“Okie dokie, Daddy! Ketchup will do what my daddy says because the cute and mighty me is a good kitty baby who listens to my parents. Meow~”
The father and AI daughter worked together in revising the original job ad that Ketchup first wrote on her own. When they were done, the job ad looked more genuine and not like a scam. Ketchup didn’t waste any time bombarding Jasper Leung in Singapore with the job ad.
Every time the young man used the internet on his computer, phone or other mobile devices, he would see the job ad without fail. Ad-blockers didn’t work on it so he had no choice but to see the aggressively targeted ad unless he completely stopped using the internet.
Jin Liwei took a brief break from his own work to personally coach his AI daughter about the proper way of writing job ads and how to better conduct herself as a company leader. It was only when they were done that Jin Liwei noticed his wife watching them from the bed with a small smile on her face.
“Love, you’re done?” He put all the documents aside and walked towards her to give her a light kiss on the lips.
She released a satisfied sigh at the sweet kiss before pulling him beside her on the bed. “Ketchup’s time’s up alarm forced my lesson with Hisakawa-sensei to stop.”
“Sorry, Mommy, but rules are rules! Mommy can’t exceed the time limit or you’ll faint again and make Daddy and all of us kitty babies and our one big happy family and everyone else who love you super-duper to the highest level worried! Ooooh, Ketchup is so scared! Mommy, please don’t faint again! Meow.”
Iris made a sound of assent, then asked, “By the way, Ketchup, how’s your little brother Bacon?”
“Ketchup’s little kitty brother Bacon is still asleep! How sad! Ketchup misses my naughty little kitty brother sooooo much! I can’t wait to show him my cuter and mightier self! Mommy, Bacon is also becoming stronger based on the changes in his system. But there’s something weird that has been happening since thirteen minutes and three seconds ago that even the cuter and mightier Ketchup is not sure what it’s about. Ketchup already ran three times the amount of required diagnostics tests but the results always indicate that there’s nothing bad happening that will harm my little kitty brother. Meow~”
“Oh?” Iris’ curiosity was piqued. She once again picked up the laptop that she had tossed aside earlier after her virtual lesson with Professor Hisakawa Akio. The white, fluffy Ketchup was on the screen chasing some virtual butterflies. “Show me the anomaly.”
Ketchup didn’t obey her right away but stopped chasing the butterflies and turned to Jin Liwei instead. “Daddy? Uhm, is it okay to show it to Mommy? Meow?”
Iris’ nostrils flared and her eyes flashed with ill temper.
Jin Liwei immediately sensed his wife’s mood turning for the worse. He glanced at the laptop and saw their AI daughter trembling. Sighing, he took the laptop and put it out of his wife’s reach.
“You!” Iris moved to push him away in her anger.
He caught her hands and held them firmly but also gently. “Evelina.”
The silent but tense stand-off between the husband and wife lasted for almost two minutes before Iris stopped struggling against Jin Liwei’s hold.
“I knew it,” she muttered under her breath in a self-mocking tone.
Jin Liwei didn’t like it a bit. He frowned. “You knew what?”
“That I’m a bad mother! I almost lost our babies!”
“No, Mommy!” Ketchup’s impassioned child’s voice immediately denied. “Mommy is the bestest mommy in the whole wide universe! Ketchup and all of us kitty babies love you, our mommy, soooo very much! Meow!”
Iris grabbed a pillow and pressed her whole face against it, hiding herself from her husband and AI daughter. Jin Liwei couldn’t see but he could sense his wife’s turbulent emotions. The faint shaking of her shoulders let him know that she was crying. Again.
“Love.” He supported his body with one arm and wrapped her in a gentle embrace with the other.
She was once again suffering an attack of self-doubt about her capability as a mother. This insecurity had become much worse after her miscarriage scare a few nights ago. Now that she had to spend every single day in complete bed rest, she had extremely limited number of avenues to occupy her mind. Hence, she would often dwell on this fear when she wasn’t allowed to do anything else.
Jin Liwei was afraid that his wife might fall into depression.
It wasn’t helping that neither Lu Zihao nor Bacon had awoken yet. His wife was always fretting about the two of them and yet she felt helpless while confined to her bed. In addition, there was still many unresolved issues hanging over their heads about Rose Young, the Youngs’ control of Jin Corporation’s Singapore branch, the Eagle hackers, and what his wife mentioned as one of the “old guys”, a master hacker that she often competed against in her past life as the legendary hacker Fantom.
“Evelina,” he coaxed her but she didn’t respond. “Love, look at me. Come on, baby.”
Finally, she turned half of her face and peeked at him out of the corner of her eyes.
“That voice or whatever idea whispering inside your head and trying to persuade you that you’re a bad mother is a devil that you should never ever listen to. The truth that you should believe is what you hear from us, your family. We’re the ones who know you. Believe in us. And we say that you’re an excellent mother. The best. Sure, you make mistakes. I make them, too. We all do. None of us is perfect. All we can do is to do our best.”
He leaned closer, nuzzled her ear, and whispered directly to her, “I believe in you, Evelina. And I hope that you can believe in me, your husband, too. Whatever burden you’re holding in your heart, share them with me.”
Iris released the pillow and hugged his neck. She put almost all of her weight on him.
“Yes, baby. That’s right.” He rubbed her back and reassured her with his embrace.
For him, her putting her weight on him was like a symbolic sharing of her burdens with him. He would carry her if she found it difficult to hold everything on her own shoulders.
