・・・☆・ Seventy ・・・☆・

For the first time in a few days Yingyue had not awoken to the soft cries of her daughter in the room next door. In fact the lack of sound caused a true bolt of fear to pass through her body. Checking the time on the clock next to her she was even more alarmed to see it ready 6:45 am. Her daughter would normally have woken her about half an hour ago for food. Yet there was no sound. 

The lack of sound from her young daughter wasn't the only thing missing this morning. The space in the bed next to her which was normally taken by her husband was also empty. Logically, she assumed that he had gone to attend to their daughter having heard the sounds through the baby monitor they kept on her side of the bed. Yet she always awoke to it, scared if she did not that something would happen to the two month old baby. 

Taking it upon herself to stand and go to check irregardless, just in case. Yingyue removed herself from the warm sheets into the slightly crisp atmosphere of the house. She pulled on the dressing gown which was resting on the back of the bedroom door she slinked the few meters of hallway which led from her room to the nursery just down the hallway. Rubbing at her eyes to encourage a quicker awakening from the world of sleep she had been in just minutes prior Yingyue arrived at the nursery. 

She made no noise entering into the room in order to not disturb the inhabitants. And she was glad she had. Considering, the sight she had stumbled upon. For sat in the oak chair in the left corner of the room she found her missing husband. And in his arms the little girl she had been concerned about upon awakening. The pair were both asleep. And she had no heart to wake them up. Rather she worked slowly and quietly to just tidy the room around her. For it would appear Ximen had been in the room for a lot longer than she first thought as many items had been moved around the room. 

It only led her to ponder just when he had got out of bed during the night. She couldn't remember him leaving her side. And recently, well ever since she had become a mother, she had lost the ability to sleep deeply. Yingyue could wake from the smallest sound or movement around her, which always involved the man who slept beside her in bed. She could wake to him getting up to use the toilet overnight. Yet she had heard nothing this previous night. Not that she could remember hearing anything. 

Thinking about it she hadn't even heard Huizhong when she awoke during the night like she normally did. The baby, just like nearly every other baby did, normally woke up at around 2 or 3 am yet last night she couldn't even recall that occurring. It was almost as if she had slept through the apocalypse. 

And if she said so herself she was doing an excellent job at staying quiet that morning. Nobody would even know she was there. That was until she knocked over one of the bottles of talc that was left on the changing station. Her reflexes had never been relatively fast and therefore a small little thud rang out. Luckily it was not enough to wake Huizhong. 

The same could not be said for Ximen who bolted awake in the chair. His eyes immediately zoning in on their daughter still sleeping securely in his arms. Yingyue watched as the sudden tension in his shoulders vanished upon realising she was still secure. His eyes then moved from the baby to the area where he heard the sound from. Only to come across the sheepish looking Yingyue stood in the corner bottle of talcum powder in her hand and the most guilty expression he had seen on her face in a while. Yingyue softly walked her way over to where he sat so she could gently express her apology regarding waking him up. 

"I'm sorry Xi, I didn't mean to wake you. You looked so peaceful." Yingyue apologised moving to brush her hand against the stubble which had formed upon his cheeks.

"It's okay. I just got a bit of a scare. I thought it was Hui." The panic hadn't quite left his voice despite Ximen having relaxed knowing their daughter was still safe. 

"Let me take her for a moment stretch your muscles a little. She's sleeping so peacefully we can put her back in the cot for a couple minutes. I'll give you a massage?" Yingyue offered knowing that she had been slept in that chair for a couple hours before, and the way it had wrecked her muscles was ridiculous. 

"Will she be safe in their though?" The worry was even more prominent in Ximen's voice than it had been when it was more panic earlier. 

"We've followed everything we've been told about making it safe for her. She is as safe as she can be." Yingyue attempted to sooth the obvious worry Ximen had about the situation. After an obvious debate with himself Ximen must have agreed to place Huizhong back in the cot as the baby was placed in there before he attached himself to Yingyue. 

