I Taught My Son to Call His Father “Uncle Ethan” Chapter 04
Chapter 4 His Last Chance
At midnight, after finally packing everything, I lay down on the bed, drained.
My phone lit up.
It was a message from Ethan.
อ
“Teddy loved the building set. I spent the whole night putting it together with him. Serena asked me to thank you.”
At midnight, my husband was still passing along another woman’s thanks to me.
The corner of my mouth twitched.
I nearly laughed from sheer disbelief.
But I no longer had the energy to be angry.
The ending would be the same either way.
I opened the chat and replied without much thought.
“No need. I didn’t give it to her. And that building set was our son’s favorite birthday gift. He’d been waiting for you to make time and build it with him.”
After sending that, I powered off my phone and closed my eyes.
I did not care what Ethan’s face looked like when he read it.
At eight the next morning, Ethan came home unusually early.
He had barely stepped inside and taken off his coat when he stopped in front of the neatly lined-up suitcases in the living room.
“Do you really need this much luggage for a trip?”
He did not even put down his coat before hurrying into the bedroom, panic already showing in his voice.
I was helping our son get dressed and did not turn around.
“It’s far.”
At that, Ethan immediately looked at our son.
Only after Leo nodded did Ethan’s expression loosen.
He set his coat aside, then pulled out three tickets to Dreamland Studios.
“Haven’t you been upset because I never took him there? I bought tickets for today. The three of us can go together.”
He laid the tickets in front of us almost like he was presenting a prize, his face full of indulgent warmth.
For a moment, I wondered if I had heard him wrong.
Nearly a month had passed since that incident.
And only now, today, he remembered?
Then I thought of the long string of unread messages on my phone that morning, and I suddenly understood.
So this was his way of making it up to us.
I said nothing and kept buttoning our son’s clothes.
But Leo was so excited his eyes kept flicking toward me, bright and eager.
“Mom, I want to go!”
I was just about to smile when Ethan began speaking again, his words suddenly less steady.
“But if you two want to go, there’s one condition. Serena found out we were supposed to take the family portrait today, and she’s worried Teddy might get upset if he hears about it, so… the portrait… let’s do it another time.”
Guilt was written all over his face as he said it.
Leo went still.
The light in his eyes faded bit by bit, so clearly that it hurt to watch.
“Oh. I see.”
He lowered his head slowly and fell silent, his eyes turning red.
Ethan did not notice.
He kept talking.
“It’s just this one little thing Serena asked for. I thought about it, and it shouldn’t matter that much. We’re only skipping it this time. There’ll always be another chance. Right, Leo?”
He had no idea that our son and I were leaving tomorrow.
This had been his final chance.
But neither my son nor I said anything.
We only nodded quietly.
“Fine.”
“Okay.
Ethan let out an obvious breath of relief, and a smile spread across his face as if some huge burden had
finally been lifted.
“Til go tell Serena now. Three this afternoon, Dreamland Studios. See you there.
Then he stood and headed for the door.
Just before he reached it, he turned back.
“Wife. Son. You two are so good to me.”
Neither of us answered.
After he left, Leo climbed off the bed and pulled the backpack he had prepared long ago out of the closet.
“Mom, I don’t want to see Uncle Ethan anymore. Can we leave early?”
