I observed Ashton quietly through the rearview mirror. After shaving, his charming, good looks were restored with no sign of having gone through an all-nighter at all.
Being the extrovert she was, Emery started talking not long after the car sped off, “I know it is not good to compare, but look at you, Mr. Fuller. You are so busy, and yet, you still make time to bring Scar to the hospital, unlike Hunter. When we finally get a long-awaited holiday, he spends it on some random academic seminar. Tsk tsk…”
I just sat there, feeling awkward. While it was perfectly acceptable to complain to girlfriends, it was quite embarrassing for a wife to complain about her husband in front of another man. Emery seemed to be losing her filters after having her child. At that thought, I reminded myself to talk to her about it later on.
Ashton focused on driving and did not respond right away. I thought he didn’t hear it and was about to heave a sigh of relief when I heard his low voice pipe up.
“I did not manage to protect her properly the last two times. If I don’t make up for it this time around, I will have no comparative advantage over Professor Zane.”
It was a perfect response. Ashton did not deny that he was a good husband, but he did not run down Hunter either. This was the best way to protect the dignity of both men. I let out a laugh upon hearing that. Meanwhile, Emery was dumbstruck as she had not expected that the joke would be on her.
Since Ashton had raised Hunter to such a high pedestal, it would be too much of her to keep complaining about him.
With that, silence ensued in the car and soon, we reached the hospital.
Professor Zidd did a routine examination on me and beckoned Ashton and Emery back into the room with a rather serious look, which worried me. I had the feeling that we would get some bad news today.
After a long silence, Professor Zidd finally looked up and stared at Ashton solemnly. “Mr. Fuller, don’t you even know your responsibility as a husband?”
All three of us were taken aback by this strange question.
Then, his expression changed, and he sighed a little before saying, “I thought that when you looked for me, you would have done your research. Didn’t you know that both of you’re not supposed to get intimate throughout this treatment?”
His tone was grim with a hint of anger. Both Ashton and I were flabbergasted at the same time before blushing rather bashfully.
Always up for a good show, Emery attempted to stifle a laugh and commented, “Cough, cough, Doctor, do try to empathize with them. It has been a difficult journey for them, and now that they have finally gotten together, it is difficult for them to hold back their passion.” My face blushed even more furiously after Emery said that. I then pursed my lips and turned to shoot a warning glare at her.
However, she was clearly not threatened by me at all. Emery was still laughing heartily and only stopped out of respect for Professor Zidd. “Fine, fine, I’ll stop talking now. You guys continue. Just pretend that I’m invisible.”
Professor Zidd’s face remained grim for quite a long time before he looked at Ashton and me solemnly. “I did not remind you yesterday, so I’m at fault too. However, I really hope that you will remember this from now onwards. You are both still young and passionate, and yes, some things tend to happen naturally. But you need to make your objectives clear. The whole in vitro fertilization process takes about two to three months, and together with the pregnancy, it’s only about a year. If you can’t even keep your hands off each other throughout this one year, I think we can all stop wasting each other’s time.”
