The Answers Spoken By Floating Comments

Trapped in a gilded cage by Timmy, I eventually gave birth to his child.

Consumed by the humiliation of how we started, I kept both of them at an icy distance.

That was, until the floating text suddenly appeared in my vision.

[If she keeps freezing him out like this, the male lead's patience is going to snap.]

[She has no idea her son secretly cries every single day. It breaks my heart.]

[Timmy has the restraint of a saint. Tasted heaven exactly once and got banished to the couch for years. Bro is probably wearing out her old shirts just trying to cope.]

[It happens tonight. He brings her warm milk again, she knocks it over, and instead of coaxing her, he finally decides to file for divorce.]

[And after the divorce, she gets thrown to the wolves and meets a brutal end.]

A soft knock echoed through the room. I practically jogged over to the door.

Timmy stood there with a glass of warm milk. He lowered his dark eyes, a cynical smirk playing on his lips. "Going to throw this all over my shirt again?"

I shook my head and gently curled my fingers around the fabric of his sleeve.

"There's a thunderstorm tonight. Can you stay with me?"

Then I tilted my head, looking at the tiny figure peeking out from behind his long legs.

"Finn, do you want to sleep in the big bed with Mom and Dad tonight?"

01

"What?"

The freezing chill in Timmy's eyes melted for a fraction of a second.

But the flash of joy vanished just as quickly, replaced by a guarded, flat tone.

"Are you testing me, Aria?"

He thought I was using a moment of fake docility to make him lower his guard. He thought I wanted him to get bored of me so he would finally let me go.

I pressed my lips together, entirely unsure of how to answer.

I fully expected him to pull his arm away.

But he just stood there, frozen in place, letting me hold onto him.

"So," I murmured softly. "Are you going to stay?"

Timmy's Adam's apple bobbed.

His dark, heavy gaze locked onto mine. It was a thick, burning kind of stare that made my knees feel dangerously weak.

I had always been terrified of him when he looked at me like that. It always felt like he was one second away from devouring me whole.

The corner of his mouth twitched. "Are you sure you want this?"

With the glowing comments scrolling frantically across my vision, I nodded.

I kept my hand on his and drank the entire glass of warm milk right there.

[Is it a bit too late for her to start playing nice?]

[Three years of the silent treatment. Whatever love he had for her is probably completely dead by now.]

[Just wait. Once he divorces her, her own biological father is going to sell her off to some sixty-year-old creep just to secure business deals for the adopted daughter.]

[If she had just treated him an ounce better, she wouldn't have been tortured to death in the end.]

[Honestly, yeah, he's a bit of an obsessive psycho with a serious addiction to her, but the man is young and built like a god. If she had just embraced it earlier, she would have been eating five-star meals every night.]

[LMAO, if you ever feel stressed, just take a look at little Finn's face right now.]

I looked down, unable to help myself.

A tiny, soft hand suddenly wrapped around my wrist.

"Mommy, can I really sleep with you?"

I had to admit, Timmy's genes were absolute top-tier. Finn looked like a pocket-sized version of him, just with softer, squishier cheeks.

He tipped his head back, his big eyes shining with pure, desperate hope.

It took me a second to process it, and I let out a soft "Mhm."

His eyes went wide like he had just witnessed a miracle.

"Mommy, can you bend down a little bit?" he whispered.

I leaned over.

His little face turned bright red. Shyly, he reached up, wrapped his little arms around my neck, and pressed a wet, clumsy kiss to my cheek.

Then he looked up at Timmy. "Dad, is it Christmas early this year?"

Timmy did not answer.

He was just staring down at my lips, his eyes growing shades darker.

[She has a tiny bit of milk on her lip. I will not elaborate on what is going through that man's head right now.]

[The tension is literally exploding.]

[Pink.]

[If she just made one single move, her husband would be on her like a shadow.]

[A delicious shadow.]

[Bro is dominating the 'silent suffering' leaderboard. Give the man a trophy.]

[He's putting the whole obsessive-romance genre to shame.]

[Aria Sinclair, you invited him to bed. Do not let this man leave empty-handed.]

[I have no idea what timeline we are in right now, but I am grabbing my popcorn out of pure respect.]

02

I was entirely too used to sleeping alone.

Having two extra bodies in my bed tonight felt completely foreign.

