On Wednesday morning, Wei Ying is towelling himself off and notices a few marks on his body. More than a few...

Specifically, teeth shaped marks which sting slightly, but make him feel deliciously tingly, a reminder of how passionate Lan Zhan can be. It reminds him to ask an important question so he throws a t-shirt on and goes hunting for his boyfriend.

Lan Zhan is in the kitchen, and the children are helping him wash and dry the dishes they used for breakfast.

"Can we go and play now?" They ask straight afterwards, barely concealing their haste to go and have fun.

Lan Zhan gives them his trademark "mn" and they're off.

Wei Ying bounces up to Lan Zhan and throws his arms around his neck.

"Good morning, my love!" he says, before kissing him enthusiastically.

Lan Zhan carries him to the countertop where it becomes much easier for Wei Ying to deepen his greeting kiss, and for Lan Zhan to respond.

"Lizard brain," are the first words out of his mouth when it's free.

"Mn?"

"I see you and I want you. No thought is involved." Wei Ying smiles brightly at him, and Lan Zhan knows he's never going to miss the sun at this rate.

So what if Wei Ying's blood is supercharged for him, allowing him to go outside during daylight, but even if that weren't the case, still his smile is the equivalent of a glorious sunrise. The simple beauty of it is enough to make Lan Zhan forget his own name.

"I actually came out to ask you something important." Wei Ying chides himself.

"Kissing is important." Lan Zhan defends him from himself.

Wei Ying giggles in reply.

"Okay, but equally important, then. Lan Zhan, my love, are you hungry? You were quite bitey last night and I was wondering."

How Lan Zhan managed to look both smug and bashfully cute at the same time, was beyond Wei Ying, but he ended up giving him another kiss instead.

"It's a yes or no question..." he throws back his head and laughs at the look on Lan Zhan's face, even as his legs wrap around his waist and pull him even closer.

"Last night, Wei Ying does not remember? You gave me permission to bite properly. I drank two drops, and that is enough for now." Lan Zhan tells him, hoping it'll get easier in the future.

The subject of drinking from Wei Ying is both intimate and embarrassing, and Lan Zhan knows he has to get over it somehow.

"I was having too much fun." Wei Ying verbally excuses himself.

Before they can say anything else, Lan Zhan's phone rings.

He hardly ever gets calls this early in the morning, and they're both surprised when they see that it is XiChen who is calling him now.

"Xiongzhang? Good morning." Lan Zhan greets him quickly, already worried.

Wei Ying can hear both sides of the conversation and he can tell that XiChen is excited about something.

"Didi, are you and A-Xian free around six this evening?"

Lan Zhan glances at Wei Ying before answering, who nods after shrugging.

"Mn. We are free tonight."

"Then I'm texting you the details of a programme that you must promise to watch with A-Xian this evening. Without fail!" he insists.

"Speakerphone." Wei Ying mouths to Lan Zhan.

He presses the correct button and now Wei Ying can speak directly to him.

"What's going on, XiChen-Ge?" he asked, smiling because of cute Lans.

"It's a surprise!" XiChen says, cryptically. "Just trust me when I tell you that it concerns you most of all, A-Xian. Alright?"

"Okay, XiChen-Ge. I trust you." Wei Ying says, cheerfully.

Lan Zhan and his brother talk about mutual clients and design changes before they hang up.

"I wonder why he wants us to watch, and what he wants us to watch." Wei Ying taps at his nose, thoughtfully.

"Xiongzhang likes to watch Spanish romance dramas." Lan Zhan confides, suddenly.

"Really?" Wei Ying is baffled and amused. "So you think it's a drama rec?"

"Might be." Lan Zhan smiles.

"On another note, I was thinking about you." Wei Ying says, as usual, his brain sprinting along faster than he can vocalise his thoughts.

"Mn?" Lan Zhan sounds terribly happy about this.

