A Not-so Secret

Jason was a celebrity, so Yanyue forced him to stay in the car to protect his image. But he was worried about her, so he went into the hospital with her. She was too tired to argue with him and asked him to wear a mask and sunglasses to cover his face lest he would be recognized by people, resulting in gossips.

The last thing she wanted was to be seen with a world-famous star and became the center of attention, good or bad, but mostly bad. The last time with Beichen taught her that people didn't care about the truth. They lived off of gossips and the bigger and more unbelievable, then the spicier it was for them.

"Yueyue, are you done? What did the doctor say?" Jason asked curiously.

Yanyue smiled at the concerned man. "The doctor said that I ate something that was expired this morning, but there is nothing to worry about now." She felt bad that she had to lie, but she couldn't trust anyone to help her keep this secret.

The man noticed the forced smile on her face and knew that she was hiding something. He understood her temper well because they grew up together. He knew when she was sad or happy or angry. Her face was always expressive and open.

Although some things have changed about her personality—like the way she talked or the way she carried herself—she was someone who could not lie for the life of her. Whenever she lied, she would bit her bottom lips. She tried to hide that by smiling, but he saw that her lips were pale from the biting.

He continued to probe her. "But you were throwing up so much. If I didn't know any better, I would've guessed that you were pregnant or something-"

Then, he realized what he just said before he went on. His eyes widened and his mouth gaped open.

She had been married for two months now, so pregnancy was possible. He was a little hurt due to the likelihood of this, but if she was happy, then he would bless her wholeheartedly.

"Where is the result?" he asked much more seriously this time.

Yanyue remained quiet. Her hands clutched onto her bag as if she was protecting something. She shook her head and said, "It wasn't a big deal, so I threw the result away."

Jason, who was quick to notice the tiniest action from her, snatched the bag from her hand.

"Jason, give it back!" she yelled, trying to take the bag back.

Jason looked at her suspiciously. "Are you hiding something in here? Is that why you don't want me to see what's in the bag?"

She repeatedly denied, "There's nothing important in my bag!"

The man didn't listen. Her determination to deny everything was enough to make him believe that she was hiding something crucial. He reached into the bag and felt a piece of paper, which he took out and read the content on it.

"Patient is pregnant" was written under the final testament on the paper.

He was just assuming earlier and didn't want it to be real, but the answer was big and clear right in front of him.

He turned from the paper to look at her uneasy expression. It was like she was afraid that he would expose her.

"Why did you lie? You're pregnant!" he paused and asked, "It's my brother's isn't it?"

However, she didn't need to answer because he already knew the answer. She was in love with his brother and they were married, so it was not surprising. But, he didn't understand why she would hide such an important thing from him? He was angry that she didn't trust their years of friendship.

Yanyue was on the verge of crying. She put her hands on her face and shook her head. "I'm scared, Jason. He doesn't love me, so what would he do if he found out that I'm pregnant?! I'm scared that he will force me to take the baby out!"

The man didn't know what to say. He wanted to reach his hands out and take her into his embrace to comfort her, but he didn't do that. He retracted his hands and clenched them until they were red.

"Can you help me keep this a secret?" the woman asked, her voice shaky.

The man calmed down and sighed. "Then, what will you do when your stomach is big? You can't hide this forever."

She bit her lips because she hadn't thought this far. "I don't know, but I'll think about it when that time comes," she said and looked up at the man, "but please, promise to keep this to ourselves?"

Jason shook his head in defeat. "Alright, then I'll take you home to rest."

She shook her head and rejected. "No, my body is doing fine now. Let's go to the company to discuss business. Klotho is in the process of launching our first set of designs, so I want to get this done as quickly as possible."

The man saw that her face was still pale, so he convinced her to go home. "If you want me to keep my mouth shut, then you must do as I say. I don't want my nephew or niece to suffer because of their pig-headed mother."

Yanyue finally gave a light smile. She was thankful that she had Jason by her side at her most vulnerable moments. "Thank you, Jason."

No matter how angry he was at her, he couldn't be angry at her puppy face. He smiled back and they drove to the Eastern Palace.

Until recently, the Eastern Palace had always been a quiet place because she was the only person living in it. This evening, it was filled with noises echoing on top of one another. She was surprised to see the main room full of people.

"Your majesty, her majesty," she said as she bowed politely to the king and queen who were sitting on the ivory Victorian sofa.

In ancient times, one would kowtow to pay their respect to the king or emperor, but it was not necessary to do that in modern times. A light bow was sincere enough.

The king smiled at his respectful daughter-in-law. He didn't have any daughters, so when his friend brought his daughter to visit the palace, he couldn't help but envied his friend for having such a polite and kind girl. He watched her grew up from a small and cute little girl to a talented and bright woman.

So, when his mother made the engagement, he agreed without hesitation because he thought that she was the perfect candidate for his second son. Who knew that his damnable son would treat her so poorly and even got another woman pregnant!

He was angry at his son when he found out, but he couldn't force the mistress to abort the baby. As a father, he longed for a grandson, and now that his son gave him one, he had to admit that he was happy even though he felt guilty for his daughter-in-law and his good friend.

"Xiaoyue, Ah Chen did you wrong," the king said regretfully.

Yanyue's heart throbbed.

