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When we decided to try for a baby, I expected to be slightly anxious considering what happened in the past. But what I didnotexpect was for Vlad to be the one who wasmostanxious.

From the time we took the first positive pregnancy test, he’s been by my side twenty-four seven. And by that I mean that even when I go to the bathroom, he waits by the door and he asks question after question to ensure I’m all right.

At first, it was sweet. But as time went on, he became more and more overbearing. To the point that he’s enrolled us in three different expecting parents courses, because in his own words:we have to be ready for any eventuality.

I’m six months along now, and I desperately wish to be done with this pregnancy. Not only because I can’t wait to meet our little one, but also because I need to go back to having a modicum of privacy.

Not that before the pregnancy I had much, but I could at least go to the bathroom by myself, or make myself a sandwich without a shadow hanging over my shoulder.

Vlad, being Vlad, will not let me eat anything until he reads off the label to make sure there isn’t any type of toxic substance inside the food item. He’s become so bad with his ‘food safety’ rules that he now will not let me eat anything that’s overly processed.

Next thing I know, he might as well open a bakery, a butcher’s shop or even an entire chicken farm just to make sure the products come from a safe environment.

“Hell Girl!” He calls my name as he thuds down the hallway. I’m propped up on a chair watching TV when he comes inside the room with a huge grin on his face.

“What is it?” I raise a brow, expecting something outlandish.

“I have great news!”

I narrow my eyes. Lately, our definitions of ‘great news’ haven’t aligned as much.

“Do tell,” I add drily.

“I finally closed the deal on that business.”

I tilt my head to the side.

“What business?” I don’t remember him mentioning anything about a certainbusiness. Then again, with pregnancy brain, I’ve filtered out most information about business—he does have alotof those. Sometimes I don’t even know how he has time for it. He’s alwayshere. And yet, he always has time to run an insane amount of business andnotrun them into the ground.

I’ve always found that fascinating about him, my clever boy.

“It’s the beef jerky you like,” he says, pride emanating from his voice.

“Say what?” I take my legs off the chair and get into a seating position as I glare at him.

“The one you always order online? I told you I wasn’t exactly sure how organic they were but you loved it so much that I didn’t want you to stop on my account.”

I blink. “So you did what?”

“I made them an offer they couldn’t refuse. Now I have access to all their accounts and certifications and I am happy to say theyareorganic.” He smiles to himself.

I’m still in shock. While I jokingly thought he might do something like this, I did not expect him to…actually go through with it.

“You bought off the company?”

“On the bright side, now you can have all the beef jerky you want! And they also own another side business, it’s a monthly subscription box of the top cuts of beef. So that’s an added perk.”

“Yes, the monthly subscription I have,” I mention drily.

“And now you can have it for free! How cool is that? And I can vouch the beef is top quality. You know, you can never trust labels these days. At least now you can eat in peace knowing it’s the best of the best.”

“Vlad… I was already eating it in peace.”

“Well…” He scratches the back of his head. “NowIcan watch you eat in peace.”

I close my eyes and massage my temples.

“Since this is out in the open, tell me, what else have you done that I might not have any knowledge of?”