Reincarnated as a Fisherman and a Dad Chapter 109
Arabella's sobbing was so loud that it made Karlos sit up and rush toward the mother and daughter with concern. His heart tightened from the sudden panic.
Even Iñigo had teary eyes, trying hard to hold back his tears as he hugged Maya tightly, his small fingers clutching her clothes.
"What happened? Are the children okay?" His voice trembled despite his effort to stay calm.
Maya didn't know whether to laugh or cry. She patted the twins' backs to calm them down. Especially Arabella, she was crying hard, her shoulders shaking violently.
"Mama's alright, sweetie. Don't be sad," she said, comforting Arabella, who was hiccupping through her tears.
"Are you alright?" Karlos asked again, his worry deepening.
"I'm alright," Maya explained, showing the bruises on her chest and shoulders to illustrate what had happened, her expression slightly embarrassed.
A few minutes ago, the twins had woken up earlier than Karlos and started looking for something to play with. At that moment, Maya was in bed, reading a romance novel. Arabella happily squealed and crawled toward her mother, seeking attention. Naturally, Iñigo followed suit.
Maya had no choice but to put her book aside and entertain the kids. They giggled as Maya tickled them.
Arabella, still very young, instinctively tugged at Maya's shirt, acting purely on habit. Even though Maya had stopped lactating a month ago, the little girl still reached for her breasts, seeking comfort.
However, what Arabella saw were bruises.
"Wah?"
She panicked.
She didn't understand why her mother had bruises. All she knew was that her mother was hurt, and tears immediately welled up in her eyes. She cried loudly, shocking even Maya, who initially thought Arabella had gotten hurt.
"Why are you crying? Did you get hurt?" Maya placed the little girl on her lap and carefully checked her over. She sighed when she found nothing wrong, feeling relieved yet confused.
"Why are you crying, sweetie?" Her voice softened.
"Mama! Hurt!" Arabella cried.
Between sobs and hiccups, Arabella pointed at Maya's chest. Only then did Maya realize the reason for her crying. Arabella was heartbroken because her mother had bruises. She hugged Maya tightly and cried even harder.
Iñigo, who had been watching the entire ordeal, was also alarmed. He hugged Maya as well, resting his head against her stomach, holding back his tears as he tried to stay brave.
Then Karlos woke up from their cries.
"Mama's fine. These are not bruises… these are sleep marks from sleeping too long. Just like when you sleep for a long time and marks appear on your skin," Maya explained to the twins, carefully choosing her words. She couldn't tell them the truth.
When Karlos heard the explanation, he sighed in relief. He had thought something terrible had happened. Arabella's cry earlier was different from her usual cries for attention, it was filled with genuine pain and worry for her mother.
Karlos lifted Arabella and gently patted her back to console her.
"Don't worry. Mama's fine," he reassured her.
"You bet," Maya smirked.
"You're the reason I got these 'sleep marks' anyway."
When Maya said that, both twins glared at Karlos. Perhaps they somehow understood that he was the culprit behind Maya's red marks.
"Papa bad!" Arabella accused.
"What? I'm innocent. I swear I wasn't hurting your mother. I love your Mom so much," Karlos defended himself.
"Yeah, your father would never hurt me."
'He hurts me so good actually…'
Maya joined in and confirmed that Karlos was innocent. The twins listened and eventually let it go. It seemed they believed their parents. According to them, the bruises were nothing more than sleep marks.
To be fair, Karlos never hurt Maya, unless Maya was the one who begged for it. She got spanked and more, hence the bruises on her body. Maya actually loved it rough.
After that alarming incident, Maya and Karlos promised to tone things down for a while, making sure no visible bruises would appear for the twins to see. God knows what would happen if the twins saw Maya's butt, which Karlos had punished quite hard.
Anyway, Karlos and Maya's sex life was very passionate, and even the twins wouldn't stop them. It is what it is. Besides, their passionate shaboinking was the very reason the twins existed in the first place, a simple fact.
After that small incident, night fell and dinner arrived. By now, the Alejandro family was already used to Mrs. Wanda bringing dinner to their room. Karlos and Maya were grateful for everything Mrs. Wanda did for them. They had even discussed giving her a salary, but Mrs. Wanda firmly refused. In the end, the best they could do was give her gifts, though she wouldn't accept anything expensive.
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"When does the tide start to recede?" Karlos asked as the boat gradually approached the island.
"Around 5 to 6 a.m.," Brandon answered.
Today, they didn't do long-line fishing because the profit was too small. On top of that, they had spent an entire month doing long-line fishing every day, yet the rewards weren't worth it. The hours spent pulling the line no longer matched their satisfaction.
Because of that, Brandon and Karlos decided to maximize their time and focus on catching lobsters and harvesting abalones instead.
The fact that they had earned over 40,000 pesos the day before, twice their usual earnings, was enough to motivate them.
Karlos pulled out his phone from his backpack. The cellphone was sealed inside a plastic bag, protected from water. He pressed the button, and the screen lit up. Karlos checked the time.
"It's 4:13 a.m."
"Good. We can start by pulling the traps first. Then we head to the island to harvest abalones. By then, the sun should be rising," Brandon calculated.
It would take them about an hour and a half to retrieve the traps and catch the lobsters.
With that, the two men started their work. For Karlos, it was just another day, but also an exciting one.
As for Brandon, fishing had started to feel fun. Back when he was still a hired worker, fishing was nothing more than a job to him.
No matter how hard he worked back then, his salary never changed. But now, things were different.
Both men looked forward to another day of fishing with renewed spirits.
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[I want to say Happy Holidays. This novel has 54 chapters on Patreon.]