EVERGLOW

XVIII. What the night hides

"No, she doesn't look like Yue," Xiaowen proclaimed, staring at the infant who was staring back at her grumpily when her morning bottle ran out.

"Well, look at her scowl. She likes to do it as much as Didi but she doesn't look like him either," Xi Zi fired back.

"We need to stop overthinking and just wait for their answers, guys." Caesar tried to ease the rising tension.

Except for him, who was friends with both before they knew each other, the rest were now divided into two groups - Yue's friends who were convinced Didi had somehow managed to steal his daughter from an affair and was now forcing Yue to stay to save his reputation; and Didi's friends who were convinced Yue had managed to get impregnated by an American and was now forcing Dylan to claim paternity.

Unfortunately for him, Jia Qi was taking one side, and he didn't need more tension between them as they neared the wedding date. So he had proposed to surprise the unsuspecting family. The rest of them were only too eager to fly to Sichuan.

"Are you sure they're still sleeping? I wouldn't put it past Didi to try to get out if this." Jia Qi was all smiles for the baby. She reserved her claws for Didi.

"You saw him Jia. He was bushed." Darren was happily munching on tarts he found in the fridge.

"Where is your other friend, Teng Shui? I don't think I've heard anything from her since she quit show business." Connor fished for a tart from the bag in Darren's hand.

Zi Wei and Jia Qi exchanged glances. "Probably busy."

Their heads snapped around when they heard a door shut. They watched silently as the couple they waited for walked towards them. Dylan started to veer off to the kitchen, only to have Yue pull on his shirt.

"Somebody needs to make breakfast, Yue."

"Oh hey, don't worry about it Mr. Gracious Host. We had two whole hours to prepare a five-course breakfast for all nine of us. How about you stop stalling and end our suspense?" Trust Zi Wei to get right to it.

But Dylan had zeroed in on the bag Darren was holding. He took in the bulge in the wide-eyed man's cheek, and Connor's hand still in the bag. Everyone who knew him knew what murder looked like on his face. Caesar and Xi Zi immediately jumped in front of Darren, and Yue held him back by his waist.

"Those are Yue's!" he hissed under his breath.

Connor jerked his hand back while Darren gulped and hurriedly held out the bag. "There's still two inside," he said around a mouthful.

"That's more than enough. It's fine." Yue rushed to get the bag, making sure to keep herself between Didi and the rest of the boys.

"God, this is driving me insane!" Zi Wei had her hands in her hair now.

"We're adopting, okay?" Dylan exploded. "Nobody cheated on anybody. Good God, why are we even friends?"

Cai, finally hearing his voice after being bombarded by strangers, cried enthusiastically in Xiaowen's arms, and Yue rushed to take her.

"I hate to say this babe, but... I told you so."

"Can we just get to breakfast now? I'm famished," Darren said in his smallest voice, fearful of triggering his friend again but willing to take one for the team.

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"Nobody might be cheating on anybody, but none of us are fooled, you know."

Dylan stared at Caesar. He should have known he'd see through it. And that he'd waste no time to don his love guru mantle.

"What do you mean?" He pretended to focus on the cold bottle of beer in his hand instead. Caesar and Xi Zi had dragged him out to the back garden on the pretense of discussing his new role. A blatant lie that fooled nobody.