LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT - SEASON 2 CHAPTER 94
Keira and Zach were back to their routines after the wedding. Zach was finishing some loose ends before he completed his term in the military, while Keira was busy with her reporting job.
She was in the middle of preparing some news items in the newsroom with the rest of the crew when a sudden unfortunate news hit them. Their CEO, Bernard Cooper, was involved in a fatal car accident that had claimed his life.
Keira immediately thought of her cousin, Xander, who must be devastated right now. She called his assistant to ask about his whereabouts.
“He’s still at the hospital, Ma’am,” answered Ron, Xander’s assistant, who immediately briefed Keira on the current situation.
“Alright, I’ll be on my way there,” she said before ending the call. Xander was a brother to her, just as much as she was a sister to him.
They were both an only child in their respective families. The only relatives whom Xander was close with were his cousins, Keira from his father’s side, and Bernard from his mother’s side. And now that he had lost Bernard, Keira was the only ‘sibling’ left for him.
Keira promptly applied for emergency leave and left for the hospital, so she could be with her cousin, to comfort and console him.
Upon her arrival at the hospital, she saw Xander sitting outside the operating room, with his head down and shoulders slumped. Bernard’s dad was sitting beside him. She immediately went to Xander and hugged him.
“Be strong, cousin brother… I’m sure Bernard is in a better place now…” she murmured as she stroked Xander’s back. He was now sobbing hard.
Her heart grieved for her cousin because she knew how much Xander loved Bernard, who was like a brother to him.
“How could he just leave like that? He sounded so happy when he called me just a while ago, Keira. He even thr_@tened me not to dare stare at his girlfriend once he introduces us. He was so excited to introduce his girlfriend to me… I even prepared a feast for them…” Xander said in between his sobs.
It had all felt surreal for Xander. If he hadn’t seen Bernard’s cold body with his own eyes earlier, while Bernard’s girlfriend was hysterically shouting for his cousin to wake up, he still would have not believed that Bernard was gone.
“How is she?” Keira asked about Bernard’s girlfriend, Deyna Song, whom she had the chance to meet previously. Xander’s assistant told her that Bernard had protected Deyna with his body.
Deyna must be devastated too. But after seeing how badly wrecked the car was on the news, Keira thought it was fortunate for Deyna to have miraculously survived with only a minor concussion to the head.
“She passed out earlier after seeing Bernard’s body in the operating room, and they already transferred her back to her room,” Xander answered as he wiped his tears. He gently pulled himself away from Keira’s hug to check on his uncle, who looked despaired.
“Uncle, please rest for now… I’ll take care of everything. I’ll take care of Bernard…” Xander said. He was sure his uncle would need some time alone. Bernard was his only son, and it must be difficult for him to accept that he was gone.
Xander shifted his gaze to his assistant, who just arrived, and instructed him to escort his uncle back to his home and tend to all of his needs.
“Thank you, Xander. Please look after Deyna too…” was the last thing Senior Cooper said in a somber voice before he left with assistant Ron.
“Yes, Uncle, I will…” answered Xander.
Keira accompanied Xander for the rest of the day as he made the arrangements for Bernard’s remains.
Her mobile phone beeped. It was a message from Zach, responding to her earlier text message, in which she informed him that she would be accompanying Xander at the hospital for a while.
[ Alright. Please offer him my deepest condolences. I hope he will find some peace… I’ll be meeting Senior Liu today. Please take care of yourself. Don’t skip meals, and come home early if possible. I love you, my star… ]
Keira smiled and proceeded to help Xander with everything that he needed, as soon as she put her mobile phone back in her purse.
…………
“Sir…” Zach greeted Senior Liu, who visited him in his office at the military base. Then he gestured for Senior Liu to take a seat on the couch.
Senior Liu sat down and smiled at him. “Please call me ‘Uncle’ from now on. I prefer that over ‘Sir'”
Zach smiled and humbly apologized, “I’m sorry, I’ll try to keep that in mind. To be honest, everything hasn’t really sunk in yet.”
Then Zach offered, “Would you like something to drink? Tea, coffee?”
Senior Liu smiled and replied, “Coffee will do, please…. Thanks.”
Zach signaled his subordinate to get his guest a cup of coffee, while Senior Liu looked around Zach’s office and stood up to approach a cabinet where Zach’s medals and awards were displayed.
Then it dawned on him that he had never even gotten the time to visit his own son’s office at the military when he was still an active General of the army. ‘I’m such a bad father,’ he lamented, followed by a sigh.
Zach smiled, seeing Senior Liu stare intently at his trophies. Then as if he could read his mind, Zach pointed out, “Jeru also has the same amount of those, Sir…”
Senior Liu smiled and nodded, but his heart still felt like it had been pricked by a needle for knowing so little about his own son.
“He sat back on the couch and said, “Your father, Charles, would surely be proud of you wherever he is now.”
“I would like to know more about him, Sir. My father. How was he like? What kind of a person was he?” Zach asked in earnest. He genuinely wanted to find out more about his biological father.
Senior Liu took a sip of his coffee before he started narrating about the good old times that he had with Charles, including their childhood stories.
“I think I’m more like him then,” Zach asserted with a smile. From Senior Liu’s stories, just like him, his father also appeared to be a reserved man, who couldn’t reveal his thoughts or feelings readily. His father had changed and had become more open to things only after he met his mother. Just like how he had also started to open up more only after Keira strolled into his life…
_______
The next day, Zach and Keira visited the grave of Zach’s biological father, Charles Liu. His uncle, Thom, had given him a pass to enter the Liu’s private graveyard.
