I had a bad feeling

After pondering for a while, feeling my mind in a whirl, I turned off the lights, and the bedroom quieted down. I couldn't sleep, my ears perked up, listening to every sound in the room. Soon, I faintly heard voices coming from next door.

For some reason, even the slightest noise was making me anxious. I quickly got out of bed barefoot and pressed my ear against the door.

But all I heard were Betty and Michael talking, with occasional laughter. It seemed Betty was probably having a heart-to-heart with Michael, maybe fulfilling the promise from last night, telling him about how she met me, her husband.

I don't know when I fell asleep, but the next morning, the alarm woke me up, and I could barely get out of bed, having slept too late. After a tasteless breakfast, I went to work with dark circles under my eyes, groggy.

Finally, in the afternoon, I got home, swapped out the memory card in the camera, and went back to the office to check the footage.

I thought there might be new revelations tonight, but before they went to sleep, they just talked about how Betty and I met and some fun stories from before Michael came to our house. Betty's storytelling was captivating, and Michael was engrossed.

I don't know if it was just my imagination or because I hadn't slept well, but when Betty and Michael talked about the sweet old days between her and me, I thought I saw a hint of envy and jealousy in Michael's eyes.

I shook my head, chalking it up to my overactive imagination after these stressful couple of days.

After chatting for a while, Betty told Michael to hit the hay first. It was probably pretty late when she entered his room, and the kid was genuinely beat—he actually dozed off. Not long after, Betty also drifted off to sleep.

They both slept soundly until dawn, and nothing else happened. Whether intentionally or not, Michael always ended up sleeping with his face nestled against Betty's side, and she didn't seem to mind at all. Maybe in her heart, she truly saw him as her child.

Back at home, I was thrust back into the awkward and uncomfortable dining atmosphere. Honestly, ever since Michael arrived, I felt like Betty's care and love for me had diminished. But that's normal, I guess. Most of her attention and affection were now focused on her new son, Michael. I just had to slowly get used to it. After all, I was the one who brought this trouble upon myself.

When it came time to sleep, I was so exhausted from the stress of the past few days that I turned my back to Betty and went to bed without even saying goodnight. Although I closed my eyes, I couldn't fall asleep. I kept waiting for Betty to sneak out and meet her 'little wolf pup' again.

But I waited and waited, and Betty didn't make any other moves. I eventually drifted off into a confused sleep.

I don't know how much time had passed, but it was that early morning hour again. The biological clock I'd developed over the past few days woke me up once more. I groggily opened my eyes, glanced at the clock on the wall, and prepared to go back to sleep. But suddenly, something felt off.

Why was there a hand on my waist?

I turned around and found Betty still in my bed, her arm around my waist, her face buried in my back, sleeping like a kitten.

What was going on?

Betty hadn't gone to accompany Michael tonight. Maybe she stayed up too late and accidentally fell asleep in bed, missing her usual visit to Michael's room. And tonight, without Betty's company, Michael didn't have any nightmares or wake up screaming.

I decided not to think about it anymore. With Betty still in my bed, I felt a lot more comfortable and secure. I turned to face her and gently kissed her, then we cuddled up together to sleep.

The next morning, when I woke up, Betty was already making breakfast. Before Michael got up, I asked her in the kitchen why she hadn't gone to accompany Michael last night.

Betty explained that she had already talked to Michael during some free time at school yesterday, telling him to try sleeping alone. She couldn't accompany him forever, so she didn't go last night.

Michael didn't seem to have any issues, so it looked like she wouldn't need to accompany him anymore and could focus on being with me.

Hearing this, I felt like I could finally see a glimmer of hope for our future. My heart lightened considerably.

But just after breakfast, as I arrived at work, I received a task to go on a business trip tomorrow, and it would last at least a week. Normally, business trips were routine for me, but this time it felt different.

I couldn't pinpoint why, but I had some resistance and even fear about this upcoming trip.

I had a bad feeling, as if something might happen during this trip, or that I might lose something...