The scene before him was far too peaceful and beautiful.
It was as though the minds of the Bai family, which normally operated at high speed all day, had finally slowed. Even the nerves kept taut by years of conflict seemed to relax little by little.
Bai Jingyun had stormed upstairs after a sleepless night with a stomach full of resentment, yet even his mind seemed to crash for several seconds. Perhaps it was because he had too many younger siblings, all of them top Alphas with explosive tempers who clashed at the slightest disagreement. Bai Jingyun had never liked children. As the pheromone levels of the Bai family’s Alphas rose with every generation, the Alphas of his generation hardly trusted anyone but themselves.
For someone who had never experienced normal familial affection—and whose emotions were not especially normal either—it was perfectly understandable that such a scene would leave him stunned.
Before leaving home, he had not told Bai Qian that Bai Sheng claimed little Bai Nuo was an Omega. Who knew whether that brat was setting another trap for him?
But now—
A little Omega cub? Thinking about it, that actually made sense.
Were all Omega cubs like this? No. Perhaps little Bai Nuo was simply this way.
He was an exceptionally soft and obedient cub.
The uncle who had tricked the child into licking a lemon now felt even guiltier.
But nothing showed on his expressionless face.
Maybe he should coax the child out first and make it up to him.
Bai Jingyun lowered his voice as the cub wished. “Aunt Feng said your little monitor is still charging at the hotel. I sent my assistant to fetch it. Why don’t we go outside and talk?”
Bathed in the thin beam of morning light falling through the curtains, the cub blinked. Hearing that someone had gone to retrieve his little monitor made him tempted, but the tiny child looked down at his father with a troubled expression, then shook his head and told Bai Jingyun softly, “But Dad hasn’t woken up yet.”
“It’s fine,” Bai Jingyun replied without hesitation. “A little sunlight won’t wake him.”
Never underestimate the Bai family’s top Alphas when it came to kicking one another while they were down.
But the moment Bai Jingyun finished speaking, a large hand reached out and landed on the back of the cub, who had not yet responded. With the slightest pressure, it pulled the little fellow backward.
The bewildered cub was pressed directly into the thin blanket.
The child let out a small cry and lifted his head from the blanket in confusion. “Dad?”
Bai Sheng had opened his eyes at some point. He yawned sleepily, his naturally wavy hair—seventy or eighty per cent similar to Bai Nuo’s—messy around his head. Supporting himself on one elbow, he lifted his body slightly and turned irritably toward the person behind him.
“Are you ever going to stop?”
What are you saying to someone else’s Omega cub?
Bai Sheng thought lazily, mentally placing extra emphasis on the words Omega cub.
Bai Jingyun was not surprised by Bai Sheng’s movement in the slightest.
The vigilance of a top Alpha was no joke. Bai Sheng should have awakened the moment he pushed open the door, or perhaps even earlier, when the young cub first woke and sat up.
That bastard had merely been smugly enjoying little Bai Nuo shielding him from the light, deliberately teasing the child.
What a bastard.
Little Bai Nuo flailed his hands and feet but ultimately failed to struggle free. Bai Sheng pulled the cooling patch from his head. The child instinctively narrowed his eyes, then lay against his father’s chest and raised one small hand high to shade Bai Sheng’s eyes as he asked with concern,
“Dad, you’re awake? Nuo Nuo was blocking the light for you.”
“Mmm. I’m awake.”
Bai Sheng answered lazily and yawned again.
In truth, he had barely slept.
Bai Sheng had never dealt with a child running a fever before.
He had done better than Bai Jingyun, at least, and had not stayed awake the entire night. In the middle of the night, he had helped the nurse wipe all the sweat from the child with a dry towel and changed his clothes. He had still been unable to sleep afterward. Only near dawn, once he was certain that the little fellow’s fever had broken, had he finally fallen asleep. He could not have slept for more than two hours.
The child had also awakened once during the night.
Bai Sheng had been paying close attention to every movement the child made, so naturally he had woken immediately. He had merely kept his eyes closed because of his exhaustion. He had not deliberately intended to tease the child, nor had he expected the cub to obediently shield him from the sunlight. He simply could not find an appropriate moment to open his eyes—until a certain person came knocking.
Bai Sheng got up and allowed Aunt Feng to enter and take the child to wash. He changed clothes at an unhurried pace and tidied himself before turning toward Bai Jingyun, who was still waiting in the ward.
The man had actually not left.
Bai Sheng lifted his chin slightly.
“What are you doing here?”
A humourless smile pulled at Bai Jingyun’s icy face. “I simply wanted to know whether you could sleep after receiving that kind of message in the middle of the night. Where is the examination report?”
Bai Jingyun held out his hand.
He insisted on having it.
Bai Sheng was not annoyed.
In fact, he was in an exceptionally good mood. He handed over the printed report Xu Chuan had given him yesterday.
“Grandfather is returning tonight, and you don’t seem anxious at all.”
Bai Jingyun spoke coldly as he quickly flipped through the report. His gaze lingered for a long time on the final words: Omega cub.
“What is there to be anxious about? At worst, I’ll receive the family punishment to teach me a lesson. Who’s afraid of that?”
Bai Sheng curled his lips.
Despite his words, he instinctively glanced toward the young cub to make sure the child had not heard. Only then did he look back at Bai Jingyun, who had raised his head, and lift his chin slightly.
He still wore the same sharp, handsome expression, but he truly was in an excellent mood. He even asked,
“Are you staying for breakfast? You didn’t bring food, did you? Nuo Nuo probably wouldn’t eat whatever you brought.”
Bai Jingyun: …
He looked just as infuriatingly lazy as always, yet somehow he was different. It was as though he were saying:
Look! My Omega cub!
Isn’t he adorable? Aren’t you jealous?
