[This is an adaptation, this story is not mine. The credits goes to the original writer. Please do not vote!]
"I'm sorry," Jennie apologized in a soft voice.
"It's not your fault. You may be pregnant but that does not mean you cannot go anywhere. We can only blame Zhu Hexuan for having malicious intent. This is not your responsibility, why should you still claim responsibility for it when you are being hurt. If you didn't bump into Zhu Hexuan tonight, then nothing would have happened," Lisa said. He took in a deep breath. His fingers tidied her hair, and he massaged her scalp to help her relax.
He pulled himself apart from her slightly and lowered his head to look at her. He wiped away her tears and said, "You did well, remembering what I said to not eat street food and knowing that I would be assured if you eat at Sheng Yue. If you have a craving and don't feel like stepping out of the house, you can call Sheng Yue and have them delivered to you. If you want to eat noodles and are afraid that they won't taste good after delivery, you can ask the chef to come and cook for you on the spot. Don't get your hands tied and be afraid because of what happened tonight. I don't blame you. I only blame those with bad intentions."
"Whether or not if you want to come out or stay at home, it's up to you," Lisa continued. "Just remember to protect yourself and don't let yourself get hurt, my heart can't bear it."
Jennie was like a child receiving instructions, she nodded obediently and assured, "I will protect myself."
Lisa smiled, he lowered his head to kiss her gently on her forehead and stroked her back. This helped to calm her and his beating heart.
"Don't let the two elders know about what happened tonight, they will be worried," Lisa said. "They should be asleep by now. If they ask about it tomorrow morning, just say that you ate at Sheng Yue and coincidentally met me when I finished my meeting and we came back together."
If the two elders knew what happened, they might nag Jennie.
Jennie nodded obediently.
When they reached home, the two elders had slept. Aunt Zhuang was waiting for them, and she had asked Aunt Chen to go to bed first.
Jennie was frightened tonight. Both of them speedily washed up and went to bed. Lisa hugged her with one hand, and he placed his other hand on her stomach.
Jennie felt her stomach warmed up from his touch and she gradually felt at peace. The warmth spread from her stomach to her limbs, she felt warm from being hugged, and finally closed her eyes to sleep in peace.
She did not know, however, that after she closed her eyes, Lisa's eyes stayed wide opened throughout almost the whole night looking at her. Even though he had consoled Jennie, but deep in his heart, he was actually very afraid. He had to be a pillar of support to Jennie and let her feel at peace because he is a man, and he could not show his weakness in front of her.
As long as he is standing, Jennie would not fall.
It was only now after Jennie had slept that he dared to show his fragility, and slowly digest tonight's frightening experience.
...
Perhaps from the fright last night, Jennie did not sleep well. She kept waking up suddenly at night, her eyes wide open in fear.
Every time she woke up in fright, Lisa would be the first to know. He would always know even though she did not make a sound when she woke up.
His chin rested on her forehead, and she could feel his Adam's apple that slightly protruded. His big and warm hand patted her gently on the back. Even though both of them did not say anything, but Jennie felt safe under his silent comfort and shut her eyes falling asleep again.
This repeated throughout the whole night. At seven in the morning, Jennie woke up and opened her eyes. Even though she did not sleep well at night, but at least she had rested.
Lisa definitely did not rest enough as he was awakened by her through the night. He was afraid that if he slept deeply, he would not know when she woke up and hence, he did not get as much rest as she did.
When Jennie opened her eyes, she saw Lisa sleeping in front of her. There were dark circles under his eyes, it was obvious he did not have a good rest.
She only moved slightly when she woke up, her actions were not easily noticeable. Lisa's eyes were closed, but as if on reflex, his hand immediately patted her back gently and soothingly. He was so tired from not having enough rest that his eyes were closed.
Jennie did not know if Lisa did this the whole night. Now that she was awake, she could clearly see that he did. Her eyes went red, and it felt warm and stung a bit from her tears. She was very touched, but she also felt bad and heartache.
She abandoned her thoughts of getting up. She closed her teary eyes and cuddled into Lisa's embrace, her hands hugged him tightly at the waist as she smelled the familiar pine tree fragrance on him.
She loved this man so dearly, she loved him so much.
She could not understand, why was he so good, how could he be so good.
He had always said that she thought too much, afraid of troubling him, afraid of disturbing him. He was always so good to her; how could she not think for him?
Even if she thought for him, she would still unintentionally create trouble for him; such as this time and he did not sleep well. The more he did as such, the more she wanted to treat him better, but she felt that it was still not enough no matter what she did.
Jennie felt that even if she gave her life to him it would also not be enough.
Lisa felt her; perhaps it was from her tight hug on his waist, or it could be from her tears quietly flowed out, wetting her eyelashes and transferring it on to his naked chest.
