Yan Ruojun was nearly four months pregnant.

The man’s limbs were still slender, but when he lay flat, his lower abdomen already had a distinct curve—round, soft, and looking rather adorable. Lin Zhu’s heart softened at the sight, and his every word and action became increasingly gentle, as if he were handling some rare, fragile treasure; he was cautious and meticulous, terrified of causing even the slightest bump.

The enclosed space was filled not with overly intense sounds, but rather with a series of fragmented, slow, rhythmic noises, akin to the sounds of chewing…

Lips collided, grinding against each other.

Yan Ruojun felt exactly like an unfortunate soul shipwrecked at sea; he was clearly swimming with all his might toward the shore, yet time and again, just as he was about to reach the end, he was suddenly swept back by a wave from behind…

Ups and downs, without end. Or rather, whenever he was about to reach the finish line, the “catastrophe” looming over him would forcefully intercept him at the very last moment of dawn.

“Umm… woo…”

Yan Ruojun had a forehead slick with sweat, the dampness sticking a few strands of hair to his temples, making him look helplessly ruffled and inexplicably pitiful. Finally, he really let out a sob full of grievance.

Hearing it made Lin Zhu incredibly conflicted. He suddenly leaned down and captured the man’s lips, sealing them with a kiss. He dared not listen to that whimpering, which turned his heart into a mass of marshmallow-soft mush, terrified that his resolve would crumble and his patience would wear thin if he heard him cry.

…Honestly, it was truly hard not to crumble.

I don’t know how much time passed.

The showerhead in the bathroom splashed water, pattering onto the floor. Lin Zhu was cleaning off the filth that wasn’t his own when a hoarse male voice suddenly sounded from behind.

“Lin Zhu, you heartless man.”

The bathtub was filled with warm water. Yan Ruojun lay half-reclined inside, his two arms draped over the edge of the tub. He buried his head in his elbows, his gaze fixed on the person standing under the shower.

Lin Zhu turned off the water, and as soon as he looked over, he saw the man’s listless posture. He was silent for two seconds before responding: “Yeah, I am that heartless.”

After a pause, he added, “So, stop crying.”

It wasn’t good for his eyes or his throat.

Hearing this, Yan Ruojun shrank further into the water, his lower face completely hidden by his arms. His glistening gray-green eyes flickered. Lin Zhu only heard him ask, drawing out the long vowels:

“Oh, you really don’t want to?”

“Even after I give birth to the baby next year, you still won’t want to?”

Lin Zhu: “…”

Lin Zhu didn’t utter a sound for a long while. It wasn’t until he carried the man out of the bathtub, wrapped him in a large bath towel, and placed him on the bed after drying his hair, that he spoke again: “Ge, do you still feel blocked and swollen?”

Yan Ruojun had complained earlier that he napped too long and couldn’t sleep at night, but as Lin Zhu was halfway through drying his hair, his eyelids began to droop, his sleepiness rising.

At that moment, he leaned against Lin Zhu’s chest, his head bobbing for a moment before he replied: “Hmm, the doctor said there’s nothing really in there, it’s purely physiological pain. No need to worry about it, I guess it’ll take another month or two before…”

Lin Zhu kissed his forehead and whispered: “It’s going to hurt for that long? You’ve worked so hard.”

He really had worked hard.

The days passed one by one. Yan Ruojun’s belly grew day by day. Summer finally passed, and the season entered autumn. When the hashtag “#TheFirstCupOfMilkTeaInAutumn” hit the trending list again, Lin Zhu also successfully drank his first cup of “milk” of the autumn.

Using a “cup” as a unit of measurement seemed a bit of an exaggeration… In reality, there was only one mouthful. A tiny, almost negligible mouthful.

Textbooks said that male Omegas lacked the function to nurse a child, and the period of pregnancy and postpartum would only bring inconvenience and embarrassment to the Omega, with no real practical use.

Yan Ruojun, however, disagreed. He cradled Lin Zhu’s head and couldn’t help but ask,

“Puppy Lin, what does it taste like?”

Lin Zhu raised his face, subconsciously licking his lips, fully savoring it with the taste buds on the tip of his tongue, before giving a very objective and precise answer.

“No taste.”

He paused for a second, then added: “But, Ge…”

Meeting Yan Ruojun’s curious gaze, Lin Zhu’s expressionless face softened, the corners of his mouth curving slightly. He said, word for word:

“——You are sweet.”

By the time one mouthful became two, Lin Zhu realized with a shock that winter vacation was approaching; he was about to spend his second New Year in this world.

Lin Zhu’s semester wasn’t easy; he basically lived a three-point-one-line life, rushing between school, home, and the studio where he had previously interned. But he hadn’t lied—the time spent with Yan Ruojun was truly sweet, so he didn’t feel tired and actually enjoyed it.

Yan Ruojun took care of everything: he had a nutritionist to plan his diet, three meals a day were handled by the household staff, and he even had a private doctor for regular check-ups…

In early January, Lin Zhu was busy with final exams.

By now, Yan Ruojun’s abdomen was protruding significantly, his slender calves were slightly swollen, and he would occasionally wake up in the middle of the night with cramps.

