Chapter 1478: Double Tidings: Phei’s Two Grandmothers

Phei had faced mountain-breaking creatures with less concentration than he was giving his phone. It rested in his hand, unlocked and thoroughly unhelpful, while he wondered whether calling his grandmother was the right decision. He sometimes wondered how his father had survived being raised by one grandmother while being the son-in-law of the other.

Now he was about to give them two more little ones to spoil— provided he survived telling them.

Melissa sat sideways upon his lap in the hospital’s VVIP waiting lounge, having shown no interest in any of the perfectly comfortable seats available. Phei had welcomed the arrangement with an arm snug about her waist. Her black hair fell over one shoulder, and the ultrasound photographs Dr. Avery had given them rested safely between her fingers, drawing her violet eyes back whenever she managed to stop admiring the face above her.

She kissed his cheek, smiling when his gaze remained fixed upon the screen.

A second kiss landed nearer the corner of his mouth, followed by another upon his jaw. His arm tightened around her, but his thumb still refused to move, and Melissa finally lifted a hand to turn his face towards hers.

"Are you going to call her or not, love?" she asked, close enough that he could feel her smile against his lips.

"Of course." He accepted the kiss she offered, then another, his attention abandoning the phone readily enough when she lingered. Melissa’s fingers slipped into his white hair, and by the time she drew away, his solemn expression had suffered considerably.

"Then go for it." She brushed her thumb over his cheek and glanced down. "Phei, your thumb hasn’t moved in minutes."

"I’m considering something," he replied, inspecting the offending thumb before returning his attention to her.

"What?" Melissa asked, looking entirely too pleased with his predicament.

"The consequences." His answer made her laugh, and he found himself smiling despite the phone still waiting in his hand.

Across the lounge, two men had already placed him upon their personal hate lists.

Phei had done little to earn the distinction beyond sitting with Melissa upon his lap and being far too happy about it, but their women appeared to consider his behaviour an example worth bringing to their attention. Each affectionate touch earned another demanding glance from their pregnant women, and neither man seemed inclined to reward the comparison.

Copying the lovey-dovey couple would make them copycats, apparently.

There was a principle involved, though it became increasingly difficult to defend while Phei tucked Melissa closer, kissed her forehead and adjusted his hold so she could sit more comfortably.

The otherworldly beauty of the pair did little to improve matters.

Being expected to match the Young Dragon’s attentiveness was offensive enough without being obliged to look at him while failing.

Unfortunately, the women had begun looking at him for reasons beyond their own neglected expectations. A lingering glance became a smile offered in his direction; fingers passed through hair, and another pair of eyes waited to meet his whenever he looked up. Their partners noticed enough to deepen their dislike considerably.

Phei, occupied with Melissa, two little lives upon a set of photographs and the impending displeasure of his grandmothers, had scarcely any attention left to entertain either woman.

"It feels wrong, you know?" he said at last, looking at Chaos’s name. Melissa’s laughter softened, and she settled against him to listen. "She rarely talks to me. When she does call, it’s to scold me or remind me how much I’ve been ignoring her. Yet here I am feeling guilty because she’ll feel betrayed if she hears about the twins from someone else."

Melissa pressed her lips together, but the attempt to contain her amusement failed when he added: "She’ll probably hunt down whoever heard first. Imagine being unfortunate enough to know something before either of my grandmothers."

"You do realise you’re complaining to her daughter?" Melissa asked, brushing a few strands of hair from his forehead. "I know my mother, love."

"Then you understand my problem." Phei looked down at her, encouraged by what ought to have been useful agreement, only for her to laugh again.

"Of course you feel that way. However indifferent she sometimes seems, you love her. You adore her." Melissa’s fingers rested against his cheek as she spoke, her smile gentler now. "Don’t let her distant love taint your pure one. Call her. She’s your grandmother."

Phei looked back at the contact. Beneath Chaos’s playful manner and the terrible power she possessed, there was an affection he had come to know for himself, however rarely she troubled to express it through an ordinary call. He wanted to see her face when he told her. That desire had been there from the moment the doctor confirmed what they were hearing, and a complaint about who called whom scarcely made it disappear.