"She's safe. She's going to be fine Xi. We're never too far from her. We have the monitors if she wakes. Let's just have a moment for ourselves. You need a bit of a break. What time did you come in here?" Yingyue was the one to comfort her husband this time around but he desperately needed it more than she did in this moment in time. 

"About 2 am. I woke up thinking she was in trouble and then couldn't bring myself to leave." He mumbled out and Yingyue could only hug him in tighter to her body. 

"Baby, it's only 7am if you want to go back to bed and have a little nap. I'll stay in here with her so you know that she's safe. You need to be well rested for later this afternoon. Otherwise you'll fall half asleep during the ceremony." Yingyue's hands rubbed what she hoped to be a soothing motion over his back as she spoke. She could only assumed it was working as he continued to melt into her hold. 

"No sleep. I want to be with my girls." 

・・・☆・

Three and a half hours later the door bell of the Yan household was repetitively rung. Yingyue knew exactly who it was at the door. She also knew he had never given that front door key back. And therefore, she didn't bother to open the door herself. Instead she focused on putting on the shoes which matched her outfit for the day.

The navy a line dress she was wearing showed the post baby figure she had managed to acquire well. She hadn't lost all the weight, that was completely unachievable without an insane routine. In two months she had lost a significant amount of the weight she had put on whilst pregnant but she was still a dress size bigger than she had been prior. But she loved her body irregardless of being slight bigger. She had had a baby. It wasn't always healthy to drop that weight so fast. Yingyue had taken as long as it required to lose the weight using small amounts of exercise and ensuring she was eating healthy. But she had no intent to rush to lose it all again. 

The stretch marks she had gained on her stomach, were beautiful. The way her overall shape had changed after giving birth was just as beautiful as she looked pre pregnancy. She was beautiful irregardless of her weight or shape. Yingyue knew that beauty comes from within. The changes to her body were only natural. And the outcome of these changes, were worth doing it all over again. She would never, ever change what she had to go through and the changes which occurred to her body. 

The benefit which also came with not losing everything she had gained whilst pregnant was the fact that she hadn't lost all the boob she had gained. Like right now, with this dress she wore, she didn't need a bra. And they looked great. A little bit of tape to stop them moving all over the show and she was sorted. That was a new concept and if that never changed. She wasn't going to be sad about it that was for certain.

"Stop hogging the baby Lei, I'm her godfather too let me hold her." The whiny voice of Meizuo broke her out of the staring competition she had been having with herself in the mirror. 

"Technically to have all three of us as godparents your her godmother." Came Lei's snarky reply. 

"I don't care give me the baby." 

"How about no."

"I want to hold her. You've been hogging Huizhong for hours." Yingyue chose this as her time to interrupt the two before a proper argument broke out and her newborn daughter was stuck in the middle. 

Upon entering the kitchen where the group had gathered she was not surprised to see Lei with Meizuo in a headlock. Though she did begin to wonder what the young man had done with Huizhong in order to do so. Until she heard the distinct baby sounds coming from her daughter. She came across a sight that still was a little weird no matter how many times the man held his goddaughter. For in the arms of none other than Daoming Si was little Yan Huizhong. The man was bouncing and cooing at the baby a sight that she never thought would happen but alas here it was occurring. 

Yingyue let out a little cough to bring the attention of the room to her arrival. It served its purpose as the little fight occurring was suddenly brought to a holt. Four sets of eyes zoned in on her. The fifth set having been closed at that exact time. Meizuo bounded his way over to her and when he was close enough he let out a little whistle. 

"I know we joked about you having double the amount of time to lose the baby weight. But you look amazing Ye." Meizou spoke before bringing the woman into a hug and squeezing her way too tight. A normal custom of the man to do anyways. 

"Thank you. You look very expensive today."

"Should do I spent more on this than Si spends on hairspray in a year." 

"If I didn't have a baby in my hands you'd be dead right now."

"Don't bring my baby into this Daoming Si." Surprisingly it was Ximen who snapped at the man rather than Yingyue. It had always been the other way round but she wasn't mad. 

・・・☆・

"And that is the graduating class of 2018"

FIN