Chapter 93: You’re Supposed To Be My Friend
Francis sat down beside her and touched her arms. “I was just kidding. I won’t act like a stalker if you can really take good care of yourself. But it turned out that you’re still so capricious and silly.”
Scarlett remained silent.
“Scarlett, do you understand what I’m saying? I just need a sense of security. That’s all… and only by knowing that you’re safe and healthy can I feel secure.”
Scarlett turned around and said, “Tell your team of stalkers to do better.”
***
Since Scarlett was pregnant, Francis always went straight home after work. He was so focused on being a good husband and father that he refused to attend any parties or social activities after work these days.
As Francis walked into the house, he started to look for Scarlett. After he loosened his tie and hung it on the shelf., he took a look around the kitchen and living room. There was no sign of Scarlett, so he asked Shirley Gilmore, his housekeeper.
“Where is she?” Francis’s voice sounded gruff.
“I believe she is in the rec room, sir. She said she was going to do a bit of exercising if I recall correctly.” Ms. Gilmore smiled and pointed upstairs.
“What? Really? Should a pregnant woman really be exercising?” Francis was aghast at the thought of Scarlett, with her bulging belly, breaking a sweat on the treadmill. He was worried for her.
“Well, of course, sir! Proper exercise is good for the baby and will help her give birth to the baby more smoothly, in fact. You have nothing to worry about, sir.” She responded.
After their brief exchange, Francis walked upstairs towards the rec room and saw Scarlett, who was wearing earphones and a loose T-shirt. She was lifting the barbell laboriously. She was sweating a lot, and it seemed to Francis that she had been at it with her exercising for at least a couple of hours by then.
Since Scarlett was wearing earphones, she had no idea that Francis was there. Francis walked over to her and yanked the earphones out.
“You need to get out here. Go and take a hot shower immediately, or you will catch a cold, silly girl!”
Upon hearing the voice, Scarlett put down the barbell and then wiped off the sweat on the face with her hands. With a tone of regret in her voice, she said, “I’m getting fat around my stomach, and my arms and legs are swelling up, as well.”
She sounded very sad. It tugged on Francis’s heartstrings to hear her sound so plaintive.
“Oh, come on! I don’t think you’ve gained a whole lot of weight. It’s not a big deal anyway. If you really think you’ve gained a bunch of weight, we can work on losing it after you’ve given birth to our child. What do you think?” He comforted her patiently as he handed her a handkerchief to wipe her sweat away.
Scarlett took it to wipe away the sweat and then strutted out of the room with it. She was like a rooster ready for a fight. Francis just smiled at the sight of her. She was feisty as ever, he realized. He followed her as she walked ahead.
As Scarlett neared eight months, her belly had bulged to such an extent that she couldn’t even see her own feet anymore.
One day, Francis came home to take her to his parent’s house for dinner. After taking a shower, she changed into a comfortable wide skirt. Looking in the mirror, she found that several freckles had appeared on her nose– probably a strange side effect of her pregnancy, she thought. On the way to his parents’ house, Scarlett sighed in despair in the passenger seat, as if her wrath was going to rise to the sky.
But Francis was thinking about something else, so he didn’t notice how her face was darkening. She cupped her chin in her hands and watched street views passing by outside the window. Scarlett felt deeply sad for absolutely no reason.
When they arrived at his parents’ house, Scarlett became very cautious as usual, fearing that any wrong move on her part would cause him trouble. To her surprise, Stella and Jeff were back as well. To avoid any embarrassment, Scarlett slipped into the kitchen for food. She was still not comfortable when it came to seeing them together.
When she got into the kitchen, she noticed that Chuck was in there. She happened to catch him trying to sneak food out to his room. But instead of letting him run off, Scarlett joined him on the kitchen counter, and they started eating their food happily together.
As Scarlett was focused on gobbling up the tasty food as she stood in the middle of the kitchen, Chuck suddenly said,
“Scarlett, you’re such an idiot! Aren’t you worried about losing the baby weight? You’re never going to get your slender body back at this rate.” He scoffed at her in contempt.
Upon hearing Chuck’s words, Scarlett put down the chopsticks and stared at him seriously. She was frowning.
“What the fuck is wrong with you, dude? You’re supposed to be my friend. Why are you always so rude? Why would you bring that up anyway? Just let me live.”C0ntent © 2024 (N/ô)velDrama.Org.
Chuck laughed and picked up a piece of spicy chicken and stuffed it into Scarlett’s mouth.
“It’s spicy, but it’s so damn good. It tastes kinda like this spicy crayfish I ate at a restaurant once, I think it might be the same sauce or something…”. Scarlett closed her eyes as she tried to remember the taste.
Looking at her happy face, Chuck felt a little bad for her. Scarlett was right, he needed to stop being an asshole and actually show his support for a dear friend. As Scarlett opened one of her eyes, she saw the slightly guilty expression on Chuck’s face.
“What’s up? What’s that look on your face about anyway? Just spit it out already!”
Chuck knocked on her head with the chopsticks in his hand and frowned, “It’s for your own good, so I don’t want to tell you.”
“Wait, what? Don’t be ridiculous. You have to tell me now! You’ve piqued my curiosity.” Scarlett put the chopsticks down and folded her arms.