The moment Finn climbed under the covers, he latched onto me like a koala. If I even tried to turn my head away, his little hands would reach up and physically turn my face back toward him.

"Mommy, face this way."

He was a chatterbox. He babbled about a dozen random things, but the moment he closed his eyes, he was out cold.

My arm was starting to fall asleep. As I carefully tried to pull it out from under him, my hand accidentally brushed against Timmy's cheek.

He let out a low, muffled groan.

His eyes locked onto mine.

The bedroom was dimly lit by a soft amber lamp, but I could still clearly see the tips of his ears burning bright red.

"Are you..."

He looked away instantly. "I'm fine."

But his voice sounded impossibly tight.

I honestly had no idea what was wrong with him.

[What do you think is wrong? Bro just caught a whiff of your perfume and is fighting for his life right now.]

[Take a wild guess why he refuses to divorce you even though you treat him like ice.]

[Because he is literally addicted to you. Duh.]

I swallowed hard.

My face flushed hot as the absolute filth scrolling across the comments hit me.

But Timmy and I had only been together that one single time.

Did he really think about me like that?

Especially since that one time had felt like nothing but a humiliating trap to me. I hated thinking about it.

I quickly pulled my hand back, intending to roll over and face the wall.

But I did not realize a strand of my hair had gotten tangled around the button of Finn's pajamas.

As I turned, my scalp pulled sharply.

I have thick, wavy hair, and it was knotted tight. The more I fumbled with it, the more Finn started to whine in his sleep.

"Don't move."

Timmy's voice came out rough and completely shot.

A large, warm hand slid into my hair.

I flinched on pure instinct.

He noticed. The warmth drained out of his voice, leaving it flat. "I'm not going to touch you."

The moment the words left his mouth, my hair fell free.

We had nowhere else to look but at each other.

I could see it. I could clearly see the dark, suffocating wave of desire churning in his eyes.

A wave of nausea twisted in my stomach.

[Here she goes again, she's going to call him disgusting, isn't she? No matter how much he loves her, a man can only take so many daggers to the chest before he breaks.]

[Aria, have a heart. Aside from that one night, has he ever laid a finger on you in the last three years? You have no idea how brutal the real world is going to be if you actually leave him.]

I dug my nails into my palms, swallowing down the discomfort with everything I had.

I looked at him and stammered out, "Thank... thank you."

Timmy froze. The darkness in his eyes shifted into pure shock.

But then he suddenly threw off the blanket and practically bolted for the en-suite bathroom.

"Go to sleep."

[We all know exactly what he's doing in there. It took me zero seconds to figure it out.]

[Taking matters into his own hands, literally.]

[The bathroom smells just like her. Bro's blood pressure must be through the roof.]

[A Michelin-star feast right there.]

[Girl, do us a favor and give the man something. We are starving out here.]

[Can you guys chill? The fact that she initiated anything tonight is already a massive plot twist.]

[True, but let's be real. Their first time was a massive misunderstanding anyway.]

I read the floating text slowly.

My mind drifted back into the past.

03

Before Timmy forcefully dragged me to the altar, we had been dating online for a year.

That was right around the time I found out I was the biological daughter of a wealthy family, swapped at birth by a malicious nanny.

I had lived in an orphanage for over twenty years. I genuinely thought going back to my biological family meant I would finally experience what it was like to be loved. But my parents heavily favored Stella, the adopted daughter who had taken my place.

During those dark months, Timmy was the only person I opened up to.

When we finally met in person, he was incredibly gentle, wearing a tailored suit, polite and perfect.

I thought he was a good man.

But once we became official, his suffocating, obsessive need to control everything around me made it hard to breathe.

I carefully suggested we take a break.

He smiled and agreed, but I constantly felt like there was a pair of eyes watching me from the shadows.

Then came the day I accidentally stumbled into his basement.

An entire wall was plastered with candid photos of me. Next to it was a collection of bizarre, terrifying items.

The online romance had never been a coincidence. It was a calculated hunt.

I demanded a breakup.

He just laughed, a hollow, broken sound. "Break up? I think I'd rather just die."

I was terrified.

So terrified that during my graduation party, I drank a spiked glass of wine in a daze. I was carried to a hotel room. His room.

It was a night of absolute madness.

When I woke up and realized what happened, I slapped him as hard as I could across the face.

He did not even flinch. He just reached up, gently wiping my tears away with his thumb. "Did that hurt your hand?"