Lisa's eyelashes fluttered and he opened his eyes. He lowered his head and saw Jennie's face stuck closely and tightly to his chest as if she wanted to melt her flesh and bones into his.
Thinking that she was having nightmares again and was scared, Lisa hugged her tight and patted her back gently.
Jennie raised her head, her red eyes looking at him.
"Are you awake?" Lisa's eyes were still sleepy, his voice was low and hoarse, but it felt like the warm sun shining pleasantly into her heart.
Her fair ears could not help to wriggle, it could one day get pregnant from his voice.
"Did you have a nightmare again?" Lisa asked in a low voice, he lowered his head and kissed her at the corner of her eye.
Jennie shook her head, and replied, "I woke up, and saw you suffered from not having a good sleep because of me."
She raised her hand, her soft fingers caressed his dark eye circles, her eyes expressed obvious heartache with it.
"Your eyes are red because of this?" Lisa chuckled. His slender and defined fingers brushed her long hair, sweeping them all to the back of her head.
Jennie shook her head again. He probably was not even aware of his reflex actions in his sleep.
She felt heartache for that very sole reason.
Jennie smiled. She raised her head but could only reach his unshaven chin and kissed it before saying, "I'm awake now so don't worry. I'm not afraid now. You did not rest well through the night, sleep in a bit more."
Jennie got up and out of bed, and Lisa could not sleep as he felt his embrace was empty. He decided to get up and Jennie's advice went unheeded.
They both went downstairs. The two elders just came back from their exercise and saw them. Old Master Manoban asked in surprise, "Why are both up so early today?"
They usually slept in quite late during the weekends, especially after Jennie was pregnant, she ensured that she had sufficient sleep, but both woke up early today.
"I can't sleep anymore," Jennie replied, smiling. Her eyes were not red anymore and both the elders did not detect anything amiss.
Old Lady Manoban noticed Lisa's panda eyes and asked, "Lali, did you not sleep well last night?"
"I had a few drinks with a customer last night and drank a bit more than usual. I came back late and did not get much rest. When Jennie woke up, she wanted me to sleep some more but I couldn't do so alone. I will take a nap later when I'm tired," Lisa explained.
Old Lady Manoban did not suspect anything.
Aunt Zhuang stood by the side calmly and did not say anything. She was the one who waited last night for Lisa and Jennie.
When they came back, the atmosphere was a bit weird. Lisa also did not have any smell of alcohol on him. It was obvious that they told a white lie so the two elders would not be worried. Aunt Zhuang did not say anything.
Aunt Chen and Aunt Zhuang were making dumplings. Jennie had a craving for it. She was in the car one morning passing by a street food stall. Many people were sitting on the low benches in cold weather, eating hot dumplings and drinking hot soup and munching on crunchy scallion pancakes. It looked so delicious that Jennie's mouth watered and she had to swallow her saliva to satisfy her cravings.
Old Lady Manoban was concerned with the quality of the ingredients that the street food stall used to make the dumplings and scallion pancakes, they may not use good meat and you would not what sort of cooking oil they used; hence she did not allow Jennie to eat outside and Aunt Chen and Aunt Zhuang made it at home.
"The scallion pancake is baking in the electric pan, the dumplings will be ready soon," Aunt Chen said, smiling.
Jennie's eyes brightened hearing her words. Old Master Manoban and Old Lady Manoban burst out laughing at her mouth-watering look.
Kuma ran to the kitchen counter and stood up with his front paws at the counter side, its mouth and nose smelling the electric pan incessantly. After that, it looked up and howled as if it was urging the electric pan to cook faster.
Since moving to the Old Mansion, Kuma had stopped eating dog food and it had gotten fatter and rounder!
Around ten in the morning, Lisa and Jennie started packing to move to Sheng Town.
So-Hyun and Suzy also came. Louis volunteered to come, citing earnestly that he could help to take care of Kuma so the adults had one less thing to worry about.
Kuma seemed to know that it will be moving away as it saw Lisa and So-Hyun putting in suitcases into the car boot. Thinking of how it would have to eat dog food again, it started to sob and tugged on Old Lady Manoban's pants with its paws, indicating that it did not want to leave and wanted to stay on to eat delicious meat and chew on yummy bones.
Besides, it had just buried a bone in the back yard last night!
How could it leave just like that!
Unfortunately, Kuma was suppressed cruelly by Louis. Louis's pudgy body sat on Kuma, and it fell with its tongue stuck out and eyes rolling.
Louis sat on Kuma's back. Kuma looked like a tortoise, its four paws stuck out straight on the floor, its sharp ears flipping front and back.
