Your Highness, your wife doesn't want you anymore!

The following day, Kings woke up from the cold.

Last night, I stopped Zhizhi from sleeping with her grandma, and she threw a tantrum and wouldn't cover herself with a blanket.

The pregnant woman was sleeping with the air conditioner on. She was covered with a blanket and wasn't afraid of the cold at all, which made him shiver. He woke up in the middle of the night feeling cold and tried to pull her blanket away, but he couldn't. So he just held the baby tightly as they slept.

In the end, he had no choice but to turn off the air conditioner. But not long after, Nan Zhi, who was sensitive to heat, broke out in a light sweat. She frowned, pushed him, and then turned the air conditioner back on by herself.

After tossing and turning all night, Jin Si Nian had no other choice but to get up and rummage through the closet for a thin blanket to cover himself, but he still caught a cold.

Unfortunately, I still caught a cold and had a fever, with a runny nose and sneezing.

He's become less talkative and seems listless.

Grandma Liu Xinlan brought over a cup of warm cold medicine. As she handed it to him, she immediately separated the two of them and earnestly instructed Nan Zhi, "Zhi Zhi, stay away from him. You two must sleep in separate rooms tonight."

"You're carrying twins and your body is delicate; you can't let him catch a cold."

Nan Zhi obediently retreated far away, keeping a considerable distance between them, her eyes fixed on the dejected man, her heart filled with self-reproach.

It's all her fault. Last night, she deliberately didn't cover him with a blanket in a fit of pique, which caused him to get a fever and fall ill.

She shouldn't have left him without a blanket...

Jin Si Nian sat alone on the beanbag chair in the living room, which was usually Nan Zhi's place to rest. The small sofa could barely accommodate him, and his tall body was curled up, looking particularly cramped and awkward.

The fever gave his cheeks an abnormal flush, his eyes drooped, and his whole body looked weak and tired.

After her grandmother went back to her room, leaving only the two of them in the living room, Nan Zhi carefully stepped forward, her voice soft and apologetic: "I'm so sorry... It's all my fault. You... you wouldn't have gotten sick."

Jin Si Nian lifted his heavy eyelids, his breath weak and hoarse, but his first words were to push her away: "Stand back, don't come near me, don't let your illness affect you."

In the past, if Zhizhi had come up to him, he would have definitely hugged him.

He doesn't care if he gets sick, but he absolutely cannot let anything happen to Zhizhi.

She's very spoiled.

When I was sick with a cold before, I wouldn't eat, talk, take medicine, or go to the hospital.

He had found it strange before; Zhizhi was usually very easy to talk to, but she changed when she got sick.

Nan Zhi stood firmly rooted to the spot, not retreating an inch.

She gently raised her cool palm and placed it on Jin Si Nian's burning forehead. The heat made her heart tighten, and her eyes instantly turned red.

"It's so hot... I'll go get you a cold towel to put on it."

Jin Si Nian shrank weakly deeper into the sofa, his eyes listless and his voice hoarse and feeble: "No need."

He turned his head slightly, deliberately avoiding her touch, his tone filled with restrained accommodation: "Stay away from me, you're going to sleep with your grandma tonight."

Don't infect her.

This is an exception.

Nan Zhi bit her lower lip, looking at his usually flamboyant and assertive appearance, now weak and docile, letting the illness torment him. Her heart ached and felt heavy, and self-blame overwhelmed her.

She asked softly and gently, "Didn't you say that married couples shouldn't sleep in separate rooms?"

You can't go back on your word.

Kings closed his eyes, his breath heavy with exhaustion: "Today is fine."

"I don't want to," Nan Zhi shook her head stubbornly, her small hands clenched tightly, her tone exceptionally serious, "I...I want to take care of you."

She clearly remembered that when she was sick, Jin Si Nian stayed by her side every step of the way.

I took her to the hospital in the middle of the night because of an allergic reaction, and she stayed on an IV drip until late at night before we got back.

