Aaron gulped as fear engulfed him. He couldn’t lose Selina after he’d lost the twins because she was the only reason for him to exist right now. He was speechless. Before anything could happen a shot fired from behind Aaron and the gun dropped out of Wei Lian’s hand before he dropped to the ground. Jiro ran passed Aaron and hurried to check that Wei Lian was still alive, but since he’d shot him near the heart he wouldn’t be able to move for some time. Jiro turned around to see that Aaron was more than shocked stood glued to his spot.

“Don’t touch her. I’ll call an ambulance,” Jiro warned and walked away.

Tears grew in Aaron’s eyes as he moved forward and kneeled upon the ground before Selina. He reached his hands out but could only touch the ground.

“Selina…Selina…Selina…Selina…” he cried over and over.

When her hand twitched Aaron felt his heart skip a beat. He reached for her hand feeling thankful that she was alive.

||||||||

Selina had been admitted to the hospital and Jiro had brought Hebe to her parents’ home for the night. Aaron found himself pacing back and forth restlessly outside the ER. He sat for a while then got up again to continue pacing. When the door opened and the doctor walked out Aaron couldn’t help, but rush over to him grabbing his shoulders.

“How is she? Is she ok?”

The doctor nodded and Aaron felt relief spread throughout his body. “There’s a cut at the back of her head, but we were able to stitch that up and take the bullet out from her leg. But I have to say that if she had received any more damage the fetus wouldn’t have been able to continue living.”

Aaron allowed the silence to climb in his ears for a moment while his smile immediately dropped from his face, “Fetus?”

“Miss Ren has been pregnant about a week now. Congratulations.” the doctor said then began to walk away but Aaron chased after him again.

“You’re saying fetus as in baby? She’s having a baby? I’m going to have a baby?” Aaron asked.

The doctor nodded, “You can see her in her room in a bit.”

The doctor then walked away and Aaron shouted jumping into the air. So, the reason to why Selina had been feeling sick was because she was pregnant. Aaron smiled unable to believe what he’d just found out.

Moments later when he was allowed to see her he found himself feeling nervous. Before entering the room he rubbed his hands together and took a few deep breaths before entering the room. Deciding to leave the lights off he approached the bed where Selina was sleeping on. Finding a chair Aaron brought it over to the bedside and grabbed her hand.

“I’m so happy you came out alright. If you have never returned to Taiwan I don’t know what I’d be doing with my life right now.” he smiled as he looked at her face then slowly and gently he placed his hand on her womb. “Can you feel him? I can’t wait until he starts kicking.” Aaron then ran his hand through her silky hair. “I promise this time around I will treat you a lot better. I won’t leave you alone and I won’t keep anything from you. So sleep some more and wake up so I can talk to you, ok?”

Aaron gripped her hand and rested his head on the bed. He wanted to be the first one she’d see when she woke up.

||||||||

As soon as the door opened and light landed upon Jiro and Hebe’s face she immediately gladly ran into her parents’ arms.

“Thank you so much! Thank you for bringing her back! I really can’t thank you enough!” Mr. Tian thanked.

“Don’t worry,” Jiro replied then glanced at Hebe who hadn’t spoken to him since she’d left that place. “I’ll go now that I brought her back. I still have plenty of things to do back at work.”

With that Jiro reluctantly walked down the staircase. Whatever Keven had told her he would have to find out later when Keven was treated. He’d shot Keven in his shoulder and his leg to stop him from moving back then. But now the results from the investigation team was most important.

When he arrived through the doors he was surprised to see the chief standing over his desk. A smile swept Jiro’s face for the first time that day.

“Jiro!” the chief greeted.

“How are you? You’re finally out,” Jiro greeted.

“Just great and just in time. Look,” the chief pointed to some documents that were laying on Jiro’s desk.

Jiro stepped forward and grabbed the documents. The twins’ bodies were found in a freezer in the room on the left side of the hallway upstairs, the room Jiro had never gotten to. The twins were kept in the first room on the right and it was assumed that they died shortly after Keven had tried feeding them some medicine. It was positive that Keven and Lu Wei Lian were behind the whole kidnapping scheme.

“It looks like you were on the correct path after all and you did this all by yourself too. I’m proud of you.” the chief remarked.

“I didn’t do this by myself. I had a lot of encouragement and received help from some smart friends.” Jiro replied thinking of Reeve, the shy guy, and Hebe who had been his motivation. But now he was unsure of how things would turn out since the twins were no longer alive. He didn’t know how Hebe would react or how to break the news to her. Maybe someone else would do it.

“The rest of the results will come out soon I suppose?” asked Jiro.

“By afternoon tomorrow and after we get some things out of those two kidnappers. I’ll take care of the rest now that I’m back, so if you want to get some rest or go on a vacation go right ahead.” the chief told.

“I’m planning just that. It might do me good to get away for a bit then decide what I’ll do after. I’m glad to have you back chief,” Jiro said.

When he arrived as his apartment Jiro dropped onto his bed and planned to sleep for a long time. He suddenly felt so worn out, so tired that he couldn’t believe the whole thing had ended. It felt a bit like a dream with his heart hanging on the line nervously. If he saw Hebe again he’d want to apologize a million times for not finding the twins any sooner. Just now he suddenly realized how important she had become to him in such short time and before he knew it tears had made their way to the corner of his eyes.

||||||||

Hebe had made her way up to her room and as soon as she climbed onto her bed she pulled the cover over her. She made sure to muffle her cries. Her children were no longer alive and their fate together had ended without her even knowing so. How could they have died? Why didn’t anyone tell her? The babies she’d devoted her life to, she’d planned to live her future watching them grow up into mature adults and see them get married. All her dreams were smashed in an instant all because of some money her grandma had left behind. Hebe never got any sleep that night, but was disturbed by knocking at the door early in the morning.

