Long Jinjing’s mind blanked out except for her husband’s three words repeating over and over again like a broken record.
’I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you….’
She stared open-mouthed at Lu Zihao in a daze like a stupid idiot.
Was this a dream?
Did her hallucinations worsen? Maybe she really needed to resume her weekly therapy sessions. At this rate, she would really become crazy if she didn’t do something about it.
”Jinjing,” Lu Zihao murmured while rubbing her soft lips. He opened his mouth, about to tell her more, but then a loud cry interrupted them.
Iris rushed to the crib where Little Misha had been taking a nap until now. The baby was wailing at the top of his lungs.
”Hush now, sweetheart.” Iris comforted her eldest twin nephew, coaxing him to be quiet and not disturb the entertaining scene starring his parents.
Unfortunately, it was too late. The mood had been destroyed.
Long Jinjing snapped back to her senses. Her maternal instincts reigned supreme. She pulled away from her husband’s embrace and hurried to her crying son. She took Little Misha from Iris.
Lu Zihao sighed and caught his brother-in-law giving him a sympathetic look. However, it only lasted for a few seconds before Jin Liwei’s expression smoothed out and returned to his usual coldness.
There was still some remaining tension between the brothers-in-law ever since the sudden fight between Lu Zihao and Iris.
Like Bacon, Jin Liwei must still be bearing a grudge against Lu Zihao. It couldn’t be helped. Jin Liwei should side with his wife. It was only natural. Lu Zihao would even question and look down on Jin Liwei if the man didn’t side with his own wife.
Before today, even Lu Zihao thought that he would always side with his own sister no matter what. In fact, he even warned Long Jinjing at the beginning of their relationship that if the two women ever fought, he would always side with his sister and not his lover.
But now…Lu Zihao wasn’t so sure about his previous claim anymore.
He watched his wife successfully comforting their eldest twin son. She was now bottle-feeding Little Misha with milk—his sister’s breast milk.
Sighing again, he finally entered inside the nursery, but before he could touch any of the babies, one of the nannies blocked him and handed him a box of Orchidia Baby wipes and hand sanitizer.
”Please wipe your sweat and disinfect yourself first, Mr. Lu.”
”Fine.”
He obeyed while grumbling under his breath. Afterwards, he took his second twin son from another nanny.
Little Dima struggled for a few seconds before recognizing his daddy’s scent. Then he settled down and began cooing.
Lu Zihao felt something inside him flutter at the sight of his son’s innocent face staring up at him. The baby was completely helpless and depended on him, the father. He glanced at his wife feeding their other son. The fluttering feeling inside him transformed into something warm and sweet.
Indeed, the remnant was correct. The feelings flooding him right now were all…icky.
But so what?
Now that he had decided to openly admit his feelings to his wife and their family, he no longer give a damn whether the emotions he felt were icky or not.
Iris sat near him where her own twins, Little Mochi and Little Matcha, were playing with their Orchidia Baby toys on the floor.
The brother and sister looked at each other. They didn’t say anything but so much was already communicated with just one look.
All had been forgiven.
This was the power of their bond as siblings.
Nevertheless, Lu Zihao still thought that it was better for the two of them to find some time to have a proper heart to heart talk now that both their heads had cooled off a lot.
But first things first. There was a more urgent matter that he needed to deal with—his wife’s reply to his sudden love confession.
He peeked at his wife out of the corner of his eye. Although Long Jinjing had been distracted by Little Misha, he knew that she didn’t forget about his confession. She was red all over and stealing glances at him.
Iris was amused watching them. She and her brother exchanged another look.
”Big Sister,” Iris called.
”Huh, y-yes?” Long Jinjing replied after a three-second delay.
Her husband’s love confession was still replaying inside her mind that her IQ hadn’t fully returned to normal yet.
”Let me take over in feeding Little Misha for you. Why don’t you and Big Brother go and talk somewhere private?”
”H-huh? No need—okay.” Long Jinijng ended up agreeing in the end after seeing her husband’s intense gaze.
She handed her eldest twin son to Iris while Lu Zihao gave Little Dima to one of the nannies. Then the two of them left the nursery together.