She didn't want to go to the hospital when she was sick with a cold because she hated the smell of hospitals and her heart would race every time she went there. She was even more reluctant to go when she was sick...

He was the one who took care of me when I was burning up and unconscious.

That's why, when Kings was hospitalized before, Nan Zhi went to the hospital to take care of him without complaint.

This is reciprocal.

Jin Nian stubbornly refused, his voice weak: "No, I don't need you to take care of me."

"Listen to me, let's go out, okay? I can handle it myself."

The more considerate and yielding he was, trying not to implicate her in any way, the more guilty and distressed Nan Zhi felt.

She would never fight with Jin Si Nian for the blanket again, so that he wouldn't be left without one.

She brought him a glass of warm water and held it to his lips: "You...you should drink your medicine first."

Being sick, Jin Si Nian was unusually obedient, without the slightest stubbornness. He obediently tilted his head back and drank the bitter cold medicine. After finishing, he deliberately opened his mouth slightly, like a child seeking praise, to make sure she hadn't secretly spat it out: "You swallowed it, are you relieved now?"

Nan Zhi nodded gently.

He immediately whispered, "Then get out."

Nan Zhi looked up at his pale lips and reddened eyes, stood still, and retorted softly but firmly, "I...I didn't say I wanted to leave."

She never agreed to leave!

When Nan Zhi acts like a rogue, he's both naive and adorable.

This made it impossible for Kings to be angry.

Nan Zhi turned and went into the bathroom, soaked a towel, wrung it out until it was slightly cool, and then came back to place it on Jin Si Nian's burning forehead.

A warm palm suddenly gripped her wrist. Jin Si Nian weakly opened his eyes, his brows furrowed with deep worry, and his tone was unusually serious: "What if I infect you and you get sick?"

"You'll feel terrible."

His voice was terribly hoarse, and every word he spoke was filled with concern: "You've always been terrified of taking medicine and getting injections, and you even resist going to the hospital."

"Now that you're pregnant, you can't take many medications, and even a minor illness can make you suffer for a long time."

Nan Zhi had made plans long ago. She took out a mask from her pocket, put it on carefully, covering most of her soft face, leaving only her clear and stubborn eyes showing: "This way... I won't be afraid of getting infected."

Jin Si Nian looked at her, his heart both soft and bitter.

At this moment, he was filled with restrained longing and wanted to rush to her without hesitation; he hadn't even had a chance to kiss her today.

But he was running a fever and was sick, so he dared not touch her at all.

It's true that everything has its counter.

Zhizhi was specifically there to restrain him.

When he was healthy and spending quality time with her, the little girl would throw tantrums and act spoiled, insisting on sleeping in a separate room from him.

Now that he's sick, she refuses to sleep separately and even clings to him, which is driving him crazy.

"Do you wear a mask to bed all night?" Jin Si Nian asked helplessly.

Nan Zhi didn't answer him. She gently pulled his arm with her small hand, helped him lie back on the bed, pulled the thick quilt over him tightly, and then reached out to turn the warm, cold towel on his forehead. Her movements were clumsy yet earnest.

No, I don't care, I'm going to take care of you.

Jin Si Nian obediently lay down, looking at the stubborn little girl, and gently coaxed her, "Well, look, I'm lying down now, it's fine, you don't need to take care of me for now, why don't you go and keep Grandma company..."

Nan Zhi shook her head vigorously, her small hands pressing against the towel, refusing to move it: "I...I'll give you...a new towel to cool you down."

Seeing her clinging to him like this, Jin Si Nian felt both angry and heartbroken, and sighed softly, "Zhi Zhi, do you really have to have two sick people in the house?"

He raised his hand, his fingertips gently stroking the back of her hand, his eyes filled with tenderness and pity: "I don't need you to take care of me."

"You're too tired, it will break my heart."

Nan Zhi: "Just change... change the towel."

"Not tired..."

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

The author has started a new book, "When the Apocalypse Comes, the Pretty Girl is Pampered by Her Ex-Boyfriend."

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