his genius wife is a superstar
Iris sighed again and allowed the butler to close the front doors before heading to the nursery.
"Ma!" Like before, Little Matcha was the first to notice her.
Little Mochi was busy playing with his equally naughty cousin, Little Misha.
Little Matcha shakily stood up from the floor and toddled towards her. She caught and carried him, eliciting a big smile from the usually indifferent baby.
"Mama! Mama! Mama!" Seeing that his twin brother was getting all the attention from their mommy, Little Matcha abandoned his little cousin and ran towards them.
Iris's heart almost stopped while she watched her eldest twin son run with unsteady footsteps. However, she restrained herself from helping him. The nursery floor has been constructed to be bouncy to protect the children in these situations.
Fortunately, Little Mochi was steadier than Iris gave him credit for. He reached his mommy and hugged her leg. His arms reached up to her, wanting her to carry him, too.
Long Jinjing and the nannies chuckled upon seeing this.
Iris smiled and kissed Little Matcha before putting him down. Then she carried her other son, showering the clingy baby with kisses as well.
After the Jin twins had enough of their mommy's loving hugs and kisses, they returned to where they had been playing before. Little Mochi went back to Little Misha and played with the fat baby. Little Matcha preferred to play with a toy truck on his own.
Iris sat beside Long Jinjing on a couch. Little Dima sat on Long Jinjing's lap, looking content with watching his twin brother and cousins play instead of joining them.
"Where's Dom?" Iris asked the nannies.
"Sir Dom's family called, so he went somewhere else to speak with them."
Iris nodded.
The Chua family should be extremely busy preparing for the launch of Orchidia Philippines.
At the same time, Paul Ferrer, Marjorie Chua's husband, should also be busy with his new construction and development company. Jin Liwei had invested in the company. Dom mentioned to Iris before that his brother-in-law had been working really hard to make the company a success.
Iris sighed.
"What's wrong?" Long Jinjing asked while bouncing Little Dima on her knee.
"I wasn't able to be there at Orchidia Germany's launch," Iris said. "I wonder if I'll be able to attend the launch events for Orchidia Philippines and Singapore."
Sympathy filled Long Jinjing's eyes. "Your grandmother-in-law's failing health isn't something you can control. I know that it must feel disappointing not to be able to attend the launches of our company's new foreign bases, but at the end of the day, you chose the best people to lead those foreign bases. Even without your actual presence, they should be able to run the bases smoothly. I would also have loved to attend at least one launch, but your nephews are still too young. Zihao and I aren't comfortable with bringing our twins outside the country."
"I know." Iris sighed again. "But more than feeling disappointed at missing the launch events, I feel so worried about my husband. He has lost a lot of weight ever since Grandma Li collapsed. I hope that Grandma Li recovers soon."
Long Jinjing patted her shoulder. She didn't know how else to comfort her little sister.
Iris looked at her and smiled.
"W-what?" Long Jinjing asked, feeling a little confused about the look her little sister gave her.
"Thank you," Iris whispered.
"Why are you thanking me?"
"For staying here tonight. I know that I should be happy to be with my children. I AM happy. But the house just feels too empty without Liwei. If you and my big brother had left just like Little Jun, I might not be able to fall asleep tonight."
"Zihao and I decided to stay here until your husband returns," Long Jinjing said. "Zihao didn't want to leave you alone. He's planning to return to the hospital, possibly tomorrow, to once again try persuading Grandpa Lu to come home with him. So your nephews and I will stay here to accompany you. Besides, my twins love being around your twins. Although Little Dima might look like he doesn't want to play with anyone, he actually enjoys watching his cousins have fun. This is his weird way of having fun."
Iris laughed. She took Little Dima and tried bouncing the fat baby on her lap. It was a struggle. If the elder twin brother, Little Misha, was big, Little Dima was bigger. Perhaps it was because this baby rarely moved, he burned fewer calories and thus became heavier.
"Wow. Your babies...are really solid, huh?"
Long Jinjing chuckled. "They're my daily workout. Their nannies needed to start working out because the babies were getting too heavy even for them."
The two women continued to chat while watching the babies. Dom also returned and joined them, eliciting loud laughter from everyone.
Night came.
Once again, Dom intended to sleep in the master bedroom with Iris and the babies. The cats, Ice Cream and Popcorn, and the dogs, Pudding and Chowder, would be sleeping with them this time.
Iris dismissed the nannies early for the night, so she and Dom worked together to put the twins to sleep. Ice Cream also helped, purring loudly to help lull her little brothers to sleep, unlike Popcorn who still wanted to play around.
Later, Iris' phone rang.
It was her husband.
"Have you received the results of Grandma Li's medical tests yet?" she asked.
Jin Liwei didn't reply right away.
She sensed that something wasn't right. She gestured at Dom to watch the kids while she went to the suite's living area to avoid disturbing her sleeping twins.
"You're scaring me, Liwei," she whispered.
She heard a heavy sigh. Her heart also felt heavier.
"Grandma…she only has a few days left to live," Jin Liwei finally said. "A week at most."
If not for her excellent hearing, Iris might not have heard him. His voice was too soft as if he was struggling to speak properly.
"A week?"
Iris' mind went blank for two seconds.
Then various thoughts flooded her mind.