Generally speaking, Lin Zhu is a very introverted person by nature.

He isn’t like other young, vibrant Alphas who are passionate and outgoing, spreading their charms like peacocks fanning their tails the moment they see an Omega they like, tossing out flowery words without a second thought.

Lin Zhu is not good at such things.

He prefers to use concrete actions to show Yan Ruojun his feelings, as if he had sliced his own chest open to place his still-beating, scorching heart directly into the man’s palm.

Every time that heart skipped a beat, Yan Ruojun felt as if he heard a voice whispering those three words right beside his ear.

Because of this.

Even before the young man had formally said those three syllables to him, Yan Ruojun had already felt them a thousand, ten thousand times over.

However…

However.

The air remained quiet for a few seconds. Lin Zhu only felt his leg sink, and the man had nimbly straddled him, grabbing Lin Zhu’s hand and placing it directly onto his own body.

Both of them were wearing loose, casual summer loungewear; their skin was in broad contact, their body temperatures infecting one another.

Perhaps because of the pregnancy, Yan Ruojun’s hands and feet were no longer as icy as they once were.

The dampness of the sea breeze swept in along with the man’s urgent breathing. The next moment, a series of passionate kisses landed on Lin Zhu’s Adam’s apple.

Lin Zhu tilted his head, letting the man kiss him as he pleased, unable to stop a few blurred, meaningless sounds from escaping his throat. His throat vibrated and slid downward, seemingly teasing the man to continue the chase…

Less than two minutes later.

Lin Zhu’s Adam’s apple was already damp. Seizing the moment, he hurriedly gripped Yan Ruojun’s waist, which was gradually sliding down, preventing his knees from hitting the floor, while saying:

“…Ge, let’s eat first.”

The man’s movements stalled slightly. He lifted his eyelids to stare at Lin Zhu, taking a long while before saying, “Puppy Lin, how can you hold back like this?”

Lin Zhu let out an “mm,” and at the same time pulled down Yan Ruojun’s slightly lifted hem, struggling to calm the agitation within him. “The soup is almost cold, and you’ve been vomiting a lot lately. It’s best not to do this right now.”

Yan Ruojun raised an eyebrow. His expression was calm and composed, yet he unconsciously hooked his index finger around the edge of Lin Zhu’s collar—a small habit he had picked up much more often than before.

Suddenly, he whispered: “Do you know, your calmness makes me feel particularly starved, particularly…”

The last syllable was swallowed on his tongue, blurred and unclear, yet clear enough to be understood.

Especially since Lin Zhu was at such a close distance—close enough that their breathing was clearly audible—he naturally heard it.

Lin Zhu was silent for a moment, unable to help but raise his hand to rub the man’s lower lip with his thumb. His breathing rhythm was in complete disarray, but as if his sanity still lingered, he placed Yan Ruojun back in his original position.

“—Eat.”

He made the final decision.

Seeing Yan Ruojun’s expression of dissatisfaction, yet watching him obediently pick up his spoon to take a sip of soup, Lin Zhu returned to his seat. He ate half a bowl of rice and added more soup for the man before saying:

“Ge, wait until… mm, wait until you are three months along.”

By the time Yan Ruojun reached his third month of pregnancy, the two were no longer in North City. A week before the start of the semester, they had moved into their new home near A-University in a neighboring province.

It was a flat gifted by Yan Zihong—one household per elevator—with an excellent neighborhood environment and secure measures. With the power of money, they only needed to bring their suitcases to move in.

On the first day of moving in.

Considering the man’s health, as soon as they arrived, Lin Zhu forcefully tucked him into bed, then pulled back the covers to join him, holding him as they slept for two or three hours.

When he woke up, evening was approaching.

Lin Zhu woke up amid a wave of restlessness.

The floor-to-ceiling windows of the master bedroom were half-open, the blackout curtains draped on both sides, with only a layer of beige sheer fabric pulled shut. A corner had been blown open by the evening breeze, letting half the room fill with orange-red dusk.

