CEO's Runaway Mate and Her Cubs

«Mommy is happy enough with the song,» she said. «You didn't need to go out of your way to buy me presents. Now I'll have to think hard for your

«No, mommy, it's fine,» Scarlet said, surprising her mother with a mature and solemn tone. «We don't need you to buy us presents.»

«Oh,» Lara chuckled, reaching out to her. She hugged her tightly and kissed her head. «Mommy's selfl

«You don't need to because Nate will,» Scarlet whispered. «You can just relax and cook roast for us!»

«I see,» Lara sighed. Not that selfless, after all. «And Jaden?»

She turned to the boy, patiently waiting.

«I made this for my mommy,» he said, delivering the stack of papers. «There's one from Scarlet too, but she forgot about it after seeing the shiny rock.»

«Oh,» Lara murmured, observing the drawings.

It was the first time Jaden made a drawing especially for her, wasn't it? The cubs used to give her all their artworks, in the past, because they didn't know what to do with them. They weren't drawing specifically for her but just because it was funny.

She listed the papers, noticing one with the four of them.

«Is this Nate?» she whispered, pretending to be hiding it from the man.

«Yes, mommy! This is you! You are the prettiest!»

«How nice,» she chuckled.

They were standing in a circle, holding each other's hands. Every face had a big smile, and the surroundings were coloured with clumsy strokes in bright colours. The green covered most of the space, and other colours would mix in certain spots.

«Are these flowers?» she inquired.

«Yes, mommy! This is grandma's garden.»

She turned the page and found another drawing of people. It wasn't so easy to recognise them, if not for the hair colours.

«Oh, Scarlet has pigtails here,» she murmured, not even aware of the nostalgic smile on her face. «And you're both wearing blue clothes.»

«This is when we were little,» Jaden explained. «Mommy let us play with your hair, then... And you also kissed us very much when we said something.»

«You remember?»

«I do remember everything about my mommy!» he exclaimed, almost offended.

«And this is from Scarlet, right?» she said.

The hand was different, and most of the attention had been put into the clothes. Lara and Scarlet were wearing a blue dress while Jaden had a red t-shirt and black trousers.

«Right,» Jaden said, moving it away and focusing on the next of his drawings without much consideration. He had so much to show his mommy yet; Scarlet should have remembered her drawing in time.

«Wait, let me see it better,» Lara replied, but he didn't flinch and showed her the last one.

That drawing was a portrait of Lara. Her eyes were crooked, one way bigger than the other. Her nose was just a line, and her mouth was red. Her hair was portrayed by a set of unbent lines going down from her ears to her waist - even though it wasn't so long and straight - and her neck was tiny and long.

The overall feeling of unbalance would make the looker wonder where to focus; some of the colours were stronger than others. Jaden had used markers to draw, and some of them were drained before he could finish.

Still, that artwork was so beautiful in her eyes.

Most of all, she liked what she saw on top: four words, every single letter of different size and the E turned in the wrong direction. Still, beautiful for her heart.

«I love you, mommy,» she read, her eyes filling with tears and her heart beating like crazy against her chest.

Her little boy had written a whole sentence for her, and she hadn't even noticed how fast he was learning! She knew Nate would often spend some time teaching him, but she couldn't imagine they were proceeding so fast.

«Mommy loves her boy as well,» she replied. But then she couldn't help it anymore.

She burst out sobbing, holding the paper with so much strength that it wrinkled at the edges.

Jaden started panicking, wondering if he had made some mistake. He glanced at the words once again, but it looked all right. Had Nate taught him wrong? What was happening?

He wanted his mommy to be happy, not crying.

«Mommy, mommy...» he murmured, tapping on her thigh. «Don't cry, mommy!»

His eyes filled with tears as well, and he was getting ready to cry out loud and as desperate as he could. Yet, he didn't make it in time because Scarlet patted on his shoulder.

«It's fine,» she said. «Mommy told me she sometimes wants to cry when we call her mommy. She's crying with happiness because we've remembered her birthday.»

«Yes?» Jaden moaned, not fully convinced.

Could he risk believing Scarlet? But his mommy was still crying, holding the drawing against her chest and wiping her tears in a vain attempt at looking presentable.

Jaden turned to Nate, looking for all the answers.

«It's true,» the man confirmed. «Your mother is happy; that's why she's crying.»

Then, he crouched next to Lara and rubbed her back.

«Hey,» he said. «It's not even my turn yet, and you're already l

Lara sighed, doing her best to stop that stupid cry, but she failed.

«Jaden wrote this,» she said, showing it to Nate. Needless to say, he had already seen it. «Can you believe it? They're growing up so fast!»

«Yes, I can believe,» he chuckled.

«You're to thank for all of this,» she continued. She wrapped her hands around his neck and hugged him tightly. «Thank you so much, Nate.»

The twins observed the show, dumbfounded. Why was Nate getting their hug? Why?