Chapter 3

Augustus walked in. He was rubbing his temples when he spoke to me. "Make some hangover soup. I had some drinks tonight. My stomach is feeling uncomfortable."

I looked up at him.

The Alpha standing before me was dressed in rarely seen light-colored casual wear. He looked relaxed.

Since the day I became his assistant, he'd always been in sharp formal suits. His expression was always distant.

Even after we became mates, aside from pajamas, I had never seen him in anything else.

That was when it hit me. All these years of being married, he had never once taken me out.

A mate bond like this really was a failure.

Seeing that I didn't move, Augustus frowned. "Hurry up!"

In the past, whenever I saw that impatient look on his face, I would instinctively tense up.

But today, I felt nothing but calm.

"I'm tired. I don't want to cook. Get a maid to do it," I replied flatly.

Augustus froze. He clearly didn't expect me to refuse.

He sat upright and looked at me. "Are you upset about what happened today?"

"I'm not–"

Before I could finish, Ethan came running out of the study.

He held up a broken piece of the castle model and glared at me. "Why didn't you finish building it?"

I looked at him calmly. "Your teacher didn't assign that as homework, did they?"

"But–" Ethan pursed his lips. "But I really wanted a finished castle!"

"So you lied to me." My tone remained steady without anger. "You tricked me into building it so you could go celebrate Christine's birthday without me interfering."

"Well, whose fault is that? Every time it's a day off, you cling to me! Being with you is no fun at all!" Ethan yelled.

I smiled bitterly.

"Is it because I'm no fun or because you simply don't like me?"

Ethan bit his lip and said nothing.

This was my pup, my own flesh and blood. I could still see traces of myself in his features.

I recalled how in the first six months after he was born, I would stare at him and smile like a fool while thinking, 'How is my pup so adorable?'

Ethan had always been so hard to please.

Perhaps it was because once the breastfeeding period ended, he had been brought back to the old house and raised by his grandparents. That's why he had never been close to me.

Every weekend I brought him home, I tried everything to make him happy, but he never responded.

I suggested bringing him to the amusement park, but he refused. I suggested staying home to play games together, but he also refused.

Most of the time, our interactions looked like this. I'd prepare food for him, and he'd stay in the study by himself. He was either reading comic books or playing with toy bricks.

He was incredibly disciplined for his age. He didn't need my guidance at all.

Now, I finally understood.

He didn't like me, so he didn't want to spend time with me.

He didn't like me, so he avoided any kind of interaction with me.

For the first time, I realized that maybe we were simply not meant to be close as mother and son.

Some things couldn't be forced.