CAPTURE

Part 02

Thursday morning turned out to be gloomy. It was raining and both Wuxian and A-Yuan thought it was the best day to stay inside snuggling with each other and have some slurred conversation because they were just too sleepy to wake up.

A-Yuan woke up before his father. He beamed when he saw his father sleeping, his hair messy and strewn all over the pillow. He kissed his cheek and climbed over him to go to the bathroom. He came back to see his dada slowly waking up and hand reaching out to his side.

When Wuxian no longer felt A-Yuan's warmth, he croaked, "A-Yuan, baby, are you awake?" his eyes still clamped shut. A-Yuan giggled. His father can be so adorable. "A-Yuan, are you laughing at my bedhead?" his dada sulked when A-Yuan laughed, bending over in response.

Wei Wuxian sat upright and yawned. Only now did he open his eyes. "Oh, it's raining. A-Yuan, what do you say. Do we cuddle? And if we are, then what should we do?" Wuxian looked far more excited than A-Yuan, but in reality, they were both too excited.

A-Yuan put on his thinking cap, a cowboy hat Aunty Yanli gifted him an year ago because he once dreamed to be a cowboy and ride his horse to the horizon. "Hmm... Dada, I have a lot in mind, but can we have our morning shots? I'm hungry." He said, running down the stairs yelling bloody murder, waking everyone in the neighborhood.

Luckily, they lived in a house and not an apartment. Or else the neighbors would kick them out with all the noise Yuan makes. Yanli, his neighbor a few yards away, had said that Yuan's screaming was normal, so he let it be.

Wuxian thought Yanli was an angel. She would offer to keep him whenever he went outstation for his work. She would send him to school and pick him up as well. Yanli had a son three years younger than Yuan, named Jin Ling. A-Yuan is always excited to make the baby laugh with his comic expressions he once again learnt from his dear dada.

He chuckled to himself leaving bed and rushing down the stairs far more gracefully than Yuan did before. Yuan sat on the island, swinging his legs in anticipation. "Dada, we should make hot chocolate with marshmallows. We could also make pancakes with strawberries and whipped cream. And dada, we could also have some banana bread aunty Yanli baked for us the day before yesterday."

Wei Wuxian had his arms crossed, leaning against the sink in amusement. "Anything else A-Yuan? What else does my food-monster want to eat?"

A-Yuan thought hard, index finger tapping against his chin. "Aha, I want fruits, dada. Pineapple and green apple and grapes and banana." He said, clapping his hands happily.

Wuxian sighed. This will never get old. A-Yuan eats like a beast but he remembers how when he first arrived the food intake was far scantier than now. He ate half a pancake and half a cup of hot chocolate. Rice was a few bites with only broccoli and nothing for dinner.

He remembered how he had to beg his son to eat a bit more than yesterday, how he had baited him into eating more with little toys and surprises. A few tears slid down his cheeks. A-Yuan was a healthy boy now, eating more than he ever did or will. "Dada?" A-Yuan's voice shook him out of his reverie.

He smiled a teary one kissed his son's full cheeks. "A-Yuan, dada loves you." He spoke. A-Yuan grinned and kissed Wuxian's forehead, clearing his brow from the few strands of hair.

"Okay, A-Yuan's breakfast order coming right up." He said, tying a baby blue apron around his waist.

Forty-five minutes later Wei Wuxian had finished cooking, and he packed them all into a basket. The hot chocolate and coffee in flasks and a freshly squeezed lemon juice in a jug. Both hurried up the stairs to have a light wash and change into day clothes and rushed to the tree house in their garden with all their necessities under two transparent umbrellas.