Lucas pulled back slightly, holding her face in his hands, resting his forehead against hers, the heat in his eyes searing.

"Then..."

He deliberately dragged out the tone, his voice laced with a hint of laughter.

"Shouldn't we start working on it right now?"

The process of preparing for pregnancy went unexpectedly smoothly.

Perhaps it was because the knots in her heart were completely untied, and the body that had been drained over the years had been meticulously restored by Lucas—barely three months later, Ivy stared at the two glaring red lines on the pregnancy test, feeling a bit dazed.

Before she could organize her thoughts, Lucas, who had just finished showering, walked over, his hair still dripping.

"What are you looking at?"

He leaned over naturally, his gaze landing on what she held, and then, he froze completely.

The air went quiet for about three seconds.

The next moment, Lucas snatched the tiny plastic stick, bringing it close to his eyes, looking it over again and again.

His intensity was even more focused than when he observed pathological sections under a microscope.

"Two lines..."

He muttered to himself, his voice carrying a dreamy disbelief.

Ivy was just about to say something when the man suddenly raised his head, his usually clear and gentle eyes shining brilliantly.

"Wife!"

With a shout, he scooped Ivy up by the waist and spun her around in circles.

"I’m going to be a father! Ivy! I’m going to be a father!"

He was as excited as a young boy, completely devoid of the usual steady and calm Dr. Lucas.

Ivy was spun until she was dizzy, and could only hug his neck, laughing until she couldn't breathe.

This was probably the most beautiful declaration she had ever heard in her life.

However, after the joy, the torment of the early stages of pregnancy soon arrived at her door.

Ivy’s morning sickness was dark and gloomy; she vomited everything she ate. In just a few days, her whole frame had thinned down.

Lucas saw it all and felt the anxiety in his heart.

Chapter 27

The home study changed overnight.

The neatly stacked medical journals were pushed to the corner.

In their place were books like Golden Rules of Prenatal Nutrition and A Self-Improvement Manual for Expectant Fathers.

Dr. Lucas took notes even more seriously than when he studied for his medical licensing exam.

At Zurich University, Ivy temporarily handed over her work and officially began her life of nurturing the baby at home.

Her greatest joy every day was watching Lucas bustle around her.

For example, right now, the man was holding two balls of vibrantly colored yarn and two long knitting needles, studying the video tutorial with a serious expression.

"Dr. Lucas, are you sure you're knitting a sweater and not performing surgery on the yarn?"

Ivy leaned against the sofa, teasing him lazily.

Lucas’s fingers stiffened, and he looked up at her with an innocent expression:

"The instructions say the cast-on is critical. I am currently conducting a pre-operative simulation of the key steps."

Ivy laughed at his antics.

After a while, he took the ultrasound printout—which was so small it was almost impossible to see—and leaned it against her belly, beginning the daily routine of prenatal education.

"Little guy, listen up. I’m your dad. No tossing your mom today, you hear me?"

He threatened gravely.

"If you make her vomit again, just wait until you come out, and see how I reason with you."

Ivy listened to his childish "negotiation," her heart softening completely.

A good partner can truly heal everything.

After surviving the toughest first three months, Ivy’s morning sickness finally disappeared, and her appetite roared back.

Lucas then accompanied her for a stroll by Lake Zurich every day.

The autumn lakeside scenery was picturesque.

Ivy touched her clearly protruding abdomen, feeling the changes of the little life inside day by day.

"I hope he’s like you: smart, calm, and becomes a doctor later."

"I actually hope she’s like you."

Lucas gripped her hand tightly, kissing it.

"Brave, resilient, and someone whose smile can melt a heart."

Ivy tilted her head: "How are you so sure it’s a 'she'?"

"Intuition," Lucas said righteously. "My daughter will definitely be like you."

Ivy laughed: "What if it’s boy-girl twins?"

Lucas’s eyes lit up instantly; he stopped walking and looked at her seriously.

"Really?"

"I was joking."

"I think this proposal is excellent!"

He ignored the second half of her sentence entirely, having already fallen into a kind of excited reverie.

"One like you, one like me. One named Lu Zhao, one named Ivy Mu—Chao Chao Mu Mu, perfect!"

Looking at his excited expression as he had already thought of the names, Ivy laughed until she doubled over.

This man, he was hopelessly cute.

Ten months of pregnancy, one morning of labor.

Ivy’s due date was set for an early autumn morning.

Lucas, acting as both family member and half-medical consultant, accompanied her through the whole process.

However, the moment the delivery room door closed, the youngest chief physician at Zurich University Hospital and the calm, self-possessed Dr. Lucas had both vanished.

He was so nervous his palms were sweating, pacing back and forth, muttering reminders non-stop, until he received several glances of disdain from the real obstetricians.

