<b>Chapter </b><b>109 </b>
Mason
Uncle Mac? Who is that? Was Lydia dating someone already? The thought of this didn’t sit well with me at all. Why would she be dating someone else? And the kids knew him?
“Yes, Mom, what about him? I thought he was your boyfriend,” Liam added, Now all three of us were looking at Lydia for an exnation.
“Where did you learn that word from?” Lydia asked, eyes wide, more interested in the fact that they knew the word. Like, who didn’t know the word ‘boyfriend‘?
On the other hand, my interest has now shifted to this Mac guy.
“From Linda’s dad,” Mnie replied in her angelic voice. I could see the confusion in Lydia’s eyes.
“Her mom’s boyfriend alwayses to pick her up and Nathan,” Liam exined.
“Is it a bad word?” Mnie asked.
“No, it’s not,” I replied with a smile. She nodded, her attention moving to Lydia as if waiting for her confirmation.
“It’s not a bad word. Uncle Mac and I are friends.”
“Oh, really.” Mnie’s face dropped.
“So is Mason over here. He is Mom’s friend and nothing more.” Did she have to add that?
“Let’s go.”
“Will he be taking us home?” Liam asked as we moved to the side of the car.
“Yes.”
“Yah!!”
I sat behind the steering wheel, feelingplete. I haven’t felt this way in a long time. Liam and Mnie chattered all through, while Lydia
was silent.
My eyes flicked to the rearview mirror from time to time. “If you don’t keep your eyes ahead, we’ll get into an ident,” Lydia warned, her
voice almost a whisper.
I drove to her building and was surprised when Lydia asked me toe in. Excitedly, I stepped out of my car and carried Liam; he seemed to be the only one who had opened up to me.
“You said you want to spend time with them. So, wait here to freshen up ande down in a while,” Lydia said before taking them inside.
The sitting room had the same design as that of the penthouse. There were different frames scattered over the walls. There was a frame of Lydia and the kids.
I smiled, tracing my fingers along the edge of a frame. Lydia was holding both twins, who should be a few months old.
Before now, I had imagined a thousand things I would do with Mnie and Liam, but now my memory seems to be wiped. It was as if I were having a brain fog; I could not remember what I wanted to do with them.
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Mnie and Liam will be back anytime soon, and I do not want to take them out after the stressful day they’ve had in school.
A part of me wanted to let them take a nap, but the other part wanted to spend some more time with them. After all, spending time with Liam and Mnie meant time with Lydia.
Sitting on the chair, I brought out my phone and opened the search engine. Then I typed, “What are some fun games a father can do with his kids at home?”
Amongst other things, what truly struck me was the drawing. “Okay, that would be nice. I can make paintings with them.” That was settled.
My phone started ringing. Why is Julia calling again? What does she want this time? I ended the call without thinking and switched off my phone. I do not want anyone or anything to interrupt my time with my family.
Lydia came down with Mnie and Liam trailing behind her.
“Mason, guess what I brought.” Liam half–ran and half–walked as he had a smile stered on his lips, holding a piece of paper.
“What are you holding?” I asked, lifting him off the floor and cing him on the space beside me.
“It’s a drawing I made of Mom and Mnie. Don’t you think Mnie looks so much like you?” I nodded, taking the piece of sheet from him.
On the paper was a drawing of what Mnie and Lydia should look like. I held back a smile, knowing he wanted to hear praise from me.
“It does look like Lydia, though, sorry, your mom,” I quickly corrected myself.
Lydia held Mnie, and they sat opposite me and Liam.
“But this definitely looks like Mnie,” I said.
Mnie got off the couch and walked towards us. She wanted to see the drawing that looked like her.
“Does it look like me?” she asked.
I nodded, bringing it down for her to see.
“I can draw something better than this, though,” I said.
“You are an artist?” Liam asked.
“No, not necessarily an artist. But I know I can do better than you,” I said.
“Maybe it will not be hard to draw with them as I wanted to,” I thought to myself.
“Fine, let’s do this. Mom is going to pick who is better at this between you and me,” Liam said, looking at Lydia, who had a smile on her face
as she stared at us.
And that was how we ended up on the carpet. I sat cross–legged, a red pencil in my hand. Liam and Mnie were seated in front of me while Lydia remained on the couch, staring at us. We decided to draw an elephant and have Lydia pick whose drawing was better.
I worked on the piece of paper with mock seriousness, my brows drawn together as I sketched.
I am not an artist. I just want to have fun, but I did not expect that my drawing would send Mnie and Liam rolling withughter.
“Do you think you can do better?”
“I can definitely do better,” Liam said, convinced.
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I looked towards Mnie; she seemed freer with me right now.
“Of course, I can do better than you,” her voice was soft as always.
“Fine, let’s see what you got. Are you done?” I questioned, folding my hands across my chest and tilting my head to the side.
“Give me a moment, let me quickly finish up,” Liam said.
But Mnie held up a paper. “I’m done with mine. You can take a look.” She handed it over to me.
Hers was as bad as mine, if not more. The strokes were out of line, the legs were unnecessarily long, and the tail was tiny.
“I think Mnie’s drawing is by far better than Mason’s,” Lydia said.
A warm breath hit the side of my face. Lydia was standing close to me, bending slightly to see Mnie’s drawing.
“Yeah, Mom thinks my drawing is better than Mason’s drawing,” Mnie repeated.
“Liam, can we see yours now?” Mnie asked.
“Just a minute. I’ll soon be done,” Liam replied. Our eyes are now trained on Liam. After about five minutes, he raised his paper, “I’m done.” He said with a grin.
I struggled to keep a straight face as I stared at the drawing. His elephant was too big, and the legs were too tiny. Holding the paper up,! dered, “This right here is so beautiful, it looks just like an elephant.”
“I told you I am a better artist than you are,” Liam said, puffing out his chest in triumph.
Raising the paper, I showed it to Mnie and Lydia. Mnie was quick to disagree with what I just said. She shook her head, grabbing the paper from me.
“No, that’s not true. That is no elephant, looks like this,” she said, struggling with augh. “Mine looks much better than Liam’s drawing, right?” she asked.
Lydia looked torn between the two kids. If she said Mnie’s drawing looked better, Liam would be hurt, and if she said Liam’s drawing looked better, Mnie would be disappointed because she seemed to have confidence that her mom was surely going to disapprove of
Liam’s drawing.
I wondered if this was how it was for her. Was it difficult? Is it fun?
She suddenly broke out into a smile, holding both Mnie’s drawing and Liam’s drawing up. “I am blessed with two great artists living under my roof.” She raised the drawings towards me. “Don’t you think Mnie and Liam are better artists than you are?” She raised a brow, a smile tugging on her lips.
<b>I </b>got what she was doing; she was trying to bring the banter back to me and the twins. Our eyes met, and for a second hers softened. I raised both hands in defeat and began, “I am a really bad artist. I surrender. Liam and Mnie are better artists than I am.”
We spent the rest of the day ying and arguing, using different colors to paint. At some point, Lydia joined us.
For a moment, it felt as though this was normal. I could not help but think about how it would be if this were actually my life.
It was at that point that I realised that no matter how difficult it is going to be, Lwant this to be the norm. I want Lydia back, and I will do
anything to get her.
I’ll give up anything to make us work. Lydia walked me to the gate, and my car was parked at a distance. Daniel had brought it from the restaurant and brought it here at my demand.
16:01 Tue, 5 Aug
I know I should leave and shouldn’t be nosey, at least not now. But I couldn’t help but ask, “So, who’s this Mac guy?”