Take My Breath Away

Debbie raised her head and found Carlos standing at the door. When she noticed the thermos meal box in his hand, she grimaced. "Come on. Soup again?"

She had been eating soup every day for the last week. Three times a day. The soup wasn't the only food she had to eat. To nourish her, Miranda had been cooking all kinds of dishes for her every day. Debbie always ended up overeating after each meal.

Initially, the cook had prepared the soup for Debbie, but in time she came to dislike the taste of it. So Carlos had decided to make the soup himself.

Evelyn had been eating the soup for a week as well, and the little girl had gained some weight.

Carlos walked inside the room and put the meal box on the table. Bending over, he took the baby from Evelyn and made her comfortable in his arm. Then he scooped Evelyn up with his other arm. "Isn't she prettier than before?" he asked Evelyn.

Evelyn nodded absent-mindedly with her eyes fixed on the thermos meal box. "Daddy, is that soup?" She couldn't help swallowing. She loved the soup her daddy cooked.

The eager look on her face amused Carlos. He put her down and Terilynn back in the cradle. "Yes. I'll ladle some for you."

"Mmm...great." Evelyn ran happily towards the bathroom to wash her hands. When she was done, she sat nicely at the table.

Debbie finished a bowl of soup miserably. No sooner had she put the bowl down then Ramona came in with a meal box. "Deb, I brought you snacks. Mango-flavored and durian-flavored. I brought some for Evelyn too."

"Thank you, Grandma," said Evelyn sweetly.

Debbie's eyes lit up when she heard there were snacks. She was happy to eat anything but soup.

Carlos knew that she was sick of eating soup. Stroking her hair, he said, "This is medicinal soup. It's good for your health. Hang in there. Only half a month to go." Debbie had lost a lot of blood during the childbirth, so she needed nourishment for her body.

The delicious durian layered cake was too much of a distraction. Busy relishing it, Debbie nodded at whatever Carlos had said.

The long, miserable, and dull first month after the birth of their child had finally passed, and Debbie was thrilled that she could leave the hospital and go home.

Once she got home, Debbie had a delightful bath and then dried herself off and went to the wardrobe to pick out a dress.

"Aargh!" A shriek was heard from the master bedroom.

Carlos had just finished dressing. When he heard the scream, he dashed into the walk-in closet and asked, "Honey, what happened?"

Debbie turned to him with a sad face. He noticed that her dress wasn't zipped up. "Why didn't you zip your dress up?"

He walked over to help her, but Debbie punched him in the shoulder. "Because I couldn't! Look at me. I'm huge! It's all your fault. You fed me too well."

Carlos was stunned for a moment and then he chuckled.

"Why are you laughing? During the pregnancy, I wanted to practice yoga, but you didn't let me. Look at me now. I want my good figure back!" Debbie cried, feeling frustrated.

"You can come to the gym with me from now on, and practice yoga there," Carlos suggested with a smile.

"It's a good idea, but what should I do now? Look at my fat waist! I'm over 75 kg, and there's nothing I can wear in the wardrobe," she said, squeezing the fat on her waist. Debbie used to wear a size M. Now nothing fit her in the closet.

"Don't stress yourself. I'll have some clothes delivered here. You can spend the whole day picking out clothes."

"But there's nothing big enough for me to wear in the franchised stores." Debbie sighed and whimpered.

"Leave it to me." Carlos made arrangements quickly.

Under an hour after he had left for work, people from different clothing stores started arriving at the manor with clothes in a large size.

Soon, the big living room was full of clothes racks with clothes hanging from them.

While Miranda helped Debbie choose clothes, she asked, "Why are you so upset? Didn't you gain weight when you were pregnant with Evelyn? You'll get your figure back soon," Miranda comforted her.

"I practiced yoga when I was pregnant with Evelyn, so I wasn't this big back then. Carlos was worried that I might hurt myself or the baby during the exercise, so he forbade me from practicing yoga. Meanwhile, you know, he cooked all kinds of medicinal soup for me, and I ate too much. Due to the lack of exercise and overeating, no wonder I have become as huge as a tub."

Almost all the clothes fit Debbie, so all she needed to do was pick out the ones that she liked.

Carlos had also hired a designer, just in case she didn't like any of the clothes. So if Debbie wanted something custom-made for her, the designer could start at once.

However, Debbie wasn't too picky. She soon found the clothes that she liked.

With their job done, the clerks from the clothing shops left, taking the rest of the clothes with them. Debbie was relieved that it was over and was going to play with Terilynn. However, there was a knock on the door, and another group had arrived with shoes, bags, and jewelry.

Debbie would prefer to do the shopping at the stores rather than home, so they were all dismissed.

Time had passed quickly, and in a few more days, Terilynn would be 100 days old. There would be a celebration feast in honor of that milestone. Fortunately, Debbie had managed to lose a lot of weight before that event.

She was able to wear her old size M again and even some size S clothes.

Carlos had been very busy lately, and he came home late or at times didn't come home at all.

Debbie became suspicious, but having Carlos followed would sound out of line. So she had a better idea—threatening Dixon. "Mr. Huo has been secretly preparing for your wedding. He wants to hold your wedding ceremony on the same day as Terilynn's 100th-day celebration feast. He wanted to surprise you, but now it's ruined," he confessed.

Debbie felt terrible about ruining Carlos' plan, but she was also excited about their wedding.

"Mrs. Huo knows everything," Dixon told Carlos as soon as he returned to the office.

Carlos furrowed his brows and threw him a sideways glance. After a moment of wondering, he asked, "How did she threaten you?"

Recalling what Debbie had said, Dixon felt that he had made a mistake in making friends with Debbie. "She said that if I didn't tell her the truth, she would tell you that she and I had schemed together against you to get your wealth. I know you would choose to believe her over me, and even if I didn't do anything like that, you would make it look like I did.

So I had no choice but to tell her."

Now that Debbie found out, Carlos decided not to keep it from her anymore.

That afternoon, he dropped what he was doing, canceled all the arrangements, and took Debbie to a bridal studio.