Chapter 428: Can I Take A Look At The Kids?
Zen realized she wouldn’t be able to answer her child. So for her child’s sake, she should not help Christian to deal with Wendy anymore. She should at least do something that she felt was right.
"Thank you for believing in me," smiled Wendy. She felt contented. She did not know what was in Zen’s mind, but she would never trust her ever again.
"Best friends should trust each other, right?" replied Zen with a smile.
Wendy then gazed at Zen’s baby bump. She reached out to touch it. "How big is the baby now?" Wendy asked gently.
"Eighteen weeks," said Zen as she lowered her head to look at Wendy’s hand on her baby bump. Her face turned gentle all of a sudden.
Wendy pulled her hand back abruptly. She had mixed feelings now. How nice it would be if Zen’s child was not Christian’s flesh and blood. How good it would be if Zen did not fall in love with Christian. Then perhaps, they could be best friends for real. Best friends that were as close as sisters.
"Baby is starting to move. Do you want to feel it?" asked Zen as she saw Wendy pull her hand back.
"Indeed, babies start to move in the tummy around the eighteen-week mark," said Wendy as she placed her hand on Zen’s tummy again. It’s a pity the little one had stopped moving by then.
"Baby, could you give a small kick?" said Zen gently to the child in her tummy. "Why don’t you let your godmother feel your tiny little kick?"
"Godmother?" Wendy was stunned.
"Don’t tell me you have totally forgotten about it? Before we graduated, we’d promised that we would be the first godmother of each other’s child," said Zen with a smile. "You gave birth to Leah and Jake abroad secretly, so I’ve yet to become their godmother. But I don’t blame you. When my child is born, you will be his godmother for sure."
"All right," said Wendy as she lifted her head. Wendy’s mind wandered as she gazed at the gentleness in Zen’s eyes. She felt like she was back in their good old days during college.
"Oh my goodness! He is moving!" Suddenly, Wendy felt the movement in Zen’s tummy. She was so surprised at that moment.
"Yup, he is moving. I can feel it too," Zen said happily.
"You are so amazing, baby!" said Zen as she lowered her head and caressed her tummy. She seemed to be interacting with her child.
Zen’s smile was so pure and innocent now. Wendy could not help but smile as she asked, "Have you thought of a name?"
"Not yet," Zen’s gaze turned cold slightly. In fact, she hoped that Christian would think of a name for the child instead. It was such a pity that Christian was not looking forward to this child at all. She had been pregnant for some time, yet Christian had never asked her anything about their child. Every time Christian got in touch with her, it was just business.
Wendy seemed to sense something amiss from Zen’s expression, so she smiled faintly, "It’s still early. Take your time. We must take the child’s name seriously. Back then, I spent so much time thinking of names for Leah and Jake."
In fact, Wendy was giving Zen a way to back out of an embarrassing situation. She wanted to tell her indirectly that her children’s names were not named by their father too.
"Well, I will think about it carefully," Zen nodded.
"It’s getting late now. You’d better rest early. Pregnant ladies should not stay up too late," said Wendy as she stood up.
Zen nodded as she said, "Good night."
"Good night."
...
Zen went back to her room and closed the door. She took a deep breath as she sent a message to Christian. The message contained a simple line: Nothing unusual.
After sending the message, Zen took a deep breath and caressed her baby bump.
She then said as she reveled in the existence of the child, "Baby, please grow up strong and healthy."
Zen was still worried about it. She worried that she would be unable to give birth to her child safely in such a situation. Wendy did not know Zen’s true intentions yet.
Would she still keep her by her side once she found out about it?
Furthermore, Christian had never shown concern for this child. He allowed Zen to keep the child for more than eighteen weeks because Zen had sold her soul to the demon, Christian Lucas. She didn’t even know if Christian would one day regret his decision to let her keep the baby. He might force her to abort the child if he grew unhappy with her or if he eventually found her useless to him.
The child would only be born twenty weeks from now. Zen could not put her mind at ease yet.
Sometimes, she was so afraid to receive messages from Christian. She was afraid that the message would tell her to abort the child.
Zen wondered if Wendy would ever forgive her if she told her the truth. She wondered if Wendy would help her to protecting her child from any harm.
However, she did not dare tell Wendy the truth. As a matter of fact, she could not bring herself to do it. She could not bring herself to betray Christian. She loved Christian. But her rationality stopped her from betraying Wendy as well.
Such was her struggle that she lived in misery every day. She could no longer take this kind of mental torture.
...
After Wendy washed up, she put on her mask and went to her bedroom. After closing the door, she lay down on the bed and switched on her notebook. She logged into her email and saw a message from Michael. It was short and sweet: Call me once you are safely home.
Wendy frowned. After a moment of hesitation, she took out another cellphone and gave Michael a call. Wendy used a different cellphone so that Timothy would not be able to check all her call logs. This cellphone did not leave her bedroom. She would never bring it out of her home. Except for Michael, nobody knew about the existence of this cellphone.
Michael answered as soon as the call got through. Before Wendy could speak, Michael said anxiously, "Wendy, are you okay?"
Michael had been waiting for Wendy to call him. In fact, Michael already knew about everything that happened tonight. The pin-hole camera Wendy wore on her necklace had automatically backed up the data captured to the cloud. Michael had seen everything.
He knew that Wendy was okay from the footage. But he could only finally put his mind at ease when Wendy called him.
"I am okay. I just had a chat with Zen earlier on," said Wendy.
"I know," Michael knew because Wendy was still wearing the necklace when she chatting with Zen.
Wendy did not know what to say next. He was such a conversation killer.
"Well..."
"Well..." Both of them went silent for a moment before saying the same thing in unison.
