"I have work to do!"
Kelly and Kevin didn't think much of it when Arthur practically bolted from the dining table, his lunch barely touched. He had completely skipped his usual, theatrical ritual of begging for just one more scoop of ice cream before heading upstairs.
Sure, Arthur often got swept up in grading essays or prepping his upcoming lesson plans, but today, his exit felt a little too abrupt. A little too frantic.
"No ice cream?" Kelly whispered, her eyes narrowing as she tracked his rapid ascent up the stairs.
Kevin shrugged, leaning back in his chair. "He must be stressed about the upcoming term. Just let him be."
Kelly didn't argue, but the lines on her forehead remained tight. Her protective gaze lingered on the closed door at the top of the landing, waiting for it to swing open and offer an explanation. Sigh... I hope he isn't pushing himself too hard.
Inside that very room, Arthur was currently kneeling on the carpet beside his low coffee table, his tongue poking out the side of his mouth in a display of absolute, life-or-death concentration.
Beads, delicate silver chains, spools of wire, and loose charms had completely exploded across the floor, transforming his bedroom into a chaotic craft store crime scene.
In the past, he had always bought these jewelry-making supplies on a whim, simply because they were shiny, cute, or marked down on clearance. He enjoyed the mindless rhythm of it.
Now, however, he was trying to make something that actually mattered. And it was proving to be a psychological nightmare.
"I have never felt so personally insulted by a pile of plastic and glass," he muttered, using a frustrated finger to shove a rogue sequin out of his workspace.
This couldn't just be a pretty trinket. It had to be flawless.
I want her to feel special when she looks at it, he thought. No, that didn't hit the mark. I want her to know this was engineered specifically for her. I want her to realize I wouldn't even dream of pouring this much energy into a piece for anyone else.
His face flared a brilliant crimson at the memory of their conversation in the car. The way she had asked him for it, the weight of her steady gaze, and that smooth, effortless praise...
God, you are acting like a pathetic, validation-starved toddler, Arthur, he thought, groaning out loud as he flopped dramatically onto his back. He stared blankly at the ceiling, feeling thoroughly defeated by a handful of wire.
Yet, the image of Natalia's sharp posture pulled him right back up. He crossed his legs and went back to analyzing the mess, trying to decode her personality through his materials.
He didn't know everything about Natalia yet, but he was a keen observer of details. She was drawn to monochromatic palettes, black, crisp white, deep midnight blues. Clean, unapologetic lines.
An understated elegance that never had to shout to be noticed. She was just... effortlessly, naturally striking.
Gold would look beautiful against her skin, his artistic brain calculated. But silver... silver feels more like her.
He picked up a small, polished silver heart charm, balanced it on his palm for two seconds, and immediately tossed it back into the bin. Too cheesy. Way too on the nose. Even if a deeply buried, romantic part of his brain secretly wanted to use it.
A star? Too whimsical. Nature motifs? Not her style.
Then, his eyes caught on a sharp, triangular shard of polished black onyx. It was minimal, geometric, and strong. Beside it lay a single glass bead the color of spilled red wine. Deep, rich, and sophisticated.
Elegant. Quiet. Powerful. Just like her.
"Okay, let's try this again," he whispered, his competitive spirit flaring up.
The first two attempts were absolute disasters, clunky, poorly balanced, and entirely unserious. They looked like something a child would string together at a summer camp, and Arthur refused to hand her a piece of garbage.
But the third attempt... the third one felt like magic.
He chose a slender, high-quality black cord. He threaded the dark wine-red bead just slightly off-center, allowing it to frame the singular, striking obsidian triangle. He finished the piece with a sleek, low-profile magnetic clasp, no unnecessary frills, no complicated clasps. Just raw, elegant precision.
Arthur held the completed necklace up to the afternoon light, his breath catching in his throat as the dark stone caught the sun.
"This is it," he breathed, a wave of relief washing over him. "This is the one."
Then, almost instantly, a shadow of doubt crept in to ruin the moment. What if she thinks it's boring? What if it's not polished enough for someone like her?
Despite the sudden anxiety, Arthur wrapped the piece with meticulous, hyper-focused care, setting it down as if it were a fragile, sacred artifact. Because to his heart, it was. He had never second-guessed himself this much in his entire life. This was, without a doubt, the finest piece he had ever created.
"Ugh, my brain is fried," Arthur groaned, rubbing his temples as his stomach gave a demanding growl. "And I am officially suffering from an ice cream deficiency. I need a massive dose of sugar before I even think about handing this over to her. Mission: Kitchen."
.....
"Why would she suddenly invite us to her birthday party? After nearly three years of absolute silence?"
Downstairs, Kelly's eyes were rimmed with a bitter redness as she stared at Kevin's phone on the dining table, looking at the screen as if it had personally attacked her.
"I'm sorry, Kevin. But I don't trust your mother. Not even a little bit. All that woman ever did was inflict pain on our poor boy..."
"I know," Kevin sighed heavily, leaning his elbows on the table and dragging his palms down his face. His brows were knit into a hard, protective scowl as he stared at the text message.
"I suspect they found out Natalia returned from overseas. The timing is too perfect. They aren't trying to fix our family; they're trying to leverage my daughter's success."
The tension in the room belonged entirely to the ghost of Kevin's mother, the primary reason Kevin had permanently severed blood ties with his extended family years ago.
Kevin and Kelly had been completely blind to the abuse at first. Kevin's mother had been clever, waiting until the couple's backs were turned to hiss venomous, cruel remarks directly into Arthur's face, coupling the insults with severe threats to ensure the young omega stayed quiet.
