Vivi hears the sound of Charlie’s car, and goes to the door to receive him but finds that he doesn’t look well. She hesitates for a moment and then asks, “What's wrong with you, Charlie?”

“Nothing.” Charlie takes a look at her and then says, “I go to the study. There are still some things to be dealt with.”

Knowing that he is unwilling to say more, Vivi doesn’t force him to say. When she sees him disappear on the stairs, her eyes which are tender and soft as water before gradually become insidious.

Since her marriage, her relationship with Charlie seems to be getting more deteriorative. That isn’t what she wants. She has endured many things and concealed her identity for three years. She wants to be the real Mrs. Jiang, not the nominal Mrs. Jiang.

In the study, Charlie stares at the documents on the desk, but his mind is never on them.

Since Mandy has fallen into the sea that day, his brain also seems to be flooded, otherwise he won’t think of her in mind many times. She is like a leech suddenly crawling into his mind, deeply bewildering his thoughts.

He thinks of Mandy when he stays in the office or drives. In the study, it’s easier for him to think of Mandy. Because the study is their bedroom once, and the air seems to be still permeated with the smell of Mandy.

Charlie involuntarily closes his eyes, and the smell seems to become more intense.

But just then, there is a gentle knock on the door. He suddenly opens his eyes, scolds himself inwardly and says, “Please come in.”

It is Vivi who comes in. She walks over with a gentle expression and says, “Charlie, time for dinner.”

“Well.” He closes the folders in his hands, stands up and prepares to go out. When seeing Vivi sit on the sofa not far away, he is stunned, then walks over, takes her hand and asks softly, “Vivi, you have something in mind?”

Vivi’s gentle expression turns to be a little dejected. She opens her lips and tries to speak but stops on a second thought, “Charlie, I...”

“Just say it. I’m your husband.” Charlie holds her in his arms and gently reassures her.

Then Vivi says slowly, “My mother came here this afternoon.”

“That’s good. You haven’t been here for three years. Now you should spend more time with her.” Charlie approves of her.

Vivi looks at him and then says, “My mother has worried about me for the whole life. She is old now. So, she feels delighted when I have a good marriage. But she is old, and she always wants to have a grandson to take care of.”

Vivi feels extremely shy when she says the last sentence. Charlie has never thought that she suddenly talks about that. He is stunned at once, and then, he wants to refuse unconsciously. But he thinks it over before he says, “Vivi, you haven’t been with me for three years. You just come back right now. I haven’t enjoyed much of lovers’ world.”

Vivi immediately understands the resistance of Charlie’s words, and her eyes immediately turn red. She draws her hands back from Charlie’s hands and sobs, “Don’t you... Don’t you want to have a child with me?

“How can it be?” Charlie quickly vetoes her, “Vivi, you are the woman that I love the most. If I don’t have a child with you, who do I choose?”

“But... But I really want a child.” Vivi whispers, “Charlie, I have such an unreal life these days, I’m afraid... I’m afraid that you’ll disappear in a blink of an eye... I want a child who has our blood... It’s the witness of our love...”

Charlie can’t ignore Vivi’s tears from the past to the present. His heart aches. Before he says something, he feels a hand caressing him slowly.

Then he hears Vivi’s voice, the crying voice with a trace of seduction.

She says, “Darling, love me.”

Click to read the whole novel on Flying Lines - You Used to Be My World.