"Well, okay that too, but specifically, about your ability to Compel. I wonder if you can make people do silly stuff?" That gremlin smile is back, sparking a hidden excitement in Lan Zhan's own body.

If Wei Ying is a lit match, then Lan Zhan is dry tinder, yearning to burn.

"Such as?" Lan Zhan cannot help staring at his mouth while Wei Ying talks.

Just the shape of his two lips, how the bottom one sticks out slightly as if beckoning him closer, a little fuller than his top one. And both so lovely a shade of pink, still tenderly swollen because of their enthusiastic greetings.

Wei Ying licks his lips, and that's it for Lan Zhan.

His self control vanishes like it was never there, and he swoops in to cover that delicious mouth with his own. He'll apologise for interrupting Wei Ying later; for now, this is just reiterating his comment earlier that kissing was important.

Since he no longer needed to breathe air, he could confidently say that this worshipping of Wei Ying's mouth was far more important than what others needed to stay alive. It was so soft, and so unbelievably pliant under his own, and the taste!

Simply exquisite.

No words came to mind for Lan Zhan to be able to adequately describe this intensity, this addiction who's name was Wei Ying.

No one else was capable of making all these little tingles spark like live wires across his skin, filling him up with a burning need to possess and care for this benevolent spirit. This man, who in a few short days, had completely taken over all of Lan Zhan's priorities. He and A-Yuan, and now A-Yi, all three of them had kidnapped his mind and now all he could think about was their wellbeing.

And this.

The bliss which pervades each and every one of his pores seems limitless, a joy without barriers. It is all encompassing, and Lan Zhan wonders how he was able to exist without Wei Ying, previously.

It feels unthinkable.

This kiss finishes, and Lan Zhan buries his face against Wei Ying's neck, too overcome by his emotions to speak. The comforting fragrance of lotus flowers and vanilla soothes his frazzled mind.

Wei Ying is similarly affected, because he chokes back a sigh, holding him just as tightly in return.

Who knew that finding Lan Zhan, a stranger then, in an alley on that fateful night, would lead to a mind-blowing relationship, and in that connection, finding the other half of his soul? That's what this feels like.

"I love you so much." Wei Ying manages to whisper, giving a voice to the multitude of feelings running riot inside his head.

"As I love you. Wei Ying, you are my everything." There are so many words bubbling up in his mind, but this is the culmination of his thoughts.

They revel in the simplicity of this peaceful feeling, a bubble in which only the two of them reside. How is it so easy to be happy? To feel so content?

Wei Ying laughs suddenly.

"Mn?"

"I bet you didn't hear a single thing I said, before you kissed me?"

"Wei Ying is too tempting." It was the truth.

Lan Zhan thought that if he were a writer, then he could fill tomes waxing poetically about how beautiful Wei Ying was, and not just on the outside. Wei Ying was the Perfect package for him.

But then, because he was embarrassed about not listening properly, he added, "would Wei Ying care to repeat himself?"

"Ahuh, ahuh! But it's gonna cost you, Pal!" He grinned mischievously.

"I will pay any price." Lan Zhan told him confidently.

Wei Ying squealed and hugged him again.

"I was saying, wouldn't it be cool if you made people do the most random things? Like making them impersonate those floppy long inflatable things outside car dealerships? Or making them jump around like goats? Or bite into onions?" His face took on a dreamy look. "The possibilities are endless!"

Lan Zhan didn't think so.

"It is immoral. To make anyone act against their free will. I am ashamed of myself." He admitted.

"But Lan Zhan! You're taking this far too seriously! What if they're real baddies? And you really wanted to do something nasty to them, but you're way too nice...what would you do instead? I swear, it could be so funny!"

He cackles even as Lan Zhan picks him up and takes him to the couch.

Wei Ying is still babbling about the things he wishes he could do to people, when Lan Zhan fires up his laptop.

And then, he has to interrupt Wei Ying again, internally promising himself to make it up to him later.

