Mom's Possessed - Chapter 47

This is how Luke ended up falling asleep on Bonita’s bed.

[This is the timeline separator]

“…Gasp!”

In the depths of dawn.

Bonita awoke startled from a nightmare. As she looked around panting, she soon muttered dejectedly.

“…It was a dream.”

However, it was a nightmare she never wanted to have again.

Bonita curled up like a pillbug, clutching her blanket with her small body.

It was a dream of becoming completely alone. There was no newly met mother, nor the ducal residence she had somehow gotten used to.

That’s when she saw Aria’s back.

Desperately chasing after her, Aria turned with a pretty smile and stroked Bonita’s head.

“Now, wait here. I’ll be back after ten nights.”

Those blue eyes saying this were as cold as glass beads.

Bonita instinctively realized that she was once again seeing someone else through her.

That this Aria was not ‘mom’ but ‘mother’.

And that her promise to return after ten nights was a blatant lie.

She wanted to shout not to abandon her.

But no matter how much Bonita’s short legs ran, she couldn’t catch up to Aria.

Even when she opened her mouth, no voice came out.

Except for the retreating Aria, there was nothing left around.

The nightmare of struggling in loneliness was too realistic and horrifying. Her heart was pounding.

To an unbearable degree.

Bonita decided to sneak out of the bedroom again. The first time was difficult, but the second time was much quicker to make up her mind.

It was then, as Bonita was tiptoeing quietly.

“Bonita?”

A low voice was heard.

It was Luke returning to his room from his office.

“Ah…”

Bonita let out a small sigh.

She thought she might get scolded if he found out she had sneaked out from under the covers.

As she was clenching and unclenching her hand, damp with cold sweat, preparing an excuse, the bear-like huge duke bent his knee.

“Can’t sleep?”

It was a kind question.

There was no sign of anger at all.

Bonita, who had been watching Luke’s expression, relaxed a little and mumbled softly.

“Well… I had a bad dream. So, I was going to find Aria…”

At the word ‘Aria’, Luke’s lips tightened imperceptibly.

However, the dark hallway effectively hid this small change in expression.

Luke consoled the child.

“Miss Hilton is probably sound asleep now, so it’s best not to wake her. When you’re sick, you need to sleep well to recover quickly.”

Bonita said in a disappointed tone.

“…I guess you’re right?”

Just during the day, Aria, who was talking to her, kept coughing.

It would be wrong to wake up such a sick mom who had just fallen asleep, just because of a nightmare.

‘But still…’

I want to sleep together.

In Bonita’s troubled mind, two Bonitas appeared with a ‘pop!’

One whispered like this.

“It’s okay. I’m only seven years old after all, right? So it’s fine to be a little clingy with mom. Mom said she loves me.”

Then the other one objected.

“No! Only very selfish and naughty children do such things! You shouldn’t wake up a sick mom!”

Bonita held her head and groaned. Seeing his daughter like this, Luke’s expression became troubled.

“Bonita. Are you scared to sleep alone?”

“Actually, I used to sleep well alone.”

Bonita blushed at the direct question.

“The house where I used to live was small, but here it’s too spacious, so…”

Bonita, who was about to continue, bowed her head shyly.

“When I lie alone in the room, it feels a bit, um, scary.”

The house where Bonita used to live was small.

Although there were separate rooms, they were barely big enough to fit a single bed. The soundproofing wasn’t good either, so on nights when she couldn’t sleep, she could clearly hear Aria tossing and turning or sleep-talking next door.

But the duke’s residence was excessively spacious.

Just the room Bonita was using now was as big as the entire house she used to live in. Lying alone in such a large room with the lights off made her heart pound, feeling like someone might be hiding somewhere in the room, ready to jump out.

Meanwhile, Luke, who heard Bonita’s honest confession, blinked his large eyes.

Scared to sleep alone, huh.

It was something that could certainly happen to a young child. In fact, even Elodie often said things like this to him.

“Isn’t the room design too gloomy? Sometimes when I’m lying alone without you, Luke, I get scared thinking there might be an assassin or something. Haha!”

Of course, there were no assassins brave enough to sneak into the ducal couple’s bedroom, but still, being scared is being scared, isn’t it?

Luke looked at Bonita while still kneeling. His gaze, glowing red even in the darkness, observed Bonita.

‘She’s broken out in a cold sweat.’

She must have been really scared.

Luke unconsciously reached out and wiped away the cold sweat on her forehead.

Then he realized belatedly.

