grew older by a year, it seemed Aiden felt even more fondly for them.
“Aiden. Have the children really grown up that much?”
“It feels like just yesterday they were only able to cry in my arms.”
Aiden quickly became sentimental. He etched every moment of the children’s growth into his memory, unforgettable no matter how much time passed.
“The child seems to grow up surprisingly quickly. I think time will only get faster from now on.”
Erin also felt that time was passing by too quickly and wished it would slow down. However, watching over the growth of the child was also Erin and Aiden’s role to fulfill.
Even today was like that.
The children pretended to be scared of thunder and lightning, wanting to sleep with their parents, but as soon as their friends showed up, their priorities changed.
For now, they may regard Erin and Aiden as the center of the world, like everything to them, but gradually they will move towards a bigger world beyond their parents.
When that time comes, Erin and Aiden also have to be ready. Because they can’t always spend all their time together as they do now.
“Children aren’t the only ones who need to learn to do things by themselves, the parents also need to learn to be independent from their child.”
No matter how adorable Leo and Maylin are and how much they want to give them everything, they had to restrain those feelings.
“……”
Aiden immediately understood what Erin wanted to convey. Just as he is now the father of Leo and Maylin, Aiden is also the child of Logan and Isabella.
He had left the small world of his parents and nanny to meet Erin and move forward into a larger world.
Their two children would also go through this process and build their own worlds. He knew this, but still… the thought of that day already made him feel a bit lonely.
“Instead, I have you, don’t I?”
Erin beamed with a serene smile on her face.
“When the children have grown up, they will meet someone wonderful and get married. Then, we will sincerely congratulate them and spend time together again, just the two of us.”
Instead of feeling a sense of loneliness, Aiden found himself looking forward to that day. He relished the pleasure of imagining what they would do.
“It would be nice to spend our days like your parents do. Did you see the letter that arrived recently?”
“Yes, they are still doing well.”
“They’re farming themselves these days. They said they’d send us some of the harvest.”
“Don’t get your hopes up too much. Both of them don’t really have a knack for that sort of thing.”
“What does it matter? I’ll be happy even with a really small and ugly pumpkin.”
Both of them had returned to their territory on the day Maylin first started speaking. Since then, they had been painting portraits of Leo and Maylin and sending them along with lengthy critiques.
This time, they said they would bring some of their crops when they visit.
A smile crept across Aiden’s lips as he pictured Erin and himself farming.
“Or, living like Lady Angelina might be nice. Brody is currently teaching the children Julia is looking after how to bake bread.”
They planned to teach them well, so they could hire them at various café branches they owned.
“Angelina seems to join in when teaching the children, too,” Erin said with excitement, continuing with the thoughts that crossed her mind.
“It would be wonderful to go on a trip just by ourselves later on.”
As the head of the house, Aiden found it difficult to invest a lot of time in traveling. He also harbored the desire to travel slowly after setting everything aside later in life.
“Why aren’t you saying anything? Don’t you like the idea?”
“I like everything. Everything with you,” Aiden finally replied.
Everything Erin mentioned was delightful because no matter what, their future would always be together.
“Still want to see the children?”
“…I do. But I can wait until tomorrow.”
With that, Aiden brushed off his longing with a light laugh when Erin asked him again.
That night, Aiden dreamed once more. This time, it was a dream he did not wish to forget upon waking up, one filled with happiness and excitement.
In the dream, Erin and Aiden’s faces were lined with wrinkles. Leo and Maylin had grown up so much they were no longer children.
The future, which had been too vague to even imagine, unfolded vividly within the dream.
No voices could be heard, but it was clear they were all sitting around a table, intermittently breaking into laughter amidst a conversation that seemed to be full of joy.
It was also the future he had dreamed of. The grown-up children seemed to no longer live with them, as they got up from their seats and said their farewells.
Then, as if out of nowhere, someone approached Leo and Maylin at their sides. Around them, young children were spinning around and running about, not too far away.
Erin and Aiden hugged the children one by one, said their greetings, and saw them off as they left.
Watching the two carriages grow distant, Erin and Aiden held each other’s hands.
As he watched this scene, Aiden found tears forming at the corners of his eyes. Surely, if he lived each day like today, such a day would come.
Before he knew it, a smile was on Aiden’s lips. If it was for moments like these, he wouldn’t mind how quickly the days seemed to pass, even if it felt too cruel at times.