"F4keSt0ries replied," he says, effectively shutting up Wei Ying.

"What? What's he saying?" Immediately, Serious Wei Ying is here, the switch between this one and the mischievous one unbelievably hot.

Lan Zhan tells himself (sharply) to focus, and turns his screen slightly so they can both read together.

F4KEST0RIES: HOW DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THESE?

It was in reference to the questions Lan Zhan had posed a few days ago, regarding the medicine labelled SUP10 and now SUP11. Lan Zhan had asked him what the medication was for.

"What shall I tell him?" Lan Zhan asked Wei Ying.

"How about this?" Wei Ying pulled the laptop closer to himself, angling it so Lan Zhan could see what he was typing:

This is an encrypted space, right?

YES. IT'S SAFE.

"Somehow, that makes me less inclined to believe them." Wei Ying mutters, as his fingers fly over the keys.

Then we're opting for full transparency. We tell you everything we know, and vice versa. Are we good?

There's a short pause before the three pulsing little dots appear.

YES, THAT'S ACCEPTABLE. YOU, FIRST.

We found the bottles. One of them at a crime scene that has still to be reported or made into public knowledge. So it would be extremely helpful to know what this stuff is?

THE MEDICATION IS A PROGRESSIVE ACCELERATION IN CONDITIONS, MEANING IT STARTS WITH SUP1 ALL THE WAY TO SUP12. SUP STANDS FOR SUPPRESSION. BUT THERE ARE SIGNIFICANT SIDE EFFECTS.

Such as? And to suppress what?

THERE ARE POWERFUL PEOPLE, SOME OF WHOM WERE BORN VAMPIRES. NATURALLY, CURIOSITY MADE THEM WANT TO TAMPER WITH THEIR CONDITION, AND THEY BEGAN EXPERIMENTS.

What kind of experiments? Aren't they dangerous?

This time, there's nothing marking an imminent reply.

Wei Ying huffs in disappointment.

"Just as it looks like we're getting somewhere!" He throws himself back in his seat, full of frustration.

And then his phone rings.

When he sees the number, he pales and answers it, putting it on speaker so Lan Zhan can hear as well.

It's the tinny voice of the receptionist at the doctor's office.

"The doctor wishes you to come in for another test, as soon as possible," she says tonelessly, as automatically as possible. "When can we arrange an appointment? Is this afternoon alright?"

"Um, no. I'm working today. How about tomorrow after three-thirty?"

"Five o'clock is okay for you?"

Wei Ying confirms the time, his hand reaching for Lan Zhan's, clasping their fingers together. His belly is quivering with nerves already, and trying to breathe deeply isn't helping. When he exits the call, his lungs expel all the air in his chest.

"How does Wei Ying feel?" Lan Zhan asked him gently, after a while.

"Scared. Terrified, actually. I'm thinking whether it's better to not know," he admitted.

Lan Zhan makes a disapproving noise.

He pulls out his own phone and types something, simultaneously wrapping an arm around Wei Ying's waist and holding him closer. This accomplishes two things: Wei Ying can see what he's googling, and he can't run away.

"We are together." Lan Zhan emphasises. He waits for Wei Ying to nod, before pressing the key with the magnifying glass on it.

Wei Ying forces himself to look, and he reads the request Lan Zhan has put into the search engine:

'What is a biopsy?'

"A biopsy is a medical test commonly performed by a surgeon, interventional radiologist, or an interventional cardiologist. The process involves extraction of sample cells or tissues for examination to determine the presence or extent of a disease."

Lan Zhan clicks on the "Process" button.

"In a biopsy, a doctor takes a small amount of tissue from the area of the body where cancer may be present. The tissue is sent to a laboratory and examined under a microscope for cancer cells by a specialist called a pathologist."

He goes to click on another button, but this time, Wei Ying stops him.

