Bodominjarvi: Always good to read reviews from you. How you doing? Enjoying the weekend like I am? Life is so good rn, thank God. Don't worry Steve will come back, after all he's so excited about this baby being born. He feels like he's missed out on life so he's a bit greedy for family.

Chapter Three

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Cherries. Cherries. Cherries.

Nina Williams, eight months pregnant, fully round and furiously devouring a bowl of cherries.

Jin thought it was amusing that his love had developed a craving for his favorite fruit when she was carrying their child. Her cravings started a month before he was set to kill Azazel. At the time, they thought nothing of it, blaming it on the stress of the war. Maybe if they paid special attention, they'd realize that Nina was expecting. She never got morning sickness so the cherry craving thing was a sign they both ignored.

It also never really went away.

"Our kid got my taste." Jin replied, grabbing a napkin and wiping the cherry blood from the corner of Nina's lips.

She was a different woman when pregnant. Her unborn offspring often dictated her eating hours and what to eat. It's so unusual to behold this sight. Her fingers were coated in cherry blood, she was munching away one after the other and glaring.

So cute.

"You're taking the blame for this?" Nina asked after her mouth was emptied.

"Not a chance." Jin smugly replied and peered in the cherry bowl to see the stones there. She'd gone through them all. He was going to have to order some more cherries. He's glad it's his country that produced the best fruit in the world, particularly cherries. His favorite. They were not in season now but thankfully they had frozen ones. When he was in coma, she was living off the canned cherries.

She went to wash up and Jin knew better to act as if she couldn't do things herself.

"I'm pregnant, not disabled."

He rolled his eyes.

There was no way she was going to remain still in pain, tucked in safely and watching TV. She had to be out and about, doing her chores and errands. They were in Yakushima so it was lucky there were not much to do apart from forest bathing. The shops were simple and the luxury hotels they encountered were perfect for a pregnancy spa for her.

He's washed and prepared the cherries for her before.

If she had her way 100%, Jin's sure she would have climbed Mt Fuji in this state.

He waited for her to return and once she did, watched her propped up her feet up on the recliner. Jin grabbed a bottle of lotion and a stool before sitting near her feet. She didn't have big feet like his mother and from what Jin was told, Kazama women were prone to big feet and hands. The only shoes that suited a Kazama woman was sneakers, open toed flats or Mary janes. He could remember as a child, his mother tried to wear those chunky heels only to give up.

If they had a daughter, would she inherit the Kazama trait of big hands and feet or have Nina's slender ones?

Steve suggested they have a gender reveal party but neither of them wanted to do that. Nina thought it was too dramatic for her and Jin didn't mind waiting to know.

"I think we're having a boy." Nina whispered. "It's weird how I feel this, but I do."

Jin got off the stool and moved to join her on the sofa.

He imagined himself being the father of a boy. They'd never be like him and Kazuya. Or Kazuya and Heihachi. There would be respect and love between them. He'd raise his boy in the Kazama way. As his mother raised him.

Jin lifted up her blouse, exposing her stomach. Leaning close, he pressed his ear to her skin, eager for a heartbeat.

"Do you think our kid can generate electricity yet?"

"Don't be an eejit." Nina chuckled softly, running her fingers through his hair.

Being called an 'eejit' didn't sound like a curse, not when she said it in that soft tone that was only reserved for him alone. Eejit and added with the caress of his hair made him feel like the luckiest man in the world. He was having a baby with her.

It was funny to imagine their baby's fists curling and making that electric spark in the womb. He heard their child's heartbeats. Jin gasped, eyes moist. Oh god. He kissed her stomach and then covered it again. It's the first time he's done such an act.

"Don't I get a kiss?" Nina asked.

Jin smiled and glided upwards till his lips touched hers. Of course she gets a kiss. He'll kiss her for the rest of his life if she wanted.

It's a soft and passionate one. Their lips linger and faces rest against each other's for a long moment.

Having only found out about her pregnancy after his coma ended, he hadn't had much time to imagine the life of a parent. She found him in the dessert with Lars' help and Jin passed out. She was pregnant at the time of him defeating Azazel and she hadn't known about it. If she hadn't even shown, Jin was sure that she would deliver a baby in shock, just like those TLC shows 'I didn't know I was pregnant'. He tried not imagining her relaxing in a bathtub and suddenly going into labour, shocked that a baby just popped out of her. Or worse, Nina was just having a walk and suddenly winds up with a baby popping out in her pants.

She didn't show normal signs of pregnancy early on until her breasts started making milk. He moved back to the stool. Opened the lotion and poured it on his hand, rubbed it and then touched her feet.

Nina didn't object to the massaging of her feet and in no time was purring as he got to work. Her feet were swollen.

Jin reigned in his usual habit of nagging out of care. A workaholic needed to feel as if they were working even though she's on maternity leave.

"Is it painful?" He asked her, gesturing to the feet.

Nina gave him a sheepish look. "A little."

A lot.

He wanted to roll his eyes and chide her for being careless to her feet. But Jin dialled it back in. He'll nag her plenty when the kid has been weaned off breast milk. Till then, it's softy Jin. Softy, agreeable Jin who learnt how to massage feet.

"I hope I've made it better."

"You have darling. You make everything better."

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A/N: In Japan, the cherries symbolize prosperity. It can also represent fresh beginnings.

The cherry symbolizes charm and happiness.Published: 14 September 2024