[A few years ago…]

"YOU'VE already heard what happened to Kiho, haven't you?" Lucina Morganna, the girl who introduced herself as Kiho's future fiancée, asked.

"Yes, and I've heard it from him when I visited him last night," Tilly said, then she sipped her matcha latte before she spoke again. She didn't know how but Lucina got her phone number. The other girl called her this morning and asked her to meet her in that coffee shop. Since Lucina said she had something important to say about Kiho, she decided to meet her. "There's a possibility that he might not be able to walk again, right?"

Kiho was involved in a bad car accident a two weeks ago.

He fell into a coma for about six days. But even when he woke up, he still remained in a bad condition. To be precise, he couldn't move his body from the waist down. Thus, he was still confined in the hospital.

Last night, when she didn't know the extent of Kiho's condition yet, she was determined to tell him that she was pregnant. But when she got to the hospital and saw how bad his condition was, she hesitated.

Plus, Kiho's attitude scared her. Because of the possibility that he might lose the use of his legs, he became grumpy and hard to deal with. It was understandable. To be honest, she wanted to comfort him. But since her life was as shitty as his, she didn't have the energy and the time to care about other people.

Even though she genuinely liked Kiho, she chose to prioritize herself this time.

"There's still a chance to fix Kiho's legs," Lucina said. "We're going to bring him to the US. There's a hospital there that's known to handle cases like Kiho's. My family will shoulder everything."

"Your family will?"

She sipped her black coffee before she responded. "Kiho's family is on the verge of getting bankrupt. They don't have the means to support his operation. And you must know how his parents treat him, don't you?"

She just nodded as a response.

Kiho once told her that his family favored his younger brother. But she didn't know that his relationship with his parents was that bad.

"In exchange of that, Kiho and I will get married."

"Ah," she said. She felt a sting in her heart but she ignored that. "That's why you introduced yourself as Kiho's future fiancée."

"Our engagement will be official after his surgery," Lucina said. "I'm sorry but I ran a background check on you."

"Why did you have to do that?"

"Because I heard that you're Kiho's girlfriend."

"We're not officially in a relationship."

Lucina raised a brow at that. "Then, are you saying that you won't get in our way?"

"I don't have the time and energy to fight another girl for a boy," she said seriously. "Lucina Morganna, you have to know that I'm pregnant with Kiho's child."

She looked surprised by that revelation. "That would be a problem," she finally said. "I'll give you an option–"

"No, I won't do abortion," she said firmly, then she clutched her stomach. "I intend to keep my babies."

Upon her check-up, she found out that she was two-month pregnant with twins.

Yes, twins.

"If you intend to keep them, then are you saying that you want to tell Kiho about them?" Lucina asked with a raised brow. "Do you want him to take responsibility?"

"Well, that was the plan," she admitted, "But after I saw him at the hospital, I know that he's not in the right condition to be a father. He's so angry and bitter because of what may happen to his legs. While I completely understand his feelings, I'm afraid that he might end up lashing out on me and our babies."

She nodded in agreement. "So, what do you want to do now?"

"I still need money," she said. "Even if Kiho doesn't want the kids, he still needs to support them financially."

"His family are on the verge of bankruptcy. I don't think they'll give you the money you need," Lucina reminded her. "But I can." She sipped her drink before she continued speaking. "I'll give you twenty five thousand dollars. Would that be enough?"

Well, considering how expensive childbirth was, it wasn't enough, of course.

Raising the children would be more expensive, too. But Lucina Morganna had no obligation to help her with that. In fact, no one was obliged except her.

"I will accept that," she said, swallowing her pride. "You want me to stay away from Kiho in return, don't you?"

"That's right," Lucina said, then her gaze turned sharp. "If you change your mind and try to get in my way, I will make sure that you will lose your babies."

"I understand," Tilly said with a firm nod. "I will disappear from Kiho's life now."

***

"TILLY, aren't you coming with us to the US?"

Tilly let out a deep sigh when she heard what Luna, her sister-in-law, asked from the other line. "No, I'm not," she said firmly. "Tell my brother to leave me alone, Luna."

She had two reasons why she didn't want to go with her brother (and legal guardian because their parents were long gone).

First, she already made a promise with Lucina Morganna that she would disappear from Kiho's life. Although the US was a huge place, she still didn't want to risk it.

Second and the heaviest reason why she didn't want to go with her brother was the fact that he wanted to marry her off.

What a jackass of a brother.

"I'm worried about you, Tilly," her sister-in-law said.

"I'll be fine," she said, then she gulped hard. "Me and my babies."

"What?" Luna asked, obviously shocked. "Your are pregnant?"

"Yes, I'm pregnant," Tilly declared, her one hand placed carefully on her stomach. "Please tell that to brother and that guy named Elis Ripperton that he wants me to marry."

***

"AND THAT'S what happened," Tilly ended her story. "I'm sorry for leaving you without a word, Kiho. And for accepting the money."

"No, you don't have to apologize," Kiho said while shaking his head. "You did the right thing then. I admit that during that time, I wasn't the kind of person that you would have needed in your life. You needed the money for our children. Please don't feel ashamed for that. The fact that you kept our babies is admirable."

She smiled, touched by his words.

Anyway…

They were able to talk about their past that way because Nia came back and brought the kids with her outside.

"I heard that you allowed the kids to call you their dad," she said to break the silence that ensued. "Won't you have a problem with your wife?"

"I don't have a wife."

"What?"

"I didn't marry Lucina," he said. "My brother Aku managed to save our company from bankruptcy. We were able to pay-off our debts to their family so the engagement was called-off. And while I was pretending that I couldn't walk yet, Lucina found another man who wants to marry her. She thought I wouldn't be able to give her a child due to my condition, so she decided to marry another man. Turns out she's desperate to be a mother."