He’s still wary of you. Does that upset you?
Bai Jingyun felt his back teeth itch and ground them softly—he was not upset at all.
Not. At. All.
“Dad, Dad, Nuo Nuo washed and smells nice! Smell me, Dad. Grandma Feng put something fragrant on Nuo Nuo’s hands.”
At that moment, the freshly washed child pattered out of the ward’s bathroom with both little hands held high, asking his father to smell them in a sweet baby voice.
Old scars remained on the child’s pale, soft hands. Early that morning, Xu Chuan had specifically given Aunt Feng a tube of children’s moisturising cream.
Little Bai Nuo had never seen such a thing and naturally had never used it. Once applied, it left a very faint berry fragrance. The sweetness delighted him so much that he bounced out immediately to share it with his father.
Though he was still somewhat weak, he no longer looked listless and slow from illness, which reassured Bai Sheng considerably.
Bai Sheng lifted the cub and smelled his hands before replying, “It smells good.”
Bai Jingyun lowered his gaze back to the report he had already read once.
A child after all. Getting excited over the strangest things. Impossible to understand.
The father and son continued.
“Nuo Nuo thinks it smells good too!”
The cub laughed happily twice and settled himself in his father’s arms. Then he happened to notice his expressionless uncle.
The tiny child’s mind turned. He looked hesitant as he glanced between his father and his uncle. Dad and Uncle were not arguing, were they? Uncle did not seem quite so bad. He only looked a little fierce and had rather strange taste…
Still.
“Uncle.”
After hesitating repeatedly, the cub extended an invitation.
Bai Jingyun raised his head at the child’s young voice, the cub’s figure reflected in his eyes.
Little Bai Nuo stretched out one hand. His large eyes, slightly drooping at their rounded corners, shone brightly. He sat in his father’s arms with his back still to the light, surrounded by sunshine.
“Do you want to smell it too?”
Bai Jingyun: …
Yes.
In the end, despite Bai Sheng’s humiliating gaze and his own displeasure, Bai Jingyun stayed for breakfast.
The hospital provided a light meal.
The Bai family’s top Alphas had little interest in food and did not particularly care what they ate, so they never spent much thought on it. The cub, meanwhile, ate everything as though it were delicious.
As far as either could remember, aside from meals in their parents’ main residence, the brothers had never eaten together so peacefully.
Both Bai Jingyun and Bai Sheng normally felt that if they ate together, one of them might throw down his chopsticks and start fighting in the next second. But now, as they watched the young cub eat with happy little bites, the atmosphere inexplicably softened.
Though their thoughts were probably closer to this—
Bai Sheng: Look at my Omega cub.
Bai Jingyun: My younger brother is an idiot, but my eldest nephew calls me Uncle so obediently. I’ll endure it.
Bai Jingyun spoke first.
“Are you taking him to work again today? There’s no need to watch him so closely from the beginning.”
“Not today. The company is still too noisy. He has just recovered from an illness and needs proper rest. I also have to tell Dad that Nuo Nuo is an Omega,” Bai Sheng replied. He scrolled through his phone to see whether the Federation’s public hospital had sent any news. There was nothing yet. The results from the public hospital would probably take another day or two. “Oh, right. You wouldn’t know. Every morning, Nuo Nuo clings to my leg and insists on going to work with me.”
Bai Jingyun: …
Bai Sheng was using exactly the same tone and attitude as before, so why did he seem several times more infuriating today?!
The cub blinked. He did not understand the verbal sparring between the adults, but Nuo Nuo agreed with Dad. Little Bai Nuo nodded his small head. “Go to work with Dad.”
One adorable cub and one infuriating father.
Bai Jingyun stared at the combination for a long time. After receiving a message, he seemed finally unable to bear it. He stood and turned to leave.
Having once again enjoyed the emotional satisfaction delivered to his door by Bai Jingyun, Bai Sheng did not even raise his eyes. He continued peeling an egg for the child.
Leave if you want.
As for the little fellow full of question marks, he only had time to glance at his uncle before all his attention fixed on the egg—waiting to eat.
About two minutes later, Bai Jingyun returned. He handed the little monitor his assistant had retrieved to the cub, who had already eaten his fill.
“Doudou!”
The child pattered toward Bai Jingyun, accepted the monitor, and lifted his small head. His baby voice articulated each word clearly.
“Thank you, Uncle.”
Bai Jingyun paused for two seconds before responding. He crouched so that his gaze was closer to the child’s level.
“Mmm.”
Before he could say anything else, however, Bai Sheng lifted the cub from behind.
Bai Sheng had already sent the examination report to Bai Qian. Looking at his phone, he carried the cub toward the door.
“We’re going home.”
At the same time, Bai Qian stared blankly at the report while eating breakfast.
What was this…? Were his eyes failing him?
Although his mind had not yet caught up, his hand honestly forwarded the report to his wife, Cen Zhi, who was still abroad.
Then he saw a red exclamation mark.
Bai Qian: …
Bai Qian’s eyes widened almost imperceptibly in anger. He looked at the assistant behind him. “She blocked me.”
Assistant: …Madam probably does not want to hear you report every matter, large and small, in exhaustive detail. She wants to enjoy her holiday.
“I’m telling her that this cub is an Omega, and she blocked me?”
As Bai Qian spoke, he hesitated. He met his assistant’s shocked eyes, and a momentary blankness crossed his stern face, as though he had finally understood what he had just said.
“O? Omega?”
Author’s Note:
Nuo Nuo shields Dad from the light—Nuo Nuo is good. Dad presses Nuo Nuo down in one move—Dad is bad. [flowers]
Grandma: Blocking a certain nagging old man and enjoying a beautiful holiday.
Grandfather: Eyes widening with rage.jpg… Wait, that’s not right!
