Semua Bab Fake Vow, True Luna: Bab 331 - Bab 340

OliviaThe day was a whirlwind of activity. The twins were particularly fussy, almost as if they had sensed an upcoming shift in the family dynamic. Finally, after a lot of trials and tribulations, it was dinner time. The sun was setting, and the energy in the house felt as if it was calming down, and yet I felt anything but calm.I was sitting on the bed, thinking about everything. Nathan was downstairs, giving the twins their dinner, and I could hear the sounds of his voice emanating through the walls. Hearing the way that he spoke so lovingly to them should have filled me with comfort, but right now, that was impossible.The knowledge of this new pregnancy was exciting, but I couldn’t get the witch off of my mind. A ‘gift’, she had said. Was this it? Was this her version of a ‘gift’? Was this yet another way for her to control me, to control us? And if I kept this so-called ‘gift’, would it put Aurora in danger?Suddenly, Nathan appeared in the doorway. “Hey, I was feeding Elliot,

OliviaThe air inside the car was stifling, like we were both holding our breath, waiting for the other to exhale. I was still clutching the pamphlets Dr. Lewis had given us, my fingers imprinting little crumples into the paper. Nathan’s remark had thrown me off balance.“So you think this is silly, huh?” My voice sounded oddly calm, a stark contrast to the tumultuous thoughts inside my head. “And you’re gonna give up? Just like that?” I snapped my fingers.Nathan scowled. He looked an awful lot like a little kid who was being forced into something that he definitely did not want to do, which was a huge change from how ‘open’ he had supposedly been to the idea just a few hours ago.“Yeah, Liv, just like that,” he said, snapping his fingers back.“But why?” I asked. “What changed, Nathan? I thought you wanted to do this, not just for us, but for the kids.”Nathan sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “It’s just… exercises? Homework? Really, Liv?”“Why? What’s wrong with that?”“I

OliviaNathan’s words hung in the air between us like an invisible thread, fragile and easy to snap.“Isn’t this better than those dumb exercises?”I looked over at Nathan, his face flushed from running, his blue-green eyes lit up with the joy of reliving a sliver of our carefree past. For a split second, I wanted to say yes, to give in to the whimsy of it all.But the reality of our present issues, all of our grown-up problems, reasserted themselves. Maybe the old Olivia, the younger and childless Olivia, would have gone along with it; but not this Olivia. I needed to stay grounded in reality, not just for myself, but for the twins and the new life burgeoning inside of my belly.“It was fun, Nathan. Really, it was,” I started cautiously. “But running around playing a children’s game isn't going to solve our problems.”He frowned, sitting up and pulling a few blades of grass from the ground. “You think those therapy exercises are any better? Those are for kids, too. Not adults.”I sat

NathanI lay in bed that night, staring at the ceiling, the quiet of the night broken only by Olivia’s gentle snores next to me. I glanced at her, her face so peaceful in sleep.It was hard to reconcile this gentle image of her with the heated argument we’d had earlier, the tension of our recent therapy session heavy between us.All I wanted was to make her realize that these cookie-cutter ‘exercises’ that the therapist gave us, these catch-all solutions, wouldn’t work for us. Not when it came to our struggles. It was more than just a disagreement or a difference in opinion that had led us to this point.It was a literal life or death situation, a battle against something dark, evil, and very, very old.The room suddenly felt stifling, the walls closing in on me, each tick of the clock mocking my restlessness. Realizing that sleep was not going to be my friend tonight, I sighed and swung my legs over the side of the bed, careful not to wake Olivia.I padded through the dark house, sto

OliviaThe sunlight peeked through the curtains, warming my face as I woke up. Nathan’s arms were still wrapped tightly around me, a comforting presence in a world that had turned so uncertain.I shifted, reluctant to leave the bed, but the soft cooing sounds coming from the adjacent room reminded me that sleeping in was no longer an option. Elliot and Aurora were awake, and it would only be a matter of minutes before they began crying out for attention.“Morning,” Nathan mumbled in his gravelly sleep voice, his eyes half-open.“Morning, handsome,” I replied, stretching as I sat up. “Sounds like the twins are up.”He groaned playfully and rubbed his eyes. “They don’t appreciate the beauty of sleep yet.”We chuckled, exchanging a quick kiss before we rolled out of bed. Nathan headed for the bathroom while I went to check on Elliot and Aurora. The sight of their tiny faces, so full of curiosity and innocence, filled me with a kind of love that momentarily made me forget all about my wor