641 Blessing & Curse

"Recently, I read on the internet that there is a resort in Finland where you sleep in a heated glass Igloo to watch the Nothern Lights."

Xiu was styling her hair in wavy curls as she looked at Darren's reflection in the mirror and shared the information she learned from the internet.

"Sounds interesting," was his casual reply as he buttoned up his shirt.

Xiu made a face while staring intently at his body through the mirror. After sighing, she added, "There is an exquisite tunnel of cascading flowers known as wisteria tunnel in Japan. I saw its photos, it looked ethereal. I believe a walkthrough that tunnel would feel like a fairytale."

"Oh, really?"

Xiu narrowed her eyes and her brows knotted up. "There is a flower name chocolate cosmos that actually smells like chocolate."

Darren opened his mouth but before he could say anything, she shot back, "If you said interesting one more time, I'm gonna snap." Darren instinctively pressed his lips together and looked in her direction. As their gazes met through the mirror, he felt uneasy with her eyes. "You're not paying attention to me."

"Of course, I am paying attention. I heard everything you said. But although I can understand the reason why you want to go to Finland, I can't understand why you're interested in that wisteria tunnel."

"Why not?" 

"Because I know your fascination with northern lights but you aren't fond of flowers. So..."

Xiu turned around to face him as she made her loose curls bounce while saying, "As much as I'm fascinated with northern lights, I'm as much fascinated with nature. Besides, that tunnel looks like a pathway to Narnia. I think my childhood fantasy might come true. I might really find the door to Narnia."

Darren smiled at her and came close to her. He lifted his hand but before he could touch her head, she ducked away, "No touching. I spent 2 hours on my hair. You can't ruin it that soon. At least let me, show-off, my hard work for a little while."

Darren facepalmed himself and looked at her dotingly, "So, you're finally planning our honeymoon?"

"I never said I don't want to go. I mean which idiot wouldn't want to enjoy this precious time of being newlyweds." Then her face turned down as she added, "But even if I want to go, I can't. The doctor told me to be extra careful during my first trimester. I don't know why but she stressed heavily on 'being careful'. Although I don't like following doctor's instructions, this involves another life. So, I promised myself to be careful."

"Why didn't you tell me that last night?" he suddenly got tensed as he asked, "Is there any complication? Is the pregnancy dangerous to you in any way? Don't lie to me at all."

"Huh?"

Xiu walked over to her gown for the evening and untied her bathrobe saying, "That doctor gave a list of dos and don'ts but since all, I could see was how I have to have her approval for everything I actually asked her whether I can breathe and she gave me her permission that I can rest assured about breathing, she won't restrict it."

Darren's lips twitched at her game of sarcasm that she even played with the doctor but before he could say anything he saw her bathrobe sliding down her shoulders and falling on her feet. She was standing before him in only panties but since her back was towards her, he couldn't get a good view. But all he saw was enough for him to appreciate.

After she wore her gown and turned around, his eyes darkened even more. Her gown was diaphanous sleeveless formal with cutout detail in navy blue color. The elegant look of the lace in this diaphanous formal embraces her curves perfectly enhancing every curve. The sleeveless bodice boasted the plunging V neckline with a sheer inset that secured the center front. 

Darren's tongue darted out to lick his lips before he gulped, feeling parched. The curved cutouts of her formal bared the sides of the midriff with daring details showing her snowy white skin. Xiu ran her hand over the slender self-fabric band that encircled her waist with appreciating eyes. That svelte lines sluice along the hips and the sensual slit accentuated the flutes full-length. 

Xiu was in love with her dress and so was her husband who couldn't take his eyes off her figure. Although everything looked good on her because the aura around always shined, this very formal however was making the aura around her turn back to that cold ice beauty she had been in her corporate life. And that added another layer of charm to her beauty.

With a snap before his eyes, Darren was brought back to reality and he looked at Xiu who was raising her brows inquisitively. "Husband, where are you lost today? Such a beautiful wife is right before your eyes and you're actually daydreaming? What a shame!"

Darren's arms went around her waist and his hand wantonly ran all over her bare back as he forced out a smile, "Dear wifey, your husband is very fickle. Why are you enticing him so much?"

"When did I?" Xiu played the innocent card that she was best at. Although she bought this gown on purpose. There were two reasons for it. First, she wanted to see him struggling with his desires. Almost like you can watch it but you can't take a bite. Second, she knew she won't be able to proudly show-off her slender figure for long so she wanted to take advantage of this time as much as possible.

Darren wanted to dip his head to capture her lips but she placed a finger on his lips, "Baobei, that's not allowed. My lipstick will be smeared. Too much trouble."

"Argh!" groaned Darren as he placed his head on her shoulder and acted spoiled, "Sweets, don't do this. How will I breathe without my dose of oxygen?"

"Awww..." Xiu patted his head. "My poor Baobei, you can work with the air for a while."

His shoulders slumped down as his act didn't work on her. He tried again, "Sweets, I'll get you those chocolate cosmic. All the way from Mexico. They do smell like chocolate, you'd love it."

"Are you trying to bribe me?" He innocently shook his head. "Then is this a negotiation?"

He pursed his lips before nodding, "Something like that."

Xiu thoughtfully looked at him and smirked, "I heard sunsets on Mars are blue. More than chocolate cosmic, I want to see that blue sunset. If that's on the table, I'm up for this negotiation."

Darren took a deep breath and exhaled heavily, "Why don't you simply say that you're not in the mood for negotiation?" He shook his head and added, "But I have to say, my wife is looking gorgeous."

Xiu didn't try to act proud before him as she smiled brightly and said, "Just gorgeous?"

It was quite obvious that like any wife, she was trying to fish for more compliments. Who didn't like compliments?

Xiu's eyes focused on his as his face came closer to hers again but this time, he shifted down and his lips captured the skin behind her ear. Xiu felt tingly at the touch of his soft lips sucking, nibbling, and making her go crazy! 

With his lips against her skin, he spoke in a hoarse voice, "Not just gorgeous, beautiful, pretty, enchanting, ethereal... In fact, I don't think only words can describe how beautiful you're looking."

"Eeeh... That was corny," stated Xiu. "But I loved it anyway."

Before he could break her resolve, Xiu pushed him back saying, "We're gonna be late."

"So? It's not our wedding," said Darren as he continued to lick her earlobe.

Xiu held the back of his neck and added, "No, it's not but... We can't be the last one to show up."

"Why not?"

Xiu had no reply to that question. Indeed, it wasn't necessary for her to show up early. But she didn't want to be late. Besides... "If you continued, we'd be going nowhere!"

Darren breathed out heavily in disappointment. Even he knew if he continued, they'd be going nowhere. Already the doctor had put a lot of restrictions on their interactions. Why did it seem like the world was going against him?! This isn't fair!

"Fine, let's go now." 

With reluctance, he just had to pull himself away from her. He put a coat over her shoulders and said, "Don't catch a cold."

Xiu smiled sweetly at him and kissed the side of his jaw, "With my personal human heater, I can never catch a cold."

Although Darren found her words amusing, he still rolled his eyes at her cheekiness. Having a wife like her was equally a blessing and a curse.