Lahat ng Kabanata ng Too Late To Love Me: I Already Left With His Twins: Kabanata 41 - Kabanata 50

Dave POV I opened the drawer for a contract. That was the intention. Instead, my hand brushed paper. Folded. Thin. Familiar. And before I could stop myself, I was already looking at it. Her note. Still there. Still tucked in the back right corner beneath acquisition files and legal correspondence, as though burying it under paperwork somehow made its presence less absurd. I stared at it for a moment. Then picked it up. I tell myself I kept it for legal purposes. Documentation. Proof of voluntary departure. Protection, in case she ever tried to complicate things later. A sensible explanation. A professional explanation. One that made considerably more sense than the truth, which was that I had never once managed to throw it away. I unfolded it carefully. The paper had softened slightly at the creases. Three lines. That was all. I love you, but I love my child more. I wish you the happiness you were looking for. Goodbye, Lydia. My jaw tightened. Even now, mon

Lydia POVThe call was from my HR to remind me that my maternity leave was over.I stood in my kitchen at six-thirty in the morning with a baby on each hip and genuine resentment in my chest toward every woman in history who had fought for workplace equality.Not because I wasn’t grateful.I was.Deeply.But no feminist manifesto had prepared me for trying to button a blouse one-handed while Ava screamed because Eli had somehow touched her sock.“Why are you both like this before sunrise?” I muttered.Eli blinked at me.Ava sneezed directly into my neck.Wonderful.The original plan had been childcare.Then I saw the rates.Then I laughed.Then I nearly cried.Then I accepted that unless I wanted to spend over half my salary on strangers keeping my children alive, I needed another plan.Thankfully, my supervisor had one.“We support mothers here,” she had said when I nervously raised it. “Bring them.”I nearly cried in her office.So that morning, I packed two diaper bags, three bottl

Lydia POVI stared at Madam Eloise’s card for so long my supervisor had to physically pluck it from my hand.“Lydia.”I blinked.She waved the card once in front of my face.“You’re not seriously considering saying no, are you?”The office had gone suspiciously quiet.Even Clara was staring.“I…” I looked around. “It’s just very sudden.”My supervisor snorted.“Success usually is.”One of the account executives leaned over my cubicle.“That woman built half this city’s reputation management industry from scratch.”Another added, “She does not recruit. She acquires.”Clara folded her arms.“If you stay here after being personally headhunted by Madam Eloise, I will report you for criminal stupidity.”I stared at her.“You are… strangely supportive.”She shrugged.“You’re irritatingly talented. We all knew this place was temporary for you.”My throat tightened.That caught me more off guard than it should have.My supervisor softened.“Take the offer, Lydia.”Quietly:“This place was alw

POV: AvaI believe I am the more logical twin.Eli disagrees.But Eli also once ate glue because he said the label claimed it was non toxic and he wanted to “verify.”So his judgment is compromised.Our mother says we are both alarming in different ways.Which I consider fair.Mummy is very strong.She works a lot.People listen when she talks.Even grown men in expensive suits.She wears sharp clothes and sharper expressions and fixes everyone’s problems while drinking coffee that smells unpleasant.She is also clumsy.Last Tuesday she walked into a glass door because she was reading emails.She pretended it did not happen.It did.Eli and I saw.We learned we did not have a father when we were three.Not officially.No one sat us down and explained.It became obvious at daycare.There was a family event.People came holding balloons and juice boxes and extra parents.Mothers.Fathers.Stepfathers.One child had three adults arguing over who got to carry him.Greedy.Mummy came alone

Lydia POVI laughed.Then cried.Which was inconvenient.And deeply embarrassing given I was alone.I set the phone down.Covered my mouth.Laughed again through tears.Because somehowAfter all this timeThe universe had finally looked over and said:Actually, no. Let’s ruin them instead.Well deserved.Entirely.I sat there in silence for a while.Then picked up the phone.Locked it.Placed it face down.And said to no one,“Interesting.”Because apparently therapy had taught me restraint.I left work early.Collected the children.And drove them to swimming lessons.The car ride was loud.As always.“Mummy,” Eli said from the backseat, “if sharks live in water why do we swim in their house?”“Because we are arrogant as a species.”Ava nodded solemnly.“That tracks.”Eli frowned.“What’s tracks?”“Later,” I said.At a red light, I glanced in the mirror.Ava was fixing her goggles with grave concentration.Eli was wearing his on his forehead like a tiny, confused accountant.“My chil