Cheng Yao hadn’t worked late today. She’d gotten home early, and yet she hadn’t done a single thing since — she just sat there, biting her lip, face flushed, glaring at the outfit laid out on the sofa, waging an internal battle to steel her nerves.

She shouldn’t have caved and agreed to Qian Heng’s request last week.

Qian Heng had been away on a business trip for a week now. The night before he’d left, he’d declared he was borrowing against the coming week in advance. Starting at seven that evening, he hadn’t let Cheng Yao out of bed once, until her voice had cracked with embarrassment and he’d coaxed all sorts of mortifying things out of her. Even then the man hadn’t been satisfied — he’d pressed his advantage until she’d surrendered, agreeing, in humiliating defeat, to grant him one request.

Except at the time, Cheng Yao had never imagined what kind of request Qian Heng would actually make.

She stared at the nurse’s costume on the sofa, practically dying of embarrassment.

But knowing Qian Heng’s stubborn insistence on getting his way, and how dominant he could be, Cheng Yao suspected tonight wasn’t going to end well for her. Just imagining how impossible he’d be after a full week away on business trip was enough to turn her face bright red.

Other couples struggled with mismatched intimacy — but Cheng Yao had never expected that, for her, being too compatible would turn out to be its own kind of problem. She still got shy around Qian Heng, especially in the bedroom, shy enough to want to find a hole in the ground to hide in.

Still, a promise was a promise, and there was no backing out now. Cheng Yao checked the time — half an hour until he’d be home. Holding out any longer would probably only earn her a harsher penalty later…

Steeling herself, cheeks burning, Cheng Yao unwrapped the costume.

What she hadn’t expected was that the costume Qian Heng had ordered ran a size too small. Even with her slim waist, by the time she finally managed to squeeze into it, the skirt barely reached long enough to cover anything, and the front of the top simply wouldn’t close no matter how she tried. There was no way to wear anything underneath it either. One look in the mirror and Cheng Yao nearly fainted from sheer embarrassment.

By the time Qian Heng — having flown straight home from the airport without stopping anywhere else — opened the door and saw his “little nurse” sitting obediently on the sofa, whatever composure he’d managed on the flight home vanished completely.

“Doctor… Doctor Qian…” Cheng Yao said, her voice barely above a whisper.

What followed was a private moment between the two of them — one built on the easy teasing and playful roleplay they’d fallen into as a married couple, equal parts affection and heat, the kind of evening that belonged only to them.

Later, spent and drowsy, wrapped in the quiet stillness that followed, Cheng Yao lay curled against him, her cheek against his chest, listening to his heartbeat slowly steady.

Qian Heng pressed a kiss to her hair, his voice low, still a little unsteady. “Cheng Yao,” he murmured, “have a baby with me.”

“I want a child with eyes just like yours.”

Cheng Yao’s whole body was still warm, still faintly humming, but she felt none of the annoyance she probably should have at how he’d pushed his luck yet again tonight.

She said quietly, “Okay. I’ll have your baby. Only yours.”

She hadn’t meant anything by it — just an idle, half-drowsy answer. But Qian Heng heard every word, and clearly took it very much to heart.

“Nurse Cheng,” he said, voice low and entirely too pleased with himself, “I don’t think the first round of treatment was quite effective. Looks like we’ll need a second.”

Skit

At the company’s year-end party, Cheng Yao had one too many, marched up onto the emcee’s stage, grabbed the microphone, and declared: “So what if Qian Heng’s a partner! So what if he’s the boss! One day, when I’ve made it big, I’ll make him call me Dad! I, Cheng Yao, will make sure he knows — it’s YOUR turn to eat crow!”

Nobody in the audience that night could forget the terrifying look on Qian Heng’s face…

But what nobody knew was—

The next day, Cheng Yao found herself cornered by Qian Heng.

Qian Heng, completely deadpan: “So — satisfied with last night, Dad?”