Chapter 11: Where Peace Grows
1036 Words
Ziya’s desk had always been a quiet little corner of the office — dotted with succulents, pastel sticky notes, and one candid photo of her laughing mid-bite with Zhou Chen during a lunch break.
Now, as she carefully packed it up for maternity leave, her fingers trembled slightly.
Not with fear.
But with disbelief.
“I never thought I’d get here,” she whispered.
Xiao Nai entered silently behind her, resting a hand on her shoulder.
“That desk’s too small for someone about to run the world,” he teased.
She chuckled. “I’ll still be working. Just from bed.”
“Yes. My bed. Under strict husband surveillance.”
Zhou Chen strolled by, smirking. “He means it, Ziya. Saw him turn the bedroom into a nursery-battle-station hybrid.”
At home, Xiao Nai had transformed their room. Half office, half baby command center — bottles, formula, diapers, monitors, a mini whiteboard of schedules, and one ridiculously tiny onesie with a cartoon dragon.
Zhou Chen had muttered, “Bro, are you launching a nursery empire or just having one kid?”
“One child,” Xiao Nai had replied smugly, “for now.”
Ziya rolled her eyes, hiding the way her cheeks flushed.
Because beneath all the teasing, neither of them said aloud what sat heavy in their hearts:
They were afraid.
Afraid of the unknown.
Of the moment everything would change.
And that moment came — on a stormy night.
Ziya jolted awake, breath caught, pain slashing through her.
“Xiao Nai,” she gasped.
He sat up instantly — and froze.
Blood.
Too much.
On the sheets. Her thighs. Her legs.
“Nai… the baby—!”
He didn’t answer. Just moved — lifting her into his arms, voice cracking as he shouted, “Hospital. Now!”
Rain lashed the windshield as he sped through empty streets, muttering desperate prayers between curses.
In the labor room, chaos took over — machines screaming, doctors shouting, nurses flying into action.
Ziya had gone ghost-pale. Her eyes fluttered.
“If anything happens… promise me—”
“No,” he whispered fiercely, pressing his lips to her forehead. “You stay. You stay with me.”
“Sir, you need to step back—”
He didn’t move until the nurse gently pulled him away.
And then he stood in the hallway.
Alone.
Shaking.
His knees gave out.
“Please,” he whispered. “God… whoever’s up there. I never prayed even when Jiali died, but I’m praying now. I was stupid before. I didn’t think I could love again. But Ziya—she gave me everything. Please. Not her. Take anything from me. Just not her.”
The silence that followed was brutal.
Then—
A heartbeat.
The monitor beeped steadily.
A nurse stepped out. “She’s alive. And… you have a son.”
He didn’t move. Didn’t breathe.
“She’s alive,” the nurse repeated.
Only then did his knees buckle again — but this time, from relief. He cried without shame, shaking, breathless.
They let him into the ICU briefly. Ziya was pale, but breathing.
He knelt beside her, brushing her damp hair from her forehead. The nurse tried handing him the baby. He shook his head.
“Not yet. Just her. I need her to wake up.”
Ziya blinked awake to soft hospital lights and Xiao Nai slumped beside her bed, puffy-eyed, unshaven, still in yesterday’s clothes.
“You didn’t shave.” she rasped.
He laughed — a raw, broken sound. "I didn’t.” He immediately straightened. “Don’t ever scare me like that again.”
“What if I want a baby girl next?” she murmured - smiled faintly.
He groaned. “No. Absolutely not. I was crying like an i***t. I was useless. You do that to me again, I might actually die.”
He took her hand, kissed her knuckles. She giggled softly.
“I’m still here, Nai.”
Her voice broke as she added,
“I’m still yours.”
And he whispered, voice hoarse but sure,
“Always.”
The nurse brought the baby over again — tiny, pink, warm.
Xiao Nai took him into his arms at last.
“Your name is Xiao Ming,” he whispered, tears still wet on his cheeks. “Because you are light after the storm.”
Her lips curved into a soft laugh, eyes misting.
Four years later...
The sun bathed the picnic blanket in a golden glow. Xiao Ming, four years old and full of questions, sat munching on a peach, his cheeks sticky and his mouth running faster than his hands could keep up.
“Papa, is baby sister gonna come out with a sword like a superhero? Will she be loud? Can she eat ice cream?”
“No sword,” Xiao Nai replied patiently, brushing a curl from his son’s forehead. “And no ice cream till she’s five.”
Beside him, Ziya reclined on the blanket, eight months pregnant again. Her summer dress fluttered in the soft breeze, and her belly rose like a sun-warmed hill between them.
Xiao Nai leaned over and whispered, “Now you have your baby girl… so no more babies after this. Okay?”
Ziya smiled without looking at him. “Okay.”
Just then, a gentle kick nudged her side. She gasped softly, reached for his hand, and guided it to her stomach.
“She kicked,” she murmured.
His face lit up with that same wonder he’d had when she first carried Xiao Ming — awed, reverent, disbelieving that something so perfect could come from them.
“It’s just like last time,” he said.
“No,” Ziya replied, voice thoughtful. “This time, we’re different.”
He tilted his head. “How?”
“I never told you this… but you were my senior in university. Two years ahead.”
He stared.
“I had a crush on you,” she said, a hint of embarrassment coloring her cheeks. “You were the campus genius — always surrounded, always unreachable. I joined your company to be like you… not to be with you. Becoming your wife? That never even crossed my mind.”
- Writer