“The police has called for you Hebe. It may be about the twins.” her step mother’s voice came from the doorway.

Hebe opened the door and never minded the stunned look her step mother gave her when she saw her red eyes. Hebe took the phone and closed the door.

“Yes?”

“Good morning Miss Tian. I’m not sure if you’re aware of this or not, but your children’s bodies were found in a freezer on the second floor. After an autopsy we’ve found that your children passed away from a cold after they took some children’s medication. I’m deeply sorry about this.”

Hebe hung up the phone. That was all she needed to know and all she would need to know. All that was left was the funeral…Hebe could feel tears fall down from her eyes again then suddenly she began wondering if Aaron knew. Thinking of him made her think of Selina. Did he know she was pregnant? There were so many things she was still so unclear about.

||||||||

After she received a check up from the doctor Selina finally had the chance to glance around the room. The pain in her head didn’t lessen one bit and she still felt like she was coming on with a cold.

“You’re ok now. Thank you for being ok,” Aaron said running his hand through her hair.

“What happened? Where’s Hebe? Did everything turn out ok?” Selina questioned.

Aaron smiled assuring her so, “She’s at her parent’s home resting right now and she’s not injured.”

“That’s good to hear,” Selina added.

Aaron smiled at her again and this time Selina frowned.

“Why do you keep looking at me? What’s with that smile of yours?” Selina asked. “Is there something I don’t know?”

Aaron got off his chair and hugged her with her head leaning against his chest. “We are going to have a baby.”

Selina felt her eyes grow wide in surprise, but smiled unable to take what she’d just heard. “A baby? I’m pregnant?”  

She smiled and gently her womb. However, the news they received later that day quickly destroyed their moment of happiness. The chief had approached Aaron and broke the news to him about the twins’ death in mid March. Heart broken and saddened Aaron had left the hospital to look for Hebe. Funeral arrangements would have to be made and they would need to decide where to bury their children.

Hebe was very reluctant at first to go look at caskets, but in the end she accompanied Aaron to go look for them. After arranging everything Hebe had made a visit to Selina at the hospital and apologized with tears not forgetting to congratulate her about being pregnant. Hebe hadn’t called up Jiro or found any courage to contact him before the funeral. She felt insecure and worried about how he would be feeling now that the case was finally solved and over. No matter what Hebe still wanted to meet him again and thank him for working so hard to find her twins…which they finally did in the end.

It was her first time seeing him again at the funeral a week later. She didn’t understand why they felt so distanced then, but maybe it was because he feared her rejection of him after the twins were not found alive, but dead. It was difficult to find time to talk to him because they had so many guests at the funeral and Hebe had to keep answering questions over and over. She was glad to break away from the crowd when Aaron wheeled Selina into the building in her wheelchair. And it was only until then that Hebe was able to approach Jiro. The news that shocked her was that he was going to Malaysia for a month and it saddened her even more that he hadn’t planned on letting her know.

After the twins were buried the next day they bid farewell to each other and Jiro left for a month. During that month Selina and Aaron planned out their wedding.

The results about Keven came out a little later before Jiro left. Keven had moved out in 06 because he, obviously, lacked the money to pay his rent. A day later after being kicked out he’d moved in with Lu Wei Lian, who had begun devising the plan to take the twins from Hebe. Because Lu Wei Lian knew the house better than Keven he’d given the extra copy of keys he’d stolen from the estate company to Keven, who would break into the house and distract Hebe while Wei Lian took the children. The children were kept at the run down house where they eventually became ill and died after the children’s medicine that Keven had given them. Wei Lian feared that because Jiro was catching onto them felt a need to clean up the mess by getting rid of Hebe. By then money had become the last object on their mind. Wei Lian’s plan eventually took a turn to the worse when Selina had unintentionally chased Hebe into the house. After trial both Keven and Lu Wei Lian were sentenced to life in prison where they would pay for their sins.  

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2009.….

“Yes, that’s right. I remember now. One day I received an invitation to go to the Philippines for a business banquet and I later found out it was all set up by your father,” Hebe talked aloud to the baby, “he proposed to me by the seaside and we only returned back to Taiwan when Selina had her baby. I remember that’s exactly how it happened. I told you my memory is quite good too.”

The door opened and Hebe stepped out to see Jiro walk in. He had been gladly promoted and worked in his own office out of the police station. Jiro had also brought along with him the shy guy that had helped him with the twins’ case and was now Jiro’s secretary, right hand man, and Jiro’s investigator. Hebe could tell Jiro was satisfied with his job and seeing him happy was all that mattered.

“I’m back,” he said, “and I brought some friends. You wouldn’t mind making more food for dinner, right? I know you love showing off your new cooking skills.”

Jiro walked over to give Hebe a hug as Aaron, Selina, Ella, and Calvin filed in through the door. The wailing of a baby caught Hebe’s attention and she couldn’t help, but shout in delight.

“You brought the baby too!” Hebe quickly rushed over to the little boy Aaron had set on the ground.

“Be careful, the little beast knows how to hit now. All because someone thought it’d be neat to teach him,” Selina turned giving Aaron a sight glare.

“Really? That is neat!” Hebe agreed.

“That does sound a bit dangerous,” Jiro told sitting down on the couch.

“Ella when are you going to have a baby?” asked Hebe looking up at her best friend.

“We’re not even there yet. Probably never going to get there,” Ella waved her hand at Hebe. “When is your baby due, Hebe? If you have a girl maybe you should pair up your daughter with Selina’s son.”

“I think it’s best to stay away from that idea,” Aaron said creating laughter among them.  

As soon as her book would get published Hebe wanted to dedicate it to her awesome friends. The people who changed her world and the people who gave her strength to keep moving forward.

THE END

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Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed!