"Wade sat on the bed, holding The Sweetest Oblivion in his hands, skimming through the pages, almost nearing the end of yet another spicy romance novel. He sighed, putting a stop to his reading and turning his head to the side, seeing his wife Sage sleeping peacefully.
He sometimes wished he was like those male leads he read about in books, who would have the guts to do anything for their loved one, but alas, not every wish comes true.
Every time he looked at Sage, his mind stopped working, and he couldn't see anything but their past. How happy they were, and how he ruined it.
He knew Sage would give him a chance if he told her everything, but would he ever be able to give himself a chance? Probably not. It's not like he didn't want to; it just scared him, trying to open up the lock of his heart again, whose key would always belong to Sage.
His hand shot up to brush away the strand of hair falling on her face when he remembered how badly she flinched when he tried to remove a piece of dirt from her face, even jumping to the conclusion that he was going to slap her.
She must think that he is exactly like his dad, he thought to himself.
His hands stopped abruptly, and he quietly took them back to his lap, sulking to himself.
The familiar ringtone of his phone brought him back from his thoughts, and he looked over at the phone screen. It was an unknown number. He quickly picked it up, furrowing his brows in concentration as he tried to recognize the familiar voice of the woman on the call.
"May I know who this is?" he asked in his usual cold tone. He didn't like his tone, but as a made man, he had to act tough to protect himself from others taking advantage of him.
How do all the mafia men sound so cool in these romance novels, while I just sound grumpy? he thought to himself.
He would never admit it to anyone, but his reaction to mafia men and bad boys in books was the same as a 15-year-old teenage girl—completely fangirlish, wishing that they were real every second of his life.
"Oh, I am Kathryn," the woman spoke on the phone, completely catching him off-guard as he was lost in his thoughts yet again.
Who the hell is Kathryn now?
"Listen, I don't care about what-" oh
oh
Kathryn is Sage's stepmother.
"Shit, I am so sorry, I didn't mean to-" he started to speak but got cut off when a pillow hit his face, making the phone drop from his hand and pain erupt in his nose due to the friction of the pillow.
His head snapped towards the culprit responsible for his pain. He looked at Sage, who was rubbing her eyes, her hair a mess, falling over her eyes. He had this weird urge to run his fingers through it.
"Stop being so damn loud and let me sleep," she mumbled and went back to sleep, turning to the other side.
Wade looked at her bewildered. How dare she hit him with the pillow and then go back to sleep in less than two minutes?
He swiftly picked up the phone and abruptly ended the conversation, saying, "Wrong number, sorry."
He sighed in relief and was going back to finish his book when Sage's phone rang again, this time being called by Kathryn.
He hovered over her form, with his hand near her head, quickly grabbing the phone from the side table.
The phone displayed "Kathryn" with a red heart on the right as the contact.
"Cute," he mumbled under his breath and turned to wake Sage up from her deep slumber.
"Sage," he spoke softly, shaking her shoulder gently and turning her to his side, making her open her eyes slowly.
"What?" she asked, her voice rough and quiet from sleep.
"Kathryn is calling on your phone." He brought the phone in front of her face, making her scrunch her eyes to see properly.
"She looks adorable—nope, never mind," he thought to himself, his lips turning upward a little at the sight of her sleepy look.
Sage asked him to put the phone on speaker, then sat up in bed, put on her glasses, and faced the phone, which was on his lap, momentarily brushing their shoulders.
"Kathryn, what happened?" Sage asked, her breath hitting Wade's jaw as she bent slightly to talk on the phone.
"Oh, nothing much, just informing you that Ryan and Alisia have to come a little earlier as the driver said it's very risky to drive late at night, especially with the kids," Kathryn informed them.
"Alright..." Sage mumbled, "how early will they be coming here then?" she asked, her hands resting near Wade's thigh.
"Oh, in about 2 hours, I guess?" Kathryn said nonchalantly.
"What?" Sage exclaimed, "But we don't have anything ready, and we have to clean and-" she was cut short as she felt a hand clutching hers.
Wade gave her a small, very small smile that wouldn't have been visible if she had blinked at that second.
"It's alright, Kathryn. You can send them whenever you want," he calmed both his wife and his mother-in-law, who were both frantic.
"Oh, thank God. Also, Sage, I wanted to ask you, where will both of the kids be sleeping?" Kathryn inquired.
"Oh, well, they will be sleeping in our bed only, as Dad took the key of the guest room with him, yeah?" she concluded thoughtfully.
From the other end of the line, there seemed to be a pregnant pause. Sage was unsure whether the phone had been disconnected, but as she was about to take the phone in her hands, she was startled by a voice from the phone, causing her to move back slightly.
"Huh? No, the guest room key was handed over to Wade-" Kathryn began to speak, but the phone was cut off by none other than Wade, who gazed at it like a kid who had been caught eating ice cream late at night.
"Why the hell did you end the call?" she shouted, her fingers almost instantly grabbing her phone back.
She sighed when he didn't say anything but stared at her with a weird emotion in his eyes—the emotion that she didn't want to recognize.
"Forget it, you are hopeless," she mumbled while getting off the bed and heading to the washroom.
Wade mumbled some incoherent profanities under his breath, messing his already uncombed hair, and walked out to the living room.
Sage descended the stairs after a while, rubbing her spectacles with a tissue to see better. When she saw the sight in front of her, she gasped. It looked like the residence had been robbed.
There were open crates with books, toys, and photo frames in them. There were apparently seven new chairs in the room, and bags containing stuff she wasn't aware of kept all across the room.
She dashed towards the kitchen, where Wade was stirring some curry, mumbling words to himself. Her eyes widened when she saw the condition of the kitchen.
