Lu Zihao wrapped his arms around her. He rubbed and patted her back, stroked her hair, and kissed her forehead. These were his ways of comforting her because he wasn’t good with saying any sweet, romantic words.
”Thank the heavens that you’re awake!” Long Jinjing cried on his chest. “I’m so glad that you’re fine! I was so…w-worried about you!”
”I know.” He tried wiping her overflowing tears with his hand but his movements were too clumsy.
After being comatose for this long, he felt a little weak. Well, to be honest, he was so weak that he already felt exhausted after being awake for not even an hour. He wouldn’t admit it, though.
”How are my sons?” he asked instead.
Long Jinjing smiled through her tears. “Little Misha and Little Dima have gotten bigger. They miss their daddy so much!”
”I want to see them.”
”Of course! I’ll have the nannies bring them to you immediately!” Then she paused. “Wait. I have to ask the doctor first if it’s okay….”
Wang Yingjie who stayed with them in the hospital room replied, “You can bring the babies later. For now, let’s not overwhelm Fifth Brother with too much stimuli.”
”Oh, okay. I’ll listen to you, Second Brother.” Long Jinjing was very obedient.
Grandpa Lu stepped forward and examined his grandson from head to toe. “How are you feeling, Haohao my boy? Any pain? Discomfort? Tell me, I want to know!”
”I’m fine, old man,” Lu Zihao replied.
”Calling your beloved grandpa ‘old man’ again! If you didn’t just wake up from coma and make Jinjing my girl cry so much, I’ll hit you right now, you dunderhead! Hmph!” Grandpa Lu pretended to be angry but it was clear from his shaky, booming voice that he was still shaken at what happened to his grandson.
Long Jinjing couldn’t stop looking at her husband’s face. It was as if she wanted to make sure that he was really awake, that this was real, and that she wasn’t dreaming.
”Is it true that you woke up because of Brother-in-law Liwei?” she asked.
Grandpa Lu and Wang Yingjie were also very interested. They pricked their ears and listened.
Lu Zihao glanced at Jin Liwei who was sitting on the couch with his sister. He sneered.
”What does that mean?” Long Jinjing asked. She was confused at the expression he made just now. “Is it not true?”
He snorted but still said through gritted teeth, “It’s true.”
”Oh.” She looked at Jin Liwei. “Thank you so much, Brother-in-law.”
”En.” Jin Liwei nodded and accepted her thanks. His tone was cool and even a little distant.
This irked Lu Zihao. Remembering what the man told him while he was unconscious angered him even more.
Iris and Jin Liwei stood up. They excused themselves to give Lu Zihao and Long Jinjing some alone time. Grandpa Lu and Wang Yingjie followed suit.
Now that the husband and wife were alone in the hospital room, Long Jinjing grabbed her husband’s head and smashed their mouths together.
There was no sexual desire in the kiss at all, just desperate yearning and pure gratefulness that her other half was alive and well.
Lu Zihao felt too weak to bring the kiss into an erotic territory. He was also happy to see his wife again.
The journey he went through within his consciousness during his coma felt like forever. He was actually surprised he had only been comatose for this long. To him, it felt much longer—like years long, maybe even decades.
He couldn’t remember everything that he experienced while he was in coma this time. All he knew was that he felt exhausted—physically, mentally, emotionally, and yes, even spiritually.
As for the things he remembered, they were too overwhelming for him right now. He needed some time to process them first.
It felt good, though. He felt good despite everything that happened.
There were still a lot of things that he needed to figure out, but at least for now, he was no longer filled with too much negative thoughts and emotions. The chaos that exploded within him and caused him to go into another coma had now calmed down a lot.
He caressed his wife’s face. She lost some weight and had dark under eyes. The pallor of her skin showed that she had been unable to take care of herself properly while he was in coma. This upset him.
His chest tightened as he began to worry about her health. Knowing how much the woman loved him, he could only imagine how she neglected her own wellbeing while waiting for him to wake up. He had a lot of things to say to her but didn’t want to scold her right way when he just awakened.
