Arc 8: Chapter 12
The seasons passed by and it became the middle of another winter.
When Lin Yuan came to this world, he started at 18 years old, and now he was 22 years old. He only had five months left until the deadline of his mission.
In the last few years, Lin Yuan and Jin Ran lived together as if they were married; their day to day life was ordinary and warm.
But Jin Ran’s blackening value refused to drop from 20%.
521 was getting so stressed it began to lose its fur. To be precise, it was pulling it out with its wings.
“Senior, senior! You need to hurry and think of something. Your husband’s blackening value hasn’t changed in a year, three months, eighteen days, seven hours, nine minutes, and three seconds. If this keeps up, the task will fail and you can’t hug or kiss your husband anymore!”
521 vigorously shook Lin Yuan’s shoulders: “Senior, your cutie pie is asking you to complete the task quickly! Hurry up!”
Lin Yuan sighed helplessly. He also wanted to complete the task, but he didn’t understand why his husband in this world wasn’t satisfied with being treated nicely. Did he have to take a harder approach?
But how was he supposed to do that?
Lin Yuan hugged a pillow and rolled from one end of the sofa to the other, and then back again. 521 also rolled back and forth on the sofa’s backrest. They ended up perfectly in sync.
When Jin Ran pushed open the door, what he saw was Lin Yuan in rabbit pajamas, rolling in circles on the sofa like a cute snowball.
Jin Ran had just come back from his internship. He first changed into comfortable loungewear and then walked over to Lin Yuan.
Hearing footsteps coming closer, Lin Yuan stopped and looked over.
At twenty-two, Jin Ran had grown and matured into a strikingly handsome man. His build was tall and upright, the soft material of his clothes bulged and outlined the strong muscles on his shoulders and chest.
He sat down beside Lin Yuan, and stroked the other’s fluffy hair. With a lazy voice, he asked: “What are you doing? Do you really think of yourself as a bunny?”
Lin Yuan nuzzled his head against Jin Ran’s hand and then climbed into the other’s arms. He said with complete seriousness: “I am a bunny.”
He wasn’t lying. He was really a bunny… in the last world.
Jin Ran stifled a laugh and looked down at Lin Yuan. The other didn’t seem to have changed at all throughout the years. He was still beautiful and clean, and his amber eyes were clear, bright, and warm.
“Ok, you are a bunny.” Jin Ran’s kiss fell on Lin Yuan’s ear, carrying a suggestive meaning.
Lin Yuan noticed and counted in his head. He and Jin Ran haven’t done it in almost a week. He got out of Jin Ran’s arms and got something from the drawer.
“You have work tomorrow so you can only do it once,” Lin Yuan ordered.
Jin Ran wouldn’t refuse a bunny sending itself to his mouth. If he didn’t eat, the bunny might even be disappointed.
He pulled Lin Yuan on top of himself and whispered hoarsely: “Female rabbits will experience false pregnancies. What about Bunny? Do you feel anything? Does your stomach have baby bunnies?”
Lin Yuan was speechless. He was a man, how could he be pregnant? He shook his head and grumbled with red ears: “No way, I don’t have baby bunnies.”
Jin Ran kissed and bit around Lin Yuan’s neck and up to his ear. He said in a low voice: “But I want to get Bunny pregnant, what should I do? If you’re not pregnant yet, then I can only do my best to get you pregnant with a baby rabbit.”
Due to the young man’s efforts, Lin Yuan didn’t have dinner. At midnight, he couldn’t stand it anymore and cried: “I’m pregnant, I really am! I’m pregnant with a lot of baby rabbits!”
Wuuuu, he would rather be pregnant than die.
Jin Ran didn’t stop immediately. He pressed his hot palm on Lin Yuan’s stomach and rubbed it gently, panting: “Then why isn’t it swollen here? I have to feed it more…”
So it didn’t end for another while.
When Jin Ran was cleaning up, Lin Yuan lay sleepily in his arms. Seeing how the other could barely keep his eyes open, Jin Ran lowered his head and kissed the other’s cheek.
“Don’t fall asleep yet, eat something first. Otherwise, your stomach will hurt later.”
