"What if it never heals? Will you start to despise Lara?" Sophie Foster also lifted her hand to cover the back of Nicholas Croft’s hand, rubbing together with him the injured half of her face, her mood sinking.

"I won’t." Nicholas Croft took a deep breath, even his exhale was trembling. He raised his big hand and pressed his own handsome face against hers. In his half-closed eyes was all his guilt and heartache. "Lara will get better. You definitely will."

"But..." Sophie Foster’s gaze fell ahead. She wanted to say something but stopped on the verge.

"But what?" Nicholas Croft drew another breath, and when he let it out it was still trembling.

"We lost our baby." Sophie Foster closed her eyes and a tear rolled down. No one knew how happy she’d been when she found out she was pregnant, and no one knew how devastated she was after losing the baby.

She’d prepared so many clothes for the baby, from birth to kindergarten, but their baby... was gone.

"It’s okay, we’re still young, we’ll have more in the future..." Nicholas Croft curved his lips in a faint smile, comforting Sophie Foster and also comforting himself.

"Yeah, we’ll have more," Sophie Foster agreed, then suddenly opened her eyes and pushed away Nicholas Croft’s face that was pressed to hers, her gaze filled with an unshakable resolve.

"Let’s do it now. We’ll have a baby right away!" 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

Seeing Sophie Foster reaching to tear at his undershirt, Nicholas Croft grabbed her wrist and patiently explained, "Lara, listen to your Uncle..."

"I don’t want to listen! I want to do it! I want to have a baby!"

Sophie Foster flung off Nicholas Croft’s hands, grabbed the crew-neck undershirt he’d just put on and yanked it down. While she tugged she kept muttering under her breath. Seeing her almost deranged like this, Nicholas Croft raised his hand, hesitated, and then let it fall back down.

Her body was too weak, she hadn’t fully recovered at all; she simply couldn’t handle it... But he couldn’t bear to reject her either, so he could only sit motionless on the hospital bed and let her tear at his undershirt.

The cotton undershirt had modal blended in, very soft and comfortable, and more elastic than normal fabric. Sophie Foster tugged at it for a long time and still couldn’t get it off. Furious, she knelt on the bed, glared at the perfectly intact undershirt on Nicholas Croft, then suddenly swung a fist at him. "Take it off!"

Sophie Foster was still in recovery, and Nicholas Croft didn’t want her getting worked up. He lifted both arms, grabbed the front of the undershirt, pulled it off in one motion, and set it aside.

"Undo your belt too!" Sophie Foster ordered loudly.

Nicholas Croft’s long fingers went to his belt. He looked at the furious Sophie Foster with aching heart, and obediently unbuckled it.

"Lie down!" Sophie Foster continued to command. Nicholas Croft cooperatively lay back on the hospital bed, and Sophie Foster pounced on him, urgently yanking down his zipper, her small hand constantly teasing and stroking, trying to wake him up.

But Nicholas Croft didn’t feel the slightest desire at this moment, only pain for her.

He propped himself up and held Sophie Foster’s shoulders, softening his voice to coax her. "Lara, let’s wait until you’ve recovered, then we’ll do it, okay?"

"Shut up! Lie there and behave!" Sophie Foster snapped harshly. When she turned back to Nicholas Croft, her gaze was sharper than ever.

Nicholas Croft’s lips moved, but the words he wanted to say were swallowed back down. He lay on the hospital bed again and let Sophie Foster fuss with him alone.

After all that fussing with no reaction, Sophie Foster got angry and slapped him. "Why aren’t you hard yet! Hurry up and get up!"