Ting Na fanned her husband with an old newspaper in her hand. She bit her lips and prayed he woke up soon before she would officially freak out. The moment he fell onto the ground, her eyes were wide as saucers and she let out a scream of panic, crying out his name in panic, making his brothers return from their previous activities and tend to the sleeping giant in order to place him in his room.

 

"You're such an idiot," she mumbled, playing with his dark brown hair that she's grown to love. "I can't believe you're going to be a dad soon."

 

Ting Ma stood up from the bed and made her way downstairs to the kitchen where she saw the girls talking. She met eyes with Li Hua and saw her smiling at her.

 

"You're pregnant," Li Hua said with a big grin on her face as she looked at her sister-in-law.

 

"Like a month old pregnancy," Ting Na revealed with a big, ecstatic smile on her face.

 

"How come you didn't tell anyone?" Ya Li whined, "We have the group chat for a reason." She looked at her older sister-in-laws and scanned over their faces. “Who else is with a baby?”

 

Everyone shook their head with smiles on their faces.

 

“I just had Fang Hua not so long ago and it was difficult,” Fang Yi said with a small sigh, “Pregnancy is rough.”

 

Mei Li looked at Fang Yi and Ting Na and noticed their smiles on their faces. She heard the sounds of the boys in the backyard talking about Yi Fan and couldn’t help but smile. It’s been ages since they were together and it made her heart warm. She looked out the window and saw Yixing with Fang Hua in his arms and wide, dimpled smile on his face.

 

“Are you guys trying for a baby, Mei Li?” Li Hua asked her.

 

Mei Li swallowed the lump in and looked at her sister-in-laws and nodded her head. “It’s hard, that’s all,” she said quietly, “I don’t know why, but it’s harder for us to have kids.” Her eyes began to water as she spoke. “I don’t know what to do because,” she paused and looked at Yixing from the window. Her lips tugged upwards in a sad smile. “He loves me too much that he’s willing to wait and have these tests done and he prays every night for a miracle to happen for us,” she choked out.

Li Hua hugged Mei Li as she cried into her shoulder. She finally let it out after watching and hearing and seeing all of her sister-in-laws with their babies and how hard their pregnancy was and their sleepless nights and new baby deals and the family days they would have, she told them of her burden of trying for so many years. Of having Yixing hold her hand at the doctors and having their money go down the drain just to have one baby.

 

“It’s okay, Mei Li,” Li Hua said softly as she patted her back gently. “I know you’re going to have a baby soon because you are so kind and beautiful that God will give  Yixing and you a baby that will grow up to be as kind and gentle as the both of you,” she told her with a smile on her face, “Don’t worry because you’re not doing anything wrong. Maybe it’s just because the clinic is doing well and one day you’re going to be surprised when you find out because surprises happen. Miracles happen.”

 

“We have been at this for five years,” Mei Li confessed. “Five years of nothing and we don’t have a family,” she wiped away a tear that fell from her eyes. “We talked about adopting, but we don’t know yet,” her voice got quick when she saw Yixing entering through the door with Fang Hua in his arms.

 

“Baobei,” he said, walking over to his wife with a smile on his face. “Look at what she can do,” he said as he sat her on the counter. He took her light pink rag and covered his face with it, playing a game of peek-a-boo. Fang Hua began laughing when Yixing dropped the blanket lower. Fang Hua took the blanket and began to cover her face with it, then dropping the rag like Yixing had done. She erupted in a fit of laughter as she repeated the game with Yixing. Meili laughed as she witnessed the joy on her husband’s face.

“I have to go to the bathroom, ai ren,” she said, giving him a small smile. “I’ll be back,” she said before leaving the kitchen and heading upstairs to the bathroom.

 

Yixing looked at his sister-in-laws with a questioning look. “What happened to Mei Li?” He asked. “She was crying,” he said, “I saw from the window.”

 

The sister-in- laws looked at each other, unsure if they should say anything to him. Li Hua nodded her head and Ting Na spoke up, “She was sad seeing how happy you are with a baby and she got sad when she told us she couldn’t have a baby,” her voice got quiet as she ended her sentence. She saw Yixing nod his head silently. He looked Li Hua, who was closest to him, and gave her the baby before leaving the kitchen to go to where his wife was.

 

Yixing knocked on the bathroom door, trying to get to talk to his wife. He heard sniffles from the bathroom and her voice, soft and small saying she’ll be out soon. A frown appeared on his face and his heart ached at the tone she used. He knew babies were her weak spot. It a ws a topic they didn’t bring up that much, it was something that they knew was hard to digest. They were normal, no flaws in their genes, no flaws in their chromosomes. But they didn’t know what kept them. Mei Li opposed to the idea of having someone-- a doctor-- help. She said to Yixing that would be their last resort, but maybe it was time for her to accept the fact that it was the appropriate time to do the doctors.