"Wait." He takes a shuddering breath, and when he next speaks, his voice is alarmingly small. "That just said it's cancer." He wills himself not to panic, but the words are swimming in front of his eyes.

"No. Not necessarily. Look!" Lan Zhan clicks on another link, desperately hoping it's not true. The cancer part.

This link is a question:

'Why would a doctor order a biopsy?'

"Biopsies are frequently used to diagnose cancer, BUT they can help identify other conditions such as infections and inflammatory and autoimmune disorders. They may also be done to match organ tissue before a transplant...."

Wei Ying doesn't bother reading the rest of it.

He's shocked first of all. And still processing this.

"It could be anything at this point. Wei Ying should not jump to conclusions." Lan Zhan says, in that calm, soothing way of his.

But peace is not at all how Wei Ying feels right now.

He stands up and starts pacing. His thoughts are all disjointed and jumbled, one running into another, half complete and all over the place.

"We're gonna need a babysitter." He says, anxiously.

"My brother. Or Wen PoPo." Lan Zhan answers him in that same gentleness.

"It might take long."

"Two to three hours." Lan Zhan holds up his phone.

"What if there's traffic?"

"We can leave earlier."

"How are you so damn calm?" Wei Ying shouts, clutching at his loose hair.

Lan Zhan says nothing, his golden eyes serious and assessing. Then he gets up and wraps Wei Ying in a bear hug. There's no part of Wei Ying's body that isn't being held.

He begins to hum the lullaby that he first sang to A-Yuan, all those days ago.

Gradually, Wei Ying stops trembling and then he sags against Lan Zhan as the fight drains out of him.

"What if it's cancer?" he says quietly.

"What if it's not?" Lan Zhan tries again. "We don't have to panic. We don't have to be scared of what we don't know."

"Then what do we do?" He sounds so lost.

It hurts Lan Zhan inside.

"We wait. We don't have to do anything right now. It might be a false alarm." Lan Zhan encourages him. "No need to react."

"Might be a false alarm," Wei Ying echoes.

"Yes. We are going to wait." Lan Zhan brings him to sit down once again.

They don't talk anymore, they just sit quietly, waiting.

When the alarm rings on Wei Ying's phone, signalling the time to leave for his shift at the Coffee Carousel, he has somewhat pulled himself together.

The two adults and two children pile into Lan Zhan's car and start their day.

***********

Lan Zhan and the kids come and pick Wei Ying up at three-thirty.

He smiles weakly at everyone and climbs in, unable to shake his uncertainty from the morning. And maybe he's being paranoid, but the feeling that he's being watched hasn't left him. So his mood is a mix of barely managed panic and jittery nerves.

When they stop at a traffic light, Lan Zhan's warm palm covers his bouncing knee, a weight that Wei Ying needs right now.

"Sorry," he mouths to Lan Zhan. "I guess I'm still out of sorts."

Lan Zhan doesn't like that. Maybe a distraction is in order.

"The children want to make pizza when we get home." He says. "And we have that thing Xiongzhang wants us to watch at six."

"Oh yeah! I totally forgot about that. And hey, did F4keSt0ries reply?" All of a sudden, Wei Ying has perked up.

"I didn't get a chance to check." Lan Zhan replies. "Xiongzhang needed my advice on a mutual project."

"Oh...right. How's that working out for you? Working from home, I mean?" This is good, Wei Ying thinks. Talking and thinking about anything else is great, and just what he needs.

"It is actually alright. I had minimum contact with face-to-face clients before, anyway. Xiongzhang handles customer relations."

"That's a great partnership you have with your brother. What does your Uncle do?"

"Nag." And then Lan Zhan smiled when Wei Ying tittered.

"Older people tend to do that a lot." Wei Ying beams at him.

"But he's made it into his vocation." Lan Zhan tries not to sound like he's complaining. The thing is, as their elder, it's nice to have someone to turn to, in moments of doubt. "We'll keep him for now," he adds, with a half smile.

