He Came Knocking with a Baby in Tow Chapter 08

He Came Knocking with a Baby in Tow Chapter 08

New Year’s Eve, I’d just finished a call with my 

parents. 

Echo’s video call came in right after. 

He was happily showing me the noodles he’d 

cooked. 

Right after we hung up, the doorbell rang. 

I got up and looked through the peephole. I 

thought it was Anna and Maria, but it was Lucas. 

Confused, I opened the door, and he just walked 

right in. 

As soon as the door opened, I saw his head 

hanging, his eyes red. 

“Eva, Echo’s gone missing.” 

I was about to say he wasn’t, when his big body 

collapsed. 

I caught him fast and ended up with an armful of 

him. 

The smell of alcohol hit me. I frowned in disgust 

and patted his back. 

“Get off.” 

But he held me tight and wouldn’t let go. 

Echo heard the noise and quickly ran out in his fluffy slippers. 

Lucas, six foot two, even though he looked thin, worked out all the time. He was heavy. 

It took every ounce of strength we had just to get him onto the couch. 

“Mommy’s gonna make you some hangover soup. You watch him, okay?” 

Echo nodded and sat quietly next to Lucas. 

He looked at Lucas sleeping like a log and 

unhappily poked his stomach. 

“Mommy’s nice clean house–you made it all 

smelly.” 

Lucas heard that, couldn’t help but half open his 

eyes and look at Echo, biting his lip angrily. 

Echo saw that, his eyes lit up, and he looked back 

at the kitchen. 

He quietly leaned over to Lucas’s ear and 

whispered: 

“Dad, I know you’re faking drunk.” 

Lucas turned his head, furrowed his brow, and 

ignored him. 

Echo climbed on top of him and turned his head 

back. 

“If you buy me that aircraft carrier Lego set, I won’t 

tell Mommy.” 

Lucas turned his head again and grunted out a 

“Mm.” 

That night, Echo was being so helpful. 

Feeding Lucas water, washing his face. 

Except when he was feeding water, he 

accidentally got Lucas’s shirt wet. 

And when he was washing his face, he hit his 

dad’s nose. 

Lucas frowned and grunted in pain. 

After Echo went to sleep, I looked at Lucas lying 

on the couch, shook my head helplessly, and 

kicked his foot. 

“Okay, stop faking.” 

He didn’t move, dead set on faking drunk to the 

end. 

I sat down next to him and said quietly: “Lucas, the 

twenty–year–old Eva might have fallen for this, but 

I’m not that little girl anymore.” 

“So if you keep faking, I’m gonna throw you out.” 

Lucas lifted his hand and pinched his temple. 

He laughed softly: “Yeah. We can never go back.” 

I leaned back against the couch and sighed. 

“I… I used to be brave, wasn’t I?” 

The old me had given Lucas chances, had 

believed in him. 

But I lost that bet. 

He laughed at himself: “Yeah, turns out I was the 

coward. Sophia ran away from her engagement 

and dared to go against her parents to run off and 

find her own freedom.” 

“You dared to turn down the Harringtons‘ threats, 

give up everything, and bet that I’d choose you.” 

“But I didn’t dare choose you back then.” 

“Now that I think about it, I was such an asshole.” 

I laughed: “Yeah, you were.” 

“But, I thank you for it. If it wasn’t for you, I don’t 

think I would have had the courage to keep going 

back then.” 

“And I wouldn’t have what I have now.” 

“But, Lucas, I’ve already hit that wall once, and it 

hurt. I don’t have many good qualities, but I 

remember when I get burned. And you were the 

one who taught me that.” 

When I first got with Lucas, no one in the industry 

knew me. 

The only thing anyone remembered about me was that girl who did shows and had a little spark. 

I remember after I terminated my contract, the first casting I went to, I met this old pervert who said he wanted to interview me alone and handed 

me a room key. 

I was young back then, full of fire, and thought I could do it on my own, so I went, excited. 

But it turned out he’d drugged my drink. If it wasn’t for Lucas, I don’t know what would have happened 

to me. 

He took me to the hospital, squeezed my face, so 

mad, black eyes, and asked me: “Learned your 

lesson?” 

“Better to assume everyone’s a bad guy than a 

good guy, right? If it hurts, you remember it. 

Otherwise the pain was for nothing, got it?” 

Thinking about that, 

he bowed his head, his throat tight: “Good that you 

remember the pain… good.”