Chapter 816 Crybaby

Chapter 816 Crybaby

"Here!"

"What's this?" William asked, glancing at the folder Amara handed him.

"Senior university."

William was speechless.

"My mom retired and has been researching this all day and it's terrifying. I'm scared to even go home after work. Come on, send her to school."

"You go send her," William didn't need to guess what Amara was up to.

"She'll kill me."

"And she won't kill me?" William shot back.

"You're not her biological son, so killing you would be illegal."

William remained unmoved.

Amara scratched his head and kept trying. "How about this! I'll send yours to your dad, you send mine to my mom."

"Deal?"

"Deal."

Amara pulled out the materials from the folder and dragged William downstairs. Watching Amara enter the reception room, he turned and headed back upstairs.

Thalia was sprawled on the sofa in his study. Seeing him return so quickly, she was a bit puzzled. "Didn't you go to deliver materials to Harper?"

"Amara convinced my dad, so Harper will naturally go along with him."

"How sneaky!"

William tossed the folder onto the coffee table, walked over, propped one hand on the sofa back, bent down and scooped Thalia up by her waist. "It's one thing for others to call me sneaky, but you too?"

"I can't say it?" Thalia hooked her arms around his neck and asked back.

"You can say it, but I don't like hearing it."

"If you don't like it, I can not say it, but Mr. Brown, have you figured out how to shut me up?" Thalia hooked her arms around his neck, tilting her head up to kiss his Adam's apple.

Her teasing made the man's arm supporting the sofa back go weak, his heart racing, desire instantly ignited.

He cupped Thalia's chin and bent down to kiss her.

Lingering and passionate, lips and tongues entwined. Their gasps brushed past each other's ears, sending shivers through them.

William's hands on her body were like carrying fireballs, stirring up waves of heat wherever they passed.

She went weak all over, barely able to hook her arms around his neck to catch her breath.

She collapsed on the sofa, breathing heavily. "Can we?"

William let out a heavy sigh, somewhat helpless. "Wait a bit longer, after the baby's born."

Thalia pushed him away. "Then don't tease me."

Four weeks from her due date, Thalia couldn't sleep through the night. She was a light sleeper, waking at the slightest movement beside her.

Getting up in the morning, as William helped her up, she suggested, "Let's sleep in separate beds tonight!"

"What's wrong?"

"Can't sleep well. I wake up every time you move."

"I'll try to stay still, okay?"

Seeing her silence, William added, "Sleeping separately isn't appropriate. It's 36 weeks now, and the doctor said after 37 weeks, the baby could come at any time."

William patiently persuaded her, and Thalia reluctantly agreed. After two consecutive days, her temper grew irritable.

At 2 AM, she sat up impatiently, turning over.

William was startled wide awake. "What's wrong?"

Thalia threw off the covers and got out of bed, preparing to leave the bedroom. "Thalia..."

"Fine, fine, fine. You sleep, I'm going out."

At 3 AM, the dining room was brightly lit. In front of Amara sat an iPad, and she wore glasses while reading literature.

When encountering unfamiliar vocabulary, she had to flip through a somewhat aged dictionary.

A coffee cup sat at her elbow—she looked ready to battle until dawn.

"Still not sleeping?"

"Looking up some literature. Why aren't you sleeping? Did you disturb Thalia and get kicked out?"

"Yeah." William brought a glass of water and pulled out a chair to sit across from Amara, watching her take off her glasses and rub her eyes.

"Told you not to throw out the sofa in the sitting room. Karma's here now, isn't it?"

After Thalia got pregnant, she kept being clumsy and bumping into things. William was worried and had the sofa removed overnight. Now karma had come. If he hadn't removed it, he'd at least have a sofa to sleep on. Now he'd probably have to sleep on the floor.

"Just buy another set."

"Aren't you worried about formaldehyde in new furniture?"

Amara rubbed her eyes until tears streamed down. William pulled out a few tissues and handed them to her. "If you're tired, sleep."

"Don't dare! I have to live up to my professional duty, can't just let someone die like that."

"Is it serious?" William asked.

Amara shook her head. "Not exactly serious, but definitely a difficult case."

"No experience domestically, so I'm checking foreign literature. Can't find any cases, but at least I tried."

"This is it for this lifetime. If there's a next life, I'm not being a doctor."

In the face of life, everyone is fragile and small. No one can escape this challenge.

After chatting with Amara for a bit, William didn't want to disturb her further and went upstairs to the study. Leaving both the study and bedroom doors open, he lay on the sofa under a blanket. Without Thalia beside him, he didn't sleep well all night.

Every two hours he couldn't help getting up to check on her.

Whether she kicked off the covers or was sleeping in a bad position, it all worried him.

The next day, Grace got up early to go on a business trip to a nearby city. Entering the dining room to pour some water, she saw Amara asleep on a chair. Four chairs pushed together made a makeshift bed—she could easily fall off.

Grace quietly picked up the blanket from the floor and covered her with it.

"Mrs. Smith?"

"What time is it?"

"Six o'clock."

Amara closed her eyes. "I'll sleep a bit more."

...

Week 37 of pregnancy.

Thalia's belly grew larger, and various symptoms of late pregnancy came one after another. Swollen feet, getting up to use the bathroom every hour at night—all of it was enough to put her in a bad mood.

She could tolerate the former.

But stretch marks were the last straw that broke her emotional camel's back.

Throughout her pregnancy, she'd controlled her diet and carefully maintained her skin every day, treating every inch of her skin with care. But in the end, she couldn't escape the fate of stretch marks on her belly.

William was waiting in the bedroom for her to finish her bath. The door was half-open—he didn't dare close it completely, afraid he wouldn't respond in time if anything happened.

He thought it would be like usual, that she'd come out after washing.

Instead, what came was the sound of Thalia crying loudly.

The man outside was so startled he pushed the door open and rushed in.

"What's wrong?"

Thalia cupped her belly and cried loudly. "I have stretch marks."

William crouched in front of her and looked, then stood up, picked up a bathrobe and helped her put it on, pulling her into his arms to comfort her. "It's okay, we can get rid of them later."

"Really?" Thalia sobbed, choking up.

William nodded slowly. "Really."

"Be good, don't cry. If you keep crying, the baby will be born a crybaby like you."

"You're the crybaby." Thalia stamped her foot in anger, crying loudly.

William couldn't help but laugh, holding her.

Ever since Thalia found it inconvenient to go out, Evelyn often came to Mistwood Hill to see her.

She always came during the day. In the evenings, when everyone came home, the family would be happily together, and she felt awkward about visiting.

This day, as usual, Evelyn came up to keep her company.

In the afternoon, just as she was preparing to leave, she ran into William, who'd come home early.

"Leaving?"

"Yeah, don't want to disturb your family time."

William took the hot towel Fallon handed him and wiped his hands, took off his jacket, and squeezed some hand sanitizer onto his hands. "They all have their own things tonight. Stay for dinner. Call Elijah too, let's get together. Daniel and Nicholas are coming over tonight too."