“Didn’t say I couldn’t hold you, just said I couldn’t get into bed.” Lu Shangjin tilted his head and kissed Yan Yi’s cheek and lips. His arms locked tightly around Yan Yi’s narrow waist as their tongues tangled in a deep kiss that lasted several dozen seconds.
Yan Yi pulled little Lu Yan back into his arms, covering the child’s eyes with his rabbit ears, then slipped out of the alpha’s hold and reprimanded him in a low voice, “Don’t be obscene in front of a child.”
Lu Shangjin rubbed Lu Yan’s head and gently told him, “This is father’s love. When Lu Yan grows up, you can only do this to the person you love the most.”
Little Lu Yan, still blocked by Yan Yi’s rabbit ears, tilted his head up and giggled happily, obediently saying “mm.”
Yan Yi lost his temper but kept his gaze lowered, his expression unreadable.
Lu Shangjin tightened his arms slightly, then lowered his head and kissed Yan Yi’s neck. His lips brushed over the smooth gland until the omega in his arms began to tremble faintly. He whispered in a low, magnetic voice by his ear.
“…Can I come home?”
Yan Yi raised a hand to rub his nose, shifted the child higher in his arms, and moved his throat slightly.
“Depends on your performance.”
Lu Yan tugged at Lu Shangjin’s sleeve, looking up at Yan Yi longingly. In a soft voice he said, “Ball ball can walk by himself. Daddy should also hug daddy.”
Lu Shangjin immediately thought—this son was absolutely not raised in vain.
That night, Lu Shangjin sent the housekeeper home early and personally cooked a table full of vegetarian dishes. Yan Yi ate with his head down without speaking, while Lu Yan ate happily, smacking his little mouth.
Yan Yi glanced at the new unhealed cuts on the alpha’s hands and hesitated before softly saying he would wash the dishes later.
Lu Shangjin did not stop him. Instead, he cleaned the kitchen beside him, and once finished, leaned in from behind and hugged him.
Water flowed steadily in the sink. The kitchen was so quiet that only the sound of running water and the occasional clink of porcelain could be heard.
Lu Shangjin lowered his head, lightly brushing his nose against Yan Yi’s ear.
Warm, solid chest pressed against his back. Yan Yi lowered his gaze while washing dishes, already distracted.
The air gradually became thick, saturated with faint pheromone scent.
The alpha spoke in a hoarse voice, “I miss you.”
Yan Yi answered casually, like small talk between acquaintances. “Then why didn’t you come back?”
“Because I was afraid you wouldn’t want me.”
“Then why come back now?”
“…Because I was afraid you truly wouldn’t want me.”
Lu Shangjin only told half the truth. The rest he packaged into a pitiful story of himself as a limping stray dog, never mentioning the injuries he suffered for Yan Yi.
But nothing could really be hidden from Yan Yi. In the two years Lu Shangjin was gone, Yan Yi had investigated everything in detail.
He was tired of being kept in the dark—especially when the other person always insisted it was “for his own good.”
So that night, Lu Shangjin was once again excluded from the bedroom. He could only sit on the steps outside, smoking in frustration.
About thirty minutes later, he carefully pushed the door open a crack.
Yan Yi was asleep holding a storybook, lying on his side with Lu Yan curled in his arms, a small warm bundle.
Lu Shangjin quietly walked in, bent down, took the storybook away, and placed it on the bedside table. He turned off the wall lamp.
Then he climbed into bed in the dark, lying down on the other side and carefully pulling them both into his arms.
One half of his falcon wings quietly unfolded, soft feathers wrapping around the sleeping omega and child like a nest.
“Cigarette smell is too strong.”
A muffled complaint came from within his arms.
Lu Shangjin smiled softly, tightening his embrace.
“I quit.”