They Thought I Was Asleep, So I Let Them novel · Chapter 20 of 24

Chapter 20: The Exit

That night I came out of the bathroom with my hair wet and stopped in the hall, because I heard my name.

The kitchen door was open a hand's width.

The light behind it was yellow, and the two of them were at the table with a bottle of beer each that neither had touched.

"We have to give her the exit," Florian said.

My hand stopped on the wall.

"I know," Nils said.

"Not tonight. But we say it to her plainly. She can walk, any time, and we won't follow. We won't make it hard."

"We did that already. We said she could stop."

"That was for the bed. This is for the rest of it."

I heard a chair creak.

"He's right about one thing," Florian said. "There are two of us. She's twenty-eight. She'll want children, a door with her name on it, a mother who can come to Sunday lunch without a conversation.

"We're asking her to build that with two men. She's allowed to look at it and decide it's too much."

"Do you want her to?"

"No."

"Then why are we..."

"Because I want her to have the choice more than I want her."

There was a long silence.

"That's the stupidest thing you've ever said," Nils said, and his voice was thick. "And I've known you twenty years."

"It's true."

"I know it's true. That's what makes it stupid."

I put the flat of my hand against the door and pushed it open.

They both looked up.

Neither of them looked guilty. They looked like men caught in the middle of a sentence they meant.

← Chapter 19 · All chapters · Chapter 21 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend