Chapter 606: Don’t You Have Morning Sickness?
Michael and Jake went out of the room and took seats at the dining table as "Wendy" and Zess brought the food out from the kitchen.
Putting some food from the platters onto "Wendy’s" plate, Micahel said, "You must be hungry, eat more."
"Thank you," replied "Wendy" with a smile. After a brief pause, she, too, took some food for Michael.
"You love chicken wings, eat more." This "Wendy" knew Michael well. She was familiar with his likes and dislikes.
Michael relaxed a little when Wendy got his preference for chicken wings right.
Wendy would usually take food for Jake and Leah as well. However, "Wendy" did not know what the two children liked to eat.
In order not to give herself away, she lowered her eyes and randomly took some food from the serving platters for them. Cleverly, she did not make any comments about the food and merely urged them with a smile, "Eat more, two of you have had a long day at school."
"Thank you, Mummy." Leah replied. Her big eyes glistened and her smile was exceptionally cute.
"Oh, Mummy, what do you think I should get Mark for his birthday?" Leah asked, looking up at "Wendy".
"Any gift should do since he’s just a kid. The children in your school should all be from families that are relatively well-off. It probably doesn’t matter what you get for him."
"Wendy" continued, "I will give you some money tomorrow. You and Jake can go pick out a toy or something for him."
"Aren’t you coming with us, Mummy?" her eyes wide and blinking, Leah questioned.
Leah’s question had Michael and Jake frowning.
Under normal circumstances, with Wendy’s character, she would definitely offer to go shopping for a gift with the children if she was not busy.
Furthermore, Wendy quite liked Mark. Why did it sound as if she did not really care about his birthday now?
"I can go with you." "Wendy" immediately agreed to Leah’s suggestion with a smile.
Thoughtful, Michael ate his food quietly with his head lowered.
Then, he looked up, smiled and said, "Isn’t it kind of insincere to get him a store-bought present? How about you give Mark the same present you gave Grandmother when we visited her? There should be enough time."
"Daddy, you mean..." Before Leah finished speaking, Michael interrupted on the pretense of taking more food for "Wendy".
"Wendy, do you remember what she and Jake got for Grandmother when we visited?"
Leah asked, "Daddy, why is your memory so bad? Jake and I..." Jake was the one who interrupted Leah this time. He understood why Michael had asked that question.
He immediately reached out to take a cherry tomato from the serving platter and put it on Leah’s plate. "I will go to Mark’s birthday party with you. Would you like that?"
"Oh, really, Jake?" Distracted by Jake, Leah nodded happily, "Yes, of course!"
Michael was still looking at "Wendy" and waiting for her answer. When "Wendy" saw Michael watching her intently, she immediately averted her eyes.
The atmosphere seemed a little tense. "Wendy" felt as if Michael had purposely set her up with that question.
Twice, Leah had almost finished her sentence and revealed the gift they had gotten for Grandmother. Both times, Michael and Jake had interrupted her.
She thought she had been careful enough. Did she give something away without realizing it?
"Wendy’s" heartbeat sped up. How was she supposed to know what they had given Grandmother when they visited her the last time?
Panicking, she tried to think of a way out.
...
"Urg..." "Wendy" immediately put down her fork and got up to run to the washroom.
Michael quickly hobbled after her with the help of his crutch. His voice concerned as he asked, "Why are you suddenly vomiting?"
"Wendy" pretended to be in great discomfort. She patted her chest a few times and turned to look at Michael. With a small smile, she said, "I don’t know, sometimes I just suddenly feel like vomiting."
"What about now? Are you feeling better already?" asked Michael. "If you still don’t feel well, we should go to the hospital. You’re weak to begin with, we must not overlook any problems lest they get worse."
"I’m okay, it’s just the nausea that comes with being pregnant." This "Wendy" dared not go to the hospital.
She would be found out if she went there.
Noticing that Michael was about to say more, "Wendy" quickly interjected, "Actually I think I will go lie down for a bit. You all can finish up dinner without me. I don’t think I can stomach any more food now."
In truth, it wasn’t that she wasn’t hungry, she was just afraid that Michael would take the opportunity to ask more questions.
She’d better return to her bedroom to compose herself and think about how she should answer such questions in the future.
If Michael already started suspecting her, she had to sleep with him as soon as possible.
Once they had been intimate, even if she was discovered to be fake, she would have a bargaining chip. It would be best if she got pregnant too.
After her announcement, she turned and started for her room while still pretending to be in great discomfort.
This way, she could also able avoid answering the question Michael had posed her earlier at the table.
The furrow in Michael’s brows deepened as he watched "Wendy" leave.
