Shane set her down on the chair in front of the kids before sitting down beside her. “Now, now, hurry up and finish your food. Mrs. Wilson will take you to school afterward.”
Sharon nodded. “And you’ll stay home with Mommy, right?”
“Yeah, that’s right,” Shane replied with a smile.
Natalie shot him a weird look in response.
“What’s the matter?” he asked when he noticed the look on her face.
Natalie quickly turned the other way and said, “N-Nothing… I was just wondering what they were doing here, that’s all…”
“I brought them over for breakfast,” Shane explained while handing her a glass of warm milk.
Natalie kept quiet and seemed to be in deep thought after taking the glass from him.
At that moment, Mrs. Wilson came out from the kitchen with her breakfast. “You must be hungry, Ms. Smith. Here, have some.”
Natalie forced a smile at her. “Thank you, Mrs. Wilson.”
The two kids were soon finished with breakfast and grabbed their backpacks as they waved goodbye. “Bye, Mommy! Bye, Dad! We’re off to school now!”
“All right, stay safe!” Shane called out to them before Natalie could even respond.
The kids nodded and marched out the house with Mrs. Wilson, leaving Natalie and Shane alone in the living room.
“Mr. Shane… I would like to have a talk with you about what happened last night…” Natalie said while putting down her cutlery.
“Perfect, so do I.” Shane replied as he wiped his mouth elegantly with a napkin.
Natalie took a deep breath. “I think we should forget about what happened last night…”
“Let’s get married!” Shane cut her off with a serious look on his face.
Natalie went wide-eyed with shock and disbelief. “S-Sorry, what did you just say?”
Taking responsibility is just part of the reason. I had long since planned on marrying her…
Natalie pursed her lips and said calmly, “I’m sorry, I can’t do it.”
Shane frowned. “Why not?”
“Because…” Natalie continued after giving it some thought, “The kids won’t agree to it.”
Shane broke into a smile upon hearing that. “In that case, you don’t have to worry about a thing because they’ve actually wanted us to get married right from the start. I can tell from the way they call me ‘Dad’. Besides, did you really think they don’t know about us sleeping together last night? They just chose to keep quiet about it.”
Natalie froze. Wait a minute… He’s right! They didn’t seem surprised at all when they saw him carry me out of the room earlier!
Shane wiped his hands clean and tossed the napkin onto his plate. “So, will you agree to marry me now?”
Natalie shook her head. “They may want you as their dad, but I still won’t marry you because I don’t plan on marrying someone I don’t love. You don’t have to marry me to take responsibility either, as that’d be unfair to Ms. Graham.”
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