Babies' Secret: My Ex Wants Me Back!
Chapter 64: Family Trip IV

Chapter 64: Family Trip IV

Chapter 64 - Family Trip IV

Katherine stirred awake, her eyes fluttered open, blinking tiredly as she stifled a yawn that wanted to escape her lips.

She groaned, craning her neck from stiffness and blinked to take in her surroundings. She didn’t know when she later fell asleep—the only thing she remembered was indulging in Aaron’s comforting embrace.

The air was peaceful and undisturbed, so serene—she laid in her position quietly for a moment, trying to adjust her senses to her surroundings as her breathing steadied—so calming.

The soft snores from the twins’ breathing perked her hearing as she whipped her head to the sound and saw them curled in their sleeping bags, and that made her release a reassured sigh.

Then her gaze shifted slowly until it landed on Aaron, who sat slumped at the corner of the tent, eyes closed in a seated position. His head tilted slightly on his shoulder, his arms folded over his chest, and his long thick lashes resting against his high cheekbones.

And for once, the lines on his forehead were gone—no frown, smile wrinkle, just a calm, ethereal softness on his face—and that made her chest skip.

Katherine rose carefully from her sleeping bag. Her limbs trembled gently as she stretched with a gentle sigh, and she walked towards him.

His sleeping position looked uncomfortable with how he hunched his back and the weight of his neck on his shoulder, and Katherine gently helped him to lie down, pulled a sheet out of the bag and dabbed it over him.

Then she crouched down slowly, looking at his face again—his hair was tousled, strands falling over his brow, and Katherine gently reached forward and brushed it aside. As her fingers lingered on his face—his face was smooth, a contrast to his manly demeanour—and her gaze softened.

Katherine couldn’t help but lean in, her lips hovering over the corner of his mouth as her heartbeat hard, thundering in her chest, and without thinking, she pressed a light, breathy kiss at the corner of his lips.

Her breath caught in her throat as she pulled back abruptly, her cheeks reddened, and she looked at him once more again, then gently supported his head against the pillow. This action made him stir faintly but didn’t wake, and Katherine exhaled. She thought she was caught staring and adoring his face.

Quickly moving away, she went to her bag at the edge side of the tent, unzipping it softly and pulled out her laptop.

Her fingers trailed gently over the cover, her heart thumping excitedly. It had been weeks since she last wrote anything—because life had been using her life as a soap opera lately and writer’s block had clung to her like a curse, and she hadn’t been able to move from the new story she started. Stress had drained every ounce of thinking from her.

Yet something about this place felt different—it awakened the still creativity in her.

She powered her laptop on and sat cross-legged on her folded sleeping bag, Aaron’s hoodie still wrapped tightly around her as her fingers hovered above the keyboard. She caressed the button and opened the docs.

Then slowly she began to type the words as they came from her head.

Mia couldn’t believe the man she loved was actually married. She stared at the scene in front of her and tears began to stream down her eyes. He betrayed her. The man—used her...

It wasn’t perfect, yet the words were coming out swiftly and smoothly. The story she had a hard time plotting was flowing freely, as the characters in the book took control of the story.

The screen glowed as she breathed out her soul into her characters. From a single paragraph to another, the dialogue and a whole Chapter were done.

By the time Katherine was done, she leaned back, exhaling loudly as her arms stretched from stiffness. She smiled, loving how her story came to life on her laptop screen.

With a single click, she saved the draft and had it in the back of her mind to inform her editor about her progress as her shoulders dropped in relief—it had been weeks since she felt this alive.

"This," she murmured to herself, her eyes softening. "I needed this."

After that, Katherine closed her laptop and set it aside, then quickly glanced at the others. The twins were still asleep, bundled in their little cocoon of warmth. But her gaze stopped on Aaron—he had turned in his sleep, now facing her direction, and she nearly jumped, thinking he was watching her, but placed a hand on her chest and laughed at her thought.

Aaron’s arms were folded over his chest, the sheet slightly pulled down. His expression was still serene, yet Katherine stared for a while.

Katherine scooted closer, folding her legs beneath her and kept watching him. Her eyes trailed the lines of his face, the faint stubble on his jaw, the subtle rise and fall of his chest. Her gaze settled on his inviting lips—the same ones she had kissed earlier.

She couldn’t stop the smile curling her lips. With a teasing glint in her eyes, she leaned forward and flicked his nose gently. Aaron scrunched his nose immediately, his brows twitching in protest as if annoyed by the tickle, but he didn’t wake.

Katherine giggled softly, pressing her knuckles to her mouth to suppress the sound. Her eyes lingered on him longer than they should have, then the what-ifs swirled in her mind, crawling around her thoughts like a hanging ghost.

What if they hadn’t fallen apart? Would they have married as he promised?

What if he had found her sooner, before she left the city? Would he have apologised?

Her chest thudded with each thought, swirling in her head.

How would life have been if they’d never separated?

Would they have a house together? Would Aaron be tucking the twins in every night instead of just getting to know them now? Would she still be the naive girl that believed promises, that wild hope that love could fix anything?

She pulled the hoodie tighter around herself, the scent of Aaron wrapping around her, her heart beating loud enough to feel in her throat.

There was so much that had been broken, so much that couldn’t be undone. But right now, watching Aaron sleep, remembering his trembled voice last night, the way he held her like she was the only thing in the world that mattered—it made her crumble, the wall around her heart breaking faster than she could think.

That she now hoped again, wanted to believe again and—Katherine pinched the bridge of her nose and lay back down, closer to the twins, and closed her eyes, for sleep to end her endless rumbling thoughts.

And for once, she let herself imagine a different ending.