Jason, who was new to everything, raised his eyebrows in confusion. This was the first time that he had seen his father apologized to someone, but he didn't understand why his usually emotionless father would do that. But, it did sound like something serious. Listening further confirmed his suspicion.

The king continued, "But since that is the baby of the Lu family, I hope you can understand that we cannot kill it. However, when the child is born, you will raise the kid as your own since you are the legal wife."

Yanyue was still. She was not the only one unsatisfied.

Wanyue cried in Beichen's arms, "Ah Chen, I want to raise our kid as my own!"

The stoic man's eyebrows furrowed in displeasure at his father's words. He understood that just like his grandma, once his father decided on something, then it would be hard to change his mind. Perhaps, he also got this trait from them as he was stubborn himself.

"Your majesty, please allow me to take Wanyue as my concubine," he said. He wasn't asking for permission because he knew that his father would not allow him to marry Wanyue. He said this to let him know that he was going to marry his beloved no matter what anyone said.

However, after the statement, he was met with a heavy blow to his face. His brother had grabbed onto his shirt and punched him.

"You asshole!" Jason said angrily as he punched Beichen.

The people in the room burst into a panic.

"Ahh!" the queen yelled out because she was shocked, "Stop it, you two!" She had never seen her two sons fight before, so she was afraid that they would hurt each other.

Jason didn't want to listen to his mother and raised his hand to punch Beichen again, but Yanyue rushed up to stop him by grabbing onto his hand.

He looked at her and his eyes were fierce. "Yueyue, he deserves this!"

The woman didn't say anything, but she shook her head, her eyes pleading as if she wanted him to stop. He didn't want to embarrass her, so he went back to sit down in a fit.

The king saw the messy scene and sighed. He kneaded his eyebrows. "I will not allow a marriage between you and her!" he said towards his second son in a tone as firm as he could make.

Beichen only narrowed his eyes in anger.

He had originally wanted to divorce Yanyue, but he couldn't risk doing that with grandma's health declining day by day. So, the best way for him to be with his beloved openly was to marry her as a concubine. This would allow their family to be together in the future.

In ancient times, this was a widespread practice among royal and wealthy men. In some cases, having more than one wife was a symbol of respect as it showed that the man had charms and wealth to be able to marry so many women.

Of course, there was a more important reason why he wanted to marry Wanyue.

That year he was eight. He had attended a cruise ship event and was kidnapped along with two little girls. They were around four or five years old, but since they were locked in the dark it was impossible to see their faces.

When they planned to escape from the tunnel, the little girl who went with him was seized by the bad people. He tried to help her, but she pushed him off the tunnel into the ocean.

Before pushing him off, she handed him a necklace. He yelled out that he promised to come back for her and then he would ask for her hand in marriage when they were older.

After he was saved by his people, he went back to the place where they were kidnapped, but the little girl was already gone. He searched everywhere for her, but she disappeared like everything was just his imagination. However, he believed that she was safe somewhere.

Then, many years later he saw that same necklace on Wanyue's neck. He wondered if that was a pair of necklaces as he already had one with him, so he asked her. He told the story to her and surprisingly she could also describe the place that they were locked in and explained exactly how many people were there and how they were kept in the dark and tried to escape.

He showed her the necklace and when he saw her watery eyes, he made up his mind that she was that little girl who pushed him off the tunnel to save him. The necklace with her was a copy of the original one that she begged her parents to recreate for her as it was an important keepsake.

He was happy that he got to reunite with his life savior and because of the promise he made to her, he took her home to meet his parents to request an engagement. However, they didn't seem to like her very much, so the engagement between them was not official and only words of mouth he said to her.

Then, he was going to wait until he took complete control of the Lu Group to marry her, but Yanyue ruined his plan by drugging and marrying him first.

Wanyue was now pregnant with his child, so he must fulfill that promise he made to her and this seemed like the best method. This was also a great way to torture Yanyue because no woman would want their husband to have a second wife.

Unfortunately, his father was still headstrong and against their union.

Grandma Lu who hadn't spoken finally said something. "You cannot marry her, but if you want her to stay in the Eastern Palace, then you must have a child with Xiaoyue as well!"

Everyone looked at the old lady, puzzled, and each with their thoughts. Yanyue was especially baffled by the old lady's request.

She gulped away the guilt in her mouth and said, "Grandma, I don't plan on having kids at the moment."

Jason stared at the woman by his side. Her lies were believable.

At first, he thought about keeping her pregnancy a secret like she wanted him to. However, seeing his brother's crazy behavior with his mistress, he understood that his brother had no ounce of passion or sympathy for the woman that he cherished.

His brother may be haughty and heartless, but he would not go against grandma's wish. If he was able to, then he wouldn't have married Yanyue in the first place.

Since their grandma made such a proposal, then this would mean that his brother would have to abide by her orders and have a child with Yanyue without fail if he wanted to be with his woman.

Jason grinned quietly because this was the perfect opportunity to announce Yanyue's pregnancy as everyone in the room would be the witness, forcing his brother from doing anything to the baby.

Yanyue sensed an ominous cloud above Jason's head. She felt that he was about to do something that would put her in trouble.

The man cleared his throat to make sure that his voice was clear and loud.

Then, he said as a matter-of-factly, "No one knows, but Yanyue is already pregnant!"