16 The Child Who Claims to Be His Wife

"What did you just say?"

Kai was sure he heard right. But even as he stood there and stared at her in perfect nonplus, she did not seem to care as she only ignored his question and continued looking around. She left Kai at the bed and waddled up to the door.

"Hey, where are you going?!" he bolted, quickly running after her as she tried to reach for the doorknob. "You can't go out! Stay here!"

"Ehhh? But Daddy, I need to-"

"Don't call me that!" Out of annoyance and panic, he ended up raising his voice. This made her flinch, he noticed, but he waved it off. "Look, I don't know who you are and where you came from, but what I do know is that you're not my daughter, so stop calling me that."

"T-That's not true. D-Daddy's a liar-"

"Where did you even get the idea that I'm your father? Are you mocking me or what?" he cut her off, pinching the bridge of his nose as he remained at the door and continued towering over her. "And where in the world is your mother? Why did she leave you here alone?"

The little girl appeared to be feeling pressured by then.

She could neither move nor speak, only looking up at him with tears slowly pooling in her eyelids. It was as if she was trying to keep him from knowing the truth by distracting him like this. He supposed it was indeed overwhelming, though, being questioned and scolded by a stranger and all.

It was not long before the young child began to shake uncontrollably.

"Wait, no, chill. Don't cry." Now, he's starting to regret forcing her to talk. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean-"

And then suddenly, Kai felt it.

He felt something around his feet. Something warm and watery.

Kai looked down, and there it was.

The girl had wet herself. "S-Sowwy."

So, that's why she wanted to go out.

As if things couldn't get any worse, Kai heard someone knock from behind the door, which was immediately followed by a voice. "It's time to get up, Young Master. You'll be late for work." It was the head butler, Kai recognized, and he must've thought he'd overslept since he'd usually be up at this time.

"I'm already a-awake. Don't worry," he responded rigidly through gritted teeth, too stunned to even attempt to move an inch as he stood on a pool of toddler's pee. "I-I'll get ready in a moment."

"Are you feeling fine, Young Master? You sound-"

"By the way, is Aria out there? Could you call her for me?"

"I have not seen her yet. I believe she's still in bed."

"Well, she's not here. Send someone to look for her at once."

There was a pause, and then came the reply, "Understood."

Kai could tell the reason behind that slightly delayed response. It was probably because the head butler wasn't expecting him to send someone to search for his wife. Aria's whereabouts would normally remain unknown to everyone even for weeks. Her sudden disappearances were happening so often that they all eventually thought nothing of it.

But this time, there was a crucial need to get her to come home as fast as possible.

"A-Aria's here," stuttered a tiny voice. "Why're you looking, Daddy?"

Kai looked down once more to find the little girl holding her legs together and trembling all over. "For the last time, I'm not your father," he hissed, already getting exhausted. "And also, Aria's your mother." Kai felt so disturbed by all this that he considered skipping work for today to deal with this mystery child.

"Huh? Aria's mom is Aria too? Isn't having two Aria's confusing?" the child asked innocently, head tilted to the side. "Should I not be Aria anymore then? I'll let Mommy be Aria if she wanna be Aria."

Indeed, Kai should really call in absent for today.