IF

9

The plan to visit the old market was now put on hold, but the good thing was that ShiWen had almost finished his shopping. ShangYu had his men ship the things back to their place, along with the wooden frame he finally mustered up the courage to buy.

On the way back home, the car fell into an uncomfortable silence. ShiWen nestled on the side of the car seat, fearing to near the Alpha. The latter's face was a lot less paler than before,but his half-closed eyes remained emotionless. SSS level Alpha physical quality has always been the best in the group, but it also means that if something goes wrong, it has to go terribly wrong.

ShiWen hesitated, reaching and retracting his hand. At last, he plucked up the courage, and grabbed the man's cuff.

"...... Hmm? What's wrong?", ShangYu turned to ShiWen, the latter seemed nervous, pursed his lips as if lost in thought. ShangYu grinned and took ShiWen into his arm. He laid his chin on his soft hair, "What's wrong dear? Are you uncomfortable? Hungry perhaps?" They hadn't gotten to have lunch back at the market, maybe they could have lunch at the diners down the street, if ShiWen is hungry, of course.

ShiWen shook his head.

"I'm not hungry." came the omega's muffled voice. He looked into ShangYu's gentle eyes, the words suddenly stuck at his throat. He lowered his head and buried his face in ShangYu's chest. "I'm just wondering, what happened?"

ShangYu lowered his head to look at him.

The omega in his arms has a gentle and innocent face, his narrow eyes were filled with worries, the hands caressing his chest were white and slender, warm against his thin shirt. ShangYu closed his eyes, kissed ShiWen's forehead, and sighed, "Nothing big, I promise, just, I guess I've been overworking lately."

"Nothing big?"

"Yes, dear," ShangYu embraced the warmth in his arms and mused, "Well, maybe a vocation will help I think, a particularly long one."

"You wanna take a long vocation?"

ShangYu nodded. "Take a vocation for a month or two, and I can take you on a trip."

"A trip?"

"Yep, a trip." ShangYu grinned and pinch ShiWen's cheek, "Bet you've never been aboard yet, I'll take you there on your vocation, it's a month away now, I'll squeeze some time out."

"Was that really okay? I mean, your schedule..." ShiWen had totally forgotten about the original topic of the conversation, "I mean, if your schedule's too tight, we could always find other times."

"My schedule is fine, there will always be time", ShangYu kissed ShiWen. "I'm almost done, the rest were all assign-down-chores. I'll be able to spare myself some free time when you're on your vocation, and we can go on a trip together."

"Really?"

"Of course"

"Then I'll have to plan it really well, I've never been aboard."

Cheerfulness returned to the car ride as ShangYu attentively listened to all the places ShiWen was planning to visit.

The throbbing of ShangYu's heart at last came to an ease, and his wrinkled mess of emotion was at last sorted. ShangYu buried his head in ShangYu's neck.

This is the reality.

ShangYu said to himself,

This is the reality ...and ShiWen will always be around.

T/A : Wow a rare double update, I'm pretty proud :>