"Mr. Lucas, please be quiet. You are affecting the patient’s mood."

Lucas closed his mouth instantly, standing as straight as an elementary student waiting for a teacher's lecture.

When the baby’s cry first rang out in the delivery room.

Lucas’s taut nerves relaxed abruptly, and tears gushed out without warning.

The nurse held out a wrinkled little thing for him to see: "Congratulations, Mr. Lucas, a beautiful young lady. She is very healthy."

Before Lucas could even reach out, another louder cry rang out in the delivery room without warning.

"Huh?" Even the experienced nurse was stunned.

The next second, she called out in surprise: "There’s another! My god, there’s another son! It’s boy-girl twins!"

Chapter 28

Lucas was completely stunned.

He stood rooted to the spot, his mind a total blank, looking foolishly at the baby in the nurse’s arms, then back toward the delivery bed, as if someone had hit the pause button on his entire being.

His joke about "Chao Chao Mu Mu"—morning and evening—had actually come true?

A sense of happiness like a tsunami instantly submerged him, leaving him dizzy and disoriented, not even knowing where to put his hands and feet.

He moved forward step by step, looking at Ivy on the delivery bed—her face pale, her hair drenched in sweat, yet she was smiling at him. He was overcome with a complex rush of emotions.

He clumsily pressed a kiss, wet with tears, onto Ivy’s forehead.

"Wife..."

A thousand words, in the end, reduced to just one word.

Ivy weakly raised a hand to touch his face, her voice soft but filled with laughter: "Our wish, it’s been fulfilled."

One like her, one like him.

They named their daughter Lu Chaochao, and their son Lu Mumu.

Chaochao and Mumu, year after year. Ever since the two little ancestors arrived at home, the lives of Dr. Lucas and Researcher Ivy had completely fallen into their hands.

That home, once pristine, was now filled with bottles, diapers, and toys of all colors everywhere.

Lucas’s life had shifted from studying pathological sections to researching baby formula ratios.

Ivy’s life had shifted from designing new aviation materials to distinguishing which cry meant hunger and which meant it was time for a diaper change.

Lu Chaochao perfectly inherited her mother’s temperament.

Bold and loud, when she was awake, if she wasn't crawling, she was preparing to crawl.

She showed great interest in everything that could fly, especially fond of watching the pigeons outside the window.

Lu Mumu, on the other hand, was a carbon copy of Lucas.

Quiet and rarely crying, his greatest hobby was being held by his father, staring at the human skeleton model in the study, pointing his little finger at the skull, babbling things no one could understand.

The most common scene in the house was:

Ivy holding Lu Chaochao in the living room watching airplane documentaries; the little girl would point at the fighter jets on the screen, clapping her hands in excitement.

"Look, baby, those are the wings of the things Mommy will build in the future."

On the other side, Lucas would be holding Lu Mumu, pointing at the human anatomy charts on the wall.

"Look, Mumu, this is the frontal bone, this is the parietal bone... Daddy will teach you how to perform surgery later, okay?"

Ivy was often amused by his academic approach to parenting: "Dr. Lucas, he’s only half a year old; isn't this a bit too ahead of schedule?"

Lucas would straight-facedly push up his non-existent glasses: "Interest must be cultivated from the cradle."

After the children turned one, Ivy returned to the research center.

But she was no longer the death-defying workaholic she once was.

She learned to leave work on time, learned to decline unnecessary social engagements, and learned to clearly separate work from life.

Because she knew there were more important "projects" waiting for her at home.

It was another weekend.

On the lawn by Lake Zurich, the family of four spread out a picnic mat.

Lu Chaochao and Lu Mumu were already able to toddle about, like two little birds just learning to fly, chasing each other across the grass with crisp laughter.

Ivy leaned on Lucas’s shoulder, watching those two stumbling little figures not far away, her heart melting into softness.

"What are you thinking about?" Lucas gripped her hand, interlacing their fingers.

Ivy turned her head, looking at his side profile, which appeared exceptionally gentle under the sunlight, and said earnestly:

"Thinking that all of this is real."

It was no longer the extravagant hope of midnight dreams, no longer a nebulous, ethereal bubble.

It was real sunshine, a real lover, and real children.

Lucas smiled. He lowered his head and kissed the corner of her lips gently. He didn't say "me too," but answered her with actions.

He pointed not far away, where Lu Chaochao had picked up a small tree branch from somewhere and was directing her younger brother Lu Mumu to run forward in a decent imitation of his movements, showing quite a bit of leadership flair.

Lucas leaned into Ivy’s ear and whispered with a low laugh:

"Look, the one in your family has already started leading a team."

The sunlight stretched their shadows long, intertwining with the two tiny shadows not far away.

In the wind came the silver-bell-like laughter of the children.

That was the sound of happiness.

[End of Novel]