Sienna paused and turned toward him in confusion.
"Why...?" she asked softly.
Zachary lowered his phone slightly before looking at her with gentle amusent in his eyes.
"He might not be able to walk if you give him another round of snacks."
Skylar instantly gasped from the carpet. "Dad, I still can walk!" he protested.
"You barely walked after dinner," Zachary replied calmly.
"That’s because I was comfortable," Skylar defended himself imdiately.
Sienna bit her lip, trying not to laugh at the father-and-son argunt.
After so ti, she eventually chose to rescue Skylar.
"...Zach, he still seems energized," she said softly, glancing at Skylar.
Zachary leaned back against the sofa comfortably before answering in the sa calm tone. "That’s because he eats too much sugar."
The simple sentence instantly made Sienna’s smile slowly disappear. A small wave of guilt crept into her chest imdiately.
Now that she thought about it... She had really been feeding Skylar sweets almost all day, because she genuinely wanted to make him happy.
She just enjoyed seeing how happy Skylar was whenever he ate her food.
But when Zachary suddenly brought up sugar, she started to feel a bit irresponsible.
"Oh..." she murmured, sitting back down slowly. "I didn’t think about that..."
Before the atmosphere could beco awkward, Skylar suddenly sat upright.
"Daddy," he called seriously. "Please don’t bla Aunty Sienna."
Zachary imdiately looked at his son in disbelief. "I don’t—"
Skylar continued, "Aunty Sienna is so kind to ," then gently pointed to his father. "And look, you’ve been drinking a lot of sweet coffee today, but you’re still walking..."
For a second, silence filled the apartnt.
Then, suddenly, Sienna burst into laughter, surprising both father and son.
Zachary looked briefly stunned as he turned to Sienna.
Skylar blinked, wearing the sa expression as his father.
Noticing their gaze, she cleared her throat and said, "Sorry... Sorry, don’t mind . You both continue..." She lowered her gaze to her cell phone.
Zachary rubbed his forehead slowly and then said in a laid-back tone, "You spend way too much ti on your iPad, little man."
"No, dady..." Skylar corrected calmly. "I am also watching a movie and reading a book."
This ti, even Zachary looked like he wanted to laugh.
Watching the father and son continue their argunt, Sienna’s chest feels warm again.
Her apartnt gradually quieted afterward, but unlike earlier, the silence now felt warr.
But—
One important question continued to bother her.
’When exactly are this man and his son planning to return to their own house?’
Her eyes secretly shifted toward Zachary again.
Unfortunately, before she could finally ask sothing indirect about the ti, Zachary suddenly placed his phone in his pocket and stood from the sofa.
"Sienna," he whispered, almost too quiet.
The seriousness in his voice imdiately caught her attention. She looked up at him instinctively.
"Can we talk? In private?" He asked.
The sudden change in his expression imdiately confused her.
Until now, the atmosphere had been playful and relaxed. But now, sothing about him felt different. He looks more serious.
Still, she slowly nodded. "Sure."
Zachary turned and walked toward the kitchen, then stopped beside the tall glass wall overlooking the city lights outside her apartnt.
Sienna hesitated briefly before quietly following him. The mont she stood beside him, she imdiately noticed the tension in him.
For several long seconds, Zachary said absolutely nothing.
He simply stared outside while one hand rested casually inside his pocket.
anwhile, Sienna stood awkwardly beside him, waiting patiently despite the growing confusion in her chest.
The silence stretched longer.
Finally, unable to endure it any longer, she turned slightly toward him. "So, what do you want to say?"
Slowly, Zachary turned to look at her.
She could clearly see... Despite the tension visible on his face, his gaze remained unbelievably gentle when it settled on her.
Then finally, after several quiet seconds—
"What do you think of ?" he asked.
The question caught her completely off guard.
Sienna blinked several tis in confusion. "What?"
Zachary held her gaze steadily.
"What kind of person do you think I am?"
Sienna was puzzled by his question. She stared at him for a few seconds, unable to process his words.
’What kind of person do you think I am?’ She repeated his question in her mind.
And seconds later, her mind was instantly filled with so many questions.
’Why did he suddenly ask that?’
’How am I supposed to answer that?’
’Was this so kind of trick question?’
’Did I say sothing wrong earlier?’
Or worse, ’Did he sohow notice my feelings toward him?’ The thought made her heart skip violently inside her chest.
anwhile, Zachary remained standing quietly before her, his gaze fixed on her as if patiently awaiting her answer.
Unfortunately, his calmness only made her mind race with countless thoughts.
Because the truth was, her heart was not beating this fast out of fear. No.
But, it was beating this way because another dangerous feeling had slowly begun growing inside her for a long ti already.
Hope? Intimacy?
Whatever it is, it is the kind she desperately tried not to acknowledge because she was too afraid of ruining whatever relationship they currently had.
But standing this close to him now, under the dim kitchen light, while he looked at her with those gentle eyes... The feeling in her chest beca harder to ignore.
"Sienna?"
Zachary’s low voice finally pulled her back from her thoughts.
She blinked imdiately before realizing she had stayed silent for too long. Almost instinctively, her gaze shifted toward Skylar across the living room.
The little boy remained completely imrsed in his ga, seemingly unaware of the strange tension between the nearby adults.
Seeing that sohow helped her breathe again.
Then, finally, the first answer that ca into her mind escaped her lips.
"You’re a good father..."
The mont the words left her mouth, silence filled the kitchen once again.
Zachary stared at her quietly.
For a brief second, sothing unreadable crossed his expression.
Then he lowered his gaze slightly before speaking again in the sa calm, low voice.
"Besides as a father," he corrected gently.
Slowly, he looked back at her.
He added, "About ... as a man."
Sienna’s heartbeat suddenly quickened.
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