"Not fat, just healthier," Iris corrected him. "They were too thin when we got them."
"Hmm…" Jin Liwei carried the two kittens and walked to her.
Ice Cream quickly rubbed her head against his hand, then got bored just as quickly. She remained still, looking at the floor, silently indicating that she wanted to be set down. Jin Liwei didn't notice her attempt at silent communication. Popcorn continued to climb from his hand to his shirt, meowing loudly, as if demanding where his daddy went, why he was gone for so long.
Jin Liwei set the two kittens gently on the floor. Ice Cream immediately walked to her fluffy bed and fell asleep. Popcorn tried catching his daddy's attention but soon gave up. Daddy was too preoccupied with mommy.
Jin Liwei leaned down to finally gather his baby girl in his embrace, kissing her hungrily on the mouth.
Iris wrapped her arms around his neck and returned his kiss, but then pushed him back and moved her face away after just a few seconds.
He tried kissing her again but she blocked his mouth with a hand.
"You didn't miss me?" he asked, a little hurt.
"Of course I did. I missed you."
"Then why?"
He didn't know how to respond. Why was she in such a bad mood? She was usually very receptive to his kisses and touches. Was it because he was gone for too long? Or was it because of the incident during her launch party? Did the incident affect her too much?
Feeling wary of her, he asked, "Are you angry?"
"Of course not. Why would I be angry? Don't be stupid."
Uh…how should he proceed? Something was really off about her today. It felt like any wrong move or wrong word and she would bite his head off.
Then she suddenly spread her arms and smiled at him. "Hug me."
Although he was still confused, he immediately obeyed. He wrapped his arms around her and nuzzled her hair. "I missed you so much," he murmured.
"I missed you, too." Then after a couple of seconds, she pushed him away again. "Okay, that's enough."
He couldn't stop the hurt expression from showing on his face.
She didn't bother to comment, instead telling him, "Welcome home."
"Okay, you can kiss me."
He immediately kissed her before she changed her mind. This time, she let him kiss her longer. He poured all his longing for her in the kiss, showing her how much he missed her. His hand crawled to one of her breasts and squeezed lightly.
"Ouch! It hurts! YOU WANT TO DIE?!!!"
Iris pushed him away with all her might. He fell backward on the floor. He stayed sitting on his butt, looking at her with a stupefied expression. He didn't even squeeze her that hard.
She was glaring at him so fiercely that he felt cold sweat on his back.
"I…sorry." He had no idea what was going on but he instinctively apologized. "I'm sorry, baby."
"Okay." Her expression returned to normal, smiling at him again. Then she asked him about his trip, the flight, whether he had eaten or not, and why he came to the penthouse directly from the airport instead of going to his house first.
He cautiously got up from the floor and sat down beside her on the sofa. He kept his hands to himself.
She was her usual calm and amiable self, talking to him. Jin Liwei almost felt that it was just his imagination that she exploded earlier. He wanted to interrogate her about the incident at the launch party, but decided that this might not be the right time, especially since he was still unsure of her mood. His earlier fury during the drive home had to be temporarily suppressed in front of her.
"Congratulations on the release of your album," he told her, looking directly at her eyes. "I'm so proud of you, baby."
She smiled. "Thank you. I'm happy."
"I had my men buy several copies of your album as soon as it was released. Even if I wasn't physically here that time, I wanted to be one of the first people to buy it."
"Why didn't you just tell me? I could've requested some copies for you from the record label."
"No need. I want to support you this way. You have to sign my copies."
"Sure."
"Sign them 'darling'."
"No way."
"Please, baby?"
"…"
He didn't dare say anything more, afraid of triggering her again.
Then she tilted her head, looking at him. "Fine. But I'll only sign one with 'darling'. The others, I'll just write your name. Okay?"
He quickly nodded. "Yes, yes. Of course. Thank you, baby."
"And I'll kill you if you show that one copy to others."
He blinked. Was her baby girl always this vicious? He knew she was brutally honest, but he never knew about this poison tongue of hers. But he still nodded, showing her that he agreed with her. He sighed in relief when he saw her pleased smile.
A knock on the door.
"Come in," Iris said.
Xu Tian and Jin Liwei's two men entered. They lugged three huge boxes with them. They greeted the couple.
The three men immediately went to work, opening the boxes and taking out various weird-looking things.
"My present for the kids," Jin Liwei explained when he saw her confused expression. "I got a Canadian pet designer to design and manufacture it for me."
"Oh."
Jin Liwei also helped while instructing everyone on where to place what. She watched in interest as the men started setting up an intricate structure consisting of interconnected towers, houses, bridges, scratching posts, and playgrounds for the kittens throughout the entire room.
When they were finished, Iris forgot her lethargy and stood up, marveling at the cat room's transformation. The place transformed into a cat wonderland.
She scooped Ice Cream (awoken by all the activity) and Popcorn (still hopping all around) up in her arms.
"Look what daddy got you!" she announced to them.