Forever Mine[BL]

Chapter 40: Only Some Feel The Heat/Arc 5.7

On a weekend a year later, Wang Tao walked into Zhou Shuang's room with something. Hiding the gift behind his back, he scanned the room for the boy.

Noticing a lump in the sheets, he pulled it back and there lay Zhou Shuang with his back facing Wang Tao. The boy turned around in surprise and the Celestial's eyes widened.

"Xiao Lan, what's wrong? Why are you crying?"

The tall male hurriedly wiped the boy's face. Zhou Shuang averted his eyes and stayed quiet. Before the man could question further, he crawled into his arms.

"Papa."

The whimper was so sad that the silver haired male didn't know what to say. After a pause, his pale hands rubbed the golden hair soothingly.

.

.

"Xiao Lan?"

"..."

"Xiao Lan?"

Blinking, the Celestial looked down and noticed that Zhou Shuang had fallen asleep. Frowning, he gently put him back in his bed, covered him up and left.

Uneasiness filled him and he hurried over to the living room. There he saw the couple chatting and he stopped a few feet from them.

"A Tao, what's wrong?"

Zhou Jian noticed the concern on his friend's face and quickly walked over. Wang Tao filled the two in on what happened.

"Maybe we should keep an eye on him. What if he's being bullied at school."

"But Xiao Lan loves school and it still seemed so yesterday "

"Maybe he's hiding it?"

Before the pair of close friends could speculate further, Chen Xiang spoke up.

"I'll handle it, just leave it to me."

"You sure?"

"Of course hubby, this would be a good time for some mother and son bonding. I'm sure I can figure it out."

The older man nodded after some thought and so the issue was handed over to the mum. The following day, Chen Xiang had a talk with Zhou Shuang and reported that the reason was something unexpected.

Apparently a stray cat their son had become friends with at school died. The Zion was a bit stupefied at this but his wife assured him. Asking his son later that day, the boy confirmed the story.

The Celestial just watched this silently, also a bit confused. However, the two decided to take Zhou Shuang's word for it and so the incident was forgotten.

___


Two months had now passed and Zhou Jian had to go away for a few days. Interested in the assignment his friend got, Wang Tao decided to tag along. The group of four ate their breakfast and the two friends were now leaving.

As Wang Tao went out to the hover car, the older man said goodbye to his wife.

"Be safe okay."

"Mm, I will, take care."

Chen Xiang nodded as Zhou Jian went on to say goodbye to his son. Making his way to the door, Zhou Jian halted when a small hand tugged his pants. Looking down, sea blue eyes stared up at him.

"What's wrong Xiao Shuang? Missing daddy already?"

Zhou Shuang nodded and hugged his father who picked him up. The Zion held him for a few moments before trying to put him down but the boy held the other's shirt tightly and shook his head, hiding in his father's embrace.

Zhou Jian smiled helplessly at the clingy child. He gently peeled the small hands off as the mother approached.

"Come now Zhou Shuang, don't trouble daddy. I took off a few days so we could spend time together."

Taking the boy from his husband, Chen Xiang stepped back before the boy's hands could grab onto his father again. Zhou Jian smiled at the two but it faltered a bit when he caught a flash of panic in the boy's eyes. He froze, frowning a bit when his wife spoke up.

"What are you waiting for? Go! Me and Zhou Shuang will be fine. We'll go out for ice-cream later."

Nodding slowly, the older man suppressed the uneasy feeling and left. As Chen Xiang carried the boy upstairs, Zhou Shuang had gone mute, the blue eyes dull.

.

.

.

Zhou Jian and Wang Tao, who held Zhou Shuang, stood at the entrance of an amusement park. Chen Xiang had gone away on a business trip, something that was becoming more frequent recently.

It was summer so the little boy didn't have school. Having been busy lately, Zhou Jian decided to take his son out for some fun. He had come here before with the little one and it quickly became Zhou Shuang's favorite. His son always pestered him, asking to go back.

"Which ride do you want to go on first?"

Wang Tao looked at the boy he was holding as they passed by the rides. Zhou Jian observed them closely and an uneasy feeling grew as the boy stayed silent.

The two exchanged a glance before looking back at the boy. Putting on a smile, Zhou Jian proposed.

"How about the roller coaster? That's your favorite, remember?"

"..."

The Celestial grew nervous as an awkward silence followed. Observing the children running around with smiles, he bit his lip, noticing the expressionless face of Zhou Shuang. Xiao Lan was always so expressive and cheerful, so why wasn't he even reacting?

"Maybe he doesn't want to ride yet? Let's take Xiao Lan to eat."

Nodding, Zhou Jian calmed down. A while later, the three sat down at table Glancing at the boy, Zhou Jian noticed that he hadn't started eating. Frowning he asked what was wrong but his son only looked at him before staring back at the food.

The little hand stretched out at tortoise speed towards his meal before retracting.