"You first..."
"You first..." Wendy and Michael spoke at the same time again. Indeed, things had turned exceptionally awkward.
...
Wendy sat on her bed as she held onto the cellphone. She had a look of gentleness on her face but she wasn’t aware of it.
Wendy did not hear Michael speak. So she said, "I just wanted to say if there is nothing else, I am going to hang up."
Wendy’s heart was pumping fast after she finished speaking. She did not seem to want to end the call.
Michael felt kind of nervous too. He then stuttered, "I... I have something...." "What is it?" Wendy asked, her face still looking gentle.
"Well..." Michael did not know what to say all of a sudden. He knew that he should not be talking to Wendy in private at such a critical point in time. If there wasn’t anything important, it would be best for them not to contact each other.
However, he just wanted to hear Wendy’s voice.
"Well... could we do a video call?" asked Michael. He wanted to see Wendy’s face.
Although he already had her pretty face etched in his heart, he still wished to see her again.
"I don’t think that’s necessary," Wendy rejected his request, "It’s getting late. If there is nothing else, I’m going to bed."
Wendy was feeling conflicted. In fact, she wanted to have a video call with him. But for some reason, she said the opposite.
"Well..." Michael was so afraid that Wendy would hang up soon that he said hurriedly, "Can I take a look at the kids?"
Michael used the kids as an excuse. He continued, "Zen should be resting now. The two kids should already be in bed by now. Could you sneak into their room and let me take a look at them?"
Michael missed the two kids very much. But he could not meet Leah and Jake in person yet. He could not even call them.
"Well..." Wendy could sense that Michael was pleading with her.
It was already late, and Zen had returned to her room. She should not be coming out of her room at this hour. Zess should be sleeping at this time too. It should not be a problem for her to sneak into her kids’ room at this hour. Furthermore, if Michael wanted to see the kids, Wendy had no reason to reject his request.
After all, Leah and Jake were his children.
She agreed to Michael’s request, saying softly, "Wait a second."
Wendy hung up and made a video call instead. After that, she snuck into Leah’s room. Her movement was exceptionally soft and gentle as she pushed the door open. Wendy turned on the lamp by the side table.
Under the light, Michael could see Leah’s face clearly as she slept. Michael saw how soundly she was sleeping with the doll he bought for her in her arms.
Warmth flood through Michael at that moment. He felt so contented to have such a pretty girl as his daughter. Michael remained silent as he was afraid that he would wake her up.
Wendy saw that Leah had kicked her blanket away, so she replaced the blanket over Leah.
After a while, Wendy turned off the lamp and walked out of Leah’s room. Then, she asked Michael softly after she closed the door, "Did you see her?"
Michael nodded.
Jake’s room was just beside Leah’s. Wendy opened the door gently and snuck in.
Like earlier on in Leah’s room, Wendy she turned on the lamp on the side table and pointed the camera at Jake.
...
Jake was a little man indeed. Even though he was asleep, he was still frowning.
Michael had never spent much time with these two kids, but he knew that even though Jake was young, he was exceptionally clever. He knew about a lot of things.
He seemed to be troubled even in his sleep.
Michael did not have a happy childhood. Ever since Christian appeared in his life, his childhood was nothing but gloom. He knew that children who grew up under such circumstances would have some character flaws. Just like himself... In the past, he was paranoid and temperamental. He even laid his hand on Wendy when they just got married. He turned a deaf ear to everyone’s words. He would be out of his mind whenever he saw Christian. He would get so agitated that he forgot about everything whenever Christian provoked him. He was so unhappy in the past.
After he fell in love with Wendy and had the two kids, his world started to light up.
He knew that one’s childhood could affect a person’s future. He did not want his children to lead such a miserable life like he did.
When Wendy was about to leave, Jake woke up all of a sudden. He opened his eyes and looked at Wendy. Then, he asked as he rubbed his eyes, "Mummy, why are you here?"
Jake stood up straight as he looked at the time. It was already one o’clock in the morning.
Wendy did not expect that Jake would wake up. She acted as if she had done something wrong and she ended the video call instantly.
She then smiled awkwardly and said, "I... I am checking if you kicked your blanket away tonight."
Jake frowned slightly as he looked at Wendy. He thought he saw Wendy in the midst of a video call with Michael. Jake was confused. Didn’t Mummy quarrel with Daddy?
Why was she still video-calling him at this hour?
Jake realized that she was lying. He laughed out loud, teeth showing and all as he said, "Rest assured, Mummy. I will not kick away my blanket. You should check on Leah as she always does that."
"I came from Leah’s room. She did kick her blanket away. I’ve already covered her with the blanket properly," Wendy pulled on his blanket and said, "I am so sorry to wake you up. Go back to sleep."
Jake nodded as he lay down, "Good night, Mummy."
"Good night," Wendy bent over and gave Jake a good night kiss on his forehead.
Wendy went out of Jake’s room after he closed his eyes. She then breathed a sigh of relief After returning to her room, she frowned. Why was she so afraid of being discovered? She was just in a call with Michael, there’s nothing wrong with this.
Wendy then found an excuse in her mind, "It must be due to Jake. He did not like Michael at all, so I am afraid that he will be unhappy if he knew that I am having a conversation with Michael."
"Yup, that must be the reason," said Wendy to herself.
She returned to her bed with the cellphone in her hand. She was still hesitating if she should call Michael back since she was the one who hung up. But she reasoned that Michael should not have anything important to tell her, so there wasn’t any point in calling him back.
But she wanted to call him. As Wendy struggled to make a decision, her cellphone vibrated. It was Michael.
Wendy answered it immediately.
