Chapter 11
As night deepened, the villa's lights emitted a soft orange glow.
After finishing his work, Minamino Shuichi changed into a casual shirt and prepared to go to the living room to check on his wife, the "habitual philanderer."
When he went downstairs—
A faint sweet scent permeated the entire living room.
He frowned, his gaze falling on the pile of torn candy bags, cookie crumbs, and even marshmallow wrappers on the coffee table. He looked like he'd just survived a dessert war.
Shuichi Minamino stood quietly in place, his lips twitching slightly.
—She did sneak some food again.
He sighed softly, reached out and gathered all the candy boxes on the table into a bag, then took it to the kitchen and locked it in a high cabinet.
Turning around, he suddenly heard footsteps coming from the stairs.
"Shuichi——!"
Hoshino—no, Minamino Sakura—stood angrily at the top of the stairs, wearing a casual dress, her blonde hair disheveled, her sea-blue eyes filled with dissatisfaction.
Why did you accept my dessert?!
"Sakura." His tone was helpless, yet gentle, "You're only a month pregnant. The doctor said you shouldn't eat sweets—"
"I won't listen!" She stormed downstairs, her voice trembling. "I hid so many snacks because you always yelled at me and wouldn't let me eat them!"
She bit her lip in grievance, her eyes red, "You don't love me at all... Waaah... You only have that baby in your heart!"
"When have I ever stopped loving you?" He couldn't help but step forward and reach out to hug her.
"Don't touch me!" She shook off his hand, tears already streaming down her face. "I don't want to be seen as that 'pregnant troublemaker' in your eyes! You're only concerned about the baby in your belly!"
"Sakura, don't overthink it—"
"I won't listen!" Her voice trembled, her tone as aggrieved as a child's. "I want to go back to my parents' house! I want to live with my mom and dad! I don't want to get married!"
"cherry--"
"Get away from me!"
She turned and ran upstairs, her steps faltering.
Minamino Shuichi was taken aback for a moment, then chased after him.
The bedroom door was flung open, and Sakura stood with her back to him, her shoulders trembling with anger as she dialed a number on her phone: "Hello? Is this the Hoshino family's driver? Come pick me up... no, it's the Minamino family's driver! I'm going back to my parents' house now, I don't want to get married!"
"Sakura, don't do this—"
"Let me go!"
She tried to shake off his hand, but he pulled her into his arms.
She struggled, slapped, and pushed him away forcefully, but he held her tightly and wouldn't let go.
"Namino Shuichi, you bastard!"
"Let me go!"
"It's all your fault!"
"If it weren't for you that night—" she sobbed, tears dripping onto his shirt, "if it weren't for what you did to me... I wouldn't be pregnant at all!"
"I could simply continue performing, wearing the clothes I like, in high heels, playing the violin on stage..."
"But you—you've made it so I can't do anything!"
"I wish I wasn't pregnant!"
She cried so hard she could barely speak. "Maybe I would have gone abroad a long time ago, and you wouldn't have found me, and I wouldn't be in this state now!"
Minamino Shuichi remained motionless, simply holding her tightly.
His fingertips trembled slightly, and his eyes darkened.
He lowered his head, his voice barely audible, yet trembling with suppressed pain—
"……sorry."
"I know that night was an accident."
"But have you ever thought about it, Sakura—from that day on, I have never regretted it."
“Your pregnancy is not a ‘victim’ situation. It’s a connection between us. You are the only one in my life.”
"You say I don't love you, but I'm afraid all day long—afraid that you'll get tired, afraid that you won't eat, afraid that you'll regret marrying me."
"I'm too careful because I love you too much."
Sakura was still crying, her voice so low it was almost inaudible: "Then why do you still care so much about me..."
"Because I don't want you to be in any danger again."
He raised his hand and wiped away her tears.
"I'm not trying to control you, I'm trying to protect you. If I had to choose again after that mistake, I would still choose you.
Sakura wanted to argue, but he gently lifted her chin.
His green eyes were so close, both gentle and stubborn.
"You said you wanted to go back to your parents' home?"
"Then we'll go when you wake up."
"Varied--"
Before she could finish speaking, her body suddenly swayed.
My vision went black for a moment, and my phone fell to the ground.
"cherry?!"