This was something Lin Zhu discovered himself. The sleepiness on his face had mostly faded, and his hooded eyes looked even sharper. His tone was particularly deep. As he massaged the man’s calves, he instructed:

“Ge, remember to wake me up next time. Don’t endure it.”

The man didn’t speak, pretending to be asleep.

In late January, Lin Zhu officially began his winter break.

For the Spring Festival that year, due to Yan Ruojun’s physical condition, the two didn’t return to the north of the city; instead, others left the city to spend a quiet New Year with them.

But it wasn’t exactly quiet.

The further along he was, the less Yan Ruojun wanted to move. His round belly felt heavy, and even turning over in bed was a struggle. Whenever Pei Shu Rong saw him sitting for too long, she couldn’t help but nag, “Jun Jun, you need proper exercise at this stage. Let Xiao Zhu take you downstairs for a walk…”

Yan Ruojun heard her, but he just kept sitting there.

Pei Shu Rong looked at the person next to him and said in a flat tone: “Xiao Zhu, I can’t move him; you handle it.”

It wasn’t just Pei Shu Rong; the doctor had suggested the same. Yan Ruojun moved too little now, and his appetite had soared.

Lin Zhu silently turned his head toward the man resting his chin on his shoulder and pulled out the hand that was secretly pinching his waist. “Ge, since we just finished dinner, why don’t we go for a walk downstairs to help with digestion?”

Yan Ruojun closed his eyes, immovable.

Lin Zhu got up and walked toward the entryway, returning with a pair of shoes in his hand. He bent down, efficiently putting the shoes on Yan Ruojun’s feet, then made a few trips back and forth to the bedroom, layering the man with a cotton-padded coat and a scarf for the outside…

Finally, Lin Zhu clamped his hands under Yan Ruojun’s armpits and manually lifted him straight up from the sofa, forcing the man to open his eyes, his face full of reluctance.

I don’t know if it was the effect of pregnancy hormones, but Yan Ruojun was becoming increasingly emotional. Sometimes he would suddenly fall into a low mood, clinging to Lin Zhu for half a day without speaking.

Whenever that happened, Lin Zhu would kiss him.

Since elders were present in the house, Lin Zhu only squeezed his hand and whispered, “Be good. We’ll just walk for a few minutes; we’ll come back if you’re tired.”

The man’s resistance was ineffective; he was led out the door by Lin Zhu.

In the winter season, the lawn in the residential area was withered and yellow. The cold air swirled with debris on the ground and didn’t forget to shake the thin, dry branches, inducing them to make whistling sounds.

Yan Ruojun was dressed very thickly; he wore a cream-colored turtleneck sweater as an inner layer, and a short cream-colored cotton coat that perfectly covered his round belly. Beneath his seemingly thin pants, Lin Zhu had forcefully stuffed a pair of thermal leggings.

The cold protection was maxed out.

A black scarf was wrapped several times around his neck, covering half of the man’s ears and his now-rounder chin. Yan Ruojun was quite tall, but when Lin Zhu looked back at him, he felt the man looked just like a toddler penguin; every movement was cute to the extreme.

The next second.

Lin Zhu let out a faint sigh, leaned down toward the man’s belly, and said expressionlessly: “You need to be good too. Stop tormenting your Little Papa; he’s had it so hard.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the man went “Ah.”

“Puppy Lin, the baby just kicked me.”

Lin Zhu fell into sudden silence. After a long while, he lifted his upper eyelids and stared at the man: “Ge, do you think we won’t end up raising a little troublemaker?”

Yan Ruojun blinked, his face full of uncertainty.

Lin Zhu felt a bit dubious.

They hadn’t walked for many minutes when the man’s footsteps paused. He suddenly shrank his neck into his scarf and urged urgently:

“Puppy Lin, I want to go upstairs…”

“Hurry, hurry.”

Lin Zhu straightened his back and asked quietly,

“Ge, do you need to go to the bathroom again?”

The child in Yan Ruojun’s belly had developed fully day by day; not only did he like to throw punches in his Little Papa’s belly, but he was also constantly pressing against the man’s organs. Especially the bladder…

The fact that Yan Ruojun had become increasingly averse to going out for walks in the last two or three months was also partly due to this factor. Seeing the man nod, Lin Zhu held his hand and turned back. On the way, he couldn’t help but kiss the corner of his eye, his heart aching for him.

It was good that these agonizing days wouldn’t last much longer.

April, late spring.

Strong winds blew, and the fragrance enveloped the entire city, showing no signs of fading away. The spring that year was exceptionally long.

On a clear, cloudless starry night, a brand-new life let out its first cry in the silence, causing the eyes of Lin Zhu, who had been waiting outside the operating room, to turn sore.

When Yan Ruojun was wheeled out, Lin Zhu almost cried out loud.

The man was conscious, his complexion pale, looking much weaker, yet he gave Lin Zhu a faint, serene smile. Then, he opened his mouth and said something.

The volume was too low; Lin Zhu couldn’t hear clearly.

He leaned close to Yan Ruojun, touched the man’s face, his voice trembling: “Ge, what did you say?”

After a few seconds, Yan Ruojun tilted his head and repeated it.

After hearing it, Lin Zhu couldn’t hold back his tears. He looked up, took a deep breath, and muttered:

“…That rebellious brat.”