8 Lending Mum!

Looking at his dejected little expression as his pretty eyes began to water and his lower lip puckered while trembling, Isabel felt her heart sting as she suddenly thought of her own mother.

Isabel was born and raised in a countryside very far from Metropolis City. Her father was an ordinary salaryman from a common home while her mother was the second daughter of a wealthy home, but because she insisted on marrying Isabel's father against her family's wishes, they cut ties.

When it came time for Isabel to attend high school, because she wanted to pursue the arts and her parents wanted to give her the best environment possible, they sent her to the city and to make sure she was well taken care of, Isabel's mother had gotten on her knees to beg her grandmother, Isabel's great-grandmother to shelter Isabel without the rest of the family knowing, to which the old woman agreed. She even went as far as to help contribute to Isabel's college fund after getting to know and coming to love her smart, talented and extremely beautiful great-granddaughter.

But in the end, Isabel had thrown that all away; the love, the care, the concern the expectations for her future, all the hours her father had worked, commuting to the city early and coming home late at night, sometimes not coming home for days to be able to save for her tuition. She threw those all away because she fell in love with Brycen who never held any affection for her.

Once she gave him her tuition money to start his company, Isabel didn't have the courage to go back and face her family so never one day did she return home and even till her last breath in the previous life, she never went back or even contacted them.

She didn't know how her parents were, if her great-grandmother's illness ever got better or even about her own little brother, she'd never even seen him.

In her second year of high school, Isabel's mother had gotten pregnant, only adding to the family's financial burden so Isabel started living full time in Metropolis in the apartment her great-grandmother rented for her, not returning home during breaks like she used to before, that was also the year she had met and fallen in love with Brycen.

Her parents probably didn't even know they had grandchildren.

When she was just reborn, all Isabel had cared about was breaking away from Brycen, protecting her children and fulfilling her dream. Until now, she never really realized exactly how much there still was that she needed to make up for. Suddenly, she was feeling a little home sick.

But, now was not the time. However, just as she was about to scold Kelvin and make him apologize, she was surprised to see her son who usually avoided contact with everyone except herself, Davina, Kim and his sister, suddenly reach out his hand to push away the bang's hanging down in the boy's face.

"Ke- Kelvin--"

"Looks like mum."

"Huh?" Isabel was shocked. "What looks like me?"

"Nose and mouth."

"It does a little." Davina commented while coming to crouch next to them. "Hey Izzy. Are you sure you didn't give birth to triplets and one of them got stolen? This kid really looks like you... now that I take a closer look."

"Hey don't joke about that... really?"

Isabel couldn't hold her curiosity and bent her neck to look, but she really couldn't see the resemblance that they were talking about, only feeling that this little boy was really too adorable when he flushed red up to his ears while shrinking into her bosom to get away from how close her face was to his.

"Is everything alright?"

The four of them looked up to find the staff that had initially been leading them to the seating area standing in the doorway with an anxious look upon her face. These were the manager's guests, if anything happened to them, she could very well kiss her job goodbye.

"We're fine' everything and everyone are just fine."

Isabel smiled and couldn't help but kiss the boy's forehead then she thought of something and looked over at Kelvin who was still looking at the other boy, but now with a less hostile gaze.

"Does it bother you?"

She was expecting him not to answer or maybe even say 'yes, he didn't like it', but Kelvin shook his head.

"It's fine. He doesn't have a mum of his own, so it's okay." Then suddenly his cheeks became tinged with red and he lowered his head while mumbling: "My mum is the best after all, who wouldn't want her as a mum? It's okay if I lend you to him for today... only for today." Again, Kelvin lifted his head and glared at the boy. "She's still my mum, not yours."

Seeing his fierce possessiveness over her but still finding the heart to share her affection with others, Isabel felt her heart become sweet, as if it had been drizzled with honey and on an impulse she grabbed both boys and hugged them fiercely while peppering their faces with kisses. The cuteness level was too much.

When she finally recalled that the other boy was shy and was likely to feel crushed by such heavy intimacy, Isabel stopped and pulled away but suddenly froze when she heard a sweet giggle come from her right and she stared at the smile that had appeared on the boy's face while he leant closer to her, though his overall expression was still shy.

"So meng!" Even Davina couldn't help but squeal.

"Mommy, where are you?!"

Suddenly, Phoenix who had made it all the way to the seating area before realizing that her mother was missing rushed outside with Kim in tow, her dark eyes wild with fear and when she spotted Isabel sitting on the ground while hugging Kelvin in one arm and a strange boy she had never seen before was sitting in her privileged spot, she puffed her cheeks and huffed.

"Who are you? That's my mum, get away!"

She moved forward with determined steps to reclaim her spot but Kelvin suddenly stood up and held her shoulder, giving her a deep look that made Phoenix pout. "What?"

They were twins, they had their own ways of communicating. She knew that her brother's look meant that she was being impulsive and was likely to do something that would get in her trouble so she should calm down.

"Let's lend him mom for the day."

"What? Why? No!" Phoenix widened her eyes and looked at her brother like he had grown an extra head.

After not seeing mommy for so long, mommy was finally free to spend time with them and he wanted to let her lend their mom to someone else? Was he crazy?!

Phoenix puffed up her cheeks again and was about to throw a tantrum when Kelvin spoke up.

"He doesn't have a mom."

It was as if that was the most earth shattering and unbelievable thing Phoenix had ever heard. Her expression became quite comically aghast and her little face was pale. She looked at the boy still sitting in her spot and asked; "No mum? Why doesn't he have a mum?"

"She died." Kelvin said straightforward and calmly like reporting the weather. He put one hand in his pocket while using the other to brush the dust non-existent dust off his pants, only adding to his casual manner but the news seemed to hit Phoenix hard as her eyes instantly teared up.

"D- died? Mum died?"

She turned to look at Isabel and the look in her dark eyes was so heartbroken, panic stricken and full of fright that it made Isabel's heart ache and she once again thought about how her children really felt about her, how they must have felt during those years she chased Brycen and ignored them in the previous life and how they felt when she died. It almost brought her to tears.

Although her eyes teared up, Phoenix didn't cry and with small, heavy steps, she walked over to the boy and squatted down in front of him, looking him straight in the eyes for a while without saying a word.

Being stared like that would make anyone feel weird and the little boy began to squirm uncomfortably. Phoenix then reached out her hand to pat his head.

"It's okay, I'll lend my mum to you so... so don't be sad, okay?"

Isabel looked at that scene that was very similar to what Kelvin had just done and she didn't know if to feel happy that her children were so kind and caring or if she should be sad that they so easily lent her away to someone else.

"Ah!" Phoenix made a sound of wonder when she saw the boy smile shyly as he nodded his head then she grinned and looked up at Isabel. "Mama, he smiles just like you."

"Hey, what's your name?" It was only then that Isabel remembered that the boy still hadn't told them his name.

Phoenix held the boy's hands in hers and inched closer. "My name is Phoenix and that's my brother Kelvin."

Kelvin nodded when the boy looked up at him.

Shrinking back from Phoenix's enthusiasm, he replied softly; "I- My name is Zac."

"It's nice to meet you Zac!" Phoenix gave a bright smile then inched even closer, causing the boy's eyes to go wide as he shrunk against Isabel even more.

Isabel covered her mouth to hide her smile, finding the scene to be highly amusing, but Phoenix next words almost made her choke.

"Hey Zac, do you want to be my brother?"