LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT - SEASON 2 CHAPTER 79
Old Madam Liu raised her eyebrows when Jeru hesitated to let her enter his house.
Jeru was caught off guard as he did not expect his grandmother’s visit at all. He opened the door fully to let her in while she instructed her assistant to bring inside all the souvenirs she bought for her grandson.
“I came back ahead of time because I was shocked when I saw the news about Field Marshal Chan’s daughter. She’s already married? To that wretched General? And you just did nothing?” Old Madam Liu reprimanded her grandson as she sat on the couch in the living room and dismissed her assistant.
She was alarmed by the turn of events while she was away. Who would have thought Keira Chan had married that pauper of a General in secret?
Jeru sighed and asked, “Grandma, do you want anything? Coffee? Tea?”
“No dear, I want you to sit down and talk to me. You know the Chans is the best family we can connect with. But what were you doing, Jeru!? I raised you to be a winner! Not a loser!” Old Madam Liu roared.
She really could not accept the fact that her grandson, who was a Liu, had been defeated by a commoner who grew up in a slum. It was deplorable!
“How could a mere slumdog win over you?” she scoffed, seeing how calm Jeru was behaving.
Jeru looked at his grandma and said, “Let them be, grandma… Zach is a good and hardworking man. The Chans cherishes him. And more importantly, he and Keira love each other.”
“Pah! Love! Love? Love expires! Only our family’s name and wealth would last forever! Fine, if you’ve given up on Keira, then go for her friend! The daughter of the Huangs! I already checked everything about her, and even though Keira was a better choice, I think Lana would be a good choice too,” Old Madam Liu commanded him.
Jeru kept his eyes on his grandmother as he straightforwardly declared, “I’m afraid that’s impossible, grandma. I’m already married.”
Old Madam Liu’s face darkened. She glowered at Jeru. It took her a while before she finally spoke in a low and thr_@tening voice, “What did you just say? You’re already married? Is this a joke? Don’t you dare push me because you know what I could do if you push me, Jeru…”
“Hon, what’s taking…” Thea said as she was walking down the stairs, but abruptly paused when she saw Jeru was not alone. “Oh, I’m sorry I did not mean…” She apologized and was about to turn around and head back upstairs, but Jeru interrupted her.
“Hon, come here… I will introduce you to my grandma,” Jeru said.
Thea froze. No wonder the old lady looked familiar because she had already seen her on various photographs. Thea could feel the old lady’s piercing stare. If looks could ki||… But she gathered her courage and walked to Jeru and stood beside him.
Jeru pulled her closer toward him and proudly introduced her, “She’s Thea Liu-Jones, my wife.” Thea gave Old Madam Liu a warm smile as she extended her hand. But Old Madam Liu refused to take it. She only gave Thea a vague look and a half-smile as she said, “Hello, dear. I haven’t heard of your surname before. Please sit down. Now, why do you look familiar?”
Jeru smiled and answered, “Oh, it’s probably because you’ve seen her on TV, grandma. She’s the main anchor of CEC’s primetime news.” Old Madam Liu could hear the pride and admiration in her grandson’s voice and she scoffed.
She observed Thea. She was displeased when she heard how his grandson introduced her. ‘Thea Liu-Jones.’ She detested to have their esteemed surname being attached to this woman’s name. She didn’t know her yet, and she will certainly have her investigated.
“So, Thea, tell me about your family? Where are they, and what do they do?” asked Old Madam Liu frankly. The dominance in her voice made Thea cower.
“I’m an orphan, Madam, so basically I don’t have a family,” she said in a low tone, clasping her hands tightly on her lap. Then she felt Jeru hold her hands as he smiled at her and said, “What are you saying? I’m your family now.”
Old Madam Liu had had enough, so she abruptly stood and said, “I will leave now, Jeru. Come see me at the office tomorrow. We have a lot of talking to do.”
Thea slightly bowed when Old Madam Liu gave her one final cold gaze as she murmured, “Goodbye, Thea.”
