CHAPTER 24: 24-FETCHING THEIR DADDY

Iris:

I didn’t let his family meet my children, and it really upset Kash. I could tell because he had been glaring at me the whole time. Then his mother just took Zoe’s hand and walked out.

Seeing them again stirred so many emotions inside me. Kash seemed angry, judging by the way he stormed off after I refused to let his family meet my children. Still, I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep them apart for too long.

Once Kash decides something, he makes sure it happens. But I’ll be there to make sure they don’t hurt my children the way they hurt me.

"Okay, kids, today has been very tiring. Can we please skip story time?" I asked. I had already been telling them bedtime stories for over an hour.

This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. They were supposed to listen, relax, and fall asleep, but they were still wide awake.

"It’s okay, we can hear the rest of the stories from Papa," Colin said.

Once again, he brought up Kash, and my mood soured.

"Your dad is sleeping right now. Why don’t you two go to sleep too?" I urged, but I could tell they weren’t planning to budge.

"But why is Daddy sleeping in a different house than ours?" Amy asked, her beautiful eyes fixed on my face, searching for answers.

I knew they would ask me all sorts of questions. My kids were smart, but sometimes these kinds of questions felt heavy, especially when there was no real answer.

"Do you not remember, Amy? Daddy said today that he’s going to marry someone else. So maybe he’s sleeping with her. In the bedroom where we slept the whole day," Colin said to Amy.

Hearing that made me feel terrible for them. But I also felt bad for myself.

"What? Why would Daddy sleep with her? That’s not okay. He should be in the room with Mommy, and we should be living together," Amy grumbled, already starting to throw a tantrum.

"Okay, enough. Your father is sleeping alone in his room, and you two are going to sleep now," I snapped, stopping them from saying things that would only cause more trouble. I didn’t want to deal with Kash.

"No, we’re not going to sleep. If Daddy isn’t sleeping in the room with her, then he should be here with us. Or at least he should come and tell us a bedtime story," Amy argued, instantly getting up from the bed.

"Amy? You’ve never acted this way with me. Come on, don’t give me a hard time. Go to sleep," I urged, my tone harsher this time. She was acting like a brat now.

"No. I said what I said. If you care about me, you’ll go ask Daddy to come tell us a bedtime story. Or else I’m not sleeping the whole night, and I’ll cry too," Amy threatened, and then suddenly she just broke down.

I had never seen my kids so miserable. Watching them like that broke me completely.

"Amy, come on, come to Mommy. I’ll tell you more bedtime stories, okay?" I requested in a much gentler tone, suddenly changing my tone, trying to get her attention back on me.

But she started shaking her head even more vigorously.

"I wanna see Daddy right now!" she shouted, dropping to the floor and kicking the air.

"Okay, okay. Amy, calm down." I got up from the bed and squatted beside her, but the moment I got close, she began to cry even louder. I realized there was no way I could calm her down.

I stepped back and grimaced, wondering how I could bring him here now. I tried everything, I offered her toys, tried to bribe her with more screen time, but nothing worked. Even Colin had started to cry by then.

It had been half an hour, and their cries were so loud I started to worry the neighbors, or even the warriors, might think I was hurting them.

"Okay, fine. I’ll go and fetch Daddy for you, but only if you stop crying now," I demanded. The two of them started hiccupping, not crying anymore, just staring at me.

"Look at your faces. When you act like this, you hurt mommy," I sighed, cleaning their tears, watching them sniffle and nod.

I got up from the floor, lifted Amy into my arms, and placed her back on the bed before promising again that I’d fetch their daddy.

Then I walked out in my red silk gown with a net red robe over it. I was already in my nightwear, hoping to rest once the kids fell asleep, but after their tantrum, it seemed like I wouldn’t be getting any peace until I fulfilled their wishes.

When I reached the main mansion, I asked one of the warriors to get me Kash. But the warrior told me Kash had made a new rule: if I ever wanted to speak to him, no third party could be involved. I would have to go and meet him in person.

The warrior then very dramatically stepped aside, gesturing for me to go inside and speak with him myself.

With my mind full of worries, I walked into the mansion. Thankfully, the area seemed clear. Maybe the others weren’t around, or they had gone to sleep early. I didn’t care where they were. I just needed to grab Kash and take him to my children.

I was angry with him too. This was all happening because of him. Did he not expect the kids to be restless after meeting him?

I walked to his bedroom and knocked once, then twice, tapping my foot anxiously and angrily until a sleepy voice came from inside.

"Come in."

I stormed into the room and saw Kash in bed, his body almost completely covered by the blanket, only his head visible, but turned away. I stepped closer and stood beside the bed.

"Kash, wake up," I said, trying to wake him, but he wouldn’t even budge.

After trying to wake him for the past few minutes, I grew impatient and decided to pull the blanket off him. The moment I placed my hand on it and ripped it away, a hand suddenly grabbed my wrist, and the next thing I knew, my body was pulled onto the bed, right under Kash as he held my hand tightly.