A Love Trap

Chapter 908 Fear

Andrew frowned. He had never been around children, so he had no idea how to get along with them or what to say to them.

However, looking at Ashley's expression, he could tell that she was serious.

Andrew opened his mouth to contradict Ashley when—

"Owwww!" Ashley suddenly screamed, laying a hand over her belly.

"What's wrong?" A hint of nervousness flashed across Andrew's eyes as he asked anxiously, "Ash, are you okay?

I'll take you to the hospital." He swept her up into his arms and started heading for the door to take her to the hospital.

"No, Andy. Please put me down first." Ashley stopped him by putting her hand on his cheek gently.

"But... the baby..."

"It's fine. It's just the baby moving inside my belly. Don't worry,"

Ashley interrupted him before he could finish his words.

Then, she took one of his hands and placed it on her belly.

"I'm really fine, Andy. See for yourself. Do you feel that? That's the baby moving."

Ashley had experienced the same thing while she was pregnant with Fabio and Dany. However, the movement of the fetus just now was quite sudden, which made her unable to control her emotions.

Her surprise made her cry out.

In retrospect, her reaction was quite amusing.

"Are you sure?" Andrew looked down at her belly and asked with doubt in his tone.

It was like he was glaring at an enemy and not at his own baby.

"I'm really fine. If you don't believe me, you can touch it.

Hush, love, don't say anything."

Ashley once again placed his hand on her belly, and the two of them kept silent.

The baby in Ashley's belly moved again. Andrew felt it and quickly withdrew his hand, somewhat frightened.

He looked at Ashley's belly in surprise. It was rare to see him show such an expression.

-- Andrew looked up at Ashley's eyes and failed to form a complete sentence.

"That's our baby moving! It's saying hi to us. See, I'm fine. Do you believe me now?" Ashley smiled reassuringly at Andrew.

Andrew nodded.

Suddenly, a thought occurred to him. He frowned and looked at Ashley's belly. "If the baby keeps moving like this all the time, then how can you sleep?"

The baby probably not only moved while Ashley was sleeping, but also when she was doing other things. How could she manage to get any rest?

Ashley giggled. "Do you think that the baby moves like that all the time? No, the baby also needs sleep. When we go to bed, it also sleeps soundly in my belly."

Hearing that, Andrew finally managed to relax.

Still, his worry for her was not completely allayed.

He then assisted Ashley to the bathroom to wash her face and brush her teeth. Afterwards, Ashley lay on the bed and read a magazine. Seeing this, Andrew went into the bathroom and began to wash his own face.

Ever since Ashley had gotten pregnant, Andrew would accompany her no matter what she did. Of course, he also helped her wash her hair and take a bath.

He did so because he was afraid that she might end up getting hurt without him around.

Although Ashley had told him many times that she could do these things by herself, Andrew insisted on helping her.

At first, Ashley felt a little uncomfortable with the attention that Andrew had been giving her. Although she had been married to him for so many years, she still felt embarrassed to have Andrew do all those things for her.

Besides, she might be pregnant now, but her hands and feet were still functioning. She could do these things herself—she just needed to be extra careful.

Ashley drifted off as she lay in bed perusing her magazine.

When Andrew came out of the bathroom, he saw Ashley sleeping soundly, with the half-opened magazine still in her hand.

Andrew walked over to her side and took away the magazine. He then tucked her in and lay beside her on his own side of the bed.

Even so, his eyes remained transfixed on her rounded belly.

He recalled the movement of the baby in her tummy that he felt with his own hand and suddenly became curious again.

He took a look at Ashley and slowly placed his hand on the mound of her belly.

There was no reaction from the baby. Disappointed, Andrew withdrew his hand. 'Is the child asleep now?' he wondered.

When Ashley woke up, Andrew was no longer by her side.

He had already gone to work.

Even at home, so many things were off-limits to Ashley, such as computers or mobile phones, for they emitted radiation.

It was a good thing that she was not particularly fond of electronic devices.

She spent the whole day either drawing design drafts or reading the magazines placed nearby.

Sometimes, she would go to Andrew's study to read books.

Once the children returned from school in the afternoon, she would play with them. It was the happiest time for Richard and the twins.

As Andrew had yet to arrive home from work, the kids could spend some time having fun with their mother.

Time flew, and another month passed by unnoticed.

Ashley's belly was getting bigger and bigger.

