Chen Linyun and Xue Jinxu continued living their individual lives apart without communication.

At times, Mo Wenbin dropped a message in the squad's group chat asking about how everyone's doing.

And most of the time, only Xue Guangxi would answer him enthusiastically and animatedly. Chen Linyun would answer Mo Wenbin through private message. Xue Jinxu would not respond at all.

In other words, even the group chat was abnormally quiet.

During this dire times, Mo Wenbin connived with Hw.a.n.g Meilin in cheking out the couple and asked her to take a look at Xue Jinxu's state during her visit at the Xue Mansion while he would do the same with Chen Linyun.

They acted like mini detectives, but really, they were just concerned friends of the couple. They both decided to adopt the strategy of subtly hinting reconciliation as best option. 

Hw.a.n.g Meilin reported back to Mo Wenbin that Xue Jinxu had been trying to feign cheerfulness, but the weary look on her face betrayed her.

In truth, Xue Jinxu had been silently crying intermittently almost all day for almost a month. Chen Linyun had been weeping at nights, too, when he went home to an empty house after a grueling day at work, and be reminded of all the cherished memories that happened there.

Yet, for a month, no one lowered their guards and continued to hold on to their principles.

Until one rainy night in August, Chen Linyun, as was customary, by the end of his workday, entered a pitch-black house. The maids had retired to their own quarters at the back of the property, and the main house was left unlit.

As he entered the premises, the motion-sensitive light bulbs illuminated the threshold where main switches were located. He removed his shoes and changed into slippers.

Before he could turn on the main living area's light sources, a puzzling female voice startled him out of his wits. 

"Don't open the lights."

����…Jinxu?" He advanced, troubled in finding his way without hurting himself from b.u.mping with the furniture.

"Hmmm. Don't open the lights." She repeated. "My eyes are closed, too. So don't give me the reason that you cannot face me. You don't have to."

Her voice was calm, almost as if she was talking in her sleep.

As Chen Linyun moved forward, the motion-sensitive backlights on the walls behind the shelves were activated and slightly revealed his surroundings with yellow light. It spilled the area with dancing shadows in the dark.

He saw Xue Jinxu's figure lying on the couch on her back, her baby b.u.mp so big on top of her core. One of her arms was flexed behind her head as a make-s.h.i.+ft pillow, and true enough, her eyes were closed.

"Uhmm…" Chen Linyun staggered. His voice was hesitant, and in every sense, unsure. "I didn't expect to find you here."

"Neither did I. But, you know, after crying myself to sleep everyday, I suddenly woke up laughing boisterously one morning. The sound of my own laughter woke me up. I remember there was this extremely funny dream and I thought it was real. It's like the heavens telling me to cheer up and stop sulking."

"Ghad, this pregnancy is making my life harder!" She whined, still in a state of half-sleep. "Pregnancy brain, wild hormonal imbalance, mood swings."

"I am constantly losing my rational mind, and been getting emotional at every single thing!"

"I cannot even predict myself if I'm going to erupt in anger or drown into tears." She sighed in frustration. It was apparent that she wasn't expecting any response from him who was rooted to the ground like a static tree.

"Your letter", she started her 'attack'. "I am tremendously offended by it."

"How dare you bring it up first, Chen Linyun?!" She grunted as she was pertaining to the divorce. She moved her flexed arm from under her head to over her forehead.

Chen Linyun's face fell. His heart sank.

But the lady's next words put him in another level of astonishment.

"It seems to me that you don't know what you want, Chen Linyun, but you're giving me just two options: either we divorce, or we reunite in good terms. Black or white. It sounds more like a threat to me – an ultimatum."

"Because you don't know what you want, you're pa.s.sing on to me the responsibility of coming up with the final decision. Is that it?"

Xue Jinxu blabbered on and on. Her eyes were still closed.

Her points were not incorrect, but it seemed that she was dodging intentionally the contents of his letter, and just concentrated on her husband's poor crisis management skills.

"What's more appalling is the fact that you've kept every single thing to yourself and it irked me to no end that you have been overthinking about it over a considerably long period of time, but you don't seem to be generous enough to give me the luxury of time for myself to ponder on it."

"You're so selfish."

"I need to consider my options well! And as the other party in this d.a.m.n marriage contract, I should have a say on it, too, shouldn't I?"

"You discovered that you're related to them. And so?"

"So what, Chen Linyun?"

"I was able to turn my back on my family for you. Can't you do the same?" Her brows knitted together. Her eyes were sti ll closed.

"Am I even making sense? d.a.m.n this pregnancy brain!"

"I can't be impulsive enough with something so important as our marriage. So I would suggest, if you'll hear me out, I will resort to a decision after I give brith, when my system has returned to normal."

"In that case, there will be two more months until my due date. I will use this time to think and weigh the pro's and con's of divorce."

If she wasn't pregnant, Chen Linyun would think that this lady in front of him was heavily drunk.

 "In these two months, since you owe me, you have to make up for the heartache you caused me. Serve me well, pamper me, Submit to me – I don't care! Just make it up to me and the twins! And during these two months, I am giving you the opportunity to convince me on what you really want, Chen Linyun."

"If you want to cut ties with me for good, then give me hints, prepare me for it. Prepare yourself as well. But if you want me to accept you wholeheartedly without judgment, and keep our marriage intact, put in some efforts, too!"

"I won't give up what we have that easily, either. What happened to the persistent Chen Linyun who tried every d.a.m.n thing to win my favors?"

"Idiot, Chen Linyun. You're so good at overthinking when you could have shared your dilemma with me."

"I'm hurt. I'm slighted. I am deeply offended."

"If we're going to divorce, it should be because of our individual faults and nothing else."

 "But I think I can hold on for two more months."

I want to see if what we have is so much greater than that familial affiliation you have, and the guilt that stemmed from it."

"That's right. Hear me out, Mister Chen. Third option: I'll return to live here and suck it up and observe you, Mister. 'We' are under probation, under observation, until I come to a decision."

Chen Linyun was deemed speechless and was there standing in the darkness, gaping at his wife's figure for what looked like a very long time.