"Okay, Aunt Cecelia," ir readily agreed.


    The dishes had all turned tasteless to Wesley. The meal was beginning to feel more like a torture to him than sustenance.


    As soon as he was done, he went towards the kitchen to do the dishes, while ir and Cecelia stayed in the living room chatting. After he had dried his hands, he walked out onto the balcony for a cigarette. This whole thing about Niles and ir was bugging him so much. He leaned against the balcony railing, with the smoke swirling around him. Laughter wasing from the living room. He turned around to look at the two women. Cecelia had ir''s hand between hers. Wesley decided to give his brother a call.


    "Brother, did you enjoy the meal?" Niles greeted him as cheerfully as ever.


    Wesley frowned and then responded with a question of his own. "Do you know that she is pregnant?"


    "Who is pregnant?" Niles was perplexed.


    ''So he doesn''t know, '' Wesley thought. "You are such an idiot!" he reprimanded.


    Niles was unable to make head or tail of this insult and anger. ''Where is thising from? What did I do wrong?''


    He wanted to ask more, but Wesley had already hung up by the time he could recollect his wits. He called back; Wesley didn''t answer. Neither did he reply to Niles'' WeChat messages.


    Niles was pissed, but he could only try tofort himself.


    When the cigarette burned out, Wesley returned to the living room. "Mom, I need to get going," he told Cecelia. He didn''t feel like staying anyway.


    "Okay. Drive safe. ir and I will sleepte tomorrow morning, so you don''t have toe and pick us up too early," Cecelia told him. Wesley got up before 5 a.m. every morning, even on rainy days. Cecelia was afraid that he woulde get them at six.


    "No problem." Wesley walked towards the door to change into his shoes.


    The moment he opened the door and stepped out, ir said to Cecelia hastily, "Aunt Cecelia, I just remembered that there isn''t an extra set of toiletries in here. I''ll go out and buy some for you."


    "I aming with you."


    "There''s no need for that. The supermarket is a bit far. You just stay here and rest." ir put on her shoes quickly.


    "Then let Wesley take you there. Wesley, wait f


    So he turned the wheel and parked the car at the roadside.


    Once the car had stopped, ir rained down pinches on his arm. Wesley wanted to say something, but she spat, "Shut up and listen!"


    Wesley shut up. Knowing that he could endure pain, she pinched as hard as she could. So, tough as he was, it still hurt.


    Wesley nodded to her. "In case you don''t hear me clearly, I am going to repeat this thrice for you: I''m not pregnant! I''m not pregnant! I''m not pregnant!" she bellowed. She almost blurted out that she was still a virgin.


    Wesley nodded as he said calmly, "Hmm."


    Seeing how calm he was, ir suddenly wasn''t angry anymore. She let go of his arm and said, "That''s all I wanted you to know. Drive."


    Before Wesley could step on the gas, she added, "No! Wait a minute."


    Wesley turned towards her. ir tried her best to speak in a calm tone. "There''s nothing going on between your brother and me. Exin this to your mom tomorrow."


    ''Nothing going on?'' Wesley smiled. "Why don''t you exin it to her?"


    "I did, but she didn''t believe me. She barely even listened to me." ir felt frustrated on thinking about it.


    After a moment of silence, Wesley agreed, "Okay."


    ir was relieved. "One more thing, now that you know I''m not pregnant, can I move out now?"


    Wesley grabbed her phone in her hand and typed something on the screen. "I''ve just saved my number on your phone. Call me if you need anything," he told her when he handed back her phone.