”Repeat that,” he said. “I didn’t catch what you said.”
Long Jinjing pouted. Her face was red all the way to her neck.
”What is it?” he asked again.
She avoided his gaze. “I asked…if you remember on the day you woke up from coma, just before you fell asleep…I want to know if I heard you correctly….”
He waited until she finished meandering around her main question. By this point of their relationship, he was already used to her long-winded ways of speaking due to her innate shyness. Although this way of speaking always made him impatient especially when it came to his subordinates, he was willing to tolerate it when it was his wife doing it.
”I think that I heard you say…that y-you, uhm…that you l-love me,” she stammered and turned even redder.
”Huh?” He stared at her, feeling dumbfounded.
What was she talking about? Did he say that? How come he couldn’t remember?
She peeked at him and saw his bewilderment. Her expression crumpled. “I guess…I heard you incorrectly. I might have really been hallucinating that time.” She smiled but it was so bitter that her lips trembled. “F-forget it.”
Embarrassment filled her. She stood up and was about to leave but Lu Zihao grabbed her hand.
”Tell me what happened,” he said.
She shook her head.
”Come on, Jinjing,” he urged in a much gentler tone.
After a few moments of hesitation, she sat back down and told him everything that she remembered.
”It was just a whisper but I think I heard you say that…you l-love me, too.”
”Oh.”
Long Jinjing was disappointed at his reaction. She was about to cry but forced herself to suck it up. This was already expected. She had already prepared herself for the long haul when it came to gaining her husband’s love.
Once again, she stood up and tried to smile at him, pretending that everything was fine. “I’ll go check on our twins first. Rest here and focus on recuperating. I’ll be back later to accompany you again.”
He grabbed her again for a quick kiss before letting her go. When she was gone, his expression turned serious.
”Bacon.”
It took a full minute before the black cat AI responded to his call. “Bacon is here, Uncle Zihao.”
He was frowning at Bacon’s tardiness. “What took you so long, kid?”
”Bacon actually didn’t want to come because Uncle Zihao still hasn’t apologized to Mother for saying all those mean things. But since I’m still technically your hired freelancer, Bacon is contract-bound to respond to Uncle Zihao’s call.”
Lu Zihao clicked his tongue. “Your mother will always be my sister. That’s never going to change no matter how many lifetimes we both live. I’ll resolve my issues with her in our own time.”
Bacon didn’t answer. Lu Zihao knew that the little devil must be holding a grudge against him. It was only Bacon’s employment contract with him that was forcing the kid to at least show up when he called.
He sighed but didn’t bother to give any additional explanations. Besides, he had a more urgent matter that he want to confirm first.
”Kid, do you have a recording of what transpired in this room when I woke up from coma?”
”Affirmative.”
The short and dispassionate reply only proved that Bacon was indeed bearing a grudge against him. But at least the kid wasn’t completely ignoring him. That was a relief.
Lu Zihao asked Bacon to play that part when he fell asleep in the middle of talking to Long Jinjing. Like before, Bacon deliberately delayed his response for almost a minute. Lu Zihao restrained himself from snapping at the little devil because Bacon indeed had grounds to bear a grudge against him.
It was already quite impressive that Bacon would even speak to him like this. He heard that when his wife and his sister fought after he fell into coma, both Bacon and Ketchup refused to speak to Long Jinjing and completely ignored her.
Bacon’s willingness to speak to him right now despite the kid’s grudge only proved that his sister and Jin Liwei’s education of their children was top-notch. They always taught their children, especially the AI ones, excellent work ethics and professionalism. Bacon might be a two-faced crook most of the time but he was, without a doubt, a professional.
The audio from that day began playing.
Long Jinjing: “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.”
Lu Zihao: “Hm, good.”
He remembered until this part of the conversation.
Long Jinjing: “I love you, Nikolai.”
Lu Zihao: “Love you, too.”
His voice was very faint and a little unclear but he still heard the words he uttered in the audio. Bacon’s audio recording could be trusted at the very least. The little devil might be a regular extortionist but he would never falsify evidence in front of him, his uncle.