"Do you want to hit the other side?"

"Keep hitting me until you aren't angry anymore."

When I finally broke down and ran out of the room, a swarm of paparazzi was waiting in the hallway.

My reputation was completely destroyed overnight.

My parents looked at me with pure disgust. They immediately started arranging blind dates for me to salvage their public image.

When Timmy found out, he used the security footage from the hallway to force my parents' hand. We were married a week later.

I spent years believing every single tragedy in my life was a trap he had carefully orchestrated.

I treated him like dirt.

A few months into the marriage, I found out I was pregnant.

I did not want the baby.

Timmy dropped to his knees in front of me. He pulled out a pocket knife and dragged it across his own wrist, drawing a bright line of crimson.

"You don't want him, and you don't want me. Fine. Then neither of us will ever bother you again."

I hated him. I wanted him gone. But seeing the blood dripping onto the carpet, I was paralyzed with fear.

I hated my own cowardice.

After I gave birth to Finn, I refused to hold him.

I just wanted to freeze Timmy out until he finally got tired of me and let me go.

But the comments were telling me that leaving him meant I was going to die a miserable death.

And they kept mentioning a misunderstanding.

What misunderstanding?

My thoughts swirled in the dark until exhaustion finally pulled me under.

I did not even hear when Timmy finally came back to bed.

04

When I woke up the next morning, the space next to me was empty.

I let out a breath of relief, but then nearly jumped out of my skin when a tiny face suddenly appeared inches from mine.

"Mommy, you're awake!"

Finn was standing beside the bed, dressed in his crisp little kindergarten uniform.

He looked exactly like a pristine little prince.

Even though I had spent years treating him like a ghost, he still seemed completely obsessed with me.

[Here it is, the daily morning routine. She pretends to be asleep, and the kid gets his heart broken.]

[Finn is such an angel. His mom literally ignores his existence, and he still follows her around like a puppy.]

[Ugh, my heart hurts so much. What did this sweet boy ever do to deserve this?]

"Morning, Mommy. Can I give you a kiss before I go to school?"

I was still half-asleep and entirely disoriented. "What?"

"The kids on Bluey give their mommy kisses every morning. I want to do it too."

My stomach tied itself into a knot.

We rarely ever spoke, let alone touched. I had a massive mental block when it came to physical affection.

As I bit my lip, hesitating, my eyes flicked to the doorway. Timmy was standing right there.

A flash of the comments predicting my brutal death crossed my mind.

Seeing my silence, Finn dropped his head. The corners of his mouth turned down.

But he forced a brave little smile a second later. "It's okay, Mommy. I didn't really want to"

"How... where do you want to kiss?"

I stammered, cutting him off.

Finn's eyes lit up like fireworks.

"Mommy, you mean yes?!"

He grabbed my hand, swinging it back and forth, his eyes curving into little crescents.

I nodded, feeling incredibly awkward.

[Woah wait, is the Ice Queen actually thawing?]

[Look at Timmy's face right now. Bro's brain is completely short-circuiting. He's malfunctioning.]

[He definitely wants a kiss from his wife too.]

I did not dare look at Timmy.

The tiny human had already scrambled up and pressed a loud smack against my cheek.

I froze solid.

It felt strange. But... I did not push him away.

Finn wrapped his arms around my neck and nuzzled my shoulder. "Mommy, am I dreaming?"

[...Why am I crying right now?]

[The way he nuzzled her. My chest physically hurts.]

[Timmy standing in the doorway like: Hello, I am also a toddler, I require a kiss.]

[Look at him. He's practically turning into stone waiting for her to notice him.]

I instinctively glanced up at the doorway.

Timmy didn't say a word. He just narrowed his eyes slightly, his expression completely unreadable.

I quickly looked away, pretending I hadn't seen a thing.

Finn finally let go of me and happily skipped toward the door. "Dad! I kissed Mommy again!"

Timmy let out a low "Mhm" and reached out to affectionately ruffle Finn's hair.

"Dad's taking you to school today."

Finn, with his little backpack securely on, looked back at me with absolute puppy-dog eyes. "I wish Mommy could take me."

"Be good. Mom needs to rest. Don't bother her."

"Dad, why don't you go kiss Mommy too?"

I leaned back against the headboard, my heart suddenly leaping into my throat.

Timmy lowered his eyes.

