CHAPTER 28: DO YOU WANT TO TRAUMATIZED HIM?

Her phone exploded with sound.

Evelyn hurriedly moved toward her bag like a woman heading to her execution.

The moment her eyes landed on the caller ID, her heart jumped into her throat. Axel Knight.

’Oh, perfect. Just what I needed... Sir Trouble himself,’ She pressed the phone to her chest, glaring at the ceiling. ’Can’t he give me five minutes of peace? Just five? Or is calling me officially his hobby now?’

Taking a deep breath, she forced her tone into something soft and polite, as if she were speaking to royalty instead of the man who kept barging into her life.

"Hello, Axel..."

Her voice sounded sweet, far sweeter than she felt. If he were in the room, he’d probably smirk and accuse her of deeply missing his presence.

She half-expected his first words to be some arrogant remark. Something like "Hi Evelyn, thinking about me?" or "I hope you’re not enjoying the bed too much without me, Evelyn."

Instead, his deep voice came through the speaker, calm and serious.

"Evelyn, what is Oliver’s shoe size and his clothes?"

Evelyn almost laughed, hearing his question. This man, Axel Knight, was truly unpredictable. Out of all the things she had imagined earlier, he asked this one? Oliver’s shoe size?

Her hand clenched around her cell phone. "Why do you suddenly ask about it?" She tried to sound casual, but even she could hear the tension in her tone.

A soft chuckle drifted through the line, followed by that annoyingly confident voice of his. "Of course, I want to buy him shoes and clothes. Why do you even need to ask my reason?"

Evelyn pinched her temple, trying to hold herself together.

She was too tired to spar with him. Two days of worry and sleepless nights had drained her patience, and she didn’t have the energy to match his word games.

So, she tells him Oliver’s size, hoping that would be the end of their phone call.

But, of course, Axel Knight never let things end so easily.

"Have you told Oliver about his father? About me?"

The question froze her, and suddenly her sleepiness disappeared, replaced by a sudden, overwhelming panic.

’My lord, why now? Couldn’t he wait until he came back in person? No, of course not. He has to ask through the phone while I look like a sleep-deprived raccoon.’

She paused to take a deep breath silently. Before her mind continued to vent her frustration, ’Telling Oliver he’s his dad isn’t like asking if he wants chicken or fish for dinner. It’s complicated. It’s... terrifying.’

Her thoughts spun so fast she didn’t even realize she’d gone silent. On the other end of the line, Axel grew impatient.

"Evelyn? Are you there? Hello?"

She cleared her throat hastily, trying to keep her voice from cracking. "Yeah, I’m here."

"Ah, I thought you ran away." He chuckled, the deep sound vibrating through the phone and making her cheeks warm. "You heard my question, right?"

Her heart thumped like a drum in her chest. She wanted to snap at him, maybe even hang up. Still, the truth was, she could never reasonably handle Axel the way she handled other men’s insistence.

With anyone else, she would throw her sarcasm even when it was a shield. But with him? He cut straight through it, every time.

"I heard," she admitted softly.

"And?" he pressed, his voice dipping lower, smoother, as if coaxing the truth from her lips. "What did you tell him?"

Her free hand twisted her hair as if doing that would make Axel suddenly end the call. But of course, he doesn’t.

"Nothing. Not yet."

There was silence on the other end. For a moment, she thought the line had dropped, until his sigh came, low, but she heard it clearly.

"Why not?"

Evelyn walked over to the sofa in the corner and slumped down onto it before answering him.

"Because it’s not that simple, Axel. He’s just a child. Do you think I can just sit him down and say, ’Surprise, honey, the uncle who keeps bossing Mommy around is actually your father.’ Do you want to traumatize him?"

That earned her a low, warm, and amused laugh.

"What? Keep bossing you around? Seriously, is that what you think about me?"

She stifled a laugh upon hearing his protest tone. "Geez, Axel Knight, that’s just a hypothetical situation, an example, alright."

"Alright. But what about... scary uncle? I thought he liked me."

"Yeah, he is fond of you," Evelyn admitted hurriedly. "Too much, in fact. That’s exactly why this is hard. Because he may already like you as his uncle... And not ready, you, become his father."

"You overthink. He is smart like me. You should tell him the truth," Axel said firmly. "The boy deserves to know who I am."

His tone left no room for argument. And that, more than anything, made Evelyn want to argue.

"Easy for you to say! You’re not the one who has to pick the right words and deal with all the questions afterward. You don’t know what it’s like..." She wanted to tell him that, but she just swallowed all the words down to her stomach.

Another silence.

Then his voice came, softer now, almost... careful. "Evelyn... I know it’s hard for you to talk to him. However, you also need to understand that I want to be part of his life. Not just a shadow."

Her breath feels heavy. For a moment, all her sarcastic comebacks dried up. He sounded serious, too serious. And sincerity from Axel Knight was far more dangerous than his arrogance.

She pressed a hand over her heart, which was now beating too fast.

"I understand, Axel. I will talk with him after he wakes up."

He hummed, as if already pleased with her answer. "Thank you... But if you still find it hard to tell him on your own, wait for me. We will speak to him together."

Before Evelyn can fathom what he says, he adds smoothly, "Rest well, Evelyn. You sound exhausted. Sweet dreams."

The line ended.

Evelyn stared at her phone, speechless.

"Sweet dreams, he says. As if he didn’t just drop a grenade into my lap and walk away with that damn smug smile of his."

With a deep sigh, Evelyn walked to her bed and flopped onto it, burying her face in the pillow.

"Sweet dreams? More like sweet nightmares..."