Third person POV
Leonara screamed at the top of her lungs, the intensity of the moment leaving her breathless. She desperately prayed for a miracle to save her child from the danger and the accident.
Her eyes hidden with her palm but her other senses were working properly. The screech of tires and the roar of the engine resonated in her ears, filling her with a chilling dread.
The car was about to hit Jayden when it suddenly came to a halt at just a hair’s distance from him.
The abrupt halt of the car sent a jolt through Jayden, causing him to stumble and sit down on the street. He was too shocked for the moment to react.
The one who was driving the car came out immediately. His initial instinct was to pick Jayden up and check if he was hurt anywhere. His heart was also thumping, thinking that he might have killed the baby.
“Are you fine?” The man asked, and his voice was filled with genuine worry.
Jayden was too shocked to react as the man checked him from head to toe.
What struck Jayden most was the striking similarity in the colour of their eyes, and he found himself mesmerized by the shared hue. The man’s gaze was equally locked onto Jayden’s, and they seemed lost in a moment of connection, as if fate had intertwined their paths.
The man blinks, and Jayden’s consciousness jolts back to his mother. Realising remembered her and the rush of emotion that came with it.
“Mommaaa….. ”
Jayden called out, his voice filled with urgency and concern, his gaze shifting from the man back to the direction from which he had come, hoping that his mother was safe. His mother is his life and he can’t see her getting hurt.
***
Leonara’s POV
My heart was thumping so loudly in my chest that for those moments, it felt like it would come out. My eyes turned red with fear, my breath caught in my throat and my eyes squeezed tightly.
The rush of adrenaline left me trembling, and my body seemed to lose all strength as I collapsed onto the street. I felt as though all my energy had been drained from my body in that one heart stopping moment.
I would have already ended my life if Jayden was not with me. It is only because of him that I am able to come out if that phase of my life, which no less than a nightmare to me. It is only because of him that I have once again started living my life.
He is the source of my smiles, my laughter, and my very reason for existence.
I can’t bear the thought of something happening to him or him going away from me.
He is inseparable part of my being, the light in my darkest hours, and the reason I fight to live each day.
I gasped loudly to inhale a deep breath as my vision became blurry and my head started spinning due to the lack of oxygen. My heart was still racing, and the shock of the near tragedy had left me disoriented.
With blurry vision, I saw a man coming out of the car but before I could see him properly, he turned around and picked up Jayden in his arms.
His back was to me as he checked on my son. I wanted to rush to him and hold him tightly but the incident made me paralyzed for the moment.
I was feeling so drained out of energy that I couldn’t move even a single finger. The way that man was checking for signs of a wound assured me that he would not harm my baby and Jayden is safe.
I needed a few minutes to take a hold of myself. Holding myself still against the street, I inhaled deep breaths when I suddenly heard the cry of Jayden.
“MOMA…..”
It was his voice which filled my body with new vigor. The man’s back was still facing me, while Jayden’s tiny arm was trying to reach out to me.
He is not someone who gets scared of strangers. I am sure he is concerned about me. I have always shown him the stronger side of me so that he could be strong. I don’t myself break down in front of him.
Summoning all the energy, I stood up and walked to him. The man slightly turned around to face me and my world stopped at that very moment.
My eyes widened to the point of coming out of their sockets and my breath once again hitched in my throat.
How on earth could this be possible?
Why did it have to be him, of all people who saved my child?
He was equally shocked to see me and especially to know that Jayden was calling me his mother.
Jayden was in the hold of the same man about whom he has been asking me since he understood the meaning of father.
I have always tried my best to give him the love of both father and mother but when he started going to school, he came to know that, along with their mothers, children have fathers as well.
Since then, he has been asking for his father and every time, it has become difficult for me to answer him whenever he asks.
But the moment I was scared was right in front of me. None of them are aware of each other’s existence.
After I left his house with William, I was pregnant with his baby. Without telling him about this, I changed our city, determined to build a new life far from the past. Our father died within months of us shifting to a different city.
We lost everything.
But then we decided to focus on rebuilding our life. William got engaged with Mia and all of us are now staying in the same house.
Though William is providing with all the live that he could but still doesn’t stop Jayden from asking about his father. I am also working hard to save enough money for Jayden’s future so that I don’t need to ask help from anyone else for my son.
I believe I am capable enough of providing him with everything that he could ask for.
When Ansell took me with him, I was so focused on my career that I was not ready for the marriage let alone a child but now with Jayden in my life I couldn’t ask for anything else. I don’t regret having him. I am trying my best to be the best mother I could be, no matter the challenges I face.
“Momma, are you fine?”
Jayden’d baby voice caught my attention and my eyes flicked to him, breaking eye contact with Ansell, the man whom I prayed not to face ever again.
My hands trembled slightly as I reached out for my son and tried to take him away.
Dread filled me when Ansell’s hold on Jayden tightened and his body stiffened, as he was not ready to let him go. My gaze see my many questions in his eyes.
He wanted answers to all those questions, but I was not ready to even listen.
I once again tried to take my son away from him forcefully while keeping my mouth shut because I didn’t want to argue with him in front of Jayden. I don’t want want him to know about his father. I don’t want him to come under the influence of the monster holding him.
Ansell let go of Jayden only when he tried to reach out for me and he understood that if he held him tighter, then it would hurt Jayden. I left many kisses all over his face, my hand running through his hair as my eyes searched for any wound, while Ansell was watching my every move intently.
Once I was sure that he was fine, I hugged him tightly, and also hugged me back. I released a deep breath.
“Thank you, uncle for saving Jayden” he murmured against my ear, which I am sure didn’t go unheard by Ansell as well.
His eyes flicked to Jayden for a moment when he called him uncle.
When Ansell’s eyes came back to me, I placed my hand on Jayden’s back of the head. He placed his chin on my shoulder, his heart thumping against mine, which relieved me.
I know Jayden was asking m to thank Ansell for saving his life but instead of saying anything, I just turned around on my heels and started walking away from Ansell with the hope that I would never see him again and he would forget about this incident, about us, about Jayden.
I was almost running when I felt a soft hand brushing against my arm. This halted me for second and I tilted my head to find my baby waving his a small pout on his lips, while his chin was still resting on my shoulder.
Ansell was staring at Jayden and the look on his face was telling that something was cooking in his head. He was surely planning something.
I moved further away from the man who had unexpectedly entered our lives again, and my son extended a tiny gesture of goodwill that left question hanging in the air.
God, please, don’t let him come into my life again.