Chapter 96: The bare minimum

Selen bit her lower lip, staring at the tea that sat in front of her. Newton’s sudden sharpness made her hesitate, but the emotional weight she was carrying was too heavy to keep inside. Her voice dropped to a fragile whisper.

"The kids... they began to call him Daddy a few days back, Newton. And it was not an accident. They meant it. They looked right at him, entirely sure of who he was to them. And Clancy, he just closed his eyes and held them closer, like those three kids are the absolute center of his universe." She said,

The words felt like a physical blow to Newton’s chest. "Daddy". And they meant it. A title he had secretly hoped, in his quietest moments, he might one day earn. The air in the room suddenly felt too thick to breathe, the quiet apartment transforming into a cage.

He looked at Selen, seeing the immense vulnerability, the sheer overwhelming weight of everything she was carrying, and something inside him snapped, not with anger, but with an agonizing, desperate need to prove he was still the one who truly belonged.

Before he could think better of it, Newton stepped forward, crossing the small distance between them. He reached out, his hand cupping her cheek, and tilted her face up. Selen’s eyes widened slightly in surprise, but she did not pull away. He leaned down and kissed her.

It was not a demanding kiss, but it was heavy with lots of unsaid words, longing, and the terrifying fear of being erased from her life. For a fleeting second, Selen leaned into it, her hands lightly touching his chest.

But almost instantly, the tension returned. The realization of what this meant, of how complicated things already were, rushed back between them. When Newton slowly pulled away, his breathing shallow, the silence in the kitchen was suffocating.

Selen looked at him, her eyes wide, a sudden, sharp awkwardness freezing the warmth that had been there just moments before. "Newton, I..." She cleared her throat, stepping back and hastily pulling her coat off the back of the stool.

She did not finish her sentence. She could not. "I- I should go. The nanny- I told her I would be back before dinner." She said,

"Selen, wait, I did not mean to-" he tried to apologise but she interrupted him.

"It is fine," she interrupted quickly, offering a tight, forced smile that did not reach her eyes. She would not look at his lips, and she would not look at his eyes. She just needed to escape the heavy, confusing atmosphere of the room.

"Thank you for the tea. The house really is beautiful." She said and rushed out with a rushed, awkward wave, she turned and hurried down the hallway. The heavy click of the front door closing echoed loudly through the apartment, leaving Newton standing completely alone in the quiet kitchen, the two half-full mugs of tea still steaming on the counter.

The heavy click of the front door echoed in Selen’s ears long after she stepped out into the cold evening air. Her chest felt tight as she drove home. The shock of Newton’s kiss still hung over her, leaving her confused and desperate to just get back to her own house.

When she unlocked her front door, the usual chaos of her house immediately cut through the quiet. Clancy was sitting on the living room rug with the triplets.

He was helping Diana and Daniel balance a stack of cushions for a fort, while David sat nearby at the coffee table, completely absorbed in sketching a comic strip- a new hobby that he was immersing himself in.

The staff members had already left. The room was loud and messy, filled with the scattered toys of three energetic kids. "Good afternoon, mummy," the kids said to her.

"Mummy, look at the fort!" Daniel yelled, barely looking up from his action figures.

Clancy glanced up from the floor, his smile fading slightly the moment he saw her.

He did not say anything right away, but his eyes tracked her movements. Selen’s coat was half-unbuttoned, and she immediately avoided his gaze, walking straight toward the coat hanger to hang up her things.

"Everything alright?" Clancy asked, his voice levelled as he stood up. "Fine," Selen said shortly. She kept her back to him, focusing intensely on smoothing out her coat on the hanger.

"Traffic was heavy and it was freezing outside." she responded, not looking back. ℯℯ𝘭.

Clancy walked over to the edge of the living room, close enough to notice her fast breathing but keeping a respectful distance.

He frowned slightly, studying her tense posture and the way she refused to look at him. "You look completely distracted, Selen. Did something happen?" He asked with a worried tone and expression

"No, nothing," she replied quickly, her voice tight. She finally glanced at him, but her eyes shifted away almost instantly. "I just need to wash up and get out of these clothes. I will be back down in a minute." she said. She did not wait for a response and headed straight up the stairs.

In her bedroom, Selen closed the door and took a slow breath. Newton’s words being in love with her months ago flashed through her mind. The reason she ran away and left the mess at Newton’s home was because of the deep feeling of confusion she felt in their kiss.

She did not know why it was taking her so long to give him an answer. She quickly changed into a plain grey sweatshirt and sweatpants, splashing cold water on her face to clear her head.

When she came back downstairs, she walked into the living room and sat down on the carpet near David’s drawing station. Clancy shifted slightly to give her space, handing her a box of colored pencils without a word.

He did not pry or push for details. Selen took the pencils with a tight nod of appreciation, leaned back against the sofa, and quietly joined the triplets, trying to force her mind back to reality.