 

Mei Li opened the door of the bathroom and saw her husband standing with open arms. She gave him a small smile and walked to him, wrapping her arms around his waist as he did the same, enveloping her into his embrace. She was sad, she was heartbroken that even the younger girls are having children before her. She wondered if Yixing felt the same way with his brothers, that they were fathers before him. He’s been ready for children, so has Mei Li, but nothing has happened.

 

“I’m sorry,” she said softly. She felt her eyes water and clog. “I’m so, so sorry, Xing,” she repeated herself.

 

Yixing tightened his hold around her waist. “Don’t say you’re sorry anymore, LiLi,” he pleaded. “Don’t say you’re sorry anymore,” Yixing buried his face in her hair and inhaled her sweet scent of Japanese Cherry blossoms. “You’re not doing anything wrong, okay? You, Zhang Mei Li are not doing anything wrong at all,” he placed a gentle kiss on the top of her head before asking if she wanted to go to their room for privacy. She nodded her head and Yixing led them to the room.

 

Yi Fan walked out of the room when Yixing had  shut his door. He heard what the two exchanged and he felt sad for his brother and sister-in-law. He knew how much the two wanted kids and, now that he could tell, Mei Li always looked sad when she saw a baby. Yi Fan knew he had to talk to the siblings down stairs then he would be able to set some rules for the couple upstairs.

 

He made his way into the kitchen where he saw his wife and the other women conversing in the kitchen with the men in the living room. He cleared his throat and  caught the girls’ attention. He nodded his head towards the living room and Ting Na nodded her head and lead the girls over there. Yi Fan stood in front of his brothers as their wives sat by their husbands on the couches. He peered at the top of the staircase in case Yixing or Mei Li were out and when he saw no one, he directed his attention to the people on front of him.

 

“From now on,” he started, looking at everyone. “No more talks about pregnancies and babies unless Yixing and Mei Li bring it up first,” he said.

 

“Why?” Chen asked, “Did something happe- ow!” He yelped in pain as Ching Lan smacked him on the arm for being stupid.

 

“They’re having troubles with conceiving a baby,” she said quietly, but everyone could hear her. “Especially you loud mouths here,” she said, directing most of her attention to Chen and Tao who sat besides each other, “Keep your mouths shut.” Chen gave a small pout to his wife for being so demanding and harsh towards him and his younger brother.

 

Tao nudged his fiancee who shrug her shoulders as if to say it was his fault and she was supporting what Ching Lan was saying at the moment. “Ya Li!” He whined at her actions, unsatisfied at her agreement towards his sister-in-law.

 

“What?” She asked. “What she said was right. You two talk the most and you especially. You talk and talk and sometimes it slips out of your mouth. I don’t blame her for saying it to you,” Ya Li said, shrugging her shoulders again, making Tao become a little upset about the situation.

 

“No more baby talks,” Li Hua said, holding Min Hoa in her lap. “Only in privacy,” she said to everyone.

 

“What time is mama and baba coming back from the doctors?” Luhan asked. He looked better than when Fang Yi and him left this morning to  get some fresh air after the events of last night. “They’ve been gone for a few hours already.”

 

“Mama said they’d return at five or so tonight,” they turned their heads to see Yixing walking down the staircase.

 

“Ge,” Tao said, unsure of how much he heard. “Where’s--”

 

“She’s resting,” he said to them. He made his way and say next to Yi Fan. “Thanks, you guys,” he said softly while giving them a smile, displaying the dimple on his face. “I appreciate you guys doing this,” Yixing gave his brothers and sister-in-laws an appreciative smile. “Mei Li hasn’t been feeling so well the past few months because of the issue.”

 

Ting Na nodded her head. “It’s okay,” she said with a smile. “You guys are family and Mei Li and you have been nothing but nice to us and you two deserve less stress in your life. Especially with your clinic, you guys are always working.”

 

Everyone agreed with her statement. Yixing and Mei Li were the nicest people and they deserved nothing but the best. Maybe it was because they were patient with everyone and everything or they had a big heart and accepted everything the way it was. The two worked hard and it made everyone admire their hard work and the amount of energy they put into helping people, into taking care of them and being able to have time for everyone but at the end of the day,  having time to themselves and having time for each other.

 

But maybe this is something that was supposed to happen, just a small hiccup in the road for them to overcome. No one knew what the reason was, but they knew for sure that the couple didn’t deserve it. They didn’t deserve to feel this way either.

 

“We’re family, Yixing,” Xiumin spoke up. “And family helps and protect each other.”

 

 

 

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It's been tooooo long since I've been absent. I'm trying my best to be hoenst. I barely get a chapter done during a normal week. A paragraph or two and that's it. But since I'm on break and I have the time in the world I can do it.