Chapter 168: Take It One Step at a Time

"Jean." After the car had gone a short distance, the two boys got out. Felix Ford tugged on Jean Vance’s sleeve and said, "Hey, why don’t we switch back for now? You go back to Mom’s place, and I’ll go back to the Fords’. We can switch again tomorrow."

For some reason, he had a bad feeling. He just felt that Mom would be angry when he got back.

Felix felt this way knowing nothing, which only gave Jean, who was watching the two red dots on the screen, an even bigger headache.

’Besides, Mom is right at the entrance to the complex, and she’s not moving at all.’

’He knew it. She must have figured everything out.’

He cleared his throat and said sternly, "No. We already agreed. You’re going back. I do what I say I’ll do. We pinky-swore on it."

’Oh, right. We did pinky-swear.’

In the end, between turning into a puppy and possibly getting scolded by Mom, he chose the latter.

’If I turned into a puppy, I wouldn’t be able to talk. I wouldn’t be able to call her Mom anymore.’

’I don’t want that.’

’My favorite thing is calling her ’Mom’ and hearing her ’Mm-hmm’ in reply.’

Seeing Felix’s resolve waver, Jean breathed a sigh of relief. "Okay, let’s grab our own cabs home then."

"Okay." Clenching his fists, Felix mustered his courage and nodded.

It was strange. He was never afraid no matter how his dad disciplined him, but when it came to his mom, the mere thought of her scolding him was terrifying.

’I don’t know why that is.’

But either way, he had to go home. He gritted his teeth and hailed a cab.

They hadn’t walked far from where they were dropped off, so the ride only took a few minutes. Felix immediately spotted Amanda Vance standing at the complex entrance.

His dad had already left; she was there alone.

’I think I know the difference between Dad and Mom now,’ he thought. ’When I do something wrong, Dad just sits on the sofa waiting to punish me. But Mom... she waits for me by the gate.’

Suddenly, he wasn’t so scared anymore.

Amanda Vance noticed the taxi, too. After waiting a while and seeing no one get out, she started walking toward it. Though she couldn’t see clearly who was inside at night, she had a good idea. She strode over, pulled the door open, and said, "Come on, out you get."

With that, she paid the driver.

Felix, who had been about to pull out his own money, froze. He obediently climbed out of the car and looked at her with apprehension, whispering, "Mom."

’It’s still the other boy, not Jean.’

Her eyes shifted as she quickly pieced together the reason. It was rather amusing. ’This is the first time I’ve ever seen Jean act like such a coward.’

Seeing the little boy’s fearful expression, she shook her head. She reached out and ruffled his hair, then took his hand and led him toward the building without asking any questions. "Let’s go. We’re going home."

"Huh?" Felix was surprised. ’Isn’t Mom going to hit me or yell at me?’

He was a little dazed, unable to process what was happening.

Amanda raised an eyebrow. "Aren’t you hungry?"

He was.

He’d been running around all afternoon and still hadn’t eaten. He’d been too preoccupied to notice before, but now that she mentioned it, he was starving.

"Let’s go," Amanda said, a hint of a smile in her voice.

’Oh, well. It’s not that big of a deal,’ she thought. ’Ultimately, it’s my fault for being so careless. Five years ago, I didn’t realize my child had been taken. Five years later, I didn’t realize this was a different boy right away.’

’I can’t blame the children.’

Felix didn’t know what she was thinking, but he could tell he had dodged a bullet. He didn’t understand why his mom wasn’t asking why he’d skipped class or why he was home so late, but since she clearly wasn’t mad at him, he started to feel happy too.

Holding her hand, he couldn’t help but skip along.

He hopped and skipped, his personality a complete contrast to Jean’s, even though they looked identical.

Amanda couldn’t help stealing a few extra glances at him. The feeling was wonderfully strange.

Since the dishes were already washed, Amanda simply made him a bowl of noodles. Felix was ravenous and finished the entire bowl with loud SLURPS—it was even more than he usually ate. Afterward, he sat on the sofa and leaned contentedly into her embrace.

Remembering what Jean had told him earlier, Felix bit his lip and snuck a glance up at her. ’Jean said Mom knows I’m not him... so what does she think of me?’

He was suddenly very curious.

"What is it?"

Sensing his gaze, Amanda looked down at him and asked softly.

"Nothing." Felix hesitated for a moment before shaking his head. ’Jean said most of Mom’s suffering was because of Dad. If she knew who my dad was, she’d be heartbroken, and she’d never get back together with him.’

He thought back to how his dad and mom had looked standing together at the hospital earlier that day, and he couldn’t bear to shatter that image.

In the end, he kept his thoughts to himself. Leaning back into her embrace, he said, "Mom, I’m sorry for making you worry today. I’ll come home earlier from now on."

"Okay." Amanda hugged him, nuzzling the top of his head. "It was my fault, too. I had something to do today and couldn’t come get you."

"It’s okay! As long as you’re okay, Mom, that’s all that matters!"

The mother and son snuggled together, a silent understanding passing between them not to press the issue further.

After a while, Felix said he needed to use the bathroom, so Amanda let him go.

Inside the bathroom, Felix sat on the toilet lid and called Jean. "...Mom didn’t even yell at me."

’That’s not too surprising,’ Jean thought. ’Mom isn’t the type to yell at kids.’

Felix didn’t know that. All he knew was that whenever he’d done something wrong, his dad would just stare at him coldly. He wouldn’t hit him, but he would make him reflect on his actions by himself, and he definitely wouldn’t hug him.

He propped his chin on his hand, feeling troubled. "Jean, do you think... is what we’re doing really okay? Mom is so nice. I don’t want to deceive her."

He had been so afraid that she wouldn’t want him anymore if she found out he wasn’t Jean. But now she knew, and she was still being so nice to him. It actually made him feel even worse.

On the other end of the line, Jean, who still hadn’t arrived home, was sitting in his own cab. He paused when he heard that. After a long silence, he finally spoke. "I’ll take care of things over here as soon as I can, and then I’ll tell Mom the truth."

’I won’t tell her about Samuel Ford,’ he decided, ’but I have to tell her about Felix.’

’But I have a feeling the truth about Samuel Ford won’t stay hidden for long, either.’

Felix felt the same way. He couldn’t avoid his dad forever, and if he kept in contact with Amanda, they would all find out the truth eventually.

And it wasn’t just them; their parents were growing closer, too. They were all just one step away from the truth.

Both boys knew it, so after Jean spoke, they fell into a shared silence.

"Let’s just take it one step at a time," Jean finally said with a sigh.

"Yeah." That was all they could do.

After hanging up, the car came to a stop a few moments later. Jean paid the fare with money from his coin purse, got out, and walked toward the front door. Just as he was about to open it, the door swung open from the inside, and he ran right into the man standing there.

For once, Samuel Ford’s expression was openly anxious. He let out a visible sigh of relief upon seeing the boy. "Where have you been?"