The moment Ariana saw the landline phone in Melon’s hand, her heart skipped a beat. Realization

washed over her. Her son had discovered something amiss, leaving her momentarily at a loss for

words.

As she had feared, Melon broke into tears upon seeing her.

“Mommy, you lied to me. You gave me a fake number,” he accused.

Ariana found herself unable to speak. She opened her mouth, but her throat felt parched and

constricted. An unspoken bitterness lingered there.

The number wasn’t fake; it had simply been disconnected.

And the man who once owned that number, Melon’s father, had indeed been real.

Tears streaming down his face, Melon gasped for breath, looking utterly heartbroken.

A N G E L A ‘s L I B R A R Y

From the moment the call failed to connect, he’d sensed that something was wrong. Choking back

sobs, he questioned Ariana, “Does Daddy not want me? Did you lie to protect me from the truth?”

Ariana was devastated. Melon had always been mature for his age and had never broken down like

this before. Pulling him into a comforting embrace, she took a moment to compose herself. Finally, her

voice quivering, she assured him, “Daddy does want you, Melon.”

Still clinging to Ariana, Melon managed to ask through hiccups, “Then why hasn’t he come back? Why

doesn’t he call me?”

Ariana felt at a loss for words. Thoughts of Theodore weighed her down Like a massive boulder,

making it difficult even to breathe.

Her eyes reddened as tears began to well up, and she fought to suppress a torrent of emotions that

threatened to overwhelm her.

“Mommy promises you, Daddy does want you. He’ll call you very soon, alright?” Ariana managed to

say, her voice tinged with tenderness.

Despite her reassurances, Melon’s tears flowed unabated. Finally, exhaustion won out, and he fell

asleep in her arms, his cheeks still wet.

After putting Melon to bed, Ariana found herself alone in the dark living room.

Sitting in a daze on the couch, she felt the emotions she’d worked so hard to suppress come flooding

back with even greater intensity.

Her emotional defenses crumbled. She covered her mouth to stifle her sobs as her body shook

uncontrollably. Sliding off the couch onto the floor, she gave in to her tears.

Memories of her time with Theodore morphed into sharp thorns, each thought pricking at her heart and

causing such agony that even breathing became a struggle.

Ariana cried for an extended period before finally regaining her composure. She wiped away her tears

and slowly rose to her feet.

The phone issue still needed to be addressed.

After some thought, she realized that her male friends, already familiar to Melon, wouldn’t serve as

convincing substitutes for a call from his father.

Picking up her phone, Ariana had an idea. She would hire a male voice actor from a gig platform that

offered same-day payment to make the call.

She quickly found a reputable platform online and posted her request.

To maintain her privacy, she offered only a basic description of the task at hand and specified that the

actor needed to be available for work immediately the next day.

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