One Night Changed Everything (PAUSED)

11

She smiles "I'm glad to hear that Mr. Wei, I will have the rest of the information you need brought in to you by one of my nurses. I will see you at your next appointment, enjoy the rest of your day."

She leaves the room and he takes a deep breath and sighs happy to have such a great doctor, he was worried he would be judged because he is pregnant and not married. He looks up when a shy yet polite male nurse walks into the room and gives him a tentative smile "Here you are Mr. Wei, this is the information that Dr. Wen wanted you to have, you are free to go." He bows slightly and quickly leaves the room after handing the folder to Wuxi.

He leaves the doctor's office with a renewed sense of self and feels happier about all of this. He smiles to himself as he gets into his SUV and heads to the restaurant where he agrees to meet Carmen for lunch, she called him yesterday and asked if he was free for lunch today, and he happily told her yes.

He walks into the restaurant and gives his name, he is led to a private room and sees Carmen sitting there sipping a cup of tea.

She stands and smiles when she sees him "Wuxi I'm so glad you were free for lunch today come in and sit, would you like some tea?"

He smiles at her sweet welcome and nods "Yes I would love some tea but it needs to be without any of these herbs or tea leaves if that's ok otherwise I will just have water." He gives her a piece of paper with a list of items on it. She shows it to the waiter and he nods and leaves to get another type of tea for Wuxi."

Embarrassed he clears his throat "Sorry I don't mean to be any trouble."

She laughs lightly "You aren't any trouble at all, it's just tea dear. So how have you been settling into your new place?"

He grins "Great, I don't know how to work most of the appliances, but I have someone that is going to come over and teach me how to take care of myself, my uncle called them a finishing instructor."

Carmen giggles "Oh darling I will do that for you, you don't need anyone to come to your home and teach you how to live on your own. I taught both of my boys how to take care of themselves and now I will teach you. Tell your uncle that you have it handled if you want me to that is."

He smiles brilliantly "Really? You would do that? Why?"

She chuckles at his adorably confused face "Because I want to and because I like you, you remind me of someone I used to be close with when I was younger. Besides I did these same classes, so there is no need to hire someone when I would love to do it. You can pay me with the food we cook how about that?"

He nods enthusiastically "I would love that thank you."

The waiter comes back with his tea and they order their food, Wuxi looks at Carmen through his lashes and then sighs trying to muster up his courage "Before you agree to this Auntie I need to tell you something that may change your mind and if it does I understand.

She tilts her head "What is it, don't be afraid to tell me anything you need to."

He takes a deep breath and says "I'm pregnant." In a whoosh of air.

She clasps her hands together in delight "Oh how wonderful, how far along are you dear?"

He grins at her relieved she is not looking down on him "Five weeks, I actually just came from my first Obgyn appointment."

She smiles gently at him "You are scared, don't be you have me now." She says candidly.

He blushes "Thank you, Auntie, I was worried you would look down on me for not being married and being pregnant."

She waves her hand dismissively "It's the twenty-first century, not the Middle Ages. I don't subscribe to all of the traditional viewpoints. I find most of them stifling, now my father is still very much stuck in the dark ages. Eh, that's neither here nor there, so what about the father, is he in the picture at all?"

He huffs a humorless laugh "Let's just say that the one who is ultimately responsible for my situation I am not speaking to and would prefer not to speak to him ever again if I can help it. If it's alright I would rather not go into any more detail than that."

She grins at him and takes his hand squeezing it gently "No problem dear, you can talk about it or not, my view of you will not change one way or the other because of it. When I make up my mind that I like someone then I like them until they prove otherwise. I can tell now that you are a good person and that we are going to be fast friends."

He chuckles "You aren't like other people your age, most of them are very judgmental and overbearing but you are so easy to be around, I'm very glad that I met you, Auntie."

She smiles radiantly "That is the best compliment I think I have ever received, I am very glad to have met you as well Wuxi. Now let's eat and then we can go to your place if you like and I can start teaching you some things you want to learn. I took the afternoon off today so I am all yours."

He hums smiling "Mn"

They eat lunch and she follows him to his villa when she gets out of the car she looks around with a smile and a discerning eye "I love your place, the lines are beautiful, can we go inside I want to take a look around at your décor."

He giggles at her wide-eyed expression and walks to the door, unlocks it and steps aside so she can walk in. She walks in and scoffs "I knew it! I designed the décor for this villa, I never knew who the client was it was done through a liaison."

His eyes widen in surprise "Seriously? When did you design it?"

She turns and grins at him "About three years ago, the liaison said that the house had not been updated in a decade or more and they wanted something comfortable but modern and this is what I came up with. Do you mind if I look around the house?"

He shakes his head "No go right ahead."

He watches her wander around his home as if a child playing hide and seek, she peeks here and there, chuckles at certain things and clucks her tongue at others then she walks into his art room/office.

She gasps then turns to him with wide eyes "Did you do these? Is this your work?"

He smiles nodding proudly "Yes, I am a graphic artist but I also do physical art as well. Would you like to see more of my work?"

She grins nodding enthusiastically "Yes, I would love to see it."

He walks over to his desk and opens his computer and pulls up his website then gets up and lets her sit down. She sits and begins to click and scroll her way through every piece of artwork on his website. "Wuxi this is amazing, you're very talented. Wow, I am so impressed, your fantasy worlds and locations are so realistic, they are beautiful. Your characters really come to life, I can see how much time and effort you put into each detail of their clothes and looks. You should do concept drawing you would do amazing at it."

He cocks his head to the side "What is that?"

She does a search and pulls up several examples of concept resorts, hotels, commercial buildings, vehicles even fashion or jewelry. I do something sort of like this in my interior designs, I use concepts to give my clients unique designs for their offices or even their whole buildings. I work with my sons but you can absolutely do freelance and sell your designs to different companies like automobile manufacturers or architectural firms, things like that. You don't have to do that at all but you are so talented that I can see you would be wonderful at something like that with the imagination you have. Here are a few of the interiors I have done that were based on concept art."

He looks at her work and grins "These are great! Hmm, I might try something like this it could be interesting and could expand my client base of buyers. Haha, thank you, Auntie, this might really help me get my name out there more."

She pinches his cheek fondly "Come on and let me teach you how to work the appliances in your kitchen. We will cook one of the recipes I gave you and we can have dinner together hm?"

He nods and follows her out of his office and into the kitchen, they spend the next few hours with her showing him how to use all of the items in his kitchen. She teaches him how to use everything from the electric can opener to the oven, how to turn everything on and off and how to regulate the temperature of the stovetop and oven. The only thing she didn't have to teach him how to use was the microwave, which he knew how to use on his own.