Jake’s eyes followed "Wendy" as she walked back to her room. When Michael returned to his seat, Jake asked, "How is she?"
It was an innocuous question but Michael understood what Jake was referring to.
He was asking how "Wendy" was, physically as well as reaction wise.
His face somber, Michael shook his head.
Glancing at the closed bedroom door, Michael did not follow "Wendy" in.
She was not the only one who needed time to sort out her thoughts, he needed time too.
He had purposely asked Wendy that question because he suspected she didn’t know the answer.
Her bout of nausea had also been too coincidental, so much so that Michael suspected she was just pretending.
Michael remembered what Wendy had looked like after the bouts of pregnancy induced nausea and vomiting in the past. She had always been pale and barely able to stand steady.
He had paid close attention to "Wendy’s" face earlier. While she looked like she was in a lot of discomfort, her pallor was normal. That meant she was most likely just faking it.
That led to the question, why was she doing it?
Did she do it to avoid answering Michael’s question?
If she was avoiding it on purpose, something was wrong.
Jake had mentioned earlier that "Wendy" seemed to have forgotten who Mark was.
Now she couldn’t remember the present the children got for Grandmother the last time they visited her.
Wendy did not have a bad memory.
Although Michael had heard that a woman’s memory might be affected when she was pregnant, it should not be so serious.
What was going on?
Was Wendy suffering from some kind of memory loss or amnesia?
But she remembered them, and she remembered the foods Michael liked.
He went through everything "Wendy" did the past few days and tried to make some sense of everything.
...
After dinner, Michael asked Zess to help the children wash up and get ready for bed.
He made a sandwich and brought it to the bedroom.
"Wendy, you didn’t eat much earlier. I made you a sandwich. Try it." Michael put the sandwich on the table.
"Wendy" was at this moment lying on the bed, looking extremely unwell.
Michael approached her and asked concernedly, "How are you feeling? Do you still feel very bad? If you’re really unwell, we’d better go to the hospital."
At the mention of "hospital, "Wendy" immediately sat up and smiled. "No need. I’m probably just hungry because I did not eat much earlier. I’ll feel better after I have the sandwich you made."
Michael’s brow twitched as he watched "Wendy" get off the bed and walk to the table where the sandwich was.
Going over to the other side of the table where "Wendy" was, Michael sat down. His gaze was focused on her and the sandwich.
He watched as she ate the sandwich, bite after bite, without any adverse reaction.
"It’s delicious. Thank you, Michael." "Wendy" thanked Michael with a smile after swallowing the sandwich that was in her mouth.
She hadn’t expected Michael to make such a fancy sandwich. In the past, he couldn’t make anything more than perhaps a simple sandwich.
This one had egg and even smoked salmon in it.
Wait a moment, salmon?
"Wendy" suddenly remembered something and started moving her hand to her mouth.
However, before she could complete the motion, Michael asked coldly, "Wendy, you don’t feel nauseated anymore? Don’t you have morning sickness?"
After he asked the question, it would look too fake if "Wendy" continued pretending to feel like vomiting.
She lowered her lashes and said, "The nausea comes and goes, but I do feel quite uncomfortable."
"There was salmon in the sandwich. Ever since you got pregnant, you couldn’t stand the smell of fish at all." Michael continued, "But you finished most of the sandwich. I guess the smell of fish doesn’t put you off so much anymore."
"Wendy" hurried to think of an appropriate response.
Should she say she was no longer adverse to fish, or pretend to retch?
There wasn’t much time for her to think. She decided to go with pretending to retch then ran off to the washroom.
Michael did not seem concerned about the sounds of dry-retching coming from the washroom.
She was perfectly fine after eating so much of the sandwich, but started retching once he raised flags?
It’s strange.
When "Wendy" came out of the washroom, having gotten past the "nausea", she saw Michael still seated in his chair, ignoring the fact that she had just been retching in the washroom.
"Wendy" started to panic.
She had been thinking of her next move while she was in her room alone earlier.
Originally, she had thought that Michael probably just found her a little strange recently but would not overthink it.
It seemed that Michael had been testing her time and again because he was already suspicious.
In that case, her best course of action would be to bed him.
Having made that decision, Wendy smiled and said, "It’s still a little nauseating, but you made it so I tried my best to eat some. As you can see, I still ended up retching."
Michael did not reply to "Wendy’s" explanation. The atmosphere in the room seemed a little chilly.
"Wendy" laughed and said, "I’m a little sleepy, shall we go to bed earlier?"
She then walked to Michael and reached out to pull him to bed. He hesitated for a second, then stood up and followed her to the bed.
Sitting quietly at his side of the bed, Michael quietly observed "Wendy’s" every move.