"We're going to be late. Say bye to Mom."

"Aww, okay! I'll wake up earlier tomorrow to kiss Mommy again!"

Finn scrunched his face in determination before waving frantically at me.

"Bye, Mommy! I'm going to school now! I promise I'll be super good!"

The floating text exploded again.

[Weird. Didn't she want to run away? Why is she suddenly playing house?]

[Hey... this is a good thing, right?]

[The teacher gave the kids an assignment yesterday. The moms are supposed to supervise the kids learning how to shower by themselves. That's why he snuck into her room last night.]

[Thinking about him having to stand in front of the class and admit he didn't do the homework because his mom hates him... I'm going to cry.]

[Aria, since you're already acting like a decent human today, can you just stand by the bathroom door tonight and help him out?]

05

I don't know what Timmy said to Finn on the way to school, but when Finn got home, he was incredibly quiet. He didn't come looking for me.

He didn't ask me to play.

The comments were relentless.

[Forget it. Once they divorce and Timmy marries Stella, Finn will finally get a mom who cares about him.]

[Lmao, who would even believe that a billionaire like Timmy has been entirely celibate for years?]

[Bro is basically guarding his purity for her. Thank god she refused to sleep with him, right?]

[Stella might be a manipulative snake, but sometimes the villain gets the bag! Let's go!]

I was finally starting to piece everything together.

In this timeline, the "main character" was Stella. Even though I was the biological daughter, she was the one destined to win everything.

Half the comments were tearing me apart for being pretentious and difficult.

But a few people were actually making sense.

[The original plot was garbage anyway. The adopted daughter steals her family, her husband, and her kid, and we're supposed to cheer for her? The morals are entirely messed up.]

[The biological daughter died horribly just to pave the way for a fraud.]

[If it were me, I'd never let them win. Do not sign those papers, Aria! Let them suffer!]

I took a deep breath, stood up, and walked toward the bathroom.

Finn was standing precariously on a plastic step stool, stretching as hard as he could to reach the showerhead.

Hearing my footsteps, he whipped his head around. "Mommy?"

I leaned against the doorframe, crossing my arms defensively.

"Do... do you need some help?"

He froze for two whole seconds, his face turning a brilliant shade of crimson.

"You know about my homework, Mommy?"

"Yeah."

"Oh!"

"I can do it by myself, Mommy! I'm a big boy!"

He tried three more times, nearly slipping.

I hesitated for a second before walking in, pulling the showerhead down, and handing it to him.

"Thank you, Mommy!"

[Yesterday she wouldn't even look at them, today she's giving kisses and helping with bath time. Did she get possessed?]

[Timmy is currently having an existential crisis.]

From the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of a tall figure standing just outside the door, holding a fluffy towel.

"Mommy, look at me!"

Finn suddenly spun around, his hair entirely covered in a mountain of soap bubbles.

He vigorously scrubbed his head, wiggling his little hips. In the process, his foot kicked the showerhead on the floor.

A jet of warm water shot straight up, completely soaking my blouse.

"Ahhh! I'm sorry, Mommy!"

He panicked, reaching out to try and wipe the water off me, but ended up smearing a massive handful of soap directly onto my shoulder.

[Finn, on behalf of your father, thank you for your service.]

[Timmy doesn't have to hug her laundry to sleep tonight.]

[Direct hit. Zero patience left.]

I quickly turned my body, trying to angle myself away from the doorway where Timmy was standing.

I gently caught Finn's chaotic little hands. "It's fine, I'll rinse you off."

I heard footsteps behind me.

For some reason, my entire body went rigid.

But he didn't step into the bathroom. He just leaned against the vanity outside, silently watching us.

Only when the water turned off did Timmy walk in. He scooped up the dripping-wet toddler, expertly wrapping him in the towel and drying him off.

He helped Finn brush his teeth and apply his baby lotion.

He moved with absolute effortless precision.

It hit me thenhe was the one who had been raising this child entirely by himself all these years.

"I'll have the nanny put him to bed."

The nanny was waiting in the hallway. She took Finn from his arms.

Finn looked over the nanny's shoulder, staring at me with pure longing.

Timmy's eyes darkened in annoyance, and Finn looked away, defeated. "Okay, I'll just..."

I knew exactly what he wanted.

I walked over, leaned in, and pressed a soft kiss to his cheek.