”I’m hungry,” was what he ended up saying instead.
Long Jinjing smiled. “Wait here a bit. I’ll call the kitchen and ask them to cook some soup or porridge for you.”
He frowned. “I want meat.”
”You can’t, Nikolai.”
In the end, he could only eat plain congee. It was extremely unsatisfying but his wife wouldn’t budge at all. His only consolation was that he enjoyed being personally spoon-fed by Long Jinjing.
After the small meal, Lu Zihao felt his eyelids becoming heavy. He couldn’t stop his drowsiness.
Long Jinjing gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Sleep for now. I’ll bring Little Misha and Little Dima to see you after you wake up. They’re a lot bigger and fatter now.”
”Hm, good.” He was already half-asleep.
”I love you, Nikolai,” she whispered as his eyes fell close.
”Love you, too,” he murmured.
Long Jinjing froze and stared at him in disbelief. Her IQ crashed into a level below that of an amoeba.
It was a full five minutes before her lagging brain started working again. Her heart thundered inside her chest. She was also struggling to breathe. Tears welled in her eyes as she continued staring at him.
”Ni-nikolai?”
No response. He was already fast asleep.
She placed her trembling hand over his chest. The deep, rhythmic rise and fall of his hard chest helped her calm herself a bit. She was still freaking out deep inside but at least she wasn’t shrieking like a demented banshee and jumping around like a lunatic.
”Did I hear you…correctly? Did you really say that you…l-love me, too? Oh, Nikolai. I hope that I’m not mishearing things. I hope that you really love me, too.”
She grabbed his hand and rubbed it against her cheek before kissing it. “I love you so much…too much that I think I’m hallucinating. Maybe I’m having some kind of withdrawal symptoms from missing my weekly therapy sessions while you were in coma. Oh, please. Let this not be a hallucination.”
Unfortunately for her, Lu Zihao was far too exhausted and too deeply asleep to hear what she said. She could only wait for him to wake up and ask him for clarification.
###
In another part of the mansion, Iris and Jin Liwei were taking care of the four babies in the nursery.
Their own twins, Little Mochi and Little Matcha, were very energetic. They were shaking and squeezing their toys while rolling over on the carpet now and then.
Their nephews, Little Misha and Little Dima, had just been put to sleep by their nannies after a thorough feeding.
The babies had another exciting day because they spent half an hour with their puppies while their parents were in the hospital wing earlier.
Every day, the handlers would bring the puppies to spend some time with the babies and help them bond with each other. They were still small so this was the best arrangement for now.
Unlike the babies, Little Jun was already big enough to be with his own puppy, Gravy, day and night. Popcorn hated Gravy at first, but after only a couple of days, the two became best friends. The hyperactive cat gained another fun playmate.
It was a different story with Ice Cream. The fat, grey cat absolutely despised the puppies whenever the handlers brought them to bond with the babies. Despite her very vocal protests, the puppies kept on coming every single day. She only learned to tolerate their presence in the past few days.
Iris and Jin Liwei watched all the children with soft gazes. Watching them grow before their very eyes was a great source of joy for them as parents.
”Little Misha and Little Dima look a lot like Fifth Brother when he was a kid,” Jin Liwei commented.
”Really?” She studied the Lu twins but couldn’t really agree.
The babies didn’t exactly resemble any of their parents.
”En. Fifth Brother’s appearance changed a lot when he hit puberty but I still remember what he looked like when we were kids. I’ll show you some of his old photos later.”
”Okay. I want to look at your old photos, too.” Although she already saw plenty of her husband’s photos as a child thanks to her mother-in-law, she still wanted to look at them again.
He smiled. “Sure, love.”
She leaned forward and plucked a kiss from his mouth. “Thank you, Liwei.”
”Hm?”
”Thanks for waking up my big brother.”
He chuckled. “I didn’t think that it would work. But I’m glad that it did. Fortunately for me, he was too weak to punch my face as soon as he woke up.”
”Oh, darling.” Iris laughed and hugged him.
