Chapter 5

Becky’s friends who had been looking for the triplets had found them. Fay scold the employer who weren’t looking after the triplets as Lisa had talk them before she searching the triplets.

Sana’s heart dropped as she turned the corner only to find her three precious darlings, sobbing uncontrollably.

Lisa arrived next. She took a deep breath because she was tired from running here and there. Her phone still clutched in one hand, wallet in the other. Her eyes immediately locked onto the crying triplets and then to the woman standing stiffly nearby with dark glasses and a face mask. Her sharp instincts kicked in.

Fay, trailing behind, let out a shocked gasp as she took in the scene the chaos, the stares, and the unsettling silence that had befallen everyone watching.

Sana was the first to break through the horror.”What the hell is going on here?!” she demanded, voice slicing through the tension like a whip.

Everyone turned to her.

Sana didn’t waste a breath. She rushed forward, covering Fosbein and Fastian while Lisa scooped up Fahnareeh. “What did you do to them?!” Sana’s glare was venom, directed not just at the crying boy who stood behind Freen, but at the unfamiliar trio of women beside him too.

Jennie raised her brows. “Excuse me”

“Don’t ‘excuse me’ me!” Sana barked, now fully in protective auntie mode. “You’re all the ones who bullied my darlings, right?!” she asked while give them sharp glares.

“They attacked my cousin’s son,” Freen responded coolly, even as her fists remained clenched by her sides. She kept her head slightly turned, her mask doing little to hide the tension in her voice.

“That’s mean, that brat is the reason they’re crying,” said Lisa.

Sana’s eyes darkened. “You all let that brat bully them just because he is related to you all by blood without thinking what he did is wrong?!”

“Apologize. Now,” Fay emphasized her words. She glared Prawit’s.

“I…” Prawit trembled, then looked to Freen for help. But Freen had nothing to say.

“Apologize!,” shouted Fay.

“Calm down! “Do you think your actions now are good? Don’t you see? Those who see your actions will follow your actions in the future,” Tzuyu said, snorting in annoyance.

“”Especially children,” said Jennie, adding Tzuyu’s words.

“I wouldn’t be like this if you all didn’t pick a fight with the triplets!” Sana’s face turned red, holding back from kicking and punching them.

Prawit looked away.

Lisa stepped forward, arms folded tightly. Her eyes flicked coldly to Freen, then dragged slowly down her body to her shoes and back up again. There was something unsettlingly familiar about her. Those eyes. Lisa narrowed her eyes.

“You…” she murmured. “Have we met before?”

Freen didn’t respond. She simply turned slightly, as if preparing to leave.

The triplets had stopped crying just long enough to begin asking between hiccups.

“Where’s Mommy…?”

“Mommy… I want Mommy…”

“I want to go home…”

“Please be patient. Your mommy is on the way here.”

Becky’s number was on Fay’s call screen. Again. And again. The line didn’t connect. She had been trying to call Becky earlier instead of going on a rampage like Sana and Lisa.

“She’s not picking up! She’s always glued to her phone. Why now?” Fay hissed, thumb shaking as she hit redial for the fifteenth time.

“Try call her assistant,” Lisa muttered quickly. Fay nodded and did just that.

Back in the Beckangels office, Ayon answered with a concerned tone, and when Fay explained everything about the crying triplets, the confrontation, the chaos his voice sharpened. “I’ll tell her about this. Wait there.”

Meanwhile, Lisa turned back to Freen. “You’re not going anywhere until you answer..”

But Fay interrupted with a dismissive scoff. “Forget it, Lisa. She’s not worth it. Let’s just get the kids out of here.”

As if on cue, a security guard, who had been watching from afar, stepped closer to assist with the growing crowd.

“Is there an issue here?”

Lisa spoke calmly. “No.”

“Get them out of here. Don’t let them set foot in here!” said Fay in her bossy mode.

Just as they exited, Becky’s sleek black car screeched to a halt outside the mall entrance. She ran inside, breath hitching, eyes franticjust in time to see her friends exiting with her children in their arms, tears and all.

She didn’t spot Freen, Jennie, Tzuyu, or Namtan.

They had left through the other side of the toy store led quietly away by a curious silence and the unshakable feeling that something had just gone terribly wrong.

Becky’s friends let them down. The triplets stand up with teary eyes when look at Becky.

Becky dropped to her knees.

“Babies! What happened?!”

All three of them burst into her arms, talking over each other, crying into her neck.

“M-Mommy, he said bad things…!”

“He said we don’t have Daddy…”

“I told him we do! I said you’re enough!”

Becky’s heart shattered. She wrapped all three of them tighter than ever.

Becky’s look at her friend’s. “What happened?” asked her while she patted the triplets back.

Fay’s voice was quiet but deadly. “It was horrible, Beck. I don’t know he boy name but that brat was awful. And the woman with him… she just stood there.”

“Did she… touch them?”

“No.”

Lisa squinted slightly. “I think… I think I know who she was.”

Becky pulled back, her brows furrowed. “Who?”