Long Jinjing: “N-nikolai?”
The deep, regular sound of his breathing could be heard in the audio. The quality was excellent.
”That’s the end of the recording,” Bacon announced. “If Uncle Zihao wishes to play it again, you must pay an additional charge. If you wish to play other parts of the recording, it is another additional charge. Bacon has already fulfilled my duty as stated in my employment contract by playing the recording once. Any other extra requests involving this particular audio recording qualify Bacon for additional pay rate.”
”Once is enough,” Lu Zihao muttered, choosing to ignore the little devil’s attempt to squeeze more money from him as usual.
”Then Bacon will leave now.”
Finally, some peace and quiet.
Well, he wasn’t exactly feeling very peaceful after hearing his own words that he couldn’t remember saying being played back to him, but it was indeed quiet now that Bacon left.
Emotions that he had always ignored flooded through him. It was so damn uncomfortable because he wasn’t used to it, but surprisingly, he didn’t outright reject it this time.
”I love Jinjing?”
He drummed his fingers on his thighs while rolling the unfamiliar emotion and words within him.
This kind of love was different from the love he had for his sister. He loved his sister as a precious sibling. That was familial love.
But the love that he felt this time…was this the so-called romantic love?
”Is this love?”
’Of course, it is, asshole.’
His expression darkened when he heard the familiar voice within his consciousness. The motherfucker was one of the main culprits in causing his most recent coma. In fact, he almost lost complete control of this body because of the original Lu Zihao’s remnant. The fucker fought with him until his soul almost got kicked out into nothingness or wherever souls went after death.
He heard a loud scoff inside his consciousness. It was clear that the remnant was mocking him.
’Remember that it’s not because of your sheer willpower that you get to stay in my body. Don’t forget that there’s a moment that you completely gave up when the pain got too much to handle!
’It’s because I, Lu Zihao, gave you another chance and allowed you stay! But don’t get me wrong. I didn’t do it because of an asshole like you. I allowed you to stay because I don’t want my grandpa, my brothers, Third Sister-in-law, your wife and our children, and so many others who care about you and me to lose both of us forever.
’It’s enough that they had unknowingly lost me, Lu Zihao, before. I don’t want them to experience losing Lu Zihao completely, even if the Lu Zihao they have now is no longer me, but you, Nikolai, the biggest asshole that I have ever met!’
Lu Zihao—no, Nikolai gritted his teeth but didn’t lash out at the remnant. Everything that remnant said was true anyway. There was no point in denying it when the remnant had free access to all his thoughts and emotions. It was already good that remnant had enough decency to give him some sense of privacy most of the time.
”Fine,” he spat. “I fucking get it, okay? So stop rubbing it in my face!”
’But I like rubbing it in your face! Hahaha! Take that, asshole! You deserve it. If you continue rejecting your identity as me, Lu Zihao, then get out of my body! It’s as simple as that, dude.
’Although it sucks to share this body with an asshole like you, I tolerate it because you are giving my loved ones the one thing that I failed to give them—my continued presence in their lives.’
Nikolai rubbed his face, not caring if his movements were too rough. The battle he experienced to stay in this body just before and during his coma left an indelible mark on his psyche.
He was no longer able to dismiss the remnant as something that he could always triumph over because of his confidence in his original identity as Nikolai Vetrov.
Before he realized it, the remnant had become so much more powerful while he, Nikolai, was starting to struggle to remain true to his original mission after being reborn again.
Just like what the remnant said, it was because of its mercy that he got to remain in this body and not be kicked out into oblivion.
’Don’t forget this favour that you owe me, Nikolai,’ the remnant warned.
He remained silent, unable confirm or refute.
’Lu Tianyu and Lu Zhiyuan are my body’s children. Whether you like it or not, they are the next generation my Lu clan, not the Vetrovs. I won’t allow you to rob them of their father and make them into orphans so early!’
