🔸𝐍𝐎 ℓσɳɠεɾ 𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐃🔸

𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒓𝒕𝒚

The next morning, Wang Yibo was woken up by a loud wailing of a baby.

He woke up abruptly and looked towards the baby's room through which the loud wail came from. He ran towards the room and found Xiao Zhan already there, trying to calm and sush down the little boy.

"A-yaun, stop crying.... Mama is here... baby, it's okay..." Zhan cooed but the boy was far from listening.

He closed his eyes shut and kept on crying.

"Why is he crying?" Yibo asked, walking up to them and ruffling the boy's hair.

Xiao Zhan looked up at him and ignored his presence, while saying A-yaun, "Baby, you are going to wake up the whole neighborhood if you keep crying like this. Stop it now..."

"A-yaun, dada is here. Look at me." Yibo said, kneeling beside Zhan.

But the boy did not listen to either of them and even cried louder.

"Why is he crying?" Yibo asked again but louder this time.

Zhan looked at him and sighed, "Crying from sleep, can't you see?" He barked.

"Crying from sleep?" Yibo asked, puzzled. "Wasn't he sleeping all night?"

"He was." Zhan said, patting the boy into sleep but he just continued wailing.

"Then?" Wang Yibo was still confused and his brows were furrowed in confusion.

"I can't explain to you right now. I have to put him back into sleep, will you please be quiet?" Zhan scolded.

"Oh, yeah... okay..." Yibo said and he too patted the boy in sync with Zhan.

But A-yaun was not giving them easy and was in his full energy to cry as loud and high as he could.

Xiao Zhan looked at Wang Yibo who was very puzzled by A-yaun's action and asked, while rocking the baby. "I think he is hungry. Could you go make a bottle for him?"

"I- I don't know how to." Yibo answered awkwardly.

"Okay... okay." Xiao Zhan nodded, remembering that Wang Yibo was the Second Master Wang, he wouldn't have knowledge in these things. And he nodded again to himself as if thinking for a solution.

"I will make one. Hold him." He picked up the boy and handed to Yibo.

"He is moving too much! Fuck what should I do?" Yibo yelled in panic.

"I told you no cursing in front of the baby!" Zhan yelled back.

"Okay, I am sorry... but, he is moving too much!"

Zhan sighed. Wang Yibo had zero knowledge on babies!

"Follow me." He said, taking the baby from Yibo and waking to his room.

"Go get on the bed. Sit in the middle. Cross-legged. Go hurry up." He hurried.

Wang Yibo followed his instructions without a word. Xiao Zhan followed him on the bed soon after and slowly deposited the crying boy on Yibo's lap.

"Keep rocking him on your lap and pet his hair softly. I am going to make a bottle for him. Understood?"

Yibo nodded while rocking the baby in his lap as he was instructed. The baby calmed down a little but he was still crying.

With a last pat on the boy's shoulder, Xiao Zhan got down from the bed and made his way to the kitchen. He quickly made a bottle for the baby. He checked the temperature of the mixture on his wrist and after he was satisfied, he went back to his room. He sat beside Yibo on the bed and gently took the crying boy from his arms. After setting into a comfortable position, he brought the nub of the feeding bottle to A-yaun's mouth and sighed in relief when the baby finally started drinking.

Wang Yibo looked in a daze at the two.

When Xiao Zhan looked up at him, Yibo's mouth was hung open and eyes wide as if he was just seeing something unbelievable.

Xiao Zhan snapped his fingers in front of Yibo and the latter got back to his senses finally.

"What are you looking at?" Zhan asked.

"You are amazing! Awesome!" Yibo chanted.

Xiao Zhan did not know what was amazing and awesome about feeding a baby and putting him into sleep but he just shrugged off. Just when he was about to ask Yibo to get down from the bed, Yibo asked,

"So what does it mean to cry during sleep? Something bit him?"

Xiao Zhan sighed. And not knowing why, he actually began explaining things to Yibo.

"Babies cry during sleep when something must have bit them but there is no any biting marks on A-yaun so he was just probably crying from sleep."

"What does that mean?" Yibo pressed.

"Babies don't sleep in the same way as children or adults. A-yaun is till not three yet, so he might be going through those sleeping stages. Not only do they sleep for longer overall, and in shorter bursts, their sleep patterns is also different. The main difference is that they spend more time in rapid eye movement sleep than adults."

"Woah... Zhan Ge, where did you learn all this?" Yibo asked in astonishment.

Zhan sighed, "Experience and some research."

"My Zhan Ge is always fantastic! So, what does rapid eye movement sleep mean?"

"It is the sleep when the baby is dreaming, it's also known as light sleep. Their eyes will keep moving behind their eyelids. They might also jerk or twitch, and their breathing may become irregular. They may appear unsettled, but these sorts of movements are just part and parcel of the baby going through their natural sleep cycle. During light sleep, the brain works hard processing new memories, filing away information and matching it with other similar experiences. With so many new experiences to absorb, it's no wonder babies can sometimes get overwhelmed." Xiao Zhan explained.

"So A-yaun also cried from that just now?"

"Mn. If babies cry out in their sleep, they might just be letting you know they're passing from one stage to the next. Often, they will simply settle back down again, but sometimes the change makes them wake up."

"If you knew earlier, why did you let him cry for so long? I mean, you could have fed him already, right?"

"If the baby cries during the sleep, before picking them up to comfort them, we should try leaving them for a moment or two to see if they are able to drift back into more restful sleep on their own. Babies might just have a lot of brain development going on as they progress mentally. It makes them more unsettled for a while, and cause crying and sleep regression."

"Zhan Ge, you sound as a teacher."

"I am teaching you." Zhan hissed.

Wang Yibo looked at him for a while before speaking with a sincere smile on his face, "You make a great mother."

Zhan's eyes widened at Yibo's words and for an unknown reason, his heart trembled.

With a hesitating tone, Xiao Zhan asked, "I... I do?"

"You do." Yibo held Zhan hand and squeezed it tight.

If it was any other time, Zhan would have jerked his hand away but right now, at the moment, he really wanted that hand to hold him longer.

Just for a while, he told himself. 

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