"Oh," she said while blinking. "You pretended that you couldn't walk?"

"I was stalling because Aku was already fixing the problem with our company then," he explained. "I didn't want to marry Lucina at all cost."

She didn't want to say this but she actually felt relieved to hear that.

"Tilly, will it be okay if I spend time with our kids?" he asked while scratching his cheek as if he was shy. "I want to make it for the lost time."

"Sure," Tilly said, then she extended her hand to him. "It's nice to see you again, Kiho."

Kiho smiled, then he shook her hand. "It's very nice to see you again, Tilly."

***

"HI, EVERYONE," Tilly said to her viewers. As usual, she had the same set-up. But this time, Kiho was sitting beside her. "First of all, I'd like to say thank you for sending me get-well messages…"

Her smile froze when she read the comments.

Most of the viewers were asking who the "handsome and sexy Greek god" beside her was. Gosh, these people were so horny.

"Second of all, I'd like to let everyone know that the food from DelicaSEAty wasn't what caused my food poison. I got it from eating a spoiled sandwich," she explained. She was a bit distracted by the thirsty comments regarding Kiho. But even though she knew that the viewers' attention were on Kiho, she still decided to carry on. "I'll appreciate it if you stop sending hate messages on them. Their food is really good so please try it if you can." She turned to Kiho. "Right?"

Kiho nodded while looking at her straight in the eye. "DelicaSEAty will have a three-day promo. All of our dishes will be 50%."

She tried to ignore his gaze but being stared at by a handsome guy like him made her conscious. And she didn't want to admit this but all of a sudden, the intimate moments that they had when they were younger flooded her mind.

My dear cheeks, please don't turn red.

"Why is your face so red?" Kiho asked curiously, then he tilted his head at one side in a very cute manner. Gosh, the duality of this man was really awesome. He could turn from sexy to cute in just one move. "Is it hot?"

"Yes," she lied even though her place was well-ventilated. "Just a little."

What a lame excuse!

She couldn't tell if Kiho bought her excuse because of his pokerface.

But all of a sudden, he started to fan her face with his hands. The innocent look on his face told her that she really believed her lie.

Gosh, he could really be so naïve sometimes.

And that was cute.

"Cute," Kiho said while looking at her with sparkling eyes. Then, he laughed softly. "Tilly, your face just turned redder."

She wanted to deny that but she was tooo mesmerized by his smile.

Dammit, he looks so fine.

"Oh, Dad is here."

"Daaad!"

Her thoughts were cut-off when all of a sudden, Winter and Julian came running to Kiho.

She was pleased when she saw Kiho's face lit up when he saw the kids. It seemed like he genuinely liked their children and she was relieved to know that. After all, she didn't want to force him to accept Winter and Julian if he didn't want to be a father yet.

He has changed. I'm glad that Kiho met our children during this time. If we forced our relationship to work back then, maybe we would have been bad parents to our twins.

She smiled when Kiho put Winter and Julian on his lap. And her smile grew bigger when she saw how their children's faces lit up while looking up at their father. Her boys were mature enough to not look for their dad after she explained the situation to them.

But of course, they still longed for their father.

She almost cried because of happiness, but she couldn't shake off the feeling that she was forgetting something.

And that was when she remembered that she was doing a live broadcast!

She gasped and turned to the screen to read the comments.

Shit.

The viewers lost their shit when they realized that Kiho was the father of her children. Well, the viewers saw her twins once. And the fact that the twins looked like Kiho was already a dead giveaway.

"Mom?"

"Mom, are you okay?"

"Tilly, you suddenly went pale."

"I'm not sure," Tilly said, then she turned to the boys. Kiho, Winter, and Julian were looking at her with a worried look on their face. "I think we just became internet famous."

And that was the beginning of the hit Y*utube channel called the Nystrom Family Eats.

[END OF PROLOGUE]

[Yes, the one-shot Valentine Special has become a full novella in my head so the first two chapters ended up as "prologue." My weakness as a writer is I can't write short stories. They always end up as a full novel in my head. Sorry! Anyway, I hope to share the full story soon, maybe once the main series ends.]

***

Note: *grovels, forehead hits the ground* I am terribly sorry for the sudden break. I suddenly "disappeared" because of the following reasons:

1. I had to change my eyeglasses because my eye prescription changed. My eyesight has gotten worse that the ophthalmologist advised me to get a lasik eye surgery. Scary. So please take care of your eyes and don't end up like me.

2. I received a job offer that I wasn't able to refuse. So my workload has been full once again. But since this is only a side job, it's temporary. It will be done by the end of the month.

3. I got sick. But it's just a cold. I still have runny nose (eww) but I think I'm getting better. My immune system sucks these days.

Anyway, thank you for waiting. I will post updates again and I will join the Win-Win event on March. That means daily update again and hopefully, I get to finish the event next month. Since the last arc will now begin, I think the updates on March will be action-packed. Stay tuned~

Ah, about my other story {Royal Secret: I'm a Princess!), I was only able to keep posting an update for it for the last few days because I have a stockpile (not anymore tho, the last one was posted last night). I had a stockpile because I was supposed to add a tier to my privilege but my dumbass forgot to edit the priv.

I'll be writing an update for both stories now.

Thank you.

Oh, another thing. I don't know where to announce stuff like this since I rarely use social media and discord (I also don't know how to use discord that much, except for reading announcements from editors and reading private messages). >.

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PS: You may send gifts if you can. Thank you~

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[NOTE: Please ADD my story in your LIBRARY so you can be notified when I post an update. Thank you! :>]