“Ah, Bonita… I’m sorry for touching you without your permission.”

“It’s okay.”

Bonita, who unnecessarily stroked her forehead where Luke’s hand had touched, said.

“It was warm.”

This adult man, who looked like the dead of winter just by appearance, had a higher body temperature than expected.

It felt good when his large, warm hand touched her forehead. Maybe it was because she knew that the same affection as Aria’s was in that touch.

A faint smile appeared on Bonita’s lips. Seeing that expression, Luke’s eyes widened.

He stayed still for a moment, then soon began very carefully and timidly.

“Bonita. Um…”

“Yes?”

“Well…”

Afraid of being rejected, he hesitated for a while before seriously suggesting.

“…Would you like daddy to sleep with you?”

“What? With you, Duke?”

Usually, he would have been frustrated by the title ‘Duke’, but he was too nervous to care about such trivial matters.

Luke’s bear-like fingers fidgeted. He was so stiff that he was looking at some ambiguous point between Bonita and empty space.

“I’m not… forcing you or anything. Miss Hilton is sick anyway, and you’re scared to sleep alone, and I’m your father… so…”

It was quite a comical sight to see a man over 2 meters tall fumbling in front of a child half his height.

If Aria had seen this, she would have made it a subject of teasing in her heart for a long time.

However, the parties involved were very serious.

Bonita thought, blinking her large, innocent pink eyes.

‘The Duke is not good at speaking either.’

Like grandmother, the people in this house all showed everything through their actions, but couldn’t express what they wanted in words.

But she didn’t dislike it.

Bonita reached out first.

“!”

Luke trembled like a puppy stepping on snow for the first time at the child’s small finger on his index finger.

Bonita smiled broadly at the Duke’s reaction.

“Okay. Please put me to sleep.”

[This is the timeline separator]

…That’s how it happened.

But Aria, who didn’t know this fact, couldn’t help but be flustered.

As she was worrying about what to do and was about to open the door and go out again, Luke’s eyelids fluttered, sensing her presence.

His long and delicate eyelashes, unlike his appearance, slowly lifted. His half-open red eyes gazed into space, still not fully awake.

‘…Aria Hilton?’

He rubbed his eyes after seeing someone who couldn’t possibly be here. It seems he was either having a hallucination or wasn’t fully awake.

‘What an unpleasant dream.’

It had been a very long time since someone other than Elodie appeared in his dreams.

And of all people, it wasn’t the lovely Bonita, but that annoying woman.

He blinked his eyes again and turned his body. His large hand wrapped around Bonita’s flat stomach and patted it a couple of times.

A sense of calm came over him.

‘Cute.’

Bonita, sleeping soundly, was so small, cute, and lovely.

How could she resemble Elodie so perfectly from head to toe?

The fact that she was his own flesh and blood, resembling the woman he loved, was indescribably touching.

‘Yes. This isn’t a bad dream after all.’

No, since Bonita appeared, it should be called a good dream.

His gaze moved beyond Bonita. Unlike one side filled with his body, the other side of the bed was empty.

A thought like a dagger suddenly struck his peaceful heart.

“Oh my, Luke. Are you still sleepy? You’re such a sleepyhead.”

His wife, sitting opposite him facing Bonita, smiling mischievously like a child as always, patting his cheek.

Then he would quickly wake up and kiss his wife who had played the prank. Then Elodie would burst into lovely laughter again, and soon hug Bonita even tighter.

Then he would embrace Elodie like that, and they would enjoy a peaceful late morning sleep.

After imagining it, his eyes stung.

If Elodie were there.

How nice would that have been.

Imagining a future where Elodie hadn’t died and Bonita could have grown up as their daughter from the beginning made his heart ache. Luke’s eyes, having become emotional, grew moist.

Just then, someone spoke to him in an awkward tone.

“Um, Duke?”

Luke’s eyebrows twitched at the familiar voice.

“What brings you to this room…?”

“…Is that you.”

Hearing those words, Luke realized that the Aria he had just seen was not a hallucination but real.

He quietly got annoyed.

“Never mind why I’m here. Why have you crawled back in here instead of resting in your room?”

“I’m all better now.”

Aria, who thrust her face right in front of Luke, said.

“I’ve recovered, so I was planning to surprise Bonita a bit by sneaking into the blanket while she was sleeping. And sleep in late too.”

“Ha, you’re not a child anymore.”

Luke let out a mocking laugh.

“So, Duke.”

But Aria, undeterred, asked.

“Can I sleep there with you too?”

Luke’s expression soured.