Chapter 302: Twins

Joy and Shelly’s arrival didn’t have much of an impact on Vivian.

Since Vivian was capable of establishing such a large company, she naturally had her own confidence. The project Joy was currently in charge of was just a small one. Even if they breached the contract, Vivian could easily afford the penalty.

What’s more, Vivian knew perfectly well that Joy and Shelly had come with the intention of making things difficult for her from the very beginning. Therefore, their entire conversation in the conference room earlier had already been recorded.

In other words, even if Vivian was the one to breach the contract first, all she had to do was release this recording. As long as Joy still wanted to hire someone for the design, any peers in the industry would think twice after hearing the audio.

After all, no one wanted to serve such difficult clients. They would demand endless revisions, and there wasn’t even a guarantee of getting paid in the end!

However, Vivian was more inclined to believe that Joy wouldn’t dare cancel the contract herself. Once she lost Vivian, she wouldn’t be able to find designs of the same quality for the same price.

If she had to pay a premium, she would probably be too stingy to do so.

Finn soon returned after seeing the clients off. She was overjoyed, practically dancing as she said to Vivian, “Boss, when I escorted those two out just now, they looked so mad they could die from anger!

“Haha, that was so satisfying! But… Boss, I noticed them huddled together discussing something. Do you think they’re plotting something bad again?”

Plotting something bad. Vivian frowned, not entirely certain.

Those two were both rotten to the core, so it wouldn’t be surprising if they were scheming. But Vivian wasn’t afraid. At worst, she would just deal with whatever they threw at her as it came.

“It’s fine,” Vivian said after some thought. “Finn, about that company—has it really been acquired by the Drake family? Weren’t they doing pretty well before?

“It was a relatively profitable company. How could their boss bear to part with it?”

“It was acquired,” Finn replied earnestly. “When Joy and Shelly came today, I immediately asked someone to look into it. He said the Drake family paid a rather high price for the acquisition.

“The other party wasn’t originally specialized in making lipstick; it just happened to go viral. They didn’t have much confidence in their subsequent operations either.

“Since the Drake family was willing to buy it, the boss sold most of his shares to become a minor behind-the-scenes shareholder, allowing him to focus on running his other companies.”

So that was it. It made perfect sense.

Mergers and acquisitions between companies were perfectly normal, and Vivian had no right to complain about the unfortunate coincidence of them selling to the Drake family of all people.

“Alright, I understand. Thanks for your hard work, Finn. You can get back to your tasks now. By the way… did you get this information from Vance Wyatt?” A thought suddenly crossed Vivian’s mind, prompting her to ask the question.

Among all the people Vivian knew, Vance was probably the most well-informed. Finn definitely couldn’t have found this out online.

Information on the internet was scattered and half-true, so there was no way she could have gotten a clear answer so quickly from there.

“Boss…” Finn hadn’t expected Vivian to be so sharp as to figure it out instantly. Blushing a little, she said shyly, “It was him.

“Special Assistant Wyatt is a pretty good guy, and he’s helped me a lot. I’m really grateful to him! Boss, ahem, if there’s nothing else, I’ll head out and get back to work?”

“Go on, go on.” Vivian waved her hand at Finn. Remembering something, she added, “Speaking of which, Vance really is a good guy! Since he helped you, you should treat him to a meal when you have time!”

Vivian had thought about it.

She had noticed it back when they were in Cyrina. That silly boy Vance always had a warm, longing look in his eyes whenever he looked at Finn, and his demeanor grew much gentler around her.

There was an eighty percent chance Vance had fallen for Finn, but since neither of them had ever been in a relationship, they probably didn’t even understand their own budding feelings. That made things a bit tricky.

They were all adults, and feelings could be fleeting. Since both of them were good people, Vivian figured she might as well give them a little push!

Finn, however, hadn’t thought that deeply about it.

She didn’t object to the suggestion and readily agreed, saying, “Sure, Boss. I just don’t know what Vance likes to eat, so I’ll ask him when I have time!”

“Alright.” Vivian agreed, then went back to her own work.

Shortly after six o’clock, Vivian sat by the window waiting for the sunset, simultaneously waiting for Julian to finish his work and come down to find her so they could go home together.

Right then, Vivian’s phone rang.

It was a text message. Vivian looked down and found it was from Mr. Drake.

“Vivian, there’s an evening gala in a few days. Would you like to come? You can bring Julian along. A lot of my old friends will be there, so it’s a good opportunity to introduce you to them.”

Mr. Drake’s old friends?

Vivian didn’t have much of a concept of who they might be, but she still agreed immediately.