The flame-colored light snuck through the gap, crawling crookedly onto the edge of the bed. Unable to climb over the large bulge of the thin quilt at the foot of the bed, it had no choice but to shrink aggrievedly into the corner.

The muffled sound of water-like friction came from beneath the quilt.

The room was extremely quiet.

Lin Zhu vaguely felt a dense sense of numbness rushing from his back up to the top of his skull. Dazed with sleep, he couldn’t help but sway in small arcs…

The temperature was still high, and only the ventilation system was on. His forehead and the back of his neck were covered in a fine layer of sweat, sticky and irritating.

Suddenly.

Lin Zhu realized that the man who had been sleeping peacefully in his arms was nowhere to be found. He shivered and jolted his eyes open!

Yan Ruojun was not by his side.

He was under the quilt.

Lin Zhu really didn’t know how to describe his current sensation—the hard-to-escape heat, the suffocating dampness, the numbness as if bitten by some mysterious creature…

He couldn’t help but tilt his head back, half-closing his eyes to look at the empty ceiling, his gaze unfocused.

At the same time, his thin lips parted just a sliver, and a faint, muffled groan escaped from within.

After a long while.

Lin Zhu let out a ragged breath and hurriedly pushed himself up to pull back, but he was a step too late.

“Ge, you…”

Before he could finish the sentence, Yan Ruojun emerged.

Suffocated by oxygen deprivation, or perhaps something else, there was more sweat on his forehead than on Lin Zhu’s, and the redness at the corners of his eyes was extremely deep. His eyelashes were dampened by moisture, standing out in distinct clusters.

Seeing Lin Zhu’s dazed look, he had no choice but to close one eye. When he spoke, his voice was hoarse. “Help me… wipe my face.”

After saying that, he coughed twice.

The veins on the side of the man’s neck were bulging, as if something had forcefully expanded his blood vessels; it was strikingly prominent against his cold-white skin.

Lin Zhu paused for a moment, then directly picked the man up and headed to the bathroom, saying, “Ge, I’ll take you to wash your face.”

Hearing this, Yan Ruojun simply closed both eyes, his legs dangling in mid-air, swaying. The red mole on the inside of his left ankle looked even more vibrant under the remnants of the dusk light.

Lin Zhu placed him on the vanity counter.

He turned to retrieve a new towel from the hidden storage cabinet, wetted it, and first wiped the man’s face clean, then used a water cup to help him rinse his mouth.

Yan Ruojun was surprisingly obedient this time; whatever Lin Zhu said, he followed.

After finishing the cleanup, Lin Zhu stared at him for a long while, unable to stop himself from whispering: “Ge, do you really want to?”

Yan Ruojun didn’t answer, simply saying: “Before coming here, I had a prenatal checkup… The doctor said the ‘little cub’ is in a very stable state now. We’ve already passed the danger period; from now on, we just need to avoid any overly vigorous activity.”

Lin Zhu nodded and replied: “Understood.”

Yan Ruojun raised his eyes to look at him, saying nothing more.

Afterward, Lin Zhu picked him up again, changed them both into a set of clean, fresh clothes, took Yan Ruojun’s hand, and pulled him out the door.

New neighborhood, new environment.

Everything seemed new.

Lin Zhu led the man to a nearby restaurant for dinner, taking nearly an hour to finish, then held his hand as they walked slowly back.

Living with Yan Ruojun for so long, Lin Zhu had learned his habit of chewing slowly. Eating was no longer a matter of efficiency, as if they were in a war. He realized his life seemed to have slowed down all at once.

The tightly wound string in his brain had also loosened.

He took a deep breath, and without realizing it, rubbed his thumb over the back of the man’s hand. He asked softly: “Ge, do you want to continue the walk or go back home?”

“Let’s go back, and tidy up the luggage.”