They pull up outside the apartment block.

The children are excited about the recipe they've chosen, and the next few hours are spent filming messy people topping their pizza bases. Lan Zhan had already gotten some footage of them watching him kneading the dough and letting it sit for a while, capturing their inquisitive questions, and then their outlandish theories on why this was necessary.

By the time it's a quarter to six, the children have been fed and have retreated to their bedroom to finish whatever they're working on with the Lego pieces. Lan Zhan hopes the extra parts he's ordered will come before their holiday is over.

They clean up the kitchen in record time, and ten minutes later, they're sitting in front of Lan Zhan's computer.

Lan Zhan glances at Wei Ying's face now and then, hoping he's not being too obvious about his concern. Wei Ying is watching the large countdown on the screen as it gets closer to six.

"I wonder what he wants us to watch." Wei Ying murmurs again.

His hand reaches across to grasp Lan Zhan's hand.

He's not absentmindedly doing it either, it's the end of the day, and most of his energy has been spent trying to keep it together. But at this point, Lan Zhan has become a source of unconditional support, his safe place.

As the minutes pass, he's thinking about how the Universe gave him someone to love, right when Wei Ying needed him. And no matter what happens, he would rather have this, than nothing at all.

"It's starting."

Lan Zhan's quiet prompt jogs him out of his musings, and Wei Ying lifts their joint hands up to kiss the back of Lan Zhan's side.

"Welcome to all our esteemed guests, and those of you joining online. Today, we have a special surprise to add to our collection of unusual and quality, rare pieces of jewellery. But more on that later. Please relax, and join me in celebrating the heritage collection of signature pieces from the estate of Jin GuanShan. His children are auctioning off this one of a kind set of unique treasures, as you will see." This announcement is made by a man dressed in a sharp black suit, so well cut to his form, that nothing was left to the imagination.

The camera pans over to a row of glass cases with spotlights shining on busts displaying precious stone brooches, lavish necklaces with glittering gemstones, and rare diamond bracelets.

The guy hosting this event went on to say how expensive everything was, detailing the history and tidbits about the origins of particular commissioned pieces.

Wei Ying listened for a while, but there was only so much interest he could muster after everything began looking the same. After the umpteenth million dollar offer for a nose-ring, he closed his eyes.

He was vaguely aware of Lan Zhan's repositioning of his body so that now his head lay on Lan Zhan's lap. His long, slender fingers undid his red ribbon which was guarding his bun, and those heavenly fingers began combing through his hair.

Wei Ying drifted off.

A while later, Lan Zhan's phone rang, jolting Wei Ying awake. Lan Zhan made a disapproving noise and scowled at the offending piece of technology, only picking it up when he noticed that it was his brother calling. He put it on speaker phone as Wei Ying sat up, rubbing his eyes sleepily.

"What's the time?" he yawned.

"Just past seven." Lan Zhan whispered, as XiChen's voice came through the phone.

"It's almost time, Didi. Is A-Xian there, with you?" XiChen sounded waay too excited for this auction.

"Mn, Xiongzhang. He is here." Lan Zhan confirmed.

"Good. Let's see what happens now." XiChen hung up without further explanation.

Their attention was dragged back to the screen by a loud drumroll.

"And this is it, folks. The piece you've all been waiting for!" The host guy is practically shaking with excitement.

The camera focuses on a single glass case in an empty, dark stage until a spotlight shines upon a one item resting on black, luxurious velvet.

It is a silver pocket watch.

A familiar silver pocket watch.

Wei Ying gasps, suddenly recognising it.

"Lan Zhan! That's our pocket watch!" Wei Ying shouted, grabbing his arm with both of his hands and shaking it.

He's so loud, it brings the children out of their bedroom to see what the commotion is. Lan Zhan picks up JingYi and plants him in his lap, while A-Yuan hops up into Wei Ying's legs.