“Sure! Mr. Drake, just send me the time and place, and I’ll block out my schedule in advance!”

After the message was sent, Mr. Drake quickly replied.

The time was set for seven o’clock next Wednesday evening at the Grand West Aethelburg Hotel. It was their usual spot. Vivian thought about it for a moment—it was exactly a week away. Keeping that day free wouldn’t be a problem at all.

“Understood! I will definitely be there!”

Vivian replied instantly. Mr. Drake didn’t send another message, likely because he was busy.

As she was looking at her phone, Julian gently pushed the door open and walked in behind her. Seeing Vivian sitting in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows watching the sunset, he couldn’t help but smile.

“Why are you watching the sunset?”

Julian’s tone was incredibly gentle. He was carrying something in his hand as he slowly walked over and handed it to her.

“I heard you mention before that this shop launched a co-branded product featuring pandas. Here, I had Vance help buy it. It’s getting a bit late today, and I was afraid you might be hungry. Do you want a bite to hold you over?”

Vivian took the box. As soon as she opened it, a rich matcha aroma wafted over her.

It was her favorite little panda cake!

“I wasn’t hungry originally, but seeing what you brought me, I actually am now…”

Vivian couldn’t resist. She hurriedly sat back at her desk and happily devoured the entire little cake.

After finishing it, Vivian leaned back in her chair contentedly and looked down at her belly.

Uh. Had it gotten bigger again?

She hadn’t felt it before her third month, but since then, heading into her sixth month, she felt like her belly was growing faster and faster! It looked much bigger than what a six-month pregnancy typically should look like!

“Julian.” Vivian suddenly looked up at him in confusion and asked, “Don’t you think my belly is a bit big?”

Julian fell silent for a moment.

To be honest, he initially thought Vivian was going to say she had gotten fat.

Since getting pregnant, Vivian’s appetite had noticeably increased. She would often worry about gaining weight when she ate.

She was also afraid that eating too much would make the baby grow too big, which would make labor difficult. As a result, she frequently asked Julian similar questions.

When she asked this time, Julian’s first instinct was to say, “No, it’s not.”

But as he took a serious look, he found that he couldn’t quite bring himself to tell such a blatant lie.

Julian’s silence told Vivian everything she needed to know.

“I know even without you answering! It is a bit big! Oh no, oh no, could the baby be growing too big? Julian, I watched a TV drama before.

“The concubines in it were fighting each other, and one of them fed the other a medicine that made her eat a lot. Eventually, she got fat, her belly grew huge, the baby grew massive, and she almost died from a difficult labor!

“Will that happen to me too?”

In the drama, that concubine had also gotten a lot of stretch marks.

Vivian hadn’t seen any stretch marks on herself yet, but she was still scared. She heard that a lot of stretch marks never faded even after giving birth.

What beauty-loving girl would want unsightly marks on her body?

“Ah, I suddenly regret eating this little cake. Even though I was hungry, but…”

Vivian started muttering under her breath.

After her muttering, she felt like she was being a bit neurotic.

They said pregnancy makes you stupid for three years. Had she turned into an idiot too?

Vivian sighed a little sadly.

Julian sighed in response, then chuckled. He walked over to Vivian, squatted down in front of her, and cupped her cheeks in his hands.

“Silly, stop worrying. You just had a bite of cake, how many calories could that really be? At worst, I’ll take a walk with you later before we head home.

“If you’re truly that uneasy, how about we go to the hospital tomorrow to get checked out? As long as the doctor says you’re fine, you shouldn’t have to worry so much, right?”

Vivian had been feeling a bit distressed, but Julian’s words made sense.

That’s right!

If she was really worried, all she had to do was ask a doctor. Blindly guessing was useless. They always said a mother’s emotions could affect the baby in her womb, so it was better to try her best to keep her emotions stable!

“Mm, okay!” Vivian slowly calmed down and agreed to Julian’s suggestion.

She would go to the hospital for a check-up. It was almost time for her regular prenatal appointment anyway. Finding out exactly what was going on would give her some peace of mind.

Early the next morning at Concordia Hospital, Grandma Faulkner, Julian, and Ms. Shaw surrounded Vivian, looking at the ultrasound results.

The doctor remained very calm. After studying it carefully for a long time, he smiled and said, “Congratulations, Mrs. Faulkner. You’re pregnant with twins!

“That’s exactly why your belly looks a bit bigger than usual! Previously, the two little ones weren’t in the best position, so I wasn’t able to catch it. I apologize for my oversight.”

Everyone was stunned.

Vivian also looked down at her belly in disbelief. Twins?

This was truly an unexpected turn of events.