24

Ava sighed.

She couldn't possibly drag it on any longer.

The time has come.

The moment she had dreaded for a very long time.

She had expected the triplets to ask about their father at some point. But they never did so far. And she always wondered why they never thought about their father.

And it did make her feel guilty at times.

She shouldn't, but she did.

Does that make her a fool?

Damn yes!!

But then she had always been a fool where Zayed Ahmed is concerned.

She had convinced herself over the past six years that she has gotten over him. That she had moved on.

Easy to say when he is nowhere near.

But who was she kidding?

She never stopped loving the man!

And that makes her all the more idiotic!

She looked up to see the kids still glaring at a frustrated Zayed.

"Sweeties! This is Zayed," she said gently, looking at the kids.


"So??" Zian asked and Ava huffed in exasperation.

"I have something important to tell you about Zayed." Ava said softly.

Ava led them all to the couch in the living room and they all settled there.

The kids kept squirming and fidgeting as though it could help them escape the sudden tension in the room.

Ava set her hand on Zahir's knees to stop him from kicking his feet against the sofa frame.

"What?" He slid down so his back was flat against the seat cushions and he was staring up at the coffered ceiling.

Ava could tell that she was losing her son and spoke quickly.

"I wanted to wait until you were old enough to understand."

As if paying no attention to her words, Zahir let his body go limp and slid onto the floor.

"Did you see that, Momma?"

"Yes. I did. Now please come sit on the sofa and listen to what I am telling you." She waited until Zahir had plopped back into his original seat before looking at Zian who looked deep in thinking.

"Zian?" She called out to get her son's attention.

"Momma?? Do you know dinosaurs are ovnivires. They eat both plants and animals."

"Omnivores," she corrected automatically.

"Now all three of you, listen here," she called out in an exasperated tone, as she can feel they are stalling the inevitable.

"Zayed is your father," she said, taking in a deep breath.

"No" the three of them yelled together.

"We don't have a father," Zian said loudly, making her frown.

Why are they dead set against having a father?

"Of course you do. And he is Zayed." Ava said


Zahir got to his knees and leaned close to whisper in her ear. "But I don't like him."

"Of course you do." Ava aimed a glance at Zayed to see how he was reacting.

As if taking this as an invitation, he hunkered down beside his kids and offered an engaging smile. Ava's insides melted at his earnest warmth, but the kids weren't swayed.

"I don't like him." Zian said more loudly in case their father didn't hear Zahir saying that earlier.

"That’s mean, Zian. He is your father." Ava chided him softly.

"He's not our father.We don't know him." Zahir said

"I'd like to change that," Zayed said.

"I will be staying with you all from now. And we will all get to know each other."

"We don't want you to stay here. This is our home. Go to your home. Please momma. Tell him to leave." Zian said, pleading with his momma to ask the man to leave.

Ava noticed Zada being silent all the while, but she could see something was going on in her head.

"Zada, baby? Why don't you say a hai to your daddy?" Ava asked and Zada looked up at Zayed.

"Who is your favourite Disney princess?" She asked and Zayed beamed at his daughter who was giving him an olive branch compared to her brothers.

He pretended like thinking for a few seconds and said "Cinderella."

Ava saw the triumphant smile on her daughter's face and sighed.

Of course no one would say Snow white. Everyone would go for the common one Cinderella and her daughter knew that too well and had set her father up.

"See momma? He is not my daddy! If he was, he would have said Snow White, right?" Zada asked, beaming at her brothers and they grinned back at her.

Like seriously?


She looked up at Zayed and saw him looking bewildered at his kids.

Welcome to hell Zayed Ahmed al Zidra.

"It's a lot for them to absorb all at once. Why don't I take them up to bed? We can talk more tomorrow." Ava said.

Zayed reached out to touch his kids, looking unsurprised but bleak when the kids flinched and pressed themselves against their mother.

Ava led the kids to their room for their afternoon nap.

Zayed stood bleakly in the living room wondering how he was going to win over his kids and Aveline.

He stood outside their room without them noticing and saw Aveline trying to reason with them

"Why don't you like your father?" He heard Aveline asking them and they three looked at each other and bent their heads down without answering.

"Zahir? Zian? Zada? Tell me. What's wrong? Why were you mean to your daddy? Is that what momma taught you?" She asked again.

"He hurt you momma!" Zahir said.

"No baby. He didn't. We were just talking." Aveline said.

"Not now. He used to hurt you right?" Zada said and Zayed saw the look of horror on Aveline's face.

"What? No! What are you saying?" Aveline asked bewildered.

"Don't lie momma!! I heard you talking to Aunt Kate. You were crying." Zian said.

Aunt Kate? Who is Kate, Zayed wondered.

"I wanted to know about daddy, because every kid in our play group had daddys. But Zian told us not to ask momma about daddy because that would upset momma." Zada said and Ava's eyes filled with tears.

Her five year old naughty devils are too mature for their age.

"There is nothing like that okay. He is not a bad man. So don't be mean to him anymore," Ava said and they all nodded reluctantly.

Ava tucked them in bed and gave them all a kiss and walked out and stopped on her tracks seeing a very pale Zayed standing outside the room.

Did he hear everything?? She wondered

"Zayed." she called

"I. I'm going out. I will be back at night," he said and walked out quickly.

He did hear everything!!