75 5.21 (2/2)
Twitching the corners of his lips down in Xiang Kai's version of a frown, Chen Yu obligingly asked, ”What's wrong?”
Sun Ri lifted his wet gaze, his pale face filled with anxiety. ”Promise you won't be mad?”
Chen Yu nodded despite knowing the information he would confess already, then listened without comment as Sun Ri explained about his family background. At the end, however, he hummed as his lover claimed that his father only had a year to live and that he wished to reconcile by producing a son before the old man passed.
Upon hearing this, Chen Yu raised his eyebrows slightly, asking, ”You want to have a baby?” This world wasn't advanced enough to simply combine their genes in a laboratory, Sun Ri would have to get a third party involved to create a child. Inside his heart, he smiled, if you dare say yes, I'll castrate you.
As if he sensed the danger, Sun Ri rushed to deny the charge. ”No, no, of course not, how could I ever be attracted to anyone except for you? But I did have an idea and it's all set up...” Hng, Chen Yu sneered, what 'all set up,' no doubt he'd pushed it through completely. Unaware that he'd been seen through, Sun Ri continued bravely, ”Why don't I adopt you, and then you can be my heir?”
Feigning surprise, Chen Yu pondered. This was genuinely unexpected. While it was true that M Country didn't allow gay marriages yet, Sun Jia should be influential enough to change that. So why did his lover want to become a family this way instead?
This point was soon cleared up when Sun Ri coaxed, ”You won't need to do much, just sign here and then review these rules.”
Ah? What rules? Chen Yu skimmed the 'guidelines' his lover wanted to impose on his 'son,' his face sinking. Seeing the boy's eyes narrow unhappily, Sun Ri cleared his throat and weakly defended, ”Well, you're still young, Kai, and a son should listen to his father, right?”
A short silence later, however, Sun Ri folded to his doll's probing stare, he laughed awkwardly and hurried to stuff the papers elsewhere. ”Of course it was just a joke, just a joke! You're doing me a favor already, how could I ask anything more?” That apprehensive face was satisfying enough, so that Chen Yu eventually granted it.
In this way, the adoption that had already been legally processed was accepted by both parties, and Sun Ri's father had long been informed. While the old man wasn't pleased by the way his son had exploited the loophole in his condition, he didn't quibble, because he knew that the stubborn child wouldn't give in once he'd decided on something. Anyway, the conflict had dragged on too long, and this was a good way to resolve the issue without either of them losing face.
Thus, with the agreement of those involved, the news was announced at their movie's premiere. Approaching as this bombshell was dropped, Shui Re Dian, who had come to support their film with Lawyer Kuang, gaped at the pair. Had he heard wrong? Why was everyone trying to adopt full-grown men these days? Lawyer Kuang had also insisted on taking him in as a son. Feeling that something else was at work here, Shui Re Dian intensely peered at his cute junior, resolving to ask, but the tall man next to him suddenly cut into his view and instructed, ”Don't stare, it's impolite.” Although he rolled his eyes, Shui Re Dian also didn't want to be rude, so he tossed his head and strode forward, leaving Lawyer Kuang to helplessly chase after him.
As for the reporters present, taking into account the king's sexual orientation, they tacitly understood that, as they'd suspected, the relationship between the two men went beyond friendship, but they simply congratulated them and retreated. The last incident in which they'd dared to write about Xiang Kai had ended in many of their colleagues being demoted or even fired, while the media companies had renewed their determination not to offend the king.
Those fans who listened to the announcement, however, weren't as tactful. Depending on their stance, their messages directly promoted or criticized the couple. But even the harshest detractors shut up when they watched Chen Yu's movie, they had to admit that the two were qualified to stand next to each other.
After his second film performance, Xiang Kai gained a huge number of supporters, who suddenly gave him the nickname 'The Little Prince.' When one of these fans was asked in an interview about the origin of the name, she smirked and gushed, ”Who else would the king guard so tightly? And off camera, the prince also only smiles for the king.”
Stuck in a rundown apartment near the slums, Guo Ziyue burst out into tear-stained laughter as he blankly stared at the reference photograph which the announcer had included after this quote. In the picture, Xiang Kai was directing unusually gentle eyes and a lightly curved mouth toward Sun Ri, who was reaching for him with a tender smile. Falling into a daze, Guo Ziyue thought, perhaps Kai had once looked at him that way too, and he had destroyed that expression himself, for his greed and ego and ambition. A moment later, the screen fizzled out, leaving him to scan how bare the best surroundings he could afford now were. Reminded yet again of how he hadn't even managed to gain what he'd sacrificed Kai for, how he'd ended up failing in this life as well, he buried his face in his hands, but the tears still slipped between his fingers.