“I’m not sure. I don’t want to spill the name first. Let me think it deeply.”

Sana crouched beside her, brushing hair out of Fahnareeh’s tearstained face. “We called you so many times.”

“I accidentally mute my phone,” Becky said breathlessly. “I am very careless.”

“It’s okay,” Sana said firmly. “You’re here now. That’s all that matters.”

Becky pressed kisses onto each of her children’s foreheads. “Let’s go home, alright? Mommy’s here. No more mean people.”

All the way home, there was no laughter or stories in the car, only children’s songs can be heard.

Becky’s check them up with rear views. She tried to talk with them but they just nodded and shook their heads.

The triplets ran towards the main door after arriving home. They waited patiently for Becky to open the main door.

The four of them went inside. They looked at Becky who locked the door.

“Mommy, can we buy daddy?,” Fahnareeh pulls the hem of Becky’s shirt

“Please buy daddy, mommy.”

“We want strong daddy,” added Fosbein.

Becky crouched down. “We cannot buy daddy.”

“Then, when we will have daddy?,” asked Fastian. “Our daddy not love us, right mommy? Is daddy not want us?”

Becky couldn’t answer Fastian’s question this time. She didn’t know how to explain. It was impossible for her to tell him the truth.

“When will daddy come back?” asked Fastian again.

“Soon.”

Becky didn’t know when it’s is. That’s the only suitable answer for Fastian question when he ask about Freen when she come back.

“Now, let’s go to the bathroom. You all need to take a shower.”

“Mommy, can you join us ?,”

Becky ruffles Fosbein hairs. “Ok, my prince.”

They bathed together.

After Becky bathed them all, she sat in the bedroom, thinking deeply. Her children were already asleep on her bed.

“Can’t they just not ask about their daddy?” Becky muttered. She was afraid Freen wouldn’t accept the three of them.

Suddenly, her phone rang, indicating that someone was calling her. She left the room to answer the phone.

“Are the triplets okay now?” asked Fay.

“They’re okay… physically,” Becky sighed. She leaned against the kitchen counter, pinching the bridge of her nose with her fingers, as if trying to press the pressure building inside her skull away. “But they’ve been asking about their daddy constantly. It’s like… it’s haunting them. Today, they actually told me to go buy one at the shopping mall.”

There was a brief pause before Becky chuckled bitterly. “After everything they’ve been through, after what happened-they still believe a daddy can just fix it all.”

On the other end of the line, Fay exhaled thoughtfully. “Then marry again,” she said plainly, as if it were that simple. “You’re still young, Becks. And beautiful. There are still so many people who would give anything for a chance to be with you. Like Collette. She adores you.”

Becky let out a humorless laugh, one that sounded more like a broken sob swallowed before it could form. “You think it’s that easy?” Her voice cracked. “I’m not afraid that someone won’t love me, Fay. I’m afraid they won’t love the triplets.”

She stared blankly at the floor, her thoughts spinning in chaotic circles.

” I won’t bring someone into their lives only to have them be treated like a burden. Fosbein, Fastian, Fahnareehthey’re my everything. If someone can’t love them as their own, then I’d rather stay alone forever.”

“And…” Becky’s voice dropped even lower. “I haven’t really moved on from Freen.”

Fay didn’t say anything right away, which made the silence feel louder.

Finally, she spoke, gently but firmly. “I don’t know what else to suggest, Becky. But answer me this… if Freen were to meet the triplets by some twist of fate without knowing the truth. Do you think she’d accept them?”

Becky swallowed the lump in her throat.

“Maybe not,” she admitted quietly. “Not after everything that happened. Not after what she must think of me.”

Her voice trembled now. “You know what scares me the most, Fay? That night… the night I got drunk during the meeting with clients. I can’t stop thinking about it. I remember going back to the hotel after that stupid meeting, feeling like my whole head was spinning. I remember making sure I was in the right room… I locked it.”

She drew in a shaky breath. “I didn’t know I was sleeping with a man without any clothes after I wake up on the morning .”

Her voice cracked fully now, tears welling in her eyes. “What if my triplets isn’t Freen’s at all? What if they’re someone else’s? A stranger’s? Someone I don’t even know?”

Fay’s voice was quiet but steady. ” You swore to me you locked the door.”

“I did,” Becky whispered.

“I suggest you investigate the incident, Becky.”

She gripped the edge of the counter, her knuckles white. “How do I even begin to investigate it, Fay? Who do I ask? What if there’s no proof? What if I learn something I can’t unlearn?”

“You have to know the truth,” Fay said gently.

“But if the truth ruins everything… if it turns out they’re not hers. What then?” Becky choked out. “I don’t wnt to investigate it, Fay. I’m scared.”

Fay’s voice was quiet now, almost like a lullaby in the storm. “You’re not alone, Becky. And you’re not the only one afraid. But maybe, just maybe… facing the truth is the only way you’ll ever find peace. Whether it hurts or not.”

Becky didn’t reply. She just closed her eyes and let herself fall into the silence, because tonight, silence was the only thing that didn’t demand answers.