Louis's black eyes rolled. Seeing that the adults were not paying attention to them, he discreetly said into Kuma's ear, "Be good, follow us to the new house. I will be your neighbor and I can feed you meat and bones every day!"
Kuma's ears moved, it howled and suddenly stood straight up.
Louis was not prepared and was flung to the floor by Kuma. His fat butt hit the ground, stunning him.
Jennie and Lisa had stayed here for a while. Old Master Manoban and Old Lady Manoban felt the house was lively seeing them every day and they were happy. Now that they are moving out, the two elders could not bear the thought of it and felt that the house will be empty.
Jennie noted Old Lady Manoban's reluctant expression, and she could not bear it in her heart too and said, "If not, we don't move? We can always stay here with Grandpa and Grandma."
"Don't, don't," said Old Master Manoban. He might not bear the thought of it, but he still waved his hand, and continued, "You should have your place to stay given that you are now both married. How can you continue to stay with us? Leave quickly. It would be more convenient for you youngsters as well to stay separately from us."
Old Lady Manoban nodded in agreement. Jennie said, "Or, we could come back every three to five days and stay with you. Please don't think we are troubling you then."
Old Lady Manoban was very happy, and kept nodding her head saying, "Good, good."
Even Old Master Manoban was delighted and could not help to twirl his beard and said, "Then come back every two to three months to stay for two to three months."
Lisa, "..."
So-hyun, "..."
Jennie, "..."
Suzy, "..."
What happened to the imposing manner of rushing people to leave?
Kuma was the happiest, wagging its tail and howling up into the sky.
"Let us tidy up the house and you two Elders can come and stay with us for a few days," Lisa said.
Old Master Manoban waved his hand and said, "No need for us to stay for a few days, we can come by to take a look."
...
There was not a lot to tidy at the bungalow in Sheng Town. Lisa had instructed people to clean it every day, and every room had an air purifier to remove the smell of formaldehyde and other pollutants from the renovation. The smell was close to non-existent, as they had used the best materials when customizing the furniture and as such when the furniture was sent over and set up, all smell had dissipated.
However, Lisa was still concerned and had the air purifiers on for almost the whole day to clear out the smell completely.
All Jennie and Lisa had to do were to move and put their personal belongings and toiletries there. It was as simple and convenient as when Jennie moved into Ding City.
Even that, moving the stuff there and setting them up also took half a day. When it was dinner time, Suzy asked them both to come over for dinner.
Jennie lamented during dinner, "It is so convenient for us to stay so near to each other now. It's just one corner to come for dinner."
Suzy laughed and said, "You might feel convenient now, but wait till Louis come troubling you at your place and you will feel bothered."
Louis was munching on a drumstick. Hearing that, he puckered his oily lips and exclaimed, "I'm not a trouble, I'm a good boy! There is no uncle as good and cute as I am!"
"Yes, yes, yes, our uncle is a good boy," Jennie said as she beamed and nodded her head.
Lisa, "..."
Louis felt proud hearing that. He thrust his chest forward and sat up straighter and gobbled down two more bowls of rice!
Understanding that they just moved in today and taking into consideration Jennie's current physical condition that she might tire easily, Rosé and Zheng Yuntong did not come to visit even though they stayed in the same neighborhood.
Rosé was going on a business trip the next day; Zheng Yuntong had nothing much to do but would rather wait for Rosé to visit together and decided to come by next week for the housewarming.
Before Jennie and Lisa moved in, Ryujin and the gang were already very excited wanting to come over for housewarming. Once they found out that they had planned to move in today, they set the date to visit the very next day as it was a Sunday.
...
Early the next morning at around seven, Lisa and Jennie were still asleep when the doorbell rang.
Aunt Zhuang was in the kitchen preparing Dough Drop and Vegetable Soup. Jennie woke up in the middle of last night, citing that she had dreamt about the fragrant dish and craved for it.
Lisa did not care that it was three in the morning. He put on his pants, went downstairs and knocked on Aunt Zhuang's door to inform her about Jennie's cravings and to cook the dish for Jennie in the morning.
Aunt Zhuang was dreaming of being a queen in an unknown era and was enjoying life; she only need to sit and be pampered, she would be carried around in a sedan chair whenever she was out, whatever she wants to eat she would get it and she did not even have to use her own hands. She was dreaming happily when Lisa woke her up.
She was stirring the egg in the flour when she heard the doorbell rang. Aunt Zhuang washed and dried her hands and went to the door. She opened the door and was horrified to not find anybody there.
She heard somebody calling her from below. She lowered her head and saw Louis at the door. He was dressed in a sports outfit.
Aunt Zhuang looked at the time and was shocked again. She quickly let Louis come in and asked, "Why are you so early?"