Chapter 40 - What's with all these babies?

"You're so mean! How could you order all my favorites? Are you trying to make me fat?" She whined.

"With that tiny waist? What's with that look? You should add a little weight. You're too skinny."

"Skinny, you say?" she puffed her chest up.

"Are you trying to seduce me?" he raised an eyebrow seductively.

"Am not going to argue with you. Come here, Yun Xuan is busy so you're going shopping with me."

"What?!" Lu Aotian's eyes grew wide as his collar was grabbed.

Three hours later, Lu Aotian forcefully pulled her out of the mall and asked the staff to deliver all the goods to Southside Villas.

"It's all in the blood." Lu Aotian sighed on their way out.

"What's all in the blood?" she asked while looking at a bracelet through a display window.

"Nothing. You want that bracelet too?"

"I'll go get it really quickly."

Wan Jia's shopping skills were not to be underestimated. She only intended to buy a dress for the Awards ceremony but she ended up buying more than fifteen dresses, lots of shoes, bags, jewelery and uncountable gifts and toys for Little Jia.

It was no wonder the little girl was such a talented shopper.

At home, she tried on different dresses and sent Yun Xuan photos to help her decide.

[Xuan: The lacy pink one suits you best.]

[Xuan: What's the occassion anyway?]

[Little Wan : Oh, I forgot to mention. The Golden Rookie Awards Ceremony]

[Xuan : They invited you? You know one of the organizers?]

[Xuan: Oh, Lu Aotian was invited and wanted you to be his companion?]

[Little Wan :No, am competing]

Yun Xuan stopped replying for a while then called.

"Wanwan, did you just say you're a competitor?"

"Indeed. Wish me luck. I'll need lots of it." she laughed

"And you never told me such important news?"

"It slipped my mind. Besides you were so busy with Tyler and your studio and all that."

"Forget it. Am attending to support Ran Ran from my studio. See you then!" She hung up.

Wan Jia knew she was unhappy. Perhaps she felt that Wan Jia was intentionally hiding this from her when they told each other almost everything. However, Yun Xuan was only unhappy because she wished Wan Jia was participating on her studio instead. With her there for another studio, Yun Xuan's chances of winning decreased immensely.

Wan Jia took a deep breath and went to Lu Aotian's room to ask about the models.

"Lu..."

Her vision was filled with bare skin as soon as she opened the door.

"Sorry, I forgot to knock!" she said with no intention to look away.

That night, Wan Jia had the craziest dreams pf her life. She dreamt of an adorable little boy calling her 'mommy'. He looked exactly like Lu Aotian. She also dreamt of him and her holding a baby each in a christening ceremony.

She woke up mentally exhausted. Fist it's the adorable boy then twins? What's with all these babies?

...

The day of the awards ceremony finally arrived. The venue was filled with people with a good eye for fashion, celebrities and people out to skout capable designers.

The backstage was bustling with activity. The media took the chance before the ceremony began to interview known public figures.

To prevent designers from panicking when they saw their opponents' dresses, the dressing hall was partitioned into big cubicles.

Wan Jia gave her ready dresses to the models then she discovered she had a problem. One model was missing! In fact, she was the one supposed to appear first.

She took her phone and called her numerous times but her phone was off.

The ceremony was about to start. They were going to be up on stage fourth. It was already too late to start looking for replacement. Besides, if she removed one piece and gave the best one to someone else, it was going to interfere with her theme.

"Welcome ladies and gentlemen. The thwelth Golden Rookie Designer Awards is about to start." The host rattled off the opening greetings.

"Huh? It's over!" she exclaimed.

"Designer Wan, is something the matter?You look so pale" a model asked.

"No no am fine. Am okay." she took deep breaths but even that wasn't good enough to calm her this time.

"Right, where's Lili? We're up on stage in fourth place." another model asked, making her feel even worse.

In her panic, she ran out of the dressing room with her phone and dialed Lu Aotian's number. She had initially thought of asking Yun Xuan for help but she surely had enough on her plate already. Besides, Lu Aotian's capability was unlimited.

"The number you have dialed is temporarily out of reach."

'Oh no no Aotian you're my only hope.' she slapped her forehead in distress.

"And now let's present our first contestant, Su Ling of Mondial Studios." she heard the male host say.

She looked in the direction of the stage just out of curiosity. She really wanted to know what the scheming duo were planning to do. They had after all come up with the tiring idea of stealing her drafts and even used all their connections to make the organizers allow them to participate too. Of course they were not to switch her out, thanks to Lu Aotian's influence.

They even managed to appear first. The first place was quite important. The judges wouldn't have seen other designs yet and would award points deservingly.

The stage went dark with soft music playing in a distance. Then a model appeared out of the shadows wearing a white gown as the stage slowly lit up.