Winter Warmth

Chapter 25: Unexpected Family

Y/n's POV

"Mom?" I called out.

"Mom! I can't find my sweater, where did you put it?" I asked, my tiny voice boucing off of the many walls in the large house.

I frowned, walking from hall to hall, peeking my head into empty rooms, my bare feet pattering against the wooden floor.

I rounded a corner, hearing a muted conversation drifting closer and closer, the words becoming audible, and the heat of it identifying itself as an argument rather than just a casual talk.

I neared my father's study, locating it as the place of the debate.

"What the fuck F/n!" The harsh tone of my mother's words made me flinch back, my small body flattening into the wall.

"Look I-I didn't mean it sweetheart! Please you-you've got to believe me!" My father's voice was pleading, an emotion he almost never showed.

I leaned closer to the shut door, pressing my ear into the wood.

"What is there to believe?! That it was just an accident?!" Mother hissed. "You can't accidentally shove your dick in someone else, F/n!"

"Babe, I was drunk, alright? Come on, you know you're the only one I need, the only one I want!"

"They say drunken words are sober thoughts," My mother's accusation was laced with venom. "I'm sure it's the same with actions."

"M/n, please! It was a mistake, and I'll never do it again." Father's tone was sincere, sober. "Just tell me what you want and I'll do it."

"I want you gone." Mother lashed out. "Gone from me, gone from the kids, gone from this home."

"Don't be absurd! You would really do this to the children?" Father asked incredulously. "Think about it. How would they feel when they suddenly don't have a dad anymore? And taking care of them all by yourself? Come on."

My mother was silent.

"To divorce is to condemn them, M/n," My father continued. "Plus, this happened 6 years ago! If it didn't affect us then, it shouldn't affect us now-"

"That's because I didn't know!" Mother interjected. "And it doesn't make it any better."

She exhaled sharply.

"What made you do it, F/n?" She spat. "Why wasn't I enough?"

"You were enough! I was just stressed from losing my career and starting a family..." Father sighed. "And I didn't want to bother you, so I went to a bar, and I had one too many drinks! Next thing I know, I woke up in her bed."

"And I didn't expect her to get pregnant, not to mention actually having the kid!" He scoffed. "He's 6 now, the same age as Y/n."

"So what, you now have a son with another woman?" Mother deapanned. "What are you going to do about that?"

"Nothing," Father said firmly. "Any child that's not yours is not mine. I don't care what that woman wants."

There was a pause in the conversation, Mother seeming to think.

"As much as I hate to say this, I think you should at least visit them, F/n."

"What?"

Mother softly sighed.

"It was hard enough for me to raise the two girls, so it must have been tough for the woman to raise the boy all by herself."