After forty days of advertising and promotion, the number of people using the Enlightenment Chip reached over 1.1 million. Vinique sold 700,000 in the "free world". Ronnie returned home and before he could warm up his blanket, Butch appeared in front of his bed and said, "Ronnie, I've got something to tell you, Yurina is pregnant, she said she will join the City-state this year and told you to visit her sometime."
"What? no way!" Ronnie exclaimed as he sat up with a jerk.
"How is that impossible? isn't the baby yours?" Butch asked rhetorically.
Ronnie remained silent, but in his mind he cursed Yurina, feeling that she had betrayed him again. How could he impregnate a woman when he had already taken a pregnancy-limiting injection. In fact, this time he had wronged Yurina, there were two types of pregnancy prevention injections, one for men and one for women, which could be used as a contraceptive, it was usually valid for three years. Since the birth of Catherine, he had taken an injection, but it had expired early, he didn't know that, which was why he was so surprised now. But he couldn't say those words, he could only say, "Why did she call me?"
"I don't know, only you can ask that," Butch said goodbye and left.
At that moment, Ronnie's heart turned like a river, unable to calm down. He couldn't understand why Yurina had lied to herself, and it was such a cheap lie. Park Hye entered the room and saw his frozen expression of concern and asked, "What did Butch just say to you?"
Ronnie didn't want to lie to her, so he told her what Butch had just said. Park Hye scoffed after hearing it, "What are you going to do? take her to the city state?"
Hearing that cold tone, Ronnie had a bad feeling in his heart. He coughed dryly and changed the subject, "Park Hye, you've got a tan from being out there for over forty days."
But Park Hye grabbed the original topic and didn't let go, "Tell me! what are you going to do?"
Ronnie laughed bitterly twice before saying, "I don't want her to come either, but there's nothing I can do if she wants to come on her own.”
"Then I'll officially marry you, okay?" Park Hye gave an ultimatum.
This was because she knew that the city-state had a rule that you could not cheat after you had formally tied the knot, and that the cheater would be removed from the city-state and banished from the city, never to return for all eternity. When Ronnie heard the words "officially marry", his head buzzed. The New World practiced open marriages and very few people were officially married, even in You City, where Ronnie was from, there were no more than five couples with official marriages.He still had a good wish in his heart to find Michiko one day. If Michiko had proposed to him, he would have accepted without hesitation. Ronnie's final answer was that he still didn't love Park Hye enough. Seeing that he was half silent, Park Hye said sadly, "I know the answer,” then she left the room.
Three days later, Park Hye moved from double room number thirty-five on the ninth floor to single room number sixteen on the twenty-sixth floor. Ronnie begged her several times to move back, but she seemed to have made up her mind. Ronnie, who had lost his love, became a bachelor again. These days he was depressed all day, and Lily comforted him by saying, "Ronnie, cheer up, you've got me.”
Ronnie looked at her and said, "You? forget you! I wouldn't want you if I was marrying a donkey."
"You go to hell! you bastard," Lily cursed angrily.
Barry heard that Park Hye had left Ronnie and started a new round of courtship. He picked Park Hye up every day after work, and Park Hye refused at first, but then got used to it. Later, they talked and laughed like a couple of lovers. One day, Ronnie ran into them after work, and the scene became awkward. Ronnie looked at Park Hye and asked, "I haven't seen you for a month, how have you been?"
Park Hye changed back to her original shy look, "I'm pretty good, how about you?"
"I ... Ronnie didn't know how to answer, "Say yes and she won't believe it... He had a gray face now, the word "good" had nothing to do with him, to say not good, and he was ashamed of his own face. They both waited for his answer, he could only squeeze out one sentence: "I'm not bad, I'm happy to see you so happy, are you getting married?"
Park Hye looked at Barry beside him and Barry realized that this was meant to speak for himself: "Yes, we are, we will officially get married on the day that your temporary marriage to Park Hye is automatically dissolved."
Even though he was prepared for this, Ronnie couldn't be happier and said, "Bless you then!" after saying that, he walked away sadly. As he left, he thought, "Why did Park Hye become happier after leaving me? besides, it's so cute that she changed back to her old self, maybe she made the right decision to leave me."
After he left, Barry took Park Hye's hand and said, "I'm so grateful for him, maybe we wouldn't have gotten together without him.”
"You're getting a cheap shot."
