Ru had come out of Adrian's room with a very satisfied look. A sly smile was plastered on her lips. There was no doubt that she was feeling really proud of herself. Not that it was anything shocking or something. After all, it'd be shocking if one day Ru didn't feel proud of herself. But if Ru lost her conceitedness, she wouldn't the Ru everyone loves now, would it?
Someone threw an empty soda can on her head and when she turned to glare, she found one of those people whom she couldn't bring herself to beat. She could stab him in her mind and Blimey! Was it not just a spectacular sight to stab him bloody in her head?! But sigh... It was just in her mind.
"Where are you lost? I called you three times already." Ru didn't reply to Jie's question. Her attention was on a little baby in his arms. "Where are you coming from?" He eyed her suspiciously.
"I had an itch in my hand, I just took care of that itch," Ru answered with her eyes still staring that little baby who kept his big eyes on her. Ru found those eyes too profound for someone aged two.
Jie gave a mocking smile as he said, "Why don't you just say that you beat someone up?" Right at this time, Adrian came out of his room and when he saw the two people standing outside his room, he was stunned. But knowing that one of those people was Ru, he gulped visibly and made a run for his life. Jie looked at his running figure and pulled Ru's ear, "He was that 'itch', wasn't he?"
"YA! Let go of my ear first." Jie loosened his grip and she continued, "Well, doesn't he look like an itch? I had to take care of him." If only Adrian knew that Ru had turned him as insignificant as an itch. Poor Prince might have died from anger.
Jie shook his head in distress. He really didn't know what to do with her. "Did your wife kicked you out of the room?" Ru spoke again as she looked at Jie's pajamas and a baby boy in his arms.
"How did you guess that?" He asked with a strange expression.
"Do I really have to guess? Your wife is too predictable. She's the typical wife. I pushed her towards anger, and she pushed you out of the room. But why is she punishing the kid with you?" Ru's eyes were still on that little baby in his arms, for some reason, she couldn't look away.
"She's not punishing him. Our little Bao is the love of his mother." Jie spoke while lovingly stroking the head of his son who was named Zhu Bao. "But he can only sleep in my arms. That's why he is stuck with him. But then again as a son, he should have his father's back, right?"
"Why is he staring at me?" Ru felt weird being under the scrutiny of a baby boy who was barely two and a half years old. Ru was feeling at the edge since there was a purity and innocence in those eyes that she couldn't deny. She had never been judged by such an angelic baby and before his angelic self, she really felt like a big bad demon.
It seemed like the darkness in her heart was being challenged by the light in those big eyes. Strange world!
"He's trying to get familiar with you," Jie replied and then asked in a cute tone to his son, "Right, Baobao? Don't you wanna know your Godmother who was invisible from the moment you were born?"
Ru's face twitched but she really had no reply for her absence because everything she'd say feels like an excuse. "Why don't you hold him?" Jie suddenly offered, taking a step towards her.
Ru instinctively took a step back as she said, "What kind of a father are you? Aren't you worried about your only son? I might break him."
Jie really had the urge to slap her face now. "He's a boy, not a damn toy that would break in your hands." He gritted out, trying his very best to keep his temper in check.
"Is there a difference? Don't you know, I love breaking people?" Ru retorted still keeping her distance.
But Jie didn't give her a chance again, he directly pushed the little Bao into her arms. When Ru held him in her arms, she was feeling strange perhaps because Little Bao perfectly fit in her arms and even felt comfortable. But his sparkling eyes didn't stop looking at Ru.
"How is it feeling?" Jie asked smiling brightly. This picture of Ru holding a baby was rare. He knew that the only baby whom Ru held in her arms was her own brother and nobody else.
"Awkward," Ru replied while Little Bao touched her face with his small but soft hands. They were so soft that Ru felt like a butterfly was caressing her face.
"Just relax your muscles already," Jie said as he could see how tense Ru really was under his son's touch. Not that any of it was any surprise to him at all.
"Why is he so quiet?" Ru suddenly noticed this fact. The little babies were always crying, laughing or babbling. But this milk bun in her hand was too quiet as if he was silently observing everything.
Jie rubbed his forehead as he replied, "Don't even mention that. He's already two and a half but we have still not heard his first word. He's really well behaved but... It's disturbing that he doesn't even make the effort to talk."
"Maybe he likes being quiet," Ru suggested and as she spoke, the milk bun in her hands placed both his hands on her cheeks and smiled. That toothless smile was dazzling and that was something Ru never expected she'd say. "He doesn't look like you or Xu Mey," Ru spoke in a daze as she was still entranced by that little baby's smile.
"I've also noticed that. He only inherited my eyes. The rest is nothing like me or my wife." Jie agreed with her without even arguing this time. "Little Bao, that's your Godmother. You can call her Auntie Ru."
Ru coughed at his words. "YA! Just because you became a father, don't pull me over to your senior citizen group. I'm no Auntie. Look at me, does this handsome face even deserve to be tainted with a title of Auntie?" She snapped at him but seeing Little Bao's wide-eyed look, she softened her tone and her look, "Hey, little bunny! You can call me Ru. This young master allows you to just call me Ru."
"You know, I'm not a senior citizen either." Jie retorted.
"Bloody-," with a cough again, she changed her sentence and said, "Don't get on my nerve. I don't wanna be rude to you before your little son."
"How can someone be so infuriating?"
"Exactly like I am," Ru answered matter-of-factly.
"Ruru..."
Before Jie could come up with a response, both Ru and Jie heard a very soft voice making them stunned. Jie looked at his son and asked, "Did he just said your name?"
"Oh, so my mind is not hallucinating?" Ru's reply confirmed his suspicion and he was left with complicated feelings of wanting to cry and laugh at the same time.
"I've been trying to make him say Dad for so long and he didn't even budge. Why did he say your name first?"
"How would I know that?" Ru's response was nonchalant as she saw a small head lying on her shoulder now. "When Haoran was born, he also said my name first. And mom said that kids are born with a natural affinity. Kids can easily understand a person's sincere feelings towards them through the touch."
Ru didn't know how but her hand lifted up and she stroked that tiny head on her shoulder with a loving look in her eyes. She felt a tingling feeling in her heart when she heard her name in that soft voice.
"I'm suddenly jealous of my own son, how weird!" Jie mumbled as he looked at the look on Ru's face. Although she had been very good to him, he could see that she was bewitched by his own son now.
And her next words really proved him right as she said, "Little bunny, you grow up fast. This Godmother has a whole world to give you."
"You never gave me the whole world," Jie grumbled in an aggrieved tone but for some reason, tears had brimmed in his eyes because of what she said to his son. He didn't know it before but today, his best friend really seemed extraordinary.
He remembered she was the one who always used to say, "Do you know what I love about kids?" And when he would ask what, her reply would be, "The fact that they are never mine." And that was actually really funny to her. He never thought she was naturally so good to kids. One really couldn't judge someone so easily.
"I already gave you your whole world," she replied calmly but he was left frowning.
"Don't lie! When did you give me the whole world?" He asked.
Ru looked into his eyes and smiled saying, "Your world lied in your wife and I gave her to you. Do you still have a doubt?"