Chapter 109: You Are So Great, Babe
After dinner, Scarlett said, “You are not leaving? Shouldn’t you leave long ago?”
“I changed my mind,” He replied leisurely after sipping his tea. He was sitting with his legs crossed on the sofa.
She was speechless. She stood up and went to the washroom as she felt a sharp pain in her chest. She was about to ask for help from the nurse after Francis left, but to her surprise, he didn’t leave. The pain was so strong that she frowned, and then she put on her clothes and went to Eve’s room.
“Are you two done fighting now?” Eve asked, who had already slipped back into her own room because, in her opinion, their fighting was like displaying affection.
“My chest is killing me!” Scarlett said, pointing at her breast.
“You are not expecting me to help you with that, are you?” Eve was stunned.
“Can’t you?” Scarlett asked.
“Of course not! What am I supposed to do? After that, Eve just walked out of the room and yelled out against the handrail, “Francis, your wife needs your help! Come and help her!”
Scarlett heard that and almost fell down on the carpet from embarrassment.
Grace said that the colostrum is very good for a baby, therefore, so she and the nurse suggested Scarlett feed her baby with that. But now Scarlett felt awkward sitting on the bed because Francis was standing there and staring at her,
“How about you going out?” She asked.
“Do you think that’s necessary? I’ve seen your naked body before, haven’t I? So what’s the big deal?”
Scarlett sighed and unbuttoned her clothes, and then started feeding the baby. The baby opened his eyes and searched for his meal, holding his soft face against her skin.
As the baby started sucking, Scarlett felt pain and frowned.
“What’s the matter?” He asked worriedly, seeing an expression of pain on her face.
“It really hurts! It’s almost as painful as giving birth to the baby in the first place.”
Within a few minutes, Scarlett was sweating. However, the baby still couldn’t suck the breast milk out, no matter how hard he tried. The baby sucked hard with closed eyes. As he sucked harder, Scarlett was in intense pain now and grasped the sheet on the bed, with the blue veins of her hand bulging out. Scarlett would have wanted to put him away and stayed out of this if it weren’t her baby.
“Does it really hurt?” Francis asked in concern, holding her shoulder.
“Of course!”
With persistent effort and endurance, the baby finally sucked out the precious breast milk. While he enjoyed his meal happily, Scarlett just gritted her teeth because of the pain and harshly bit Francis’s shoulder.
Upon seeing her pained expression, he stroked her hair gently and felt very grateful to her for her immense sacrifice. Scarlett had done so much for their love and even became a mother at such a young age.
“You are so great, babe.” He kissed her neck.
***
Francis went back downtown the following day to handle his business affairs. Scarlett was in bed, with eyes for her son only.
“Do you remember me? I’m your mother!” She said with her hand under his head.
However, he had no response at all but continued to stare at the ceiling. While she laid next to him, looking at him, she still felt disbelief that he was her baby. It all felt like a strange dream.
“You have to be a good boy and listen to your daddy in the future,” she said, “If I say something wrong, you’ll have to forgive me, okay? I’m still learning! Your mommy is still a young woman….”
After she said that, Scarlett felt guilty all over again for not acting like a good mother.
She sighed and became lost in thought. How could she ever become a good mother? She knew nothing. She was just a young girl herself…
But time didn’t stop for anyone. It was spring already. A hundred different kinds of flowers were in bloom. As Francis walked into the little garden by their house, Scarlett held her son close to some roses in bloom.
“Hey, this is the color red. Now, come on, repeat after me. Red!” She repeated patiently, pointing towards the brightly colored rose.
While the baby was only three months old, he had already learned how to roll himself over. As he saw Francis coming, he waved at the man with his little hands, wanting Francis to hold him.
“How heartless you are! ” Scarlett pouted.
“Wow, he is getting heavier, isn’t he?” He asked in surprise.
“Yeah, it’s really exhausting for me to hold him every day!” Scarlett complained.
“You must be kidding me! Stop acting like such a baby!” Eve said as she came down from upstairs.
“He is like a heavy ball! How am I supposed to hold him for very long…” She pouted.
Francis came over and said, “I got a call from your school, and the supervisor told me that if you don’t go back to school, you will have to repeat a year. Will you go on with your studying?”
“Of course I will, it’ll be too difficult for me to get back into school if I wait too long…”
“Then what about your baby? Who is going to take care of him?” Eve said doubtfully, pointing at the chubby baby.
“I can get a nanny for him! I just can’t be a stay-at-home mother.” Scarlett exclaimed.
“What a heartless mother you are!”
“I just want to set a good example for him. I want to teach my son that there’s nothing more important than being a good student and studying hard to achieve your goals.” Scarlett asserted as she stroked her baby’s chubby cheeks. After hearing what she said, Francis said nothing but took his son to go upstairs.
“He is not happy about that.” Eve frowned with a glass of water in her hands.
“He can’t just expect me to be a stay-at-home mother. I have goals, things I want to achieve for myself. Being a mother isn’t the be-all and end-all for me.” Scarlett said, holding her arms crossed on her breast.
“Are you really gonna do that to your baby? He’s so cute…” Eve said.