My two and only

29. PhD?!!

Today, we were at Imperial, because Liam had finally finished his B.Sc. research and he would be presenting it today!

'Boys, I want you to sit still and stay quiet the whole time when Lili is speaking, ok?' I pointed at the lecture stage.

They both nodded and said, 'ok, Mari.'

I checked to see their nappies were still fresh and they both looked absolutely adorable and presentable, so we sat there while we wait for Liam.

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'If there's no other questions then... Thank you for listening,' Liam finished his presentation.

And it was great!

After the presentation, we met Liam at the atrium.

'Well done, Liam! That was great!' I gave him a hug and a kiss when I saw my talented boyfriend.

'Thank you, Mariposa,' he answered and turned to ask the twins, 'thanks for coming, buddies.'

A man who looked like he was in his late sixties came over to talk to Liam, probably praising him for his work again.

'Liam! Or should I call you Dr. Scott?' he said.

Wait, what? Dr.?

'Cheers, Professor Kowalski, I'll start getting used to that,' he joked with the professor.

'Are these... your children?' he gestured at the twins and... me.

I shook my head,'no, these are my brothers.'

Liam added, 'and professor, this is my girlfriend.'

Professor Kowalski was clearly embarrassed so he said, 'ok then, I'm off now, well done, Liam!'

When he left, I asked Liam,'what did he mean when he called you Dr. Scott?'

He looked at me and said, 'oh, did you not know it was my PhD research?'

I widened my eyes and said,'what? No! I thought that was your BSc!'

He shhhhed me and joked, 'hey, everyone is gonna know that we have bad communication.'

I said,'it's your fault for not clearing it up!'

'Ok, sorry, butterfly, I promise to tell you everything from now on, ok?' He surrendered, YES!

'Fine,' I scoffed.

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That evening, Liam's family invited me, Flynn and the twins for dinner to their house, which I didn't particularly look forward to.

'Hello, Sandra, how have you been?' I asked Liam's mother.

As per, she pulled me into a hug and said, 'I very well, thank you, Mariposa.'

'Let me introduce you, this is Flynn, my best friend and flatmate.'

Flynn went up and shook her hand and gasped, 'is this the newest Dior Couture silk skirt?'

She seemed to look surprised by his outburst,'yes indeed, do you like fashion, too?'

'Yes, in fact, I study fashion design at UCL...'

I left them to chat about the high-fashion industry.

'Hello, Joshua, how are you?' I greeted Liam's dad in the living room.

'Never been better, Mariposa. And yourself?'

'I'm well, thank you,' I replied.

'So where are Liam and your brothers? I can't wait to meet them,' he said.

I gestured the glass doors to the garden, 'they are just playing in the garden, you've got a lovely garden here.'

He chuckled,'thanks, Sandra does put in a lot of effort in it.'

'It's time for dinner!' Sandra said from the dinning room.

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They even got two highchairs for the boys.

'Ok, dig in, sweethearts,' I recently started let the boys eat by themselves.

It's a lot messier, but I guess that's how they learnt how to feed themselves.

'Mariposa, how did you manage to take care for two infants when you first got them?' Freya, who was Liam's sister-in-law, asked me.

'I have to say it wasn't easy at all, but luckily, I got help from Flynn and Liam, who are both amazing at baby-sitting,' I replied.

'Any sleepless nights at all?' Felix asked.

'Loads, especially when they were ill, but it's all worth it,' I replied.

'Wait, are you two...' Alanna said.

Freya looked down at the dinner table while Felix announced, 'yup, we're pregnant!'

Everyone jumped and cried from excitement. Sandra wouldn't stop crying about how she finally had grandchildren.

After dinner, Liam was called into Joshua's studies while I stayed in the living room, talking about my experience in caring for babies with Alanna and Freya.

'One thing I found the most important was that you shouldn't use the same name for praising and scolding them,' I explained, 'you would the baby to associate their normal names with happy stuff. And when you're calling them by their other name, they'd automatically know you're angry. For me, I normally called them Teddy and Matty, but when I'm angry about something they did, I'd call them Theodore and Mateo.'

'Wow, someone's an expert in babysitting,' Liam finally came out from the study, looking somehow happier.

'She's being really helpful,' Freya defended me.

'Ok, but the boys really do need to go home and sleep, look at them,' Liam said.

I looked over to see them leaning against Max and Felix, which was adorable!

'Alright then, I'll go now,' I told the girls, 'just text me whenever you need help, Freya. I know you're gonna be a great mother!'

'Thank you, Mariposa, and take care!'

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Flynn was pissed the whole car ride back because he didn't want to stop talking about fashion with Sandra.

The twins were sleeping the whole journey.

'So what were you talking about with your dad in his study?' I asked Liam.

He said,'oh, I was gonna tell you when we're home.'

'My dad decided that I don't have to go to LSE!'

I nearly jumped off my seat, 'really? Are there any condition?'

'The condition was to do my best at taking care of you,' he explained,'and of course finish the medicine degree and be a doctor.'

'That's great, then! I mean, you were planning on doing that anyways, right?'

'Of course, I vowed to take care of you with my life,' he said while driving.

I blushed and lowered my voice, 'I meant becoming a doctor...'

He laughed boyishly but became serious, 'I'm serious, though, Mariposa, you mean more than anything to me in this world.'

I looked at his grey eyes and said, 'Liam...'

As our faces were closing in, Flynn suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

'Ahem, we're home,' he said.

I quickly retrieved from the moment, 'alright, then. See you tomorrow, Dr. Scott.'

He gave me a quick kiss and said, 'goodnight, butterfly. I love you.'