Let Me Stay The Night

Christina could not reject the adorable kids.

She reached for the card and removed the cap of the pen. “All right. Tell me what I should write.”

Lucas cast a glance at Camila. I’ll leave the artistic side of things to Camila,

Camila started eloquently. “My sweet darling, you’re the most important person in my life. I want to hug you, kiss you, and never let you go.”

Christina laughed at her cringy words.

Lucas hurriedly reminded, “Don’t laugh, Mommy. Focus on writing it down.”

Christina stopped laughing and gave him an okay before writing down Camila’s words.

A while later, she handed over the written card to Camila. “I’m done. Shouldn’t you both be going to bed now?”

Camila took the card and skimmed through it in detail. She then gave Christina a tube of lipstick. “Mommy, stamp it.”

“How?” Christina laughed so hard that her shoulders trembled.

Lucas pursed his lips and made a smooching sound. Christina was amused by his charming side.

Comprehension dawned on her as surprise filled her. “Where did you learn that?”

“From the movies. All of them stamp their cards with a kiss.”

Without much choice, Christina applied a layer of lipstick on her lips, then gently pressed them on the card, leaving a red mark.

“Done. Here you go!”

Lucas and Camila checked the card and were satisfied with the mark. “This is perfect. Continue with your work, Mommy. We’ll return to our room to finish our homework.”

“Go ahead.” Christina didn’t notice the kids plan and buried her head in work.

study, they slid the card into the gift bag. With all the preparations done, all that was left was to wait

was stacking blocks. Their eyes nearly fell shut but snapped open when they heard the heavy footsteps going up the

immediately bolted upright and ran

Lucas clung

her arms, gesturing for Nathaniel to carry her. “Daddy, carry

the kids in each arm and strode to their bedroom. “Why aren’t the both of you asleep? It’s already so late. Are

would have fallen asleep in Christina’s embrace before I even got back. Since when do I have such an important place in their hearts?

bed and gently set them down.

is Mommy’s gift for you.” Lucas took an exquisite-looking red bag out

herself

It’s not

the wheels in his brain turned quickly, and he came up

Lucas’ and my help.” Camila was terrible at lying, so she repeated Lucas’ lie with her puppy dog’s eyes.

Its size was only slightly bigger than his palm. As it was sealed with tape, he couldn’t

Lucas immediately added, “Mommy said you have to tell her if you like the

brows furrowed. What kind of gift needs

find Mommy. We’re going to

faces, Nathaniel tucked their blankets around them, then pressed his lips to their foreheads. “Okay.

exhausted. They mumbled, “Good night,

fell asleep, Nathaniel flashed a rare, gentle smile. He got up and left the

bedroom, he opened the gift bag, reached inside, and took out a piece of small pitiful-looking cloth.

smooth red cloth was so thin he could

wonder she’s shy about giving

thin pajamas. Thin wisps of steam radiated from her back. The warm glow

wiped the water droplets from her hair

her at that moment would know how beautiful she looked.

are you standing there for? Aren’t you going to take a shower?” Christina looked at him with clear

card with the red lips mark and read its contents while approaching