He turned slowly to see her standing just a few steps away from him, and Liam could not help but feel his heart crumple. However, he forcefully hardened his heart and walked towards Natalia with a menacing expression.

"What was that you did, Natalia?" he asked, anger evident in his voice. He watched as she stood there in the maternity gown and exhausted expression, which was the opposite of the energized look she had on TV.

"It won’t harm you, Lee. Except you end up forcing me to get surgery. Otherwise, you can just destroy my public image and announce that everything I ever said on that show was a lie! I...I won’t hold you back," Natalia whispered, just loud enough for Liam to hear her clearly. With her hands on her belly, she looked around to find a suitable place to sit as her legs were already shaking beneath her feet.

"Destroying your hard earned reputation publicly isn’t the solution to this mess you just caused, Natalia! And all this just because of that...that thing you call a baby?!"

"Lee—"

"Don’t, Natalia! Do not call me that for now, please. You could have just talked to me privately but you went on to cause this ruckus just because of that...Just let me be for a while."

Turning his back to her, Liam stormed away from the living room with tears welled up in his eyes. He had to be strong, and be the strong man for the family so he had to be firm in this decision.

Just now, he had noticed the way Natalia eyes had been searching and could instinctively tell that she wanted to sit. And that was why he left her alone so his heart would not soften and he would go to help her.

When he was sure he was a considerable distance away from her, he stopped dead in his tracks and leaned against the wall with his head cradled between his hands.

’What’re you gonna do, Liam?’ he asked himself. This was a perfect representation of standing between the devil and the blue sea. The devil would be Natalia not talking to him, and the possible public backlash that could occur if she was forced to undergo surgery while the blue sea would be him approving Natalia’s wish and risking her death.

Liam weighed the two choices and decided that the blue sea was more scary and he would sell his soul to the devil if it meant he could keep his beloved.

He had made his decision, and that was to get Natalia to undergo the surgery, whether she liked it or not. She could go on and hate him later on, but he trusted his persistence would be able to win her back.

Liam took his phone out, preparing to call the doctors over when loud screams pierced into his ears. And the direction it was coming from was where he just left.

Natalia...

Music Rec: Not You by Alan Walker.

The phone slipped out of his hand and he took to his heels, running back to the living room which was now the complete opposite of how it was earlier. Natalia had been standing, but she was lying on the ground now; the living room had been empty but now it was occupied by numerous maids and...

"Natalia!"

He found himself by her side in the twinkling of an eye and there it was, the baby lying just between her legs. Subconsciously, Liam blocked out the confused murmurs and screams of the maids, the small painful sighs his wife was making, and even the blood on the ground as he took in the face of the crying baby girl on the cold floor.

He was still in that tranced state when the scurrying footsteps surrounded him and he was pushed away from Natalia and the baby. He didn’t even bother struggling against them but just followed behind them into her room, where they were taking her to.

As Liam took position in one corner so as not to disturb any of the doctors, the only thing that kept coming to his mind was,

"She is not thing...She is a princess..."

★★★

"Here."

The doctor handed over the sleeping baby to Liam who seemed scared that he would mistakenly drop the baby.

Chuckling, the doctor guided Liam’s hands to the right places, saying,

"You only have to hold her right and everything will be okay. She won’t get hurt."

"Oh...okay!" Liam replied enthusiastically. He wrapped his hand tighter around the baby and used the other hand to remove the shawl covering her face, so it would be more exposed to his own eyes.

"She is so beautiful," he whispered, and the doctor nodded in agreement.

"You have to see Mrs Anderson though. She has been requesting to meet you."

Liam looked up with a shocked expression, as he just realized that he had not even thought of his wife. A smile crossed his face as he wondered if his princess had him under her charms already.

"Let’s go there immediately," he stated, following after the doctor back to Natalia’s room. When they got there, the latter excused himself while Liam stepped into the room.

The smile on his face fell as soon as his brain registered the image of his wife lying in bed, in the room. Quickly but not carelessly, he closed the distance between them and went to sit beside her.

"Natalia..." he called.

"Yes, Lee. I...I can see you are holding her," Natalia pointed out, her low voice showing how exhausted she was.

"I am. And she is so pretty."

"The doctor told me I will have to go to the hospital, Liam. I want to tell you not to come visit me...unless you do not love me. If I die...or live, you will surely know so don’t make me struggle too much with leaving. You have our baby now, and she should be a comfort for you together with Noah..."