Tan Meng poured Yan Yi a cup of black tea. Bi Ruijing suddenly appeared by the doorway, his expression tense.
“There’s an emergency. We need to go to the hospital.”
Tan Meng’s delicate brows furrowed. “What happened?”
Bi Ruijing glanced at Yan Yi, swallowing the words he was about to say. Through the doorway, Yan Yi saw Lu Shangjin hurriedly grab his coat and head downstairs.
The three of them left in a rush. Tan Meng couldn’t sit still either and called for a coat.
Yan Yi didn’t move, lowering his head to continue eating his cake.
“Coming with me?” Tan Meng spun her car keys around her finger. “Your alpha seems very anxious.”
“I’m not going.” Yan Yi ate quietly.
He was used to not prying into things Lu Shangjin didn’t want him to know, leaving each other a bit of space and dignity.
Their relationship had finally begun to ease. Lu Shangjin seemed to be changing for the better. Yan Yi didn’t want anything unexpected to ruin the fragile trust they had just started rebuilding.
“Hmph. Don’t spoil him too much… I’m going to take a look myself.” Tan Meng threw on her coat and hurried out.
Yan Yi had no choice. Letting that fiery girl go alone didn’t sit right with him.
Tan Meng drove aggressively—clearly taught by Bi Ruijing. Sitting in the passenger seat, Yan Yi could only grip the handle tightly as they followed all the way to Amphia Hospital.
A two-week-old infant with multiple organ failure—even if saved, the likelihood of severe aftereffects was extremely high. The most probable outcome would be neurological damage, such as cerebral palsy.
When Yan Yi entered the hospital, he saw Lu Shangjin sitting on the floor outside the intensive care unit.
Behind the glass he leaned against lay the body of an infant—pale and lifeless.
Yan Yi’s heart clenched. His vision went dark for a moment.
Lu Shangjin’s child?
He didn’t want to get any closer, but Tan Meng grabbed his wrist and pulled him over.
Leaning against the glass wall, Lu Shangjin still looked neat and composed, yet his hollow eyes revealed exhaustion and devastation.
Yan Yi steadied himself against the glass and looked inside. The baby lay there peacefully, like it was sleeping—a peregrine falcon alpha infant, its tiny wrinkled face thin and fragile. If it had grown, it would surely have been handsome and adorable. But it hadn’t even made it to full term.
Even knowing this was a child Lu Shangjin had with another omega, Yan Yi couldn’t bring himself to feel any schadenfreude. Grief seeped through his fingertips into the glass.
Lu Shangjin’s voice was hoarse.
“It’s Ye Wan’s child. My younger brother.”
Yan Yi’s fingers trembled. He looked down at him in shock.
“Uncle Wan… didn’t he already pass away ten years ago…?”
Lu Shangjin rubbed his face and stood unsteadily. “I need to go to the restroom.”
He staggered away. After driving all day without rest and then being struck by such devastating news, he was completely drained. Leaning over the sink, he retched violently until streaks of blood appeared.
The faucet ran at full blast, but the roaring water couldn’t drown out the ringing in his ears. The image of that small, warm, living body turning cold and rigid replayed endlessly before his eyes. Through the glass, he had watched the last trace his beloved father left in this world disappear.
Nothing was left for him.
Yan Yi brought him a cup of warm water, helped him up, let him rinse his mouth, then washed his face.
Like a drunken man, Lu Shangjin leaned heavily against him, clutching his omega tightly.
“I’ll never see him again,” Lu Shangjin rasped. “He’s gone for good… used my gun. Bang.”
He cupped Yan Yi’s face and leaned closer. Yan Yi could see the dense web of blood vessels in his eyes—his grief trembling, his fear shaking. Every cell in his body seemed to be screaming in agony.
He pulled Yan Yi into his arms.
“Yan Yan… why do I share blood with a bastard like Lu Lin? Why?!”
Lu Shangjin clenched his teeth, burying his face in Yan Yi’s neck, his entire body trembling.
“I know everything now. Let’s go home.” Yan Yi gently patted his back, releasing his pheromones to soothe his wounded alpha.
He was like an injured beast—when licking his wounds, his vulnerability slipped through.
By the end of April, greenery lined the roads, new shoots sprouting. A few willow catkins drifted across the windshield as a gentle breeze flowed in.
Lu Shangjin fell asleep against the passenger door. No matter how busy work had been before, he had never shown such defenseless exhaustion.
Only once before—three years ago, on the day they broke up—had Yan Yi seen him lose control like that.
It was all in the past now.
Yan Yi reached over, intertwining his fingers with Lu Shangjin’s left hand, rubbing the wedding ring at his finger.
Let those painful three years fade like a dream. Everything could start again—like April’s renewal, like new branches sprouting. Every clasp of hands from now on could be as soft as willow fluff brushing against the heart, carrying the sincerity of childhood and the burning passion of youth into a calm, enduring love—proof that his lifelong devotion was not a moth to a flame.
He carried Lu Shangjin to the bedroom. The nearly six-foot-three alpha was heavy, and Yan Yi almost lost his balance putting him on the bed.
After pouring a glass of warm water, he returned to find Lu Shangjin already asleep.
