Chapter 5

For a moment, Naomi was stunned. Did Brendan know what he was doing? Looking at Naomi's surprised expression, Brendan's eyelashes fluttered and he soon came back to his senses. He let go of her and questioned, "Don't you always say that you want to get pregnant? Now what? Are you waiting for me to serve you?" Naomi collected her thoughts and raised her hands to unbutton the shirt of his hospital pajamas. She asked casually, "Can you have an erection under these circumstances?" Brendan really wanted to sew Naomi's mouth shut. So he swatted her hands off and said, "It's not that difficult for you to take my shirt off." Then he changed the subject again. "We can talk about you drugging me when your parents come tomorrow." Naomi had fallen into the bedside chair when Brendan swatted her away. Her face became sullen. "That's not funny, Brendan." He could mess with anyone he liked, but he couldn't mess with her parents. Her parents were her life and bottom line. Brendan looked at her indifferently and asked, "Why weren't you scared when you drugged me?" When he said that, he took a bottle of medicine from under the pillow and tossed it at Naomi. "Either you eat the whole bottle, or ask your parents to judge right from wrong." Naomi picked up the medicine bottle that Brendan tossed her and saw that it was a laxative. She felt a burst of anger. But she had to suppress her anger and said with gritted teeth, "Fine, Brendan. You win." She would rather get hospitalized for a few days than see her mother scolding her while crying a river of tears. Then she poured the medicine out on her palm and was about to swallow them. When Brendan saw that Naomi was really going to eat all of it, he grabbed a pillow again and threw it at her, neither too lightly nor too heavily. The medicines in her palm were scattered on the floor. When Naomi looked up at Brendan, he said apathetically, "I'm not as fucking vindictive as you are." Naomi suddenly smiled. "You can just say it if you can't bear to see me eat it." Brendan shot her a cold glare. Naomi quickly made a gesture of shutting up and said nothing more. The ward fell into silence. Not long after that, the hotel takeaway oatmeal which was ordered by Heather arrived. Naomi held the bowl and spoon, sat by the bedside, and carefully fed him. Every time Naomi fed Brendan a spoonful of oatmeal, she would make sure there was some fruit on it. Only then would she bring the spoon to his mouth. Everything now seemed to have gone back to the old times, back to before they had that quarrel. They had never been together like this for such a long time. ... When everything was quiet in the dead of night, Brendan woke up and found the room was left with only the bedside night lamp on. The light was dim. Naomi had fallen asleep lying on the edge of the bed. It had been two years! It had been two years since he had last been able to look at her like this. Brendan raised his right hand, but when he was about to touch her face, he halted and his hand hung suspended in the air. He could remember every one of her words that she had said on that day clearly. He could also remember the fire and the ironclad evidence. His mind kept having flashbacks of the past. Brendan's right hand eventually fell on Naomi's head. He asked quietly, "Do you hate me so much that you want to kill me?" But after that matter and that fire, they could never go back to the past, nor could he let her have a child as she wished. They would only torture and torment each other if they were together. Brendan didn't tell anyone about Naomi drugging him until the day he was discharged from the hospital. On the other hand, Naomi took care of Brendan when he was in the hospital. After he was discharged, she also returned to her work at the law firm after her annual leave. The two of them parted ways and went back to the lives in which they treated each other like strangers. One afternoon, after Brendan returned from a meeting with the government, Jason Russell came in with some documents for him to sign. As Jason put the documents on the desk, Brendan asked, "What is Naomi busy with lately?" Naomi hadn't looked for him for about a month. Jason answered, "Ms. Goodwin's been busy with work, sir. She has taken on quite a few divorce cases." Jason's voice became obviously softer when he spoke the last few words. Brendan threw away the documents in his hand and laughed frostily. "She's practicing in advance." Jason didn't respond to Brendan. In fact, that was exactly what he thought. The reason why Naomi married Brendan was obvious. ... In the meeting room of Solaris Law Firm, Naomi sneezed. Just when she was thinking who was scolding her behind her back, Michael Smyth, the director of Solaris Law Firm, turned to look at her. He asked in a serious tone, "Why are you taking so many divorce cases at such a young age, Naomi?" Then, he looked at the other colleagues. "Don't bully Naomi just because she is young and new to our firm, and don't just give her those cases that you don't want to take." Naomi smiled and replied, "It's not like that, Mr. Symth. I'll consider it as practice." Her marriage with Brendan would eventually turn into a fight that was yet to be known, so she had to warm herself up first. Michael frowned and said, "You don't have to practice like this. You can take fewer divorce cases in the future. I don't want them to affect your view of marriage." Naomi had only graduated for a year. Michael was afraid that she would be affected by those divorce cases. Before Naomi could reply, Michael continued, "Don't say that I don't give you advice as a leader, Naomi. I heard that the Ludwig Corporation is considering changing its corporate lawyer recently. If you can win over the Ludwig Corporation and be their corporate lawyer, you'll become a rising figure in this industry." For the past few years, Solaris Law Firm had tried its best to fight for the role of a corporate lawyer to Ludwig Corporation. All of them had tried, but none of them had gotten the role. They had a newcomer this year. Hence, Michael wanted her to give it a try. Moreover, he highly recognized Naomi's working attitude and ability. He was afraid that Naomi wouldn't dare to take the hot potato, so he persuaded her, "You don't have to feel stressed, Naomi. It's not that you must take down the role of the corporate lawyer to Ludwig Corporation. We're not asking for that. Just try your best." Since Michael had put it like that, it was hard for Naomi to refuse him. So she promised that she would give it a try. But when she thought of getting involved with the Ludwig Corporation, her head hurt. So when she went home for dinner with her parents that night, and they asked about her and Brendan, she asked coldly, "Why did you and Samuel have to ask me to marry Brendan, Dad? Are you trying to help me or hurt me?" Dennis Goodwin's face turned blue when he heard Naomi's words. "What nonsense are you talking about? Of course, we're doing this for your own good. Several fortune tellers had mentioned that you can only be with Brendan according to your horoscope. Otherwise, you won't have any children in the future." Naomi glanced at Dennis and asked, "Did Samuel ever doubt you? Did he ever doubt those fortune tellers?" "Your father-in-law was the one who found those fortune tellers. I don't know any of them." Naomi was left speechless. She could only have children with Brendan. If she was with other men, she wouldn't be able to get pregnant, give birth to a child, and be a mother. She didn't know if she owed Brendan in the past life, or vice versa, but in this lifetime, it seemed their fates were entangled in this way. She couldn't find anyone who had a more absurd life than hers. Naomi's mom, Christine Ziegler, who was beside them also asked, "If Naomi has children in the future and Brendan insists on divorcing her, Dennis, can Naomi get custody of the children?" "Samuel had said, if that really happens, Naomi will absolutely get custody of the children. So the most important task for Naomi now is to have some children." "That's more like it." Christine then turned to look at Naomi. "Did you hear that, Naomi? You have to keep this in mind." Naomi replied, "Okay. Alright. Even if I don't eat, drink, or sleep, I will have a baby with Brendan. You don't have to worry about this anymore, Mom." Naomi hadn't taken it seriously before this, but when several fortune tellers said the same thing, she had to pay attention to it. No matter what would happen to her and Brendan in the future, she had to get pregnant as soon as possible. She spent some time with her parents after dinner. Then she left the Goodwin residence in her car after promising that she would definitely have a baby. When she was back in Yellowind Bay and had just stepped into the house, their maid, Jennifer Lawrence, came and told her excitedly, "Mrs. Ludwig, Mr. Ludwig is back." Naomi's action of hanging her bag slowed down. She was surprised.