Lin Zhu said “Mm,” but his path was not toward their building. Recalling the neighborhood map he had seen earlier, he led the man toward the internal convenience store.

Lin Zhu said at the right time: “Let’s buy some daily necessities we’re missing.”

The house outside campus was a gift from Yan Zihong, and Pei Shu had hired people to tidy it. She had arranged things meticulously, so daily necessities weren’t lacking; everything had been put in its place.

But certain special daily necessities still required them to prepare them themselves…

Lin Zhu was now able to retrieve two small boxes from the shelf without changing his expression. After taking them, he turned to ask Yan Ruojun, “Ge, is there anything else you want to buy?”

The man thought for a moment, silently pulling him deeper into the store. He seemed to be looking for something, but after searching for a long time without success, he pulled Lin Zhu toward the pet supplies section.

Finally, Yan Ruojun picked up a pack of…

Pet pads.

He shoved the pads into Lin Zhu’s hand and whispered: “It’s safer this way, it saves you from having to change the sheets all the time. Moving is tiring enough.”

Who knew a man could be so considerate?

Lin Zhu took them, staring at his profile for a long while. Unable to suppress the desire in his heart, he leaned over and kissed the corner of the man’s eye.

“Mm, Yunjun is so well-behaved.”

Hearing this name, Yan Ruojun twisted Lin Zhu’s waist without changing his expression, though he didn’t use much force. “What did you call me? Puppy Lin, you seem to be getting less and less respectful lately.”

Although the waist meat didn’t hurt at all, Lin Zhu still turned to dodge, pursing his lips to argue: “No way, you aren’t that much older than me. Why can’t I call you by your name?”

Yan Ruojun raised an eyebrow, shifting to pinch his earlobe, and pressed: “So tough? Is being a university student something to be proud of?”

Lin Zhu tilted his head and let out another “Mm.”

The two of them continued with small, playful gestures all the way, only falling quiet when they stood at the counter. Once Lin Zhu paid and carried the bags out the convenience store door, they started playing the game of pinching each other’s hands and faces again.

However, the moment they stepped inside their front door—bang—the door was shut with force. They didn’t even have time to take off their shoes before they were wrapped around each other, the shopping bags falling to the floor.

“Mm… Lin, Lin Zhu…”

Lin Zhu reversed their positions, gently pressing the man against the door panel, being very careful to avoid pressing on Yan Ruojun’s stomach, yet giving him a deep, intense kiss.

Yan Ruojun could only squeeze two whimpers from his nasal cavity.

When they parted, the man’s entire face was red, and he couldn’t stop panting; his chin felt extremely sore.

Lin Zhu leaned over to kiss away the silver thread at the corner of his lips, then stooped to pick up the bags from the floor, pulling him into the bedroom to prepare for a “housewarming” activity after their move.

He and Yan Ruojun hadn’t undergone a deep marking in a long time—so long that he was so urgent in his movements that he tore a small packet, forcing him to toss it aside and take another.

Yan Ruojun was also urgent, having long since cleared away the obstacles between them. He hugged the pillow Lin Zhu had been sleeping on all afternoon, his toes pressing against Lin Zhu’s shoulders, silently urging him on.

But the two of them really hadn’t reached this stage in a long time.

After a long while.

Lin Zhu was drenched in sweat, struggling: “It’s not good right now, Ge. Please don’t rush…”

Yan Ruojun waited expectantly.

His toes curled again and again, and his whole body’s muscles tensed up, like a piece of solid ice…

Finally, it melted into a pool of water.

…

That night, Lin Zhu did end up changing the sheets and covers, and even switched out the pillows. But he kept his strength in check throughout; Yan Ruojun didn’t seem as exhausted as usual, still able to help him tidy up the luggage.

By the time the two were completely accustomed to their new home, it was September.

Lin Zhu finished his new student registration, officially becoming a university student, and began his two-week military training.