Arrogant Man VS Unyielding Woman

Zed's eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he stared at Jean, who still had a puzzled face. "Jean, what's wrong?"

After hearing Zed's voice, Jean's train of thoughts were interrupted. She looked at Zed and shook her head. "Nothing," she responded quickly. Then, she held out her hands to wrap around Zed's arm. With a cheerful tone, she asked, "Zed, whatever secret you hide from me, I'm always going to be your wife, right?"

Zed was surprised by her words and gesture but instantly regained his composure and softened. "Of course, baby. That's not a question you should ask anymore. You are my only wife, and there won't be a second one. Why did you ask?" Zed caressed her nose lovingly as he replied. Jean blushed and then sighed helplessly before she let out the thoughts that bothered her just a second ago.

"Well, it was just that even though Calvin meant no bad intention, he mentioned that there are still some things that I don't know about you. Secrets that I'm certain you're hiding for a good reason. I'm letting you know that I understand if you can't tell me right away. If you remember, you wanted to confess something to me last time, but I stopped you. However, there are times that I think that we've been married for so long, and yet I still don't know what your other indentity is. Zed, even with these thoughts bothering my mind, I still want you to know that no matter who you are, I won't mind, because you are my husband, the love of my life, and I promise that I won't look at you any different."

With sincerity evident from her expression and words, Jean held up her gentle face and looked at Zed in a reassuring smile.

Enamored by her words, Zed couldn't help but blush and proclaim without hesitation, "Jean, I suddenly feel like expressing my love for you. I love you so much. Don't forget that, okay? I always tend to overlook how much kindness without strings attached you have inside of you, and how considerate and supportive you are to all my decisions. With that, I want to let you know as well just how fortunate I am to have you in my life, and believe me, when I say that I will never let you go." After saying that, Zed cupped Jean's cheeks and kissed her on the forehead. He then held out his arms and embraced Jean into a tight hug but enough to make room to breathe.

Jean closed her eyes and smiled, savoring this sweet moment that they were having. After a while, she opened her eyes and realized that they were in a public place, so she suddenly felt embarrassed and said, "Zed, there are many people watching. Should we..." "Let them watch. You are my wife, and there is nothing wrong when a husband shows affection to his wife," Zed replied with pride as if making sure that everyone besides Jean knew that he was proud of her being his wife.

"Point taken," Jean replied, knowing that her chances of outwitting Zed was slim. Feeling bright fireworks exploding inside of her, Jean smiled and closed her eyes, leaning closer at Zed's chest and listening to his heartbeat.

Nurses, patients, and all other passers-by in the hallway did a double take as they passed by them. Some looked like they just saw their favorite celebrities, while some looked at them with envy. There were even some adults who covered the eyes of their children. Even though they all had various reactions, all of them didn't make any move to break the warm and sweet moment the couple shared.

After a long while, Jean opened her eyes and tried to break loose from his embrace, but Zed held her tightly without any intention to pull away, so she spoke helplessly, "Zed, we should probably head back to the room. They should be ready by now." "Leave them alone. They would pass by here anyway," Zed replied. Knowing that he wasn't going to let go soon, Jean stopped struggling. A moment after, Zed loosened his embrace, but he kept his arms around Jean's waist. He lowered his head, so he could look her in the eyes and ask, "Jean, I'm curious. How did you do it?"

"Do what?" Jean asked back. Zed shrugged and explained, "You know, wake Calvin up." "Oh, well, I talked to him at first, and tried to wake him up, but he didn't respond at all. I became desperate and frustrated that I scolded him and asked him why he didn't just go with Christina, you know, in the afterlife, instead of wasting his time here, and that it would spare his family and friends pain and sorrow."

Zed was about to reply when suddenly a different voice interrupted him. "That's a good idea!" With a surprised look, both Zed and Jean turned to the direction of the voice. They were instantly faced with a familiar couple walking towards them. "How come I never thought of that idea? If I had known earlier, I would have scolded the life out of Calvin!"

Hearing such an unkind remark, Jean immediately recognized the voice as Ron's, and her guess was confirmed when Ron and Maranda were already nearing them hand in hand.

As soon as Maranda caught sight of Jean, excitment coursed through her. She let go of Ron's hand and swiftly ran to her and was about to give her a big hug. But when she thought of Jean's pregnancy, she stopped and instead, smiled embarrassingly at them. She then just grabbed Jean's hand and exclaimed, "Jean, I missed you so much!"

Jean pouted and pulled her hand away from Maranda to cross her arms on her chest. "If you missed me, then why didn't you come to see me?"

Maranda's eyes turned sad before she gave her an apologetic look and explained, "You see, Ron and I were busy meeting each other's parents, settling the schedule, ordering the wedding dress, tasting the cake and so on... But I swear to gods, Jean, I really do miss you! There's a lot we have to catch up on about, and I really want to have a chat with you about your wedding. Was it as tiring as my..."

Before Maranda could finish her sentence, Ron stopped her by calling out her name. Startled by Ron's sudden burst, Maranda stared back at him in confusion.