"Park Hye, why did you leave him?"
"I felt so much pressure around Ronnie, he had a lot of women around him and I was constantly worried that he would be snatched away."
After Park Hye moved out, Ronnie could only apply for a single room. He stayed in room twenty-three, on the same floor as Alice. Lying on the grass of the balcony, he sighed, "It's been five years and I'm back to square one, living in a single room again.”
He touched the back of his neck where Park Hye had bitten him and remembered what she had said, "I just wanted to leave my mark on you."
It seemed that the mark could be so deep that he couldn't forget it for the rest of his life. He thought of Michiko again, "Is she really not in this world? I've been begging the City-state for years and they haven't sent any news.”
If Ronnie was out of love, Alice was the opposite. Butch was better looking, Crockett was smarter, and both had their own strengths. She couldn't decide for a moment. She knocked on Ronnie's door to get his opinion. "Sister, you really came to the wrong person, how can I give you good advice when I don't even know my own business?"
Alice thought about it carefully and thought it was true, but she still wasn't convinced, "You're the only family member I have here, if I don't ask you, who am I going to ask?”
Every year on November 15th, the City-state held an initiation ceremony. When Ronnie came home from work that day, he was shocked to see Yurina standing at the door with a big belly, "Why are you here?"
"Didn't I tell you I was coming this year? aren't you welcoming me?"
Seeing Yurina, Ronnie was still happy in his heart, but when he thought of her lying to him, he was angry again, "Let me ask you, why did you lie to me?"
"I lied to you? when did I lie to you?" Yurina asked sharply when she heard the clueless words.
"Whose baby is that in your belly?"
"Of course it's yours, you idiot, asking such an idiotic question," Yurina said angrily.
The two argued. Yurina cried angrily, as soon as she cried, Ronnie's heart softened at once, he finally said, "Well, no matter whose child it is, you go in first."
"You still don't believe me?" Yurina, seeing that he was still doubting himself, wiped away her tears and turned around.
Ronnie rushed after her and pulled on her coat, "Where are you going?"
"I don't want you interfering with my business!" Yurina shook his hand and continued on her way. She got into the elevator, Ronnie could only follow, the elevator stopped at the thirty-first floor, the two of them went out one after the other and came to the twenty-second single room, Yurina's anger had not subsided yet, desperate, "Why are you following me here?"
"I'm afraid you'll run off with someone else!" Ronnie said carefully, full of pleasant face.
"Hmph!" Yurina snorted coldly, went into the bedroom and sat down on the edge of the bed to sulk. Ronnie saw this and also came in, closed the door and hugged her from behind, "Don't be angry, it's all my fault."
"I don't want you to hug me, let go of me," Yurina tried to push him away but she was hugged tighter, she gasped, "Why are you bothering me if you don't trust me?"
Ronnie frowned at how the subject had changed again. Changing his words, he said, "I believe you, what job did you come to the city-state to apply for? it won't be a paramour, will it? I don't approve of you doing that job."
"I'm pregnant now, and the city-state hasn't arranged a job for me, so what do you think I can do?"
"Why don't you join me as an assistant, your two brothers are there too, so we can be together every day."
"Good! but can I go there without knowing anything? will the city-state disapprove?"
"It won't, the city state stipulates that each science team can have a maximum of nine people who are recruited by the hosts themselves. It's normal to have four or five assistants," Ronnie explained.
"Good then!" Yurina happily agreed, and the more they talked, the more harmonious they became, as if they hadn't argued at all before, as they gradually leaned closer together. Ronnie touched the woman's slightly bulging belly, his insides mixing. "Ronnie, you have two daughters, I hope you can have a son this time, do you want to name him first?"
"It won't be mine even if you have a son," Ronnie thought in his heart but didn't say anything because he didn't want to spoil the atmosphere.
"Why don't you say something?" Yurina asked when she saw that he didn't make a sound.
"I'm thinking of a name, how about 'Amandine'? "It was the name of a member of the Grand Council of Elders at the beginning of the city-state's foundation, something Ronnie had read in a book and blurted out when it suddenly came to him.
"Amandine"? that's pretty catchy, does it have any special meaning?"
"I thought you said it sounded good, wouldn't that be enough?" Ronnie laughed.
"That's right!" They talked late into the night. Ronnie didn't go back to his own place either, so the two of them squeezed into a single cot.