My Billionaire Ex Beg For A Second Chance-Chapter 79: A Quiet Night

After seeing his mother off with one last polite smile and a wave that carried far more relief than affection, Felix closed the front door with a muted thud. He exhaled deeply, leaning back against the door and rubbing a hand over his face.

He turned on his heel and climbed the stairs. As he reached the top, he walked past the guest room doors and turned toward his own room.

The door was slightly ajar.

Pushing it open gently, he found Nathan and Maya lying on top of the comforter, tucked under a throw blanket he’d left out just in case. They weren’t asleep. Both had their eyes wide open, staring at the ceiling in that quiet, thoughtful way kids sometimes do—when their minds are full but their words are waiting for the right moment.

Felix smiled softly.

"Hey," he said, keeping his voice low and warm. "Hope I didn’t leave you two too bored?"

Nathan and Maya turned their heads in unison, and Maya shook hers first, quickly followed by Nathan. "No," they said together, their voices overlapping in that twin way. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

Maya propped herself up on one elbow. "Is the pretty grandma downstairs your mommy?"

Felix blinked. His mouth twitched. Pretty grandma?

He could already imagine the way his mother would squeal if she had heard that exact phrasing—probably followed by a declaration that Maya was her new favorite person on earth.

"Yeah," he replied, chuckling under his breath as he moved closer. "That’s my mom. She already went home now, though."

Nathan frowned a little. "Oh... she didn’t like us?"

Felix blinked and sat down at the edge of the bed, surprised. "What? Why do you think that?"

Nathan glanced toward his sister, as if silently checking if he should say it. Then he mumbled, "She looked at us kinda... scary."

Felix tilted his head, trying to recall the expression on his mother’s face when she’d first spotted the twins. A little tense, maybe. Perplexed, definitely. But scary?

"That’s just how she looks," Felix reassured them with a smile, reaching over to ruffle Nathan’s hair. "Don’t worry. Next time you meet, I’ll introduce you properly. She’ll like you. Especially if you keep calling her pretty."

Maya giggled, and Nathan finally cracked a smile.

Then, just as Felix was about to ask if they were hungry or wanted a bedtime story, his phone buzzed from his pocket. He pulled it out and smiled at the screen.

Katherine.

Without hesitation, he answered. "Hey."

"Hi, Felix," Katherine’s voice came through, warm and a little tired. "Can I say goodnight to the kids?"

"Of course." He smiled, already handing the phone to Maya, who sat up straight with a sudden burst of energy.

"It’s Mommy!" she announced.

Nathan scrambled up next to her, leaning close to hear.

Felix leaned back on the bed, propping his arms behind his head, watching the two of them talk excitedly into the speaker.

"Mama! We watched a movie!" Maya said.

"And Uncle Felix made popcorn," Nathan added.

Felix let his eyes close for a moment, a faint smile on his lips as he listened to their chattering. It felt... nice. Calm. The way a home was supposed to feel.

Maya let out a yawn twenty minutes later, which made Nathan laugh.

Katherine’s voice gently interrupted. "Okay, okay, bedtime now. Go brush your teeth and say goodnight to Felix, alright?"

"Awwww," Maya whined, but she obeyed, passing the phone back as Felix sat up again.

"Goodnight, munchkins," he said, leaning over to kiss both of their heads as they rolled off the bed and shuffled toward the bathroom. "Go on. I’ll be here if you need me."

Once they were gone, Felix lay back again, the phone still against his ear.

"They’re off to follow your command, Mam," he murmured, even though he knew she could probably still hear them giggling faintly from the hallway.

"I heard," Katherine said softly, with a smile in her voice. "Thank you. Again. For everything. I know it’s a lot."

"It’s not." He shifted onto his side. "I like having them here."

There was a pause.

"I’d like to have you here too," he added softly.

Katherine didn’t speak right away. The silence stretched—but it wasn’t uncomfortable. It felt like standing at the edge of something, waiting to see which way the wind would blow.

"Katherine," Felix said quietly, just as—

"Felix," she breathed.

They both paused, a beat of surprise shared in the space between them. And then, at the same time, they both laughed—soft and breathy, like two kids caught reaching for the same star.

"You go," she said, still smiling.

"No, no—what were you going to say?" he asked. "Sorry, I didn’t mean to talk over you."

She exhaled, the sound warm. "I was just... it’s okay. You go first."

"It’s really fine," Felix said. "It can wait. You called my first, technically."

"Barely," she teased, and he could hear the nervous energy in her voice. Then, softer: "Okay."

But she didn’t speak right away.

Felix waited. He didn’t push her, didn’t fill the silence. He just listened—to the quiet, to her breath, to the stillness that somehow said more than a thousand words.

She was still there. He could hear the faint rustle of fabric as she shifted, maybe sitting up or brushing her hair back.

"I was going to tell you earlier," she said eventually. "But I didn’t want to interrupt your evening."

"What is it?"

Another pause.

Then Katherine, voice calm but serious, said, "I saw Leonard today."

Felix froze.

He sat up slowly, as though the weight of her words pressed against his chest.

"...What?"

"I talked to him," she said again, voice level but no longer soft.

Felix ran a hand through his hair, all traces of drowsiness gone. His body tensed, and thoughts flooded his mind.

He had known it might happen—had even told himself, more than once, that it probably would. But knowing something had been possible and hearing it said out loud had been two very different things.

Felix didn’t like the sound of it at all.