Jeru escorted his grandmother outside while Thea drew out a long sigh of relief…
Obviously, Jeru’s grandmother was not pleased to meet her, and she bet she was even more upset upon knowing that her one and only grandson married a nobody like her.
“Please, grandma, let Thea alone because she’s pregnant. She’s carrying my child, and I really hope you won’t give her any trouble,” Jeru pleaded as he opened the car door for his grandma. He knew how ruthless his grandma could be, so he tried to stop her from doing anything to Thea by mentioning her great-grandchild.
Old Madam Liu scowled and chastised him, “I’ll decide on that, Jeru. You have disappointed me tremendously.”
Jeru sighed as soon as the car drove away from his sight.
Inside the car, Old Madam Liu seethed, “I want to know every single detail, even the tiniest ones, about Thea Jones!”
She was boiling inside. It was that low-born soldier’s fault that everything had become a mess. If he had not come into the picture, Jeru would have had his chance with Keira. She couldn’t accept it. She won’t allow it. Now that she had time to pay more attention to this issue, she would not sit still and let everything slip away from her hands.
She was Old Madam Liu. No one should ever cross her nor obstruct her plans. And now that things have turned this way, she would make sure that those obstructions would hit rock bottom. For getting in her way… Whether it was intentional or not…
_____
Two weeks have passed since their discharge from the hospital, and Keira woke up early as she was so eager to go back to work again.
She was humming while she was readying herself. Zach laughed, seeing how excited his wife is, and asked, “Ready to go?” Keira nodded, and they headed to the car.
“Madam, please bring this,” said one of their helpers. It was a packed meal.
Her mother insisted on sending a few helpers for the couple, and they did not refuse. Zach agreed that having some helpers around the house would help in looking after his wife and monitoring her well-being better, especially when it comes to dealing with all her cravings. Having the helpers around, Keira could now have any dish she wanted, and it would be homemade instead of store-bought, so Zach wouldn’t have to worry about the meal being unhealthy.
“What’s this?” Keira asked, and Zach answered, “I made it for you. Just try it later and see if you like it.”
Keira beamed and gave her husband a sweet smile followed by tiny smooches on his face, which made the helper look away in embarrassment.
Zach dropped her off in front of the Cooper Network building. The moment she stepped into the newsroom, she was warmly welcomed by the news crew. Everyone was excited to see her again and hugged her while giving her words of affirmation.
“Welcome back, Keira!”
“We all missed you, kiddo!”
“You’re amazing, and we’re so glad you came back safe.”
“We should celebrate later!” Jazz suggested, and they all agreed. They also heard the news about her pregnancy, so they congratulated her on that too.
Thea watched them from afar, with a gentle smile on her face as the scene before her warmed her heart. Keira was well-loved by everyone, not because of her true identity, but because of her personality. And she really admired her for that.
“You did not tell them yet?” Keira asked when they were left alone to review some news items.
Thea shook her head and smiled as she replied, “I informed them about my pregnancy, but not about Jeru. I want to keep it private for his sake. Thankfully none of them has pried into it. Besides, my growing stomach would not be that noticeable to the viewers anyway.”
It was true. As a news anchor who delivered primetime news from the studio, it was not difficult to hide her pregnancy. She only had to sit behind a desk, of which height they could always adjust to conceal her lower body.
“Oh yeah, right, Gavin will be leaving soon, and they were looking for his replacement. I think you should try,” Suggested Thea.
Keira laughed as she said, “But then they would have two pregnant women delivering the primetime news. I could already imagine Director Holmes going bald from scratching his head as he goes nuts from it. Besides, I’m sure they prefer a male anchor to accompany you…”
Thea laughed too, but then she recalled, “No, no, no, I think you really should try. I remember they said they were planning to add two anchors next to me, one male and one female.”
Keira’s eyes twinkled when she heard that, “Really? Okay, I’ll think about it.”