Ron just shook his head, his face darkening.

Feeling the embarrassment looming over them, Jean smiled and explained, "Well, Zed and I haven't had the wedding ceremony yet. We just had a civil wedding and got the marriage certificate back then."

Zed smiled at Jean and wrapped an arm across her shoulder. He then turned to Maranda and nodded before adding, "That's right. In short, you will have your wedding held before ours."

"Oh." Maranda's face dropped and immediately turned pale. She bit her bottom lip as if cursing her mouth and apologized to Jean, "I'm sorry, Jean. I forgot. Bad memory and all."

Maranda then recalled that both of them had married out of convenience. Henry Wen had married his daughter, Jean, to Zed in exchange for a piece of land.

Moreover, unlike the typical marriage, there weren't any love between them when they were wedded to each other at the beginning.

Maranda just became so excited about her own wedding that she totally forgot about how theirs started.

Besides, even though it was a past worthy of erasing, both Zed and Jean genuinely loved each other now, and they were expecting a baby. If it wasn't for Jean's father's greed, they wouldn't be where they were right now. Although Jean didn't say anything, she must still feel uncomfortable inside.

At the thought of it, Maranda felt remorseful and wanted to sew her mouth up, so as not to carelessly let go of words that would stab anyone she talked to, especially those she cared and loved the most.

Jean noticed that Maranda was still not assured by her and Zed's words just by seeing her expression, so she gave another smile and spoke to reassure and comfort her once more. "Please, stop blaming and cursing yourself, Maranda. It's okay, and I'm really all right. I know you didn't say it on purpose, so there's nothing to feel remorse for."

"Still, Jean, I'm so stupid..." Maranda's eyes turned red and watery as she looked at Jean, still clearly blaming herself.

"Seriously, Maranda, stop blaming yourself. Zed and I are in a great relationship right now. No matter what we've been through, we don't care about how we started. What's important is that all the paths we took in the past led us to where we are now, and that we love each other wholeheartedly," Jean said, turning to look at Zed with a smile. Zed smiled back at her and squeezed her shoulder affectionately.

As the sweet scene unfolded before her, Maranda felt less guilty and felt happy for both of them instead. She then heaved out a deep breath.

Ron realized that this was the right time to break the awkward atmosphere and said, "Since everything has been wrapped up nicely, let's head to Calvin's room and pay him a visit now, eh? Wasn't he the reason you two came? So, let's go! I wasn't able to visit him yesterday, since I was too busy."

Jean turned to Zed in confusion, but he, too, reflected her expression.

'Didn't Ron and Maranda know the fact that Calvin has already woken up?

I remember Alina mentioning earlier that Zed was out talking on the phone. Didn't Zed ask Ron and Maranda to come here? Oh, that's right! Zed didn't know that Calvin was already awake at that time, so this couple haven't known anything yet!' Jean thought. Shaking his head, Zed just gave Jean a smile and held her hand as they walked back to the in-patient ward, with Ron and Maranda beside them.

As they walked, Ron turned to Jean and excitedly asked, "Jean, after you scolded Calvin, how did he react? Oh wait no, did he react?" He turned to face forward, not even waiting for Jean to answer as if he just asked for the sake of asking. He continued to ramble about Calvin. "If he could hear you, he must have cursed you inside a thousand times. Sadly, he can't do anything about it, but stay in his own little orb. Well, I think it suits him, especially to what he did. I better scold him more!"

Maranda gave Ron a glance and asked with a soft and worried heart, "Is it still approriate for you to do that? Jean probably gave him enough scolding already."

Ron shook his head. "Oh, don't worry. Now it will still be a good time, and I'd take the opportunity. Once he wakes up, I won't be able to have the chance to scold him," Ron said with a laugh.

Zed and Jean exchanged glances and nodded at each other knowingly and subtly.

Ron was so excited to get back at Calvin by scolding him, so how could they ruin such a moment?

Plus, they would get to witness a memorable and funny scene later.

When they were at the door, Zed and Jean purposedly let Ron and Maranda, who were both oblivious at the truth, go into the room first.

Before going in, Jean leaned in to Zed's ear and whispered, "Are we bad people for not telling them?"

"Of course not. We just haven't gotten a chance to tell them. Ron kept blabbering on and on about getting to scold Calvin," Zed whispered back innocently.

Jean tried to stifle a laugh but failed. Hearing Jean's laughter, Ron and Maranda looked back at them with confusion in their eyes. Ron stopped just before he was about to turn the knob, wondering if they should know something before getting in.

Maranda gave Ron a glance and turned to Jean with a weak smile. "What's so funny, Jean?"

Jean was startled at Maranda's question and shook her head, trying to stop herself from laughing by biting her lower lip and forming a serious expression. "It's nothing. Nothing's funny, Maranda."

Maranda eyed Jean suspiciously, letting her know that she didn't believe her at all. After a moment she shrugged. "Hmm, forget it. It's probably just an inside joke that you two shared," she said and motioned to Ron to open the door. "Ron, let's better leave them. We might be interrupting their secret conversation."