Serena lowered her head and said nothing. She would look at Nana and then down at the ground. Her fingers were twitching and shaking. She had never seen Serena like that. It was as if she was a different person altogether.
Nana looked at the bottle she held. She furrowed her brows as she didn’t have any idea what it was used for.
After a few moments of silence, Nana said, “There are differences between us, but I cannot see you neglecting your health like that. Don’t forget that you are pregnant. What are these pills for, and have you consulted the doctor if you are fine to ingest them?”
Serena didn’t reply to her question; instead, she suddenly apologized. “I-I-I am very sorry.” Then more tears came falling from her eyes. “I am sorry. Sorry…?” She furrowed her brows in a daze and then nodded again. “Y-yes…I’m sorry. I’m really sorry…for coming here…I won’t come here again…I-I promise…”
Nana was dumbfounded.
‘Why is she muttering like that?’
“I won’t show my face again…I will leave from here. I’m so sorry.”
“Serena!” Nana held her shoulders and shook her hard. “What’s wrong? You are behaving so strangely.” She was now genuinely worried if she and the baby was alright. Naturally, she resented Serena, but that didn’t mean she didn’t care about the child inside her.
‘Should I call Jianyu?’
Nana had met Jianyu quite a few times in the last five months, but she didn’t know what was going on between him and Serena. She had asked him once, but he said nothing. So, Nana didn’t probe further.
“I will call Jianyu,” Nana said.
And as if a flip switched in Serena hearing his name, she harshly shook away her hand. Now she was even more distressed than before. She clutched her head and collapsed on the bench. She was only shaking her head from one side to another as if vehemently rejecting the idea.
“No! D-don’t call him. I-I will go. Please don’t call him here. He will punish me…He-he will call that woman again.”
Nana was once again shocked. Something was definitely wrong with her.
Punish? Woman?
The bottle was shaking in her hand. Serena finally took those two pills she had taken out and swallowed them. She grabbed her bag and started walking away.
“Serena! Where are you going?” Nana thought if it kept going on like this, then she would meet with an accident. She wasn’t even watching her way.
Nana quickly dialed Jianyu’s number as she followed Serena.
“Nana!” Jianyu happily said. “You finally remembered your friend. Don’t just forget me like that.”
“Jianyu!”
Feeling the strain in her voice, Jianyu got alert. “Nana, are you okay? You sound anxious.”
“Jianyu, Serena was here just now and she-“
“What?” His voice was so low that it would send a chill to anybody listening to it.
“Yes, she was here outside Natsukashi, but she didn’t look good. Her face was pale, and she was talking incoherently. And now she has left from here, but at this rate, I feel she and the baby would get hurt. I’m following her, but she is getting farther and farther away.”
Silence.
“Chen guards will bring her back. Don’t worry, and you don’t need to follow her. Head back to Natsukashi. The guards will handle it.”
“Are you sure?”
“Hm.”
Then after a second, Nana asked, “Jianyu, is Serena…sick?”
She heard him laugh from the other end. “Sick? Even if she is, so what? As long as my baby is fine, should I care about her?”
Nana said nothing. The scars on their hearts were too deep to forgive her. So, she understood his indifference. The only link because of which Jianyu still kept her at his side was his baby.
Nana was still doubtful. “No…it must be something serious, right? She took some pills, and I don’t know what they were for.”
At the other end, Jianyu was startled. He got up from his seat.
Pills? What pills?
He never saw Serena taking any pills. He squinted his eyes dangerously.
‘What is she planning? If she dared harm my baby then I…’
The thought made his blood boil in anger. He was only tolerating her only because of the child inside her, and if she did anything to his child, then even he didn’t know what he would do.
“Jianyu?” Nana called out as she didn’t hear any response.
“Ah, yes, I’m here. It’s okay. I will look into it.”
—
Liu Corps.
Liu Hai entered Jinhai’s office.
“Pah! You are so boring. Your head is always in the files. You don’t want to play with me anymore!” Liu Hai whined.
Jinhai didn’t even raise his head from the files to look at his father. “Sure. Take the CEO seat again, and I will be free. Then I can play and spend as much time as I want with my wife.”
Liu Hai glared at him. “Don’t even think about giving me that wretched position! Working all day was so tiring.” He grinned. “Instead, I wished to spend all my time making love to Chunhua in our bedroom, which is now exactly my life. Ah, it’s heaven.”
“TMI, dad,” Jinhai warned.
He shrugged. “But now that I have sacrificed – I mean handed over my position to you, I can rest easy.”
Jinhai didn’t bother with his father’s antics. The more you replied, the more he would keep ranting non-stop.
“Why did you come here, Dad?”
“Can I not come to meet my son?” He questioned.
Jinhai finally looked at him, questionably raising his eyebrow. His gaze was clear.
‘Please don’t bother lying with your fake concern.’
“If I cannot even decipher that, then it would be much better if you disown me.”
“Hahaha, you know me so well. Naturally, I wanted to be busy in my bedroom activities with your Mom-“
“Dad.” Jinhai interrupted.
Liu Hai ignored him. “But then, since someone is back after a long time, I thought I should check on you.”
Jinhai smiled. “You don’t need to worry about that someone who is back. She knows her boundaries. I have made them clear to her and its consequences.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. Plus, she is not in any position to open her mouth, in fact, not move her body either.” He smirked.
Liu Hai snorted. “That is only for now or maybe a few months. Do you think Xiang Wei would let her stay in that condition for long? He is already looking for the best doctor. The problem is when she will be able to open that mouth, which is shut for now.”
Jinhai shrugged. “So what if she confessed? She cannot prove it. She doesn’t know that Yukira is a witness. He is on our side anyway. I just don’t want to deal with the trouble, so I guess I would see it at that time. But for now, she cannot do anything, and I only want to focus on Nana and our child’s safe birth.”
Liu Hai nodded. “That is, of course, the most important thing. I just want you to be prepared. Nana must not know anything.”
“So touching that you care so much about me.”
“Pah! Who cares about you? I don’t want my daughter-in-law to hate me for lying to her. She must not know that I was involved.” Liu Hai looked here and there as if the walls had ears too.
Jinhai was used to his shamelessness. He had no qualms throwing his son into the pit fire while staying out it.
“Alright, now leave. I have work to do.” Jinhai got busy in his files.
“Hmph! Party pooper.”
—
In City X hospital, the nurse was monitoring Huian’s condition. Huian tried to move once again but couldn’t do it. As the nurse finished writing her report, she checked her phone for messages.
Huian darted a glance at the nurse and tried to make some noise.
“Mmphf!” It took all the energy from her to make that sound, and she already felt drained.
The nurse looked at her. “Yes, Miss Xiang? Do you need anything?”
Huian then shifted her gaze to the nurse’s phone.
“Phone?” The nurse followed her gaze.
Huian blinked rapidly to agree.
“Do you want to call somebody?”
Once again, she blinked her eyes.
“Who? Mr. or Mrs. Xiang?”
Huian was stumped.
How will she signal Nana’s name? And even if she came here, how will she tell her anything?
Do I have to really wait until I recover?
“Huian!” Xiang Wei entered; his face lit with a bright smile.
The nurse said, “Mr. Xiang, good that you came here. I think Miss Xiang wanted to see you.”
“Oh?” He looked at Huian. She could only helplessly blink her eyes. “Alright, you can leave us alone.”
The nurse nodded and left.
“Huian, I have found a great doctor who can help you recover. Actually, Zhou Bingwen would have helped you, but he already went for an urgent trip a month back. But the doctor I have found is equally genius! He is Chinese, but his family resides in Paris. His name is Liang Shin.”