Minamino Hideichi's expression changed drastically in an instant.
He quickly supported her body, only to find that she had already fainted in his arms, her face pale and her forehead covered in cold sweat.
"Sakura! Sakura!" He hugged her tightly, his voice trembling.
"Sakura, open your eyes and look at me—Sakura!"
He immediately scooped her up and rushed out of the bedroom, shouting hoarsely, "Housekeeper! Call an ambulance—quick!!"
Night suddenly brightened, warning lights flashed, and the sound of an ambulance in the distance shattered the silence.
Shuichi Minamino carried the unconscious Sakura Minamino into the car, his green eyes bloodshot and his lips tightly pressed together.
"The doctor said she can't get too excited..." the driver's voice trembled.
“I know,” Shuichi said in a low voice, his tone as cold as a blade. “I will not let her suffer any more grievances.”
He lowered his head and gently stroked her face—
You can scold me, cry to me, or leave me, it's all fine.
"But you must not close your eyes again."
"I haven't had a chance to tell you yet... you are the only reason I live."
The ambulance sped through the night.
The lights flickered and crisscrossed, stretching the world outside the window into a blurry beam of light.
In his arms, Sakura's hand finally moved slightly.
—In that instant, Shuichi's world finally gained color.
The hospital corridor was dark and the lights were blindingly white.
"The patient fainted, and her heart rate and blood pressure changed rapidly. She was rushed to the obstetrics observation room."
"Family members, please wait outside!"
Sakura was rushed into the emergency room just ten minutes after the ambulance arrived at the hospital.
Minamino Shuichi stood outside the corridor, his suit still on, his tie ripped loose, his hands clenched into fists. His knuckles were white, and his breathing was heavy, like a stone pressing on his chest.
In that instant, he was truly afraid.
I'm afraid she'll never open her eyes again.
He feared that if she really went back to her parents' home, it wouldn't just mean leaving the wedding, but leaving his life altogether.
He stood silently at the door, his eyes fixed on the sign that read "Operation in Progress - Do Not Enter".
Footsteps came from the end of the corridor.
"cherry!!"
As soon as Hoshino Yuuji entered, his eyes fell on Minamino Shuichi standing alone, as if he had sunk into the night, even his shadow was stiff.
"What exactly happened?!" Hoshino Yuuji stepped forward, his voice low but clearly suppressing his anger. "Didn't you say you would take care of her? How did she end up in the emergency room?"
Nanno Shuichi immediately stood up straight, bowed his head, and said with unprecedented guilt and self-reproach, "...I'm sorry, it's my fault...I was controlling her diet, and she's been secretly eating sweets lately...I criticized her, and I didn't expect her to..."
"You're controlling her?" Hoshino Yuji's eyes darkened. "Just because she's pregnant doesn't mean she can't be happy! Do you even know what her favorite food is?!"
“She misunderstood that I only cared about the baby in my belly…” Shuichi said in a low voice, his throat choked up, “...Actually, I was worried about her.”
"you--"
"Yuuji." A gentle female voice interrupted his thoughts.
Hoshino Lily, wearing a beige trench coat, rushed over from the other side, slightly out of breath, but still maintaining her usual elegance. She carried a bag in one hand and held her husband's wrist with the other.
"Don't scare him." Lily looked at Shuichi with gentle eyes. "It's not that Shuichi doesn't love her; it's precisely because he loves her so much that he acts like you used to."
Hoshino Yuuji frowned: "How did I ever resemble him before—"
“When you were pregnant with Xiaoying, you forced me to drink bitter nutritional soup every day, saying things like ‘baby’s development cannot be taken lightly.’ You forbade me from eating desserts, iced foods, and spicy foods. You even confiscated my instant noodles when I wanted to eat them late at night.”
"That's because your constitution wasn't suitable at the time—"
“So you’re doing this out of love too.” Lily smiled gently and looked at Shuichi. “Shuichi is just repeating what you did before. It’s just that he hasn’t learned to distinguish—for a girl who has been spoiled since childhood, ‘forbidden’ and ‘indifference’ sound almost the same.”
Nan Ye Xiu was taken aback and looked up.
Lily approached, her gaze falling on the emergency room door, then turning to Shuichi, and softly said:
"Sakura is actually... not a child who likes to act spoiled."