He set the glass down and hesitated before sitting on the carpet, leaning against the bed.
Since their breakup, he was rarely allowed into Lu Shangjin’s bedroom. Only when Lu Shangjin tired of indulgence outside and sought something simple would he come to him. Afterward, Yan Yi would be sent away immediately, not even allowed to rest.
He had grown used to it.
Sitting quietly on the carpet, hugging his knees, he breathed in the faint narcissus scent of alpha pheromones filling the room. Even that sense of safety was enough for him.
Suddenly, warm breath brushed his neck.
“Don’t sit there.” Lu Shangjin murmured, half-asleep, leaning over the edge of the bed.
Startled, Yan Yi handed him the water. “Drink some.”
“No.” Lu Shangjin pulled him up, wrapped a leg around him, and held him tightly like a small rabbit ball, burying his face against his soft ears.
Pressed against Yan Yi’s chest, his heartbeat raced. His fingers trembled slightly as he inhaled Yan Yi’s gentle pheromone scent.
Yan Yi stayed still, releasing more pheromones to comfort him. The candy-sweet omega scent softened the restless narcissus, gradually calming and intertwining with it.
Gently, Yan Yi traced the bridge of Lu Shangjin’s nose and smoothed the furrow in his brow.
His alpha needed him.
He tried to reach for the light switch but couldn’t move under the tight embrace. Turning slightly, he kissed Lu Shangjin’s lips and covered his eyes with his rabbit ears.
Lu Shangjin slept from afternoon until the next evening.
When he woke, both the bed and his arms were empty.
A crash from downstairs snapped him fully awake.
He rushed down.
The smell of frying steak filled the dining room.
Yan Yi was crouched on the floor, picking up broken porcelain. His hand had cramped earlier, and he hadn’t held it properly.
Hearing footsteps, he looked up—and accidentally cut his finger on a sharp shard.
At first, it didn’t hurt. Then blood began to seep from a one-centimeter cut.
“What are you doing?” Lu Shangjin rushed over, pulling him away from the shards, squeezing the wound slightly. “Wait here. Don’t move.”
The first-aid kit had been overturned earlier, so he went to find supplies.
“Thank you…” Yan Yi looked at him with wide, grateful eyes.
Lu Shangjin took longer than expected. Yan Yi waited patiently, his rabbit ears twitching.
When Lu Shangjin returned, his expression was strange.
He set down the alcohol and bandages, watching Yan Yi treat himself.
“Why are you staring…” Yan Yi asked uneasily.
Lu Shangjin opened his hand. A folded medical report lay inside.
Yan Yi’s heart skipped. He reached for it.
“Why did you touch my things… did you read it?”
“…When did this happen?” Lu Shangjin asked quietly.
Yan Yi lowered his eyes.
“That time… at the restaurant. You didn’t use protection. I didn’t take anything either.”
Lu Shangjin pressed his temple and slammed the report onto the table.
Startled, Yan Yi backed into a corner, clutching his abdomen.
“Do you not like it?”
“…I can raise it myself… I won’t trouble you…”
Lu Shangjin stepped closer.
Yan Yi shrank down like a frightened rabbit, trembling.
“Let me keep this child, please… You can do whatever you want, I won’t interfere… just don’t kill it… I want it… I want this baby…”
Lu Shangjin froze.
Had he been too cruel all along? So much so that Yan Yi didn’t even dare tell him about the pregnancy?
To Yan Yi, he wasn’t a dependable alpha—he was a monster who might take the child away at any moment.
“Don’t be afraid…” Lu Shangjin knelt down, gently brushing Yan Yi’s damp lashes, pulling him into his arms and soothing him softly. “I didn’t say I don’t want it. I didn’t say I don’t like it.”
Yan Yi looked up, eyes shimmering with tears.
“What if… it’s just a rabbit omega?”
“I’ll love him too.” Lu Shangjin kissed his forehead gently, like a promise made at seventeen.
Yan Yi froze, then wrapped his arms around him, tears spilling freely.
“Jin-ge… did I… finally get you back?”
Lu Shangjin answered with a long, tender kiss.
At thirty, it was time to settle down.
That night, their bedroom filled with quiet intimacy.
Their pheromones intertwined, sweet and dependent, sinking together.
Lu Shangjin was patient, making up for everything with care and tenderness.
Yan Yi clung to him, whispering over and over:
“Jin-ge, I love you… I love you… I love you…”
Even after everything, his heart still burned with devotion.
At three in the morning, Lu Shangjin tucked Yan Yi in and stepped out to the balcony.
Lighting a cigarette, he sat against the railing.
May was approaching. The night air was no longer cold.
This child… felt like a gift—a flicker of hope when everything else had been lost.
Only one thought remained in his mind:
Lu Lin must never find out.
He smoked through the night.
Three days later, he took Yan Yi to Amphia Hospital for a full examination.
After hours of testing, Yan Yi was sent home to rest while Lu Shangjin stayed for the results.
Holding the report, he felt an indescribable excitement.
A life carrying his blood was quietly growing—something mysterious, sacred.
But as he read line by line—
his face drained of color.
Like a blooming begonia, suddenly cut down at the stem.