“Why?” Clara stared blankly at Du Ruoxin.
Du Ruoxin didn’t know how to explain. She herself often couldn’t fathom her elder brother’s thoughts.
But seeing Clara’s hurt and grief-stricken expression, she couldn’t bear to rub salt into her wounds.
Du Ruoxin took Clara’s hand and quickly comforted her, “No matter what Big Brother thinks, at least he agreed to the child being born, right?”
“There are so many variables in the future, who can say for sure?”
“Don’t overthink things now. Just focus on your pregnancy and be a beautiful expectant mother.”
Clara’s solemn expression gradually returned to normal after Du Ruoxin’s words.
Yes, the future held so many uncertainties, who could predict the outcome?
She had never betrayed Cristiano. Whether he acknowledged it or not, the child’s blood was his.
“Okay,” Clara said, relieved.
The two had endless things to talk about, especially Clara. Being a mother for the first time, she had many questions for Du Ruoxin.
How to maintain her pregnancy, how to conduct prenatal education, precautions during pregnancy…
Once they started talking, it was like a gushing river that couldn’t be stopped.
After dinner, Clara strongly urged Du Ruoxin to stay the night.
“Your brother isn’t coming back tonight, so could you stay and keep me company?” Clara put on a pitiful look. “I’m all alone in E City, without any friends.”
“You’re the only one I can talk to.”
“You have no idea, I’ve been staying in the hospital these past few days, and I’m almost depressed.”
Du Ruoxin couldn’t refuse the plea. Thinking that Rong Jingyang wouldn’t be back tonight, she agreed. “Okay, I’ll stay and keep you company.”
Pregnant women’s emotions were extremely unstable. If negative thoughts weren’t addressed promptly, it could lead to depression, with milder cases involving constant crying and severe cases leading to self-harm or suicide.
When she was pregnant, her mother-in-law never left her side.
Even when Rong Jingyang wasn’t around, she received the best care.
In contrast, Clara…
Her elder brother didn’t care about her and the child, and being in a foreign land with an unfamiliar environment, if Clara dwelled on negative thoughts, she truly risked falling into depression.
Du Ruoxin knew the heartbreak of being alone in an empty room, especially in the quiet of the night.
“Thank you,” Clara said, holding Du Ruoxin’s hand gratefully. “You’re so kind.”
It was May, and the evenings were a bit cool.
Du Ruoxin and Clara played with Rong Doudou for a while. The little girl was getting sleepy and rubbing her eyes.
Seeing this, Clara said, “Ruoxin, could you and Doudou sleep with me tonight?”
“I always have nightmares at night.”
“I don’t know why, it scares me so much that I don’t dare to sleep.”
Du Ruoxin: —
Alas!
What else could be the reason? Falling in love with a man like her brother, which woman could sleep soundly?
It was truly hard on Clara.
“Okay,” Du Ruoxin agreed.
Picking up her daughter, she asked, “Doudou, will Mommy and Auntie sleep with you tonight?”
Rong Doudou, tired from playing, leaned into her mother’s embrace. “Okay.”
Du Ruoxin took her daughter to bathe and brush their teeth, changed into the nightgowns and spare clothes Clara had prepared for them, and the mother and daughter lay down on the bed.
Du Ruoxin hummed a lullaby, and after coaxing her daughter to sleep, she also felt sleepy.
Clara had also finished bathing, her hair still wet and not yet dried.
She had initially wanted to ask a maid to blow-dry it, but Du Ruoxin had said that hairdryers emitted radiation and should be used sparingly.
So, she gave up on that idea.
“Ruoxin, are you hungry?” Clara whispered. “I want to eat something.”
Du Ruoxin was drowsy, her sleepiness growing. “You go eat, I’m not hungry.”
Clara lay down on the bed. “Then never mind, I won’t eat either.”
Du Ruoxin paused. Could pregnant women go hungry? When she was pregnant, she couldn’t go hungry at all. If she did, her heart would race, she’d become restless, easily angered, and ready to pick a fight with anyone.
She sat up, and her drowsiness vanished instantly.
“Let’s go, let’s go eat,” Du Ruoxin quickly got out of bed. “Sister-in-law, what do you want to eat? Did you ask the kitchen to prepare something?”
Clara chuckled softly and followed, putting on her slippers, and left the bedroom. “I don’t have much appetite lately, I throw up whatever I eat.”
“I want to eat, but after eating, I can’t help but throw up.”
“Sigh—”
“What’s wrong with me?”
Du Ruoxin smiled. “Your morning sickness is so severe, you’re likely carrying a son.”
The male hormones in a son’s body would counteract the mother’s female hormones. Generally, people who experience severe pregnancy symptoms could be certain they were carrying a son.
“Sister-in-law, do you prefer a son or a daughter?”
A son?
Clara couldn’t help but touch her belly, her face radiating maternal love. “A son.”
“I hope he’s like J.”
Even if he couldn’t inherit the Rothschild family’s vast fortune, he would receive more attention than a daughter.
Besides, if he stood on the shoulders of the Rothschild family’s giants, how bad could he be?
Du Ruoxin choked slightly. What was so good about being like her elder brother?
He carried the burden of the family’s rise and fall from birth, always had a stern face, and his emotions were never revealed.
It seemed everyone was afraid of him.
But she wasn’t afraid.
“Mmm~” Du Ruoxin hummed softly. “With Big Brother’s maturity and stability, and your liveliness and cheerfulness, it would be perfect.”
“Pfft—”
Clara burst out laughing. “He gets all the good qualities.”
The two went to the dining room. The nanny had cooked preserved egg and lean meat congee. Du Ruoxin, to accompany Clara, also had half a bowl.
After their late-night snack, they returned to the bedroom together.
The moment Clara stepped into the room, she rushed to the bathroom to vomit.
Du Ruoxin frowned.
Pregnancy was truly suffering, yet her elder brother was heartless, not only indifferent to Clara but also so cold and unfeeling.
Alas—
At this moment, Du Ruoxin felt a deep sense of sympathy.
Clara and she were so alike.
Both had fallen in love with heartless, cold, and unfeeling men.
Du Ruoxin became even more determined to be good to Clara.
After Clara finished vomiting, she found Du Ruoxin leaning by the door. She smiled palely. “Do you need to use the bathroom? I’m sorry, just now…”
Du Ruoxin interrupted, “Sister-in-law, what are you saying? I don’t mind.”
She walked in, rinsed her mouth again, and returned to the bedroom.
The moonlight outside shone through the glass into the room. Du Ruoxin looked at the two figures, one big and one small, on the bed and smiled.
Lying beside her daughter, she gradually fell asleep.
“Tick-tock, tick-tock—”
The clock ticked. When Du Ruoxin’s breathing became even, Clara’s eyes suddenly snapped open.
She hadn’t been sleeping.
Pretending to have her eyes closed was just to deceive Du Ruoxin.
Tonight—
Clara flipped out of bed, picked up Rong Doudou, and a hint of ruthlessness flashed in her sinister eyes.