Keira sighed as she watched her husband stare at the gravestone solemnly. On it, was a photograph of Charles Liu, smiling.
“You really resemble him a lot… Look at those attractive eyes and lips… And that smile…” Keira noted while she examined every single detail of Charles Liu’s facial feature in the photograph.
“Yeah… Senior Liu… I mean, Uncle Thom and my mom said that too,” Zach muttered before he let out a long deep sigh.
“Dad, Father, Pa… I’m not sure which one you prefer… But I’m really grateful to you for giving me life. Mom said, you were a responsible man and would definitely be a great father if you were alive… I grew up well, and I’m married now. You have a beautiful daughter-in-law…” Zach proudly introduced Keira as he grabbed her waist with a smile on his face.
“Hello, Father, wherever you are… I’m Keira, your daughter-in-law. Uhm, although it’s a bit awkward to talk to you like this, but I’m happy and pleased to meet you. I want you to know that your son right here is someone that you can really be proud of. He is really the best! And by the way, you’ll soon have grandchildren… I’m carrying twins… Isn’t he amazing?” Keira chirped as she introduced herself.
Zach chuckled and said, “See how adorable my wife is, Dad? She was actually the one who worked hard on the twins. Not me…”
Keira’s eyes rounded as she pinched her husband’s waist. “Stop that. I don’t want my father-in-law to think of me as a perverted daughter in law.”
Zach laughed and pinched Keira’s nose in return as he whispered, “Dad must think we’re one weird couple…”
The couple bid their farewell after they told the deceased Charles Liu some more of Zach’s stories.
They were walking hand in hand toward the graveyard’s exit when Zach suddenly spoke,” By the way, Uncle Thom requested me to use the name Liu instead of Lim… Also, Old Madam Liu would like us to live with them at Liu’s Ancestral Mansion. For a few months, if possible…”
“You did not mention anything about this last night?” Keira asked with pouty lips.
“I was planning to mention it today because you had a tiring day yesterday…” Zach answered as he kissed his wife’s hand.
She was indeed too tired that she had climbed directly to their bed to hug Zach and sleep without even bothering to clean herself up as soon as she arrived home last night.
“Hmm, it’s a given that they want to get to know you and to give you their family name because it’s also your right. So, what did you tell him?” Keira asked as she swung their clasped hands.
“What do you think I should do?” Zach stopped walking and sat on a bench just next to them and pulled her to sit beside him. He then looked at the sky.
Keira followed her husband to look at the sky too.
“Well, I’m not sure… But wh@??ver it is that you will decide to do, I will always support you,” Keira said while she stretched her arms open, embracing the light and refreshing breeze.
“I already declined to change my name to Liu. And I also told him that we can’t live at Liu’s Ancestral Mansion for a few months. Instead of that, we will visit Old Madam Liu and pay respect,” Zach informed her.
Zach looked at her and added, “You don’t like her, right? I remember you calling her Old Madam Hitler before.”
Keira laughed and explained, “It’s because she’s the notorious Old Madam Hitler… I didn’t come up with that name. They were already calling her by that name even before I was born, my General. But when I met her for the first time, I could already tell why they gave her that nickname. She was really overbearing… Wait… Don’t tell me you refused because of that? Because you thought I don’t like her?”
Zach nodded, and Keira dropped her jaw. Zach chuckled as he pulled her toward him and hugged her tightly. It felt so good to hug his wife like this. So he murmured, “Hmm, this feels good…”
“Yeah, I agree… The weather is so nice, not too hot, not too cold… It’s just the right temperature,” Keira seconded, nodding her head. Zach smiled at his wife’s oblivious response.
“I’m just really happy with where I am now. Having my wife and unborn twins by my side… I’m more than home… I don’t need anything else. So I can’t see the point of claiming the name Liu legally and living with them,” Zach whispered in her ear.
Then he let go of his wife to look at her and asked, “Why? Do you want to become Keira Liu-Chan instead of Keira Lim-Chan?”
Keira knitted her eyebrows and tapped her finger on her chin, acting as if she was giving it a serious thought. “Lim and Liu? Hmmm… Let me ask our babies… Cayden and Stella, what do you think? Which surname do you want? Do you want to be Cayden Lim and Stella Lim or Cayden Liu and Stella Liu?”
Keira even bent down her head as she touched and caressed her tummy as if she were waiting for an answer, “What’s that? Oh, both of you want to think about it first? Okay, you think about it first and let me know. I’ll pass on your message to your daddy.”
Zach let out a hearty laugh at his wife’s silly act and continued to stare at her lovingly while gently caressing her hair. He would never get tired of looking at his beautiful and adorable wife. She was shining brightly in his eyes, above anything else…
“Well, what did they say, my star? By the way, we still need to think of another set of names. I mean, it’s not confirmed yet that they’ll be a pair of a boy and a girl. What if they’re two boys or two girls instead?” Zach remarked as he pulled Keira’s head to rest on his shoulder and planted it with little kisses.
“Hmm, we can always think of another name after their genders are confirmed. But my gut feeling says they’ll be a boy and a girl. And you know my gut feeling is often correct,” Keira declared, smiling. She then grabbed Zach’s arm that was hugging her shoulder and rubbed her nose on it.
“Wh@??ver you say, my star… Besides, you earned it since you were the one who worked hard on our twins,” Zach teased. Keira giggled and murmured, “Do you want more twins in the future, my General?”
Zach grinned and pulled his wife to stand up as he suggested, “How about we go home now and try to upgrade our twins to triplets or quadruplets?”
.
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