The Ultimate Chance-Chapter 134

"Pregnant?" He was taken aback. For a while, he didn’t know what to say. It felt like a dream—a prank, perhaps. He waited for a while to give her time to laugh it off and tell him she was playing this cruel prank on him but instead, she looked distressed.

"I assumed you would be happy from your previous reaction." She stuttered.

"You’re serious." He checked her expression to be certain and fought hard to keep his smile from showing. Clearing his throat, he waited for her next words. Her reaction had been different from his own. How was she going to take it? What would she want to do?

She caught his smile even though he tried not to show it and knew he was brimming with happiness beneath his expression. The fact that he felt it was necessary to hide his feelings made her feel worse. She shouldn’t have said something so cruel to him.

"Do you think we should tell Angel?" She asked. This was her biggest concern.

Reading it on her face, he nodded. "Yeah. He will be overjoyed to finally have a sibling."

She didn’t think so, but she didn’t argue either. While he looked forward to seeing Angel’s face when he heard the news, she was nervous all day.

She didn’t want to leave his side so she allowed herself to be clingy this once and had Gabriel bring some of her work over to RA Vaille. While she still didn’t believe Damon’s explosive mood today had much to do with her, he had stopped yelling at employees. Every time Millie came to his office and saw her working in the lounge, she would cast her grateful smiles and offer drinks and snacks.

When it was finally time to pick Angel up from school, she was stuffed with all the snacks Millie offered with such a kind smile that she couldn’t reject.

"She’s on a mission to make me explode, I swear." She looked down at her stomach dramatically. She thought he would stay at work for a little longer but he couldn’t wait to break the news to Angel either, so he tagged along.

The boy would usually be waiting for them and as soon as they arrived, he would run to them. This time, however, he was swamped with at least half a dozen little friends that he was reluctant to leave behind. When he finally saw them, he hugged each of his friends and walked over to them, dragging his bagpack in one hand and holding Aubrey’s hand in another.

"Uncle Damon, everyone is talking about Angel’s birthday party." Aubrey announced happily, skipping over to Damon.

"Are they?" he picked her up and tousled her hair. Meanwhile, Angel held his mother’s legs to express how much he had missed her.

Aubrey nodded. "It was very fun, and the cake Avery bought was yummy. Can I have some more?"

His heart melted. So all she wanted was cake. She had such a cute way of asking for more. Though it did make him curious. Why was he ’Uncle Damon’ when Avery was just ’Avery’? When he asked Avery this, his girlfriend had to make fun of him.

"That’s because I look so young I could be an elder sister while you’re obviously an uncle." She burst into laughter when he felt his face with a frown.

"Are you calling me old?"

He wanted to make her pay for her remark but when he remembered what Aubrey had asked for, he decided it could wait. Later, he would remind her how energetic he still was. "There’s still some cake left at home for the party. Angel can bring you a slice tomorrow."

Avery laughed at the girl’s cresfallen expression. She couldn’t wait for tomorrow to have some cake, so she asked, "How about this? If your parents are up to it, we can all have dinner together at our place."

This meant there would be cake for dessert, so Aubrey couldn’t wait for her parents to arrive. They waited with her until her mother arrived to pick her up, which thankfully, wasn’t a long time. She couldn’t wait to tell Angel the news and be done with it. Soon after Aubrey left, prattling on to her mother about being invited to her best friend’s house for dinner, she held Angel’s hand.

"Baby, your dad and I have news for you." She announced when they entered the car, considering her words carefully now that she had his attention. "Uhm, well...I’m pregnant."

He frowned and looked at her with his head cocked as though to ask what that meant.

"It means there’s a brother or a sister in mommy’s belly." Damon chimed in, and Angel’s eyes went wide. In the next moment, he carefully examined his mother’s flat stomach and was confused. How could there be a baby in there?

"It takes a while for them to grow and you only get to meet them in nine months." She tousled his hair. "Do you want to be a brother?"

His excited nod was all it took for her to nearly break down. He positioned himself to be able to touch her belly once in a while. She didn’t know it yet, but Angel was going to make it his morning, evening and night routine to rub her belly and ’say hello to his little sibling’.

When they got home, he made a beeline for his room and returned with his favorite plane, which he gave to her.

"What’s this for?" She asked, moments before understanding him. He was giving his little sibling a gift for their first meeting. He was so sweet.

"If it’s a sister, Angel is going to be the most protective brother on earth." Damon remarked.

She wasn’t so certain why he thought so but when Aubrey and her parents came over that evening, she finally understood. Angel made sure she sat beside him and took such gentle care of her that the adults’ hearts melted. Aubrey was still a clumsy eater and would make a mess of her lips and table, and Angel would clean after her diligently even though he hated getting himself dirty.

When they went upstairs to play after dinner, he held her hand and made sure he was a step ahead on the staircase as though something would go wrong if he wasn’t cautious enough. Not to mention, Aubrey had revealed how Angel had dealt with kids who bullied her in the past—by beating the crap out of them. No one ever bullied her since she and Angel became friends.

Damon was right. If Angel ever had a sister, no one would ever have the chance to bully her.

The kids could only play for a bit since Aubrey and her parents had to get home, so she interrupted their game—much to their chagrin. The girl adamantly refused to leave Angel’s room and only did so when Damon lured her out with a slice of cake. Even then, she cried when her parents insisted they had to leave. "I don’t want to go," she whined.

"You can invite Angel for a sleepover next time." Her mother offered, and only then did she willingly let go of Angel’s hand.

Julie gritted her teeth when she remembered what huge promise she had just made. She remembered Angel’s condition and the fact that he couldn’t stay anywhere overnight in his parents’ absence.

Understanding her concern, Avery smiled. "He stays in school the whole day without me. We can work something out, I’m sure."

"Thank you for inviting us." Julie hugged her. "Now it’s time to force my husband to go home. He seems to have hit it off with yours."

The men looked like they intended to stay on the terrace for the next six hours, discussing whatever it was that was making them laugh so hard.

He was not her husband, but Avery didn’t want to correct Julie’s assumption. It was awkward to tell someone the father of her five-year-old son was not her husband even though their relationship was so obvious, but at the same time, she was being selfish. It didn’t make sense to her either. It was just a title, after all.

She convinced herself so, until she accidentally overheard Aubrey’s question to her mother. "Mommy, why does Angel have two homes while we have one?"

"Does he? Maybe it’s because his parents wanted to have two houses so they can stay in them at different times of the year." Julie obviously wanted to be done with the topic, but the little girl was persistent.

"Uncle Damon lives down the street while Avery and Angel live here." Aubrey threw in her second question, making her mother want to laugh it off.

"I didn’t realize." She brushed her daughter’s question off, but it was clear how awkward it made Avery and Damon feel.

More than them, Angel was the most confused. He stared at Avery for a long time, as though trying to silently ask questions using his eyes.

This was what she had dreaded the most, yet it had happened nonetheless. Angel was beginning to realize that his family was different. Most of his friends had both their parents living under the same roof, with rings on their fingers, while he couldn’t spend the night with both of his at the same time every day. She had previously caught him playing with her ring finger, probably wondering why she didn’t have a ring on it when Aubrey’s mother had one.

_____

AN

Do you think Angel will have a brother or a sister?