Take My Breath Away

When Erica was eight weeks along, the ultrasound showed she was carrying more than one baby—she was having twins! Matthew was a mighty baby-maker! At least, that was what Erica thought. He should be feeling proud of himself now.

She looked at the man who had done this to her. He was as calm as ever. Erica felt like weeping, but had no tears. She wanted to strangle Matthew again. Why did he always produce so many at once? Wasn't one child good enough?

But since she was pregnant, she could give Matthew hell. After all, what was the point of being bloated and miserable if she couldn't take it out on him? At the thought of this, Erica lost her temper. "Get out!" she ordered.

"What's wrong?" he asked innocently.

"The moon's not full tonight.

We're not sleeping in the same bed. No way," she said. "What does the moon have to do with anything?" What he could do? He couldn't change the phase of the moon.

"It is because I say it is. It's your fault it's not full!" she spat.

Matthew was confused, but he knew she was mercurial. There was no arguing with her when she was like this. He could only go downstairs to whip up a bowl of noodles for her. That was probably the best thing for his pregnant wife.

It did make her feel better, though. And he was able to sleep in the same bed with her.

But in the dark of the night, Erica rested an arm and a leg on Matthew.

It was uncomfortable, but it was meant to be. It was just to make sure he was awake for one more of her demands. "Don't wear a blindfold to bed!"

Well, he could only do as she asked.

"Don't close your eyes!" she ordered again.

Well, he opened his eyes and looked at her.

"Don't breathe!"

On the verge of collapse, Matthew still kept his cool. "Don't breathe? Don't be silly! So...how can I make you happy?"

The woman thought for a while

and answered, "Well, um... you could dance for me."

Matthew was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. He walked into the study. He knew the one person who could answer his questions: Sheffield. He picked up the phone and dialed his number.

After riding him for how late it was, Sheffield listened patiently as Matthew described what was going on. After Matthew concluded his tale of woe, Sheffield burst into laughter. "I guess you'll have to figure out what you can do to make her happy. So it's your fault that the moon's not full. It'll probably be your fault when it's cloudy, too.

All you can do is love her, and try to be patient. Now here's what I want you to do..." After hanging up, Matthew thought Sheffield was right. And he started dialing—he had more calls to make.

Erica woke up early. She was ravenous, and not real happy. But when she emerged from the elevator, the sight that greeted her eyes was a treat.

Matthew walked towards her and said affectionately, "Honey, I know you don't feel good because you're pregnant, so I got these flowers for you, because I love you." He gestured behind him, and there was a huge dome of flowers on the table.

In the center of that arrangement, held in bamboo shoots, were some red roses and globe amaranths. "Wow! That's a lot of flowers. How many flowers did you get?" There were so many flowers there was no way she'd be able to hold them all.

"There should be 1, 314 flowers on that table. I had them shipped by air. I also got you 48 roses and 32 globe amaranths." The word for 1314 sounds similar to "my whole life." Roses symbolize passionate love, amaranths immortality. 4, 832 is approximately how many weeks of life one has from birth to death. But she knew this. "It means I'll love you passionately forever."

The look on her face was a mixture of surprise and happiness. Matthew really wanted to thank Sheffield because it was his idea. 'Maybe I should get him flowers, too, ' he thought, smirking.

"Honey! I love you too!" Erica sweetly kissed the man on the cheek.

From that point forward, he made a point of getting her a bouquet of flowers each day. He had to buy more vases and pots for them to go in, but she was worth it. Not only did he get her flowers, but also all kinds of gems. He tried to please his wife by giving her things that all women wanted. Everything he did was simply to make his pregnant wife smile sweetly.

Fortunately, she was just pregnant with twins, not quadruplets. She had a detailed exam and an ultrasound when she was seven months pregnant. And there were just two of them inside her womb, not four.

When she was eight months along, the doctor recommended bed-rest. Matthew left nothing to chance and made sure she obeyed the doctor's instructions.

After she wailed for the umpteenth time that she would never get pregnant again, Matthew tried to mollify her, also for the umpteenth time. "Okay, I feel you. We won't have any more kids."

Leaning against his chest, Erica asked, "Are you busy today?" What she loved the most was that each day, he would come home from work. They could cuddle and talk. Even if they fought, she was still happy.

"No."

She buried him in questions. "So how's business? You used to be super-busy, but not since I got pregnant. In the last 8 months you only went on a business trip. Company's not in trouble, is it? My studio running okay? How did the photos turn out?" She took a deep breath after that, allowing Matthew to get a word in edgewise.