Standing in front of the mirror and looking at her own image, Ashley could hardly recognize herself.

How did she become so fat?

Considering Ashley's pregnancy, the family had especially availed of the services of a nutritionist to cook healthy meals for the expecting mother. In the last few months, Ashley had gained a considerable amount of weight.

Ashley could not help but feel a little depressed about her appearance.

Would she still be this fat in the future?

In the evening, Andrew came home to Ashley who in a somber mood.

She just sat there quietly without saying anything, as if she was in a daze.

After helping Ashley wash her hair, Andrew took out the hair dryer to use on Ashley. She kept staring into the distance without a word.

She did not even notice when he finished drying and detangling her hair.

Andrew put away the hair dryer and smoothed down her silky hair.

He then pulled Ashley to his lap and asked, "What are you thinking about?"

She had been so distant since he came back. What happened while he was at work?

Ashley snapped out of her reverie and looked at her own reflection in Andrew's eyes. Her face was so bloated.

Her melancholy worsened.

In front of her beloved, no woman would want to mention the fact that she had gained weight.

Ashley was no exception.

She looked away and pursed her lips. "Nothing."

She tried to stand up and pull away from him.

She was worried that her hefty body would crush Andrew's legs if she kept sitting on his lap for too long. That would be extremely embarrassing.

However, if she wanted to leave her current spot, she needed to get Andrew's permission.

Andrew gently gathered her into his arms. He was careful not to hurt the baby, but he really had no intention of freeing her from his embrace that easily.

Narrowing his eyes, he looked at Ashley. "What happened? Huh?"

Andrew probed with a serious expression on his face.

That expression was the one Ashley feared the most.

Although Andrew would never harm her and would treat her very well, there were certain things that they could never agree on.

Truth be told, Ashley shivered with apprehension because of the expression on Andre's face.

It was a knee-jerk reaction that she had developed from that incident between the two of them.

Ashley put on an annoyed expression and said, "I've gained some weight. Can't you see that?"

The more she spoke, the angrier she became.

Andrew did not even notice that she had gained weight. Evidently, he never paid any attention to her size at all.

Could it be that she was now of no importance to him as a woman because she was pregnant?

Ashley knew that pregnancy came with a whole host of dangers. There was even a serious possibility of her dying during labor and delivery.

Moreover, after giving birth to the baby, a woman might end up on her hospital bed, alone and forgotten, while the rest of her family tended to the newborn. Nôvel(D)rama.Org's content.

The more she thought about it, the more wronged she felt.

Would Andrew also treat her like that?

"Evidently, you haven't been paying attention to me," she said peevishly. "What's more, once the baby was born, I will look old and wasted. You probably won't like me anymore, will you? You will only like the newborn baby, right?"

Her innermost thoughts started spilling out of her.

Andrew was stunned.

"What? You can't say anything? All men are jerks! You are no exception!"

After hearing such angry words from her, Andrew still said nothing. Ashley's fury burned even hotter. She tried to break free from his embrace.

Just as she was about to slip free from his grasp, Andrew subconsciously tightened his arms around her.

"Ash," Andrew murmured, his low voice as soothing as the sound of a cello.

Ashley rubbed her ears and thought, 'Why does he have to speak in such a sexy voice?'

"You are not fat."

Andrew wrapped his arms around her waist and said, "Maybe you're a little chubby, but you're still very cute. You know that I love you, and you are the most important person to me. I would never treat you like that."

Those words were exactly what Ashley needed to hear at that moment.

She felt slightly embarrassed at her outburst.

What...

What did she say just now?

How could she speak out her innermost thoughts?

The family had purchased numerous books about pregnancy. Ashley liked to read them whenever she was free.

Recently, she happened to read those scenarios in some of those books.

She got so scared when she read that a woman would be neglected by her family after she gave birth to the baby.

Moreover, when Ashley was in the delivery room at a hospital in N Country to give birth to Fabio and Dany, there was another woman having labor beside her and gave birth to her baby at the same time as Ashley.

That woman's husband and parents-in-law were all cooing and paying attention to the newborn baby. The poor woman just lay there, and no one paid attention to her.

Back then, Ashley felt so sorry for that woman.

That woman had been faced with many life-threatening conditions all throughout her pregnancy and the delivery of the baby, yet her husband only cared about the baby.

These stories bothered Ashley so much that she became terrified that Andrew might treat her the same way.