The little guy went completely still against the nanny's shoulder, his eyes going impossibly wide.

He slapped both hands over his face, looking like he was about to pass out from sheer joy.

Right before they turned the corner, he waved frantically. "Goodnight, Mommy! I'm so happy today! Super, super happy!"

06

The door clicked shut. The bedroom descended into total silence.

I looked down at my soaked shirt.

The thin fabric was clinging to my skin like a second layer. I crossed my arms, feeling my face heat up.

When I looked up, I crashed straight into Timmy's dark, predatory stare.

[To Timmy right now, she is a literal succubus.]

[Imagine being touch-starved for years, and the woman who hates you is standing right in front of you looking like that. Give the man some grace.]

[Zero patience. He's going in.]

My cheeks were burning. I took a clumsy step backward. "I... I need to go change."

The moment I turned, my foot hit a wet patch of tile.

Before the scream could even leave my throat, a solid arm wrapped around me, pulling me hard against a chest.

A scorching hot hand clamped tightly around my waist.

[Look at the size of that hand. The tension is lethal.]

[She's going to shove him away again, isn't she?]

[Last month he accidentally brushed her hand passing the salt, and she threw a glass of water at the wall.]

[Welp, back to the couch he goes. Stella is definitely winning this war.]

Maybe the comments were distracting me.

Or maybe I was just frozen. But I forgot to push him away.

By the time my brain caught up, Timmy had already scooped me up into his arms and was carrying me toward the bed.

"You're drenched."

I turned my head away, unable to look at him. My voice came out like a whisper.

"There's something... hard in your pocket. It's pressing into me."

The temperature in the room plummeted.

I felt his breathing hitch. The muscles in his arms turned to absolute granite.

[Bro is wearing sweatpants. What pocket? What belt?]

[Oh honey, she knows exactly what that is.]

[Let me spell it out for the innocent folks in the back: The man is fully bricked up.]

[God, the 'restrained obsessive' trope is peak fiction. When they finally snap, it is glorious.]

[Do it.]

A second later, Timmy grabbed my hand and physically dragged it downward, pressing my palm flat against the heat.

Then, before I could process the shock, he pulled the heavy duvet over me, trapping me underneath.

"I'll go find you some dry clothes."

Just as he turned to leave, my hand shot out from under the covers and grabbed his wrist.

"Don't go."

He raised an eyebrow.

I forced myself to meet his eyes.

"I want to talk to you."

07

I needed to ask him. I needed to know if he was really the one who spiked my drink that night.

I needed to know what the comments meant by "misunderstanding."

Timmy stared down at my face, looking like he had just been electrocuted.

Up until today, I treated physical contact with him like a plague.

"Okay."

His expression smoothed out into total blankness.

It made my stomach twist. Had he already mentally checked out? Was he already planning the divorce?

Timmy sat on the edge of the mattress.

He reached out and casually pulled the edge of the duvet over his lap, covering himself.

[LMAO, the absolute king of 'cold showers and doing my own laundry' right here.]

[Timmy: Pain is just weakness leaving the body.]

[Timmy's lower half: Bro, do you hate me? Are you actively trying to kill me?]

[The second she grabbed his hand, he probably planned their entire second honeymoon in his head.]

[Aria, listen to me. Everyone in this world is using you. Your husband and your kid are the only ones who actually give a damn about you.]

I looked up at him. "I've been thinking about this for a long time, and I wanted to ask you face to face..."

I didn't get to finish.

My phone vibrated violently on the nightstand.

I fumbled for it and accidentally hit the speakerphone button. A deep, professional male voice echoed through the room.

"Good evening, Ms. Sinclair. I am the divorce attorney you"

I slammed my finger onto the end call button in pure panic.

Timmy was already on his feet. His back was turned to me, and his posture was terrifyingly stiff.

His voice was pure ice.

"I have work to do. Whatever you wanted to say, we can talk about it another day."

He walked out without looking back.

He was walking so fast he nearly tripped over the rug by the door.

[Aria, I think you just broke your husband.]

[Why on earth would the divorce lawyer call right at this exact second?!]

[What was the point of being nice to him for two days just to gut him like this? That's just cruel.]

I didn't hire that divorce lawyer.

I had no idea why they were calling me.

Then my screen lit up with a text from my mother: "Aria, hurry up and sign the papers with Timmy. Mom is going to bring you home."