“It’s too early to go to bed now. Let’s go out for a bit.” Ashton said before putting down the bowl.
I glanced at the clock and saw that it was eight o’clock. Sure, it’s still quite early, but…
I stood up and said, “But it’s still raining!”
“We’ll go when the rain stops.” He was really stubborn about his plans. After putting the bowl down, he dragged me along to sit on the sofa.
After a brief moment, he said, “I think you should start going for walks and stuff. Pregnant women need adequate exercise too, you know? Slow walks that last for about an hour or two should be sufficient.”
I blinked. Where is he learning all this information from? It was then that I noticed the title of the book that he was reading earlier was named ”The Shears’ Pregnancy Encyclopedia.”
Huh?
So that’s the book that he was so immersed in?
As his gaze fell upon my surprised expression, he coughed and said, “Let’s go out for walks every day from now on.”
I nodded. “What other books did you buy?”
He paused for a moment before replying, “Just the ones that Jared recommended me. And look, the rain has stopped. Go and put on something warm.”
“Do I really need to go?” I whined.
He nodded at me, his gaze firm. “I’ll wait for you here.”
Gosh. It seems like I won’t be able to refuse him. After getting a jacket upstairs, I left the villa with him. The villas were spaced out wide apart in the villa estate to allow for sufficient green space in between.
After walking a short distance, a familiar sense of lethargy soon crept up my legs. I stopped and turned to look at him. “We’ve walked long enough. Let’s go back!”
“It hasn’t even been ten minutes!” He dismissed my pleas sternly. “We’re going to walk for at least another fifty minutes more!”
The pavement was still wet from the rain, but the air felt warm. One could see the reflections of the street lamps lined up along the paths. It was a great place to have a walk at.
It’s just that I don’t want to! I’m lazy!
Unfortunately, with him dragging me on, I had no choice but to follow. The two of us stayed relatively silent, and all that accompanied our walk was the chirping of birds in the surroundings.
As I walked with my head low, I suddenly asked, “Ashton, have you thought of a name for our kid?”
The baby would be due in just a few months’ time.
After some thought, he turned to look at me. “How about Scarla?”
My Grandma named me Scarlett because the color scarlet symbolized courage, passion, force, and joy – qualities she hoped for me to have.
Locking gazes with Ashton, I said, “Scarla… Does that name symbolized a fiery girl like the color scarlet?”
He chuckled, “You could say that.”
“But that’s a girl’s name. What if the baby turns out to be a boy instead?” I said. Even after having a few pregnancy checkups, it did not cross my mind to check the sex of my baby at all, so I was not sure about it myself.
“Well… If it’s a boy, we’ll think about the name after he’s born.” He scoffed, kicking a branch off the ground.
Pouting, I protested, “Ashton! Do you need a lesson on gender equality?”
He pursed his lips as he put his hand around my waist. “That’s just how things are in my family. I can’t help it, you know?”
I rolled my eyes.
After strolling for another twenty minutes, we began on our way back to the villa. However, my legs had pretty much turned into jelly at that point. Wanting to give up, I squatted down and whined, “Ashton, you should go back by yourself. I don’t think I’ll make it.”
He put his hands on his hips as he stared at me. “Gosh. It’s only been thirty minutes so far.”
“I’m not walking even for a minute longer!” I said, placing the umbrella on the ground so that I could sit down. Urgh. Being pregnant is so hard!
He sighed, and kneeled down before me. “Come on up then!”
Is he trying to carry me on his back?
I shook my head, saying, “I don’t think that’s a good idea. It’ll hurt the kid!”
Wiping the sweat off his forehead, he replied lovingly, “How about a princess hug?”
“Hell yeah!” I nodded fervently, grinning from ear to ear.
However, on second thought, I realized that the distance back to the villa was considerably long and hesitated a little. “The road back is quite far. Are you sure that you want to carry me for so long?” I asked.
“If that’s what you think, you’re welcome to stay here.”
Upon hearing that, I instantly got up and wrap my hands around his neck, laughing, “No thanks! Off we go then!”
He carried me up and began walking in the direction of the villa. I could not help but ask, “Am I heavy?”
I knew that he was a disciplined man who did workouts regularly. His muscles were defined and strong, so I usually would not worry about him having a hard time carrying me.
But I have a kid in my belly now! so letting him carrying me is making me feel a tad bit guilty…
He eyed me with an amused expression. “What do you think?”
Guess that means I am heavy, huh.
Tensing up, I started squirming around. “I think you should put me down…” Gosh. Why am I still gaining weight when I’m already controlling my caloric intake?
At that moment, I finally understood why many women would rather not have children. Pregnancy meant that maintaining a conventionally skinny body shape would become pretty much impossible.
He grabbed me tighter and spoke sternly, “Stop it. You’re going to fall at this rate.”
Looking at his serious expression, I stopped moving around. In fact, I got so comfortable in his arms that I was asleep by the time we arrived at the villa.
I had no idea how I entered the villa or how I got back to bed.
The next day.
When I woke up, Ashton was already gone. As I wandered around, I found many books on pregnancy and child-rearing in the study.
Putting my hands on my belly, a sweet feeling warmed my heart. I felt that the baby gave us all something to look forward to in our lives.