Then she looked intently at Thea before she added, “By the way, you seem really happy now, and I’m so glad to see that. It was nice to see you and Jeru the other day, and both of you seem to understand each other well. Jeru was a bit too rigid and full of pride before because he’s the only son of the Lius. But behind all that, he really is a nice person. He will definitely take good care of you and your baby.”
Thea smiled and nodded. Her cheeks blushed when the topic changed to Jeru. That day, she and Jeru could not finish what they had started because Jeru received an urgent call from the office right after his grandmother had left.
‘Maybe we could continue later,’ Thea thought and giggled unconsciously. Keira gave her a mischievous smile as she teased her, “Did you just have a naughty thought? I can tell you already like him a lot.”
Thea could only give Keira a bashful smile. Then she suddenly smacked her forehead as though she just remembered something and told Keira, “Oh, right! I met her. Old Madam Liu.”
“Ah, such an overbearing lady, right?” Keira commented with a smirk. She was sure the old lady must have made Thea feel intimidated at their first meeting.
Keira listened attentively as Thea narrated how she met Jeru’s grandmother and confided about how the meeting had made her feel.
“Don’t worry too much and trust your husband to handle it. Just try to be as nice as possible to Old Madam Liu because she’s still an elder, and she’s Jeru’s family. You know the saying, ki|| her with kindness, and leave her confused,” Keira advised her with a wink, which made Thea laugh.
Keira suddenly sighed and looked so dejected, “I’m craving for something sweet now…” Thea laughed at Keira’s pitiful expression. She stood up and said, “Let’s go have a snack at the cafe. There’s a lot of sweets there you could choose from.”
The two women entered the cafe and were greeted by their big boss, Bernard Cooper. “It’s good you’re finally back, Keira… Safe and sound,” Bernard said, as he treated them both to some sweet snacks.
“Are you waiting for someone?” Keira asked when he noticed Bernard keep looking at the clock. “Yeah..” Bernard answered, timidly.
A woman approached them. Although she was wearing quite a simple dress, it did not hide her sophisticated look. She smiled at them when Bernard introduced her.
“This is Deyna Song, my girlfriend. Please don’t mention this to Xander, Keira… You know that bully won’t stop teasing me once he finds out,” Bernard pleaded, which made Keira laugh.
“Alright, boss, no problem! Just remember to treat us to more snacks in the future and rest assured that these lips are sealed,” Keira said as she gestured the act of zipping her own lips.
Keira suddenly felt her stomach churn and quickly excused herself to the restroom.
“My girlfriend is a doctor, and she’s a good one. She’s the one who helped Ryu Ken regain his consciousness,” Bernard said when Keira was back. Thea had informed him that both of them were pregnant.
Deyna smiled shyly as she gestured for Bernard to stop praising her. ‘She’s so cute,’ Keira thought, and casually stated, “Geez, how I hope big bro Xander could also meet a nice woman like Deyna…”
“Let her check on you, girls. She’s really an excellent doctor. She could tell your conditions simply by checking your pulse…” Bernard proudly offered.
Keira immediately extended her wrist to Deyna to get her pulse checked.
“Hmm, are you in the first trimester? Your pulse rate is considerably fast. I may be wrong, but it looks like you’re pregnant with twins. But please let the ultrasound confirm it because I could be wrong,” Deyna advised. She then informed Keira that she was quite healthy and there was nothing to worry about so far.
Keira could barely conceal her delight as she tightly clenched Deyna’s hands and declared, “Oh gosh, if you’re correct about the twins… I promise I will grant you any wish!”
Then she turned to Bernard and jested, “Boss, you should have her work at Yang Hospital. She’ll be able to kick my cousin brother out and replace him as the director…”
“That’s what I told her…” Bernard said as he looked at Deyna lovingly, who only answered them with a shy smile.
Keira could not help but chuckle when she imagined her big bro Xander having a timid girlfriend like her… It should be funny considering what a chatterbox her cousin brother was. The two would absolutely complement each other perfectly.