"When she was first born, she was very quiet, she didn't cry, and she wasn't clingy. Other people's babies would get cuddles when they cried or made a fuss, but she always lay quietly and never made a sound."
“At first we thought she was naturally sensible, but later we realized that she was afraid of bothering others.”
"The first time she said she wanted dessert was when she was five years old, when someone else's family treated her to a piece of strawberry cake for their birthday."
"After she came back, she didn't dare to ask me for it. She just stared blankly in front of the refrigerator... staring at the refrigerator without saying a word."
"I just realized that she actually wanted to eat it."
“From then on, she never asked for anything on her own initiative. She kept whatever she wanted to herself.”
“From the time she was born, we and her grandfather doted on her, but what about her?”
"She will only choose to accept it silently and endure it herself."
"After graduating from high school, she took the initiative to say for the first time that she wanted to move out."
She said, "I'm all grown up now, and I want to rely on myself."
"Do you know what? I cried all night that night."
Lily's voice was slow but firm, as if she were gently peeling away layers of hard shells to reveal the softest part of the girl named "Minamino Sakura's" heart.
"She joined a musical theatre company, played the violin, performed, and toured. She arranged her own performances, accommodations, and travel every time. Even if she got off the plane at two in the morning, she never asked us to pick her up or drop her off."
“She is glamorous on stage every day, but she never says ‘I’m tired’.”
"She only reports good news and hides bad news; she only complains in secret when no one else can see."
Minamino Shuichi's throat tightened, and a deep pity welled up in his eyes.
He suddenly understood.
She wasn't being unreasonable, nor was she being capricious or cute.
She was using all her courage to say, "I also want to be favored by you, not just taken care of."
She had gotten used to bearing everything alone, and now she had finally learned to act coquettishly in front of him.
"I've been too careless with her," Shuichi murmured to himself.
Lily smiled and patted him on the shoulder.
“It’s alright,” she said softly. “She was our family’s darling, but now, she’s your wife.”
"You need to learn how to pamper her properly, not in the name of 'protection,' but—sincerely and genuinely, to love her from her perspective."
"bite--"
The emergency lights finally went out.
The doctor took off his mask and came out, glancing at the three of them: "Don't worry, mother and child are safe. She was just emotionally agitated and fainted due to low blood sugar. She has been calmed down and will wake up after the IV drip is finished."
Shuichi was the first to rush over, his voice trembling with nervousness:
"May I go in and see her?"
"Okay, but be gentle."
Inside the ward, the nightlight cast a soft glow. Sakura lay quietly on the bed, her eyelashes fluttering slightly, her face pale but serene.
Shuichi Minamino sat on the edge of the bed, took her hand, and lowered his head to kiss her fingertips.
He took a deep breath, pressed his forehead against the back of her hand, and spoke in a low but firm voice:
"……I love you."
"It's not because you're pregnant, nor because I did something wrong."
I love you because you are you.
I fell in love with you the first time I saw you.
“You can be willful, you can make a scene, you can scold me, you can say you don’t want to get married, you can say you hate me… but you can’t scare me anymore.”
His voice trembled, "I really can't live without you."
Sakura's hand moved slightly.
He looked up and saw her eyelashes flutter as she slowly opened her eyes.
“…Silly fox.” Her voice was hoarse. “Why are you crying?”
He immediately gripped her hand tightly and whispered, "You're awake...you're finally awake..."
"...I haven't said I forgive you yet."
"Then I'll... spend my whole life coaxing you, okay?"
Sakura looked at his reddened eyes and suddenly wanted to laugh, but her eyes also felt hot.
She said softly, "Then... you're not allowed to confiscate my desserts anymore."
"good."
"If I want to eat, I will eat."
"I'll feed you."
"You're not allowed to say I'm disobedient anymore."
I would say you're cute.
Her voice was soft:
"Then... I'll reluctantly stay with you."
With a smile, Minamino Hideichi cupped her face in his hands and lowered his head to place a deep kiss on her forehead.
His voice was very soft:
"Thank you... for continuing to stay with me."
Outside the hospital room window, Hoshino Lily quietly closed the door and whispered to Hoshino Yuuji:
"Our daughter has grown up."
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