Wild Creatures

Chapter 128

Wei Ying sleeps for a long time.

Lan Zhan decided to let him sleep, tired as he was, and cancelled the alarm on his phone. He made sure to get the children ready for school, and then to reassure them and not make Wei Ying feel any worse today, he brought them into their bedroom so the children could kiss Wei Ying's cheeks before they left.

"Bye, Baba, see you later," They both whisper.

Wei Ying stirs but doesn't wake up, and Lan Zhan is happy about that. He hopes Wei Ying will sleep until he gets back from dropping them off.

In the car, with the children sitting on their booster seats on the way to school, something makes the normally quiet kids cry out in delight.

"LOOK! It's Halloween on Thursday!" JingYi shouts.

The unexpected noise makes Lan Zhan swerve but he quickly recovers and turns to face them at the next traffic light.

"Would you both like to go trick or treating?" He asks them, smiling because they both look excited by his suggestion.

"Yeah!" They agree in unison. And then A-Yuan says, "it's Baba's birthday, then."

That's new information for Lan Zhan.

Their relationship is so new that they have yet to find out important things about each other, plus it's not as if they've been idle these past few weeks. Still, it will be an excellent opportunity to distract Wei Ying from the trauma inflicted by Wen Qing.

They pull up outside the school a few minutes earlier than normal, because Lan Zhan might have driven a bit faster than usual just so he can chat to them like this.

"If you want to go trick or treating, then you have to have costumes. What do you want to go as?" Then he has another brilliant idea. "Also, what if we surprise your Baba? As a birthday present? Let's not tell him anything about this!"

A-Yuan looks sceptical about that, but JingYi soon wins him over and Lan Zhan tells them to think about how they want to dress up on Thursday, and to tell him quietly before tomorrow so he can order costumes online.

Too soon, it's time for them to go inside and join their classmates, and Lan Zhan feels that warm wave of love as both kids hug his neck and kiss his cheeks, saying, "Bye, A-Die! See you later!"

Both of them are so cute as they hold hands and run into the school building, with the teacher shouting at them to walk, not run.

He nods at the security team assigned to protect his children, and then he's on his way back home with a solid plan in mind.

Wei Ying is still sleeping when Lan Zhan brings his tablet to sit next to him. He can safely guess that A-Yuan will want to be a bunny, and there are lots of options available for him; but it is JingYi who is the wild card, unpredictable about his choices.

Accidentally, his finger opens a new tab and he's looking at the cutest family set of costumes. They're lovely, quirky and just so happen to be in their sizes, so Lan Zhan orders them as well.

If for nothing else, they can dress up and take plenty of pictures as a family snapshot moment.

He closes tabs when he's done and tries to catch up on deadlines, just waiting for that moment when there's a change in Wei Ying's breathing. It happens faster than he expects, and Lan Zhan is already putting away his tablet by the time Wei Ying blinks awake.

He scoots down to embrace the yawning man who looks wonderfully messy and alive.

"Lan Zhan..."

It's the way Wei Ying says his name, full of reverence and love, joy and sweetness, tinged with danger and everything in between. Their lips meet in an unspoken agreement that this is the only way to greet each other every morning.