The man patiently answered the woman's series of questions one by one. "Business is booming as usual, and profits are up. I get my employees to go on business trips for me. And yes, your studio is running great. I've got the best photographers filling in for you. All the photos are credited to the photographer 'for EM Studios.' Your job is to rest, and not worry about this."

"Oh! All right! Let me see your phone!"

Matthew took out his phone from his pocket and handed it to the woman. "Here you go, honey."

As long as Erica didn't run away from him, he would give her whatever she wanted.

She unlocked his phone and looked at the screen. The wallpaper was a photo of the six of them. "You never let me look at your phone before. Why now? What's changed? What was on there that you didn't want me to see?" she asked.

"Hmmph." Matthew didn't deny it.

When she heard this, Erica opened her mouth wide and looked up at the man. "What did you do?" He admitted it!

"There were a lot of your photos on my phone, and I used your photo as the wallpaper. I was also afraid that you would open the Weibo app and find my username." So far, he had nothing to hide from her.

"Really?" Erica asked suspiciously, and then opened his phone album.

The first photo she saw on Matthew's phone was indeed her. It was a photo of her from two days ago. She was fast asleep. Her belly was big, and her hair was a mess. She didn't look good at all. "I'm so ugly in this photo. Delete it," she protested. Matthew grabbed her hand a

Matthew grabbed her hand and said, "Honey, this photo is mine. You can't delete it." She had taken away the glass jar of folded stars and the photo he'd snapped of her so long ago, and refused to give them back to him. Of course he refused flatly.

Erica thought about it a while and decided to let it go. They slept together every day, and he knew how she looked. "Okay, then let go of me. I won't delete it, I swear."

Matthew didn't let go of her hand until he got her promise.

There were about three hundred photos in the album, many of which were of her and the children, and their wedding photos. Of course, most of the photos were of Erica.

The two of them curled up together, scrolling through his gallery. Erica started doing the long blink, and before long, fell asleep in Matthew's arms.

Looking at the sleeping woman, Matthew felt sorry for her.

It was really hard to be a mother. She had to endure the pain of morning sickness at the start of her pregnancy, and then had to carry that weight around every day. Her body was changing and it was out of their control. She had abdominal cramps, leg cramps, and had to go the bathroom all the time.

His hand swept across the woman's big belly, and there was a sudden movement where he touched. Babies often push against the walls of their cage, and these kids were no exception.

Matthew put his hand back on her belly again. There it was again—that strange smaller bulge. He waited a moment and then the bulge returned, in another location. He smiled. His precious daughters were active.

Matthew was addicted to the game. He saw the bulge again, and moved to touch it. It was like some bizarre game of whack-a-mole.

The pregnant woman didn't feel anything and stayed asleep.

After what seemed like forever, the bulges stopped. Maybe the kids were tired and went to sleep themselves.

Matthew got comfortable in the bed and fell asleep himself, his wife in his arms.

However, before long, he was awakened by the sounds of crying.

He opened his eyes and saw his wife's face, streaked with tears.

Matthew moved to hold the woman in his arms. He asked worriedly, "Honey, what's wrong?"

Erica kept crying without saying anything.

Turning on the bedside lamp, Matthew looked at the crying woman and asked, "Are you in pain? Tell me!"

Erica nodded sadly.

"What's wrong? I'll call the doctor over!"

"My tummy hurts."

Matthew picked up the phone and was about to call the doctor, but before he could unlock it, she put her hand on his. When he looked into the woman's eyes, he heard her say, "I'm just... I didn't have enough food last night, so I woke up hungry. Just get me some food..."

'So... she's crying because she's hungry.'

Wiping the cold sweat from his forehead, Matthew breathed a sigh of relief. He put the phone back on the nightstand and asked, "What do you want to eat? I'll cook it."

"I want some lobster." In her dream, a giant lobster bit her belly and threatened her to eat her children. Erica was so angry she swore to eat the lobster.

Then she woke up.

She wanted lobster, which was easy for Matthew.

Erica liked seafood noodles a lot. That was why Matthew cooked them for her, and kept all kinds of seafood in the fridge.

Matthew called the maid downstairs and asked her to fetch an Australian rock lobster. He would cook it later. Then he put on his pajamas and said to the pregnant woman, "Go back to sleep. I'll call you when it's ready."

Shaking her head, Erica said, "I slept too much already. I'm not sleepy now. Help me downstairs?"

Unable to refuse her request, Matthew lifted her up from the bed and the two entered the elevator together.

At three o'clock in the morning, the villa was brightly lit and buzzing with activity. Two maids helped prep the lobster, and Matthew steamed it.

At four o'clock in the morning, the pregnant woman ate the lobster from her dream like she was hoping.

Afterward her husband carried her upstairs, and she fell fast asleep.