Semua Bab Divorced by my Billionaire Ex, Now He Wants Me Back! : Bab 11 - Bab 20

11Stella.Six years had passed.Not all at once, not in any dramatic sweep of change, but slowly, quietly, as life rebuilt itself in small, steady rhythms.Now, I woke up before the alarm. The room was dim, the ceiling fan turning slowly above me. A sliver of early morning light edged through the curtains, just enough to cast long shapes across the hardwood floor.Then came the first sound of the day.Feet padding on the hallway rug, a soft giggle, then a louder thump, followed by a whisper that was far too loud to be called a whisper.“Shh, she’s still sleeping!”“I wasn’t loud!”“You were!”The bedroom door creaked open a second later. I didn’t move.“Mommy?” Emma whispered.I opened one eye. “Mm?”“It’s wake-up time.”Before I could reply, Eli scrambled onto the bed, crawling up beside me with his stuffed bear tucked under one arm and a sock halfway on.“I’m hungry,” he murmured, settling against my shoulder.I kissed the top of his head and stretched. “Alright. Let’s go start the

13Stella.The hotel lobby smelled like burnt coffee and pipe glue.I had barely made it through the door when Jasmine came running toward me, tablet clutched to her chest and panic written all over her face.“The third-floor bathroom is leaking,” she said breathlessly. “We shut off the water but it already soaked through to the room below. Guests are threatening to leave.”Of course they were.I tightened my ponytail and adjusted the strap on my bag. “Okay. Tell maintenance to reroute the plumbing line. Get housekeeping to check for damage in the rooms and move the guests if needed. Offer a discount if they ask.”“They already asked,” she mumbled.“Then offer it with a smile.”By the time I reached the elevator, Gerald from maintenance was waiting with a wrench in one hand and a ragged checklist in the other.“Sorry, Stella,” he said. “It looks like the seal cracked sometime overnight.”“Don’t apologize. Just fix it.”We rode the elevator in silence. I took a deep breath, already fee

15Josh.Most days, I woke up to the sound of Eli knocking over something.This morning, it was a cereal box hitting the floor, followed by a guilty silence, then a flurry of whispered negotiations between him and Emma.I lay in bed for a second, smiling into my pillow. My alarm hadn’t even gone off yet.Stella’s soft footsteps moved down the hall. A moment later, her voice drifted in, half amused, half tired. “Guys… it’s six-thirty.”“Eli spilled the cereal,” Emma tattled immediately.“I didn’t spill it. It jumped.”“You dropped it.”“Did not.”I got up, tugged on a sweatshirt, and padded barefoot into the kitchen. Stella already had a hand on the counter, eyes half-closed, waiting for the coffee to finish brewing. The twins froze mid-argument when they saw me, like I was the final judge in the courtroom of breakfast crimes.Eli pointed at the box on the floor. “It wasn’t me.”I raised an eyebrow.Emma crossed her arms. “He said the cereal wanted to fly.”I glanced at Stella, who did

17Josh.The clinic was already buzzing when I unlocked the door that morning. Mondays always carried their own kind of storm; patients arriving early with coughs and sore throats, nurses juggling files and phone calls, the faint smell of disinfectant clinging to the hallways. I slid my coat onto the hook, nodded at Anna behind the front desk, and stepped into the rhythm of it all.By mid-morning, I was finishing a blood pressure check for Mr. Reynolds, who liked to talk more about fishing than his medication. “Doctor,” he said, as I tightened the cuff around his arm, “you ever take those kids of yours out on the lake? Best way to keep them out of trouble.”“They’re not mine,” I reminded him gently, though I didn’t bother correcting him every time. “But they’d probably sink the boat before we even started.”He laughed, and I forced a smile, though the words stayed with me. Not mine. It wasn’t the first time I’d been mistaken for their father, and it wouldn’t be the last. I didn’t mind

19AlexConferences all looked the same to me after a while. Tall arrangements of white flowers at the registration desk. Lanyards that turned everyone into the same shape from the neck down. Carpets that swallowed sound and footsteps. I moved through it on habit, shaking hands, smiling for photos, saying the sorts of things people expected from a man in my position.Inside the main hall, the lights were bright enough to make the glassware shimmer. A keynote slid by in charts and metaphors. People clapped. A camera found my face and parked there for a beat. I gave it what it wanted and looked away.I met investors, rivals, and the small constellation of consultants who orbit every industry. I knew most of them. The ones I did not know, I learned in a sentence or two. It was easy to keep score when you did not care much who won. I was here because this is what you do when a legacy has dents in it. You show up and look unbothered until people forget they were worried.In the hallway bet