Strings Attached (Sequel)

Future Huaze

March 4th

Faye Calinao

The first thought my conscience recognized was the smell of the pandesal being baked. Slowly rolling onto my side, I pulled the comforter back and examined how I felt. It felt like I had a cold and I wasn't surprised to not feel too energized. It seemed today would be my down day.

After getting out of bed, I made my way out the room. As soon as the door opened, a strong smell of pandesal came to me and I hummed content with the calming smell. I walked into the living area of the suite and looked to the kitchen where Lei had his back towards me. Walking over to the kitchen, I noticed Lei taking out a pan of fresh pandesal from the oven and placing them on the stove. I noticed there were fruits and a few bakery items set on the table.

My arms slowly wrapped around Lei's waist and I brought my head to lean against his back. Lei stilled for a moment before turning around in my arms and facing me. He kissed the top of my head before examining my expression.

"Good morning future wife," Lei said gently and leaned forward to kiss my forehead. I closed my eyes letting myself relax under his gentle touch and smiled tiredly.

It still feels surreal that this is real.

Lei smiled against his kiss on my forehead and let out a soft laugh. I opened my eyes to see him looking down at me amused.

"It's real Faye. Nothing can change the fact that we will be parents in a few months and eventually get married."

"This makes me happy, Lei." He smiled and placed his hands on my waist. It seemed for a moment something had crossed his mind before speaking.

"I'm happy too Faye. You're going to be my wife and we're having a daughter or son. Speaking of our first born..." Lei let go of me and walked over to the counter. I noticed his small journal and he walked over to me and handed it to me.

"What is this?" I asked curiously as I took the journal from him. Lei seemed to have a nervous smile and folded his arms. "I think... I remember you used this journal for our writing class last semester."

"Yes. It's... my journal... of you."

"Me?"

"Hmm. It's strange, even before we were acquainted I wrote about you. I never thought my first day using this journal would be filled with words and descriptions of you. You've clouded my mind from the first day Faye Calinao."

Opening the journal, I looked at each dated journal entry and smiled at them realizing it made sense when Lei would take a glance towards me or sometimes I would find him staring at me for quite some time before jotting down in his notebook.

"After the semester I decided to continue to put my thoughts and ideas related to you."

"This is so sweet." I smiled at one of his first entries where his first thoughts were of wanting to marry me. Then I came across the ones where he talked about our little one. There were also some sad entries about me and my memory loss and how he felt at the time. "You wrote about your loneliness when you found out I couldn't remember anything?" I asked lightly and looked towards him who seemed to not want to think too much of that time period.

"That was a really hard and scary time for me," he sighed and wrapped his arms around me. "I... still think back to the day... I broke up with you. Seeing you devastated and hurt. I should have never done that to you."

"You really turned my world upside down," I said lightly and shivered slightly from my heartbreak. My thoughts wandered to what would have happened if my accident never happened. "What would have happened if I had never hit the deer?" Lei looked at me with an upset expression.

"I would have apologized to you once you have walked through the door and I would have explained to you I wasn't being logical and shouldn't have ruined your birthday the way I did."

"You didn't completely ruin my birthday. I was able to spend it with you. You kept your promise to me."

"We could have saved a lot of heartache if I had thought things through and jumping to conclusions."

"And now we're here," I smiled lightly. "My future husband is standing right in front of me and I'm carrying his first child."

"Husband..." Lei spoke and smiled before leaning his forehead against mine for a moment. "I can't wait to marry you Faye." My heart fluttered and I continue to feel happy where we are now. "You should flip to the last journal entry." I questioned him for a moment as he leaned away to look down at the journal. I flipped toward the end of the journal and found the latest page filled. It took me a moment to understand.

Possible first born Child's name

Ming Yue

Girl names if we have a girl:
Myeong
Isa
Li Mei
Jean

Boy names if we have a boy:
Chan-Yeol
Young-Jae
Xiuying
Chen

Looking up at Lei, I knew he wanted to put in much effort as he could to our child. It meant more than everything he wanted to be a part of the whole process. I found this adorable. He started thinking of names for our little one. I love this.

"These are so cute," I smiled at him and looked at him to see he was content. "When... Did you come up with these?" I noticed there wasn't a date for this page.

"The last couple of days. Names started coming to me while we were in class. Do you like some of them?"

"I do. This makes me very excited for our baby shower. I wonder how Senior Yu Yin and Cha are going to make the reveal for us."

"We are in good hands." Lei unwrapped his arms from me and led me over to the table to take a seat.

He knelt down knowing he was going to have his morning conversation with our little one. He looked at me smiling before gently placing his hand on my stomach.

"Good morning our baby," Lei spoke in a much higher pitch. Awe, I can't get over this. "I hope you are doing alright in there. Please be nice to your mommy today. I want her to get better, alright? I want to play with her."

"Lei!" I gasped and tried to laugh as I hit his arm. Lei tried to dodge me and let out a laugh.

"I'm practicing for my excuse when I want you for myself."

"That isn't the way," I laughed. "You're going to tell our daughter or son 'daddy wants to play with mommy' everytime you want to have me for yourself? That sounds so dirty, Lei."

"They won't know what that means."

"Find something else." I laughed. "I could never take you seriously."

"Hmmm... fine. Though we will be wanting our next child on the way soon after." My eyes widened as I watched Lei smile innocently. "Do you want more children?" He questioned.

"I-I don't know," I answered quietly, feeling caught off guard. I wouldn't have thought Lei would bring this up now. "Our first is already a surprise... Maybe 4?" Lei's mouth parted slightly and hesitated before speaking.

"F-four? I thought you would say maybe one more or possibly three all together."

"Three boys and a girl," I said shyly.

"We can make three more children. I can make that happen." I felt my cheeks heating wondering what had gotten into him today.

"Let's focus on our firstborn."

"I like talking about our future together," Lei spoke lightly and it left me in awe of him. "There is a lot I want to talk to you about, but for now," Lei smiled and stood up. "Let's eat. I made some of your favorites today."

"I see." I smiled, referring to a good selection of some of the things I like to eat for breakfast when I'm with him. He must have woken up early to get everything. He takes my plate to put two pandesal onto my plate before putting everything else on.

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Do you think the gender is a boy or a girl?

Next update: April 7th, 2022