Love in the Midst of Mistaken Identities

“Of course.” Xia Ruoxin smiled faintly, gently taking her daughter’s hands and holding them tight. “You will be as beautiful as me when you are an adult.”

“So, I will be as beautiful as you?” Her eyes curved into a pair of crescents. She wanted to be as beautiful as her mother.

Xia Ruoxin pinched her daughter’s nose hard. “Little imp, aren’t you beautiful now? Look around you. In the whole hospital, which child has your looks that can seduce these uncles and aunties’ souls away?”

“Mommy, it hurts. You are such a fierce mother.” Rainy pouted her mouth. However, she liked it like this.

“Mommy, I want to listen to a story—the one about Snow White.” She lay down quietly using her mother’s thigh as a pillow. The IV (Intravenous Therapy) drip was still attached to her little hand so she couldn’t move around much.

Xia Ruoxin patted her daughter’s tiny body gently as she started to tell the story. Actually, she had told her countless fairy tales. However, her daughter was weird. If she liked something, she would love it wholeheartedly. For the things that she hated, it was the same.

She never grew tired of listening to that same fairy tale and her favorite doll.

At this time, no one knew that Chu Lui’s body had started to feel weak after he hung up the telephone. Another body stood plastered at his back. It was soft and warm. Instinctively, he reached out and held tight onto the woman’s hands at his waist.

“Lui, do you think we will have a boy or a girl?” Li Manni asked sweetly. She heard that telephone conversation. Ha, that bastard was finally dying. There’s also the possibility that Xia Ruoxin might not survive the ordeal.

She wanted to see who would dare to vie with her for Chu Lui, her husband. He belonged to her, now and forever. She was the only one to deserve such a perfect marriage even if he did not love her as much as she had imagined.

However, they would live together as husband and wife. In this lifetime, they would live together as husband and wife.

“I’m fine with both, whether it’s a boy or a girl.” Chu Lui turned around, took Li Manni into his arms, and sat her on his lap. Then, he laid his hand on her stomach. There was a child inside. A child of his own.

He did not know why, but it didn’t feel real to him.

“Lui, I’m really happy because I have you and the baby with me.” Li Manni’s smile was filled with joy even more so when she was sleeping.

Chu Lui remained silent. She was happy. Was he?

Unwilling to dwell further on this matter, he embraced the woman tightly and told himself that he was already a husband and a father. He had a successful career, affluent, and he had a lovely wife as well as an unborn child.

What more could he have asked for? What else was he unsatisfied about?

He put his chin atop Li Manni’s head.

His hand remained on her stomach, caressing gently.

Was it a boy or a girl?

In fact, he had wanted a girl, a baby girl who looked like that little girl. She would grow up to be a pretty girl with big eyes, long eyelashes, and a little red mouth. She would call him ‘Daddy’, let him carry her, and be his little princess.

However, the operation tomorrow had been canceled. The only thing that child might have to wait for was for her condition to become worse.

Then, she would leave this world.

He felt extremely bad and depressed, even suffocating. He didn’t want things to turn out this way. Yet, it had to be. He let go of Li Manni, patted her face lightly, and said, “I have to retrieve something. Stay here and don’t run around.” The Li family and the Chu family were already treating her like a priceless treasure. At times when she walked a few more steps, that would send them into a frenzy of worrying. The doctor had said that her pregnancy was still unstable at its current stage, and she needed to take special care, especially for the first three months.

Li Manni nodded her head and sat down. Her eyes never left the man’s silhouette as he was leaving. However, the smile that had remained on her lips began to crumble as the look of utmost unhappiness surfaced on her face.

He left. Was he going out to see that woman and that child?

She stood up, walked over to the window, and gently peeled the curtains apart. Indeed, Chu Lui got in the car and drove off. Soon, he vanished out of her sight.

She put the curtains down and sat on the sofa again. She raised her head and watched the clock on the wall, waiting for time to pass as it went from seconds to minutes.

Chu Lui drove like a speed demon. He wanted to see that child, perhaps for the very last time. However, even if he were to see her, he would not know what to say. He could have saved her. In the end, he chose not to.

He could explain it to her. Would she understand at such a tender age?

The car screeched to a stop by the side of the road. He took out his cigarettes from his pocket, lit one, and began smoking. This was the only thing that seemed to calm his uneasiness. By now, there was a slight tremor in his fingers which was holding the cigarette. As he exhaled, the smoke quickly clouded the view in front of his eyes.

At this moment, his mobile phone in the car started ringing. He did not want to answer it, but that ringing melody refused to stop. Its continuous ringing roared in his ears as though it was calling out for his life.

Finally, he took his mobile phone out. When he saw the displayed number, he began having second thoughts about answering. It was Li Manni who was currently at home.

There was no way he could refuse the call. So, he placed the mobile phone against his ear and answered with a solemn ‘hello’. His voice was filled with suppressed emotions.

“Lui, I don’t feel so good. Can you come back?” It was Li Manni’s weeping voice from the other end of the phone. Chu Lui hurriedly placed his phone plastered to his face while his other hand was already starting the car.

I’ll be back soon, very soon. Manni, don’t be afraid.

He tossed the phone aside. The intersection was right ahead.

If he turned left, he would head towards that child he could save but chose not to. If he turned right, there was his wife who was currently pregnant. He pursed his lips into a tight line as he clenched his hands over the steering wheel until a shade of white appeared on his knuckles.

He steered the car to the right; his choice was still his wife. As for that child, he might have liked her a lot as though he had met his little bride once more. However, that couldn’t possibly be Yixuan. Now, nothing was more important than Li Manni.

She was carrying her child and Chu Lui’s.

The car sped by as he stepped on the accelerator without any hesitation. This time, he knew that he would never see that child ever again. There was no need to. He would leave things as it was because he had no wish to see a cold and lifeless little body.