"Exactly," he agreed, then frowned at another thought. "But what about Old Woman Lin? She’s my grandma too. If she knows I told Chaos about the twins before her, she’ll be furious."

Melissa’s mouth curved again.

Phei could already imagine the grievance surviving long enough for the babies to grow up hearing about it. His fiery grandmother could turn a conversation into a lecture, change its subject three times, and leave him trying to discover which offence he was currently being punished for.

Giving Chaos the news first would at least spare him that particular uncertainty.

"And she’s just as distant of her grandson, if not more so," he continued. "I can barely count how many times I’ve talked to her in the last three months. At least Chaos never forgets to send a message or someone to affectionately threaten me. But Old Woman Lin is—" He glanced at Melissa, finding little help in her expression. "You know how she is."

"I do," Melissa said, adjusting the photographs so their edges would not bend. "But have you considered how often you call them?"

Phei looked at her.

She let him think about it before continuing, her hand moving slowly through his hair:

"Most parents and grandparents rarely initiate calling their children and grandchildren unless we call first. They wait to hear from us. These past few months, you’ve been absorbed in everything happening around you and building your own family. You’ve barely called them either."

"That sounds suspiciously like you’re taking their side in ignoring me." His protest lacked conviction, and Melissa’s smile suggested she had noticed.

"I’m asking you to think about theirs. You know how much they love you, and you know how powerful and proud those two are. Neither wants to feel needy, chasing you for attention." She kissed his cheek. "My mother can send someone to threaten you far more comfortably than she can admit she wants her little Dragon to call."

Phei sighed, looking between her and the phone.

He had been counting their silences without giving much thought to his own.

There had always been something demanding his attention, somewhere he needed to go or someone he wanted to be with, and it had been easy to assume that his grandmothers would reach for him whenever they wished.

"Yeah," he admitted, his expression easing into a smile. "I suppose I haven’t made much of an effort either in the past months."

Melissa leaned closer, pleased to see him arrive there without another argument. "How about you call them together? A video call for the three of you. You can tell them the good news at the same time, and neither gets to complain that the other heard first."

"No, four of us." His arm tightened when she shifted upon his lap. "Don’t start trying to get yourself out of this. One of them is your mother."

"And the other adores me," Melissa replied, settling comfortably against him again.

"Which means I need you here." He kissed her, earning a gentle smack upon the shoulder before he selected the two contacts. Chaos and Fiery Old Woman appeared together in the group-call window, and the sight of them brought back a little of his apprehension. "You realise what you’ve done? One calls me her little Dragon and looks at me as though I’m still five. The other calls me her favourite grandson and makes it sound like nobody else in existence is qualified to compete."

"And you love them both," Melissa reminded him, her cheek close to his.

"Terribly." He looked down at the small grey images in her hand, his grin returning. Those were their grandbabies, and he fully intended to enjoy making both grandmothers unbearable with the announcement.

’Gods, it is going to be magnificent.’

"Then call them," Melissa said, nudging his hand. This time he pressed the button, holding the phone where both of them would be visible. The two icons pulsed, and the calls had barely rung twice before sweet voices reached them from either end.

"Little Dragon!" Chaos’s face appeared upon one half of the screen, already smiling, while Old Woman Lin’s affectionate greeting overlapped hers. "My favourite grandson!"

"Grandma Chaos! Grandma!" Phei’s face brightened at once. Melissa watched him with a fondness that deepened when both women leaned towards their cameras, plainly delighted to have him before them.

"My darling boy! There you are!" Chaos said, studying his face with an eagerness that made his earlier complaint seem very far away.

"Here I am," he replied, smiling back at her.

"Look at you!" She continued examining him, and Phei laughed as he pointed out that she was already doing exactly that.

"And I intend to continue," she informed him, before finally noticing who was tucked against his chest. "Melissa, my dear!"