They wouldn't have discovered any of it if Kevin hadn't caught Arthur silently crying in the backseat of the car late one evening, desperately trying to wipe his tears away before anyone noticed.
At that time, their foster family dynamics were finally beginning to stabilize. They were growing genuinely close, which had left Kevin feeling immensely frustrated and confused by Arthur's sudden emotional withdrawal.
He hadn't understood why the boy was keeping secrets when they were supposed to be a team. Truthfully, if Kevin hadn't lost his temper and been so harsh with his demands for answers that night, the truth might have remained buried forever.
But the dam had broken. Arthur had shattered, sobbing hysterically as he confessed every single malicious word his foster grandmother had hurled at him.
Kelly had been utterly horrified. She had marched straight into her mother-in-law's house to confront her, but instead of offering a shred of remorse, the older woman had doubled down.
She had turned her venom on Kelly, weaponizing her background as an orphan, trying to belittle her dignity.
Kevin hadn't tolerated it for a single second.
He had cut ties with his entire family that very afternoon, walking out of that house and never looking back.
He had spent the rest of that night holding a trembling, weeping Arthur in his arms as the boy begged him not to be angry with his mother, because in Arthur's mind, the woman hadn't lied.
He truly believed he was just a burden to them. He believed that, just as she had said, he should have died along with his past.
"That sweet child didn't deserve a single ounce of that cruelty," Kelly whispered now, her voice cracking with remembered rage. "How can a grandmother look at a child and be so venomous?"
Kevin remained silent, his chest expanding with a slow, heavy breath as he reached across the wood to lock his fingers tightly with hers.
"I won't stop you if a part of you wants to repair the bond with her," Kelly murmured softly, looking at their joined hands.
"She's your mother, Kevin. I can accept that. But Arthur and I? We are permanently out of that equation. You can take Natalia to the party if you wish. I'm sure your mother would be thrilled not to have her vision polluted by us orphans anyway."
The insults aimed at herself were a distant memory, but the poison injected into Arthur's soul was something Kelly would carry to her grave. She would never forgive it.
"I'm not going anywhere near that house, Kelly. Let that be clear," Kevin said, his voice dropping into a firm, unyielding Alpha register.
"I told her years ago that unless a genuine, unconditional apology is delivered to my son, we do not exist to them. And we both know her pride won't allow that. They don't want a reconciliation. They're desperate, and they want something from us. I woudn't risk your or Arthur's peace."
Kelly's gaze softened instantly, the anger melting into profound adoration. "I love you, Kevin. You are truly the best man I have ever known."
Kevin's hard expression cracked, a familiar, roguish smirk tugging at his lips. "Well, that was sudden."
"What? I can't shower my own husband with compliments?"
"Oh, you absolutely can," Kevin winked, the heavy atmosphere evaporating in an instant. "But you know verbal praise never quite hits the spot for me. Real appreciation belongs upstairs in our bed, with a lot more sweat and moans."
Kelly rolled her eyes dramatically, a bright blush spreading across her cheeks as she gave his forearm a sharp, reprimanding pinch. "Stop turning every serious conversation into an invitation to bed. I'm trying to be emotional here."
Despite her scolding, a giggle escaped her as she swung herself onto his lap, draping her arms securely around his neck. Kevin gathered her close, burying his face in her hair before planting a soft kiss on her cheek.
"Don't ever doubt where my loyalty lies, darling," he murmured against her skin. "This old man never tolerates bullshit, especially when it threatens my family. I don't care whose blood it is."
Kelly smiled, leaning in to capture his lips in a sweet, lingering kiss. Kevin immediately leaned into it, deepening the embrace, but the moment was abruptly shattered by a loud, slow creeeeeak originating from the kitchen.
The couple froze mid-kiss.
They had been thoroughly compromised.
Arthur stood directly in front of the open refrigerator, watching them out of the extreme corner of his eye. The moment he realized they had locked eyes with him, he let go of the door and turned around entirely, holding a massive tub of premium ice cream.
"Get a room, you two," Arthur smirked, raised an eyebrow with pure amusement. "There are single citizens trying to survive in this house. Have some mercy."
Kelly gasped, completely flustered as she practically launched herself off Kevin's lap, scrambling to a nearby dining chair and burying her burning face inside her palms in absolute silence.
This was far from their first offense. Arthur had walked in on their spontaneous displays of affection more times than he could count.
At this point, the initial awkwardness had evolved into a hilarious household routine. Kissing was perfectly normal for a married couple, and they were always perfectly decent around him anyway, so Arthur had never felt genuinely uncomfortable. If anything, he found it immensely entertaining. He took great pride in his ability to reduce the fierce Aunt Kelly to a stuttering, embarrassed mess.
"Hey, it's not my fault you haven't found yourself a partner yet, you little brat," Kevin fired back smoothly, adjusting his shirt with a laugh.
"Hmph!" Arthur huffed, tossing his head back with practiced offense. He spooned a massive mountain of ice cream into a glass bowl and marched toward the living room without another word, maintaining his dramatic exterior until he cleared the doorway.
It was normal banter. It was the harmless, loving rhythm of the only family he had ever known.
At least... it used to be harmless.
Sitting on the living room sofa, Arthur stared down at his melting dessert, the playful smirk completely vanishing from his face as a quiet, heavy realization settled into his chest.
It really isn't your fault, Uncle Kevin, Arthur thought, his chest aching with a sudden, intense sharpness.
It's entirely mine. Because the person I've accidentally fallen for happens to be your daughter. And right now... I can't even begin to imagine a universe where she would ever look at someone as chaotic and broken as me.
He let out a long, quiet sigh, completely losing his appetite for the sweets.
Man... love is so incredibly complicated.