Lin Yuan cracked open an eye and then bit the young man’s Adam’s apple angrily: “It’s all your fault. If you only did it once, then I wouldn’t have missed dinner.”
Jin Ran chuckled lowly and thought Lin Yuan’s angry appearance was also very cute. He quickly made some porridge and side dishes and fed Lin Yuan spoonful by spoonful.
In the end, Jin Ran fell asleep first, but Lin Yuan was full and awake.
Jin Ran’s arms were locked around his waist, and his long legs were also wrapped around him. This entangled posture was very domineering, but also revealed a strong sense of insecurity.
Lin Yuan opened his eyes in the dark and his mind vaguely caught something that he had been ignoring.
He had thought that by revolving everything around Jin Ran, he could give Jin Ran a sense of security, but in Jin Ran’s opinion, their relationship was not equal.
Maybe because the way Lin Yuan started the relationship was too quick and easy, it made Jin Ran feel that Lin Yuan could end it the same way, leaving Jin Ran with no right to refuse.
Lin Yuan stretched out his hand and cupped the young man’s sleeping face.
Perhaps the pregnancy play was Jin Ran’s true thoughts. Jin Ran wished to tie them together with a child, because he was afraid their relationship would not last otherwise.
This whole time, Jin Ran was afraid…
⋅ ˚ ₊ ‧ ୨୧ ‧ ₊ ˚ ⋅
The next morning, Jin Ran woke up and was about to get up and get ready for work. But as soon as he released Lin Yuan, the other was startled awake.
“Did you have a nightmare?” Jin Ran asked worriedly.
Lin Yuan hummed and then sat up, hugging the other tightly and called out softly: “Jin Ran…”
Jin Ran’s thin lips pecked Lin Yuan’s shoulder: “En, what’s wrong?”
Lin Yuan slowly raised his eyes to look at him. The mood in his amber irises was unclear, but it seemed hazier than usual: “Jin Ran, there’s something I’ve wanted to ask you.”
His voice was also different from usual. It was fainter and colder than usual.
Jin Ran’s eyes darkened imperceptibly, deepening like a whirlpool hiding unknown fear. He smiled at Lin Yuan, as if nothing was wrong: “What is it?”
Lin Yuan said slowly: “Jin Ran, when I first came home, I resented you, hurt you, and almost killed you. I did so many bad things to you, do you like me?”
His voice became even quieter: “Do you love me?”
This was the question Jin Ran had always worried that Lin Yuan would ask him. Even if he liked Lin Yuan so much he was going crazy, even if he loved Lin Yuan, he didn’t have the courage to say the word “like” out loud.
If he said it, he would lose completely.
Jin Ran didn’t want to be a loser. He couldn’t bear to.
Lin Yuan waited for a long time without hearing Jin Ran’s answer. But he wasn’t angry, he was even a little optimistic. He finally could see what he was missing, and saw Jin Ran clearly.
The key was that their present state couldn’t give Jin Ran a sense of security, because Jin Ran didn’t believe in him, or didn’t dare believe in him.
Lin Yuan hugged Jin Ran tighter and asked with worry: “Do you hate me?”
Jin Ran still couldn’t answer. His feelings for Lin Yuan were too complicated for him to put into words. He hated, loved, cherished, and feared. Almost all of his emotions were given to Lin Yuan, both good and bad. Jin Ran knew there would never be such a person again; Lin Yuan was irreplaceable to him.
Lin Yuan listened to Jin Ran’s confused heartbeat and said: “It doesn’t matter if you don’t like me. All that matters is that you’re by my side, and you are mine.”
This time, Jin Ran agreed softly and hugged Lin Yuan back. He seemed to want to embed Lin Yuan deep into his bones.
After Jin Ran left for work, Lin Yuan sat on the carpet to discuss his next plan with 521.
Lin Yuan wanted to be good to Jin Ran, protect him, and make him feel loved. He wanted their relationship to be Jin Ran’s safe space, Jin Ran’s home. In order to do so, he had to find a way to separate their relationship from the harm done by the original Lin Yuan.
He would “kill” the original Lin Yuan, and be reborn as himself.