All the cabinets were open, and the refrigerator was not properly closed. The fact that there were roughly seventeen dishes in the sink astounded her the most, as she was certain she had washed the plates she had eaten on.
"What the hell have you done?" she exclaimed, making Wade look at her and smile sheepishly while rubbing the back of his neck.
Sage noticed a donut box that appeared to be far too large to be normal, so she approached it and opened it, her jaw dropping as she realized the number of donuts contained inside.
"Wade, what—" she turned herself to face him, her mouth agape and her eyes wide. "Why did you get—" she stopped again and turned back, counting the number of donuts he bought for them.
"Why did you get seventeen different flavors of donuts for the kids? Hell, I didn't even know these many flavors existed. Just how damn rich are you?" she exclaimed, her hands moving around, and her heart beating frantically.
She didn't like how much he cared for her and her siblings, and she didn't like how much she wanted him to care for her and her sister.
"Wait," she paused. "Why the hell did you get ten different types of chocolate donuts? Are you trying to give everyone diabetes?" she exclaimed.
"Can people even die from diabetes?" she questioned herself, mumbling before looking back at him, who looked like he was holding back his laughter.
"Well..." he drawled, "You used to love chocolate donuts, right? So that's why I bought a lot of them," he spoke slowly, his words a little jumbled due to his nervousness.
"Oh," she said. "Well, um..." she murmured. She let out an awkward chuckle, her eyes wandering around the house as she looked at something that looked like a Barbie doll.
"Why did you get toys for Alisia? I mean, she's like—" Sage paused, trying to remember her sister's age, but nothing came to her mind.
"Six. She's six years old, Sage," Wade deadpanned.
"Oh, alright," she drawled. "Uh, so do six-year-olds play with Barbie dolls?" she questioned Wade, confusedly.
"Yes, they do, Sage. I'm sure they do," he said, looking at her weirdly.
"But still, you didn't have to do this for Alisia. I mean, she's my sister," she argued, her self-reliant self not accepting the fact that her husband got toys for her sister.
He let out a small chuckle, ruffling his hair, and said, "Alisia is the same as Ryan to me now, sweetheart. I love them both the same."
"Whatever," she shrugged as she walked into the living room to begin cleaning and organizing everything he had purchased.
After finally cleaning for about an hour, Sage went upstairs to change into something more comfortable, as she would like to call it.
She was putting on her contacts in the bedroom when Wade entered the room. Seeing her outfit, he dropped the phone in his hands, making Sage look at him.
He bent down to take his phone but instead got his foot hitting the side table, making him groan in pain slightly.
"Why am I like this?" he mumbled to himself while holding his foot in pain.
"Are you okay?" she asked distractedly, fixing her hair in the mirror.
"Fucking fine," he grunted, glaring at the back of her head.
Just then, the doorbell rang, indicating that the kids were finally here. Wade dashed towards the door, while Sage followed him reluctantly, unsure of how this would go.
"Hi, kids," Wade opened the door, going to hug Ryan and Alisia when they both dashed towards Sage, hugging her legs. Sage smiled triumphantly towards Wade.
He looked like he was about to cry, she thought.
"Hi, Sage," both of them exclaimed, excitedly jumping into Sage's embrace as she hugged them both back with the same excitement.
"Hi, loves," she kissed both of their heads lovingly, smiling at them.
"Ryan, you lucky brat," Wade thought, turning his head away from the scene.
Sage looked at Wade, shaking her head softly, and mumbling something to them. Ryan and Alisia went running to Wade, telling him to pick both of them up, which he gladly did.
"We missed you, Wade," they both said, smiling at Wade who grinned at them like he had won an award.
"I missed you both too," he said, walking with both of them in his arms, taking them to the area where all the toys were located.
"Okay, so you both like toys, right? Go play with them for some time so that Sage and I can go cook delicious food for you, okay?" he smiled at them, making sure to speak slowly so that they understood him.
They both quickly nodded and went off to play, leaving Wade and Sage alone in the room.
Wade quickly dashed to the kitchen, leaving Sage alone in the living room. She reluctantly went to the TV.
After peacefully eating dinner, with no fights or arguments whatsoever, the kids requested that Sage and Wade read them a princess book—which they gladly agreed to.
The story consisted of a princess who had been locked in a kingdom her whole life. And one day, a prince who everyone hated and feared came to that town to capture their kingdom. But when he saw the princess, he fell in love at first sight, leading to her father marrying him to save their kingdom.
Sage finished reciting the story and looked at the book weirdly, noting down the author's name to ask them what kind of knowledge they were imparting in children's books. According to her, the girl was someone who didn't strive for independence, and the prince was just a manipulative jerk.
Sage looked at the kids, who seemed engrossed in a very serious and deep conversation. She decided to interrupt, asking them what they were talking about so seriously.
Alisia spoke up first, her eyes glistening with excitement. "So every husband is every wife's prince, right?"
Sage got confused about where she got that idea from but reluctantly agreed, saying a quick "yes."
"So..." Alisia trailed off. "Is Wade also your prince?" she innocently questioned.
He was. He was her prince, but she wasn't his princess. She was just a pawn in his game.
"Yeah," she spoke, her eyes hard from the memories, and her voice trying to remain neutral.
"That's so cool," Ryan spoke up, as if it had been a long time since he had spoken.
"Wade..." Ryan questioned. "So, all princes love their princess, right?" he questioned.
Wade didn't even hesitate before answering with a quick "yes," his eyes slightly turning over to Sage's figure as he watched her play with her rings.
Ryan smiled triumphantly and gestured something to Alisia.
"So, do you also love her?" he pointed his tiny finger towards Sage.