Chapter 1294 - Long, Agonizing Wait
Chapter 1294 – Long, Agonizing Wait
The delivery room door opened. Everyone turned their heads to see Jin Liwei and Dom supporting a pale Iris in a customized hospital gown.
"Oh dear." Huang Yuyan immediately hurried towards them but Jin Liwei refused to leave his wife's side.
Dom stepped aside to let Huang Yuyan support Iris with Jin Liwei.
Huang Yuyan fished out a handkerchief and wiped Iris' sweaty forehead. "How are you feeling, Xiulan?"
Iris only grunted and focused on walking in slow, laboured steps. Her mother-in-law didn't mind that she didn't respond. On the contrary, Huang Yuyan was very understanding and inquired her son instead.
Jin Liwei's expression was unsightly. He couldn't hide his fear and anxiety but was still doing his best to get it together for his wife's sake. This wasn't the time for him to crumple under pressure. Seeing his wife enduring this kind of suffering felt like there was a knife being stabbed directly into his heart.
If only it were possible, he would gladly take away all of her pain and endure everything for her. Unfortunately, all he could do was stay beside her and give her moral support.
"The doctor recommended for her to take a walk," he told his mother.
Huang Yuyan nodded. "Yes, taking a walk should make the actual childbirth a little easier. That's what I did too when I gave birth to you and your brother back then."
"Ah!"
Iris stiffened and cried out in pain.
Jin Liwei looked as if he was experiencing the same pain. He hugged her and tried soothing his poor wife.
"What the fuck is the damned doctor doing?" Lu Zihao's murderous voice demanded.
A huge, hulking shadow covered Iris, Jin Liwei and Huang Yuyan.
"How come the medical staff is not doing anything for the pain?! Those damned quacks! I'll fucking beat some sense into their shitty brains—"
"Ni—Zihao!" The pregnant Long Jinjing caught up with him. She tried pulling his arm but to no avail. "Please c-calm down. Don't do anything rash, okay?"
The sweaty and panting Iris peered at them through pain-filled eyes. She muttered something to Lu Zihao but her voice was too faint for others to hear what she was saying. Only Jin Liwei who was the closest to her caught some Russian words. However, his proficiency level in the language was too rudimentary for him to understand what his wife said to her brother.
Lu Zihao heard his sister and read her lips at the same time. He looked torn but eventually calmed down. Somewhat. He glanced at Long Jinjing and calmed down some more.
"Come," he said while already pulling his woman away.
"W-wait! Where are we going?"
"I'm taking you to Jiang Ying Yue," Lu Zihao answered.
"B-but—"
Lu Zihao bent down and carried her like a princess. "Help Jiang Ying Yue watch over her kid and the cats."
She opened her mouth about to argue again but he silenced her with a deep, hard kiss. Dazed, she could no longer remember what she wanted to tell him.
"It's better for you not to witness my sister giving birth," he told her.
"…huh? Why?"
'It might traumatize you,' was what Lu Zihao wanted to say but stopped himself in time.
Actually, this was what his sister told him just now. Iris still managed to notice the frightened Long Jinjing through the haze of labour pains. She told him to take Long Jinjing away to avoid traumatizing the woman.
Long Jinjing had a rather timid personality. If she got too frightened witnessing Iris experience the pain of childbirth, it might cause a negative impact on Long Jinjing when it was her turn to give birth next.
Lu Zihao didn't want to leave his little sister like this but his own pregnant fiancé was important to him, too. If something happened to Long Jinjing and their own twins due to his negligence, then he would never forgive himself.
His little sister's reminder forced him to clear his mind. She had her husband now who could stay by her side while he also had his own pregnant woman who he needed to care for.
"We'll come back and visit my sister after she gives birth to our nephews," he told Long Jinjing.
She studied his expression before nodding. "You can put me down now. I'm…h-heavy."
"Nonsense." Lu Zihao snorted "I can still carry you even with just one arm."
She leaned her head against his shoulder and hid her smiling face before mumbling, "And Xiulan is MY sister, not yours."
Lu Zihao filtered out what she said…as always.
###
The sun set and darkness spread across the sky.
More people arrived at the hospital wing. Long Tengfei and Yang Jiahui came with Meimei.
"How come the baby hasn't come out yet?" Long Tengfei asked his wife while scowling at his wristwatch. "Is this normal?"
He tried remembering the times when his own children were born but came out blank. During those times, he had been too focused on expanding Long Industries into the international shipping industry. In short, he hadn't personally witnessed the birth of any of his children. He only came to see the mothers when the babies were already born and cleaned up for meeting him.
Yang Jiahui didn't have any children of her own so she couldn't give her husband a definite answer. All she could do was try to calm him down.
The atmosphere in the waiting lounge area had grown heavy.
Iris had been in labour since the morning. It was now evening.
She would sometimes come out of the room to walk around the hallways so they saw with their own eyes how she gritted her teeth through the painful contractions.
Even the usually loud and lively Grandpa Lu was now brooding in nervous silence.
Lu Zihao returned followed by the butler wheeling a cart filled with some light refreshments.
"Haohao, where's Jinjing my girl?" Grandpa Lu asked his grandson.
"Sleeping with the cats in our room," Lu Zihao replied before taking a position by the window with the most direct view of the delivery room door.
He leaned against the window and crossed his muscled arms across his wide chest. His eyes never left the door.
He wasn't the only one.
All of them could only sit through the long, agonizing wait and pray for the mother and baby's safety.