”Amazing,” Iris commented after they were gone. “Big Brother actually said the words ‘I love you’ to another human being. He has changed a lot.”
”Love does that,” Jin Liwei replied. “It changes people. It changed me.”
She chuckled. “And it changed me, too.”
The nannies all looked at each other and pretended that they hadn’t witnessed anything juicy. They weren’t choking on too much dog food, not at all!
###
Lu Zihao held his wife’s hand and led her to the indoor forest. This place was memorable not only to his sister but to him as well. It was the place where he proposed marriage to his wife.
Back then, he had still been blind to his own true feelings. He only proposed marriage to Long Jinjing because he got her pregnant. He didn’t really do it out of love…or so he thought.
They reached the koi pond and crossed the stone bridge to the islet. When they finally reached the centre, they just stood there hand in hand.
Lu Zihao was staring at her while she was trying to avoid looking at him straight in the eyes.
She felt so shy!
”Jinjing,” he said, finally breaking the silence.
”Y-yes?”
”I love you.”
She trembled. Her eyes watered. “Oh.”
He raised an eyebrow. “That’s it?”
She smacked him on the chest.
Although it didn’t hurt at all, he was still surprised at her action.
Then she rained down more hits on him. There was no strength behind her hits, though.
To him, they hurt as much as a cat’s lazy paw punches. Even Ice Cream, the fat brat had more powerful hits than his wife.
”I thought that I was hallucinating!” Long Jinjing cried. “I gathered my courage to ask you earlier today if you really said that…you l-love me too but you didn’t say anything to confirm or deny! I really thought that I was starting to hear things! You’re so bad, Nikolai!”
He caught her arms and held them. “Hm, I’m bad.”
The outburst drained her. It had also calmed her down to some extent. “Do you really…l-love me?”
”Hm.”
”What hm?” She demanded, “Is that a yes or no? It’s so hard to understand you!”
”It’s a yes,” he replied.
This time, his expression was not as unreadable as before. She could see the sincerity in his eyes. He was finally allowing her to read his true feelings for her.
Despite this, she still couldn’t believe it. Everything that was happening to her at the moment felt like a dream.
Happiness filled her…but also some wariness.
”Are you telling the truth?” she asked.
”Hm—yes.”
”Oh, Nikolai!” She threw herself in his arms and hugged him as tightly as she could.
He returned her embrace and inhaled the delicate fragrance in her hair (courtesy of Orchidia Beauty latest nourishing after-shower spray).
”I already gave you the rest of my future sperm, my children, my loyalty, and now my love. There is no taking back after this, Jinjing. You have to take responsibility of me. I’ve never…had this kind of deep commitment with a lover before.”
She nodded. “Y-yes, Nikolai. I’ll take responsibility of you.”
He chuckled. It wasn’t devilish like usual but warm…and content instead. Then he turned serious. “You can only be mine, Long Jinjing.”
She nodded again. “Of course!”
”You said it.”
”Yes! I married you and gave birth to your children. I love you…and now you say that you love me, too. I’m…so h-happy, Nikolai.”
He kissed her head. “Hm, I know.”
”Even when I’m fat and ugly, you really love me?” she asked.
”I already told you that you’re neither of those,” he reprimanded her, scowling. “Stop saying that!”
”Hehe.” She was too happy to care about her insecurities right now.
Her mind was only occupied by her husband’s love confession.
Oh, my gosh! Her husband loved her, too!
This was perhaps her happiest day in her life even when compared to giving birth to their children. Her husband’s love was something that she yearned for all this time. Now that she finally received it, she was over the moon from joy.
She stood on her tippy-toes and kissed her husband on the lips. It was supposed to be just a quick peck but he quickly grabbed her by the nape and deepened the kiss.
Emboldened by her happiness, she didn’t shy away. Her arms wrapped around his neck and she opened her mouth, letting him inside, while also exploring his mouth with her own tongue.
She was gasping for air when their mouths separated. He kissed and licked a wet trail from her chin down to her ear then to the side of her neck, leaving hickeys in the process.
”Nikolai,” she moaned. “I love you.”
He gave her earlobe a light bite and a lick. “Love you too, wife.”
His voice, especially his words, made her core soaking wet.
