"Ah-Jie! Ah-Jie!"

  Xu Mey’s voice was ringing in the silent house while Jie was accompanying his little ones to play lego. Okay, he was only playing with his little Juan since Bao was more interested in building a plane model or something. Jie had long accepted that his son’s brain worked way differently. There was no way one could understand him.

  Xu Mey showed up at the doorway and began, "Can you believe it, Xiamu didn’t even know that he’s gonna be a father?! Haha…… Gosh, I’d have loved to see his expression but I couldn’t."

  Jie smiled up at her and said, "Zelie must have planned to surprise him but you ruined it."

  "Are you blaming me right now, dear husband?" her eyes squinted at her husband.

  Jie immediately flailed his hands, "No. Not at all. Why would I blame my baby? It’s Zelie’s fault for planning it so poorly. She should have done a better job at this."

  "Scaredy-cat!" Bao remarked without hiding his disdain for his own father.

  "Dadda is not scared of mom. He just loves mom very much," argued Juan with her brother.

  "Then it’s love’s fault for turning him into this scared person." Bao shrugged his shoulders before giving his attention solely to the model in his hands.

  His coaxing and their kids’ small banter helped eased Xu Mey’s expressions who smiled again and said, "Whatever. I just know that my brother is finally going to be a father. How great is that!" She turned on her heels. "I’m gonna share this in the family group chat. Everyone is gonna love this."

  Seeing her reaction, Bao sighed out, "There my mother goes again being extra bouncy and excited for no reason."

  "She’s excited because she’s gonna be an aunt now," said Jie to his son with a helpless look on his face. Raising a genius son was really a hard job. He often felt tired just talking to Bao.

  "From Uncle Qiao to Uncle Jian, everyone has a child now. This isn’t her first time becoming an aunt," reminded Bao with a straight face.

  "Well, dear son, but your Uncle Mumu is your mother’s only brother. And a twin brother at that too. Obviously, this time, the feeling of becoming an aunt is way different than before."

  "I still don’t get it why she has to share this with everyone?" argued Bao feeling exasperated but he appeared as calm and indifferent as ever.

  "That’s her way of finding happiness," answered Jie with a sweet smile while talking about his wife.

  Bao looked at his sister and said, "There my dad goes again trying to act like a perfect knight in shining armor to his wife." Jie glared at him which little Bao ignored conveniently before saying, "Dad, let’s face it if she’s finding her happiness by involving herself in other people’s lives that means she’s not happy with you."

  "BRO!" Juan shouted at her elder brother who was spouting nonsense for no reason. "Don’t talk nonsense."

  "Did I say something wrong? Mom should be here with us but have you ever seen her trying to find her happiness between her own family. She’s rather more interested in either fulfilling her duties as a CEO or becoming a good mistress of the Zhu Clan. If not that then she’ll try to be a good daughter-in-law or a good friend. Have you ever seen her trying to be a good mother or a good wife? Even last night, she kicked dad out of the room. And I can bet on my PlayStation that dad didn’t even do anything wrong."

  Jie was startled to hear such a long lecture from his son who was only eight. Yes, he was gonna turn nine in couple of months but still, it didn’t change the fact that he was way too observant and deep for someone of his age! What? He didn’t even blink while talking about the reality of his father’s life.

  He knew every word he said was true. Xu Mey often would neglect her own family trying to fulfill her duties and responsibilities. But he knew she only did that because she believed in him. She knew he was there for their family. For their kids. But that didn’t change the fact that his son’s words hurt him a little.

  Juan came up to her brother and whispered, "Bro, you’re gonna upset dad now."

  "Then he should stop acting like everything is okay in this family," retorted Bao while rolling his eyes.

  Even though those words really hit a mark, Jie still wasn’t gonna let this be.

  "Baobao, you know I hate it when people talk bad about my wife, right?"

  Bao wasn’t even fazed by his angry look. He simply stood up to face his father. Although he only reached a little above his father’s waist, it didn’t mean he was intimidated by his father.

  "I read in a book that husband and wife are each other’s happiness then tell me, dad, why is she looking elsewhere? Why isn’t she looking at you?"

  Jie frowned at his words and halted, "Wait! What kind of books are you even reading these days?"

  Bao pointed at the book on his table saying, "It’s the only one I hadn’t read from your library."

  Jie rubbed his forehead. "I’ll buy you more books but please don’t read these kinds of books again. You’re way too young for this."

  "As always, you’re going to shun my words by saying I’m too young," said Bao with a look of boredom.

  Jie picked that young and cold prince of his in his arms. Bao tried to squirm and wiggle his way out of his father’s grip but to no avail. "You, my cold prince, needs to learn how to be a little nice with words. I honestly don’t know how you’re gonna make any friends with this kind of attitude."

  "I have a friend," argued Bao when he stopped struggling knowing that he couldn’t get down unless his father allowed him to. He pointed at his sister saying, "That’s the only friend I need in life."

  Juan grinned widely at him saying, "I didn’t know you love me so much, bro."

  "I didn’t say I love you."

  "But that’s what you meant."

  "No, I did not!"

  "Yes, you did!"

  Jie ended up laughing at this back and forth bickering of his kids. As much as he loved everyone in his family, he had to admit that it was becoming scary. He could see his kids growing distant from their own mother since she didn’t have any time. He never blamed Xu Mey for anything. He never even blamed her when she used to ignore him but now it was different.

  Even though he could understand her, these kids were too young. They won’t understand. They would only like to believe what they saw. His excuses weren’t even working on them anymore since they were growing now. They weren’t as easily coaxed as they used to.

  Who said being the head of the family was an easy job?!

  He was having a damn hard time!