"Put the volume up, please?" Wei Ying requests, as A-Yuan's hands bring his arms to come around his body, holding on with a chortle.

"What are we watching?" JingYi asks, pointing at the laptop.

"It's an auction." Lan Zhan explains.

There are lots of cute, nonsensical questions as the children try to grasp the concept.

"But if it's old stuff, why is it so expensive?" JingYi.

"It's used," A-Yuan stated, shrugging.

And then the next shot was of Nivens McTwisp's silver pocket watch, and A-Yuan's silver eyes went as wide as saucers.

The bidding started at five million dollars.

Then the host explained that the last silver pocket watch to ever be auctioned in the country had sold for six point two three million dollars and that was why this one was a steal at five.

Of course, the price only went higher as the bidding became a frenzied calling out of extortionate numbers.

"Seven point five million. Esteemed guests and online bidders, do we have a sale?" The host called out. "Going once, going...oh, sorry?" He taps his earpiece. "We have nine million, we have nine million!"

And then the host started a bidding war between an eager old man who is relentless in holding up what looks like a table tennis bat with a number on it, and some guy bidding online from Switzerland. They go back and forth until they reach fourteen million. That's the last bid, as the elderly gentleman bows wistfully at the watch and declines to hold his bat up.

The gavel comes down and the silver pocket watch no longer belongs to Wei Ying, who bought it for a mere twenty-five dollars.

Wei Ying can't believe it.

Lan Zhan's phone rings, and all they can hear is whooping cheers as XiChen congratulates Wei Ying on his sale.

Apparently, the guy in Switzerland was buying back an heirloom, and would have gone even higher. XiChen explains that once the auction house has taken their ten percent cut, the money that's owed to Wei Ying will be paid into his account. He asks Wei Ying the details and as afterthought, he offers to get him in touch with an investment specialist.

Wei Ying is still in shock.

He nods along, eyes still glazed over because none of this has sunk in yet.

The children don't understand either, except they know it's something to celebrate, and as such, it must be a cause for ice cream. Lan Zhan takes them into the kitchen to indulge them, while Wei Ying leans back on the couch and rests his head against the backrest, closing his eyes.

All of the day's events are too monumental for him to want to think about this minute, so he takes Lan Zhan's advice and simply blocks it out, for now.

He listens to the excited chatter of his children as they discuss Lego parts and A-Yuan argues with JingYi that obviously, a red car with black trimming will look so much better than yellow and black. It's background noise, and serves to calm him down. Lan Zhan tells them that he's ordered the parts they needed and then the three of them chat enthusiastically about what they're going to build tomorrow.

When they come out of the kitchen, the boys spot Wei Ying and assume he's sleeping.

"Can we say good night to Baba?" A-Yuan asks Lan Zhan, and it seems like such a huge honour, that the little kid is giving him the same treatment and respect that he gives to his father.

Lan Zhan can only nod, because no sound will come out, not when his throat is so tight.

A-Yuan is carefully climbing onto the couch next to Wei Ying, and as quietly as he can, he slowly leans in to kiss Wei Ying's cheek.

Wei Ying lets the gremlin out, and it's chaos after that.

He makes such a big noise and A-Yuan ends up shrieking, frightened out of his wits, and then Wei Ying is tickling him, and grabbing JingYi to tickle him as well, and both of the boys are screaming laughing, and there is so much joy in this one small moment.

Lan Zhan looks at his family enjoying being together, and when Wei Ying calls him over, his earlier melancholy evaporating away now, he knows there's nowhere else he'd rather be.

************

Dear Beautiful Readers,

This book has really gotten out of hand. It started off being at best, five chapters, and when it spiralled, I thought, alright...twelve chapters at most. But we're at forty-one and we haven't even gotten to the main part yet.

So I wanted to thank you for sticking with me and reading and commenting. I really do read everything you say, and I hope you like it so far.

I'm showering you all with virtual chocolate straight from my heart!

Charlie.