“Alright, I won’t scold our son anymore about a past misdeed,” Jin Liwei replied while hurrying up the staircase to escort his wife.
Iris laughed at her husband’s actions, her eyes twinkling with amusement. It was just climbing down the stairs from her loft office to his main home office floor, yet he still insisted on holding her waist and guiding her down.
“Liwei, you don’t always have to be careful with me. I can at least climb down the stairs by myself.”
“Don’t mind me, love. I just can’t help myself from worrying, especially when I think that you’re carrying two additional humans inside you.” He glanced down at her flat stomach. “You’re not showing yet, but our twins aren’t shy in making their presence known.”
She sighed but there was a soft smile on her face. “The pregnancy symptoms I’m experiencing right now are all normal. Don’t blame our babies for making me feel sick. Besides, it’s the two of us who made them, so it’s not their fault for coming into our lives.”
He laid his palm on her stomach and gave it a gentle rub. “I’m not blaming them. Never. I’m so excited to meet our babies, Evelina.”
“Me, too.”
“Are you still scared?” he asked.
“A little.”
“Me, too. But it’s okay. I know that we’ll get through this together and continue building our family.”
She nodded and hugged him around the waist, inhaling his comforting scent. He also wrapped her soft body in his arms and inhaled the fragrance of her hair (Orchidia Beauty shampoo and conditioner, of course).
The husband and wife stayed in that warm embrace, enjoying each other’s presence without caring about anything else in the world. At least, in this moment. The outside world might be chaotic right now with many people wanting to intrude into their private lives especially after everything that happened in the past few days alone. They may not be able to control all the actions of other people, but right here inside their home and within each other’s loving embrace, the two of them felt at peace.
After some time, Jin Liwei urged them to head to their master suite because he didn’t want his wife to tire herself from standing for too long. He wanted to carry her all the way to their room but she refused.
“I want to take a walk,” she told him.
“Alright, love.”
Along the way, he noticed that his wife started to fidget. She tried to hide it but his eyes, which were almost always focused on her, couldn’t possibly miss anything about her.
“What’s wrong? Are you feeling uncomfortable anywhere? Let me call the doctor—”
“No! Liwei, I’m fine. I’m just…let’s return to our room first, then I’ll tell you. Okay?”
He observed her for a little longer to make sure that she was really alright before nodding. Later, the finally arrived in their bedroom. He expected her to immediately tell him what was bothering her, but to his surprise, she extricated herself from him and then headed straight to the bathroom before closing the door.
It took him a few seconds to process what just happened. When he came to his senses, she already left him alone in their bedroom. He immediately knocked on the bathroom door and twisted the knob a few times but it didn’t open. She locked the door.
“Love? What’s going on? Are you okay?”
He pressed his ear against the door and listened. The water was running, so she must be taking a shower. But why didn’t she wait for him? He wanted to shower together with her.
“Evelina, are you angry at me? Tell me if I did something wrong.”
“Everything’s fine,” his wife’s voice called from inside the bathroom. “Don’t worry and just wait for me. I’ll be out soon.”
“Alright. Just call for me if you need anything. I’ll be right here, okay?”
“Okay.”
Jin Liwei stopped bothering her but didn’t leave the bathroom door to wait for his wife. Even though she told him that everything was fine, he still combed through his mind if he did anything that might have upset her. He couldn’t think of anything. They had been acting very lovey-dovey with each other right until they reached their room.
What in the world happened? He had no idea.
Was this another mood swing? If so, then it couldn’t be helped.
He continued agonizing over this matter. Unlike his pregnant wife’s usual mood swings, this one didn’t appear extreme. She didn’t look irritable at all. On the contrary, she seemed nervous. He remembered her fidgeting earlier. But why was she nervous?
About fifteen minutes later, Iris finally came out of the bathroom. Her cheeks were rosy from the steam, making her look even more alluring in her husband’s eyes. She was wearing a bathrobe and drying her wet hair with a towel.
Jin Liwei grabbed her hand and leaned down to kiss her lips. “Are you really okay?”
She nodded.
He pulled her to their walk-in closet and took over in drying her hair with a blow dryer. When he was done, he admired their reflection on the vanity mirror. Well, he was mostly admiring his wife’s reflection while she looked distracted.
He placed the blow dryer on the table and looked at her straight in the eyes in the mirror. “Now can you tell me what’s really going on?”
Her hands started fidgeting again. He frowned. Now he was beginning to really worry about her.
“Evelina—”
She stood up all of a sudden and faced him. “Wait here.”
Before he could react, she walked away and left him again. He snapped back to his senses more quickly this time and immediately followed behind her. Not wanting to annoy her into a worse mood swing, he stayed silent but observed all of her actions.
Yes, he was right. She was indeed nervous.
She headed straight to the very end of their walk-in closet to a concealed armoire where their personal safe was located. After keying in the access code and scanning her fingerprint, she took out a large manila envelope from the open safe. Then she handed the envelope to him.
“For you.”
