Chapter 22

The Third Person

Noah grumbles to himself while Ella cuts out shapes from colorful constriction paper. She hums to herself and Noah watches the door to the kindergarten classroom. Ella glances at him and sighs, setting down her safety scissors.

“Are you waiting for Evan? You know he’s gonna be here soon! School hasn’t even started yet!” Ella giggles to herself, playfully smacking Noah’s arm.

“I’m looking for him, yeah,” Noah’s eyes narrow, “I need to talk to him about something serious.”

Ella’s face falls, her smile disappearing. Her brows furrow. She crosses her arms over her chest. Noah finally looks over and makes a face.

“What?” Noah asks.

“Nothing,” Ella turns away. She picks up the scissors and a piece of pink paper. She begins to cut out a circle, giving Noah a side-eye. “Don’t be mean to him.”

“I’m not!” Noah whines. He turns away, huffing to himself, when Evan sits himself down at the table. He smiles at the two, dark sunglasses on his face.

“Hi, guys!” Evan says. Noah and Ella look at him. Ella glances at Noah and turns away. Noah stands from his chair and shoves his hands into his pockets.

“Evan. We need to talk.” Noah walks away to an empty part of the room.

Evan looks at Ella. She shrugs in response and grabs a new piece of paper to cut. Evan stands and approaches Noah, who has his arms crossed over his chest.

“Hi, Noah. Is…everything okay?” Evan slightly hesitates. Noah frowns at him. Seconds pass and the silence between them only grows more awkward. Evan points over his shoulder in Ella’s direction and begins to turn away, but is stopped by Noah’s voice.

“Why is your dad so mean to my mom?” Noah’s question shocks Evan. The boy with sunglasses laughs. Noah’s face twists and he takes a step towards Evan, his fists balled at his sides. “What’s so funny?”

“I think it’s a good thing, that’s all!” Evan holds his hands up in defense. Noah slightly relaxes. Ella runs over, bumping into Noah like he’s a crash pad.

She looks between the two of them. Worry is written all over her face. Noah helps stabilize her and holds onto her arm.

“What are you two talking about?” Ella stares at them, concern laced in her tone.

“Noah asked me why daddy is so mean to mommy, but I told him that it’s a good thing!” Evan exclaims. Ella and Noah share the same look of confusion on their face. Evan laughs some more at their reactions. “It means that he cares! He never shows this much emotion with anyone, let alone Lily!”

“Ugh, Lily,” Noah fake vomits, rolling his eyes. “I hate her.”

“Me too. That’s why I think we should swear, right here, right now, to keep them apart!” Evan declares with conviction. Noah and Ella nod along with him, keeping up with the plan.

“We should!” Ella claps her hands toegther.

“I’m in! We need to keep Lily away!” Noah adds. The three of them high-five each other and cheer.

⋆⁺₊⋆ ━━━━⊱༒︎ • ༒︎⊰━━━━ ⋆⁺₊⋆

Sebastian's POV

How can a woman be so insufferable and so annoying at the same time? Miranda manages to get on my nerves every single time we see each other. She’s the definition of being intolerable. And yet…the feeling of her lips on mine lingers in my mind.

She’s our fated mate. Stop denying it.

No. She isn’t. Stop trying to make it happen. It will never happen!

My wolf howls at me. He claws at the inside of my mind, begging to be released, begging to go run and find Miranda.

We can’t. She doesn’t want us and we can’t force her to do anything that she doesn’t want to do.

Like that kiss?

I freeze and narrow my eyes at the wall. I adjust myself on the couch, shaking my head. My eyes train themselves back onto the papers in front of me.

Updates from the beginning stages of mass production from Moonlit Labs have come back to me. Everything is going according to plan.

A part of me wishes that a problem would arise, that something bad would happen so I can take my mind off of Miranda. No…that wouldn’t work. Knowing her, she’d be the first to arrive at the scene to fix everything like she usually does.

You like her…she’s our mate.

“Shut up!” The words fly out of my mouth. I sigh and pinch the bridge of my nose, shaking my head.

“I…I didn’t say anything, Dad,” Evan’s small voice breaks through the noise in my mind, quieting it. I look up and notice he’s standing next to me with a blue flyer in his hand. I force a small smile on my face.

Evan’s face doesn’t change, though, and the slight frown he has on his face remains. I sigh and set the papers to the side. I sit up and gesture to the paper he holds.

“What do you have there, Evan? Do I need to sign something for school?” I ask. Evan shrugs in response. He sits down next to me and hands the blue flyer to me. I inspect it, reading the words on it.

It’s a school event for the students and their parents. I glance over at Evan. He looks nervous about the event. I nod and hum to myself.

“Would you like me to go with you, Evan?” I ask. Evan nods. I nod back and stare at the flyer. “What if Lily comes too? She is your mother, after all.”

“No! Just you!” Evan shouts! I chuckle and nod, looking at him. I hand the flyer back to him. He snatches it back from me and hugs it to his chest. “Only you.”

“Okay, buddy, you got it. It’ll just be me,” I try not to chuckle at how hardheaded he is. He takes after me in that aspect.

Miranda will be there too. My wolf lowly growls.

Miranda’s face flashes across my mind. Every memory that I have of her, every single time I have seen her, she’s never smiled. Any smile that she may have had has been fake, one to please the people around her. I wonder what her real smile looks like. Perhaps just this once, at the event being thrown at the school our children go to, I can see that smile of hers.

“Well…there is another reason why I want you to be there,” Evan’s voice is meek and quiet. I tilt my head, giving him a signal to continue. “There’s this girl in my class…Ella.”

“Ella?” A smile grows on my face. A girl! That he likes! I contain a smile and lean back onto the couch. “Do you…like Ella?”

“Yeah! She’s cool! She likes flowers and she loves to bake cookies!” Evan excitedly tells me. I chuckle as he continues to list off more and more things about Ella. “She’s a really good friend too! She always helps me out in class and is really good with anything science!”

“Is that right?” I ask Evan. He nods with a big smile on his face. “Well, I can’t wait to meet her! She sounds wonderful.”

“I think you’re going to love her, dad.” Evan’s smile grows wider.