“Xinxin? Are you alright? Do you need help?” Shen Yi knocked at the door of their bathroom when his wife hadn’t stepped out for a long time. He was afraid that she pa.s.sed out inside again.
“Uh… I’m alright.” He heard her timid voice from the inside.
Shen Yi sighed and went back to their bed, leaning his back at the headboard. It had been a very long time since he and his wife engaged in an intimate activity; she grew paranoid that he would hurt her and their baby.
While he was aware of Lu Xinyi’s self-consciousness over her figure, he couldn’t help but be awed by her transformation. He loved touching her b.u.mp more each day. If he had thought that she was beautiful before, she looked better when she was pregnant.
It took every ounce of his ironclad will not to touch her when all he wanted to do was to remind her how in love he was with her. It also didn’t seem to help… seeing her uncomfortable these days.
With her due date to give birth approaching, Lu Xinyi suggested they spend some time alone together. They were soon to be parents to their baby, and several things such as time with each other would be lessened and sacrificed in order to give their three children all the attention and love they should receive.
However, tonight, here he was waiting for her to come out from the bathroom. He certainly didn’t want to go to sleep alone. Shen Yi always made sure she was comfortable sleeping beside him before he could follow her into the land of slumber.
“What’s taking you so long? Come out now, Xinxin! Don’t tell me a shark appeared magically in the toilet and bit you alive?” He groaned in frustration.
“NO!”
Shen Yi ran a hand on his face. What on earth was wrong with her now?
Inside the bathroom, Lu Xinyi stood in front of a mirror, looking disdainfully at her reflection. Her hips were huge, her breast weirdly larger than usual, and at her midsection sat the impossible ignored swollen belly that housed her child.
“Urgh.” She groaned in disgust. No wonder her husband wouldn’t touch her anymore.
“Xinxin, are you aware that you’ve been inside for an hour now? Come out, or do you want me to drag you?”
“Fine.” Lu Xinyi hissed before the bathroom’s door slowly opened.
Shen Yi first saw her baby b.u.mp and seconds later the rest of her appeared. She wasn’t wearing one of those silky, sheer nightdresses he liked but a plain nightdress that highlighted her b.u.mp.
“There. Happy?” she asked with defiance. She walked over to the bed and let herself be pulled down on his lap gently.
“See? Was it really so hard to come out?” He wrapped his arms around her and kissed the side of her face.
“Stop. Don’t pity me anymore, Yi.” Now, she resorted to crying.
Shen Yi blinked, not understanding what was up again.
“Why are you crying?”
Lu Xinyi looked away feeling ashamed of herself. She was tired alright. She was already tired of being pregnant and couldn’t wait to give birth soon. It also didn’t help that Ye Xieren and Mo Lihui took their turns to challenge her in a cooking battle for the past months.
“It’s nothing.”
She really didn’t know what to say. Telling him the truth would make her sound over-emotional.
“Xinxin, you know you can tell me anything, right?” Shen Yi didn’t dare to force her and asked her with a gentle tone.
Lu Xinyi sighed, and then in a hormonal pregnant fas.h.i.+on, everything she was keeping to herself spilled out at once.
“It’s just I’m so ugly and fat. I know you don’t want me anymore. You won’t even touch me on top of that. I don’t blame you though. Just look at me. I look like a fat cow.” She cried.
“Xinxin, you’re eating for two. How many times do I need to remind you? You aren’t fat.” Shen Yi informed her as his hand reached out to rest over her stomach. He was reminded again on what transpired during their last visit to her doctor.
Flashback…
Lu Xinyi shuddered as the cold gel touched her stomach, her hand which was held by her husband instinctively tightened. Her eyes turned to meet his gaze, a small smile on his lips as she tried to calm herself down. She was really thankful that Shen Yi decided to come with her, and she wasn’t doing this alone.
“Mrs. Shen, are you okay?” the nurse asked her.
“Yes, I’m fine. Thank you.” Lu Xinyi told her kindly, nodding at her to continue.
She and Shen Yi watched with antic.i.p.ation as the device on the doctor’s hand moved over her swollen belly while looking at the screen that changed from black to gray, showing the image of her womb.
First, they saw a small head followed by hands that seemed to move upon closer inspection.
Shen Yi couldn’t contain his smile spreading on his lips upon seeing their baby for the first time before noticing tears p.r.i.c.king at the corner of his Lu Xinyi’s eyes as she glanced at him before turning back to the monitor.
“That’s our baby?’ she asked her doctor. The woman smiled genuinely at her and nodded.
“Yes, it is. See this part?” The doctor changed the angle of the device. “This is the head of your baby. Your baby is growing well, Mrs. Shen… but yeah, it seems like you are bigger than what is typical for your size.”
Lu Xinyi shot her husband an ‘I told you so’ look.
Shen Yi’s smile slightly faltered. Was it possible to sue this doctor, huh? Couldn’t she tell that his wife needed some rea.s.surance and not to further complicate the issue in her growing figure?
“However, Mrs. Shen. It’s just because your baby is really big.”
Forget suing the doctor, maybe Shen Yi should find a way to bury this doctor alive ten feet below the ground as he saw tears streaming down his wife’s cheek again.
How could she be so oblivious to Lu Xinyi’s frustration?
“The baby is fine for now, but I’ll have to ask you to watch what you eat, Mrs. Shen. If you continue to eat as usual, you’ll have to deliver your daughter via c-section; but it’s still possible to deliver in natural birth. Mr. Shen is rather tall so it’s only natural that your baby inherited that trait from her father.”
Both husband and wife were speechless. Shen Yi felt that it was suddenly hard to breathe at the moment.
“D-daughter?” He stuttered which was so unusual and out of his character.
“It’s a girl?” Lu Xinyi beamed with pride. She laughed and cried at the same time as she looked over her husband’s shock reaction.
End of Flashback…
“Have you forgotten what the doctor told us? Our baby is tall and snug fit in your womb.” Shen Yi’s hand rubbed her belly possessively.
It was past midnight when Lu Xinyi finally settled down and slept while Shen Yi remained awake playing a strand of her hair. Parents. It wasn’t really new for the two of them since taking in the twins, but having a baby of their own was a new start for them.
He knew that more changes were to come, and he wasn’t certain how he should feel about that. Shen Yi wasn’t one for a change, but ever since meeting his wife, he decided could endure everything that would come his way.
He had Lu Xinyi after all.